Chapter 11 Ghost Village

[System Notification: You have slain a Level 1 Ground Hound! Rewards: 3 EXP | 6 Omnipoints]

The notification sounded, and after traveling for a while, he finally arrived at the outskirts of the forest. Far away, he saw the village.

Placing his hands over his eyes like a telescope, he could see that the place was very dark. There were no lamps or fires to light it up.

With that, he walked to the road and began his journey toward the place. When he arrived just outside the village, he saw that the fences were in ruins.

"Isn't this place populated according to the reports? Why is there no one at all?" Alexander thought as he went inside.

The village houses were tightly shut, just like a ghost town. This made him a bit uneasy, wondering if he had gotten lost and ended up in a haunted village.

"I'm not really lost, am I?" Alexander grumbled to himself.

As he went deeper into the village, he decided to enter one of the houses. He then approached the closest house to his right.

Stepping onto the elevated wooden platform, it made a creaking sound, and as he opened the door, it produced an even louder creaking noise that echoed throughout the house.

In the house across from him, the quilt in the window moved slightly, and an eye peeked through the gap. However, Alexander, who had already stepped inside, did not notice this.

As he wandered his gaze inside, there was nothing particularly special. However, what made him suspicious was that the place was spotless—so clean that it felt as though it was meticulously maintained.

Even the chairs, the table, and the kitchen were immaculate. When he checked the bathroom, he found it filled with clean water.

There were no cobwebs or even dust inside. "Is this place really a ghost village? Or is this actually the real village?" Alexander wondered if he was truly in the right place.

Looking at the stairs leading up, he began climbing them as they creaked softly with each step. He was focused on looking ahead, unaware that behind him, someone was tiptoeing toward him.

When he was about to climb further up the stairs to check, a piece of hardwood suddenly came crashing against the back of his head, creating a loud crunching sound, as if something had broken.

However, it was not Alexander's back that had broken; rather, it was the hardwood itself that shattered as it struck its target.

Bonk!

A sound echoed as Alexander's head bent slightly lower. He was stunned, having been caught off guard by the surprise attack.

The person who had attacked him stood frozen in shock, with his mouth agape.

Due to the darkness inside, his face was not visible. Alexander, was greatly angered by the sudden blow, as he turned around and saw a human figure stepping back.

He could see it trembling and could even hear its haggard breathing.

"Damn, that hurts, you know!" Alexander grumbled in annoyance.

If it had been a real sword, especially an axe, he would have been seriously injured since the blow landed directly on his head.

His ability to detect danger was clearly lacking, it had been a close call. Thankfully, it was only a piece of wood, or he might have died.

He glared at the figure in front of him, whose back was pressed against the wooden door leading outside.

Alexander walked calmly, though his eyes showed he meant business.

"You have to do better than that if you want to kill me," he said to the trembling figure.

When he had taken about four steps, the figure, shaking with fear, suddenly shouted, "Don't come closer, or I—I, I will bite you!" It was a soft voice, but it carried a tone of threat.

Alexander paused, his actions coming to a halt as he stood dumbfounded. The window was brushed open by the wind, allowing a sliver of moonlight to stream inside, illuminating her face.

He saw that it was actually a girl, seemingly around 14 or 15 years old.

Hearing her peculiar threat, he couldn't help but chuckle in a low voice. This was something new—he had never encountered such a line, not even in the movies he had seen.

Alexander simply stood there, unmoving. The girl, seeing the mysterious figure halt his advance, kept her wary eyes fixed on him.

Behind her back, hidden in her hands, was a knife. She had initially chosen to strike the man with the hardwood to knock him out, as she was afraid of killing someone.

However, if the situation took a turn for the worse, she was prepared to use the knife to end the thief life.

"Alright then. Let's talk like civilized people. Why did you hit me just now? I'm a good person who follows the law. Getting hit with my back turned isn't right, correct?" Alexander asked.

Only his mouth was visible, as he was covering himself with the quilt he had brought along.

The girl, hearing this, snorted in disdain as she replied, "If you're a good person, why would you just barge into our home? Also, if you're really not a criminal, why are you hiding your face? Hmph! I'm not dumb, you beast!" she exclaimed, pointing at him with her finger.

Alexander, hearing her reasoning, was suddenly enlightened—it was true that he had clearly barged into someone else's house without permission. However, the girl wasn't done yet.

"You still have the gall to call yourself a good person? That's exactly what a bad person would say! Hmph, just because my breasts are small doesn't mean my brain is small as well," the girl huffed indignantly.

Alexander was left utterly speechless. She's got a point, he thought to himself.

'Barging into someone's home and then claiming to be a good person does seem incredibly suspicious... even to me.'

Hearing her simultaneously criticize and compliment herself, Alexander was at a loss for what kind of expression to make.

He glanced at her chest, which was as flat as an airport runway, and nodded in agreement with her words.

"She's right; it's not small—it's flat. Dang, it's even flatter than a blackboard," he muttered to himself.

This time, his voice was neither low nor loud, but just audible enough for the girl to hear it.

Hearing the criticism, especially as a girl, it struck her most sensitive nerve. Gritting her teeth, she pulled out the knife from behind her back.

Alexander suddenly sensed the surge of hostility radiating from her, especially when his eyes landed on the weapon in her hand.

Her eyes burned with fury, leaving Alexander momentarily dazed, still trying to understand how he had angered her so much.

"I kwell you!" the girl shouted in a fit of rage.

Hearing her loud outburst, Alexander instinctively muttered, "Uhh, it's not 'kwell,' it's 'kill,'" correcting her without thinking.

The girl paused mid-action, considering his words for a moment, before asking, "Is that so?"

"Uh... yes," Alexander replied, feeling utterly speechless.

'How does she not know this? Humans only have one language in this world—how could she get this wrong?' he thought, baffled.

Without missing a beat, the girl suddenly shouted, "Then I kill you!!!" She lunged forward, running and leaping into the air with the knife raised high.

Its tip glinted in the faint light, shining with a shimmering, almost menacing brilliance as she aimed straight for him.

Seeing this, he had to become serious. With his leg darting sideways, he dodged to the side as the girl dropped down from his previous position.

The tip of the knife pierced the wooden floor about five inches deep. Seeing this, sweat began to pour down his face like a waterfall.

Alexander took a pose, ready for the next attack, but was frozen, not knowing whether to take action or not.

"Why is this so hard to pull!!!" The girl bellowed loudly, as she tried pull the knife out with her two delicate hands.

Seeing her struggling expression, he could not help but sigh. "The knife is stuck because you're forcing it the wrong way," Alexander called out, making the girl stop.

Noticing that he had caught her attention, Alexander continued, "You're pulling it straight up like it's a sword. A knife doesn't work like that."

"Really?" The girl stood up straight, her wild behavior disappearing as she waited for his answer.

"Then what should I do?" she asked with an innocent look, as if she hadn't just tried to commit a crime a few seconds ago.

"Angle it," Alexander instructed, gesturing toward the handle. "Wiggle it side to side while pulling gently. It will loosen the wood's grip on the blade. Trying to yank it out in one go will only make it worse," he explained.

She paused for a moment, staring at the knife. Then, with a sigh, she adjusted her grip and angled the blade slightly. She wiggled it from side to side, as Alexander suggested.

A soft creak followed as the knife shifted in the floor. "Hey, look, it's moving!" she exclaimed, her tone full of excitement.

Alexander did not say anything, and with one final tug, the knife popped free. She stumbled back a step, holding it with a big smile.

"See? It's about using proper technique, not force," Alexander said.

"Is that so?" the girl muttered, glancing at the knife. After a few seconds, she remembered something important.

She pointed the tip of the knife straight at Alexander with her face filled with violence, "Don't think I don't know what you are thinking. Hmph, trying to trick me so you can catch me off guard. I'll tell you this that it will not work" The girl said loudly with a smile hanging on her face.

Alexander could not help but sigh from this, he felt like he was going to lose some brain cells if he continued to argue with a little girl. 

"Think whatever you want, I'm leaving," he said, turning sideways to face the door.

The girl, hearing this, was shocked. A thief who barged in and wanted to leave just like that made her very angry. He was literally treating her home like a public playground.

"Where do you think you're going? Do you think you can just leave like that?" the girl shouted aloud, ready to rush at him again.

But Alexander did not even glance at her as he walked toward the door.

The girl, who was ready to rush, stopped as the sound of coughing echoed through the place. She turned toward the stairs, and there, at the top, she saw a woman who appeared to be around 21 or 22 years old, leaning against the wall at the end of the stair railing.

The woman looked utterly exhausted, her breathing was heavy, with hot air escaping visibly every time she exhaled.

Her tired, misty eyes and trembling hands clutched the railing tightly, revealing her struggle to support herself.

"Sister, why did you come out!" The girl shouted anxiously as she hurriedly climbed up the stairs.

The woman at the top of the stairs was breathing heavily but offered a tired smile.

"What do you think? Of course I'm worried about you," the woman said as the girl finally climbed up.

She extended her arms and placed them on the girl's cheeks.

Alexander glanced upstairs and decided not to ruin the moment. He walked toward the door, and seeing this, the girl was about to stop him but was held back in place.

"Just let him leave. He didn't even do anything bad to you or us. To avoid trouble, let's just leave him be," the woman said to the girl.

The girl, hearing this, didn't know what to do. Since they weren't really hurt or robbed, and everything seemed fine.

So, they simply observed the thief below, who had already pulled the door open.

When Alexander opened the door, he froze in place. Outside, there were at least eight men carrying hoes, shovels, and some heavy single-handed knives.

The people outside, seeing that the door had finally opened and the suspect was about to leave, surrounded his escape route.

"You thief! You think we'll just let you go after barging into one of our houses? If you're still alive after today, I'll change my name to Tangalog!" one man exclaimed as he rushed toward Alexander, wielding a heavy single-handed knife, likely a bolo as he raised it in the air, prepared to slash him.

(Just to be clear here, don't be offended about the word above ok!)