Special Chapter XXI - Mayena Village (part 1)

Seeing how I can walk again, they allowed me to tour around the village.

Before we left for a tour, Lyona gave me my ring back. Apparently she kept it safe and hidden, just in case. Of course, I thanked her after putting it on. I checked the contents on the ring, and everything seemed to be there.

Everyone gave me time to prepare, so I switched to a brand new casual outfit, one which I bought thinking that something like this might happen. When I bought it, I thought it was impossible for a situation like this to come true. But even if there's the slightest chance it might happen, I should be ready for it.

And guess what. I ended up using it.

I wore these new casual clothes and headed out. I met up with Lyona and everybody else at the door. I also had replaced the bandages that were previously covering my hands and legs into a new one, one that stayed on my hands permanently and won't fall off easily. 

I might need to get some long armed clothes later, or maybe just a pair of super long gloves and socks.

Everyone from the village somehow came to see me, and they all waited outside the hospital building. They all looked at me like some sort of hero, and they glared with starry eyes.

Lyona told me they all wanted to thank me for my sacrifice. I felt touched, I really do. But in the end, it's something that anyone can do, and I don't particularly feel special about it.

After leaving them, we went to the beach where we had a more private conversation.

"So... Everyone in this village is... the rebels?"

I asked them, and Gajah shook his head.

"We don't call ourselves 'rebels'. Welcome to the village of Mayena."

Gajah answered as he stared at the village from his position. I followed his gaze, and noticed that this view is actually fine.

There's a tall hill at the side of the village, covered with caves and other rocky figures. The hills were almost covered in green leaves and grass, making the distant scene to be fully green with a few gray stone spots.

It's a fine spot to see the village. With that kind of background, anyone will think that the village is on a mountain or something.

"Mayena... Why that name?"

I was quite intrigued, so I asked ahead. I didn't really give it thought about the answer, that is why Gajah answered coldly at me.

"That's my name."

"Oh…"

I was very close to saying the name sounded ugly, but thank god I didn't.

Gajah began the tour by showing me around the beach first. They had a dock made out of wooden fences, so even the kids can learn to fish from the docks. There are also boats for the fishermen to fish on the sea, which is probably going to be the main job here.

After the beach, Gajah showed me around the village buildings. This is more like a town than a village, because of how complete it is. They had a town hall, a hospital, and a storage building where they kept their stuff. 

It's definitely not a village, but how traditional it is made it looked like a village.

"We are still new at this, so for now the buildings are... quite traditional."

"Right. Because you can just remove everything later and replace it with something more modern, once things are quite stable."

"... You are quick to catch."

"I had my fair share of planning."

More like my fair share of playing city simulator games.

The villagers (or townspeople) mostly work as gardeners. They had fruit farms, as well as wheat and paddies. Since food is the most important in establishing a town/village, that's why most of them work as a food source worker.

"How... long has this village been here?"

I asked Gajah, and he looked quite confused. The reason why I asked, is because how long this village has been here simply means how long I was out. 

He pondered for a while, and gave me an answer.

"A little bit around two weeks."

"I see…"

I was out for two weeks.

For one week, I was floating around on the ocean. And somehow, the waves took me here and I was unconscious on that bed for another week.

How long has it been since I left the kingdom? A month?

I shook my head as my body tried to remember the time. I scratched the bandage on my hand so I can forget about the ache in my chest.

Gajah somehow understood the uneasy expression I'm having. He patted me in the shoulder, and gave me a thumbs up.

"Everything worked out in the end. Everything is fine."

Somehow, I just needed to be reminded of that. I chuckled and threw his hand off my shoulder.

"Right, I'm okay now. Thanks."

Gajah was quite confused, but he is glad that I'm no longer worried about something. I began walking towards the hills that were almost covered in trees, leaving him at the side of the village.

"I'll be moving around a bit. Is there anything I should know?"

"Come back before dark. We will have a campfire meeting later."

I nodded at him before jumping away.

This area seemed to be quite closed off. It's in the edges of a mountainous area. I went all the way to the top of the mountain, and saw the view in front of me.

Far-far away, on the right side from the town, is one large city that was hidden under the mountain. The city had a bunch of tall towers that went all the way up until the top of the mountain. Some even made their structures on top of the mountain.

One name popped up in my head as I stared at that city very far away in front of me.

"Balenia."

The wind breeze arrived in my position, throwing my hair into chaos. It was at that very moment that I felt incredibly annoyed again.

After wandering around the mountains for a bit, I spotted some wild animals. One of them is a wild deer.

"A source of food, huh?"

I have never eaten deer meat before, and I heard only rich people ever eaten one. I'm always quite interested in how deer meat tasted, especially with my barbeque sauce that I invented.

But before I headed down, I sensed some presence around.

This place isn't that far from the town, but it is kind of in the middle of the forest. How did someone get here?

I moved closer to see, and apparently, those are hunters. There are three of them, two males and one female. And judging from their traditional weapons and attire, I'm guessing they are from the village.

The hunters kept their eyes fixed on the target. A deer, of all animals! They are very hard to hunt, and tasted very good!

The male called for the female hunter, signalling her to prepare the shot. No sound must be made, because it might scare the deer.

The female hunter moved in closer, and watched the deer's movements. The deer knew that something was up, and it turned its gaze towards them. She was about to pick up an arrow when a voice came from behind them.

"Are you guys from the village?"

"""Huaaa!!"""

Somehow, I scared them. 

Ah… There goes the deer.

"Y-You are... the hero..."

"Hero?"

The hunters all looked at each other, and the female spoke again.

"You were the one who created the giant crater."

"Crater?"

I looked confused, but they are even more confused. I turned my gaze back to where the deer was, and they also noticed the deer running away.

"Ah, the deer is getting away."

"It's... fine, really. I thought we could have everyone eat the deer meat for tonight's campfire..."

"Wait, wait, wait… So the deer meat you guys were hunting… was for everyone to eat?"

"Y-Yeah. You think we are going to keep it for ourselves?"

My eyes must be shining, because they somehow looked even more confused.

If they are for everyone, then that means I get to have some as well. Maybe I can try out the barbeque recipe for myself, and maybe give the recipe to them so they can make it for me.

It's a win-win situation. A tasty one, too.

"Stay right here."

I said to the three of them and leaped towards where the deer was. It only took a second before I disappeared between the trees.

"She is... fast..."

"Yep. She is the hero, alright."

"Will she be okay? I mean with all those bandages around her..."

The female turned to the one who asked the question.

"Well, the fact that she is walking around with those bandages shows how strong she is. Don't you get it?"

"Ah... right."

The hunters heeded my words, and they waited for quite a while. Three minutes later, I came back with a deer on my back.

That's right. Hundreds of kilograms worth of deer. The hunters could only watch in shock as I carried the dead deer on my back.

"Erm, I kinda killed it using a dull sword, if that's... okay with you guys..."

They looked at the sword on my hand, and it looked ugly in comparison to their tools. They know that I am being humble, and they quickly approached me.

"It's fine, it's fine!! Are you sure you can lift it like that? I mean, you are injured and all..."

The female asked me worriedly, but I simply shook my head while grinning.

"No, no. These bandages were there to cover my very ugly skin. My body is completely fine-"

KUUURRKKK!!!!....

Ah… shit, that was just shameful.

My stomach yelled so loudly, that they quickly smiled from feeling sorry. I chuckled while turning my gaze away.

"And... very hungry, apparently."

"Ah! Then let's go back to the village!"

They still called it a village…