The Devil's Forest

It had been a few hours since dawn broke, and I saw a small village burrowed in between lush green mountains. A great forest surrounded the village, and between the dirt road and the village were wide-open flower fields. With farmland trucked behind the village

The reason I entered the village was that the houses looked like hobbit holes. I always wanted to live in the countryside, in a hobbit hole. The little being seems to be enjoying life or stealing furniture from poor old Bilbo.

Hiding my bike and covering it in case rain were to come, I walked into the little village.

The village was quiet—a bit too quiet; it bothered me, and the strong reek of death in the air didn’t exactly help the bloody matter.

I took a swig from my flask to take my mind off the topic.

Pulling my gun out of its harness, I readied myself for combat.

The sounds of fallen leaves rustling and the smell of sweat covered the reek of death that was coming across my nose.

Flew.

An arrow flew overhead.

I fired back.

Missed.

Wasn’t sure what I was aiming at but, shit.

Being surrounded by an unknown number of combatants is not a good situation.

Commands began to be fired out, and sounds of quick feet began to surround my position.

Hooded people started to pull both long and short swords out.

While arrows continued to fire at me, each getting closer and closer to my skull.

Gun in my left, knife in my right.

Actually I moved my knife to my left and gun to my right.

I’m right-eye-dominated but, left-handed… I have spent way too long on this topic.

The sound of my gun cracked through the air.

The flash of my knife tried to split the steel before it shattered me.

I didn’t feel like killing indiscriminately; this felt different than what was on the battlefield.

When the hoods moved in closer, I used my blade to knock out one of the hoods' hands.

The clash of steel lit up my surroundings.

One blade skinned my arm, and another grazed my side.

Blood started to soak through my suit, staining my coat.

The long sword may have helped a bit, but I have never been trained to use a blade like this, so even my best seems too poor.

The commander started to yell something I couldn’t understand. While it's due to a language barrier or my brain being overwhelmed in combat, I can say.

The hoods damn near overwhelmed me when I finally understood what he was saying.

“What did you do to my people, you son of a bitch!?” the man growled.

“What?”

“Your kind took my people, and you dare to come back here like nothing happened!”

His sword tried to strike me down, and I pulled my knife to parry.

“So what do you think?

Every human being is tied to others.

The only things I've been doing are sleeping, drinking, and driving.

Sometimes drinking and driving.”

“Why would some random human appear only days after different humans raided our home, took our women and children, and burned our homes?”

“I just came here to see the fucking hobbit holes.”

“What the FUCK is a hobbit hole!”

He was able to strike my leg this time.

“It's a home that is built into a hill. I thought the houses looked nice and wanted to see if there was a blacksmith here.”

“You're saying that you are not one of the hoodlums who attack us?”

“YES, Jesus fucking Christ!”

“Why should I trust a man?

All they have ever done is rape and kill us.”

“Well, I am no man; I’m the devil himself, and I promise to save your people.”

“What reason would you have to do such?”

“Well, I have a rather strong vendetta against injustice; it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Ask slave trade what happen when I come a-knocking.”

The hooded man who stood over me with his blade meeting mine stood for a few seconds, thinking.

“Stand down.

This man seems sincere.

But promise I will not hesitate to strike you down where you stand if you dare commit any crime against my people.”

“Good.”

He pulled down his hood, and others did the same, revealing pointy ears; others had tails or animal-like features.

There were also small, hairy folk.

“I need to take somewhere, human.”

I reached out my hand.

“Call me V.”

We walked to a place that looked like a tiki room.

The room was full of smoke even though only an old dwarf and an elf seemed to be the only people smoking.

There were two other people sitting with them, all on one side of this room.

These other two people were a dragon lady and a man who seemed to be in his 60s with a cane across his lap, with a large scar across his left eye. The old man was smoking cigarettes that looked self-rolled, and he looked Japanese.

Second Japanese person I've seen.

“ファエロン、私たちに誰を連れてきたのですか？”

(Who have you brought us, Faelon.)

“Mr. Kashiwagi, I brought a man here who may be able to help with the raid tonight.”

“ああ、私たちは英語を話しているんですね。

ちょっと待ってください。”

(Ah, we are speaking English, aren't we?

Please wait a moment.)

The man named Kashiwagi clears his throat.

“Please continue.”

“How could this man possibly help us?” said the dragon lady.

“Miss Saphira, my man just got in a skirmish with this man, and he fought off dozens of them at once, and he doesn’t seem to have any magical powers.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with this man joining the raid.

Do you two have anything to add to this conversation?

Are you just going to smoke until your lungs collapse?” Osamu, the old Japanese man, said.

“I don’t care,” the old dwarf with the long beard said.

“Cathal’s right; if he can fight, then why shouldn’t we let him join?” The old Elf said.

“Thank you, Zeitgeist.” Said Cathal.

I decided to light one of the 18 cigs I had left.

“You smoke, too, kid,” Osamu said.

“「なるべくしないようにしてるけど、もう死んでるから関係ない。」.”

("I try not do it too often but it doesn't matter to much anymore do to being dead.”)

The old man's eye lights up with my response.

“ああ、君は日本人だろう、若者よ？"

(Ah, so you're from Japan/must be Japanese, young man.)

"はい、はい、そうです。"

(Yes, yes, that's right.)

"母国はどうだい、友よ？"

(“How is the homeland, friend.”)

“ええと、かなりひどい地震と津波がありました。また、経済成長もやや停滞しましたが、どこでもそうでした。うまくいっていないと言えるでしょうが、最悪でもありません。”

("Well, there was a fairly severe earthquake and tsunami. Also, economic growth has somewhat stagnated, but that was the case everywhere. You could say things aren't going well, but it's not the worst.")

"ああ、まあ、少なくとも日本はまだ存続している。"

("Oh, well, at least Japan still stands.")

"ねえ、母国語で話すのは楽しいけど、質問をするために元に戻します。"

(Hey, it's lovely speaking in the native tongue, but I'm going to switch back. To ask a question.)

"もちろんだ、ソニイ 。"

(Sure thing, sonny.)

“You've got a good blacksmith in this town?”

“Yeah, you're talking to him right now.

What do you want, kid?” said Cathal.

“I wanted to increase my firepower and refill my equipment.”

“Ok, meet me at my store, and I’ll see if I can help you,” Cathal said.

The meeting wrapped up after that.

Faelon and I left through the front, and the four olds just disappeared into the back. Half of my cigarette dangled from my lips when I asked Faelon a question.

“Am I going to get anything out of helping you?”

“You will be paid, and you are allowed to keep any treasures or money you find.”

Faelon was called over by another elf, so I started to walk around.

I didn’t much care about money or coin; I just wanted to know.

The only thing I could smell was the smoke coming from my cig.

All around me were bushes, grass, and trees—all that nature stuff everyone loves.

Looking around I saw people just walking around, children running around, families laughing, and people loving.

All their smiling faces…

And there's me—the Devil.

The reaper of damn, a man without meaning.

I've seen more families chopped apart than having fun in this world.

I hoped Miyamoto, Celeste, and the Kid were able to have times like these families.

A melancholic feeling festered within me from all this.

Was it because of how normal these raids were that these people were able to bounce back, or was it just remembering the past? I started to whistle a little tune.

“I see friends shaking hands, saying, "How do you do?"

They're really saying, "I love you."

I hear babies cry, I watch them grow, and I think to myself, What a wonderful world."

— What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

After walking for a while, I found a blacksmith shop, wondering if this was the shop the dwarf talked about.

I knocked upon the door.

“Come in,” a familiar voice said.

Walking into the room that was filled with ash.

No matter where I go, it seems smoke hangs throughout this town, almost like a beast and its prey.

“Ah, you, that guy from before, what do you want?” Cathal said.

I pulled out the blueprints I'd been working on for the shotgun and my pistol and handed them to him.

“Well, this is new.”

He looked over both of my things.

Handing him my pistol and a loaded magazine felt like a samurai giving up his sword.

“I thought if you were able to see something in real life, it would be easier for you.”

“Well, kid, I should be able to make what you need, but it will cost you.”

I pulled out all the money I had on me and threw it to him.

“Here is everything I have, and I give you everything I get from the raid, and that also includes all weapons.”

“That should cover the cost, but it will take me a bit to finish this shotgun, as you call it. But I will be able to finish your other thing before the raid tonight.

I’ll just need the original thing to make it the way you want it.”

“Okay.”

“Well, pick it up around late noon; it should be ready.”

I waved goodbye and left feeling rather naked without my gun on me.

It was only mid-morning; I had time to kill because the raid would start at dusk.

My hair has grown, and so has my beard, my time in this world has been long and tiresome.

All of it just showed me how far I would go to stay alive.

I took a good long swig from my flask and sat on a rock.

17 cigarettes left

68 bullets with 4 magazines in total.

And a battle—once more—calls me to join in.