24: An unexpected request

Author Note:

I have created a patr eon page. If you want to support my work, please visit it. There you could find 6 chapters in advance for patrons, but only in Spanish. Since, although I have a bunch of chapters accumulated, I still haven't translated all of them.

https://www.patr eon.com/finlegost

You can find the map that the characters talk about in this chapter here:

https://www.insta gram.com/finlegost

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After handing over their weapons, Agustin and Sabrina were visibly relaxed. Carrying such a valuable load had kept them tense along the way, and they had mostly kept aloof, watchful, talking quietly as we walked. Now instead they take Joseph's jokes with more humor and join in our conversations along the way. However, Joseph had the bright idea that learning to play the flute could be an interesting way to combat boredom, so he bought a flute in town, and now the arguments break out every time he starts to practice'.

As we get closer to our destination we see how the landscape changes. The rugged land gives way to cultivated fields and large fields of barley. I guess that's what the press and plows I carry with me are for.

After five days of travel, we arrived at the village and, after asking some locals who were busy with the crops, we headed in the direction of the house of the village chief since he is the one who placed the order.

We are greeted with joy by a gray-haired old man, who advances towards us, aided by a cane. He has a muscular build, a holdover from farm work, I guess. He invites us to eat and we go into his house, where we meet his wife, a plump blonde woman in her 60s. Azur waits outside, annoyed that he can't follow us, since we don't want to inconvenience these people. After we eat, we hand over the cargo to him, and as he is handing us the money, I see there is indecision on the man's face as if he is debating whether or not to say something.

"Are you having a problem, sir? Is there anything we could help you with?" Agustín asks, interested "We plan to stay here one day, to rest. If you need anything..." he ends up leaving the sentence in the air while making a gesture with his hand.

"No no…" says the old man doubtfully.

"I think you should tell them, dear. We don't know if those creatures will stay in the graveyard until help comes." says the old man's wife shuddering "it could be months"

"What does it mean?" I ask interested.

"With the fall of the labyrinth in the Crossroads town things changed" says the old man, sighing "In the old days we could ask the town for help when we had a problem with monsters, but now we need to ask the capital for help, since the Crossroads town is forbidden to send regiments away from the village, due to what happened there a year ago"

"Do you have any monster problems?" Joseph asks, emotion on his face. I hope they will interpret it as concern and not as the anticipation for the fight that he is probably feeling "we could help you" ends, looking at the rest of us to see if we agree.

"Yes" I say firmly. For this, in part, I learned to fight, after all.

"sure" say Agustín and Sabrina less convinced.

"no... No need" he says, evasive "The creatures won't leave the graveyard and as long as we don't get close there shouldn't be a problem"

"They are eating the remains of our ancestors, dear!" exclaims the woman "The sooner we get rid of those beasts the better"

"I will not send the children of my former companions to danger, woman!" says the exasperated old man "Please respect my opinion, I know better than anyone in this village what a ghoul is capable of..." he says brusquely, but noticing his wife's look he says with a softer voice "You have to trust my dear. This is not something to be tasked to a group of teenagers. I understand your concern, but this can ruin these children's lives."

"Were you a partner of our parents? If you know anything about blacksmithing why..." Agustín begins to say but is interrupted by the old man.

"Ha, 'blacksmithing'... That's just the profession your father chose when we decided to quit the job we did. I was an adventurer just like you until I got an arrow in the knee. His parents were my fellow adventurers and we traveled without caring about territories or borders, where help was needed we went" he says with a smile "we were four, and we were unstoppable. Your parents, my brother and I. We had developed the perfect strategy. My brother was an earth mage and could build strong stone walls. Our fighting strategy consisted of him creating a wall around us with spaces for us to use our weapons. Your father was in charge of stopping those who were at a long distance with his crossbow" he says looking at Joseph "I was in charge of taking care of those who managed to get near with my spear, and if someone got too close he would fall before your father's maces" he says looking at Agustín and, sighing, continues "we were good, very good at what we did and that made us trust each other..."

"Wow! Really? Against what... Ouch" Joseph starts to say but is interrupted by a pat on the head from his cousin.

"It all ended when my brother was killed in an ambush and I was crippled... by then we were already quite well known and not everyone liked what we were doing. Our enemies planned a strategy knowing that if they took down my brother, they could defeat us. We were camping and all of a sudden, my brother had 9 arrows going through him. With his dying breaths, he managed to put up a wall, which gave your parents time to prepare. I was helpless as they had hit me with 3 arrows, one in my knee and two in my shoulder. However, his parents managed to beat the attackers, avenging my brother… but our company was no more. Without my brother and with me crippled, we decided to stop at an elven village until I recovered. That's where your father met your mother" he says looking at Joseph "the problem is that I never recovered, since it is difficult for me to walk and move my shoulder, even now, after so many years When we saw that my recovery was just wishful thinking, we decided to part ways."

"I'm sorry" I say, thinking how hard it would have been if in addition to losing my family I had been incapacitated in some way.

"Bah, it's been a long time" says the old man, downplaying it with a gesture and continues the story looking at Joseph "Your father wanted a safe environment to raise a family, so he moved to the capital with his brother and your mother. For my part, I returned to the village where I was born and focused on making it prosper, I had a good amount of money and that, added to the amount of my brother, allowed me, over the years, to help my neighbors... The point is that I know something of the dangers out there, and I don't think you guys need to take care of our problem, considering that we already asked the kingdom for help"

"How hard is it to fight ghouls?" asks Joseph interested. "we have reached the 29th floor in the labyrinth, we know a thing or two about combat"

"It's not that it's difficult. The problem is that you have to avoid bites because they are extremely infectious, and the damn creatures are incredibly fast" explains the old man.

"I think we could do it" says Sabrina and looking at me she asks "you said you bought some antidotes from your alchemist, right?"

"Yes" I answer, surprised that she takes the initiative to look for a fight.

"How many creatures are we talking about?" Agustín asks, frowning, at the old man.

"I think there are about 5, but they only come out of their lairs at dusk or when someone gets too close, so I couldn't be sure… are you guys sure about this?" says the old man, resigning himself to letting us try.

"Yes. Take us near the cemetery and we'll take care of it" says Agustín, tense, but with determination in his eyes.

"nice!" Joseph exclaims happily, paying no attention to his cousin's tension.