Unexpected Guests

"Well… I lost my memories and now I don't remember anything except my name." Xerxes gave the best reason he could come up with.

"So, you don't know how you ended up here, where you came from, anything about you?" Lulu spoke with concern.

"Well, I do remember that I was walking back home, and then suddenly, I found myself here. The only things I can recall are this... and my name."

"So, I really don't know what this Firefly Society is," Xerxes said, trying to change the conversation, "Can you tell me what it is and why the Nobles don't want to take action against that serpent?"

"Sorry if this made you sad," Lala sighed, "Maybe when we talk about it, you may remember something about yourself too."

"Sorry for lying, but I think unless I'm sure that things are not ugly, I shouldn't let anyone know about myself and my power." He thought to himself.

"The Firefly Society isn't the only society out there," Lulu began, explaining the world and the powers that reigned. "There are others too, which are independent organizations, group of people with same interests."

"Like there's the Noble Society, made up of all the Noble families out there," she continued, "the Merchant Society made up of merchants, the Open Heaven Society, another independent society. Like this, there are many out there."

"The Firefly Society is the one which deals with magic beasts," Lulu explained. "They are an organization filled with rare and powerful beasts."

"They have an entire army of them and their work is to subdue rare beasts and add them to their ranks. They also run the Beast Trading Association with the Merchant Society, so you can see how much influence they have."

"But this doesn't mean the Nobles are weak, right?" Xerxes asked.

"Yes, Nobles aren't weak, and they have good relations with them," the Village Chief explained.

"This is also the reason they aren't helping us in this. If they do something to the beast which was the Firefly Society's, it will bring a conflict between them, which is not in their interest. So, because of that, they decided to ignore our plea."

"Isn't this selfish, well, from both sides?" Xerxes asked.

"Because the true culprit of this situation is the Firefly Society who freed that creature. But knowing that you people are guarding these borders, shouldn't those Nobles at least help you somehow?"

"Haha,"

The Village Chief laughed. "Those Nobles don't care about old prophecies. To them, this is just a folktale. But we tribal people believe that one day the prophecy will become true, and the monster from the Northern forest will emerge."

Just then, a man came running from the outside, "Chief... Chief!"

The Village Chief and the others looked at the incomer, who was breathing heavily. "Chief... the people of Herders Village and Wind Village are here."

"What?" The Chief got up from his seat. "Why are those people here?" His tone was surprised and filled with angered.

"They must be here for Fia," Lulu spoke.

"Hmpf... they think they can bully us because my son is now not with us," the Village Chief muttered, infuriated.

"What marriage? How can my son promise to marry his young daughter to anyone without even telling me or his own wife?" The Village Chief began to go towards the incoming group.

"Seems like the relations between the tribes here are not as good as I thought," Xerxes thought, looking at Lala who held Fia's hand and followed the Village Chief.

"Xerxes waited a little then followed them, and saw the Village Chief having a heated argument with a group of men in front of the hut."

"Old man, we came here from so far, and is this how you want to greet us?" said the middle-aged man, with a black ponytail and tan skin, the Chief of the Herders village.

"I didn't invite you, so what are the two Village Chiefs doing here?" the Village Chief retorted. "We are not ready to take guests today."

"Oh, but we heard something different," said the small, fat middle-aged man, the Chief of the Wind Village.

"Where is the Noble man? We are here to take him with us," he added.

"Fatty, aren't you forgetting something?" the Village Chief of the Herders spoke.

"What?" the Village Chief of the Wind Village looked back at him.

"My bride. We are already here, why don't we just go back with the Noble and my Bride together?" He spoke while looking at Fia, who hid behind her mother.

"Well, her mother is also good, why don't you take both the mother and daughter duo?" the Village Chief of the Wind Village added with a light chuckle.

"You dare!" the Village Chief of the Mountain Village spoke loudly. "we don't have any Noble with us. You can go back."

He hit the bottom of his stick on the ground, and the whole village began to shake.

The tremor slowed down, but because it was targeted towards the two Chiefs and their people, the land beneath them still shook, forcing them to stumble backward.

"Old man!" the Village Chief of the Wind Village yelled. "You really want to go against us?"

"You dare to lie? The whole village has seen the young man who looked like a Noble entering your hut," the Village Chief of the Herders Village warned.

"I'm warning you," he continued, "you better hand them over to us, or things won't be good for you and your people."

"I already told you, there is no Noble here..." the Village Chief spoke, but at the same time, the people in front all looked in a certain direction.

Xerxes came and seeing this, the old man stopped while both the Village Chiefs began to laugh.

"Hahaha!"

"Hahaha!"

"If there is no Noble here, then tell me who is he?" the Village Chief of the Herders pointed at Xerxes, who had come closer.

...Xerxes was still wearing his old tattered school pants and except that, he was naked. Seeing him in this condition, both of the Village Chiefs began to have doubt in their mind.

"Who are these people?" Xerxes asked, looking at the people in front. He had already heard the commotion and wanted to help the people who had helped him.

The Village Chief's tone changing slightly when addressing Xerxes, "These are two of the Village Chiefs from the other Nine villages. The tall one here is the Village Chief of the Herders village, and the other is the Village Chief of the Wind village."

Xerxes nodded while scrutinizing them. "Why are they using these types of names?" he thought, "Mountain Village, Wind Village, and now even Herders Village. What are left? Water, Fire..." He thought while glaring at the two Village Chiefs.

The two Village Chiefs were now in a tough position. Although the Village Chief of the Mountain Village had denied the presence of a Noble, Xerxes's appearance spoke otherwise.

But again, seeing his condition and clothes, he didn't seem like a Noble. But then, his otherworldly look told a different story.

"He doesn't feel like a Noble, but that face is even rare among Nobles," the Village Chief of the Wind thought.

"May I know the name of this sir?" the Village Chief of the Herders village asked.

"Xerxes," a simple answer came from Xerxes.

"Xerxes what?" both Village Chiefs spoke in unison.

"Just Xerxes," he spoke, and both Village Chiefs' faces fell in disappointment.