Chapter 66 -- Sorry, I failed you

In a village not too far away from Willow city. About dozen men were seen walking into a large building, given it's size, it was most likely the village hall.

"Thank you all for coming" A man said as he stood up to greet the people inside the hall. There were more than 30 villagers, all of them men.

This man was also the only mage in the hall, however only being in the first rank. He was one of those people who absorbed mana cores and Cultivated just for a longer life.

"I called you all here so that we can discuss this issue. At this rate all our livestock will disappear in less than two weeks." The man said.

"What do you suggest we do then, we tried putting together all our money but it's still not enough" one of the men sitting in the front row said.

"Those stupid mages in Willow don't care about the people, all they want is money!" Another shouted, this one seemed a little drunk.

"Hey you're a mage aren't you. Why don't you take care of it yourself?" the first man said, pointing at the man standing in front.

"As i said before, I am what is known as a rank one mage. I am the weakest of all the mages out there, meaning I am only a little bit stronger than you" The man explained.

He had enjoyed being known as the strongest man in the village, he was also very knowledgeable when it came to Cultivation, sometimes even being hired to teach the children.

However this time he had to tell the truth otherwise the villagers might just send him to his death.

"So what was your plan then huh?, for us to pool together our money to make you strong enough to deal with the situation?" One of the men in the second row scoffed. He had shoulder length hair.

The man in front narrowed his eyes. This man has always been a pain in his neck the past few weeks. To make matters worse this man went to hunting school, just like himself so he wasn't as clueless as the others.

The man standing in front was more annoyed by the fact that this man was right, his plan was to raise his rank with the villager's money, then when he becomes at least a rank two mage, take care of their problem, becoming the village hero.

"Well since you're obviously objecting to that idea do you have any better idea" The man in front asked with crossed arms.

The long haired man in the second row sighed "I don't have any better idea, but what I know is that we aren't gonna give you our hard earned money, and I'm sure my brother's agree with me" he said, standing up and looking around the room.

The other men all nodded their heads in agreement. They might not be educated, but they do know that just giving away money wasn't smart.

"Then how about my other idea" The man in front said as he noticed that his first idea was not going to work anymore.

"What other idea?" the long haired man asked. He was still standing and had somewhat gained the trust of the others. He was the only educated one here excluding the mage and was in this village for a long time, so everyone trusted him.

"We band together and do it ourselves" the man in front said. Everyone else in the other room was shocked at first but after seeing the thoughtful expression on the long haired man's face they began to think it was possible.

"I think it's best we have a vote" the long haired man said.

The mage in front sighed "Fine, all those in favor---"

"No wait we'll do it tomorrow, we still have to talk to our families, this isn't something we can just decide on our own" the man stopped the mage.

The mage was once again irritated by this man. 'He's now acting like the village chief!' he thought in contempt.

The village chief had died about a week ago when the mountain lions arrived at his farm. He couldn't sit by and watch his livestock get slaughtered so he took his spear and charged at them alone.

Needless to say the chief was brutally killed by the lions, but not before killing two of them. That's when the villagers pooled their money and sent it to the Willow City Hunter's Guild, asking for assistance.

However their money was returned with a note saying that the gold wasn't enough for their hunters to go around chasing animals. 

Ever since the village chief died, his son the mage, had taken over that position. Both because he is the previous chief's son and also because he is the strongest man in the village.

After the long haired man said that they will vote the following day, everyone nodded and began walking out without waiting for the previous chief's son to dismiss them, further infuriating him.

The long haired man also left the hall, he saw that the mage wanted to talk to him, but he just ignored him and walked away. He didn't have time to listen to the rants of a spoilt mage.

The long haired man slowly walked to his carriage and started his journey home, his farm was located around five hundred meters from the village center.

This was a distance he could easily walk to but he had been to town to sell his wheat the same morning when he heard about the meeting. The previous chief's son hadn't even bothered to send anyone to tell him about the meeting.

It didn't take long for the man to reach his farm. It covered about 200 square meters of fields and 100 square meters of pastures for his remaining cows, horses, pigs and sheep.

Parking his carriage in the barn he walked to the house to find his wife waiting at the door. 

"You took longer that I expected" she said as he hugged her husband.

"Yeah you wouldn't believe what William did" the man sighed. William was the name of the mage, the previous chief's son.

"What happened?" the woman asked concerned. She even started looking around the man's body for any injuries.

She knew the beef between her husband and William.

"I'm not hurt, let's head inside and i will tell you about it" the man smiled, seeing how his wife cared for him.

The couple went into the house and sat down to a cup of tea as the man told his wife about the meeting and everything that was said.

"I can't believe he wanted to keep you out" The woman shook her head, clearly annoyed by William's conduct.

"Yeah but in the end I was there, and it's a good thing I was. I don't know what kind of stupidity he would have convinced everyone to do if I wasn't" The man chuckled.

"WEEEEH!" A baby cry suddenly erupted from the other room and the woman ran to the room before coming back with a baby in her arms.

"It's okay Zaylee, mommy's here go to sleep" the woman said softly and in no time at all the baby fell asleep once more.

The man noticed how his wife was looking at their daughter, he could almost see the tears building up in her eyes.

"It's not gonna happen again" he said.

"But the hair, it's the same" the woman said looking at the baby's snow white hair.

"Olivia, Zaylee is not like Zane, they just have the same hair color that's it" Owen consoled.

Olivia nodded as a tear escaped her eyes, thinking of her son always made her cry.

"I miss him" she mumbled.

"I know, I miss him too" Owen hugged his wife as they thought of their son.

Owen blamed himself for letting Zane go. Because of him Zane was most likely dead. He knew how cruel the world outside their village was but he still let his blind son venture out alone.

'Im sorry i failed you my son' the thought, a tear escaping his own eye.