NOVPUBChapter 467: Village
The men exchanged looks amongst themselves. Most turned to the scarred man, waiting for him to speak. A few were casting lecherous gazes toward Breta and Essie. It made me frown, but they were mortals, after all. I suppose that was to be expected.
I looked at Breta, who had a bored expression, and then Essie, who had a thoughtful look. The men began to whisper in hushed voices, and the mood quickly turned awkward.
"Ah!" It was Essie's high-pitched voice that broke the tension.
All eyes turned to her as she pointed at the scarred man and spoke, "You guys are from the previous King's army!"
Her words silenced the group, and I saw their leader give a subtle nod to one of his men. Amused, I watched as four men pulled out their blades and rushed toward me to kill. There was no hesitation in their movements. One aimed for my head, another for my heart, and the last two for my stomach.
Breta and Essie were standing behind me. So, they were not immediately targeted.
The first sword hit my head with a clang, causing my disguise to ripple like water. The other strikes followed right after. By the time the last attack came, my disguise shattered, and my massive form revealed itself before them.
The four men who launched the attack had their eyes and mouths wide open in shock and disbelief. Two collapsed to the ground in fear.
"M-Monster!"
"W-What the-"
A sigh escaped my mouth, and I shook my head. My cosmic mana shot back almost instantly, and my four assailants disappeared. There was no blood, no screams, nothing. Their bodies simply vanished.
The man, whom I assumed was their leader, was smart enough to retreat the moment he saw my real form. The others were not. Some collapsed in fear, while others started screaming. Their little group quickly descended into chaos.
I looked back at Breta and Essie, who were standing a short distance away from me. My massive size dwarfed both of them.
'Well, since it came to this. They attacked first.'
I shook my head. I wasn't any better than Essie, it seemed. With a wave of my claw, the dark meadow turned silent. Only one man remained, their leader.
The man was patting himself in disbelief. I didn't blame him. He was running away quite fast, only to find himself teleported back in front of me.
With his body visibly shaking, the man pointed at me and spoke, "W-What are you?!"
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His small size was almost comical compared to mine, and so I glanced at Essie and spoke. "The disguise broke."
"I can see that, brother," she said and shook her head before she summoned her mana once more.
My body morphed and shrank under the man's shocked gaze before I stood at two feet. "You forgot the shoes again."
"Ah!"
Once she materialized those, I nodded in satisfaction.
"The disguise is not meant to stay on when you get stabbed, brother!" Essie complained.
"That was my fault. It was amusing to see them attack. I honestly forgot to stop them."
"Please be more careful. You can't do that when we are in the city," Essie added.
I raised my brow in surprise. 'Would you look at that? I'm the one getting lectured now.' I smiled and nodded.
Turning my attention to the man who had collapsed on his bum, I asked, "Who are you?"
"I-I," He began to stammer.
I approached and squatted right before him, "You don't want me to repeat myself now, do you?"
He subconsciously shook his head.
"Good, so? Who are you, and what are you doing here?"
"I-I'm, my name is Theodor, I was a Knight under King Talon,"
"Theodor," I said and nodded.
My eyes looked for Essie, "I'm assuming King Talon is the one you helped dethrone?"
Essie scratched her head with a thoughtful look before she nodded, "I think that was his name."
Her words caused the Knight to gasp. His finger shook as he pointed at her, "Y-You! I-It's you!"
"Hmm? Do you know her? That's silly of me. Of course, you do."
"Hahahaha," the man suddenly fell on his back and began laughing hysterically.
I looked at Breta for help, but she merely shrugged, "You broke him."
"Me? If anything, it's probably because of Essie."
Essie didn't argue and instead lowered her head with a bashful smile.
I cast the man one final look, "Hello, Theodor," I called out and waved my hand in front of his face, but the man did not react. He continued laughing with a glazed look in his eyes.
"Ah, well," I sighed and stood up.
"What do you want to do with him?" Breta asked.
"What's there to be done? He attacked us first," I shook my head.
"Hmm," Breta nodded and waved her hand. The man's body burst into a bright golden color. His crazed laughter turned silent. Once the light was gone, so was the Knight. Nothing was left, neither him nor his armor or sword. It was as if he never existed in the first place.
"Let's go," Breta spoke.
"Okay."
Essie quickly hopped next to me, "Aren't we going to rest? Mortals sleep at night, you know?"
"I know, but I'd rather make it to a village or a town first. There's not much around here after all."
Essie smiled, "It's more fun in the capital."
"Speaking of which, just what did you do in there? How come that man was terrified of you?"
Essie awkwardly scratched her head, "I-It wasn't anything bad," she said but did not elaborate.
Part of me screamed that whatever it was, it was bad. 'I guess we'll find out when we reach there.'
We continued on our way throughout the entire night. Come morning, we finally saw the first traces of civilization. Golden fields extended on both sides of the road, along with farms.
Essie happily waved at the farmers working as we passed by. Her adorable looks caused most of them to stop and smile while waving back at her. Once past the farmlands, we reached our first village.
It had no walls to protect it, no guards even. The village was quite small, just a few dozen wooden houses built next to each other. With me taking the lead, we walked right to it.
It didn't take long before we reached the village center, where a well was situated. A few women pumping water looked at us strangely and started whispering among themselves. The smell was horrible, a mixture of animal manure and something else.
"It's pretty small," I noted.
"We are still a distance away from the capital," Essie nodded.
"Well, let's find someplace to eat first."
