This village is small. I don’t mean one stoplight small. I mean, the stable I had been held in when I first got here was the only one in the entire collection of shack sized homes along the river, small. It was where they kept THE cow and THE donkey. I hadn’t noticed at first, but the entirety of the “Guards” were the four guys that happened to own spears. Which seemed to be why they all laughed whenever I referred to them as guards. Zhou even stopped carrying his weapon around in favor of his shiny new shovel. Apparently Zhou was a veteran that got some honorable injury when he was younger and retired here hoping for a quiet life, which was why he could afford a cow, while the rest had never left the village.

I had always considered small town life but this was a bit ridiculous. I had at least expected there to be a tavern, or something. Anything really. Maybe it was the American in me but I needed beer. Not just this homemade wine. Even if the old man claimed it was some sort of magic wine.

Sadly I don’t know shit about making beer. Come to think of it, I don't know shit about a lot of things. The isekai types are usually people that have read too many wiki pages, and I am starting to regret not doing so. Beer should be simple though right? Nah, I’ll leave that to professionals.

I sighed and stared into the fire. My mouth drooling over the thoughts of a cheeseburger with a cold IPA.

A sharp whistle brought me out of my soliloquy.

“Are you gonna help or just stare?” Old Long had an irate expression on his face while he pointed his tongs at me. I got up and began to pull the chain on the large box-like contraption next to the brick structure that housed the fire. It was way more labor intensive than I thought it should have been.

It seemed the old man only pulled out his fancy magic wood when he wanted to use fancy materials so he had me working the bellows. I tried passing the honor to Hu, but he was on the other side next to a vise with a hammer in hand already. I grumbled throughout the entire process.

“Ey! Quit channeling your energy, you’re making it too hot!” Long snapped at me.

“Sorry, sorry.” I stopped trying to use the motion as a workout. I was starting to understand one or two things about whatever was happening to me, and I actually hadn’t gone into a trance in some time.

Well, it was probably too much to say I understood anything. I seemed to channel whatever magic powers they used here naturally. I couldn’t learn any of the cool tricks but apparently it let me make fire hot.

This might be the worst power in any isekai.

We spent the entire morning making small nails. The old man was ridiculously fast with everything he did, he ended up making more than I could keep track of in less than half a day. Long Fa sent Hu to deliver what we made to the traveling merchant, and I sat back with the old man in the meantime.

“Do you know how to use any weapons, Henry?” His question caught me a bit off guard. While I took so many classes, looking back, I don’t know anything about how to use weapons. It might be a failing in a place like this to some people, but I don’t plan to go picking any fights. I never even liked punching people in spars.

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“Nope, and honestly, I don’t plan to.” I grinned while I answered.

Rule number one of fighting? Don’t.

“Heh, somehow I knew it.” He had a slightly dejected laugh.

“Then I’m going to be teaching Hu a saber art. So just let me know if you notice something.” There seemed to be honest fear in the old man’s eyes so I took it as seriously as I could.

“I’ll make sure to let you know if I notice anything.” I had read way too many webcomics where the MC ends up having some sort of evil awakening to be okay with that happening to Hu. That kid was too pure for this world sometimes. If a menace at all others. To top everything off he gave more ‘main character’ vibes than you could imagine.

“I swear.” We will never let little Hu turn evil.

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The wife of Wang Tai sat on the bed of their one room home. It was a bit more luxurious than probably should have been in such a place but comfortable sleep was the one thing she never planned to give up.

Her long dark hair, which she kept in a single thick braid, had begun to grey at the roots and years of life in this tiny place had made her hands rough. These things didn't diminish her beauty in the slightest.

She was no longer as powerful as she once was after being injured while pregnant, but she still noticed the eyes that had begun to watch their village. They seemed especially interested in the smithy.

A small smile crept to her lips as she ran a finger across the pan she had in her lap. It wasn’t really a problem if they tried anything there.

Dragons slept in that forge. She couldn’t think of a better place for her little tiger.

Though she did miss him terribly.

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Dang Tong arrived in the meeting hall of the lord's residence while wearing his entire suit of armor, save the plumed helmet which he kept tucked under his arm. He had marched into the building looking ready for war.

Elder Zhang had to restrain his expression on seeing it. He was famous as a war monger but it was still a bit much to come into an official meeting wearing his black lamellar armor.

The lord didn’t even seem to notice as Dang Tong took his place amongst the councilors.

“I would like to hear your reports on these so-called ‘foreigners’.” The lord always seemed a bit bored. Zhang nearly let out his groan. This was important. How could one be bored when talking about people appearing from nowhere.

“All reported sightings turned out to be demonic activity. We purged the affected areas.” The mad dog spoke. Zhang began to shake inside his robes when the words finally processed.

“That would mean… the entire village?” One of the other elders spoke up. His fear was clearly written on his face.

“Yes.” There was no further comment, or explanation.

The lord’s expression did not change.

When Zhang returned to his office he nearly passed out from hyperventilating. He had cleared three of those foreigners amongst the villages he had visited. For all he knew the mad dog would come for him next for ‘allowing demons’ or some such nonsense. He didn’t know what to do, but it was too late. As far as he was concerned he had signed his own death certificate by letting those people go.

The elder was too busy with his thoughts, so he didn’t notice the shadow that slipped by and dropped a note on his windowsill.