A Mysterious Granny

Since this village was situated near the border of North Earth Kingdom and added that there were no other means than agriculture to obtain their livelihood, the condition here wasn't lively.

No guard was watching the front gate, and the streets looked vacant. The few people I saw had this look of vacantness in their eyes; their bodies were deathly pale and flail; these people have already given up.

I saw a group of people who seems to have some decent clothing with light in their eyes coming towards us in a hurry.

"Your highness! Forgive me for not attending you earlier. I am this village's chief." A man of short stature bowed down with haste when we were five feet in front of him. Along with him, the other four people, which consisted of two females, one man, and a little girl, also followed his lead.

"It's alright. I have come here on an urgent matter; no need to attend me." Contrary to how Elize behaved with me, she was speaking with a frosty voice, the same as when I first met her.

"W-what matter? If I may be impudent." The man didn't raise his head and stuttered out some barely discernible words.

"Do I really need to say it? Something of that proportion shouldn't escape your ears." Her tone dropped a few degrees lower; the air started getting a bit heavy and cold.

"...yes." Under the pressure, the village chief waved the white flag quickly.

"Tell me where that person is?"

"Last night, she was roaming around her like always, spewing out farcical remarks, but from this morning, we didn't saw her."

Elize's eyebrows furrowed. It looks like she was thinking about whether she should wait or go around looking for that person.

"Round up all the people and have them search for that person." After some moments of silence, she said.

"But your highness, you know how our condition is, even though I am their chief, they don't listen to me—"

Clang!

As the chief was going on and on round-way about how they were poor and all, Elize just got fed up and threw some gold coins at them. "Just get to work."

"Right away! Your Highness." The chief bowed profoundly and hurried off to assemble people.

That was quite an audacious man if I say so myself.

...

After some hours of frantic search by the villagers, finally, they were able to find her.

"You little shits! Let go of this old woman!" It was actually a significantly older woman whose face was hidden with her greasy long black hair.

She struggled fiercely under the detainment of four men who were holding her down on the ground.

Elize was simply watching the whole incident with a lackadaisical attitude. Hey, hey, do something!

"Old granny, you know what you have been going around saying is punishable by death of nine generations?" Finally, Elize spoke.

"Heh. You little shits think you can kill me? And what did I say wrong?" The anger filled voice of old granny suddenly became soft and full of respect. "The strongest of the four otherworlders, Neil Heathcliff was the most benevolent and righteous person in this world. Without him, you wouldn't be living to see the days pass."

The older woman said some shocking words. Even though what she said was interesting, it was backed by no proof. Rather than that, my attention was garnered by something else.

"I have no intention of humoring you or listening to your nonsense any longer." Elize stood up, and her sword appeared in her hands.

"Wait for a second, Elize." I shimmering light surrounding the blade dimmed the moment she heard my voice.

"What is it, Noir?" Her voice softened akin to a flute. The change in her tone shocked everyone present.

"All of you release the old lady. Is this how you treat your older generation?" I said flatly to all the men. While they were still bewildered if I was insane, I said to Elize, "tell them to leave the old lady alone and get out of here."

Like the love struct woman she was, instantly she threw everyone out of the place we were in without a second thought.

For the first time, the granny looked at me. I saw her thin eyes peeking out from the slits of her hair; an imperceptible flash passed inside them.

"Seems like at least you know how to treat your older generation, boy."

My eyebrows raised involuntarily. It was because the tone of her voice had changed significantly.

But then I smirked. "If so, shouldn't you reward me as someone from the older generation?"

"Haha, since you are such a good boy, tell me what do you need?" She shook her hands, and my eyes went towards the item I was looking at previously.

It was a simple black pearl in the shape of a drop. She was using it as jewelry.

"You seem interested in this?" She said in a weird voice, not expecting me actually to be interested in that item.

"Yes. It really is beautiful." I smiled.

"Is that so?" The granny paused after saying that. I also didn't say a thing.

After some second, she sighed.

She took off the pearl, bounded to a thin red string, and fling it towards me, and I caught it quickly. The moment I touched it, a feeling of nostalgia appeared in my mind. It was weird because I was sure I hadn't seen it before. While on the inside, I was shocked; on my face was nothing but a straight smile. "I will keep it safe. You can also go now. Don't say those things even if you believe them to be true."

"Humph. What believes? That is the truth." After looking at me attentively for some time, she muttered under her breath.

"Elize, tell others to leave her alone. Granny, it would be best if you also ran away from here. This place is no longer safe for you. Maybe cross the border and enter the North Earth Kingdom."

After thinking for a moment, the granny nodded. Elize had no qualms. To her, my words were more massive than her own belief and opinions.

I put the black pearl safely into my pockets.

Elize lied that she will kill the granny outside of the village, to which the villagers fearfully agreed. But in reality, the granny had already left while hiding from everyone. The lie was necessary since nor Elize neither I wanted the title of heretic associated anywhere near us. Also, few people saw me 'commanding' Elize, so they were also erased by Elize tactfully before the sunset. A few people missing from the village will raise the alarm, but this wasn't something new. People committing suicide and fights to the death for a piece of bread were familiar in these areas.