Φ Jumping off Willow the 2nd I look at everyone reuniting and say, “How have you all been.” When the villagers hear what I say, they knock me across the head. “What was that for?”
“You guys said you would be back in a little while; You were gone for over four months! Do you have any idea how worried we were? We thought something had gone wrong. We were days away from sending a rescue party after you?”
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to extend the rescue mission.”
While holding me by my collar, one of them says, “You couldn’t send anyone back to tell us at all.”
“There were some issues with doing that, and I knew that Pine wouldn’t let you guys leave because you would have had no way of reaching us. So please, can we stop this.”
“Orb, it sounds like you’re just passing by our anxiety over the last four months. But don’t worry, we will repay you every last bit.”
Shit, I am so sleep-derived that I don’t have the energy to think of how I upset them; someone please get me out of this situation.
“Now, hold on a minute. I think you girls are jumping to conclusions.” I hear a human voice. With a face full of glee, I turn to see my saviour’s face, but all I see are the scummy broken people who were part of Gaia’s sky.
“What do you mean by that>”
Kac, Sparrows right-hand man steps forward, and says, “Look at the carts. They are not only carrying people from our village but lots of others. Orb and co have been through a lot and have suffered quite a bit more than we did, so let’s not conclude that he doesn’t care. He probably is just tired.” As he finishes saying this, he shines with a holy aura.
Letting me down, they say, “You guys are right, Orb please inform us later.”
“I will, and I am sorry for any stress I caused you guys. Also, can you explain what the hell is going on with those bandits?”
“Oh well, you see they tried to escape quite a few times while you were gone, and every time we used force to sit those idiots right back down, and we may have gone a bit too far sometimes. But each time without fail, Pine would patch them up, and eventually they stopped. They also started to go around and call Pine boss, then they started to behave themselves.”
So, they broke down mentally, and Pine built them back up. Looking over at Sparrow, I wonder if the same treatment would also fix him. As Sparrow sees my gaze, he hides.
Φ That look the boy gave me, without a doubt he plans to torture me. What in the hell did I do to deserve this? There are so many bad people in the world, so why me? I am probably on the better half of that scale since I mostly steal things killing the minimum amount. I must find some way out of this before I am burned alive.
Φ While I talk to the rest of the women, Pine says, “Come on, boys and girls, you know what to do,” in a flash, all the Bandits of Gaia’s sky come up to all of the rescued prisoners and get on their hands and knees they then scream, “WE ARE SORRY! WHAT WE DID WAS WRONG, AND WE HOPE YOU FORGIVE US!”
I move back out of shock. These guys were human trash and look at them now. This has to be some form of brainwashing, the woman from the village are scary.
Willow punches Kac and says, “That’s all I need since you guys have been punished enough.” Seeing Willow’s example, all the other captives go up and take turns punching members of Gaia’s sky in the face, and none of them holds back at all; even the kids go and kick Sparrow in the balls.
After everyone finishes getting their revenge, I say, “Since now that you are all satisfied, let’s get everyone what they need some sleep, a bath and some warm food.”
-Break-
I whisper into Maples’s ear, “Village chief tell everybody to start eating.”
“Huh, this is too soon for me. You do it.”
“Village chief, everybody is watching. Tell everyone to start, or I will tell them all your deepest secrets right here, right now.”
“Orb, you’re a bully.”
“According to all books I read, bullying your sister is what it means to be a brother.”
So, Maple says, “Everybody let us eat. CHEERS”
“CHEERS!” Everyone shouts back as this feast begins.
After I finish all my food, I cannot sit down, so I go around and see what everybody else is doing. I see Cyrus being messed with by all the kids as they climb on him and naw on his tail. “Stop bothering my pet- I mean friend, you brats.”
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“No way, you cockalorum.”
“You are not our parents, you pillock.”
“You’re a kid too. You can’t boss us around, you troglodyte.”
“Yeah, you ignoramus.”
“Where the hell did you brats learn such fancy words.”
“We had class back at Basileia, so now we’re smarter than all of you stupid adults.” In unison, they all go “BLEH.”
Walking up behind them, Pine says, “Yeah, then say that to my face, you little shits.”
As one of them tries to speak up, Pine hits him directly on the head and staring dagger at them, says, “Keep going since you have so much to say”
As he starts crying, one of them says, “You can’t do that. We learned that adults should never abuse children.”
“Oh, little kids with big brains, let’s see how that works out for you,” so Pine hits every one of them on the head.
“So, do you brats have anything else to say.”
“No, we are sorry.”
“I thought so.” Pine getting close to Cyrus, says, “When these brats are bothering you speak up and tell them to go away.”
Looking away shyly, Cyrus says “It is no pro-o-o-oblem it does-s-s-s not bother me and besi-i-i-ides they rea-a-a-ally want to-.”
“I don’t give a shit if it bothers you or not. If you give them anything they want, they will grow up to be scum. I don’t care if you’re a wimp, but when your patheticness starts affecting other people, I have a problem. You got that, Cyrus.”
“Yes, mam.”
“LOUDER YOU ARE AN ADULT, AREN’T YOU!”
“YES, MAM.”
Cyrus happens to be getting Harassed by Pine. I would step in, especially since Cyrus has been feeling sick, but I don’t feel like getting punched in the face, bye Cyrus.
Walking around, I see the most prominent noise maker Atalanta. I see her flirting with people from the village. “Atalanta, you’re making more of a ruckus than the kids control yourself.”
“I can’t help it, I finally get to have a proper conversation with everyone, I am just too excited.”
Letting out a sigh, I say, “Well, enjoy yourself because you will be leaving soon to go on your next adventure.”
“Oh yeah, about that, I have decided to stay.”
“What, WHY?”
“Simply because, the longer I am around you, the more my excitement sensor goes off. I am sure I will have fun if I stay around you.”
“It’s malfunctioning, first thing tomorrow I will tie you up and dump you somewhere far away.”
“Well, too bad for you. I happen to of gotten permission from the village chief,” she says as she picks up Maple and holds her in front of me.
“As the village chief, I decree that master Atalanta may stay as long as she wants.” After Maple says this, a large cheer erupts in our surrounding area.
What the hell? How can she have this must support to stay? “Maple, you have to let me in on such decisions.”
“Well, according to a certain white-haired individual, I have to act as the village chief, which means I can do whatever I want. If you have a problem, take it up with the village chief.”
“You know, instead of abusing your power, you could do something useful with your authority, like making a name for your village. Because I am getting sick and tired of just referring to it as village.”
“You know Orb has a point,” Atalanta says.
“Ok then, let’s think of names together, everyone,” she says as Atalanta turns her around to the other villagers behind her.
Looking at all of them, I realise Willow is missing so i look for him. After a little while, I find him in a corner talking to someone whose name I believe is Quant.
On his hands and knees, Quant says, “I am sorry for what I did. I sacrificed all your lives for my reasons, and you all chose to save me. Indeed, I am sorry, and I will take any punishment. I only ask that you don’t harm my daughter or kill me.”
“That’s rather selfish to ask for your own life.”
“You can chop off all my fingers, skin my limbs, or even take them, but in whatever state you leave, please keep me alive. I wish to spend the time I have remaining with my daughter.”
Sitting in front of him cross-legged, Willow says, “Then, as a punishment from this point on, stay in our village.”
“What,” Quant says as he raises his head.
“The kids have been happy about all the things they learned, and you used to be a school teacher, so I am sure you would be able to teach them lots.”
“But that isn’t a punishment for what I did. I should be punished more.”
“I didn’t know you were a masochist, Quant.”
“I am not. It is just that this doesn’t make sense to me.”
“You wanted to spend the time you had left with your daughter, and you chose the most sure-fire way to do that. I can’t say I would do much differently if I were in your position. In these four months, I missed all my loved ones a lot. I can’t imagine that for five years, so no hard feelings, it’s ok.”
As they both get up, Quant cries and says, “I don’t know what to say,” but Willow pats Quant on the head.
All this talk about punishment reminds me of something. Walking over to the members of Gaia’s sky, I say, “Remember me.”
Looking frightened, Kac says, “Yes, we do. It has been a long time.”
“Shut up. I wasn’t talking to you; I was talking to the idiots hiding among you.” I get no response from this, but I say, “You think I wouldn’t notice, didn’t you? I remember your faces from Fimbulwinter. It seems you finally made your way back.”
Upon hearing my words, some of the people from Gaia’s sky get up and start to run away. I use my legacy and apprehend them all “You guys thought that you could blend into the crowd to stay safe, didn’t you? But I happen to be good with faces.”
“Please don’t kill us.”
“I haven’t killed anyone yet.”
“That’s bullshit. I have noticed that forty per cent of our members are missing.”
“Oh well, you see, some of them committed unspeakable crimes against the prisoners, so after I gave them the severest punishment, I sent them on their way to either die or better themselves because, with the way I left their bodies, they don’t have any other choice. Now let’s see if you guys qualify for such a punishment.” So, as I dish out the punishment to the returned members, the party rages on for a while, with everyone eats their fill.
When it ended, I went over to the other people rescued from the mine and asked them, “How was this for you guys.”
“It was more fun than I thought, I would have for the rest of my life.”
“We got to eat and drink all we wanted.”
“I thought I would rot in that prison for the rest of my life, but now I enjoy this with my family. Thank you.”
“Even though I can feel my body rotting by the day, I still feel so happy. Thank you, Orb.”
Hearing their words, I say to them, “Since you guys don’t have much time left, I would like you guys to say with us. Most of you are in no shape to look after yourselves, and if your lives are short we can at least make it comfy for you and your families.”
“Would you really do that.”
“Without a doubt, and if I will bend my back to look for a cure for the damage done to all your bodies. I promise.”
“Well, that sounds like an amazing offer. We will take you up on it.”