A Brutal Welcome

Shou slowly took his sword out of his hand, as Hiroshi came closer to moving to the hilt of his gun.

It was a tense moment, that was rather slow and took us captive at the moment.

Hiroshi called them out as we all saw them.

"They are finally here."

As they took those they knew, which was us, against them as enemies and they pointed their weapons at us there, it was rather late for us to convince them. Mere strangers coming to stay in their place which they call home it seems, wasn't something they could appreciate either and they wouldn't be convinced by any of the things that would come out of our mouths.

And as they saw that we had not given up our weapons, the soldier had repeated once again,

"This is the last warning! Drop your weapons or you will suffer the consequences!"

We couldn't get out of this situation by any means out of kindness. Now we've already given the wrong impression, and made them think that the tribe will need to take measures against us, even if we didn't want any of it to happen in the first place.

*But why are they wearing this type of clothing? Are they somebody that knows our people?*

For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to fear those people even though they were no good at understanding us. They were harsh, but at the same time a trigger for my memories to fill my mind. From the clothing they wore to the way they walk and protect their people, was something that was unnecessarily familiar, and I couldn't help but think how they were somebody, whom I felt like I knew.

It was something that I felt so close to finding out.

So close, but Hiroshi made his move much quicker than me.

"We have come to hide from those monsters. We have no time to mess with you all."

"You have come to the lands of this sacred people, and you all had no right to do anything. So put your guns down, and listen to the orders!"

Hiroshi was getting angrier. Maybe we were the people who were intruders, but they were so eager to put pressure on us.

"Look. There are monsters out there that even we can't fight right now. If you are so eager to take us out of here, then by my guest take down them too. But if you are going just yell at us standing over there, we can not talk and convince you to see the monsters that you are so blind to."

Hiroshi pulled out his weapons and pointed them at the two men in front of him. While he did not break his stance in any way,

"So if you keep doing this, you should also know that we won't be silent as well."

"That's enough!"

A strong man's voice rose from behind.

It came roaring, just as going over our heads and entering the forest with a big wave. And as the birds started to fly and he had finally showed himself, we once again got nervous.

This person appeared from among the shadows.

He was a tall, built, old man, that was looking towards us with two other old men with the same style of clothing behind him.

He was starting to come toward us in slow steps, and it was possible that I could feel his powers as a sorcerer that he might be. But even though it was something that my mother taught me carefully, and even though I had mastered some of it, after a while, when the power they had became uncertain, I couldn't even measure the extent of their powers.

From their cold-blooded looks, to their unknown source of power.

They were just like the word, "unknown".

The old man then talked once more, his presence appearing among the two.

"I said, that's enough for you." He turned towards the others, "All of you, put down your weapons!"

Hiroshi thought it was reasonable to withdraw his weapons after taking a short look around. He couldn't leave a reasonable talk there and just shoot everyone to see if they would attack us or not. So immediately afterward, the others put down their guns, and finally calmed down.

Then the old man resumed talking to us,

"This is private property and it is forbidden for anyone from outside to enter. That's why I want you to get out of here, with a warning beforehand. Otherwise, it is your responsibility to stay and see what will happen."

Hiroshi knew the old man was right. But he also knew that the outside was just as deadly to us right now.

"The creatures out there are quite dangerous if you are not aware. If we don't find a place to stick our heads in today, rain and cold weather won't be the only things that will hurt us. That's why we're leaving tomorrow at dawn. That's all we want for now."

The old man hit the stick in his hand to the ground, making a thumping sound,

"You have trespassed on this land, and now you are asking us for help, even though you don't know anything.

"We just have to-"

"We don't have anything to do with strangers like you. Put them in!"

The old man wouldn't let us talk at all. During the time he was looking at us, he did not avoid frowning, he continued to look at us with anger. His judgmental eyes seemed to imply that he had already made the provision for us to leave there, that we would never be able to convince him again. Besides, he didn't seem to like the way we talked to him in front of his people at all.

What could we do? How were we supposed to talk to him? He had a prejudice against us, but how could he change the mind of such a tribal leader?

It happened after we had been so cautious with each other, It was not possible for us to fight with innocent people here, but there was no safe place for us outside either. If we had said something in terms of the fact that the Prince's legal authority had passed here, it was also a separate issue that they would not have listened to us.

But while we thought about those, another sound rose just behind the fences,

-Thump-

That sound was just as familiar as the people here.

It's ringing in my ears and everything.

Where was the first place that I heard it?

Where do I even remember that sound from?

"Do not do anything to them. They are people that I know."

It was the voice of the chief, that lived in the first kingdom.

The voice of the person that had saved our lives. Which was the chief.

But him coming at the last moment to save us from that situation, made the old man not like what the chief said at all. So he spoke in a stern and sarcastic manner, as he turned away with a furor and looked at him.

"How dare you disobey my order! Royan!

It was pure disorder and disobeying of the words that the old man had said. The rude and rough introduction that the old men and chef had, was an effort that was trying to put back the chief and prevent him from giving us a second chance on this.

Behind the fearless that the chief has given, the old men did not fall back on giving the same mannerism too. Both sides find it very inappropriate to communicate, either via understatement or in a way that lets strangers know.

But either way, the chief had gathered his manner, and had his speech going on with one last look to the men that were standing beside him.

"I do not think it is right to do it this way."

And as given us, I wanted to talk to the chief too. And tell him about our situation. But talking to him about this, and letting him know at a time like this, right after a decision that they have made in their minds, would have brought him nothing but trouble.

So it was the only best decision to be quiet about it and listen to the chief speak for us.

But as he did, the old man continued his mannerisms, with an impudent mouth,

"We have prevented people and their comrades who they brought with them from entering this village for many years. You should know better than we do, Royan, that we should not allow people who stop by for idle purposes and just try to enter our village. If you are so insisting so much about letting them, you can even go out with them if you want. After all, you don't look like you're going to fulfill the promise you've been given."

Old men's impulsive and unforgiving personality, pushed us even further away from convincing a single person, to even let us talk. As towards us, who have been escaping from the danger, she had addressed our identity as unknown strangers who could damage their village.

They were right in many ways about not letting us. But it wasn't much proper for us to stay like that and accept it too.

"We-"

"I'm certain about my decision," said Royan, as I was about to talk.

He seemed sure what he was going to say. The look he gave me at that moment, and the remnants of that certainty in his eyes, perhaps because he knew very well the decision he would make, and he had not allowed me to speak at this moment.

With this idea in his mind, he turned to the old men and informed them of it instead.

"This girl is a sorceress."

*Huh?"

"Being a sorcerer doesn't change anything. We can't take every sorcerer into our camp like that!"

"She is not an ordinary sorcerer, great chief. She is Pelena's daughter. She's also your granddaughter."