The Village of Kugo

The road was pretty short, Eidiri arriving at the crossroads quickly.

From there, he followed the instructions the well-meaning adventurer had given him, going right when he came to the crossroads.

From there, he followed the road to Kugo Village, arriving at the gates relatively quickly.

When he moved to enter the gate, the guard stopped him, "Halt, who are you and why are you here?" the guard asked.

"I came here to settle a commission, the one with the monster horde and all that," Eidiri honestly said.

"Show proof of the commission and then you'll be granted entry into the village," the guard said.

Nodding to the guard's request, Eidiri pulled out the commission he had picked up back at the square, showing it to the guard.

Taking the commission from Eidiri, the guard nodded, reading the commission.

"Okay, it looks like you have permission to enter the village. Take care and thank you for your help this time," the guard said.

"Just doing my job," Eidiri replied as he walked in.

As he walked past and into the village, Eidiri heard the guard mutter underneath his breath, "If only more people were like that guy..."

The commission instructed Eidiri to head to the lord's manor of the village, therefore, Eidirii set his course straight there.

The problem was, he didn't really know where the lord's manor was.

So, Eidiri used the method used previously, asking around to see if anyone would be kind enough to help a clearly lost person.

Strangely enough, the people he stopped on the street were rather standoff-ish, lugging around huge rucksacks and carts.

When he asked them, they didn't reply, only giving him non-committal grunts before tossing him an annoyed look.

Clearly understanding the message, Eidiri backed away from them, 'What's the deal with them?' he wondered.

So he wandered the streets, hoping to find maybe a guard or some sort of storekeeper to ask where the Lord's manor was situated.

But all the stores were deserted, the streets barren where there would normally be guards to maintain the peace.

So Eidiri continued to wander around aimlessly, eventually, he got fed up and went back to the guard that he had met out front.

"Hey, so can you help me get to the Lord's Manor?" Eidiri asked.

Shaking his head, the guard replied, "There's no point. He's up and left now."

"What do you mean he left?" Eidiri asked. "He's the Lord of this village. He can't just leave!"

"Well tell that to him when you see him then," the guard replied. "Until then, just do whatever. Clear some of the monsters or something."

"Wait, no, no, no. What do you mean by the 'Lord left' he's the one with the authority here isn't he?" Eidiri asked incredulously.

"What are we supposed to do then? And the soldiers? Do they just happen to be gone also?"

"How'd you know?" the guard sardonically asked.

"Seriously?" yelled Eidiri. "What in the fiery pits of hell is going on here?"

"Everyone's fleeing. Not a single person believes we stand a chance against a monster horde of such proportions. They're right to run too."

"Damn, I would run if I could," the guard said, "But I got this bad knee, can't travel without screwing myself even harder. May as well buy time for the others. At least I'll fall in my home, right?" the guard dryly chuckled.

"Wait no, we can still survive this," Eidiri optimistically said, trying to bring the guard's hopes up.

"You've seen this village. Nothing but ghosts live here now. Soon enough, I'll join their ranks. Just leave kid. You've already seen what's happening here. Leave while you still can," the guard implored Eidiri.

"If the village is going to fall, why don't I take you with me?" Eidiri asked. "It'll be no problem," he said.

However, Eidiri's efforts were wasted, the guard now opting to just ignore Eidiri.

No matter how hard Eidiri tried to convince the guard, he stood there motionlessly, a dull look in his eyes, as if his soul had already vacated his body.

No matter how hard Eidiri tried to convince the guard to cling to life, it didn't do anything, as the guard was already on the verge of death.

Not a physical death, but a mental one.

So the guard stood steady at the gate to the village, Eidiri eventually giving up on the task, feeling depressed as to how he was helpless to change the situation.

His head lowered, he blundered through the branches, small twigs raking across his face but Eidiri paid them little mind, currently preoccupied with the corpse of a man standing at the gate.

Aimlessly he walked into the forest, wanting nothing but to distract himself with some good 'ol violence.

It was not long before he encountered some sort of weird horned creature.

If Eidiri had to compare it to an animal from Earth, it would be similar to a goat.

Not too surprising honestly, especially how goats were viewed in a demonic light, a stark contrast from their counterparts of sheep.

The horns were curled around, each horn ended in a sharp tip, ready to skewer anything it decided to ram into.

Rushing forward, Eidiri provoked the goat, catching its attention almost immediately.

From there, the goat scuffed its hooves on the ground, readying itself to charge.

And then, in a sudden burst of speed, the goat was already upon Eidiri.

But with great luck, and with how Eidiri had foreseen its charge thanks to it scuffing its hooves, he managed to roll out of the way in time.

With so much momentum built up from its head-first rush at Eidiri, the Demonic Goat couldn't just stop on a dime.

So it kept charging forward, trying to slow down but the momentum kept sending it hurtling forwards.

In an attempt to slow itself and turn to charge Eidiri once again, one of the hooves slipped from underneath the goat, causing the weight to be distributed unevenly, leading to an upset in the goat's balance.

The goat crashed down to the ground, a minor dust cloud emerging from where it skidded across the dirt floor.