A Nameless Village

-It certainly is a refreshing feeling !-

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-I'm sure we will be great traveling partners !-

-Smile-

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[ "Yeah... The Smile..." ]

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[ "Something he had all his life...." ]

[ "Something he used as a deceive..." ]

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[ "It's normal for him to be envy of yours..." ]

[ "Which I'm sure doesn't have ulterior motives..." ]

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[ "A smile that's genuine..." ]

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[ "I would like to see it... too" ]

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[ Ahem ]

[ "It's too late to think about this" ]

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[ I think you should sleep, Miss. Aveline ]

[ I can be the guard... After all... My body has an infinite amount of energy ]

-Are you sure ?-

[ Yeah... Rest a bit... I'm sure you still have to adjust to the new Divine power... ]

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[ Don't worry about me ]

-Then...-

-I'll accept your offer...-

-Yawn-

-I'll go sleep in the back-

[ Miss. Aveline... ! ]

[ You should be more wary of Ethan... ]

[ I understand that you trust him after all that happened... ]

[ And... I know he's not the type to do such things... ]

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[ But I want to remind you that he's still a man... ]

[ I don't think staying together in a SMALL and CLOSED space is a good choice... ]

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-Hehe... Maybe you're right...-

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-That night-

-I still slept in the back of the carriage-

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-Rahu shouldn't have worried-

-Because...-

-Nothing happened-

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-I don't now why... But for some reason... I dreamed of three swords...-

-Well... I didn't put much meaning into it...-

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The following day...

We continued our travel...

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I was finally able to talk to Aveline...

I told her about Earth's customs, I made a few jokes...

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She was much more interested than I had originally thought...

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And Again...

We stopped during the night...

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However...

We still hadn't encountered any carriages...

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It was definitely weird.... 

Normally... There should be at least one or two....

You know... Merchants, Wayfarers...

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I got asleep while thinking about this

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-Clomp-

-Clomp-

-Clomp-

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-Hey...Ethan... Is that smoke I see in the distance ?-

Yeah... I think...

We might have reached a village....

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We had continued our travel....

But this time...

We had finally reached...

'Somewhere we knew nothing of'

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We checked the map I had bought In Ashen...

But it wasn't even marked...

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It was one the numerous Nameless Villages you could find in the Kingdom...

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...Certainly... The best place we could find...

One where we wouldn't have left any traces...

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When we arrived at the outer wall, that was on the verge of crumbling....

Nobody was there to check on us...

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We got into the main road...

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And

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We were welcomed by a pungent smell of smoked meat, that had all the intentions of making me throw up. The two dead bodies next to a bloody knife were there to make the mood just right and as we walked, calmly and cautiously, the scent of rotting corpses followed us, without never leaving, just like a loyal dog. An empty tavern, some taciturn houses and energetic kids that ran here and there to kill themselves for a piece of bread, they were so committed to raise my hope in this world's humanity, that I felt bewildered. 

What was that light which we continued to grow closer to ?

A fire, so beautiful, full of wood and living people, It was one so huge that occupied most of the main square space.

Their screams, all together, formed a calming melody of death, that accompanied us until we eventually passed and continued walking behind this talented choir. Finally, after the need of peeling my eyes of because of such magnificence... I reached the end of the road 

On my left, the adventurer guild, that had a dusty and yet legible sign...

On my right, the somehow in perfect condition Parish, which seemed like the hidden gem of this Nameless village..... 

One that was full of life....

One that was...

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HELL

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-Not even the slums of the capital were in such conditions...-

( -Munch- )

-Just... What has happened....-

( -Munch- )

We.. should ask... 

Him

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I pointed with my hand the edifice on my left

A man eating a piece of bread could be heard from inside

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We didn't hesitate, and entered the building

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As we opened the door, a cloud of dust filled the room...

Cough Cough

-Cough- -Cough-

I waved my hand to move away the mist and saw a small figure behind the counter...

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-Cough... I'm sorry.... This place is a mess...-

-Normally... I use the entrance that goes on the back alley...-

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-Well... As you might have already realized....-

-There aren't exactly adventurers in this village...-

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If you ignored the broken tables, the crooked shelves and shattered bottles... You could definitely meet eyes with this meek old man, who, the exact moment he saw us, gained some new and fiery eyes...

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-You..-

He stared at me like he was directly looking at my soul

-Passed the test !-

-Congrats !-

-And with full grades, at that-

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-It's the same for you... Young lady...-

When did this examination... happen ?

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Oh... Don't worry about it !

First of all, let's begin the introductions !

So... Where are you from... Lively couple ?

[ "No ! Don't add fuel to the fire !" ]

Honestly...

I wasn't in the mood to care about things like that...

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You're quite good at making jokes...

Well... I'm Kaelin and she's Lyra...

We've come a long way...

And...

We were wondering whether we could pass the night here...

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-You have just lied two times...-

-I think that young miss doesn't want to talk about the first one...-

Aveline seemed pretty normal to me

-Anyway... Having an alias is normal for adventures...-

-I'll forgive you-

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So... You are... ?

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-Ahahaha- 

-I'm Galen !-

-In my younger days, I was called the Demon Slayer, the chick-thief... I was at the top of the Guild !-

-An A rank !-

-Mutter...Mutter...Mutter...-

-MutterMutterMutterMutter-

...

-Oh Dear... I really miss those days...-

-What about now ? I'm stuck here... As the branch manager of a village in ruin...-

I'm just saying... But I wasn't interested about his complaints...

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After a while, I naturally asked about the conditions of this 'place'

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How did this village become... Like...

It is... 

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-Let's start from....-

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So...

What happened that changed a poor village to one that resembled the epitome of human decay ?

About one month before the current events, some kind of disease spread throughout the whole village... The origin is unknown, but It was probably the result of the rotting of some monsters carcasses.

Even when compared to other illnesses it was extremely deadly, and people quickly began to die, one after another. 

Normal potions didn't work and the number of the living was continuously decreasing...

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The deaths wouldn't stop

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The villagers soon asked the church for help, but the priest didn't have any intention of healing them for free. Even though they were asking an outrageous amount of money for the cure, after some discussions, people accepted the charge nonetheless, rightfully not wanting to die.

However... 

Nothing worked.... It didn't matter how much the priests tried to use their healing.... 

The disease just wouldn't go away....

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The villagers were enraged, they had just been scammed, and they couldn't even help their friends, families that had caught the illness..

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Some kind of rebellion against the church started...

It was something that couldn't be tolerated....

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Some paladins were sent by other parish to mediate the conflict....

Maybe stop it, actually heal everyone...

No...

They were sent to kill and destroy this disease by exterminating every villager who had caught it.

The problem is that most of the people were already infected

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Well... They couldn't care about such trivial information... And literally...

Murdered..

An entire village

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The fire is the last 'batch' of infected....

The paladins burned all of the dead bodies, so that the illness couldn't have spread anymore...

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A question arose in my mind while listening to such a wrenching story...

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What about the two bodies we saw at the entrance ?

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Apparently... They were lovers who didn't have anywhere to go anymore...

And decided to kill them selves before dying of the disease...

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Obviously, there was also another thing I was curious about...

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Then... Why are you still here ?

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While laughing...

He answered that he had resisted to all kinds of poisons during his life...

After that... He continued saying that he had accepted the job, and couldn't go away, because he would have broken his promise...

Finally... he made another remark about how much he missed his adventures...

And his wife, that got lost in Elysium ?

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Well... At the end...He explained that the kids are the only villagers that remained.... 

( ...That survived.... )

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This is... really....

I'm sorry... I don't have any words for what you have just said...

-....-

Aveline was looking at the floor... Disappointed and Disgusted in the church of light, that had yet again...

Demonstrated how much it's just a fake, double faced, for profit, cultist organization, that believes in a grand bitch....

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But what about our examination.... ?

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So... 

What was this test you talked about ?

-Oh... Nothing !-

-I just heard the paladins in the parish over there... -

-Talking about a demon that has escaped from near Ashen-

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-I've fought those bastards that come from the north all my life, and would instantly recognize one-

-That's why... When I saw you two... I just wanted to check...-

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-Anyway... As I have already said...-

-You have passed the test !-

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-You don't seem suspicious at all, and I'm sure you're quite kind, even for adventures !-

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Yeah... We... Are...

Adventurers....

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I didn't expect the news to spread so fast and reach such a small village...

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This place...

It wasn't so safe as we thought...

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[ Negative Karma acquisition rate ]

[ Ethan 98.2 % ]

[ Damien 1.8 % ]