Chapter 41

"Martin! Are you okay?" Timothy asked as he rushed over. There were no visible wounds on the front of his body, so Timothy found it strange that Martin would be sitting down with a group of injured cultivators instead of helping everyone else.

"I wish that I could say yes, but as you can see-" before continuing his explanation, Martin pulled up the blanket that was almost up to his neck. And so Timothy saw that during the attack, Martin had lost his right leg while only his knee and above were wrapped up tightly. Since the rest of his leg was nowhere to be seen, chances are, one of the demon beasts took a big bite before being sent off.

"Well, it looks like I have a rather bleak future since my leg is gone. Fortunately, I was accepted into Boulder Village and they gave me a title since I gave it my all to protect the village. However, it looks like my employment with your family will be coming to a close once I speak to your father." Martin told Timothy, but instead of being angry or sad, he had a very small smile on the side of his mouth.

Listening to his explanation, Timothy felt rather bad because he was the one to initially hire him and took advantage of such a low hiring cost since Martin fell on tough times even with a decent cultivation level. But hearing him mentioning his family caused him to shake his head. "Martin, does this mean that you do not know where my family is?"

"Don't worry, they survived without any harm during the demon beast attack. I am not sure if it was because they were recognized or just so happened to look vulnerable enough, but one of the elders protected them. Luckily, that elder was also able to survive, otherwise there is no telling how your family would have been treated by that elder's clan in the future." Martin replied.

"Go to the shack, they said that until things began to calm down, they would remain there for the time being." Martin instructed Timothy as he closed his eyes to rest. His face was extremely pale and he was sweating quite a bit, so Timothy did not take it badly since Martin forced himself to answer all of his questions.

"Mother, father!" Timothy shouted as he saw the three of his family members sitting down right outside of the shack with little Joshua who also looked as if there was not even a speck of dirt that was on him. "I am glad that you are all okay, please tell me that Jacob's mother is also in good shape?"

As he began talking to his mother to figure out what exactly had occurred since he was mostly in the dark besides the fact that the only damages from the attack were due to directly targeting people and not buildings, the mayor arrived at the shack. "Arthur, I hate to be that person, but is it possible for you to begin repairing equipment and weapons once more? I am not sure how I will be repaying you, but our village has lost quite a few experts and are too vulnerable." the mayor asked Timothy's father as he pulled him to the side.

Just the doctors of the village alone heading into action to save many lives that were still in danger of even just bleeding out, would cost the village quite a bit of funds let alone each individual piece of equipment or weapon that needed to be repaired by Timothy's father. However, Arthur explained to his family that since this was their new home, he would always do what he could to protect it and that they should all think and feel the same way.

Ever since little Joshua was born into this world, Timothy's father seemed to think about his life very differently and the biggest change was what he felt was the right thing to do. He could have just told the mayor that he would give him a steep discount, but because this was now their new home where he would one day retire, he decided to just add this favor onto the first one that gave them a brand new house and quite a bit of wealth to not fear being poor again.

"Timothy, you should head over to see Jacob and his parents. His mother explained to us how his father was very ill and so this demon beast attack caused her to feel even more panicked. I am sure that he is fine, but as his new and only friend, you must be there for Jacob just in case I am wrong." Timothy's mother counselled him before sending him off. On the way over, they saw Martin was in bad shape and Timothy did not want to be the one to give them the news; Martin deserved to tell them himself with the remaining pride he had as a mercenary.

Making his way over to Jacob's residence, Timothy felt a small ray of hope in his heart, because those who were outside and present looked to not have any injuries and there were no injured or dead guards in the streets. He did not know what he could do if Jacob's father was killed, especially since it would have been in his home.

Timothy had seen several people in his life pass away from old age back in Oak Township, but he had not seen anyone being slaughtered and killed as he did today. Thanks to the cultivation method he was training in, it helped temper one's soul as well which played a big part in how one would react to new experiences.

Even though he was not even a teenager, he was still able to deal with so much bloodshed for the first time in his life. Part of it was because he himself only saw the judge being killed in front of him and the two elders instead of a large number of people where he still probably would not have been able to do anything for.