Always Forward

Returning to Maia's house I find her and Leila discussing the procedures, I tell them about the traps that will be made, which was agreed with Kayama, and about the necessary wood.

"Has Mina already brought the map of the land nearby? we still need to prepare the site for the ambush to be built. "

"Yes, take a look"

I look at the map, although a little rustic and with simple drawings, it is a map centered around the city of Halks, and the village is just south of the city, close to the border of the country or kingdom as it is called, I have no information about that still, but to what I perceive, further south of the village, is the border with another kingdom, I do not know how long the map is or if it needs to be updated, but it seems that I am lost, to the north of the village, is the city of Halks, to the east is a mountain range, and after that, it appears to be the sea, to the west, is a large forest, and most likely, the places that are most likely to be attacked, are corrupt from the south and from the west, passing through the forest, although it may look like an ordinary forest, on the map it shows that the forest is divided into 3 parts, the external part, which is the least dangerous animals, in the internal part, is the dangerous monsters, and in the part of the core of the forest, are the monsters that have acquired intelligence, or whether they are incredibly powerful, and dangerous, and I believe, it must be at least a part of the strength of the Beast empire, or part of some race connected with the Spirits, because only these two could be in a more remote place, and there is no knowledge of the normal public.

Going back around the village, in addition to the path that I came from the south, where it is a path with many fields, I would bet that the corrupt are coming more from the forest area, and something tells me, that something is happening inside, and for the mission, at least now I have somewhere to look.

If another wave of corruption is going to arrive in a minimum of 1 day and a maximum of 2 days from today, I will have to speak with Maia to send a team to investigate.

While I pay attention to the map, and explain to Maia the ideal place for the creation of defenses and traps, Leila went to inform some people about the collection of the material of the Iron Tree.

"Maia, the west side of the village is the most likely to be attacked, if people help us, we can make a moat around the village, starting from the east side, and at the same time, using the land to build a simple wall, just for archers to have a high point of support, we have enough wood to build a barricade to withstand attacks, and if combined with the traps that will be scattered along the way, we will have an easier time defending even greater numbers. "

"But I wonder, if you had attacks before, why didn't you think about building more resistant structures or improving the defense of the village, after all, I don't believe you're happy to be attacked all week. "

Upon hearing my words, with a slightly bitter expression on his face, Maia seems to have made up her mind about something, and looks at me as if coming to a conclusion.

"Yes, it's like you said, I already thought about fortifying the village, but there always seems to be no opportunity to put it into practice, there are always problems after problems, the attacks by the corrupt in this region were not so frequent, it started at about 1 a year and a half, shortly after I became the chief, the first corrupt people began to appear, attacking mainly the animals of the village, it was only one or two, and generally weeks and months went by without an attack, and we did not think there would be the need, more than a month ago, the attacks started to become more frequent, and to increase the numbers even more, not only corrupt humanoids, but there was also the arrival of corrupt monsters too, and it cost the lives of 6 residents in the last month, although I have taught them how to strengthen themselves, there is still a limit for those who learn to use mana after a certain age. "

"So, this month, we didn't have time to strengthen our defenses, because as soon as an attack was over, we had to repair the damage done, and there were always problems that delayed the start of construction. "

She looks at me again, with tears in her eyes ...

"No matter what I do, it never seems to be enough, my strength is not enough to protect everyone, my plans are not efficient, my decisions seem to always end up hurting those around me."

I look at her, it looks like she has an incredibly heavy burden on her shoulders, seeing those around her dying and not being able to save them, making decisions and not achieving the expected results, and that after losing her husband, taking care of daughter alone, adopt another girl, train the villagers, the death of acquaintances ... she also endured many things, and with the frequency of the attacks, the stress is tormenting her continuously, if she continues like this, she may even collapse mentally.

With tears already streaming down her face, she continues.

"Just yesterday, my decision to focus only on combat in one place, almost caused the death of the others that remained and they had to fight against an evolved one that brought another group of corrupt people from another direction, and worst of all, my daughter almost died in front of me and I couldn't do anything but look ... "

Looking at this woman who is always strong, with a heroic and brave aspect, shedding tears and exposing her fragile side in front of me, causes a tightness in my heart, like a man, there is only one thing I can do at a time like this.

I wrap her in my embrace, and due to the difference in height, I squeeze her tightly, as she starts to cry even harder than before, and hearing the sobs of this woman who looks so fragile in my arms, I can only try to comfort her with my warmth as I caress your long golden hair.

As I mumble that 'it's going to be okay', 'you did your best', 'it is okay to ask for help', 'you don't have to worry anymore'.

When I realize that the hiccups have subsided.

"Maia ..."

She looks at me with red eyes, but I look into her eyes and tell her.

"No matter what, always move on"

"If you feel guilty about something that happened, then work harder so it doesn't happen again, get stronger to protect those you love."

"As I walked around the village, I always listened to others, how good you were to them, they are always happy, they have enough food, even despite everything that has happened, they are still smiling and moving on"

"The one who made it possible, the one who gave them a good life, even in times like this, where we can die at any time, it was you Maia, you who helped them, you are the target of their gratitude, you taught them to defend themselves, gave them the ability to protect their homes, you who brought hope for this village to keep moving forward. "

"I don't know how many people you have seen die, but I know that everyone who is here and now in this village has been saved by you"

"So, go ahead, without giving up, because then, you will be able to see the fruits of your effort."

""...""

And again, the room becomes silent, with a man and a woman embracing, while looking at each other being bathed in sunlight that comes through the window, for those who look at this image, it could only describe in one word 'beautiful '...

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