6 What the Devil Knows

The tranquility of an enormous meadow seemingly didn't take a fancy to divorce just yet. Just like a soul mate made a special connection with this verdant lushly grass long since the creation day, the moon and stars which took their shapes together, jointly adorned the skies above and adored the land below. Water which came from rain; right and wrong, pros and cons… sin and punishment. Whether this tranquility was created for this biome, or because such a biome was created hence came this tranquility, or perhaps such an atmosphere created this biome… the answer never really became a mattered one regardless. This peace was one that mattered,

When the sun rose higher in the skies, generating less dense warm air therefore cool and fresh wind had come in aid to initiate an inversion in temperature… resulting in a great composition of euphony across the meadow grass and leaves from the parent of a lone pine tree on the outskirt of the little village,

"Kasala Village… what a beautiful name indeed. For a village surrounded by a soothing nature, such a name truly is beautifully befitting the euphonious phrases."

Overshadowed by the penumbra of this lone pine tree, Erynew found herself leisurely sitting underneath and leaning against its skinny yet tall trunk… above the natural green fancy and cozy carpet, building a snug moment to do a small talk with a young little girl and her older sister while relishing the eye-pleasing view after such mayhem,

It was the scenery they shared together,

"Plains of Jaderural. One and only gem the peasants own. Located northwest from the center of the main continent, overlooking the snowy mountain chain of Eterna Nieve," a little girl who sat close to Erynew, voicing her gentle tone, chained the keep-flowing and lighthearted chatter while staring at the said mountains which pinned far away from where they were sitting at, and also where the sun would hide itself—behind those everlasting white layer on its mount peaks, "This beautiful land is ruled by Deraland Kingdom and this meadow is one of her many territories. The central city of this region is located at the foot of Eterna Nieve." reaching out her right hand, a tiny index finger of hers pointed at the distance woods near the mountain, "Beyond those woods,"

Following her direction, Erynew could clearly see the line of woods below the hill since Kasala Village was built near the crest of Kasala Hill, hence the village's name. A small village that was close to quite a large headwater which became the village's only water source. Thanks to her sharp eyesight, she was able to observe the state of the central city of Jaderural Plain, though it was blocked by a small limestone wall surrounding the city; no doubt the wall acted as its defense facility, a poor and fragile one unfortunately.

In spite of that, she was able to see the city entrance which was shockingly less bustling than she had thought. She could only see a few family farms outside the city wall, doing their day-to-day activities while the main road near their farms, where one and two merchants were visible passing by, entering and leaving the city. Maybe it was too soon to make a conclusion regarding the situation of the city since she only knew the activities outside the wall for now.

One thing for sure though, she could already draw a conclusion from Maya's statements, "It's quite a long way down then."

"Two days and one night of walking to be exact. It's also the only nearest big city from here." Maya's older sister, Reya, joined the conversation, "But we rarely visit the city since we must go through those dangerous woods. Moreover we are on the outskirts of Deraland's territory, making our village one of the least passed and visited. And here we thought we could have a nice quiet life since we were pushing ourselves out of political and war problems."

Quietness struck between them as this light-hearted conversation for a bit turned into something heavy, especially for the siblings and Kasala inhabitants. Those raiders' invasion that lasted for half a year… since then, they had been living a hellish life, full of pressure from a threat without foundation. Fortunately their prayer was heard by any gods whom they worshiped, for they could finally find a little alleviation after Erynew's intervention today. Its effect, however, seemed less effective towards Gizado, especially his relationship with his father. Because… they were the family who took full responsibility for lessening the agony that which the villagers should've endured.

"Oh, there he is."

Maya broke the silence as she noticed her same-age friend, Gizado, coming out from the chief's house—in other words, his own house. He heeded Erynew's advice to see his father just so he would eventually feel better after having a little bit of a father-son moment. Hence why Erynew and the two sisters were waiting outside with the sole purpose that a father-son moment could be granted and the two sisters also could explain and show the geography around the village. It was like hitting two birds with one stone… and that one stone, however, missed the third… because the same layer of expression still reigned over Gizado's face,

Moments later though, a little smile overlapped that kind of mien when he saw Erynew and the others were waiting for him under the lone pine tree. He didn't want those waving hands going down and patting his head out of empathy, for he thought a man didn't need a pity pat on his head… no, he didn't need it nor wanted it… yet someone had been crossing that path without his assent… patting his head by their own rules. 

"Those two really…"

That kind of clause was perhaps what his heart would utter, because without such an interactivity, there would be no way in hell he wanted to see his cowardly father, even after sacrificing his own leg since nobody asked him to. Maybe it could be called a selfish, a stubborn attitude—yes, it was indeed—as he was sick of being a part of a family that always took full responsibility for everything,

"Ah, Erynew you're waiting here apparently." arrived under the pine tree, Gizado hurriedly spoke to Erynew as if he was about to deliver such an important message he was about to tell, "The old man wants to see you."

"By that old man… you mean hypothetically… your father?" Erynew guessed, correcting his phrase to be exact.

"Yesss…" irritatedly answering back, he threw away his gaze from her for a moment before telling her the full context, "He said there's something that needs to be discussed that kids aren't allowed to hear. So he kicked me out of my own house."

"No, Erynew… that's not 'hypothetically' that's 'hyperbolically'," Maya, listening to their conversation, then commented.

"Hipo hiper what? None of that I can understand," being startled by Maya's sudden opinion—an abstract opinion—Gizado gazed toward her instantly as he wondered what she just said.

Then a whispering chortle that came from Erynew was heard as well,

"What is it? Is it weird for me to not understand those… nonsense gibberish words?" not enough by one word he had no idea about, and now an unexpected reaction coming from Erynew which only made him even more confused and slightly annoyed, "Anyway, your presence is to be expected in my house, Oh miss hero Erynew~"

"Okay okay, Gizado… I'll go and see your father immediately," ignoring his curious question and somewhat sarcastic designation for her, Erynew began to take a step forward, but before she took it even further she wanted to confirm something, "Ah right, I should've asked it first, for I'm quite wondering. So… how's your… father-son moments?"

"Ugh, as usual… waste of my time." in a second, without a single doubt, Gizado responded in an annoyed tone,

"Is that so? Then all good, isn't it?"

Done with her simple and seemingly trivial question, Erynew carried on with her steps… a steady step forward… leaving the penumbra of the lone pine tree without any hesitation left because at first she was actually worried after forcing Gizado to see his wounded father… moreover after she learned about their complicated relationship. Essentially she felt bad about it. But, upon glimpsing something she wanted to see deep inside that emotion in which that child desperately tried to hide from the others, maybe there was a slight chance she could save his family from hatred and culpable feeling.

It took only a few steps for her to find herself eventually surrounded by a few cruck houses with the same type, same materials, same shapes and contours. Rectangular houses were built mainly from thatched straw as its roof which was placed above a simple inner wooden frame to support the roof during rain. Some even didn't have any windows attached to their wattle wall, though some did have a window yet merely a hole with the sole purpose of welcoming sunrise and fresh air into their houses, and wooden boards were used to close the supposed window at night to prevent the unwelcome animals from entering the house.

The foundation and floor were built mainly from large granite stones they obtained from the nearby river in large size, thus they had to mine them, changing them into puzzle-like sizes and then plastering them to each other using a mixture of mud, straw, and manure. The straw added insulation to the wall while the manure was considered good for binding the whole mixture together and giving it strength.

The stone floor was doing its job as a humidity stabilizer to keep the moisture inside the house, which came mostly from the ground, at a tolerance level. Thanks to granite's absorbency nature which capable of perfectly holding up to both heat and humidity. It was all also taken into consideration from the climate that enveloped the Plains of Jaderural… a cool summer, and a cold winter… so trying to keep one body warm and dry was crucial.

By those facts alone, simple yet comfortable facilities, inhabited by a modest community, and an alluring plus reassuring environment… a peaceful life they should have achieved. However, as long as it was built on a rotten world, such an absolute peace was never meant to exist. Just like what happened a few moments ago, not only it came from the royal party who extorted taxes but also from expected yet unforeseen sources such as bandits, highwaymen or raiders.

And so here she was among these cruck houses to discuss such matters after approaching a house, with its door closed, that was built in the middle of the village—Erynew found herself standing in front of a single light brown door with a rugged texture on its surface,

Gently knocking at the door, she spoke up in a well-mannered tone, "It's Erynew."

A response then was heard from behind the door—one delighted response, "Ah, Miss Erynew. I've been waiting. Please, come in."

A dim orange ray was the first thing that welcomed her yellow gaze after the typical cracking sound of the opening door finished. The light came from a few tallow candles placed in every corner of this one single room, since there was no window whatsoever to provide a major light source besides from the open door, but quite a large fire pit was built inside the house. It was an open fire pit in the center of the house that came in handy for anything; lighting and heating sources, as well as a straightforward one, a cooking place.

Stepping her barefoot inside, she could feel the frigid freshness of the igneous stone floor coming out from the floor, contrasted with the room temperature. Briefly looked around to find no one inside the house, excluding the village's leader and herself.

"Please take a seat, Miss Erynew." the leader of the village reached out his hand, pointing at a wooden bench across the fire pit.

Accepting his offer, Erynew at the moment, found herself sitting on the same material wood that was used to make the door… light brown and rugged feeling on her bottom. No matter, as she was now finally able to discuss head-to-head with the village's leader whom they call Chief Jovier, and only the pit fire that intervened between them.

"I have told you to call me by my name, haven't I, Chief Jovier?"

Uttering her first head-to-head conversation with Chief Jovier, Erynew gazed toward the middle-aged man who was sitting on mattresses of straw, covered in animal furs behind the fire pit before her. She noticed his left cnemis was interposed between two wooden boards which were fastened using a wet linen; the wetness was caused by the white of an egg mixed with hot water and ointment. She was a little worried that the wound would only get worse since she didn't know much about restoration arcane nor having any medical expertise, and what she had done before was purely nullified the pain by removing temporarily the muscle and bone mass at a specific part of the body, hence the wound was still supposed to be in there, yet her worry fortunately ceased to exist when she noticed the treatment done by the villagers was near excellence despite the lack of medical training. Maybe it was all thanks to their experiences handling this sort of situation after many years. The proof was that instead of laying his leg on the bed to gain an even ground so that his leg wouldn't shake too much, he was able to sit on his short straw bed and his injured leg was already used as a support of the body weight.

"Well we, especially myself, simply can't, Miss Erynew." calmly answered, the village's leader shook his head, "Because thanks to you our village survived from the demise. It is our way to thank to our savior. Please, let us express our gratitude."

'He even used the emphasize please and the word savior. It's my first time watching humans being so grateful despite the eerie born nature their savior clearly has.' Erynew took her time voicing her own thoughts, a voice only she could hear.

"A savior, you say… isn't that quite… a strong word?" answered Erynew, "The savior is your son, because if it's not for him, I maybe wouldn't even know about the raiders."

"Ah… that naive son of mine. He just now endlessly wanted me to admit that he is indeed a very capable man. He said he's the savior, eh? Some things will never change, I suppose." Chief Jovier smiled a bit, knowing what she was referring to thus his mind played some old memories which hidden deep both inside his head and heart—memories only known by him, "But it's quite surprising. You know that Gizado is my son. Did somebody tell you?"

"Nobody, because at first glance I already knew." slowly fading away that smile on her face, turned into something she felt heavy to tell and reluctant to say, "But Maya and Reya did tell me something else… about someone else… about Gizado's older sister… about your late daughter."