As the Sergeant kept emitting his aura Guld stood up on started walking towards him, when Guld got closer he too started emitting an aura canceling the Sergeants aura..

And said, "Keir I think that's enough..".

Keir looked stared into Guld eyes for a while as Lyon and the khorran man stood up from the floor and finally sighed and shrugged his shoulders before saying with a slightly more relaxed face.

"hmph I guess so Guld"

Then with a stern face, he said "Reki and Jasse leave this restaurant with your men" to the two who attacked Leon.

Reki looked at Keir with a dumbfounded face.

Seeing this Keir got slightly mad and yelled in a sharp tone "Immediately!".

Reki and Jasse stumbled to their comrades before leaving the bar while cursing.

"Fucking hell can't I even eat in peace".

 ..... 

After this had all went down and Keir had paid for the damages to the restaurant he asked me and Guld to join him at his table. Keir was a tall khorran with a strong jawline and even stronger looking muscles. He has a short black buzzcut and a golden earring.

"Guld I apologize for the behavior of my men, Reki and Jasse are usually not that aggressive they both find it hard to handle their "personalities" while intoxicated".

With a grin on Gulds face, he responded "Weeel..there is not really a reason to apologize to me Leon should be the person you want to apologize to".

Keir looked at me up and down obviously trying to size me up.

"I'm truly sorry Leon, nobody who is respected by Guld should be treated this way here by my men"

"Wow these people sure have a high opinion of Guld".

"I get that people here don't like humans but you should try to control your men better not that I can't handle myself".

Keir seemed to not expect that answer and looked at me for a while before nodding with a slight smile on his face.

We shared some idle chit chat and talked about why I was here while indulging in the good beer the restaurant served. People still gave me hostile glances and the sorts, but the company of both Guld and Keir really minimalized the number of glances and outright stares. 

"I'm really getting sick of the people in this village".

"So Leon what are your plans for now," Keir asked while tapping his fingers on the table.

"Hmm well I plan on getting a bit more information overall and I need to raise my level and stats before leaving this village on my adventure, also...."

I took out the locket that I had gotten most likely from the wolf-like creature and put in on the table".

"Do either of you have any idea what this is, I can't seem to be able to open it".

Keir took the locket in his big hand and tried opening it to no result "Yea it sure won't open". Guld did the same but he couldn't open the locket either.

Keir cleared his throat "Well firstly if you want to raise your level and get more experience overall I am willing to take you to a nearby dungeon with some recruits as you seem to be able to handle yourself as you were able to kill some bandits and hold your own against Reki and Jasse.  Obviously, If you decide to come to the dungeon I will be there with you and the recruits to ensure nothing happens. But for the locket, I have no idea what you should do".

Guld once again took the locket in his hands and inspected it "Well the leader of our village might be able to help you with this locket situation of yours, and I just happen to have some urgent business with him so I can introduce you to him at the same time".

"Alright Keir I appreciate the offer and I will be joining you and your recruits, but not right now as I would first like to visit the Leader first".

Crossing his arms while nodding Keir responded "Yeah I completely understand, I can hold off on the "visit" to the dungeon for a while as to be honest the recruits are not ready for it yet and it would be better than they had someone like you making their team composition better".

We sat and drank in the restaurant for about an hour after that conversation and Keir insisted on paying the bill but I managed to convince him to split the bill with me. 

Guld and I said bye to Keir as we stepped out of the restaurant and started walking towards the village leaders house which was on the west side of the village. On our way there we came across an old sickly Ratuu woman wearing green clothes and a yellow hat.

"I will go help that woman," I said to Guld as I was planning on using cure to make her sickness go away.

As I went towards the elderly woman  Guld tried to stop him "Wait, Leon..aah too late"'

I had reached the old woman and tried offering her help and forwarded my hand at the woman saying that I will heal her sickness. But the woman quickly slapped his hand away.

The woman said in a cold tone "(Cough) I don't need a humans (cough) help"  and then she kept on walking onwards while coughing heavily and stumbling on her own feet.

"I tried to warn you Leon as you now see the war has left scars in peoples minds and hearts," Guld said while sighing.

"Fucking hell I was just trying to help.."     "Last time I'm going to help one of these goddamm people".

"Don't worry about it lets just keep going".

We were walking across a park-like area that had a sand road and a lot of trees when I suddenly saw kids playing. The other kid was `stabbing` the other kid with a wooden sword who was lying on the playing paying dead. I started feeling convulsive and sweating heavily an image of a kid started flashing in front of me and I stopped moving onwards.

(16 days before the ambush)

"Get down rpg!!"

I dove behind a building as Ak bullets hit the street and we opened fire. I kept shooting at a building where there was an Isis fighter shooting at Luciano who was pinned behind cover after a while the shooting died down we went to clear the building. On the floor near the window, the enemy laid on the ground choking on his own blood and grasping his Ak-47. A child soldier..probably only 12 years old laid there with bullet holes in his lungs.

As I fell on my knees from the sight I could faintly hear...

"IT WAS EITHER HIM OR US LEON"

And a loud bang as someone shot the child to end his misery.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"FUCK fuck fuck no....no" I incoherently spoke as Guld watched my tremble and collapse on my knees. A tear fell from my left eye on to the ground Guld lowered to my level and asked

"Whats wrong Leon!"

I continued to take a hold of Guld and kept repeating "It should have been me, It should have been me"  until I could no longer speak and was gasping for air. Guld grabbed me and held me by my shoulders he had seen my stare at the kid who was now gone.

"Snap out of it Leon! the kid is fine" He kept repeating this for a while after around 5 minutes I had calmed down enough to stand up and continue walking"

The whole way to the Leaders house Guld and I kept quiet

Walking through the village we finally reach the leader's big house made out of marble and wood. Guld led me through the big wooden double doors and as we took a step inside I laid my eyes on all sorts of sculptures of Khorrans, Ratuus, and Tosians wielding weapons. Most of the insides of the house were made out of wood and there was a fur carpet that went from the front door to a staircase right in front of us.

Guld and I walked up the stairs as a few servants watched us from below. When we got up in front of us there was a big door that had golden sides and what Guld said to be a family crest with a griffin-like creature in the center of the door. As Guld opened the door we entered a well-lighted room with paintings and weapons decorating its walls and different relics and accessories inside class shelves. In the back end of the room, there was a large table and a Ratuu man sitting on a big fur chair.

"Oh it's you Guld, good to see you again old friend" The man's eyes quickly wandered to me.

"Long time no see Leader Satui, this is my friend Leon and we have some things to discuss with you".

Satui looked at me while tilting his head slightly and rubbing his mustache and said "I see well any friend of Gulds is my friend even if they happen to be a human..so what brings you two here? and oh please both of you have a seat"

Guld and I took a seat in 2 of the 4 fur chairs facing the desk.

"Well, my business with you is a bit sensitive so Leon should talk to you first and then leave the room as I conduct my business is that acceptable?".

"Sure, now Leon what is it that you want to know" Satui rose both of his eyebrows .

I continued to take the locket out of my inventory and put in on the table "Well nobody seems to know what this is and It seems like it can't be opened so I hoped that you might be able to tell me something about this".

Satuis eyes slightly light up as he saw the necklace and picked it up for further inspection "Oh you know space magic and this sure is an interesting locket..may I ask you from where did you get this".

"I don't know I just kinda have always had it".

My answer seemed to just fuel Satuis intrigue as he asked: "By any chance are you a druid or a shaman".

"y-Yeah how did you know!"

"I've seen my fair share of lockets and have quite the high Identify level but I can't seem to be able to Identify this, meaning that it either is a class specific item or it has some sort of spell or curse on it. I can rule out spells and curses as it isn't emitting any sort of abnormal aura at least not anything I can feel and the design does suggest it is either a druid or shaman item" .

"Okay, so can you tell me anything else?"

"Patience youngster...the creature on the locket looks like a wurgi its a wolf-like a creature except for almost twice the size of a wolf and usually has elemental or magical attributes and sometimes the colors of the wolfs eyes reflect its attributes.

Sadly that's about all I can tell you about this" Satui said while biting his fingernail.

"Well thx for the info but do you know if there is any way to open it or something like that".

Satui crossed his arms and now bit his finger "Well....there is someone who could tell you about it most likely.."

"I see where might that person be," I asked excitedly.

"Well that isn't so simple..essentially you are looking for a tribe of druids/Shamas that are mostly elves and live in a forest some way from here...But the thing is you don't simply visit them entering the forest they live in is difficult as animals protect the area and people who want to visit them usually never find them its like they control the whole forest and if they please the will reveal their location and let you meet them face to face." Satui grinned awkwardly.

"Now if they don't like you..despite being druids they don't really like unwanted people entering their forest so an unwanted quest would probably get slaughtered fast by the animals or eaten alive".

I straightened my back and flexed my neck "So the thing is I just have this feeling that I need to open the locket so do you know of any way possible that would allow me to go in there and you know..not get killed"

"I admire your dedication but just the fact that you are a druid might not be enough to convince them not to let the animals kill you, to get in there you should either already have a good relationship with the tribe or be of elven blood just to get them to listen to your questions"

"Weeell it just happens that I have the trait Elven blood would that suffice".

Satui jumped back in his chair and rose up an eyebrow "W-w-what you have the Elven blood trait!!"

"Umm Is it really that weird, I was saved by an elf and she gave me some of her blood"'

Now both Guld and Sattui yelled in unison "What!!"

Sattui completely dropped his formal composure "Umm yeah for you to have the trait is weird but to say you were first saved by an elf and then given blood...I've literally never heard of something like that happening in my whole lifetime" 

"No, it really did happen" I continued to show them the trait.

Satui asked "Well you sure weren't lying about the trait but I still find it hard to believe you were saved by an elf and given the blood..did she have any request for you"

"Well no she quickly disappeared after she gave me the blood and I passed out".

A silence in the room started after my statement which was finally broken by Sattui.

"(a Cough) Sorry for being a bit rude about this, but if you have Elven blood I think it should be fine if you went tho you should go alone and I still wouldn't recommend going but If that's what you want to do I can give you a map later on  showing you the location"

"That would be great, thanks for your insight and help Satui".

"No problem now I think its time for you to go back downstairs as I believe Guld had something to talk to me about".

"Alright, Guld Il wait for you downstairs on the sofa".

Guld nodded in response and I exited the room.

"So guld what is it that you want to talk about".

Guld took a piece of cloth out of his pocket that he had picked up when the bandits attacked.

"Some humans attacked me on my way back to the village and Leon took care of them but as they laid there dead on the ground I noticed that one of them had this insignia on him".

Satui took a look at the insignia and slammed his fist on the table "FUKING RIVERTIANS THIS EXPLAINS IT!".

"Excuse me Satui?".

"mhmh" Satui regained his composure "Last night a few patrolmen went missing in the village and left behind only their weapons with no visible marks of combat..except in one case a small trail of blood was found that a few of my men traced to the forest before the trail disappeared".

"How many people know about this?" Guld asked as he crossed his arms.

"Only the people that traced the blood trail and some higher up sergeants etc though they all have been told to keep quiet for the time being the fact that you were attacked by rivertians just before we lost 3 good men is obviously not a coincidence" Satui said as he gritted his teeth and pressed his fist on his chin.

"They are trying to get intel about the village.." Guld responded in a disgusted voice.

"Exactly..they must be preparing for an attack," Sattui said.

"If I had to guess we maybe have a few weeks before an attack but we may not even have a week," Guld said as he rubbed his beard and tapped his leg against the floor.

"Now Guld what I'm about to suggest will not get out to anyone in the village except Keir got it".

"Understood"

"The fact that 3 men went missing without a hitch most likely means that somebody in the village is working with them or they have some really highly trained thieves and assassins and they probably have some very high-level invisibility magic at least to be able to move 3 people to the treeline without the archers noticing. Now I'm going to ask you something are you absolutely 100% sure we can trust Leon even if he "saved" you from the bandits it could have just been a ploy to get him inside the village." Satui rigorously tapped his fingers on the table.

"Hmm I think we can trust Leon he seems to not know anything about the outer world being a hermit and I don't believe he has it in him to be a good enough actor to be able to fool me".

" I understand Guld I believe you but if you have any suspicions that he is lying to you nobody would complain if you killed him"'.

"If it comes to that I can take him out with ease but I still don't believe he is a spy".

"Yeah you are one of the strongest there is no doubt you wouldn't be able to handle him, but if he isn't the spy that brings another problem into our hands that would mean we wouldn't have any other suspect".

"I believe we can't rule out beast etc even though it sounds unlikely the Rivertians may have a mythical familiar capable of taking our men without us noticing. In my opinion, it would be best to see if anything else happens and strengthen our defenses without the civilians noticing any big changes".

Satui starts smiling "And that's one of the reasons I respect you Guld always sharp like the spear you used to wield back in the day".

Guld puffs up his chest a bit "Thanks for the kind words Satui, also I believe we should set up a meeting between the higher-ups to discuss this situation".

Satui answers while taking out a pipe and lighting it up "I agree with you 100% I will also be putting a message to the guards out that your orders should be obeyed although that might not be needed but just in case".

And so the two kept discussing things and after some time, they parted and Guld and Leon exited the building.