The scorching sun that brought the great kingdom of Moorwick to heels with its infernal heat has finally began to slumber and with it came the spiriting wind of the night. Dawn had come and Selene’s party has at last arrived at Lafras. I hope Noyl’s alright. Selene meticulously gazed at the crimson sun drowning in the golden horizon, all while thinking about how they abandoned Noyl.

After a brief three days journey, the party was finally able to walk inside of Lafras, and enough to say, it was even worse than Selene could have imagined. The shacks and houses were small, with holes all over their walls and roof; human blood and animal feces, or the other way around, lay splattered all over the narrow road and swarmed with flies and maggots, to which Selene had to carefully tiptoed her way through to not stain her newly bought leather-boots. There were barely any people in the village, the very few that were there were all male, either old, drunk, or children. Their clothes all tattered and stained with their own makings; their slender body, to the point of exposing their bones, buried in bruises and cuts; their expression sullen and their eyes sunken like dead men.

“Well look at that. This is one heck of… a village…” sardonically said Wilken as he shielded his nose from the putrid stench of blood and wastes “There’s dead people there… and there-” said Wilken, as he then stepped on something that made a squash sound “-and here.”

Eeeeek! Selene shrieked, with her face turned purple and her legs trembled with each passing step. The stench was strong and heavy on her nose, like old cheese and spoiled meat. Despite having killed a few beasts, such as grey wolves and giant vultures for the past three days, the sight and stench of human cadavers were the only one that was capable to make Selene squinted her eyes, as they redden and turned teary.

“Are you alright, girl?” Amelia kindly asked. Unlike Selene and Wilken, she was composed and mindful of her surrounding, sidestepping the bodies, all while bowing and empathizing with the bystanders.

“I’m fine…” Selene gulped and straightened her stance, trying to overcome her fear.

“If you’re going to be stronger, you must get use to sight like this.” said Amelia, to which Selene only lightly nodded then forced her eyes open and embraced the sight “That’s a strong girl.” Amelia tenderly stroked Selene’s head, getting her golden mane all messy, but Selene didn’t care much just because it was Amelia who did it.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN LEAVE?”

Both Selene and Amelia veered to the familiar scream and found Wilken seemingly in a heated discussion with an old man sitting on a stool in front of his shack.

“You’re still young and strong. So I’m just going to say this one more time for your sake. Leave.” the old man leered at Wilken, despite being frail and a head shorter than Wilken, even more so since he’s sitting; his glare and composure never wavered even for a second.

Wilken on the other hand was sweating profusely, his forehead burning up and with veins popping everywhere. “Listen here you old fuck! Do you know how long it fucking took for me to arrive here? And now you’re fucking telling me to leave! Bring the money out then, as compensation for my fucking wasted time!” Wilken furiously shouted and tore the wanted poster to shred in front of the old man, but he still wasn’t faltered.

“This isn’t the first-time proud adventurers have tried to catch the bandits… but I guess that just means your pride are worth dying for, if that’s the case then I’m in no right to stop you.” the geezer shakily stood up from his seat “The bandits pillage the village most nights, if they are to today, then they should be here soon. The wanted poster you showed me was rather old, ever since then their number has reduced to around five men. Their leader however is still amongst the survivors. Barenn his name is. Ruthless, lustful, and greedy; with him as their head, they pillaged the village nightly, stealing our food, our clothes, our wife and daughters-” his voice broke mid-sentence, and his ancient body began to tremble for the first time since they’ve talked

Amelia rushed in and bowed in front of the lonely man “Thank you. That is more than enough. We will handle the rest from now.” Amelia promised the geezer.

Hearing that, the old man steadily stopped shaking and slouched towards his shack. He feebly opened the door, and as he was half-way in his small, rundown and poorly lit home, he spun his head back once more for the young adventurers “I just want you all to know, I am not against you. A lot of young and kind people have come and died and worse. Every time one disappears, another takes their place. And when the cycle repeats… there’s only so much this old, feeble heart could handle.” Despite the rising night, Selene caught glimpse of a trace of tear sliding down his cheek “I thank all of you brave souls regardless of the outcome, and may God bless valor onto your burning spirits.”

With the wooden door shut and the old man vanished in the shadow, Selene’s stood speechless, her heart beat loudly and violently, the vibration echoed throughout her body, as her pupils stared aimlessly, and her mouth breathed uncontrollably. She has finally understood the weight she bore when she accepted this quest; this was a matter of life and death for many people including herself. She gulped relentlessly just thinking about it.

“Stop shaking!” Wilken unexpectedly slapped Selene’s back “How the hell are you gonna swing that sword if you’re acting like a wet cat?” winked Wilken

I can’t believe I’m being consoled by this guy out of all people. Selene sighed, being ashamed of herself, but in a way, Wilken’s words have helped her a little as she has stopped trembling “Thanks-”

HELP!!

A woman moan from a few houses away interrupted their conversation.

The three wasted no time and stormed towards the call for help. As Selene ran, finally overcoming and ignoring the putrid waste on her path, she unconsciously glanced over the sides from time to time, and noticed that all the remaining villagers have disappeared and all the shacks, while hard to make it from her eyes lone, she could see faint candle flames through their crevices and broken windows Good. It’d be better that they’re inside when the bandits arrive. thought Selene as she sped up, catching up to Wilken and Amelia who’s unexpectedly almost as fast as him despite being a sorceress.

Following the desperate wail, the three ended up to the front entrance of the village, and in front of them lay a woman in a her white bedgown, continuing to scream for help as she was pinned down to the dirt by a bald, brutish man holding a dagger. Stop fucking shouting, you bitch! said the bald man as he grinned his teeth

“Get your dirty palms off her, you bald son of a bitch.” Wilken was the first to step up and unsheathed his longsword “I’m not much of a thinker but I’m pretty sure you’re one of the fuckers we’re looking for.” said Wilken as he gradually stepped in closer with a smug look. Judging from Wilken’s face, he probably thought his entrance and catchphrases made him seem heroic, but to Selene he looked less of a hero and more of a conceited dunce.

“Fuck.” The bandit cursed. With Wilken only a few steps away from them, the bald brute cowardly pulled the woman’s hair back, promptly lifting her head up and pressed his dagger against her throat as the woman wailed in pain. “Put down your fucking sword and belongings if you don’t want me to rinse the dirt with her blood. Same goes for all of your lady friends!” the bandit grinned as he stretched the poor woman’s head back further

Please… help me… the woman feebly murmured

This fucking bastard. cursed Selene as she looked over to Wilken, waiting his acts.

Wilken stopped in face of the bandit and lowered down his sword arm. His eyes engulfed by shadow as the atmosphere surrounding him thickened. His aura has once again changed. From where she stood, Selene couldn’t tell what sort of facade Wilken was pulling this time but judging from the pale and shivering one on the bandit’s face, it must have been terrifying. “Fine by me.” said Wilken in a solemn fashion

WHAT? both the bandit and the woman said at the same time but only the man managed to finish his sentence, as without a shred of hesitance, Wilken ardently pierced his blade through the woman’s skull. The blow was so fierce that the tip of the sword reached pass the other side of her skull, with blood beginning to flow out from both entrances, reddening the bandit’s arm and Wilken’s boots.

“What the fuck. Wilken-” Selene shouted but was halted early by Amelia. She was furious but decided to trust Amelia and stayed back.

AHHHH! The bandit screamed as he tossed the body aside and leaped himself back, his face trembled and his pupils bounced all over the place when he stared at Wilken.

Then without even battering an eye, he stomped on the woman’s head and forcefully yanked his embedded sword out of her face. “Fuck that was hard to do. Well now’s your turn.” He pointed the blood-covered and brain-wrapped blade at the bandit and steadily marched towards the bandit.

The bandit hastily crept backwards, his legs seemed to have given up on him, his face was a mess, tears and snots everywhere as he wail out incomprehensible pleas to Wilken Please, spare me! he kept crawling without looking back until he eventually banged himself against a shack’s wall. “Please spare, me.” with no other choices or escape routes, the bald man hastily knelt on all four and rose his head up, face and in tears, begging Wilken for mercy.

As if the words didn’t even reach his ears, Wilken’s mouth stayed shut, and with one arm, he brought his sword to shoulder-height and tilted it flat. Then, as if he was cutting butter, Wilken effortless swung his sword across the horizon, from one side to the other. Unlike the previous blow, this slice was lightning-fast and precise, the bandit’s head slid off his neck and onto the ground, still with the same moaning expression he had before dying. Not a single sound nor mess was made through the slash only afterwards where blood started to drip like a fountain of red wine. Selene and Amelia have finally made their way to Wilken though he didn’t seem to notice them. Standing on the side, Selene finally saw his face; his eyes coated in thick blood and his once handsome and cheerful face, stood blank and expressionless, in spite of just taking away two lives, as he knelt down and wiped the gore off his blade with the headless bandit’s shirt. From up close, Selene’s eyes were captivated on Wilken’s sword, it was a longsword and required both arms to wield it but Wilken just casually used one to kill his victims; aside from how worn out the grip was, everything else from the blade to the scabbard was rather standard; swords like that could be found in any weapon store, but yet for some reason such a simple blade felt so powerful and enchanted in Wilken’s hand, an adventurer’s hand. Is this what it takes to be an adventurer? thought Selene as she woefully looked down her heels and shadow loomed over her head.