Edel and the girl he met were both walking thr streets of the city inside as it seemed so full of life yet so empty which made it so eerie and unsettling
"W-where is everyone?Where's salia?"I asked her
"I directed her to my hut to warm them up a bit " she said as she took me through a street that hard less and less house's until we reached the edge of the giant underground cave that houses the village where there were no houses and in a distance stood a singular house that was in a less than favorable condition than the others
"Is that where you live?"I asked her as she nodded
"Don't worry when you reunite with your friends I'll take you all to the chief of the village,you can talk to him about whatever business you have here"
"Thanks for helping us"I thanked her
"Oh it's nothing don't worry,I couldn't just leave someone behind
Especially a visitor"she said
I smiled as I introduced myself
"My name is edel"
She looked at me and smiled
"My name is gizo buki but you can call me buki"she introduced herself
I nodded
"Anyways,what's the deal with this place?it looks inhabited but so empty at the same time"
"Oh it's just that everyone is busy with their work so they didn't really notice it"
"Geez what kind of work is that?"I asked her
"You'll see once we enter my house"she said as she opened the door as we entered the hut but that wouldn't really fit its description
It was a forge
A small one but the heat inside was nothing to scoff at as just opening the door caused the snow around it to melt
The inside looked more well kept than the outside as it seemed to have all sorts of tools inside
But as I was inspecting it,buki shouted
"HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?!ITS DANGEROUS!!"she shouted while looking at the extremely hot fireplace
In it was Salia sleeping soundly in the middle of the molten rocks and fire while seraphina was wrapped in a blanket we brought for her not too far from the fire,around the halfway point between the door and the fire
I reassured her
"Don't worry,Salia is way more used to hot environments than you'd expect" I reassured her
She sighed
"Well if you say so"she said as I laughed to which salia woke up and noticed
"EDEL!!" She flew right at me into an enormous hug which I happily accepted
"Calm down girl,he's alright" said buki
"Don't worry that's how Salia hugs people,she gives people the biggest hugs "
She stayed like that for a while before getting off
"I knew you'd defeat those monsters"she said with a full smile on her face
I then felt someone tug on my leg as I looked to see it was seraphina who smiled as I picked her up
"Did you win?"
"I wouldn't be alive if that was all it took hehe" I responded
"Oh?someone's puffing out their chest again"said Salia as I realised i was acting too proudly
Buki giggled
"Well that's nice and all but I should take you guys to the chief,they should be out for now" she explained
Me and salia were both confused even if we knew she talked about the village,she seemed to know what we were confused about
"You'll see when we get there"she said as we looked at each other and shrugged
"Alright" said salia as we walked out of her hut and to our surprise
The village was now full of life with many people walking around as if they had been doing that the entire day and they all barely wore any clothes and all seemed to wear a blacksmith's outfit over of their pants or underwears
People seemed to look at our direction a lot even though they didn't seem to look at us specifically?
We arrived at a house that was noticeably larger than all the others with two guards in front
They looked at me and salia for a whild before staring at buki
"Yeah sorry,that's as far as I'll go,if you want to see me again you can come back to my hut"she said
"Alright!"said Salia
We turned to the guards who asked us
"What business do you have with our chief?"asked one
I searched in one of salia's backpacks and pulled out the announcement for the quest as verification
They looked at each other before they let us in
We walked in to find a large complex looking forge with an enormous fire on one side and a double bed on the other with the sound of iron hitting molten metal resonating throughout
There was a large man smacking a hammer against a blade,nothing out the ordinary except for the fact...
The sword was glowing a blue color,it also seemed to be cracked in very specific places,almost like it was carved
He then dipped the sword in a barrel of water but instead of steam coming out it was more water that started to overflow from the barrel
What emerged was a blue coloured sword with large characters written in it that was dripping with more water than it was dipped into
The man nodded,he turned around slightly before turning around to see us causing him to be surprised
"AH!!"he shouted as he immediately threw the sword in our direction as we both luckily dodged it as it pierced through the hardened house wall
I immediately put my hands up
"Calm down!we're here for the quest!"I shouted as Salia immediately pulled out the announcement
Seeing this the chief calmed down a little
"Oh?oh right
I apologise about that,i just didn't expect you guys to come in silently, given the entrance to our village"he explained
"Are you referring to the one at the very top of the mountain?"I asked him
"Yes,at our current situation it isn't the safest but it still works"he explained
"We took a shortcut here through a cave"said Salia
"Hm?only residents or people who have been here before know about that entrance though?did someone help you?"he asked
"Yes!a girl named buki did!" Said Salia
He had a strong inhale through his nose before a long exhale
"Her huh,well no matter,I guess we ought to speak about the current issue we're facing he said
I nodded,even though I kept a mental note to ask him about buki since she seemed to be a touchy subject especially considering what we saw on our way here
"So we heard there was a problem of bandits you needed help with right?"I asked
"Yes,we have been suffering constant attacks from bandits demanding that we give them all our stockpiled weapons that have been commissioned by the military of the atlantus empire" He mentioned
"Guess that conflict with the 72 pillared nation is more and more imminent huh"i said
"Yes"
"But I just saw the weapon you used and the ones you have hidden,they're crazy powerful so why not fight back?"she asked
"We have made it a rule within our community to never used the weapons of our village unless gifted
However most of the ones who could fight left the village due to how isolated they felt and they also didn't fear an attack on the village because of how difficult it is to get to without proper preparations and especially within large groups
There are only three people who can fight currently, two of them being the guards you just saw"he said
"But still,you guys still need to defend yourselves" said Salia
"You think we didn't try?we tried to take up weapons but already five of us were shot dead and ten are still unconscious
We are way too outnumbered and helpless" he said
"Well Don't you worry!me and Edel over here will deal with them like they're nothing and give you guys back your freedom!we may not look like it but we've fought dozens of gangs and giant monsters" announced Salia proudly as seraphina started clapping
The chief sighed a sigh of relief
"Well is it first okay for me to ask you a question?this may not have anything to do and more of a personal question"I asked the chief
"Well naturally of course" he said
"Well you see i recently noticed some sort of hostility towards the girl named Buki,is there a reason behind it?"I asked him
He started thinking to himself
"Well you already met her so I suppose it's a given
Buki is an outcast of the village,one that is not allowed to enter any store,or house such as this one?"
Salia immediately asked another question
"Why is that?"
"That is because
She is the villages greatest shame and the reason for its current predicament"
______________________
The plot thiccccens