Sneak 100

The guards then like a switch, instantly change their behaviour as they instinctively and loudly salute a stranger who suddenly appears equipped with a shining black cuirass and a knight sword straps on his waist with its sheath as his black pitch cape fluttering behind him as he walks.

The said stranger then comes out slowly from the village gate while the guards automatically put away their crossing spears that were blocking the path, allowing him to pass through as he walks towards us at a slow pace steadily in composure.

The mysterious man in black thereafter proceeds to ask the working guard serenely what's happening with the holdback of our entry into the village.

He doesn't have any helmet on so we can see his dashing face clearly exposed being lighted under the sunlight before our eyes; Having a figure of an attractive male elf and a face of a personable vampire, who's also presumably being about in his mid 30's with grey blonde hair in a classic combed back hairstyle. He also has the manly iconic battle scar vertically ran past through on the left side of his lips.

With that kind of appearance and features, he holds nothing but an excellent and respectful impression of a great leader.

Then again, we can't always judge the book by its cover, right?

Who knows he might as well be a child rapist? Or the one who conducts national bribery?

We'll never know.

Yet he does look sexy especially with the scar...with his short boxed beard goatee so I think he's pretty fine.

Though not exactly my type.

...He is not even close to Jonathan.

NOT. EVEN. A. TINY. BIT.

Next, the guy who is known to be the chief guard then soon let out a short hum simultaneously does a little nod towards the saluting guards, telling them to be at ease.

Chief Guard: "So?"

Guard 1: "Chief guard sir! I was merely asking these two travellers where they came from, sir!"

Chief Guard: "And?"

Guard 1: "I have been informed that they came from the neighbouring village across the Nutur Forest, Rakia Village down the southeast."

Chief Guard: "Oho? Our classic Rakia Village? Really?"

The guy then fixedly stared his eyes at Noah and me.

But I think it mostly at me as his eyes went up and down, scanning nook and cranny directly towards me.

Shit! Is my cover burnt already?

With full curiosity, the chief guard paces closer towards us unhurriedly with both of his hands resting on the sides of his waist as the sound of his cluttering armour in every step he made is getting closer and closer every second pass.

I anxiously swallowed a huge amount of saliva in my mouth down to my throat as he moves towards us, closer and closer, menacingly with his eyes deeply locked on us which does not faze at all since the first time he laid his eyes on us... Not even a little.

But as he reached about half a metre away from us he, in brief, pauses his steps and without turning his back around he nonchalantly asks the guard behind him.

Chief Guard: "Did you ask them for the name?"

Guard 1: "No sir. Not yet."

Hearing the guard's answer the chief guard look down directly on the ground below his feet while shaking his head sideways in dissatisfaction as a harsh sigh soon escapes from his mouth.

Chief Guard: "You hold them back from entering the village for so long and yet you still didn't have their names? Seriously, have you been asking them 'those' unnecessary questions again?"

Guard 1: "Si-"

As the guard was about to say something in opposition the chief guard quickly raises his left hand, in silence prohibiting the guard from talking any further, continuing himself by looking at Me and Noah thus he speaks.

Chief Guard: "I apologise for the wait. Now, may I ask what is your name, gentlemen?"

Noah: "M-my name is Noah... Noah Selkey."

Chief Guard: "Selkey?... As for Jonathan Selkey?"

Noah: "Yes, that is my father's name. I'm his son."

Chief Guard: "Good Lord, it is an honour to meet you! I'm a good friend of your father. It is a pleasure of meeting his son when I thought I would never meet him in near future. Yet here you are!"

He cheered joyfully, shaking both of his hands exhilaratingly with Noah's with a big smile engraved on his face ear to ear, truly acting like when a child who's about to get a big present on Christmas Day beaming with bright emotions coming out from him.

Noah who's still dumbfounded about the chief guard's sudden change of demeanour scarcely just go with the flow by returning the handshake in a more...gentle way.

Well, to be honest at this point I don't even know if Noah even returns the handshake or not because the guy has been shaking Noah's hands up and down in the most aggressive way for almost ten seconds straight.

Chief Guard: "Oh my, where is my manner. I can't believe I forgot to tell you my name even after you've told yours. My name is Karcius Dusk. The honourable full-fledge Chief Guard of Sentua Village. This is not a place to talk. Let us go inside so we can talk more about you and your father. Additionally, I'll assure you that you'll enjoy your stay in our village as we have the best hospitality specially serve only for the newcomers. We also have the smoothest development of infrastructure in the whole Meruvel Kingdom as we hold a good relationship with the merchants of the Capital."

Spoke the chief guard festively as he playfully grabs Noah around his neck using his muscular left arm, dragging him while heading straight into the village leaving me behind as if I do not even exist.

Noah: "W-wahh!"

So does that mean that this place holds a reputation with the Capital? The very place the guard mentioned how terrible the place is?

But hearing coming from the chief guard seems to be only contradictory to the guard's point of view.

...Something doesn't smell right here...

Guard 1: "S-sir!"

Chief Guard: "Hm?"

The same previous guard out of nowhere called out the chief guard meekly but loud enough to make all of us return our attention to him, looking at him in half surprised kind of wonder.

Guard 1: "Sir...... Is...is it wrong for us guards to ask several questions upon the travellers who came to this village?"

Guard 2: " O-oi! What are you doing?! He's the Chief Guard you're talking to! Return to your position!"

The second guard who's guarding the gate alongside the first one all of a sudden reacted exaggeratedly upon the guard's question which is supposed to be considered rude towards the chief guard and tried to stop him at once from letting him dangerously crossing the line of disrespecting his superior blindly.

But of course, the first guard didn't listen and insists on continuing to say what's been kept in his mind to the chief guard.

Guard 1: "You said that all I ever did was ask some unnecessary questions to the travellers but isn't that what a gatekeeper exactly supposed to do? With all due respect sir, I think all of the questions I asked are a necessity in protecting the village safety and not unnecessary-..*BANG!*.."

In a flash, the chief guard who was standing with Noah instantly stood in front of the questioning guard and using his right hand which clad in some kind of black leather glove, with a very loud bang, he viciously smacked the shit out of the guard's head against his metal helmet simultaneously made the guard fell flat on his butt from the impact.

Guard 1: "GUHH!!"

Together with his helmet has flown far above into midair and a moment after, it landed 4 metres away behind the fallen guard onto the ground with a loud metallic thud dramatically thus exposing a nosebleeding face of a man with a dreadful bruise which is half swelling set out completely on his left cheek.

Chief Guard: "Who the hell you think you are talking to, huh? Comparing to me you are nothing but just a filthy insolent peasant who's desperately looking for a mere amount of coins for a living so DON'T you dare question me in such a way with that tone of voice of yours, understood?!"

Growled the chief guard against the injured man, acting all high and mighty while staring down arrogantly at the sitting man full of disgust and hatred filled solely in his eyes.

Noah who was already walking halfway inside the gate subsequently gaped his mouth half-open, stopping his pace from entering the village as he's terribly shocked by the unforeseen harrowing display shown by the chief guard who is once again suddenly changes his personality into a brutal one against the poor gatekeeper.

Not gonna lie, I am too, truly surprised by the chief guard foul action because this is way too much.

The guard was just doing his job(even though it was kinda annoying at first) and he does not deserve to be chastised just because of him asking some questions.

There's nothing wrong with being careful, especially if it means protecting something. And he did it to determine the safety of his village.

So it's just wrong!

I knew there's something nasty about this chief guard bastard!

Thus giving the situation that's happening right in front of me is fiercely making my blood ferociously boils through my veins as my high sense of righteousness fully ablaze in my chest, begging for every inch of my muscles to move, bringing down this fiend out of existence for good.

...

But I can't!

We have come to this village through hell and back and I'm not gonna ruin our plan just like that by interfering in their affairs.

What am I going to do?!

If I make a move now, they're likely to be a high chance that I'll be exposing myself and get caught red-handed for being a non-human outsider.

This is too risky as Noah's life might be on the line too.

But if I don't do anything, that bitch will miserably keep harassing the injured guard violently to death.

Argh! This is so frustrating!!

Should I ignore them...or should I go help the poor guy?

I... I can't stand watching a person being beaten to crap like that.

I want to help him.

I WILL HELP HIM! AS I AM A HERO THAT SAVES PEOPLE FROM THE HANDS OF EVIL AND PURGES THE DARKNESS AS I, THE HERO, WIELDS THE LIGHT OF JUSTICE AGAINST THE UNHOLY MONSTROSITY!

However, before I could even bring in my first move, a tiny white silhouette then rushes swiftly towards the chief guard in high-speed but silently like a ghost walking in a daylight pass next to me she stretches her right arm and grabs the chief firmly by the collar part of his black cuirass as her pristine white silky hair swishes beautifully, glistening under the bright sunlight behind her.

Me: "...Maya..."

At the brief moment after realising what will happen next, I sprint rashly towards the village passing through the gate while shouting as loud as I can at Noah as I instinctively grab and carry him up on my right shoulder on the way as we vanish, disappearing deeper into the streets of the village inside.

Me: "LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Meanwhile, as we're both completely ran out of the scene, using her right hand which stored with powerful Spirit strength within, using a clean martial art move Maya one-handedly hurls the chief guard past the top of her right shoulder in the most impressive way thus crashing the chief guard's back at the wall on the right side of the gate, creating a huge crack on them with a loud cracking sound and leaving the witnessing guards in wild puzzlement as they could only see their arrogant chief guard only got lifted by an unknown force and humiliatingly got thrashed in midair by himself and passed out cold on the ground.

-Some time later-

Me: "..*pant*..*pant*..*pant*.."

Noah: "What...what just happened?"

Me: "You..*pant*.. You don't wanna know..*pant*.."

After which I felt like three minutes of sprinting aimlessly into Sentua Village inside this godforsaken hot shabby MoonWars clothing, it looks like I have found a good spot to rest for a bit to recompose myself which is the resting bench next to the decorated small fountain conveniently located somewhere inside the village.

Me: "So much of staying out of trouble."

A silent complaint by itself escaped from my mouth.

Noah: "Uh, Bal? You can let go of me now."

Me: "Oh yeah, right."

Inchmeal, I lean my body downwards slightly lowering my right shoulder to the height where Noah could reach his feet on the ground beneath thus stands upright in front of me while crossing his arms on his chest, furrowing his eyebrows directly at me like there's something he is dissatisfied about and like a ticking time bomb he shortly explodes in rage.

Noah: "What the hell was that?!"

Me: "Eh?"

Noah: "Don't "eh" me! Why the hell did we suddenly run away from the guards?! And what for?!"

Ah, so that's what has been bothering him?

Me: "Noah, listen to me carefully. The chief guard back there was a bad guy. And it was obvious enough as you were there too to see what he did to the poor guard."

Noah: "But what has it got to do anything with us running away?"

Me: "That is because.."

Maya: "Hey!"

Me: "WAAAAAAH!!"

I screamed my lungs out as an uncertain person with a familiar little girl voice out of nowhere greeted me from behind, tapping her hand on my left shoulder deliberately simultaneously making the fur behind my neck and tail bristles wildly like an angry wild cat.

In a quick movement, I hastily turn my back around...just to see Maya, smiling whilst waving her left hand at me innocently.

Me: "YOU! Don't do that!"

A small chuckle could be heard near me from Noah.

Noah: "Really? By just tapping your shoulder made you screamed like a girl? Talk about embarrassing."

Me: "Don't...Don't start it. Just don't. I don't have the energy for that right now."

Noah: "For what?"

He asked in a playful way, at the same time smirking when he had the chance to do it.

Me: "Nevermind."

Before I could torture myself any further by suffering from a migraine, I continue to ignore Noah as I return my attention to Maya.

Me: "By the way, what happen to-.."

Then before I even have the chance to fully speak out my sentence, Maya instantly put her index finger in front of the lips of my muzzle to silent me at once letting out a loud hush, exclaimed cautiously from her mouth.

Maya: "Don't talk to me when we're this wide open. Just look around you."

Processing what she's trying to tell me, I proceed on doing what she told me to do and can't help but notice that there are several people staring with their eyes filled purely with animosity at me.

Well, maybe not that hostile but perhaps more likely looking at me in suspicion from everywhere; The shopkeepers inside the stalls on the street, the pedestrians who walk past nearby who also pull their eyes away as they caught me staring back at them.

...The random little boy who has been purposely poking me with a tiny twig on my left foot.

Me: "Who...who the fu.."

As I was about to say something, the little boy then immediately dashed himself, running away from me further into the horizon with his tiny feet deeper into the village through the street, never to be seen again.

Where the fuck did he come from?

Maya: "Remember, I'm still in my Bunker. So don't talk to me when we're out here otherwise they will think of you as an insane hobo person."

Me: "Yeah, thank you for the compliment."

Noah: "Pfft!"

Maya: "And when I said that I especially was talking about you, shrimp. You almost got me exposed back at the gate and if I hadn't jab my elbow on you earlier I don't know what would have happened to us as the situation could be more complicated than ever to handle!"

Noah: "Wha-! Why you little-..!"

Before he could able to get on a full rampage against Maya I swiftly put my right hand on his mouth to shut him up with my arms tightly wrapped around his neck, stopping him from doing any unreasonable thing that could turn this situation into a more hellish one than it is.

Me: "Ok, I think we get it now."

I said it monotonously without directly looking at Maya.

Noah: "Mmph!"

Still not making any eye contact with her I continue to speak.

Me: "But you should also restraint yourself from constantly talking to us depends on the situation we're in. Deal? Or else we'll keep ignoring you till the line is clear where we're totally out of people's sight."

Maya: "Mhm~ Of course."

Me: "Good."

Maya: "With that in mind, I would also like to proudly say, "Welcome to Sentua Village"."

At the moment as I realised what she said, I calmly begin to hovering my gaze over the buildings thoroughly that are standing everywhere around us and if I look at them carefully which the designs and styles are also particularly identical to what we have in Agrian as the buildings and houses were all built beautifully in a traditional victorian style.

Me: "We finally here, huh? So what should we do now?"

Reacting to my question, struggling as he uses a sheer amount of his strength consolidated in his hands, with a short grunt he shoves my hand away from his mouth, allowing him to speak again.

Noah: "Mmpwah!... I know! Let us go eat. I'm starving! Moreover, it is also near late in the evening-... Wait a sec... Did we honestly skipped our lunchtime?!!"

Me: "Yeah, I think we did."

Damn, did we really focused on our travel of coming here that much that we forgot to eat?

Me: "Aight, it's settled then. Let us go find a decent place to grab some grub."

Noah: "Yayy~!"

As he cheered in the enjoyment in my grasp, he handily slipped himself out of my locking arm using the advantage of his small body and merrily ran down into the main street with his eyes sparkle in glee with both of his arms spread wide at his sides while running.

His attitude really change that much when he's in good mood, huh?

I think he always likes that especially when it comes to food. That's another thing I know about him I guess.

Me: "Don't run too far by yourself, Noah."

Anyhow, seeing him like this kinda puts me and my heart at ease.

I'm truly happy knowing that he's enjoying himself despite all the hardships and disasters that happened to us in Nutur Forest days ago.

But before I begin to follow Noah for our food hunt, I looked at a bench settled next to the edge of the decorated fountain earlier as I sullenly remember that I haven't had the chance to sit on it yet to calm myself from all the mumbo jumbo we had at the gate which also reminded me of how tired currently I am.

Me: "It will be a real heaven for me if I get myself some sleep right now. (T~T)"

Back in my world, this is usually my nap time.

I really have brought myself out of my comfort zone, aren't I?

Noah: "Bal, hurry up!"

A loud call suddenly hit my ears as Noah shouted at me full of energy even though he just said that he's starving just now.

But then again, starving and tired both genuinely have contradictory meanings to each other.

Me: "I'm coming! Calm yourself down a bit, would you? Jeez."

No one can blame him though. He is a kid, to begin with.

-Half an hour later, 4:55 p.m.-

-Tavern somewhere inside the village-

Apparently, after almost an hour of walking on the village streets and alleys which we passed blindly without knowing the way which I thought for us to undoubtedly lose our way, the three of us just like how I predicted it, ended up getting lost inside of this uncustomary maze village.

Which some time later, we barely noticed that this place is three times the size of Noah's village which is also richer and more lively in its own respective ways in comparison to Rakia Village.

Now I feel bad for underhandedly shaming his hometown like this, nonetheless, you can't keep denying it for being such a sad fact from the light of truth.

However, thankfully we had stumbled ourselves with a nice old lady when we were on our way who needed the help of finding her lost calico cat, in return showing us the way to the nearby tavern which was right around the corner of the sidewalk 2 metres on the left where an obvious smell of delicious aromatic warm food begun to lurked around the area coming from the tavern we're yearning for.

By the way, the finding cat mission was successfully done without us breaking a sweat and thanks to me, by taking advantage of my nose, the trail of the cat's scent vividly lured us straight to it using the cat's fur given by the old lady as a hint to help us in search of the cat.

Me: "Wew, what a day."

I mumbled in leisure but at the same exhaustedly as I finally get to rest myself inside of a cosy home-like tavern by sitting in a gorgeously carved white dining table naturally provided for four people.

I hope they don't mind about this nonetheless as we need an extra seat for Maya to sit in.

After the "finding cat" side quest we had, she has completely muted herself from making any noises since then.

Noah: "But look at the bright side, thanks to the old lady we got an extra income as a reward for finding her cat."

He proudly replied with a tired grin engraved on his face whilst resting his chin in relaxation on the table.

Me: "Anyway, what are you getting?"

After that, like a certain secret password has been confirmed, a small girl with glistening black wavy hair in a maid dress affirmatively, like a flash, popped up with a hand size mini chalkboard laid in her left hand and small chalk on the right appeared next to our table with a good-customer-service-smile carved brightly on her face.

????: "Welcome to Tavern De Sentua! I haven't seen you, two misters, before. Are you guys new to this village?"

Noah: "HOLY SHIT!! Where the hell did you come from?!"

Scared half to death, Noah accidentally let out a loud screech thus arousing lots of unnecessary attention to us from other patrons of the tavern which Noah then hurriedly apologised to them for the bother he brought.

And you told me how embarrassing it was with me being scared of a tap on my shoulder but I think this is tenfold more embarrassing than me for you to scream in a closed place filled with people like this.

Noah: "How old are you?! Nine or something?!"

Noah, are you kidding me?! Not enough with the trouble you had just now with other patrons and now you want to pick a fight with her?

Why do you always pick a fight with someone who's in small size? Do you have a death wish or something?!

????: "Hey, that's plainly rude! I'm still young and far more decent than you as I'm still in my sweet seven years old."

Self-esteem much?!

????: "Also, for your own good, please be more mindful with your own words if you don't wanna be blacklisted by all the taverns around the village, mIsTeR!"

She said menacingly with a scornful smile, threateningly using the chalk in her hand as she begins to gesture them on top of the chalkboard in her left hand pretending like she's writing something on it.

I bet it's about Noah.

Noah: "Y-yes! I understand!... I apologise for my rudeness. Please don't blacklist me. I'm still growing so I need to eat a lot."

????: "Hmph! Contention aside, what are you gentlemen will have for today?"

She said as she delivers a quick glance at me and asks again.

????: "Why don't we start with you first, Mr Huge-Mysterious-Cloaked Man?"

Again she innocently asked while looking at me in the most natural way.

Don't give someone a weird nickname deliberately without permission!

Hell, this is an extreme deja vu I'm feeling right now.

Me: "Eh? M-me? Thanks but I... I don't want to order anything. I'll not eat as I have a fair amount of rations for myself in my....cloak that I....stored... Yes. Also, I'm not hungry so yeah no thanks. Why don't you ask the boy sitting in front of me instead?"

Noah: "Eh? You're not going to eat? Are you sure? It's my treat you know."

He asked me in a low tone of concern.

I think you frown your eyebrows a bit too hard than you should, Noah. Are you truly that concerned about my well being? I'm very flattered.

????: "What? You let a small kid like him feed you? For a strong scary looking full fledge adult like you couldn't even afford a portion of food is just doesn't sound right. Mister, are you poor?"

First of all, small kid? That's rich coming for you.

Besides, was that really something that you're supposed to ask a customer? I thought you cared about not being rude by minding your words and all.

Hmm, smells like immense hypocrisy here...

Me: "It...It's not like that. It is actually more complicated than that."

????: "Heh, if that's really the case then I'll not stick my nose into your business any deeper. So kid, what would you like to order?"

Noah: "Kid?! Are you freaking serious?! I'm like WAY older than you so please show me some respect!"

With the high pitched yelling, an outburst of anger accidentally broke out because of his uncontrollable temper, making a scene which yet again brought dreadful attention upon us.

I think I also caught someone flinch a little in response to Noah's yelling and there's even one of them who got choked on his rum as he got terribly shocked when the yelling inadvertently took place a moment ago.

Therefore, the yell earlier then leads the other patrons to glare at us...again but this time with their eyes lit up with twice more hostility than before.

Except for the waitress herself... Including Maya.

The tiny waitress didn't even move an inch as she remains calm standing by beside our table with her chalk and chalkboard in her hands ready to take our order and smile without caring about the world.

While Maya froze in her seat while crossing her arms in front of her chest silently pretending to be asleep, simply ignoring the commotion that's happening around her to keep her presence hidden inside of her Bunker.

Me: "Psst! Noah, please lower your voice down. You're bothering the customers again."

Noah: "A-ah! Sorry!"

Once he realised the turmoil he has caused upon the tavern, he immediately apologised for the trouble he did...again, bowing down a little in his seat to the disturbed customers with resentment clearly showed on his face.

Now I really feel sorry for him.

But most importantly I hope the tavern owner doesn't kick us out before our food even being served because of the noise complaint received from the customers against us.

Noah: "Very sorry about the yelling. I do feel bad for what I did to you just now. You see, it's just my temper. I somehow do always kept it in check but sometimes it will end up...break lose like earlier. Came from my family's lineage I guess, haha."

Don't blame it on your ancestors!

Noah: "Again, sorry about that."

????: "It's okay. I'm the one who initiated it by being rude to you. Even after what I said about minding your words."

Noah: "Nevermind that. Let's just pretend that it never happened, okay? Anyway, for the food, I don't exactly know what to order as you already know that I'm still new around here. So my order for you is to... Surprise me."

????: "...Oh...Oh, excellent! I'll be right back with your order shortly."

Noah: "Thanks..."

He paused his sentence for a brief moment and a second later the tiny waitress finally got the hint and begins to introduce herself.

Chloe: "It's Chloeria. Just call me Chloe."

Noah: "Thank you, Chloe."

Wait, what is happening right now? At first, they're arguing about something that I don't even know myself but now they're acting like casual friends?

After they're done with their short introduction, with a quick nod, Chloe left our table and leisurely gallops all the way through the wooden floor into the kitchen far back of the tavern...while closing her eyes...

She must have memorized the passage inside this tavern thoroughly for her to able to walk past the crowding tables effortlessly like that. Even almost like she's dancing.

Noah: "Are you still sure that you don't wanna eat?"

Me: "Nah, it's fine. I'll eat after we find a place to stay for tonight. I think that's the most decent choice to make considering keeping my identity hidden."

Noah: "Okay, if you say so then I'll respect your decision."

Me: "Thanks. By the way, about your order. "Surprise me"? Where do you learn to say that from?"

Noah: "Ah, father taught me that. He said that if I ended up at an uncustomary food place somewhere outside the village someday, he told me to say "surprise me" instead of a real order to the waiter/waitress as it always brings out the special menu of the day to you."

Me: "Jonathan? Of course he did. Well, talk about a place to stay should we find them after we're done eating?"

Noah: "Fine with me. You're the boss."

Me: "Eh? Suddenly I'm the boss now?"

Noah: "That was only a figure of speech. But don't you wanna?"

Me: "I didn't say that I'd refuse though. Aren't you're the one who opposed the idea of me leading the team in the first place? Why with the sudden change of heart?"

I rest my right elbow on the table, gesturing my arm in an upright position as I plop my chin on top of my paw with a mischievous grin cracked on my maw with my eyes looking at him cunningly as my ego roses almost to its peak.

Noah: "Nu-uh! I know what you're thinking and I'm not gonna say it."

Me: "Dammit. Worth a shot tho."

Noah: "Cheeky mutt."

Me: "A fluffy handsome mutt I might add, hehe."

Before long, we both chuckled in unison in long seconds as we enjoy the restful leisure of our peaceful evening that we never had the chance to indulge since we went into the forest.

-Minutes later-

Chloe: "Thank you for waiting. Here's your order~ <3"

After her arrival with Noah's order steaming on a wooden tray balanced elegantly on top of her left palm, she proceeds to serve the food on top of our table carefully alongside two cups set in front of us as a strong sweet flower fragrance soon emits from them thus running through my nose in a very pleasant way which automatically made my nose twitches witlessly under the mask.