Chapter 49: A small dailema

Chapter 49: A small dailema

----ARC: 2 - The Rotten Wood----

"So that's what happened," Ben explained, sitting on a stone pile, while Ray and Alex stood before him, looking at him seriously.

The sun was getting golden yellow from red, and all four of them were currently next to the rice field, green moist grass with morning dew twinkling in the sunlight like countless stars in the sky. The cold breeze was passing through greenish rice plants, making a rustling noise.

But even in this beautiful dawn, there was a tense situation between Ben, Alex, and Ray while Freya was practicing her sword skills a few meters away from him.

"So you are saying there was an almost intermediate-tier talking wolf in the city ruins, and he is planning to attack this village in full moon?" Ray asked, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

So far, Ben has explained everything to them, cleverly manipulating the 'him being a vampire' part, and naturally, there were some plot holes in the story, making it hard for Ray to believe the story.

"This is the third time you are asking that question," Freya responded, continuing to practice with her sword, resulting in a break in her sentence.

"Hey, don't be involved in the conversation if you are not even listening to it; not to mention, that's not how you practice your sword skills," Ray remarked, looking at her immature practice style. From his perspective, she was just randomly swinging her sword in the air.

Freya stopped swinging her sword and looked Ray directly in the eyes as she responded, "The part of the conversation I heard was escaping the village and running; as for my practice, I do whatever I want."

"Oi everyone, stop your off-topic nonsense unless you want a Round 2 with me being involved." Ben's lips twitched twice, and his words sent a small shiver through both Freya and Ray.

"Okay, I take your words seriously. You are saying that there are some hundreds of wolves attacking us on the full moon, which is days from now." Alex intervened; he was completely silent in the conversation from the beginning. "So are you suggesting that we should abandon the village and run?"

"I am saying running is a possibility," Ben responded, as silence fell in the air.

"What happens to your village is none of our concern; we are not bound to stay here and die with you people." Freya tuned in, only to receive an annoyed glance from Ben before she fell silent again.

"Freya is correct; you guys are just passersby; you are not bound to stay here." Ray stated, as he sat on the grass with his legs crossed, " But the fact that you didn't run up to now, and explain this to us. I guess you aren't planning to leave, are you, Ben?"

"You aren't as dumb as you look," Ben answered with a smile on his face. " If I am planning to leave or not, it solely depends on your answer to my question."

?{Bruh, stop lying; you aren't planning to leave either way. One hell of a host for me}?

?{Honestly, I liked you better when you were a mosquito; at least you were somewhat listening to me. Sigh...}?

"Spit it out. What do you want to know?" Ray responded in the same tone as Ben: " Whether I answer it or not will solely depend on your question."

Ben stood up and flexed his body before he looked at the fully golden sun in the sky. "The question is, why are they attacking the village?"

"Earlier, you explained that the nobles were attacking the village because of the jealousy and abnormal growth of the village. The demons attacked the village because of the mana stream present in the city."

"But now that you don't have the city nor the mana vein, then the question is: Why didn't the attacks stop by now? There must be something in the village that is attracting people to attack, so Ray Tell me, What is it that you are hiding in here?"

"I will give it to you; I underestimated you quite a lot. But the answer you are searching for, I am trying to find that as well." Ray said it with a serious expression on his face.

"Just admit it, you are dumb," Freya chimed in, getting on the reverse scale for Ray yet again.

"Then what the hell are you village lord for, bro-_-?" Ben slapped his forehead, all this suspense and acting he did to get a few answers just to know that Ray was even more clueless than him.

"Honestly, I am the one who does most of the work. Wonder what the hell the village lord is for?" Alex also commented in a low tone while looking away in a direction, trying to avoid any eye contact.

"Come on, bro, now all three of you start roasting me." Ray was dumbfounded, looking at his respect crumbling like a building of cards.

"Well, you can't roast someone who is already burned down to ashes," Freya commented again, looking away in the same direction as Alex.

"Well...Ouch..." Ray gritted his teeth in a comical response.

"Hey Ben, don't get me wrong here, but you did see a talking wolf in the village ruins?" Alex asked in a little confused tone.

"What! You never saw a talking wolf in your life."Ben counter-questioned: After all, this was a magical world; animals talking to each other must be a normal thing, right? n(-o()v(-e.-l/-B(/1).n

"No, it's not that... Any beast or humanoid monster who evolves to a certain point can talk, but I am curious; how do you know monster language?" Alex asked again, elaborating his question further.

"Hey system, how did I learn the monster language again?" Ben was dumbfounded; in all this story, he never thought that the language barrier would be that big of an issue. He thought talking with animals was just a normal thing in a magical world.

?{You can communicate with the Wolf Ben because of your 'All Tongue' ability. }?

?{As for the reason they are surprised, it's because normally humans can't talk with monsters without using a magical tool.}?