Guardian of the Forest

My first time doing labour work was quite interesting. I’d even go as far as to say it was fun.

With a channel of water created, I decided to add some coverage over it as well so that no leaves or gunk would get mixed in. Once I created a gutter and small filtration system, I fixed up a few of their wells and other things around the village. It started to really shape up.

They’ll probably be attacked when I’m not here, maybe I should fix up some kind of defence? I thought, then created a wall with my Earth Manipulation skill around the village border. It took an entire night, mostly because I had to refill my mana supply a few times over.

All the back and forth gave me a pretty good idea of the layout of the forest, even the lair of that Duskmaw that attacked me. Definitely made a mental note to stay away from there.

I had just finished constructing the last of the wall when suddenly I locked eyes with someone–a human.

His dim green pupils shrank as he saw me, no doubt terrified, but didn’t scream. I came to know this guy in the past week; he had always been the one to patrol the village and most of the time, alerted everyone when I was there. I prepared to run, when suddenly he reached out to stop me, “Please, I won’t chase you away!” He approached me gingerly.

Even though he said that, I could still spot a small make-shift blade on his waist.

I suppose total trust would be a little too good to ask for… What changed his mind?

I nodded back and his eyes widened. I guess he was gambling on the fact that I could understand his language. He turned away, then looked over his shoulder back at me.

“Our chief wants a word with you.” With that, he led the way.

Is he serious? I thought they were totally afraid of me, now they suddenly want to talk things out?

I considered running off, but it made more sense to hear the guy out. If I remembered correctly, the chief was Rorick’s father as well. It was worth hearing what they had to say, plus there was a chance I could see Rorick.

I followed him through the boundary and into the village. He escorted me to the outside of the chief's hut. We passed some villagers along the way out in the fields, hard at work, as usual.

Naturally, I got a few stares. Actually, I’d say everyone stopped to look at me. I must have caused a bigger commotion than I thought. I just hoped they didn’t think I was there to cause trouble.

A pair of women huddled together and whispered between themselves, “There it is, the guardian.”

“Yeah, it’s really here… The guardian of the forest,” another added.

I can hear you, y’know… Still, why are they referring to me as a ‘guardian’ all of a sudden? It can’t just be because I worked on their village, can it??

“Hey, chief!” the young man suddenly called out and a moment later, the chief emerged. “I brought it.” He shot me a sceptical glare then walked to the chief's side. With a subtle glance, the man lowered his gaze from me and stood quietly.

“Thank you, Bell.”

This guy was pretty respected, he managed to shut down Bell’s aggravated stares with only a few words. He shifted to me with a serious expression.

“Hello, Mr.Golem, I trust you can understand me?”

I have no reason to lie to him, I'll just answer truthfully. I nodded back and his eyes lit up. The wrinkled corners of his mouth lifted as he presented a warm smile.

“Thank you for speaking with me, as you heard from Bell, I am the chief of this village. My name is Vallur. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Golem.” He gave a slight bow, then paused for a moment. “This might be a strange question, but why have you chosen not to attack us?”

That is a strange question. Should I need a reason not to want to attack them in the first place? Well, maybe it’s not strange… It’s quite common for monsters to attack humans, not to mention that the villagers threw rocks at me. If anything, I’ve shown them a great deal of kindness until now, all things considered.

It’s then that I noticed, from the corner of my vision, a child's head peeked out of the chief’s hut. Deep brown hair and green eyes stared at me with a pure expression of joy–Rorick was staring at me.

He’s okay!

The chief followed my gaze towards the hut and locked eyes with Rorick, his mouth hung for a moment and curled back into a smile.

“I see. So that’s why he was sneaking out. I thought he was taking risks, but it appears I was worried for nothing. Thank you for showing him–no, all of us– such kindness!” He lowered his head and body to the floor into a deep bow.

Huh, what are you doing that far?! Get up, stop that….please!

Suddenly, all the villagers dropped into a kneeling bow, and even Bell gave a little nod. I guess they wanted to show respect to me, but this was just too much!

Bell looked up, his eyes sharpened on me. “I didn’t realise you cared for young Rorick like that… thank you for making him smile the last few days.” He added, sincerely.

I might have misjudged this guy. He really seems to care about the villagers; they both do. These people might be worth sticking around for the time being. I think I’ll upgrade their houses if I get the chance to!

“I take it we have you to thank for all the help around the village the last few days?” Chief Vallur asked, as if he read my thoughts.

I gave another nod and at this point, Rorick ran out from the hut and to my side. “Whaaaat?! You were here all this time and didn’t come say hello?” He pouted.

Well, it’s not like I could get anywhere close to you. I had to build a rep for myself here. I’m just glad all that hard work paid off. They seem to have mostly accepted me, maybe not Bell just yet… but soon. Hopefully.

Rorick wrapped his arms around me and hung from me like a jungle-gym. He really seemed to have his strength back.

“Okay, Rorick. Don’t overexert yourself, you’re still not at your best.” The chief shepherded him away from me and Rorick reluctantly followed back to his hut.

“Fine…” With a gloomy smirk, he turned back to me and waved. “See you later, just don’t leave, okay!”

“My son seems to really enjoy your presence, Mister Golem. If you’d like, you’re welcome to stay. The chief offered.

If he were serious, that would be a dream setup. The villagers would thrive with me around, plus I could meet with Rorick whenever I wanted to. A total win-win situation!

“Cough! Cough!” Rorick fell over, and his father grabbed him reflexively. His entire body heaved with bloodied spurts, and his healthy demeanour vanished in the blink of an eye.

What’s happening? I thought he was doing better?

“Rorick, don’t push yourself! You’re…” He swallowed his words and a grave expression flooded his face. “Without any medicine, you can’t be on your feet anymore.”

The chief quickly rushed him to the hut, where a few women ran in after. I felt useless as I stood at the entryway, unable to do anything. I backed away so I wouldn’t be under anyone's feet and felt dwarfed by the situation.

Of course, he isn’t getting better. Without some proper medicine, he won’t recover.

Bell grimaced at the sight of Rorick and faced angrily at Vallur. “Chief, let me go. I’ll head there right now and be back before the sun sets–”

“No more talk of Isperia flowers, it’s too risky! If I could…I would have done so already. You know that.” The chief's voice left his throat with a chilling tone. His fists balled at his side.

I whisked towards him and tugged at his shirt, his attention split to me. “What’s that? Oh, it’s nothing, just false hope at this point.” He gripped the bridge between his eyes, “Isperia flowers are a rare plant that grows at the deepest part of the forest. They’re incredibly useful for medicine and food. We’d tried a few times to retrieve it for Rorick's condition, but a beast guards those parts. We’ve never come close to it; we’d be slaughtered before we could see it.” The corners of his mouth scrunched.

Wait, the deepest part of the forest is where Rorick wanted to go. Does he mean the flower bed? Is the beast he’s referring to the same one I have in mind…?

His tone darkened as he thought, “It’s a monster specific to this land, a creature whose diet is exclusive to the Isperia flower. We call it the Dwelling beast, but officially it was dubbed, Duskmaw.”