Sunrise in Sunless Village

The shop owner's face scrunched up before showing his displeasure at the accusation. "Slander! Slander! What is this talk about fake goods? You come all the time to buy fake goods? Where is our friendship and trust Madam Melody?" He rebuked greatly.

Despite expressing his thoughts, the shop owner still wrapped up a tube containing violet liquid about the size of an adult's finger length with twice the width.

"Hey! I have seen it all now, a grandma injecting her grandson with poison. Grandma, out of curiosity, why you hate him so much?" After hearing the amused voice, Brigan saw a man reading through a magazine while shifting through items on the shelves.

On closer inspection, the cover had a woman looking innocent and a hand raised in an attempt to lift her shirt. Brigan's face grew hot before he started questioning why the man carried a magazine. It was an unusual sight considering he'd yet to see any electronic devices present.

"Honey is Honey! What I buy is what I buy! Honey, ignore them both. This time, the God Gene Formula will succeed." She said, clenching one of her hands nervously.

The magazine guy just laughed while leaving the shop. But before he stepped out entirely, he gave a last remark of entertainment. "Hehehe! That boy is a dead kid walking."

Brigan who remained quiet didn't know how he should go about leaving unnoticed. Out of politeness, he didn't want to break it to the woman that he wasn't her dead lover, but he also didn't want the woman wasting her money on a misunderstanding.

In the end, his morals won. "Excuse me, Mrs. Melody, you don't need to buy anything. This is all a misunderstanding." He said as polite as possible.

However, his plans went downhill as the shop owner refused to lose an easy sale. "Here Madam Melody. Your honey will greatly appreciate this one. I guarantee this is the best God Gene Formula my shop can offer." He said quickly, shooting a glared in Brigan's direction.

Don't mess this up for me little punk!

Brigan could feel black lines forming. What was wrong with these people?

Soon after, the item got thrust into his hands as Melody, and the shop owner entered a heated debate on what was fake and what was real. Determining the duo was crazy, he speedily left the shop and his morals along with it.

Anything to get out of there!

"Wait up kid!" The magazine guy yelled. He stopped in front with his eyes roaming around in search of something. Spotting the God Gene Formula, he shook his head before shrugging his shoulders. "You're hopeless."

At this point, Brigan was fed up with the recurring intrusions. "Who are you? Are you stalking me?"

The magazine guy waved his hand in the negative before speaking again. "Just some advice to a kid from an adult here." He said boastfully, pointing a thumb to his chest with a wide smirk.

"What do you want?" Brigan said annoyed. He could only guess that some people couldn't read the mood and tell when they weren't wanted.

"You don't look to know that grandma right? My advice is to discard that thing she gave you. In the past, she used to give the same thing to her husband all the time. With time, every dose cost the man exceedingly. First, the man lost his ability to speak, then his sight, legs, hearing, and it just kept going. Take my word kid; her nickname here is Crazy Music because she sang songs as he died slowly." The magazine guy giggled a few seconds further and then left after tearing a page from the magazine and stuffing it inside his pants pocket.

From everything he saw, Brigan had learned one truth, everybody except for Elber was insane.

Wanting to end the night early, he began searching for job opportunities. The faster he got his debt money, the quicker he could retire from the insanity known as Sunless Village.

With hours going by, he failed to find anything. The employers all wanted a citizen or a long term employee. Neither were good options for him to choose.

And as those hours continued to progress, the time for daybreak was fast approaching. Before long, he observed people rushing home. There wasn't just the typical pace of walking fast or easy strides. Instead, some were full blown sprints. Even shop owners were closing their stall or store.

The villagers were leaving as if their lives were in jeopardy. Amidst the small panic, two men were being glared at by the remaining people. Accusing and resentment faces spread across the crowd.

The tens of lightly armored men stood in close proximity, showing the two men were extraordinary people. Of the two, one covered his upper face while the other covered the lower section.

And during this time, the one that wore a white robe and mouth mask begun shouting to the villagers. "Leave quickly!!! I repeat!!! Leave quickly!!! Sunrise is coming!!!" A strong concern and great weight of anguish were in his shout.

One could tell from his desperation that he had lost innumerable to whatever crisis occurring. The man with a regal air then turned, addressing the man wearing brunt-red clothes and an upper face mask. "Protect the inside like usual. This time, I won't allow any to slip pass."

Nodding, the brunt-red clothed man's right arm trembled before he stopped it with his left. "Don't let your habit hinder the villagers' safety." The regal man continued saying after catching the twitch.

Once seeing another affirmative, the regal man took the scattered armored men and departed toward the village's gate.

Seeing the scene, Brigan also noticed people whispering words of criticism. They blamed the man for failing to completely stop the monster intrusions despite him being a False Demi.

Learning more, he was able to grasp that the regal man was the village leader. Furthermore, every sunrise a monster invasion would occur. While fighting with all his might, there were always a few to slip pass and enter through the gate.

When this happened, those still roaming around the village during daylight hours would be found dead. Brigan didn't agree with their view of blaming. If the monsters were as strong as the one he met, it was already a miracle that the village leader could hold an invasion back.

Once more, the one protecting the inside was the other man, further making their accuses redundant. Now knowing the reason why Elber asked him to return before daybreak, Brigan could no longer keep that kind of promise.

Possessing his level of strength, he should have some measures of killing or stalling any monster that came until help arrived.

Having decided, he took the next few hours searching for monsters or any trailing villager in sight. If a monster appeared, he was determined to slay it. If a villager was spotted, he was obliged to help them home.

As he followed this course, he heard shouting. "Honey!!! Honey, where are you!!!" The voice appeared to be the old woman Melody. Failing to see him after he left, she began searching the area.

Now at the light of day shine brilliantly, she was still looking in vain. This was the scene Brigan saw upon arriving near the shout.

"Honey, I find you!!!" Brigan sweatdropped at her claim. The truth was that he had found her instead.

"Mrs. Melody..." he said, trailing off with a forced smile. But before she could respond, a swift shadow closed in on her, faltering any words produced. Next, oxygen finally entered Melody's lungs before she let it out just as fast as it came. "Ahhhh!!!" She screamed shrilly.

The monster had swiped down.