Chapter 90 - The Past, The Future

After those words, the village chief turned back and walked to his house. The others also followed him, passing the bridge and walking towards the old man's house.

The unit silently followed the villagers to the village chief's house.

Although the village chief had agreed with the team leader's request, the villagers still didn't feel comfortable. Kairen could see people turn back and peek at them from time to time while they walked to the village chief's house.

A big number of these people believed that this group had destroyed the ruin, their sacred protector, so their gazes weren't really kind. 

'How did they even reach such a conclusion?'

Why would a group of hunters come all the way here only to destroy their oh so dear ruin? 

'Sigh.'

Kairen could understand them though. It was natural to suspect them to some extent. No. Their thought process was wrong but they were actually right. Their unit might really be the ones who had destroyed that place. To be specific, Kairen was probably the one who did that. 

The ruin was destroyed by the monster, but the team was also involved in that. There was no proof of that, but Kairen felt that the monster came out of the ground because of him. If that was true, then the villagers had the right to glare at him like that.

'Anyway, let's keep acting clueless.'

Their plan was to do that so Kairen avoided the people's gazes and continued to walk with a clueless face.

They arrived at the house in a few minutes. 

The village chief's house was the same small house at the end of the road that they had seen while going to the bearded man's house in the morning. 

People gathered in the small yard and sat down on the ground, ready to listen to the old man's words. 

The village chief sat on a chair in front of everyone. He looked at the villagers first then looked at the hunters. He started to talk after everyone was seated.

"You all know the story behind the sacred domain. The ruin that is said to hold the powers to protect this land. The ruin that is said to be blessed by a higher being."

The people silently nodded their heads.

"You now know well that the said ruin, the sacred domain, is destroyed."

No one said anything. The area was filled with silence.

The old man tapped the ground with his cane and continued to talk.

"The place that we relied on to protect us from harm is destroyed. It is now only a small pile of dust and debris."

No one said anything.

"It was destroyed by nothing but a monster this morning. It may change nothing, but now that the ruin is completely destroyed, monsters might start appearing here as well."

"Old man!"

This time, a voice broke the villagers' silence. It was the same man that had gathered everyone by yelling out loud on the bridge.

"How can you say that? How can a monster even be there? No monster could approach it so how can it be destroyed by one? These people were the ones who did that."

The man spat out those words with a lot of anger while pointing at the unit members with his hand.

"They might have purposely done that and told everyone that it was done by a monster, or must've brought the monster they were fighting with to that place and-"

"Shut up!"

The old man said those words angrily and hit the ground hard with his cane. 

"...."

The man flinched and instantly closed his mouth, warily looking at the old man's cane.

"We are not here to find the culprit or blame people for what had happened. We are here to talk about our village's future so please stop looking for someone to blame and listen."

The man glared at the unit members once, yet lowered his head and didn't say anything else.

'Ack! What is his problem?'

Kairen looked at the man that had been acting even stupider than him the whole time. Kairen wondered what the man's problem was. He was acting as if he had just found the group of children that used to bully him in childhood after 30 years and now wanted to get revenge from them.

"Now is not the time when people used to fear monsters to death. Times had changed. We have become strong. The hunters how are able to subdue any monsters in no time and keep everywhere safe. But there is a small problem. Our village is far away from any cities. We've also avoided outsiders a lot because we were afraid of losing our peace. So, I don't really know how am I supposed to get into contact with some reliable helpers."

The old man continued to talk.

"There was no need to get into contact with any outsiders or seek help from anyone until now, but now there may be a need to."

The old man paused and looked at the hunters that were listening to his words.

"That's why I wanted you guys to be here as well. I wanted to ask you for your help."

Suddenly, numerous eyes turned towards the unit members. Unlike the village chief, most of the villagers' gazes weren't really kind. Even though the villagers were asking them for help, they still looked as if the unit members were a bunch of criminals.

"Hmm..."

Team leader Dains slightly tilted his head.

"You want us to help you in creating some connections and highering hunters, am I right?"

"You are right."

Team leader Dains didn't say anything, pretending to be deep in thought for a moment before asking a question.

"Before that, I'd like to know the story behind that ruin. How could you call a ruin 'blessed' and regard it as the protector of a land? It's an interesting story for us hunters."

"...."

They could feel the villagers' gazes become more intense. Team leader Dains ignored them and continued to talk.

"Well, if we are to help you then there must be something that we gain from it. You gave us a house to stay. We appreciate your hospitality but I shall say that a mere house isn't enough for the trouble that we will have to go through later explaining the village's situation for others and asking for their help."

"...."

The old man didn't say anything for a minute. After a brief moment of silence, he smiled and nodded his head.

"It's alright. There is no need to hide it anyway. It's now just an old tale that only a small group of people believe."

He then stood up from his seat and walked to his house.

"Follow me."

"Old man!"

"Village chief!"

The villagers were visibly not happy with what the village chief wanted to do. They tried to protest, but the old man didn't pay them any heed and just walked to his house.

The unit members also got up and followed the old man.

They first passed a door. Contrary to their expectation, the other side of the door wasn't the old man's house but a small path-like yard. The road had two ends, one led to the man's house and the other exited the house. 

The old man walked in the narrow path, followed by the unit members. They exited the old house and passed some other houses in the way until they reached an area that was completely empty. They had exited the village. 

"You all probably know these, but I'll tell everything from the start."

While still walking, the old man started to tell the story of a distant past.

"A long time ago, there was an era of great chaos. The time after the Hainston Empire was destroyed, the whole continent went into chaos. The guilds, the hunters, the people who could wield unique powers, all the systems broke apart for a period of time. Because of the continuous wars, a lot of fighters died. That made it hard for the people to defend themselves against the monsters. Monsters didn't get killed. They survived, lived, and attacked the humans in huge numbers. Lots of people died back then, unable to survive the flood of monsters. "

They had now completely left the village and were walking in the plain.

"Our ancestors were one of the small numbers of people who could run away from the monsters. They lived in a city that was not too far from this place. The city was destroyed after the monsters' attack and only a few people could flee."

It was getting darker and darker and the weather was also getting cold. The unit members took out flashlights to light the way.

"They ran away from their hometown to survive. They wandered in the was plain, avoiding the monsters and doing anything to survive. They ran and ran till they reached a certain plain. A peaceful plain. A place that no monster could approach.. A peaceful land that they had been looking for."