Blue Water Village

Arthur and William walked through the village; William then said, "If I recall correctly, Johnson said they lived in a house near the Village's tavern. Let's go find their house there." William and Arthur, after some time, approached near the Blue Water Village Tavern. At the entrance of the tavern, William and Arthur saw a huge man leaving.

"Johnson!" William shouted and got closer to the man. Arthur seeing this, also followed. "Huh? Commander William, what are you doing here? And oh, is this the new guy I've heard about. Arthur was it?" Johnson said as he looked at both William and Arthur, who were wearing copper-plated pelt armor.

"You guys are now working for the nobles? Which noble are you guys serving?" Johnson asked. "No, no. We're not serving any noble." William replied. "Then why are you guys wearing those clothes? Only noble guards are allowed to wear those." Johnson asked back.

"We got these from dead guards, we got attacked by wolves, and we were thinking of staying here before we get back to Green Water Village," Arthur said. "Dead guards? Wolves? "Johnson wondered.

"This is not the right place to be talking about this; let's continue talking at your home." Arthur then said. Johnson, also hearing that their conversation would include noble guards, went quiet and guided William and Arthur to his house. "This way then."

Arthur and William saw Johnson's house, which was a rundown 2-story building. They entered and were immediately assaulted by the smell of Chicken being cooked, "Johnson, you're not alone?" William asked, surprised because as far as he knew about this huge man, he was an introvert and was at the back of the line most of the time. Only being at the front when they needed a shield, so he was taken aback when he learned that he has a fiancée.

"Hehe, yeah, I'm currently living with my fiancée," Johnson said while blushing. "I hope we're not too much of a bother." Arthur then said. "No, no. It's okay; besides we cook more food as I eat a lot more, perfect timing so that we'll be able to share it amongst us." Johnson responded. "I will just put these items upstairs; please make yourself at home." He said as he started going upstairs.

Arthur and William sat down on the chair, Arthur feeling guilty that the chairs would be stained with blood. He removed his armor and revealed his bare naked body. William seeing this, also took off his clothes.

"Honey, the food's ready." A voice sounded from the kitchen. The two men then saw a petite young lady leaving the kitchen holding a huge pot; seeing both Arthur and William's naked body, the woman shrieked and almost dropped the pot she was holding. "Kyaah."

Arthur and William were then embarrassed, picked their armor up, and started to leave. The woman then put the pot on the table while saying, "Who are you people?" "Hello, sister, we're friends of Johnson and were thinking of crashing for the night before we move back to Green Water Village," Arthur said.

"Friends of Johnson?" since when did he have friends who go around naked. The woman thought. Johnson, hearing the commotion rushed to where the lady was and saw the situation. "Ah, honey, these are my fellow soldiers. He is my ex-Commander William, and he is their new recruit, Arthur." Johnson introduced both men to the woman.

"So why are they naked?" The woman asked. "Oh, our armors are covered in blood, and we didn't want to dirty the chairs," Arthur answered. "Johnson, go get some of your clothes and give it to them while they go wash up. It smells bad here." The woman said.

"We're very sorry for the trouble," William said. The woman then said, "No trouble, just go wash up. The water is outside, it might be a little cold, but it should be fine." William and Arthur nodded and said their thanks and took off outside.

Both men then washed, Johnson seeing that they were down, gave them each a cloth. "Dry yourselves up; the clothes are right here, might be a little bit too big, but bear with it as I don't have anything smaller. Sorry" "No problem, I actually like wearing oversized clothes." Arthur said.

The 3 men then joined the woman at the table and started eating. After they were done, William asked Johnson, "Won't you introduce the young miss to us?" Johnson then said, "This is my fiancée, Arlayn; she is the daughter of this village's blacksmith."

Hearing that she was the blacksmith's daughter and looking at Johnson's huge frame, Arthur realized how they would've met and how the old man would've introduced his daughter to him, and so he smiled. Johnson seeing Arthur's smile, asked him, "What are you smiling about, rookie?"

"Nothing, I'm just smiling that you're very lucky," Arthur responded. "Lucky? I am indeed lucky. Haha." Johnson laughed.

"What are you laughing about, Johnson?" Arlayn asked as she re-entered the room. "It's nothing; I'm just laughing that I'm very lucky that I have you with me," Johnson said, hugging Arlayn. Hearing these words, Arlayn blushed and responded. "Oh, you."

Seeing the situation, William and Arthur looked at each other and showed a very wry smile. Seeing two men looking at each other, Arlayn then left Johnson's embrace and said, "I'll leave you guys be." She then started heading upstairs. Johnson then brought William and Arthur to the next room and asked, "So what happened to you guys?"

William then told their story, "So after you left, we had a mission to subjugate goblins near Green Water Village. We managed to kill all the goblins without losing anyone. We got back in the village, and it was supposed to be our great celebration; however, this idiot tried to save a kid from a noble's hands. We then got sent to a prison located where the wolves were, and we just escaped from there with this guy's help. We encountered a wolf pack lead by a Fiery King Wolf and had to run for our lives during our escape. The other people who were with us managed to lead it away, and we got here after getting chased by those wolves."

Arthur, hearing William's retelling of the story, was shocked because before he got thrown into prison, he remembered he was cut in the waist with 3 other soldiers by one of Dickson's guard, so hearing that William didn't include that part really took him by surprise. 'Did that not happen, or something else entirely happened in William's eyes?' Arthur really was curious about this.

"Prison? You escaped from there?" recalling their armor, Johnson then realized, "So your armor came from the guards of the prison?" "Yeah," William answered. Then Johnson remembered something big. "You encountered a pack of wolves which was lead by a Fiery King Wolf?!"

"Yeah, it was a very scary moment. We didn't think we'd be able to live actually." Arthur said. Johnson, still rendered speechless by what William told him. "So what do you guys wanna do? You're now convicts of Green Water Village, and I know you can't stay for long here because that noble named Dickson is also here."

"We, for the moment, don't know. We were just thinking of crashing for the night, and we'll leave the village early in the morning and go to Green Leaf Village." Arthur replied. "Green Leaf Village? That's like over the mountain, isn't it?"

"Yes, but we can't go to the nearby Blue Leaf Village as Dickson will pass through there when they will go to White Water City. So we can only risk the mountain and stay for the time being at Green Leaf Village before deciding to go to the city." Arthur said. Johnson hearing their trouble, was very worried; however, seeing as he couldn't give them a solution, he just kept quiet.

Arlayn, walking downstairs, holding blankets, said, "It's getting very late; we don't have any more spaces upstairs. Would you gentlemen be alright sleeping on the couch?"

"Yes, that would be alright. Thank you very much." William and Arthur replied. "Well, I'll walk you guys out tomorrow. See you in the morning then." Johnson said as he left with Arlayn.