8. The Calm of the First Night

The preparation for the village feast was in full display. Giant tables were quickly cut from felled logs and were arranged in the center of the village. Hunters returned with slayed hogs and hind, each with arrows or a blade still stuck within their pelts.

It was a rudimentary village with little noteworthy technology, other than the mechanical press which was used to make oil from olives and seeds, and a stove that was operated by a magical flaming stone.

Men worked on the giant wheels of the machine nonstop as they bottled the said oil in glass containers. These were delivered to the women residing within the central hut where Frost and the village mother held their meeting earlier.

Inside the hut, a dozen or so women could be seen preparing food for the village feast tonight. From smooth, timber kitchens to giant metal grills made from steel rods, and the magical stove – the village possessed a fantastic variety of cooking equipment for all of one’s needs.

The village was abuzz, filled with laughter and cheers for their beloved village mother who had looked after them for countless decades. Some of the elders even knew her since they were just children. The village was like one giant family, bound together by community rather than blood.

It was a warm place, and Frost couldn’t be any happier to have started her life in this world in such a special place. Currently, she found herself within the central hut helping out with the cooking.

Because of her skill Home Cook, she took the liberty to make herself in charge of manning the grill. No one protested at all. Rather, they seemed quite thankful for her help, even though they insisted on just letting her relax.

“It’s surprising to see a Blessed cook alongside people like us.” One of the women commented as brought Frost a batch of freshly bled and cleaned boar meat. “I would have thought your kind were more into exciting feats. Like adventures! Or dungeon subjugations!”

“They say the first battle starts with the stomach.” Frost said. “Eat good, then expect good things. Trust me. You feel much better after a good meal, no matter where you are in the world.” She took one of the cubes she had set aside for testing purposes and munched on it.

< Grilled Boar Cube >

< Temporarily gain 5 HP for 10 mins >

Unfortunately, eating more than one of the same foods did not provide additional benefits. In other words, the effects did not stack. The appropriate approach would be to consume a wide variety of meals… though that sounded like it would do more harm than good.

“Take one. Anything cooked by me gives some bonuses.” She offered a cooked cube to the woman who happily swooped it from her fingers directly with her mouth.

“Mm~ It’s delicious~!”

“Right? I’ve never had boar before, but I didn’t think it’d be this good.” Frost added as a few more women arrived and began to impale the meat into skewers.

It was sweet, savory, fatty and melted in her mouth like butter. She had been to several fancy restaurants back on Earth but never, never, was meat this delicious.

“It’s soooo good! You’re using magic to make it taste even better I bet!” A younger woman exclaimed enthusiastically, snatching a few from the basket set aside.

“It’s all thanks to my profession. You guys don’t have skills or professions?”

“Skills? Professions? What are those? Are they like Soul Ranks?” She curiously asked.

Ah, that’s right. These people don’t possess the Blessing so they wouldn’t have skills or professions.

“Probably not… by the way, what’s a soul rank?”

“Huh? You’re pulling my leg now, aren’t you?” The young woman poked Frost’s shoulder and sighed. “C’mon. We all have Soul Ranks. It’s kinda like our souls, but it defines how strong we are. It gets stronger naturally as we get stronger ourselves. And the stronger it is, the more awesome our magic becomes! It’s our own soul, after all! I can’t believe you don’t know about it.”

Oh… so Soul Ranks are basically levels. The Blessing just numerates them. That makes more sense now.

“Well, I did hit my head on the way here. And I got into a small fight in the Black Forest.” Frost lied, showing the woman her injured knuckles.

“T-The Black Forest? W-why would you enter that place?” The woman sounded shocked by this.

“I found the village children inside so I went to go get them out. Turns out there was something else in there.” Frost boldly stated, gathering the eyes of all the women in the hut.

“The skewered beast…?” An elderly woman uttered the name of the creature as if it were some sacred entity.

“No. Just another child from a different race.” Frost failed to bring up what exactly occurred with the village children and the child within. The reason was of because the atmosphere had sharply plunged into a heavy one as soon as the topic of the Black Forest was brought up.

“That’s… not possible. We’ve only ever heard of the crying voice. But never have we actually seen the source of it before. For 12 years it’s been like this. Blessed Frost, I don’t mean any ill intent in my words, but…”

“Surely the children weren’t asking me to kill a twig on the floor, were they?” Frost answered with a friendly, yet sharpened tone. “Whatever it was, it looked human, but it wasn’t human at all.”

“It could be a Demi-Human. Disgusting things.” A different elderly woman spat with immense spite. “Good riddance, and we thank you for ridding our lands from those filths.”

“… what makes them so disgusting?” Frost carefully asked as she pierced a few cubes with a metal skewer.

“They’re the children of mankind and the Beastkin or any of those mangled races. Fur, those animal organs, tentacles or oh the celestial Nexus forbid – carapace. Born from the depraved and desperate! How can such filth stand equally with humans? Paradise was wronged by those bastards! I swear 15 years ago it was all because of those damned slaves of our beloved city –!”

“P-please calm down! No one likes the Demi-humans or Demons, but this is supposed to be a celebration –!”

“And don’t forget about those putrid Aquatids and Insectids! Elves can pass as one of us if we just shave off the ears –!”

Frost slammed the skewers onto the grill, causing it to dent slightly. The intense sizzling was drowned by the thick silence that suddenly engulfed the hut. All eyes were glued to Frost’s back, with some wavering or even struggling to maintain contact.

Her expression was unreadable to an uncanny degree.

She did not know why they were suddenly afraid of her, but seeing that things will only get worse the longer the silence lingered, Frost quickly turned to them with a gentle smile.

“Weren’t we talking about the Black Forest? Where did all these races come from?”

They snapped out of it, with several blinking blankly in confusion.

“I-I suppose I blabbered off topic… Forgive this mouth of mine. I shan’t speak of them again.” The old woman deeply lowered her head.

“I didn’t mind. It was just getting noisy and off topic.” Frost softly laughed. “C’mon. Like she said, it’s a celebration. Be happy. Smile.”

“Hah… well said, Blessed~!” The woman beside her cheered.

Things eventually returned to normal. But Frost had to wonder what got over her to react so suddenly. She wasn’t a violent person by any means, or someone who reacted on emotion alone. Yet she found herself easily… moved ever since arriving in this world. And hungry.

Incredibly hungry, to the point where it pained her to see the cooked meat just sitting there on the side.

“There’s a long history with the Black Forest. A sad, terrible history that has become a common story to tell misbehaving children.”

The woman beside her began with a soft tone as she rolled the meat into a bowl of seasoning powders.

“It was a trial ground for criminals 15 years ago. Can you imagine a beautiful forest as the site of an execution ground? Innocent or not, someone was going to be impaled onto a rod and judged before the eyes of a thousand people. Children, elderly, it did not matter who were being put on trial. Anyone who challenged the verdict were hung to a tree and left for the birds to feast on them.”

Frost wondered if the name ‘Jury’ had any special meaning now that she understood what the Black Forest was. She knew juries were used in trials to determine whether a person was innocent or guilty. If that child was one of them, then that meant it had lived in the Black Forest alone for 15 years.

But that wasn’t easy for her to digest. It was devoid of life and light. There was no feasible way that anyone could survive in there for more than a few days. Or maybe there was something deeper. Something where the beast resided.

“The forest was set alight for 2 years after Paradise was lost. All turned black when it all subsided. It became a common tale that anyone who entered would be warned by a screaming child. The folklore was widespread until it became a reality one day.” She uttered, pausing before adding:

“No light can ever enter that place. Now you can hear the voice of children screaming that a monster roamed within. They beg us to run. We don’t know what they are, but no one has ever come to check. And those who did never came back out. Until today.”

“I think it’s for the best that place is left alone. I wouldn’t survive long in there either.” Frost admitted. “Thank you. I have a better picture of this place now. Want another cube?”

“Mhm~! Anything for the Blessed!”

“You don’t have to go that far.” She insisted, but to her surprise, this angered the woman.

“How could you say that? Even the Incandescent Souls don’t compare to the Gods that reside in the Nexus. It’s filled with deities we can’t begin to describe!” She poked her face close to Frost’s before eventually settling down. “Blessed Frost, the deities of the Nexus are sacred to all in Elysia. You even come from the same flock.”

Deities…? Is that how the people of the Nexus are seen? No, I think she might be referring to the Moons, Stars, Exalted and the Beholders. Those people stand above all from what Cer told me.

Frost made a conflicted face knowing that those triplets were Moons. However, she didn’t exactly know how powerful Moons were to begin with so she couldn’t gauge their power. Unfortunately for her, the truth was that the difference in strength would remain unknown until she witnessed it herself.

* * *

Day eventually turned to night. Lanterns powered by magical, glowing stones illuminated the village like streetlights. They were warm in the cold of the gentle night as the light of the moon steadily blessed the land.

Frost’s gaze moved to the skies as people danced and ate delicious food to their heart’s content. Millions of stars littered the night sky with beautiful whisks of colors. She wondered if the same night sky existed on Earth. Having lived in a city her whole life she had never seen the sky glistening with so many cosmic wonders.

She ate. Danced. Drank. Laughed; all underneath the vibrant lights of the night sky.

Yet she never felt satiated no matter how much she ate. Frost could have sworn she had at least eaten a quarter of an adult boar. Not only that, but she had not found the need to excuse herself to the bathroom. Something was awry with her body, and she did not know what.

But she didn’t allow it to stop her from laughing alongside these people.

“You can eat an awful lot!” One of the men remarked, laughing at her. “Maybe we should’ve gotten a boar just for you, Blessed!”

“A-Ah. Sorry if I’m eating too much.” She said after swallowing a mouthful of meat. “You guys worked hard for the hunt, after all.”

“No it’s fine! Right village mother!?”

“You shan’t need to worry. The woodlands are teeming with resources. Fill yourself away. It’s hardly much in comparison for my eyesight.” The old woman pleasantly smiled at her, honored that she enjoyed the food so much.

“Exactly!” Another man cried, causing Frost to grin.

“You don’t have to keep bringing it back up. Like I said, it’s part of my job.” She assured, munching on another skewer filled with sizzling boar meat. “You know, we didn’t have skies like this from where I’m from. You hardly ever saw a star.”

“Could you be a resident of Atlas? Or the Empyrean Rise?” The village mother asked, standing shoulder to shoulder with her as they both overlooked the cheerful village.

“A faraway land. So far away that there’s not really anything here I can compare it to. Other than the Nexus of course.”

“It sounds like a wonderful place.”

“I really was. My homeland was a culmination of thousands of years of civilization, buried somewhere I can never return to.”

She expertly wove a deep backstory of her homeland. This way none would be able to ask where this place was, which was important since she hardly knew what other lands existed in this world.

“… I’m sure you can find it again. The Nexus houses unspeakable miracles that magic cannot replicate, much like the teleportation miracle that was founded 50 years ago. Perhaps you may find it one day.”

“I hope so. Thank you for the kind words… um, village mother? Can I ask a question?”

“Please do.”

“What is the Nexus to the rest of the world? Like… how did something like that come to be?”

“That we do not know. All we know is that it is the second Advent after the first one emerged 350 years ago. The Nexus arrived only 150 years ago. In place of the annihilated gigacity of Atlas was the celestial heavens we revere as the Nexus. The cost of countless lives became the heavens we all yearn to reach. Even the Blessed were unable to access it until 100 years later when the first deity created the teleporting miracles.”

The world was rich in history, and Frost was awed that all of this happened not tens of thousands of years ago, or even just thousands – but in hundreds. Some people or even races may have seen this all from the very start depending on their lifespans.

It filled her heart with boundless marvel.

“For 50 years the Blessed have had access to the Nexus thanks to the teleportation magic. That’s incredible. The timeline’s really tight.”

“Hm?”

“Sorry. I was talking to myself. I was adventuring alone for a long while and ended up with a bad habit of speaking to myself.”

“You’re still young and have a rare gift for healing. If you so wished, you could offer your aid to any kingdom. Be it the murderous Insectids or the Demons; all will likely accept you with open arms. But I have a feeling that you aren’t bound to one place. Such is the life of an Adventurer.”

“Exactly.” Frost nodded, drowning in her comforting words.

She wished that this could go on forever. This feeling of tranquility under the night sky, submerged in the ambience of warmth and laugher. But in the end, Frost had seen enough for today and decided that it was time to leave.

But she could not say her goodbyes. Not yet. Because before she could utter another word, the voice of a familiar person called out to her.

“A surprise to see you once again.”

When she turned to the origin of the voice, a sudden pain engulfed her entire body again. The phantom pain instantly caused her to choke until it subsided. Something was undoubtably wrong with her.

The pain eventually subsided. Still clutching her chest, she looked up to the pale, feather-coated man with wavering eyes.

It was Iscario.