0012 Guests of Honor
Amidst the trees and on top of a set of rock formations, Alicia was with her group, which included Jenany, three men in white armor, another ten men would-be soldiers of god wearing white tabards and swords slung around their waists, and lastly a thin old man wearing a white robe with the symbol of Diore across his chest.
It was already dark and everyone had been waiting for your new instructions for a few hours, from above where they are, a dirt road can be seen that led to three large farms, and the main path that would follow to the City of Marro.
Shuaxsh...
"Sir Father, we have received information that the leader of the enemies will leave the city in the morning...".
The Father is an old man with long messy white hair and long messy white beard, his eyes were brown almost black, and hearing being called by an apparently ordinary man dressed as a peasant emerge from the darkness of some bushes, he stopped briefly the men behind him who also had their attention attracted by the man.
The men who were already ready to use their swords watched the Father remove a prayer string from his clothes where one of the white spheres shone briefly as it was directed towards the peasant man who reached up, showing a church mark glowing in his palm.
"What is it?".
"It's a way of recognizing who is friend or foe...".
Jenany pulled Alicia by the arm and asked whispering in her ear with curiosity, which made Alicia lean her body up to the blonde girl's height to answer her question.
Confirming the mark on the man's hand, the Father stepped forward in front of the man and scratched his beard for a moment while looking at him, who, before the Father, bowed his head in respect.
"Does anyone know why he left town?".
"No sir Father, I'm just reporting to all the groups and collecting the reports.".
"All right...".
Still looking at the man with his head down, the Father just turned and waved his hand at the white knight who was the tallest among the three, who as soon as he received the suggestion, walked in front of the man to report.
"In the last few hours no one suspicious has left the houses on the farms, just as nothing strange has happened to the south...
... But I must report to the superiors that we are all just Rank Cs...
... We wouldn't be able to detect experts above Rank B...".
"Don't worry, for some reason your group is in the safest area, hardly a large force would cross the entire south hill in the middle of the forest to attack the city...
... I have the letter of order here that gives you the duty to kill any bandits that appear in the area, as well as any strange civilians...".
"No need to kill innocent civilians, we have a Confessor on the team, she can handle it.".
The two men talked as equals, while the white knight received the letter from the other, he looked at it for a moment before passing it to the Priest at his side, then, In his response about the elimination of civilians, he pointed to one of the girls in the group wearing a hoodie to cover her face.
The man looked at the two girls, stopped his gaze on the smaller one between the two and nodded.
"Anyway, it's the orders, if you're not going to kill them, the letter makes it clear not to let anyone back into the city...
... The infiltration will start tomorrow after the enemy leader leaves and an investigation mission will follow from the Marquis Castle...".
The man kept answering as he prepared to leave, but at the edge of the descent of a steep incline he pointed to one of the farms in the distance.
"Look! I have the information that that family is made up of faithful devotees to our god...
... You can use it for a temporary base, but don't let them leave and don't let them know about the mission...
... Your report has been received, I will forward it to the superiors...
... Diore is with us!".
"Diore is with us!".
At the end of the salutation, the man disappeared completely as he jumped into the darkness and no traces could be heard, so everyone in the group turned their attention to the priest who would give them the next orders.
"Someone in our group is getting favors from superiors huh...
... It doesn't matter, it's better for me, I'm already too old for any kind of action, let alone a heated battle...
... I must thank you girl, what's your name?".
"Je... Jenany sir Father...".
"Don't be like that to me, just call me Alcione, or Uncle Alcione...
... When this is all over, I have agood nephew that I can introduce to your family, come on, come on everybody...
... We have a house with a good bath and lots of food waiting for us...".
Alicia looked at the scared girl next to her, she followed the whole development of the conversation, and had already gained a feeling of friendship for the poor girl who always behaves like a scared rabbit.
So the group of sixteen people descended from the rock formation towards the northernmost farm, the Father and the girls went in the middle of the group, around them two of the white knights, while the tallest one went in front, the other ten were spread out, thus making a good distance to avoid possible ambushes.
Walking through fields flooded with water and with vast green vegetation, the group recognized the rice plantation and followed the dirt path until it caught people's attention from inside a wooden house, from where a man appeared holding oil lamps looking for the source of the noises outside.
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Soon the family of farmers were surprised by the group of people invading their residence in the middle of the night, but seeing their clothes and the Father standing out in the midst of them all, they opened their arms with happiness welcoming everyone into their humble home.
"Please come, it is my family's honor to welcome god's representatives...
... Woman! We have guests! Make a great meal for everyone!".
Soon the family that was sleeping before is now all excited coming and going around the house, doing the wishes of their guests, like the hot bath for the girls and the Father, the comfortable bed to sleep in, plenty of food and everything they haven't been able to enjoy in the ten days of journeys so far.
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The morning sun came through the half-open wooden window, brightening the room and irritating the closed eyes of the pair of girls sleeping in two simple beds.
In a few minutes the light was irritating enough to make Alicia get out of bed with her hair all messed up and looking at the bed next to her, saw Jenany still sleeping but with her face covered by a brown and worn pillow.
She then got up, fixed her hair and got her clothes and robe to wear, after she was ready she opened the door leaving the room, in a few steps she was stopped by a man with skin tanned from overwork on the farm for years, as well as his worn clothes completing an image of a humble but very hard worker.
"Oh hi! Good morning, Miss! I've already prepared a bathtub for you and your friend to take a good bath...".
"Hey... Good morning, and thanks for your kindness...".
"No need to thank you miss, it's an honor for me and my family to have you with us, my daughters were very happy to offer the room for the two of you tonight...".
"Thanks... But where did you and your family sleep?".
"Don't worry about us miss, we had a great night in the shed.
Go! Take your bath, my wife is preparing food for everyone!".
"Thanks...".
The man bowed and went to the other room to talk to the Father who had just woken up too, and right behind Alicia, Jenany walked out of the room wearing only her underwear with her eyes still sleepy.
"Girl! Go get dressed!".
She ran with Jenany back to the bedroom and helped the girl wake up while thinking about the residents of the house, remembering when she was younger, she and her sister lived in a house similar to this one with their parents, in a farmers village.
After the bath, the two were reunited with Father Alcione and the man of the house, everyone ate their first meal of the day and talked about their stays, while his daughters brought food to the would-be soldiers scattered around the farm, and his wife stayed in the kitchen making more food or washing dishes.
"You guys have a good variety of food here, and looking at your stock earlier I saw a lot of good food...
... How is life for you and your family here?".
"Sir Father...
... We came from the west, from the lands of Marquis Glianorio and there we always faced hunger and difficulties...
... We have lived in Marro for ten years and we have never lacked anything, we are grateful for our current Marquis...".
The mention of difficulties in the lands of another Marquis made the Father purse his lips for a moment, of the girls, Jenany doesn't know anything about the lives of ordinary people and only Alicia noticed these details while walking around the house, for despite the humility of the house and family, many furniture was of good quality, the wardrobe of the man's daughters had even better quality clothes which she wore, and the abundance of food was a very important point in this scenario.
And finally, the happiness stamped on the face of each member of the house, the gaiety and good mood.
The farm reminded her of home, but what she remembered of home was a very different reality from the family she was observing, the hardships that their parents went through on their lands were only alleviated when a church caravan arrived to bless the lands or heal the sick and wounded with their miracles, but here where she was, it was as if they didn't even need the church.
And his thoughts wandered over the mission information and the mysterious enemies of god.
"This is very good, our god has been very generous to you and your family, Diore is with you...".
"Diore is with me and my family!".
"Right, right...
... Soon we will build a church in the city and a chapel in each village, you will be able to give thanks every day.".
"Sir Father, this is great news!
We are accommodated to a life of plenty here that I haven't visited the house of our god for years... Great news!".
"Don't worry, we came here for this, but before that tell me...
... Do you know of any strange stories or accounts of a possible supernatural event?".
Alcione's question aroused the interest of the two girls, who sat up straight in their chairs and waited for an answer.
"Sir Father, I'm sorry...
... I spend my days between my lands or fishing to pass the time in some lakes further east...
... My son sometimes tells something fanciful, but I wouldn't know how to tell you...".
"I see, then, where is your son?".
"In town, he works there and comes back here sometimes to visit this old man...
... He works as one of the Marquis's employees, can you believe that? My son works as an employee of the Marquis!".
"Employee of the Marquis?".
"Oh Father, I boast like this but the truth is that the Marquis always offers jobs for young people from all families...
... So each family has the opportunity to have at least one person working in the city for the city hall...
... Our Marquis is a good man...".
The priest sighed, leaning back in his chair as he rubbed his hands over his face, he was an old man, he has seen many things in life, he has passed through many towns and cities, as well as he knows well the history and performance of the City of Marro.
But he also understood the church's ambitions to expand its domains and take its faith to all peoples, so watching closely a ruler who had succeeded without the help of the church was both disconcerting and inspiring to him.
Everyone at the table saw the Father's sigh and didn't understand his reaction, as for the man, thinking that he displeased the Father about his talk without offering him a good answer, he stopped smiling and thought some more.
"Oh yes, sir Father...
... I remember that today my son would return at the end of this night, you can ask him directly, I know he will be able to answer you...".
"The night huh...
... All right, no problem, we can't leave here, let's wait for him to arrive...".
The girls looked at each other, the mention of the supernatural was something that totally aroused their curiosity, in fact, Jenany was the most anxious for the arrival of the man's son.
So they finished eating, and Father went for a walk through the rice fields enjoying the scenery and the good weather, the girls with nothing to do, stayed in the room talking about possible supernatural events.
Meanwhile, would-be soldiers roamed the grounds watching the place, one of the white knights was sitting on the roof of the house standing guard, the other followed the Father from afar keeping his protection.
As for the last one, it stood on the rock formation that your group had to stay from originally, waiting for new mission updates or possible developments.
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"We could hire carriages, I don't want to walk all day!".
"Be discreet, we're not going for a tour...".
The girl with long brown hair looked annoyed with the answer of the tall boy with short black hair, but soon she started walking and the other girls followed her laughing at her, while one of the boys passed next to that tall boy and held his shoulder.
"You need to learn to understand girls, otherwise you'll be single for years just like your father... Tsc tsc tsc...".
On the main road leading straight from Marro City, a group consisting of three young girls and seven young boys were walking slowly while smiling and chatting happily.