Some days had passed since the discovery of Beroxes, the village had entered into a time of expansion and development.
Almost every villager had managed to graduate from being jobless and started to explore their respective professions. Meaningful and fulfilling work was abundant, everyone felt needed and the hope for a better future drove away the previous gloomy atmosphere. It had to be said, while there were multitudes of different jobs, the current resources were not enough to keep up with the demand.
The influx of the new residents kept coming daily, and the food that they could procure was slowly starting to lag behind the consumption as hunters had to go further and further to find proper prey.
Even worse; with the late return of Mei, the food consumption had increased substantially.
It was only two days ago that Mei returned to the village with a pack of groyotes in tow. Arthur was left speechless when he heard the reason she was missing.
The whole story behind her absence started when she took on the job of a beastmaster at the altar. Her job benefits gave her greater understanding and an opportunity to grow stronger and closer with her tamed beasts.
Having returned from the temple, her contracted beast Banban anxiously let her know that she sensed her lost pack wandering some distance around the area to the north.
The pups and the mother were part of a larger pack, but were split up after a clash with something that Banban could not convey clearly.
Mei felt it was quite a pity that the pups and mother had been forcibly separated from the alpha that was the puppies father, so she decided to do something about it.
Since Arthur was nowhere to be found to restrain her impulse, she snuck out. All this seemed so exciting and new, so she 'borrowed' food and left the village in the cover of the night.
Mei rode Banban out to the wilderness while undetected by the villagers. leaving only small piles of animal droppings behind as a goodbye message.
When she later returned with the pack with a triumphant look on her face, she neatly dropped the future upkeep problems to Arthur.
Only after a long session of begging from Mei, Sinde and a few of the hunters, Arthur relented and agreed to share some of the fish to the green predators, provided the beasts would contribute their part as well.
Sinde and some of the hunters pumped their hands in joy when they heard that Arthur agreed to take in the pack. Every time the hunters saw Mei riding Banban past them with glee, some of them had hopes and rosy dreams sprouted in their hearts. Having a groyote as a mount when they went to scout the nearby areas would make everything easier. Thus when Mei returned and they saw a whole pack of them in tow, the smart ones immediately approached Mei with bribes for both her and the groyotes.
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Jonathan took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh morning breeze from the sea before walking along the main road towards the sea with a few of his newly found friends.
Forcibly holding his yawns in, he dragged his feet along the main road to keep up with his buddies.
“Long night, huh?” Brandt asked curiously while wondering what’s up with the old timer.
Jonathan shook his head while rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. The rays of the sun started to be reflected from the calm surface of the sea, leaving him squinting his eyes.
While making small talk and joking around casually with his friends, Jonathan saw a young couple hugging at the corner of the newly built leatherworking shop just a few minutes after traveling the main road.
This section of the main road seemed to be the prime location where Charlotte tried to organize the production of everyday goods.
The young man was showing off his newly crafted leather vest with a proud look on his face, displaying his talent and skill in crafting. With amazement, the young woman in a plain dress inspected the vest with interest and finally hugged the leatherworker with a bright, satisfied smile on her face.
Trying to not pay attention to the young couple, Jonathan sighed sadly after fixing his eyes on the silhouette of the woman on the ground and said to his friends. “Young love… How envious.”
“Oi! Look at that, Brandt. If you want to find mrs. Jonathan, can I try to find you a date?” Raul teased him with a playful voice.
A desolate look flashed briefly past Jonathan's aged face, before he turned to Raul and shook his head slightly. No, it was not something he wanted.
Over the past few days, strange and vague memories had been popping up in his sleep. At first, it could be explained easily, but as time went on, those memories became clearer and clearer.
Stormhold was now his home, but with the fragmented memories of the past popping up to his head, this village seemed to be…somewhat foreign.
In those memories, he could still recall seeing his reflection once on the surface of water. The face was young, strong and an exact copy of his, but without the wrinkles.
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And he was not alone in the reflection. A slender woman with a tied, brown hair with a loving expression on her face hugging his muscular arm and two small, cute children laughing and tugging his other sleeve. The mere thought of those presences by his side made his heart warm. ‘I just know it, it is my family. What exactly happened?’
The first time he started to experience strange dreams, Jonathan was feeling lost and afraid.
It could be true that he was getting old and confused, but it all seemed so real to him. “Rebecca…” He unconsciously muttered quietly.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. I don’t really need your help, but thanks for the offer.”
Raul and Brandt saw that Jonathan wasn’t feeling comfortable with the topic of discussion, so after exchanging looks, they tacitly changed the topic.
“Still, it amazes me how this place changes so fast. It was just a week ago that we came to this place and the quality of life improves by the day.” Brandt said in amazement.
The trio discussed this and that during their trip towards the sea. One of the main talking points was Arthur’s vision about building a large port.
“It seems we still have to wait for the construction of the stone road. I heard from Sinde that the road connecting the village with the sea is not going to happen at least for a while.” Raul kicked the grass on the ground with disappointment.
Jonathan looked over his shoulder to see the place where the stone road ended. Yes, it was unlikely that Arthur or even Charlotte would commit the few resources they had to build a stone road connecting the sea with the village anytime soon.
Covering the whole distance with a stone road was just a waste of resources for now. If he had to make an educated guess, the cost in stone units would be most likely somewhere around tens of thousands.
Covering his yawn with his hand, Jonathan tuned out from Raul’s and Brandt’s conversation and thought for a minute. After struggling to make a decision for a while, he said. “Friends, I’m sorry but I can’t join you for fishing yet. I just remembered I have something to do.” With a determined expression, he waved his hand over his shoulder and started to walk back towards the village.
Raul was about to say something, but was interrupted by Brandt. “Can’t you see that something is bothering him. Just let him be, he’ll come when he can.”
“Yeah, but can we really catch any fish without his presence?” Raul asked with some concern.
The duo watched Jonathan’s back getting ever more distant and a premonition hit them.
“We aren’t going to eat properly today, are we?”
Brandt looked resentfully at Raul, sighed and started to walk towards the sea while quietly muttering.”And whose fault is that…”
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In the corner of the blacksmithy, Nick was sitting on the chair. His hands were moving the edge of the axe back and forward in a rhythmic manner against a smooth stone as the fine stone dust started to accumulate in small piles. Fully focused at his work, he ignored the banging of the hammer against a piece of metal and the chatter from outside the shop.
Every once in a while he swept his silver hair to the side, glanced at Todd making something requested by Arthur, before completely absorbed back into his work. He had asked what the large metallic thing was, but quickly lost interest when it was something related to the cart.
“Nick? Do you have a moment?” Jonathan called out as soon as he stepped inside the blacksmithy.
Receiving no answer, Jonathan curiously walked behind Nick and watched his callused hands grinding the edge into an efficient tool. “Nick?” He said again.
Startled by the voice entering his ear, Nick grasped the handle of the axe and shot on his feet. With a quickened breathing, he stammered. “Jonathan, for fucks sake don’t sneak up on me.” Loosening the grip on his axe, he sat down with wide eyes.
“I called earlier, but you were too focused on grinding. I don’t really know who to talk to, so how about taking a walk with me?”
Nick glanced at the dark bags under Jonathan’s eyes, and nodded. Thinking back, the old man had always seemed somewhat carefree, so why did he seem so troubled now.
The duo walked in silence towards the edge of the village. The purple borderline representing the area of the village seemed so illusionary, yet solid at the same time.
Jonathan sat down on the plain grass, took a small flask carved from two hollow pieces of wood joined together by the green Foyba goo.
“Want something nice to drink? The flask is a handy little thing, you should get one too.” Jonathan broke the silence.
Nick took the flask and took a sip. “Hey, is that the juice Julia made from Orus fruits?”
Jonathan nodded with a smile before taking the flask back. “I came to you because we have known each other for the longest. This may seem strange, but have you had strange, realistic dreams lately?” Jonathan nervously asked the main question in his mind.
“I am not the only one?” Nick looked surprised and relaxed his tensed facial muscles.