The Village Square (3)

The dagger that was about to fall apart was made anew as it gleamed as much as his bald head. Mr. Jenkins became speechless after his dagger was passed back to him. He stared at his tool like it was a foreign object as he forgot we were still in front of him.

"How much do you want?" He asked Olive when he came back to his senses.

"I don't need any money. I just wanted to help since I saw how hard you work while harvesting the vegetables my family eats," Olive frantically waved her hands in denial.

"Take this," the old man forced Olive to take a tiny copper coin in her hand.

Olive tried to give the coin back to Mr. Jenkins by putting the coin on the surface of his stall. But, Mr. Jenkins immediately intimidated her into agreeing to take the payment.

"I don't believe in free work," he glared at her.

Olive gasped as her grip on the tiny coin tightened. It was like she understood she would be poking his pride if she refused. Instead, her face bloomed into a bright smile as she thanked him for his generosity before turning to face us.

She briefly fidgeted with her hands like she was wondering what to say. It was like she felt guilty for taking all the money by herself. But she could never know that the school gave us more than enough money to spend the week here.

"No need to be uncomfortable, you deserved it," I felt genuinely happy for her.

Olive needed some self-encouragement to let her know how useful and valuable her talent was. I decided to showcase this by gathering more people who needed her help.

"Who else needs some help?" I yelled at the rest of the owners.

After witnessing an old dagger turn into a sparkling new tool, the owners lined up in front of Olive, making sure they would get their turn. Upon returning to their stalls, a pile full of metal junk was stacked in front of her. Olive pulled up her sleeves as she pulled out a tool from the pile as I got ready to watch the miraculous process.

Olive began to carry more tiny copper coins in her pouch as she returned more dazzling new tools to their owners. Every method of restoration was different. Some required more attention on its edges while others needed care from the start to the bottom. It was fascinating to witness how such small hands could turn junks into gems.

I wobbled from my seat beside her when Luke pulled my arm as the sky was starting to darken. I knew we had to start heading back to our house before it got dark. But I didn't know how I would handle the walk back.

"I have to go home now," Olive grimaced after losing track of time.

Olive ran towards the other direction as she hesitantly greeted us farewell. I turned to Luke before mumbling, "should we just use teleportation?"

Luke sighed as he lowered himself to signal to get on his back. It took us a total of two hours to walk to the village square. But it was mostly from my slow pace since my head started to get dizzy after the first thirty minutes.

I steadied my position as we almost reached the house after an hour. Luke's back was drenched with sweat as he started to slow down from my weight in the latter half of the journey. I jumped off his back once we were a few meters away and admired the sky full of stars blinking in and out.

"The fifth district is beautiful," I whispered.

Its beauty was different compared to the fantasy world of the first district or the futuristic second district. It was undeveloped compared to the other worlds touched by human civilization. But the natural growth of the fields of flowers mixed in the wild grass overflowed in front of me.

The next morning, I picked some flowers to place inside a wooden cup to decorate our bare house. I held a bouquet of daffodils in my hands as I noticed a group of short villagers walking towards the house. Was Olive visiting again?

I gasped when I spotted the familiar freckles on the boy in the midst of the group. He wore the same outfit as the last time we separated. His familiar smile vanished as he immediately spotted my disguise. Why was he here? Didn't his family live in the capitol?

I placed the bouquet in front of my face to hide my features. But, my red hair flowed along the air from the wind to reveal my identity. It was unfortunate that red was rare among commoners who possessed bright neon colours of secondary colours.

"Mill?" I softly spoke his name.

"Rika?" Mill stumbled a few steps back.

"Why are you here?" I didn't notice Luke coming out of the house.

"My family visits our relatives here every summer."

"But why are you here? Did you run away again?" Mill softly whispered.

Ugh! Why did he assume I ran away from home?

Luke frowned as he listened to our conversation. I never mentioned anything about Mill when I was interrogated about what I did outside the castle. I thought we would never see each other even if I visited the fifth district since it was such a large place.