Chapter 233 The Son of Fire Part 13

Standing on the top of the mountain overlooking the small valley full of houses below, Hajime felt the warmth of home. Looking at the sunset still hanging on the horizon in the distance and listening to the sounds of farm animals, Hajime thought of lazy afternoon walks in the zoo. Hajime was still admiring the beautiful scenery of the village when he felt Fufu's hand gently pat his right leg.

"The villagers are not used to seeing wolves walking among us. Don't scare the villagers. Please call back your furry friend," Fufu said, turning to the others. "We will rest in the village tonight, and tomorrow we will go to the main city."

The wolf lowered its body to the ground and Hajime and U-ri jumped off its back. The five Tanzanies and Bong grabbed their packed bags and began to follow Fufu and her people to the village. There is only one path big enough for two people to walk side by side, leading directly to the center of the village and over the mountain standing on the other side of the village.

"This must be the main road leading directly to Maka City," U-ri looked back at Hajime and spoke.

Hajime looked up and saw that U-ri had already drawn the landmark in the book of life. "What about fine details?" Hajime asked, still admiring U-ri's artistic skills.

U-ri said, "For people with photopic memory, it is normal to add details later." He looked up at Hajime with a smile. 

Hajime whispered, "You are afraid Lady Fufu will find out if you add too many details."

U-ri looked at Hajime and whispered, "One Abrafo is enough for me. I don't want to prove my innocence in front of two Abrafos." He chuckled and continued drawing.

Hajime smiled and turned to look at Yul who was following closely behind him.

Abrafo turned to U-ri and walked backwards. "Hey, I heard clearly, the three of you are talking about me, do you have anything to say..." He felt someone's arm touch his back, so he quickly turned around and grabbed the arm that touched his back. "Hey... what's the matter?"

Fufu's hand was now on Abrafo's chest. She stared at the village and said, "Strange..."

"Strange?" Abrafo asked as he look at Fufu, but felt another hand grab his back collar and pull him away from Fufu's arm. "What the hack..." He turned around to see who had the courage to grab his collar, but when he saw Bong's fierce eyes staring at him, the courage to knock the person unconscious completely disappeared.

Fufu looked at the eight women and three men walking in front of her, and she shouted, "Stop!"

Ya, the eight women, and three men stopped and looked back at Fufu. Ya quickly rushed back to Fufu and asked, "What's wrong?"

Fufu said, "It's too quiet." She stared down at the small village.

Yul stepped forward and looked at the village. He agreed with Fufu's statement. Although from a distance, this village looked like an ordinary village, when they got closer, they found that this village was very unusual.​

Yul said, "It's definitely too quiet."

Ya said, "I heard many noises." She looked at Yul and Fufu. "Why do you two think it's too quiet?"

Yul said, "Farm animals may make a lot of noises, but the most important noises are missing."

Fufu glanced at Yul and then returned to the village. She said, "There wasn't a single voice."

At this time, the people standing on the mountainside walking toward the village suddenly realized that although there were many sounds of animals and dogs, there was no sound of humans.

U-ri looked at the sunset and said, "The sun has not set yet. It is too early to go to bed. Something must have gone wrong. A village with many people should be very lively at this time of the day."

Bong looked at the people around him and asked, "So, should we go together or send someone to scout first?"

Abrafo said, "Let's send people to the village to scout first."

Yul turned back and said, "U-ri, you stay here with Hajime and the women."

Hajime walked up to Yul and said, "Why should I stay if I can fight?"

Yul said, "I know you can, but U-ri and the women need your protection."

Hajime understood what Yul meant, he grabbed the three wolves and the black panther wooden figures and threw them to the ground. The three creatures were resurrected in front of Hajime and Yul.

Hajime said, "You must take them with you."

Yul stroked Hajime's hair and kissed Hajime's forehead. Yul said softly, "They need your protection here more."

Ya and the eight women saw Yul kissing Hajime, and they looked at each other strangely, trying to understand why Yul, a man, would kiss Hajime, also a man, on the forehead. Yul's behavior was something they had never seen before, so they whispered to themselves.

Hajime nodded and said, "Be careful." 

Hajime and U-ri watched as Yul, Abrafo, Bong, Michio, Fufu and her three subordinates rode the three wolves and the black panther towards the village.

"U-ri," Hajime said. "Even though our situation looks worse than good right now, and I'm very worried about Yul and the others' safety, I don't know why I feel so safe."

As he sorted out the different scenarios that could happen in the village, the feeling he got from it was one of worry and fear, so U-ri was quite surprised when he heard Hajime's words. He asked, "Do you feel safe now?"

Hajime turned to look at U-ri and said, "Yes, this feeling has been with me ever since we reached the top of the mountain. The closer we get to the village, the safer I feel. Not only safe, but I feel happy too. That feeling of happiness, like when you get home after a long journey."

"That's very odd," U-ri said, stroking his beard. "This may be because our friends are not in danger."

Hajime sighed and said, "I hope so."

The closer the eight people get to the village, the more chaotic the village becomes. Except for the strange sight of chickens running around, the eight people immediately became alert when they saw no one in the village.

"A few days ago, this village was full of villagers," Fufu said. "We rested here before we went to rescue the prisoners." She turned around to look for the villagers. "Where is everyone?"

When the black panther walked through a house with a slight crack in the door, Bong opened the cracked door and saw that the house was in a mess. Bong shouted, "Stop!" The black panther stopped, and Bong jumped down from the black panther's back. He walked to the door, pushed it open, and walked inside the house.

Abrafo jumped off the black panther's back. Standing at the door, he saw the broken table and some blood stains on the ground next to the table. He turned to Yul, who had entered the house next door.

Bong walked out and looked at Abrafo. "It looks like there's a fight going on here," Bong said. "The blood has dried, so the spilled blood is not new."

"What about bodies?" Abrafo asked.

Bong shook his head and said, "I walked through the house and found no body." He walked out of the house and closed the door behind him. The two men walked to Yul and the others.

Yul asked, "What did you find?"

Bong said, "Dried blood, but there is no body."

Yul said, "It was the same thing in this house. There was dried blood, but no bodies, but I found these." He opened his right palm with some brown furs. 

"These are?" Abrafo asked.

"If I remember correctly, this is gorilla fur," Michio picked up the brown furs in Yul's hand.

Yul looked at his friends and said, "If the Taka is here, then the villagers are probably in the middle of the village."

"Hopefully we can save these villagers in time," Abrafo said.

Bong asked, "What if we did not save them on time?"

Abrafo looked at Bong and said, "Last time we went to rescue Hajime, the captured villagers were sacrifices to their so-called moon god."

Fufu rushed over with three of her men. "I didn't see anyone," she said in panic.

Yul looked at Fufu and asked, "Where is the center of the village?"

"The school is in the center of the village," Fufu said.

Yul sighed heavily and said, "The villagers are probably there."

Fufu asked, "How do you know?"

Abrafo said, "When we were in Dongxue Village, we met a group of people called the Taka tribe. Their killing method is to capture people first, and then kill the captives as sacrifices to their moon god."

Fufu said, "And you think this Taka tribe is here in Maka City."

Yul said, "They must have, because Xun was with Malik's people."

Fufu asked, "Xun? Who is Xun?"

"You fought with that white-haired half-human, half-gorilla that night," Yul said. He looked at Fufu. "He is the leader of the Taka tribe."

Fufu took an exasperated breath and said, "This is the way to the school."

Fufu and the other three led the three Tanzanies and Bong towards the school located in the center of the village. As soon as they approached the school, they saw dead villagers, including children, adults and the elderly, piled up in front of the school. These villagers must have been dead for at least two days because flies have laid eggs on the dead villagers. The buzzing of flies echoed in their ears. In anger, Fufu let out a painful scream.