57 Village Tour

Back at the forest trail which ran along the riverbank. Two pairs of long and curvy wide pants walked on the muddy path, with reeds and greens rising at either side. The sun was in the middle of the sky, but breezing trees bestowed their loving shade on the travelers.

"It is a little different from back at the tournament ground. This tributary travels long, like three to four villages long before meeting up with the main river." Naomi was in front of Arnacia. Since the path was narrow, she decided to at least control the pace of this wonderful walk.

'I did not ask the doctor about memory loss, so why?' Arnacia did not know why this was happening. Wasn't this the part where Naomi turns sad because her childhood friend isn't coming back?

"There's another secret about this forest." Naomi smiled and looked back at Arnacia. "Not all villagers know this, but it's called Vanvan forest because there is a big marshland on the other side of it. You can also ride a boat on it during the rainy season, which is just around the corner."

Arnacia found it impossible to say anything because Naomi's attitude didn't align with what happened last night. But sooner enough than thought, incoming footsteps salvaged her situation. She looked back and so did Noami.

"Why are you here?" Naomi squinted her eyes at the uninvited guest.

"Oh excuse me, am I stepping into your private property?" Raffaella smiled.

Naomi wanted to teach this slim slimy girl a lesson, but now wasn't the time, so she tried the best tactic never taught. She naturally acted as if there were only Arnacia and her. To make it effective, she firmed her mind to not look back.

"So Arnacia, as I was saying, this forest connects our village to the next."

"No, the Buud road connects Vanderlin to Vanyawn." Rafaella interrupted.

"Roads connecting villages have local names." Naomi tried to sound cheerful and told Arnacia.

"Not all roads."

And this was how Naomi lost her mind on her way back to the village. God, she would've fumed in verbal anger if Raffaella said another word. But luckily no one opened their mouth, except to heave a sigh, on their way back.

Finally, they saw houses in front of them. The trees were left behind and so was Raffaella… or not. Naomi looked back multiple times to check if this was really happening.

"I thought you never left the forest." Naomi questioningly looked at Raffaella for answers.

"Just didn't feel like leaving for the last 10 years." Raffaella joked to herself.

"Many things changed in the last 10 years." Naomi thought it was finally her chance to shine. She smiled at Arnacia and led the way. "Let's travel along the main road. It also leads to your house."

The expectations shone in Naomi's eyes, and Arnacia just couldn't refuse. She nodded lightly and followed. In the blink of an eye, she found herself walking in between Naomi and Raffaella.

All the houses near the main road had gates covered in vines of different colors. Big gardens surrounded them and some in front of them hung puffed origami decorations. Probably paper lamps that would light up at night.

"This is the house of Gemi family. They have a bigger farmland in the East. That belongs to Fryii family. They own a bunch of carriages…." Naomi pointed one by one and named all the family names in a row. She was delighted at being the solo and uninterrupted guide. "…and that is the only school in our village."

Two gray buildings surrounded by stone fences stood close to one another. The smaller one had large rectangular bricks with a small flower garden, bathing it in a beauty of power. It was made to look like it had a flat roof and looked leagues apart from regular houses.

The other had a slanting roof and occupied more area. Smaller windows were plastered at equal distances all around it. It used smaller stone bricks that were colored in a lighter shade of gray.

"The one with the flat roof is where Archie studies. It might not look much from the outside, but a Scholar Knight lives there." Naomi said while giving minimal looks and lowered her voice. "You know these Knights are assigned to villages to give free education, but I heard almost all of them charge huge sums for their time. They are already paid heavily by the Kingdom but as true as it is, there is no ceiling to greed."

Arnacia and Raffaella looked at the garden and their heads turned as they walked past it. This was really interesting to them, as teaching seemed like easy money. Naomi hushed them to not look much, but her hints were largely ignored.

Moving further, they saw a large open field. There were carriage tire markings on the dirt, and at the other end, children of different heights seemed to be playing in different groups. But the most eye-catching was a wide banner on the only tree. It read - 'Get Strong In 7 Days! Crash Course.'

"That's nothing illegal." Naomi coughed. She looked at Arnacia's and Raffaella's frozen faces and explained. "You see that wacky old man sitting beneath the tree, well there are many like him. I heard they are all over the kingdom. Honestly, I do not know if that's a cult, and many like me do not trust such schemes."

Naomi thought of how Abby told her that her father suddenly got strong. She wanted to laugh embarrassingly when she connected the two. But wait!

"Didn't Archie say that the kids who beat him up suddenly got stronger?" Arnacia spoke! She couldn't believe it, but this was supposedly a world recorded in an action-magic-fantasy light novel. Unconsciously, she turned towards the banner.

The path to becoming a Knight was right in front of her!

"Anyone can tell this is a scam." Raffaella scoffed.

"It is like those get-rich-in-a-week schemes." Naomi agreed and took a step to resume her village tour.

But Arnacia didn't move. She couldn't move! This was a world of possibilities and the path to power, the path to freedom, was right in front of her!