My hand shot to my forehead, making me realize that I couldn't feel my wound anymore. Had it healed? But that wasn't possible... Ughh, better get out of this forest or I might morph into it.

To my surprise, I didn't need to walk 50 meters away before encountering a village. Maybe my luck hadn't gone all away after all. I walked down the dirt path leading to the small houses down the hill. The residence were made of wood and stone, followed by beautiful plantation of flowers by their base. Despite the town being mildly crowded, the lodges seemed big enough.

As soon as I set foot in the village though, I noticed how people started looking at me. They whispered words of malice towards each other while looking at me. I mean, I knew that my looks would stir up some trouble among the ladies, but to the point where they looked down at me? 

I passed next to them and ignored them. Their hostility were none of my business and none of my concern. Instead, I concentrated in looking for a place where I could gather information on that book. I noticed in the distance a tavern, which to me seemed like the most knowledgeful place in this town. I didn't waste any time and walked down the dirt path that led to the building.

It's exterior was as expected of a tavern, a wooden balcony welcomed by two giant windows next to the entrance. Music could be heard coming from outside the place, along with laughters and people talking. I took in a deep breath as I made my way up the three sets of stairs leading to the balcony before pushing the door at the entrance open.

There wasn't a lot of people inside compared to what I thought earlier outside. Despite the small number, it felt like milions of eyes were set on me right now. Even the bartender, who was talking to a customer when I walked in, had stopped to look at me. It made me a little anxious, but I tried ignoring them. 

I approached the wooden counter and the few pair of eyes that were previously on me returned to their occupations. It made me sigh out of relief.

"What can I get ya today, young knight?" the bartender leaned over the counter, giving me a small smile.

"Um, I was wondering if you had information on a book..."

The bartender looked at me funny before he laughed and started cleaning the counter with his dirty rag.

"This is a bar, son. There ain't no books about love in here." the customers who were close enough to hear our conversation all laughed at the same time.

"What kinda book are ya looking for?"

"The kind that talks about universe travelling."

Silence. The bar went quiet in one single second. The bartender, who used to have a relaxed and composed expression, was wearing one so serious that it made me wonder if I should have come here to begin with.

He slowly leaned forward towards me, signaling me to lean towards him too, before whisper-shouting close to my ear.

"You talkin' about the Book Of Life?"

I frowned at the name. It sounded like it would talk about how to grow plants or something. Nevertheless, even though I didn't know what I was looking for or if they were just pulling my leg entirely, I liked this suspence in the air. Putting on my best serious face without cracking a smile, I played along with whatever was happening. I swore that I almost let a giggle slip past my lips while looking at the bartender's serious face.

"Yes, what do you know of it?"

The bartender paused. If it wasn't for the fact that I was pinching my thigh with my right hand, I would've burst out laughing in his face. 

"It is known that it's a sacred book that has information on how to travel through dimensions. They say that it is very old, but nobody knows where it is..."

The suspence intensified when another man listening to our conversation in the bar spoke out loud.

"I heard it's filled to the brim with powerful magic spells."

Another voice rang in the back. "Nah, you're wrong, I heard that if you touch it, your soul gets sucked into the book!"

Suspence! Yet another person in the bar had an opinion about this sacred book.

"No, you all are wrong, the book talks abput witches and skinwalkers."

They all somehow created an argument over it and started yelling at each other throughout the ends of the bar. A fight was almost breaking out when the bartender talked to me again during this chaos.

"I heard theres a witch who lives in the forest next to the village, she knows more about this stuff than old me."

He patted my shoulder like he was doing me a favor before standing up correctly. He then proceeded to start arguing with the other clients in the bar and in the process, creating more fights on the matter.

What a weird bunch of people. With my new found information, I walked out of the now loud and chaotic place to sit down on the set of stairs leading up the balcony. 

That book that the bartender talked to me about, it was surprisingly popular, but hard to get by. Maybe if I asked around town, I would get new information on the subject.

* * *

For the past 2 hours now, I have been asking around information about the Book Of whatever the name was, but only ended up getting the same results as I got in the beerhouse. Some of the villagers told me about the rumors they had heard, which were the same as in the bar. Some just completely ignored me, and one of them even started crying. I didn't know why it made them cry that much, but oh well.

I was at a loss of solutions. My body was loundged against the bench I was sitting on, my back barely touching the back of the stall. The sun was setting, casting a beautiful shade of orange mixed with red in the sky. In the distance, someone called to me.

"Hey, young knight!"

As I turned my head, a man in his 40s looked down at me. He was balding on the middle of his head and the ray of the sun was flashing on it. Like, hard flashing. It blinded me to the point where I needed to stand up, walk in front of him and hide the sun away from him. It was much better for my eyes, but I guess it made the man nervous since he was starting to sweat.

He looked up at me, a drop of sweat running down his face. By his attire alone, I could guess that he was a fisherman. Which was weird because there didn't seem to be any river around here. I got out of my thoughts when he cleared his throat.

"I heard you've been going around and asking about the Book Of Life."

I gave him a surprised look before he continued his sentence. "If you do something for me, I'll tell you what I know about it!"

I laughed at his suggestion. It wasn't the first time someone had tried scamming me. I knew because I used to scam people, too. But he was honestly so sloppy with it that it was pitying.

"Ha, you're dressed as a fisherman and yet, there isn't a river or lake around here. Did you think you could fool me with your petty tricks?"

The fisherman looked up at me, almost disappointed by my statement. All trace of nervousness in his expression leaving him for a better world before being replaced by the gaze of a man who thought he had heard and seen everything in his old age. He sounded  almost frustrated when he answered.

"There doesn't need to be a river near the village for me to be a fisherman. Seriously, what do they teach you guys at school? Ah, youngters these days..." he slammed his hand to his temples. He looked exasperated enough to make me feel bad about what I had said.

"If I show you where the river is, will you do something for me? For information on the sacred book."

I was hesitant. I didn't even fucking know what that book was to begin with, or if the rumours surrounding it were true. And I couldn't just act lke I did back home. War was not raging on these lands so taking him as a prisoner or torturing him if he was lying to me was out of the picture... I could always threaten and intimidate him with my height and beautiful, amazing looking and awesome sword of mine.

I finally nodded to his proposition. "Fine, but if you aren't telling the truth..."

"Do not worry!! I would never lie to a... Royal knight such as yourself!"

At that moment, I doubted his words. He looked and sounded mildly suspicious... but I couldn't ignore the fact that he called me a royal knight. It felt almost touching that he thought of me, who was more of a soldier than anything else, as a mighty knight. My amazingness must've gotten to him one way or another. 

A wave of proudness surged through me and, I guess it was showing on my face since the old man was now smiling up to me.

"Please follow me, I promise good information on what you are looking for." he made a pause before continuing, "...along with showing you where the river is, since you do not believe me."

"Wait, but isn't it better to go in the morning? The sun is already setting." I stated at the man before me. But he didn't seem worried at all.

"Ah, no need! The nights are clear on this time of the year. Also, the thing I want to show you doesn't see well in the dark."

I frowned at his statement and froze. He looked up at me, wonder filling his face as he noticed the look I was wearing.

 

"Aren't you a knight?" he asked. I nodded.

"Then that means that you have experience fighting 'them' right?"

I nodded again even thought I didn't know what he fully meant by 'them'. It didn't seem that important to him either since he was already advancing forward towards the forest.

"Then what are you waiting for? Follow me!" Without hesitation, the fisherman dangled away on his feet and I followed him away into the forest. I had a bad feeling about all of this...

* * *

We walked for a good 20 minute before we arrived near a river, where he looked back at me with a knowing look. I felt what he was gonna say from a mile away.

"See? I told you I was right. I swear, kids these days think they know everything."

I glared down at him before he started correcting his words.

"...not that this old and innocent fisherman is calling you stupid, hehehe......" he nervously laughed before I could sigh and look at my surroundings, wondering what was next.

"So, what was the favor you wanted from me?"

The fisherman's eyes lit, as if he had forgotten why he had brought me here to begin with.

"Ah, yes sorry. Right this way."

He led me to a pond that I hadn't noticed from where we were standing. It passed above the river and related the other side of the river with this one. The wood it was made of seemed strong, despite it looking quite old with all the liana clinging onto it.

We stepped and walked on it to the other side. Night was falling pretty quickly, but like he said, it was still pretty bright. It was almost as impressive as the scenery all around me. I was still kind of surprised with how healthy and massive their forest were compared to back home...

"There it is!"

We stopped near a bush at the edge of the forest, a plain in front of us. In the distance, a giant cave hidden between two small hills could be seen

I looked back at the fisherman with confusion as to what he was asking me to do, a frown forming on my face.

"Do you want me to kill a bear or something?"

"What? No! I want you to kill something much bigger..."

Something bigger? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"A grizzly???" I asked with surprise. He gave me yet another disappointed look and I, for the second time today, humiliated myself. What the hell was he expecting from me, it's not like I could read into his bald looking head.

He sighed before finally breaking the awkward silence.

"A creature lives there."

My eyes widened so much just by hearing the word 'creature' that it hurts. I felt my stomach turn as I started to imagine the same monster I had encountered in the forest, in that cave. If it was another one of those, I was gladly gonna ditch the old man to deal with it himself. 

He continued talking after not noticing my reaction. "It has been eating all my fish and scaring off all the animals, I'm getting starved here!"

I looked down at his fat belly before looking back up at him as if nothing happened. Yeah, right. Starving. And by his description of the creature, I judged that I wasn't strong enough to deal with it.

"I'm sorry sir, but-"

"Aren't you a knight?" he cut me off. "Why are you acting like a scaredy-cat?" 

Now that, that hurt my ego. But he wasn't done.

"Youngsters these days, you know that my generation participated in the Great War against the invading kingdom 10 years ago, right? We fought and won for you guys so you cold have a better life but here you are, acting like a little girl. I'm old and am not in my prime anymore. Even though I am still pretty strong, my poor back is stopping me from dealing with this creature on my own!!"

After nagging me, he was acting like the victim. Boohoo cry about it old man. And jokes on you, I wasn't even here 10 years ago.

Seriously, should I just kill him? I'm sure no one would even notice.

Just as I was about to answer, a loud bang echoed through the plain, shushing the both of us up. The sound was comng from that cave in the distance, followed by a loud groan. We both looked back at each other before he pushed me out of the bush we were hiding in. 

"Go see what's going on."

The audacity.

I swear I was gonna kill that man after this is over.

END CHAPTER 3