Start of the 100th trial

He was a bit frustrated at first when he started this trial. How can he not be? He wanted nothing more than a quick trial for his last trial but he was given one of the longest possible trials possible. But that's about it, although he was a bit frustrated at first, he started working towards completing his trial in earnest after sulking for some time. Thinking back as to what happened two hundred years ago.

--Two Hundred Years Ago--

Two hundred years ago, in a bedroom that was a tad bit small and rundown for only one person, Alaric woke up. He was somewhat disoriented at first but his nerves and body grew taut and he looked around to check for danger. Years after years of experience have ingrained something into his being that was 'the tower is never benevolent'.

He found himself lying on a bed with rough sheets that took the majority of the room, a room painted with blue that showed signs of fading. Apart from the bed, there was a study table on which there was a change of clothes and a mirror. He was amused to discover that the room had been set up as if to allow him to get used to his body.

When he woke up, he found himself in a body that roughly had the same parameters as his, albeit a bit scrawny. If he had to point a thing out that stood out to him at that moment then that would be his hair, they were rather long for his taste, reaching shoulder length. 'I should trim those; otherwise, they'd only get in my way.' He mused to himself and put that to the back of his mind, the first thing he did was to check the objective of this trial that he'd been sent to.

He searched around himself as if a person with prescribed spectacles searches for his glasses when he wakes up, after fumbling about 2-3 minutes on his bed he finally found what he was looking for, an envelope. It wasn't in the best of conditions but, it appeared tattered and something that has passed through some rough times. A coarse yellowish cover sealed with wax.

He tore open the envelope without thinking further and read the letter's content, which provided him with general information of the world that he has been sent to, just the bare bones of it. After reading through the letter, he gained basic knowledge of where he was. After reading the letter, creases started appearing on his forehead. Once he compiled all the information available to him, he concluded that he needed more information.

He was at the Pehevell village; he was the former village head's second son. That was pretty much all the useful information he had, used to the tower being a cheapskate when it comes to information, he didn't mind much. He got up, tried swinging his arms and legs around to get used to the new body he had. After a couple of minutes when he got the hang of it, he went ahead and changed his clothes.

After changing, he looked at the mirror; a very average face was what he saw, someone who you'd lose sight of on a busy street or marketplace, he appeared to be a young adult about 20-22 years old.

Turning around the mirror a couple of times, he set off to explore the house he was in. The house wasn't that big, it had a couple of rooms, a place to cook at, and a study cum library where the former village head took care of his business. From what he gartered, his elder brother should be the new village head for him to be able to sleep in the village head's home.

When he arrived at the place where the family dined, he saw a couple who were in their late thirties, a woman similar to his age or perhaps a bit older, and a little kid about ten years old.

When the people at the table saw him they invited him to join them, the woman who was sitting the closest to him said "Join us already, or are you waiting for a gold-laced invitation for you to be willing to dine with us, your majesty?" The kid giggled, watching his aunt and uncle argue was truly a pleasant thing for him to enjoy. "Zea cut Al some slack his head might not be able to process all that information since he just got up. What would we do if his head stopped working altogether?" The eldest cousin saw no reason to not make fun of him.

Alaric saw around the table and looked at Ryan who looked like a squirrel, eating porridge by the mouthfuls, and said "Oh just shut up. Little Ryan, how come you and Vera are eating with two pigs today? Did I not tell you that you might get sick if you let stinking animals into the house?"

Ryan who was still giggling started laughing by seeing the expression of his father and aunt turning ugly, he just hoped for his dear mother to not stop them. But alas, when has Heaven granted the little kid his wish?

Soon after, Vera interfered and all of them continued having a meal. Vera usually had a sunny personality but none of the siblings dared to cross her in fear of having to listen to her yapping away all day long. Even her husband Gerard who was as bold as a spear acted timid in front of her. They ate and quibbled at the same time.

Just like that a week passed by, during the past week Alaric went to the village's tavern to listen in on the conversation between people or just roamed around the village to understand the situation better. At first, nothing stood out about Pehevell, it was like every other village, it had homes made up of logs and mud that farmers resided in, even a couple of brick houses where the 'big shots' such as the village chief, the smith, the pharmacy's owner and the richest of the merchants lived.

The smithy and pharmacy were honestly just for name's sake where farmers can get their tools repaired and hunters can buy crudely made bandages and disinfectants from before they went to the nearby woods to find game.

Although he hadn't found anything out of place yet, he wasn't discouraged and soon his hard work paid off. Upon continued inspection and digging around, he found that there were walls that covered a much, much larger area around the village. There wasn't anyone on the walls and they looked old, cracked, chipped, and not taken care of, he was certain that these used to be city walls.

Slightly confused and much more intrigued he decided that he must find what the matter with these walls is once he gets home. Perhaps his brother's library would have something that mentions them. If what he thinks is correct then there should be more to the town and the first objective of the trial should be revealed soon.

Humming a tune he was returning home but halfway through he found a commotion going on at the village center. He decided to take a look first before going home and looking through the library.

Traversing through the crowd, he reached the heart of the heated discussion. His brother and half a dozen people conversed back and forth in a somewhat hurried tone. "Are you sure that there's been a shortage of prey since the last couple of days?" Gerard inquired with a worried expression.

"We are positive about it, hares, rabbits, birds, and even squirrels, there has been a lack of every animal we usually used to hunt around these parts of the forest." The man facing Gerard answered with certainty. He was a large man, well over six feet, had a rugged feel to his demeanor. He wore a hunter's jacket and had a knife hung on his belt.

"Are any of the hunters been acting strangely? As you know we can't let the greed of some men ruin the entire village." Gerard implied the heavy consequences of the lack of food whilst there was already a shortage of food throughout the village. How can he, the village chief not be worried when one of the sources of money that used to buy food was now dwindling seemingly out of nowhere? The villagers of Pehevell just had enough food after a hard day's work to be barely full. The problem was too grave to an extent that even the former village head's son was a bit scrawny.

"Are you certain that you can bear the implications of your accusation?" The huge man asked with a frown on his face.

"Wasn't this one of yours' fault when the tragedy 30 years ago happened? Or perhaps you're doing well enough Justin to forget about something like that? Your father was the head of hunters back then, only he and my father came out alive out of that skirmish, and that too almost dead. IT'S NOT WHETHER OR NOT I CAN HANDLE THE FALLOUT BUT RATHER CAN THE VILLAGE AFFORD ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE THINGS AGAIN! WHICH OF YOU IS CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO DO SO?" Gerard whose tone was barely audible at the beginning was thundering, his chest bellowing and spittle flying on Justin's face. He looked around and none in the crowd dared to match his eyes.

"I'm pretty sure that every one of us was in line." Justin replied, but now his tone wavering, "Anyway, I'd go and take a look personally with some of my guys, there's bound to be some rhyme or reason for this to happen. We must prevent another calamity befalling Pehevell." He reassured Gerard.

"I'd wait to hear back from you, take a weapon from the village's storage. It is of paramount importance to be on the safer side. We can't lose a fighter like you in times of need" Gerard confirmed, even today thinking about the past made him tremble. "Tomorrow morning, we'd set off with the finest weapons and hunters and find out what's happening in the woods." He said again, with more determination than before.

After finalizing the plan everyone started leaving, Alaric approached Gerard and asked if everything was alright. Gerard told him that they'd talk about it once they reach home.

Once they reached home, they headed towards his brother's study. Gerard unlocked the door and let Alaric enter first; he didn't rush him or anything, clearly remembering the curiosity he had when he first entered the room.

Alaric looked around the room, it wasn't wrong to say that it was a very minimalistic design. It had a table surrounded by a couple of chairs at one side, a desk with a couple of parchments laying messily on it, and a bottle of ink and feather, at the far end of the room was a bookshelf which looked nothing short of antique, it's integrity questionable at best. It was filled with books of all sorts that were neatly sorted out. On the remaining side of the room was a huge map pinned to the wall.

Alaric was surprised by the fact that the map included the walls as well as on one side of the map there was nothing but forest. Gerard entered and sat on one of the chairs around the table and gestured to Alaric to do the same. Once they were seated both of them just stared at each other for a while.

"So, what do you want to know? I'd try my best to answer your questions. But there are certain things that you're not supposed to know, for them I'd naturally keep my silence." Gerard stated plainly.

"Why is our village surrounded by walls and why are they so far spread out?" Alaric pointed at the map. The walls were really very far out, covering an area of more than ten times the size of Pehevell.

"I honestly don't know about that either, there were speculations around but that's all there was, just speculations, nothing can be said for certain as to why there are walls surrounding our village or why are they so far out. But one thing is for certain, because of those walls, the farmers can farm without many worries, it keeps random beasts out and bandits are easily sighted. Coupled with the fact that the village isn't rich enough for it to attract them, it's truly a safe place to reside at."

"Can I go through the books here?"

"Except for some of them, you can" Gerard replied after contemplating for a while.

"The incident that happened thirty-"

"No, I can't answer that not for now at least. Maybe after me, Justin, and the guys come back in a couple of days."

"But-"

"Al, you're not supposed to know that, there's a good reason why only a handful of people know about it. It's not some heaven-shaking secret but the fewer people know about it, the less we'd be worried. I'm already breaking the rules by allowing you into the study and browsing the library as you please. So, don't put me in a difficult place." Gerard firmly denied it and turned to leave, after reaching the door he said "Take care of Vera, Ryan, and Zea when I'm out." With that, he left, without waiting for a reply.