Chapter 13: Solution

     On the other side of the village, Reika was helping the villagers look for their belongings that might have survived the previous incident. Along with Soru, they shoveled the debris in order to find something valuable.

     While Soru was carrying a box full of clothes, Reika noticed that some villagers were walking in groups. She looked back and saw that they were heading towards Silas' house.

      Reika approached one of the villagers and tried to ask what was going on.

      "Where are you heading to?" Reika asked the village woman.

      The village woman looked around, and her eyes widened upon seeing the one who asked the question.

      "Ah... erm, the village elder ordered some men to bury those who died on the dragon's assault yesterday afternoon."

      "I see..." Reika murmured.

      "Now if you excuse me, young m-miss..." the village woman said as she walked away from her.

      Reika stared at the direction where the village people were heading.

      I wonder if I should go to witness their burial rites...

      "I never thought that you could speak our dialect!" A mysterious voice spoke behind her.

      Reika looked back and saw Sylva standing while carrying clothes on her arm.

      "Uh... The thing is, it is thanks to my ability, "Translator". By using that ability, it could translate the indistinguishable language of others into my own language, and vice versa."

      Sylva pouted and punched her gently in the arm.

     "Geez! I even tried hard not to make any mistakes when I was talking to you in Japanese, and now you're telling me that you have a way to understand and converse in my own dialect? Then all my efforts have gone to waste!"

     Reika stepped back and tried to calm her down.

     "I-I'm sorry. Yes! I... I tried to tell you that I can speak in your own dialect using the "Translator" ability, but seeing you try to speak Japanese was still a good thing!"

     "And don't worry! Your Japanese is fluent enough to understand! Even though there are some mistakes with the consonants and vowels stuff, it's still understandable!"

     Sylva sighed.

     "Alright, alright! I'll forgive you this time."

     Reika grinned awkwardly after she managed to lie herself out.

     "By the way, Reika. You want to come along with me and see those bodies being buried?" Sylva asked her.

     Curious about the burial process, Reika nodded her head and followed Sylva as they walked towards the burial site.

     Upon their arrival on the site, Reika saw several pits being dug by the men.

     "Lift those corpses and place them in these holes carefully... " Silas instructed those men.

     One by one, they started lifting the corpses and placing them according to the pits that the deceased relatives chose.

     Gravestones were placed at the top of the pits, while others were just wood planks with the names of the deceased engraved on them. 

     A prayer was held in the burial ceremony, praying for the safe ascendance of the souls of their loved ones and for their safe journey to the afterlife. While the prayer was being held, Reika saw families that mourned, while some of them smiled bitterly as they watched the pit being covered by dirt and gravel.

     After the prayer was done, the remaining pits that were uncovered were filled completely. The families of the deceased watched to see them for the last time.

     Reika stepped back and walked away to give the families some space to mourn. As she walked away, she activated her ability.

     Her purple eyes glowed upon activating her ability, and there she saw the soul bodies of the deceased emerging from their dead bodies. Some of them were hugging their families, although they couldn't see each other again. Others floated toward the sky, dissolving into nothingness. She watched the souls in silence.

     "Ah... I wish I could absorb those souls in order to nourish mine..."

     Reika noticed the familiar voice and turned her head beside her. It turns out that Veylir was with her.

     "What the hell are you talking about? Those souls have families and sentience, you know?" Reika exclaimed.

      "Who cares about that? They're dead anyways, plus the soul of a human is a great help when it comes to reple-ACCCK!"

     The collar on Veylir's neck appeared and began to tighten.

     "Say one more thing about using souls, or I will tighten that collar of yours..." Reika murmured in a murderous tone as she tightened the collar.

     "Okay! I'm sorry! P-Please... Ow! Ow! Ow!"

     Reika loosened the grip on Veylir's collar. The collar vanished seconds later.

     "Gah! I thought my head was going to be cut in half! Even my whole body trembled every time the collar tightened!" Veylir uttered.

     "Don't say such nonsensical things next time. Stealing souls is the most disrespectful thing to do!"

     "Fine! I won't do it. Besides, I have no such ability to steal souls and replenish mine. I only worded out my thoughts..."

     Reika sighed.

     "By the way, isn't that your companion over there?" Veylir asked her.

     "Where?"

     Reika looked around and saw Soru sitting beside a tree. He was seen staring at the burial site.

     What is he doing over there?

     Reika walked towards him along with Veylir. Upon her arrival, she saw Soru making a weird-looking expression.

     Soru knows that losing someone they love is devastating, especially those you care about the most. It's because he's already seen those kinds of plots in manga and anime he's watched several times. But to him, death is just the normal course of events, a natural occurrence in accordance with the laws of nature.

     He tried to imitate this feeling inside of him—the act of sadness and sorrow. He replicates the feeling of losing someone, trying to understand emotions properly. Losing an object, the death of a pet, and many more. Despite trying to mimic the act several times in the past, he couldn't pull it off.

     Suddenly, something hard hit his head, and he lost his focus.

     "What's with that face of yours? You looked like a total idiot a moment ago."

     Soru turned his head and saw Reika with her fist on his head. Reika sighed and sat beside him with a dissatisfied look.

     "Are you trying to awaken your emotions or something?" Reika asked him.

     A gentle breeze blew past as the night sky started to brighten up, indicating that the sun was about to rise.

     "Look... I know you want to feel the atmosphere they exude now, but simply mimicking it would be pointless..."

     "You have to feel it deep down in your heart. That sensation, that someone you cherished for was gone..."

     "But isn't death a natural occurrence? I can't seem to grasp the importance of why someone's dying would cause such an impact on a person..." Soru told her.

     Reika suddenly pinched Soru's cheek. 

     "OF COURSE IT IS, MORON!"

     Soru's cheek was stretched out, but he didn't show any signs of discomfort. Reika sighed and let his cheeks go. She looked back at where the burial ceremony was.

     "You have parents, right?" Reika asked him.

     "Yes, there is."

     "Good. Now, can you imagine what would happen if someday that person died? What would you feel then?"

     "Why would she even die in the first place?"

     Reika paused for a moment.

     She? So it's his mother... 

     "I don't know, maybe due to old age or something?"

     Soru fell silent upon hearing Reika's question. Moments later, he finally opened his mouth.

     "I guess I'll just let things be as they are. Maybe I'd feel sad?"

     Reika twitched as she heard Soru's outrageous answer.

     "Why are you asking me if you have to feel sad? Are you serious?"

     How clueless can this idiot be?

     Reika sighed and felt a sense of helplessness.

     His illness of being "emotionless" was more severe than I thought...

     The night sky became brighter as time went by. Both of them didn't notice that dawn was about to come.

     "What if I die instead?"

     Soru didn't move his head and remained silent for a long time.

     "Well, considering your twisted perception, it's not like you would do—"

     "I won't let it happen. "

     Reika went silent for a moment.

     "Eh?"

     "You promised me before that in exchange for saving you, you would help me with my problems. What's the point if you'll die before you can even help me fix it?"

     Reika gained her composure back and cleared her throat.

     "Ahem! O-Oh... Yeah, you're right... "

    A silence between them lasted for several seconds. Reika suddenly giggled, and the silence was broken.

     "Well... Then I'll be in your care, Soru."

     Soru turned his head and saw Reika smiling at him. He paused and didn't utter any words. As he stared at her, a warm streak of light pressed against his cheek.

     Reika also noticed the warm sensation and looked towards the east. She saw that the sun was starting to rise from the horizon. She closed her eyes in order to feel the warm, gentle breeze passing through her body.

     "You sure both make a great couple."

     Reika turned around and saw Veylir floating beside her.

     Why does this dragon keep popping out of nowhere and disappearing without a trace?

     Veylir flew beside Soru.

     "Although he's eccentric, I'm sure he's a great guy!"

     Reika's expression changed into a smug look.

     "Haaah? We just barely talked to each other, and now you're shipping us?"

     Soru poked Veylir's cheek, but his finger only permeated them.

     "I'm sure if you spend more time with him, you'll know each other in no time." Veylir said.

     "Who is this creature?" Soru asked Reika.

     "Oh... that's Veylir, the dragon you killed yesterday."

     Soru and Veylir looked into each other's eyes. Suddenly, Veylir flew away from him frantically.

     "T-T-T-This is the one w-w-who killed my b-b-body....!?"

     Veylir looked towards Reika. Reika nodded at her in silence.

     "No way... B-But how...?"

     Veylir looked back and stared at Soru. His gaze sent shivers down the dragon's spine. At that moment, Veylir realized that the man in front of its presence was indeed the one who killed its physical body.

     "To think that a human could kill a dragon like me... I couldn't believe it."

     Veylir flew beside Reika.

     "I-If that's the case, I shan't anger that man in the future, for he's the one who can harm and slay a dragon with his ability!"

     "Hey, he's not the only one who defeated a dragon. I also defeated you with my own too!" Reika exclaimed.

     "It's because you fought my weakened state! I only had 10% strength before you even fought me, and now I have only 7%. If I fought you with my peak strength at that time, you wouldn't even stand a chance against me!" 

     Reika fell silent and lowered her head.

     "Though I don't understand why my soul became weaker than it was before..."

     Veylir paused when she saw Reika sulking.

     "Are you okay?" Veylir asked her.

     Reika took a deep breath and exhaled.

     "You told me that you weren't in your best condition when you fought me before, right?"

     Reika clenched her fist.

     "Let's have a rematch next time once you regain your full strength!"

     Veylir flapped its wings and got fired up.

     "Hah! Bring it on then!"

     While both of them were getting excited for their upcoming rematch, Soru watched them in silence.

     Reika paused when she noticed in the distance that the villagers were gathering at the center of the destroyed well, which is found at the center of the village. 

     "They seemed to have a serious discussion over there..." Reika murmured.

     Reika decided to listen to their discussion by going there. As she walked away towards the crowd, Soru was left sitting at the tree.

     Even she was still far away from the crowd, Reika could hear the voices of the villagers discussing their concerns with Silas.

     "Chief, what should we do? We don't have enough food and clothes, and all of our houses were destroyed. It's already daybreak..."

     "That's right. Without a shelter to live on, we might catch a cold during the night or on rainy days, and sleeping would be difficult!"

     "What will happen to all of the ten families in this village?"

     Silas confronted the concerned villagers.

     "I don't know... It's been hours since the burial ceremony. We could temporarily solve the food shortage by hunting in the forest, but the problem with housing might take us some time..."

     The villagers that gathered around him sighed. These continuous accidents caught them off guard. 

     The old man walked away and pointed his finger right at the wheat fields. All the villagers that had gathered around followed their gazes towards him.

     "For the time being, gather all the remaining wheat crops and turn them into hay. We'll use it to make a temporary pillow for your children to sleep on. As for the wheat seeds, gather them and use them for consumption."

     The villagers murmured to each other upon hearing his orders.

     "What about the housing problem?" one of the villagers asked.

     "I'll think of a way to solve that problem..."

     The villagers looked at each other and nodded their heads. They began to scatter and started to gather the remaining wheat in the fields. 

     An hour had already passed, and the sun was up in the sky. All the wheat fields had been harvested by the village men.

     They began to separate the wheat seeds from their stalks in order for the stalks to be used as hay. But some of these stalks aren't dry at all, and using them as pillows isn't good. So they separated the dry and wet stalks. The wet ones were dried forcibly with a campfire, slowly exposing these stalks in order not to burn them. 

     The village women gathered the dried and placed it into the clothes that survived and made them into pillows. The remaining stalks were made into makeshift baskets in order to store the wheat seeds. 

     Silas witnessed the villagers busy with their own tasks. He saw the kids who woke up from sleeping, while others were eagerly helping their parents with their tasks.

     Reika saw the old man sulking while she was helping the villagers make a makeshift pillow. She did some finishing touches before giving the pillow to a woman.

     She approached Silas and overheard him mumbling.

    "I must think of a way to resolve the problem with the housing. But how do I even do it in the first place?"

     "Instead of doing all of this alone, don't you think you should rely on others, Mister Silas?"

     Upon hearing a familiar voice, Silas looked around and saw Reika approaching him.

     "What brings you here, Miss Reika? And your language..."

     "I met a fateful encounter in the forest that allows me to communicate the dialect on this continent. About the details, I would like to keep them a secret..."

     Silas remained silent for a second while listening to her.

     "I see..."

     "About that problem of yours..."

     Reika didn't continue when she saw Aeden approaching them. She noticed that Aeden was grumbling as she walked towards them.

     "That lazy bastard...!"

     "Do you have any business with us?" Reika asked Aeden.

     Aeden got startled as she came into contact with them without noticing.

     "Ah! Er... I would like something to discuss with Mister Silas..."

     Silas stood up and approached Aeden.

     "I must apologize, Miss. I would like to hear it, but we have a problem yet to solve..."

     "That problem... Does it involve the housing problem of this village?" Aeden asked.

     Silas paused after Aeden uttered those words.

     "How did you know that?"

     Aeden looked around the village. The rubble of the destroyed house can be clearly seen with her two eyes.

     "It is obvious at first glance..." Aeden answered.

     Silas remained silent as Aeden guessed the biggest problem that they must overcome.

     "But don't worry! That's the reason why I am here in the first place."