The Secret of the Village Hidden in the Forest Part 2

Taking advantage of the darkness of the night, we walked through the trees towards the village. Julia's house is on the edge of the village and close to the forest, which is why Julia was able to sneak out without being noticed. The town is smaller than mine, making it easier for us to see the surroundings of the villa while we hide in the bushes. We can see many bandits scattered among the streets. Some are eating and drinking, and others standing guard at the exits or doing patrol. If we attack now, we could take them by surprise and probably take care of most of them, however, we could put the people they have kidnapped at risk. The best thing would be to wait for Ari to return and hopefully, she will have found where they have the hostages, then we can get into action. We took the same route that Julia used to escape, and after waiting for the perfect moment, one by one, we slipped through one of the windows of her house without being discovered.

"We did it!" Ryul said out loud.

"Lower your voice, Ryul," Shalia said, a little mad.

"S-Sorry."

"W-Who are you?" We hear the voice of a man.

When we turned to look in the direction of where we heard the voice, we saw a man with only one leg sitting, and behind him a small child.

"Father!" Julia spoke, "They come with me, they won't hurt us. They are adventurers from the capital sent to help us."

I was wondering why Julia would have gone out alone in search of help, but seeing the state of her father and knowing that her mother is one of the hostages, now I understand.

"Adventurers? They look too young... But... but even if they are adventurers, it will only happen the same as the other group. We need the help of the army or one of the great guilds." Julia's father continued with a look of anguish.

Ryul took two steps forward, "You're in luck old man! We are members of Midnight Dawn! One of the three great guilds."

"Kids like you? I-I don't believe you."

"What Ryul says is true," Shalia intervene, showing him her pocket watch, "We're here to help you and everyone in the village."

Julia's father made an astonished expression after looking at the watch, and then took the watch from Shalia's hand and began to analyze it.

"It doesn't appear to be a replica," He said after looking at the pocket watch for a while, "I had heard that Midnight Dawn was in trouble, but I didn't think they were so **** as to accept children."

"Stop calling us kids!" Ryul replied, "We are high-ranking adventurers!"

"Lucas, why are you here?"Julia said while walking to him.

The little boy who was hiding behind Julia's father ran to her with tears in his eyes.

"Lucas and his parents tried to escape." Julia's father spoke in a quiet voice, "Unfortunately, they were discovered, and Borak killed his parents. I managed to convince him to leave the child alive."

While Julia hugged the child who was crying, she asked her father, "Have you heard anything about mom?"

"...They don't tell us anything. They just repeat the same thing. That if we try to escape, they will kill the hostages and they did... To everyone who tried."

Julia's father turned to see us and with a serious expression said, "My name is Adam. I don't have much to offer, but if you rescue my wife and save this village, I-I will be eternally grateful."

"You can count on us," Shaila replied.

At the moment, we can only wait for Ari to return. Julia told her how to get to her house, so I hope she manages to find us safely. On the other hand, it was a good idea to come and investigate the village. We managed to see more or less how many bandits there are and where they are. Once Ari comes back with the information about the hostages, we can create a plan.

The small house is lit only by a couple of candles to try not to attract attention. We also try to speak in a low voice which lets us hear the voices and laughter from outside. Even though I'm not from here, hearing how they have fun despite what they are doing, is quite annoying. I don't even want to imagine what Julia and Adam are feeling while hearing them, or even the kid.

While we waited in silence, my attention was caught by the little boy who was holding a rather familiar book in his hands. It is one of the first books my mother bought for me. It is the story of the five goddesses and how they created us and saved us. It is perhaps the most common story that is told to young children. Even before I could read, my mother would read the story to me before I went to sleep.

In the beginning, the five goddesses created the earth and lived on it for a long time. After feeling lonely, the five goddesses decided to create more living creatures to accompany them, which were all the animals that exist or existed, and in the end, each one created a living being based on themselves, with their own characteristics and beliefs. From there, each of the five races were born.

The story tells that they lived in harmony for a long time until one day, an evil that came from a very distant place tried to destroy everything. The five goddesses fought for many years against the creature, and in the end, they defeated it and saved the planet. But the cost was high. After using all their energy, they could no longer remain in the place they built and defended until the end. Before returning to their place of origin, each goddess granted powers to certain of their descendants, to be able to defend their home in case another threat approaches. And it is they who are now known as adventurers.

I don't know if it's true or a lie, but it's a nice story.

After seeing Lucas looking at the book with a troubled face like he is having a hard time reading, I approached him. For a moment, he reminded me of myself, when I went through the same thing. However, my mother taught me how to read properly. It's a shame that he won't have that chance now that he's lost his parents.

"Do you know how to read?" I asked him.

"A-A little... my mother was teaching me."

"I see, and what do you think of that book? Do you like it?"

"Yes, but we didn't finish it. Before we could finish it, they..."

After accidentally reminding him of his parents, the boy began to cry.

"Do you remember in which part of the story you are? If it's okay with you, I can read the rest."

The boy nodded and after showing a small smile, he gave me the book and while we waited for Ari, I read to him a little.

"Lies!" Adam said out of nowhere.

"Excuse me!?" I asked confused.

"What the book says. They are just lies. It's just what they want us to believe."

"I-I'm not following? Who wants us to believe what?"

"The church, who else." Adam reply, "From a young age, we heard the story of the five goddesses, and everyone believes what they hear, but no one starts to question the veracity of what the church tells us."

"Is the church behind that book?"

"Of course! The church is behind practically all the narrative and how it is told. Always manipulating everything from the shadows."

I don't know where this all came from, but Adam looks pretty upset. Even I would say that his eyes show hatred. To be honest, I never questioned the veracity of that story, and I don't know much about the church either.

"If the story is true, how do you explain the demons? Or monsters? Where do they come from? How about the fairies? Beautiful creatures that are little known."

His questions seem crazy, but I have no answer for them.

"And what about your eyes? Those eyes shouldn't exist anymore."

His sudden comment on my eyes took me by surprise, "Eh? What do you mean?"

"They are the same red color that the 'princess of calamity' had and her entire bloodline to be exact. I'll give you a suggestion. I don't know why you have that color of eyes, and I highly doubt it has something to do with [Zrephia], but still stay away from the church. They don't care if your eye color is a coincidence. If it is something that bothers them or goes against their narrative, they will do whatever it takes to make you disappear." Adam then looked in the direction of his only leg, "I tell you from experience."

"What d..."

What Adam told me left me with many questions which I was about to ask when I heard the noise from one of the windows and shortly after Ari entered through it.

"Ari!" Shalia ran to hug her, "I'm so happy you are okay!"

"No problem!" Ari replied in a monotonous tone.

"Did you find the hostages?" Leona asked.

Ari smiled and lifted her chest, replied, "I did a good job!"

"So... you found them?" Ryul asked.

"They have a camp on the edge of the village near the river. The hostages are there, and so is that guy they call Borak."

"If Borak is out of the village, that means we can take care of the bandits here in the village and then surprise the camp," Ryul said.

"Bad idea, elf." Ari replied.

"WHAT? Why?"

"Borak communicates via telepathy with someone from the village. If we attack the village, he will alert him."

"You really did your research well," I said.

"Of course!" Ari replied once more smiling and lifting her chest.

It seems that Ari likes to be praised. But she deserved all the praises. It was a great idea for her to join us. She is the perfect complement to our team. Now with that information, we can come up with a plan.

"What about that Borak guy? Does he look strong?" Ryul asked.

"Obviously, stupid. He's at least twice your size and has muscle all over the place. If he hits you with his mallet, there won't be any trace of you."

So he uses a mallet as a weapon... He must have a physical class. I wonder what his rank is?

"Is the magician with him?" I asked.

"Mage? I didn't see a mage."

"There is definitely a mage." Julia told us, "It seems that he is one of the leaders too because the other bandits report to him as well as to Borak."

"Did you manage to see any of the group members who came before us?" Leona asked.

"Two of them are alive but very badly injured. If they don't receive treatment soon, I don't think they will last long."

"Only two..." Shalia said while looking at the floor, "In that case, we have to move soon."

"It's too late for that," Adam spoke.

"What are you talking about?" Leona asked him.

"The shift change is near. If you really want to take them by surprise, you should wait for it to happen."

As Adam said, after waiting for a few minutes from the windows, we could see the glow of the torches emerging from the forest, and at the same time, a group of bandits who were eating and drinking got up and went to the forest. It is difficult, but for a moment, I managed to see a man with the description that Ari told us of what Borak looks like.

"Now we can assume that Borak is in the village and the guy he communicates with telepathically is in the camp," Leona said.

"It seems," I answered.

After talking a bit more, we came up with a plan. With the directions that Ari gave us, Ryul and I will go into the forest and from a safe place, taking advantage of my good eyesight and hearing, I will try to find the guy who communicates with Borak and we will take care of him first to prevent him from alerting Borak and the bandits in the village.

I will leave my water summon in this place, and once we get rid of the bandit that uses telepathy, I'm going to cancel the summon, which will indicate to Leona and the rest that they can now go into action. From what Ari told us, there are fewer bandits in the camp. Between Ryul and I, we should be able to take care of them and free the hostages. Meanwhile, Leona and Shalia will get rid of the majority of bandits that are scattered through the streets, until Borak comes out. Once he is out, Ari will go inside the big house where he is staying and free the girls he has locked up while Leona and Shalia distract him.

If all goes well, Ryul and I will be back in the village to help against Borak. The only thing we have to be careful of is the mage since we don't know where he is.

"Did everyone understand the plan?" Shalia asked us, to which we nodded our heads, "This is our first quest, so let's do a good job and rescue the hostages and save this village." Shalia continued.

"Please be careful children." Adam told us.

"I already told you that we are not kids! And don't worry. We will bring your wife home." Ryul reply with a confident smile.

I summoned my water spirit as silently as possible. Seeing the creature shaped like a woman made of water surprised Julia so much that she fell to the floor, but Lucas next to her seemed amazed with a big smile.

Before jumping out the window, I heard Shalia say to us," Good luck!"

"Yeah, Be careful too," I replied.

Now it begins.