Arena Chapter 40:
Chapter 40 The Silver Village (Part 3)
“How did it go?”
Asked the father .
Helgi is out of breath from having run so feverishly, and he catches his breath as he replies .
“Everyone was dead, father . ”
At those words, the gathered lycanthropes become largely agitated all together .
“Aaaak! NOOO!”
One female lycanthrope collapsed to the floor and screamed . She was the mother of the Jason brothers, the third wife, Hera .
At the news that all seven sons, and even Jason, whom she had such high expectations for, had died, Hera became completely shocked and broke down crying .
“It’s a lie! What about Jason? Jason is dead too? Did you see?”
“I saw Jason’s corpse . It looked like he was hit in the head by the human’s weapon and died from it . ”
Helgi replies coolly . At those words, Hera grabbed her head and wailed .
Then .
“Shut up . ”
The father’s low voice spreads out .
Hera’s cries suddenly stop . With a frightened face, she looked at her husband .
“You can birth more sons . You are distracting me, so go . ”
“Hu hu huk . ” (sobbing noises)
Hera sorrowfully wept as she left the crowd and disappeared to a quiet place .
The father looked at Helgi again .
“Where have the **** gone?”
“They made to the west . If they keep going this way, about tomorrow, they will arrive at the human village . ”
“You mean that village . ”
Father shuts his eyes for a moment .
He ponders on how to eradicate these impudent humans who had killed ten of his sons .
Then he speaks .
“We will proceed as usual”
“As usual?”
Helgi asks again . Father nods his head .
“Let them go to that village . ”
***
We walk all night and without knowing, the day begins to brighten .
“Hyung, look over there!”
Suddenly, Joon-ho points ahead and yells . A dense fog has settled in and it is hard to make out what is ahead .
But at Joon-ho’s words I stare intently and indeed, something strange can be seen .
I don’t believe my eyes .
“A village?”
Yes .
A village where people are living . There is, of course, slash and burn farming, and even a farm with gathered cows and pigs can be seen .
I wouldn’t have thought that in this forest inhabited by lycanthropes, a village with people could be found .
“We’re alive now!”
“People are living here, so we must be out of the forest now!”
Joon-ho and Hye-su are so happy they almost leap for joy .
But I can’t shake off a suspicious feeling .
“This place is so close to the lycanthrope territory and there is a village with people? Something is off . ”
“Listen here, oppa . The village wall is extremely high . Couldn’t that be to stop the lycanthropes?”
As Hye-su said, the village is built with a wooden fence rampart .
“… well, let’s see . It might not be an average village, it could be a hideout for bandits, so be especially careful . ”
“Yes . ”
“Got it . ”
We cannot look at the world of Arena as the same as our 21st century world .
From what we have heard, Arena’s human society is far lagging from our present world . Who’s to know that the village people as a whole won’t rob us entirely?
We approach the village carefully .
The village is enveloped completely by a wooden fence, but the main entrance to its inside is about halfway open .
Perhaps because it is still early dawn, I don’t see any people .
But I decide to be thorough .
“Sylph . ”
-Meow?
Sylph appears in midair and sits softly atop my head .
“Check out the inside of the village . ”
-Meow!
Sylph becomes wind and enters the village .
Sylph returns quickly from the village and I ask her a question .
“Are people living there?”
-Meow .
Sylph nods her head .
“How many?”
Sylph draws a number 234 into the ground .
A population of 200 makes it a small village, but considering the village is situated in such a dangerous forest is impressive .
“Is everyone asleep?”
This time, she draws a number 28 . It means 28 people are awake .
“I’ll lead the way . ”
Kang Chun-seong volunteers .
“Please, thank you . ”
Kang Chun-seong stood in front and headed inside the village . We tag along behind him .
The atmosphere inside the village is ordinary .
There are wooden homes densely packed .
When we walked through the entrance, the first thing that catches my eye is a vacant lot that looks like a square .
In the center of the space is a well, and a woman drawing water from the well stares at us wide-eyed .
“Who, who are you?”
Asks the woman .
It’s the same speech as the dead lycanthropes from last night . It sounds similar to Russian, and this time too, I am able to understand it .
“Hyung, you understood her too?”
At Joon-ho’s question, I nod my head .
“I think it is because we are examinees . ”
Hye-su is correct .
For smooth progress, it must be because we have been given the ability to understand the Arena’s languages . Otherwise, this makes no sense at all .
“Um, well…”
The lady with a frightened face, asks us again .
I step forward and reply .
“Hello . ”
Surprisingly, it isn’t Korean that comes out of my mouth, but the same language as the woman . The other teammates look surprised too .
“Who are you people?”
“We are travelers . We took the wrong road and wandered the forest when we found this village . ”
“Travelers? Of this forest?”
“Yes . ”
The woman looks like she can’t believe it .
Then again, it is hard to believe we are travelers that wandered through a forest full of red apes and lycanthropes .
I paraphrase .
“Yes, while we were wandering we were attacked by lycanthropes and had quite a hard time . ”
As I say so, I carefully observe the woman’s reaction .
“Ly-lycanthropes?”
I thoroughly watch the woman who has a sensitive reaction to the word ‘lycanthrope . ’
‘I think she’s afraid of lycanthropes . Should I up it?’
I speak .
“Ten of them attacked us at once so we eliminated them all . We’re pretty strong . ”
The woman is completely surprised and I continue .
“Could we meet with the leader of this village? We would like to get permission to dwell here for a couple days . The lycanthropes fear us so you do not have to worry about them chasing us and attacking here . ”
At my words, the woman looks even more scared .
“Um, please hold on a moment . I will bring you the village chief . ”
The woman hastily runs off .
“Hyung, can we really **** our way here?”
Asks Joon-ho .
I shrug my shoulders .
“I did just to see how she’d react . ”
“And?”
Asks Hye-su .
“… it’s a bit strange . ”
“Huh?”
“This village is a little weird . There is more than one suspicious thing here and there . ”
“Explain that . ”
Says Kang Chun-seong .
I reply .
“It’s strange enough that a village is just plopped right in a lycanthrope infested forest, but the main entrance is open and no one is guarding . ”
“Ah…!”
“You’re right . ”
Then Joon-ho and Hye-su and Kang Chun-seong look around the village and realize too, the oddity .
“You saw that woman’s reaction, right? When I said we killed ten lycanthropes and that the **** are scared of us, oddly enough, she became even more frightened . ”
“Maybe the lycanthropes changed into village people? They told us they can transform into humans . ”
Hye-so offers a possible explanation . I shake my head .
“Sylph said people are living here . That’s right, right Sylph?”
-Meow .
Sylph wraps her tail around my neck and nods her head .
“Are you sure they are humans and not transformed from lycanthropes?”
Asks Hye-su .
Sylph nods her head .
If Sylph is this sure, there is no doubt .
Moreover, in this village are fields and ranches . It’s hard to imagine lycanthropes farm and ranch .
A while later, some ten village men appear around us .
“Are you guys the travelers?”
Asked a white-bearded old man with a cane .
I answer .
“Yes, we are . ”
“I am this village’s chief, Lebil . ”
Lebil? What a strange name . Is this a name that is common in the Arena world?
“We are travelers that just travel here and there . We wish to rest here for just one day, will you grant us permission?”
“You say you fought lycanthropes?”
“Yes, things like those aren’t much . ”
“Hoho, impressive indeed . I say, our village has been greatly bothered by those things . Fellows as strong as you are always welcome . ”
“Thank you . ”
“There is an empty house so it will not be in inconvenience for you to stay a few days . I will **** you, follow me . ”
“Yes . ”
“Now now, leave it to me and go back to your business . ”
The chief dispersed the ten or so men that came out with him .
The men scatter, and we follow chief Lebil and walk through the village .
“Isn’t it strange?”
The chief asked randomly .
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it strange that a village is located here?”
“Oh, yes, I thought it strange indeed . That a village is in such a dangerous forest . ”
“Hahaha, yes, the beasts and monsters from the village are dangerous . But do you know what is scarier?”
“I don’t know . ”
“Taxes . ”
The chief lets out a sigh and continues speaking .
“There is nothing as scary as a murderous tax . Lycanthropes are better than a cruel (feudal) lord . All the people in this village are people that ran away and hid from the lord’s tyranny . ”
“You must have all suffered greatly . ”
“Un-conveyable with words . Harvesting with slash-and-burn farming, raising pigs and cattle, fighting with lycanthropes, our struggles are endless . ”
‘That last part is a lie . ’
At the end of my deciphering, I make that conclusion .
I believe it is true that this village was made from people fleeing tyranny .
But going head to head and fighting with lycanthropes seems doubtful .
I had noted the men that had appeared with the chief earlier, and not a single one was properly weaponized .
‘I will wait and see . ’
I have to find out what this elderly chief Lebil is planning .
I think that they have a certain relationship with the lycanthropes .
I have to find out this village’s identity and why they are lying .
“Okay, this is it . It’s decent, eh?”
The chief shows us a crude building built of wood plants . Well, it is better than sleeping on the floor .
“We thank you for your goodwill . ”
I express my gratitude to the chief one more time .
“If there is anything you need, please let me know . ”
The chief smiled pleasantly and left .
We are left to ourselves and Hye-su furrows her brows and speaks .
“Oppa, do you think it will be okay to stay here? Like you said, this village feels odd . ”
“After what you said, hyung, I’ve been noticing a couple strange things too . Wouldn’t it be better for us to not stay at a village like this and just keep going?”
Hye-su and Joon-ho feel uneasy about this village . Kang Chun-seong hasn’t said anything but he is of the same opinion .
I speak .
“Like you guys are saying, this village is suspicious . But we have to pause at this village . ”
Everyone looks doubtful . Like they’re asking me why .
I say .
“Let’s say we just pass this village and keep going the way we were going . You think we can evade the lycanthropes chasing us?”
“…”
“… I guess not . They are a lot faster than we are . ”
Yep .
My conclusion is the same .
“Then think . With our pace, we can’t evade the lycanthropes and it’s too much to fight every time we get attacked . The **** aren’t stupid either so now they won’t be careless and they’ll come attack in bigger groups . ”
The Mosin-Nagant isn’t an automatic gun that can spray bullets and we have limited ammunition .
“But they won’t have given us an impossible mission . Somewhere, there is for sure a hint to clearing this mission and I think that hint is in this village . ”