Zallo Village

The coach they rode in was small only fitting ten-twelve people at most but was the only coach that went towards the Zallo village direction.

There was no coach that went straight to Zallo due to the distance between the village and the capital only connecting coaches to it.

Honō, Witz and Midas would take the coach from the capital to Drill town, spend the night there at an inn and then in the morning take another coach the remaining distance to Zallo village.

The coach ride itself was a relatively smooth one as they passed the large and vast green fields that surrounded the technological capital of the nation of advancement, Echilia. The fields all held either crops of all kind or cows, sheep and horses of an aether grade below C.

Witz for almost the entire ride stared out the window at the back three seats of the coach with her headphones in her ears playing songs from her mother's old cassette player.

Sat beside her was Honō wishing for a coffee as he looked at ceiling and occasionally the digital clock at the top of the coach.

In the remaining seat at the back of the coach on Honō’s opposite side sat Midas who starred at the floor rolling a coin between his fingers thinking about the upcoming mission.

As it started to get dark, they finally arrived at the halfway point of their journey Drill town. Drill town was relatively large town with a large tourism industry due to it being the town that provides the entire nation of Echilia’s energy.

After arriving at Drill town, the three of them went to a nearby inn and checked in. After which they visited the tavern across the street to go get food.

At the tavern Honō ordered a carbonara and a coffee to drink while Witz ordered a bagel burger with a non-alcoholic apple cider and Midas got a water with the taverns cheapest soup which came with a singular small bread roll.

Once they finished their food, it was late and cold out so they went back to the inn and spent the night in their warm spacious rooms with the exception of Midas who could only afford a small and narrow room with little warmth under the stairs of the inn.

That frosty night, Honō laid in bed staring at the ceiling. He began to think to himself about how this would be his first time visiting Zallo village in almost thirteen years. The last time we had been to the village was a family trip with his parents where him and his father, Gier would go hunting for low grade aether beast in the edge of the forest beside Zallo village. It was one of his last pleasant memories before the accident 2 years later.

The next morning after Honō’s reflection at around 7 in the morning , when him, Witz and Midas was all up and awake came to the decision as a group that they wouldn’t dilly-dally in drill town and start the rest of their roughly 6-hour journey to Zallo village and start preparing for the mission.

Honō, Witz and Midas walked towards the drill town coaches and got onto the only coach that went towards Zallo Village and paid the fare of a half-sliver each.

It was a relatively similar sized coach to the one they had took the day before only less people on it. They took the usual back three seats they always tried to get and sat in then for the entire six hours towards Zallo Village.

The coach ride towards their mission location was a rather bumpier ride than it had been to Drill Town as the closer they got to the village the more unkept the roads became due to Zallo only really being visited for its hunting scene.

After the bumpy ride they finally arrived at Zallo Village. As the coach entered the village towards its stop at the Zallo division of Coaches, Honō, Witz and Midas could see almost no one on the streets or footpaths.

When they finally got off the coach, they began to walk towards the nearby Tavern to get their long-awaited breakfast.

As they walked to the Tavern Honō thought to himself that the village was quiet and empty. After finally reaching the large tavern Witz entered through its dark brown double doors followed by Honō and Midas.

Swoosh…

The inside of the tavern was completely empty with the exception of a brown-haired woman around their own age wearing a white top and a long red skirt also in the tavern was a tanned curly haired man tending the bar also around their age if not slightly older. He wore a creased white shirt and black trousers.

After a moments pause the brown-haired woman turned towards the group that had just entered and ran toward the bar and grabbed some menus and ran then towards their new customers at the entrance.

“Hello, hello, hello I’m Elena and I’ll be your waitress for the day take a seat anywhere you want as you can see we’re not very busy meaning anything you order will come faster then you can count to ten” spoke the waitress with much enthusiasm, effortlessly in a single breath like she had done many times before.

Elena handed three menus to Honō, Witz and Midas before leaving them to find their seats while she walked over to the bar to leave back the extra menus she had picked up.

“Do we get our money back if it doesn’t” asked Midas under his breath knowing the answer isn’t what he would hope.

Honō, Witz and Midas after scanning over the room decided to sit at a round table near the bar and began to look through the menus. Not long after looking at the menus each of them knew what they would order.

A few moments later Elena came back over to the table “what would you like to order today?”

“I would like an extra-large coffee and an omelette please” ordered Honō handing back his menu.

Elena taking back the menu with a smile asked Honō, “what would you like mixed in with your omelette? We offer peppers, mushrooms, onions, ham, bacon bits and cheese.”

“Oh, I’ll have everything but no ham please” answered Honō smiling back.

“Ok” noted Elena as she wrote done Honō’s food order. After writing down the order she turned to face Witz to await hers.

“Ok, I’ll have a BLT with an apple juice then to drink” listed Witz before adding, “where is everyone, I know it’s my first time here, but it seems very quiet”

Elena finished writing Witz’s order before putting her putting her pen to her chin in thought before speaking. “Well as I’m probably guessing you all know we had some livestock from the local farmhouse at the edge of the village by the forest get killed from a beast attack. So, things right now are kinda just tense in the village at the moment.”

“I see, well thanks let people that come in know the wolves will be dealt with soon” replied Witz with a small smile as she looked over at Midas to try signal for me to order.

“I see well thanks” returned Elena now looking towards Midas for his order.

“Uhh, I’ll have a ham, cheese toasty with some water please” sheepishly ordered Midas thinking of the whole silver coin that he would loose.

“Ok” said Elena after scribbling down the order and leaving to put in the orders.

A few seconds after the orders went in the curly haired bartender in the creased shirt came over with a tray carrying the apple juice, extra large coffee and water. As the bartender placed each drink down Honō began to notice an expression of distain sitting on the bartender’s face.

As the bartender walked away with the tray under his arm, he scoffed under his breath “damn privileged city clowns” just loud enough for it to reach Honō’s ears, piquing his curiosity on what was the dude's issue with them.

Not long after getting their drinks the waitress Elena returned with their foods leading to Midas to sigh quietly to himself.

“Here you all go” spoke Elena in a happy tone as she placed all the plates she was balancing.

As each of them got their respective orders they gave a smile back to the waitress. When Elena gave out the cheese toasty, BLT and omelette she wished them to enjoy their meal and walked of to clean other tables and talk to the bartender.

While the three of them ate Honō decided he start some conversation with Witz and Midas, “so is your guys first time here in Zallo or been before?”

Witz after swallowing a bite of her BLT answered “to be honest I can’t remember if it’s my first time or not. I might’ve been here back when I was little for a trip with my dad, though as I said I’m not sure since it would have been when I was like four or something.”

“Fair enough what about you Midas?” Asked Honō satisfied with her lengthy response.

“No, I’ve never been here before” replied Midas still thinking how the food had been longer than a ten second wait and had been actually a full minute wait.

“I see” returned Honō before placing another piece of his omelette into his mouth.

“So, what about you Honō you been here before?” Asked Witz copying Honō’s question as she pointed her BLT at him.

“Ya I’ve come here many times actually. When I was younger me and my old man used to hunt in the edge of the forest. Where all the weak aether beast stayed” answered Honō after swallowing a piece of omelette.

“Nice must have been fun” replied Witz before taking a large bite out of her BLT.

“Ya, it was” whispered Honō under his breath think of those times as he shoved another fork of omelette into his mouth.

“Foods good” pointed out Midas as he swallowed the last bit of his cheese toasty.

“That it is, that it is” swallowed Honō in a loud joyful voice then again in his normal volume.

The bartender hearing Honō’s outburst began to shout, “be quiet u damn city clowns it not a damn circus you’re in”

The group turned around around to see the angry curly haired bartender stood in his creased white shirt standing beside an astonished Elena.

Elena in shock began to run over to their table and begin apologising for the bartender's words. “I’m so, so sorry about him. Moser is a nice guy I swear he just gets cranky ok”

Before she could continue apologising for Moser, Honō cut her off with little laugh before giving an apology himself “it’s ok it’s my fault for being loud.”

After a moments pause Moser clicked his tongue before walking out back, taking out a cigarette and lighter as he did.

Elena after looking to see him walk away turned back to Honō, Witz and Midas. After a sigh she began to speak “ya sorry about him he’s never liked city folk says they’re all stuck up pricks, oh pardon my language I shouldn’t speak like that with customers.”

With a small giggle she ran out back to try calm Moser and get him to go back to work.

“Wonder what his problem is with people from the capital?” asked Witz rhetorically as she sipped her apple juice.

“Who knows” Replied Honō in an unknowing tone as turned back to face them and picked up his coffee to drink.

They spent another few minutes talking and eating at the tavern before the paid their bill with Elena.

After exiting the tavern, they decided to head to the farmhouse at the village edge that had its livestock attacked to check it out for more details on the attack.

The village itself now was less barren then when they had first arrived by not by much. It seemed like people where gets supplies to keep themselves cooped up in their homes away from the danger.

As Honō, Witz and Midas got close to the farmhouse they noticed acres of land with the corpses of the dead livestock scattered throughout out the large fields. The grass was dyed red with the dried blood of each corpse. Not long after the three of them reached the old wooden front door of the farmhouse.

Knock… knock…

Honō knocked on the old wooden door only to receive no answer from inside.

After waiting another minute for answer Honō spoke out in a confused voice, “Odd, no answer.”

“What now?” Questioned Midas curious as with the details it would makes things a little more difficult.

“Knock again I guess?” Suggested Witz shrugging her shoulders unsure on what their next move should be if the didn’t get an answer from the farmhouse owner.

“Guess so” agreed Honō as he lifted his hand to the door to knock on it.

Knock… knock… knock…

This time the doors opened not long after knocking. The man who opened it was an old man around his mid seventies with a short yet thick white beard and short white hair with a few blonde hairs that had kept their colour from the man’s youth. The old man wore a green and brown patched shirt with old brown overalls on while leaning on a wooden cane.

“Who is it” asked the old farmer with both hands on his cane supporting him as he stood.

“Hello, we’re the members of the Meka guild that have been sent to deal with the wolves that killed your livestock sir” explained Witz in a kind, almost more formal tone as she waved at the old man.

“Ah I see and your names are?” Asked the old man nodding in understanding as he processed her words.

“I’m Witz, this is Honō and this is Midas” introduced Witz before asking “and what is your name sir?”

“The names Eric Harte though you may have heard of my son Eric Jr he’s the current village doctor but enough of that it’s a pleasure to meet you all come in, come in” answered the Eric waving them in as he turned into his house.

After entering the house, they took a seat around a wooden table which sat not far from a cozy open fireplace. Once they sat down Eric began to speak, “do any of you want tea or coffee?”

“Ye-” started Honō before being interrupted by Midas.

“No, we’re ok Eric we just need to ask a few questions if that’s ok” asked Midas trying to stop Honō from increasing his caffeine intake.

“Oh ok, sure what questions do you have for me?” Spoke the old man as he sat in an armchair not fair from the wooden table.

Honō sighed from Midas’s denial of his caffeine addiction before beginning to ask Eric the questions. “Around what time did the wolves attack at?”

“Oh, if memory serves me right, they attacked not long into the night probably near 11pm then left after around two hours once they ate the whole of my livestock” replied Eric as he rubbed his chin.

“I see that actually answers our next question of how long their attack lasted, ok, then we have in the report we got an A rank beast was seen can you say what aether it possessed?” Asked Honō in an every slightly serious tone as he asked about the pack leader’s aether ability as it would most likely be his opponent.

“Sorry son, I don’t recall so I ca-” the old man started before pausing and rephrasing his statement, “no I still don’t recall fully but I do recall seeing it melt the meat of one or two of my cows before chewing on their bones”

“Hmmm I see heat related I see” whispered Honō before looking at Midas and then Witz before continuing to speak, “thanks for answering all the questions we’ll probably leave now but we’ll return around nine to stake out the area in case the wolves show up again.”

“That’s fine, I wish you all the best of luck” replied Eric as Honō, Witz and Midas got up to leave.

…

Once they arrived at the inn, they booked their room spent the rest of the day each by themselves prepping for when they would return to the farmhouse around nine to face the 30 wolves and their pack leader.