Chapter 3 - Xenophobic Village

Hello everyone~ Author here~

There's a plothole between ch.2 and ch.3.

Forest in ch.2 is having autumn, while ch.3 is written as green forest. I totally forgot about that.

/Why don't you simply replace it with green? /

It's weird.

So thats all~

Enjoy XD

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"I have a little surprise for you…"

Elis smiles mischievously as she covers my eye with black fabric.

"What, what are you doing? I thought we were resting on the side of the tree- hey hey!"

Elisia drag me to <somewhere> while covering my eyes. We were sitting around a temporary campfire before. I do not expect walking to the village gonna be this long. How long does it takes for the sun to go down, exactly? I have no idea, I lose sense of time. But she is dragging me now. I can only perceive the little light piercing through the fiber. Maybe the village is around here, or it's just..

She opens my eye. "Tada~! Welcome to Snowburn Village!"

I'm bleaked by sunlight for a moment, but then I am in awe. In front of me stand a cozy village. The smoke and atmosphere are beaming. The settlement is small, it is almost cute. A bunch of wooden European village houses lines across each other. They are far from giant, unlike the megalopolis I use to explore around in the future. Its smallness actually makes it cozy now. I have a thing against giant buildings. Or maybe a paranoia, that one day those building gonna topple on top of us...

Snowburn, that is the name of this village. I can feel the village's warmth just from hearing the name. A calming place, in the middle of the chilly forest. These houses radiate an orange glow, in contrast to the brown-and-green vibe I get from the woods around.

Elis pull me into the village. I got caught off guard. She widens her arm showing the entire place. She runs excitedly showing a list of places that there are. I can imagine her jumping up-and-down screaming, seeing how her excitement is now. Inn, bakery, eating places, she presents them to me like soap salesman promoting all of their product. She shows them one by one. Of course, she is showing from afar. I am still pretty much standing on the outskirt of the village.

I look at the ground. They do not even have a proper road. Everything is soil, where villagers come and go.

Not too many people. This place is perfectly cozy.

As if… they're created for nothing, except to welcome visitors like me...

A sense of adoration swirl down.

"Grandma!"

There are a lot of grandma walking there. Elis reach to one of the grandmas.

"Hey grandma, where's my little sister?"

"Oh, she is right there, playing with the orcs with her wooden sword." She said calmly, pointing at another side of the village.

Orcs!??

In the direction that grandma's pointing, I can see a little girl screaming at a bunch of orcs.

"You evil orc! You're not supposed to come here! Go away!"

"Calm down, Ojou-chan. We only come here to pick berries."

(Ojou-chan: A way to call little missy~)

Those orcs are green and giant. There are 4 of them. One is the leader, while the three others are probably gatherers. They carry a lot of pouches. The leader stands tall holding a really big piece of boar meat. Those orcs are probably 2,5 meters tall. They are standing so tall, they almost feel like a mountain. I imagine a swizzly swizz on top of them. Snowy mountain peak...

No, not even close.

But the girl looks like a mouse compared to the size of those orcs.

She is frigging smol'.

"You must want to smash us all, right? You must want to, right? I must kill you all now!" She grips her sword, wooden.

"What? No, no. We do not have any means to do that. We just wan- Ow, hey hey, stop with that thing!"

"Die, die!" She swings at his fat stomach.

"Stop the wooden thing, it's tickling!"

The orc can't stand chuckling as the little girl swing her wooden sword to his stomach again. He is actually laughing to tears. The sword bounces back again and again. Three of his orc friends nod in solemn.

"Mmmh, the desire for killing..." Said the first orc.

"Respectable." The third orc reply.

"The desire for carnage…" Said the second orc.

"Respectable." The third orc reply.

"Mmmh, mmmh." All of them nod in solemn.

Three of them nod solemnly as if they have found an enlightening. Elisia suddenly runs to reach Revy.

"Revy! Stop it!"

"The savior of light has come…" The three orcs nod again.

She stops the little brat from flinging her arm to the orc's stomach. That girl is rebelling exactly like a brat now. Elisia bows down to the orcs, asking for an apology while pulling her little sister's ear.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry Mr.Orc! Please forgive her! I hope this incident does not hurt our village relationship!" She bows down again and again.

"Don't worry Ojou-chan, she does not mean bad. I know she is a good girl." He grins at Elis, showing his giant teeths. "Don't worry, we will always be buddies. We have our blood oath. Both of us will always be eternal allies, forever and ever!"

The orc leader raise his arm. His bicep muscle is flexing there. Elis stare with sparkling eyes.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Elis scream.

I look at Elis. I can sense she does not really like these orcs. But the orcs are a really good fellows, and maintaining a relationship with them is a necessity. I can sense it from her eyes. Her eyes, the silent stare hiding a desire for the carnage at them. But the desire stays behind there. She knows the orcs are really good people, despite whatever happens in the past.

She stares at them. That stare is cold.. dead chilling cold...

"Aaaa, thank you so much for your understanding Mr.Orc! I know you guys are a really good fellows! I hope our relationship stays nice as always!" She bows at them again & again. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

"Hahaha! Don't worry Ojou-chan, I told you already! Besides, we have a tasteful attend that we need to attend."

The orc lowers down to Elis, whispering. "Do you… do you happen to know where grandma is? She said she is going to make a pie today."

A granny which I do not recognize approach from behind and touch the back of the orc's back. The orc turns around, suddenly delighted by the sight of pie. Hooray, the orc all cheers. Grandma smile to them while holding her pie. The orcs has helped her picking berries at the garden behind her house. So as payment, she pay them with some of the berries and her own fresh out-of-the- oven berry pie. The orcs line to bow and kiss her hand.

The orcs leave the village waving hand.

Elis run to the granny.

"Grandma, we've been looking for you!"

"Oh, Elis~ You do not tell me you will come home bringing mate. A handsome one, that is. Who is this man? I've never seen him here before..."

"Ma-mate?!" Me and Elis scream.

I was holding embarrassment, while Elis panick trying to explain the thing. It is obviously a joke. Nevertheless, the situation never gets more awkward. While I'm covering my face with both of my hand, I saw between my fingers. a horse stable on the back of the village. I lower my hand. I call to granny.

"Granny, may I sleep in that stable?"

Their ruckus suddenly stop. They tilted their head, questioning were just heard.

"Stable?"

A question mark blow up on their face.

***

For some reason, I really like to sleep in the stable, so I ask granny if I can sleep in the stable. She is weirded and worried. But after I explain my weird preference to her, she agrees to let me sleep in the stable. I lay on the hay pile as the horse next to me calmly eats his porridge. We're separated by a wooden gate. Elicia comes all the way to me and excitedly asks me to move. She brings food and even offers her room in her house. I guess these are snacks at this age. I'm seduced actually, I mean sharing a room with a girl. But I gotta reject-with heavy heart. Future has given a lot to me, and war teaches me how cramped things can be, and how sickening it is to spend 1 year in a laboratory. I disgust bed right now. Haypile is mine now. She sighs and brings back all the food after I tell her I do not want to eat. I'm tired of eating right now. I lay on the bed.

When I was just about to close my eye, I notice a silhouette at the corner of my vision. It's a small silhouette this whole time. I glance. She peeks frown sly from behind the gate.

"Intruder.." She mumbles while looking at me. She looks at me as if I'm some kind of satanist.

There she is, the girl with terrible xenophobia. Her name was Revy. She is actually scared by every visitor that comes to visit her.

She's gripping her wooden sword. I sigh. I reach out into my bag and bring out a rubik's cube.

This is a rubik's cube.

I spin the middle.

The rubik's cube now flies and each of its parts spins by itself. The girl gasps. In the middle of that shaded stable, the rubik's cube spin like a star dazzling in the sky. Two little turbines came out from its sides. It's the cutest thing ever. Even the horse squeaks as the cube dazzles. Each block holds a lamp that goes off and on.

The cube is floating. Revy's eye is sparkling. Revy runs reaching for the rubik. Revy, that's the little brat's name. She hugs the cube as if it is her own pet. Then she throws it up and down. The cube descends slowly every time she throws it up. She let out the sound of joy.

She is really a kid. I smile. That wooden sword has been left somewhere.

"So…" I reach to her.

She covers the toy from me. Okay, now I look like a crook who wants to steal a kid's toy.

That's my toy, you know?

Revy pouts.

"M-my name is Revy.."

She said, kinda mumbling.

"Huuuh, what is thaaaat?" I flex my hand beside my ear.

"M-MY NAME IS REVY! YOU JERK!"

She bites my finger. Ow, she bites me! I tried to pull my finger, but I can't. My finger's gonna be torn off at this point! You piece of %&#$!

We were actually in a brawl, as my other hand tries to push her face away. But at that moment, it was silent for a little bit. I can actually see her up close now. She is almost like a rogue kitten biting my finger. She is almost cute. Oh my God, she is soo cute. I can't stand the desire to pat that…

She bites my other hand.

"Aw aw aw aw!"

"I don't know your name, but you're evil! Evil evil evil!"

"My name is Makoto, you @#$@%!"

She suddenly stops for a bit.

"Makoto?"

She releases my hand upon hearing my name. She looks at me with wondering eyes.

"Ma…koto…"

She tilts her head left and right.

She mumbles the jumbles of my name just a bit there for now. She looks down, as she widens up looking at me again. She stares at me, mumbling something trying to understand something. I think she now ponders, as she probably realizes I do not come from around here. My suit blend with the surrounding here. But still, this is an Armadillo scale from the future. I look at her. What is she thinking? I saw slowly lightening eyes. I take that as a good sign.

"Yes, my name is Makoto. Nice to meet you too, Revy."

She is triggered when I put a hand to pet her. She is suddenly awake from her pondering. Feeling there's is a guy's hand patting his hair, She squeaks loudly and bites my hand while slapping her wooden sword at my face this time.

Aw!

"Y-you evil intruder! And-and a pervert! I must tell everyone, I must tell everyone!!!" She runs outside, stopping to scream at me at the entrance... "I-I will take this magic cube as evidence. You must be evil, you must be evil! I must tell grandma!"

And so, Revy runs out to tell everyone how am I carrying the end of the world.

"Grandma!!! There is an evil witch in the stable!!"

I hold my forehead, as I hold out a long sigh. Huuuuh… I cannot care less about witches and wizards. I even forgot about the pain in my cheeks. I should rub it. And so, I lay on my hay piles while rubbing my cheek. Heavenly hay piles... I'm thinking about what I should be doing from now on.

<Electricity… monster-slaying… recharging… Comm speaking lot of useless thing… navigating across the monster forest… slaying dragon… building an empire in space…>

A list of long tasks shows up in my mind one by one. For now, I do not even understand how this world runs. Time is catching up. As I lie in that pile, my mind unconsciously devises another oversized far-fetched extreme plan..

/Where are we going after this all?/