Chapter 3 - Trouble is brewing

It was finally payday, the one day of every month where the employees basically gathered around their boss like a hungry school of fish.

"Alright everyone line up!" the boss ordered and not even 5 seconds later he said such a thing, everyone had already positioned themselves quite neatly.

At the back, patiently waiting though hoping it would go faster, was Rio. He was quite excited for this particular payment day, he got a raise after he finally got his figurines commissioned and sold off. So he was just brimming with glee, a smile that reached ear to ear, heart thumping from the excitement.

Though before he could get too excited, the boy mentally reminded himself not to get too carried away.

"Let's not overestimate the amount, just be glad you're getting paid," he told himself. Never really one to forget humility Rio took some deep breaths to calm his racing heart as he waited for the line to move.

Eventually, after much waiting, it was finally his turn. His heart once again began to pump ten times more than usual, sweat slowly began to drip down his cheeks and his palms became wet from sheer nervousness. The anticipation was killing him.

Shakily raising a hand, the boy cupped it and waited for the bag to drop. But he didn't make any eye contact in fear of seeing what the bag looked like, since the payments were done by bag sizes.

He then felt a weight drop onto his palm so he slowly turned his head and spotted the brown bag on his palm. Though rather than jump for joy or crack from disappointment, the boy found himself not really reacting much when he saw that the bag was pretty much the same size as his past payments. He stared at it for a good second before just shrugging his shoulders and turning to leave, but before he could a voice called out to him.

"Hey, where are you running off to?"

Turning his head back, Rio saw the boss looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Confused, the boy explained he got his payment so he was heading off to work, but this only seemed to confuse the older man.

"That's not all of it." The man then held out another bag. "Here's your raise."

It took some time to register fully, but seeing the boy's face change from a stoic, relaxed expression to one where his mouth curled into a huge curve, informing the boss his worker was satisfied with the results.

Good thing he never forgets to pay employees.

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While the workshop was dealing with payments, over at the farm, Sora was deep into her work tending to the crops.

It wasn't harvesting time yet, so during these periods Sora would just walk around with a watering can in her hand, showering the vegetables with the rest of the farmers. Once that was done she would head over to the fruits where she picked away at the several fruit bugs that would infest the trunks and stems of the trees that were bearing healthy, succulent berries.

Afterwards, the girl stood in front of the orchard, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She calmed her heart and slowly parted her lips.

What came out subsequently was a melody, calm as the wind yet strong as a storm. Her voice radiated across the fields, making anyone stop what they were doing to just listen to her tune. Whenever she sang, it was as though the heavens themselves sang, her voice danced on the wind enveloping everything in its wake.

"A beautiful song as always," said a farmer.

"Really calms the soul after a hard day of work," another farmer added.

Sora's song then came to an end and a blast of applause then erupted through the air, screams of praise all directed at the outworlder then quickly followed. Causing her to blush lightly from the overwhelming amount of acclaim thrown at her.

When things have calmed down, the farmers talked to Sora about her singing and tried to convince her, yet again that she should go and perform songs at the capital. But as per her usual answer, the girl refused. Stating she had to stick around to accompany a certain someone. Though it wasn't a secret who she was on about.

"Still even though you've shown such initiative, he still doesn't seem to get it," a farmer said nonchalantly. "Maybe you don't have enough sex appeal."

The farmer was then punched by another citizen before explaining that there was more to a relationship than just looks.

Sora giggled at the scene in front of her but her attention was then grabbed when she heard the familiar voice of Rio call out to her. Immediately turning her head, her eyes landed on the boy waving at her, on one of his hands the two bags of money he got as payment.

Not wasting any time, the girl rushed over and greeted the young man who was just as happy to see his friend look so peppy.

"Rio, done already?" Sora asked, noting that he was out before dusk.

"Well the boss told us that we did really well this time around so we're free to leave early, apparently we earned way more than he expected from the figurines." Rio lifted both of his bags to about eye height. "See? I even got more than usual."

Sora stared at the two bags in slight awe. "Wow, you got a haul huh?"

The two friends then shared a giggle before it was rudely interrupted by Eric who bumped Rio's shoulder.

"Oops didn't you see you there, you're just so unimportant that you're about as invisible as the wind," Eric mocked.

Rio stayed silent, only looking away from Eric.

"What do you want Eric?" Sora shot the man a steel glare, she really didn't like the guy especially since he picked on Rio.

"I'm just passing by on my way to relax. You want to join me So-"

"No," Sora interjected immediately. She then grabbed Rio's wrist and dragged him away in a hurry.

Eric wasn't used to being rejected; he was the most popular guy in the village until Rio came along and took some attention away from him.

Though his petty envy only grew when he knew that Sora was actually Rio's friend and that she was interested in him. For the haughty man, there was no woman that could resist him, yet Sora never once looked his way, always having her eyes glued to Rio, who was so plain.

"What does she see in such a boring guy?" Eric mumbled to himself, bitter that Rio got Sora's attention yet again.

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The next day the two were having a nice walk to enjoy the warmth of the morning sun as its glow rested on their skin and the cool breeze of the early winds brushing past them, but their alone time was interrupted when they saw the entire town gathered in front of a large barn. Seeing everyone there quickly yielded worry for the two since that barn held their crops that kept the village fed while their harvest was still not ready.

Running over, the two joined the crowd, peeking through the gaps to see what was going on at the front.

Beyond the crowd, staring at the mess in front of him was the village chief. Next to him was the workshop boss and the farmer lady who was in charge of handling all their crops.

All three had their eyes firmly locked on the countless fruits and veg, scattered, battered and squished across the barn.

"This is horrible!" the farmer cried. Tears began to form, threatening to drop. She cared for these crops and seeing them in such a horrendous state was like seeing her own children's corpses.

"These must've been forest rats, someone brought them here and even broke the padlock on this place," the boss said, getting his teeth in annoyance.

"How could such a thing happen?" the farmer asked, turning to the chieftain.

The chief closed his eyes, he didn't like the thoughts that were forming in his head, but even he knew he needed to be open to his citizens. "There's a good chance that someone did put some parasites into our barn."

"How could someone do such a thing?"

"Is it possible that there were raiders from the outside?"

"We cannot know for sure," the chief admitted, "but whatever the case is, we need to protect the crops we have left or else risk starvation for winter. I will send a group to buy other products we have lost. Let us hope this is the only attack."

Nodding to the chief, the two then went inside the barn to check the damages while the chief turned to the rest of his populous telling them to return to normality, since they needed to investigate the place, assuring them that they'll find the culprit, while also informing them of his plan for food.

With those parting words from the chief, the villagers scattered, murmuring with one another about who could be responsible for releasing some rats on their food.

This was no different for the outworlders, who were just as devastated by what they witnessed. Yet the only thing they could do in that situation was hope that it wasn't as bad as they thought.