Sam and Xander finally finished the thing that they needed to do before they left the village. It was to get better clothes. The clothes that they came with to this world had gotten torn up, especially Sam's.

They first went back to Laina's house and went through their small bags of coins. After counting them all up, Sam and Xander had three silver and thirty copper coins with them each. Laina was still not back, so they didn't know the value of silver and copper.

Sam guessed that it shouldn't take more than twenty copper to get them both a new set of clothes, but took a few more just in case it wasn't enough. He put the rest of the coins in Xander's bag and left them in Laina's house.

Sam did consider talking to the clothes off of the two criminals that were dead but chose not to. It would be extremely weird striping them, and the clothes wouldn't fit very well since both of the criminals were bigger than them.

After Sam had the money, the only thing that was left was finding two people that had an extra set of clothes that they were willing to sell. Sam and Xander went around the village, asking random people that they walked by. It was weird and awkward at first, but after the third conversation, Sam started to lose any self-respect that he had for himself. Xander stayed silent for the most part. He was more of an introvert when it came to new people, and Sam understood that, so he didn't force him to say anything.

Surprisingly enough, only a small portion of the villagers had a set of clothes that they weren't wearing. Getting the right size made it even harder. After walking around the entire village, Sam found only one person that he could buy clothes from.

Giving up on finding another person, Sam decided that Xander didn't need new clothes. Sam's clothes were the worst of the two. Xander argued back, but when Sam told him that he could go look for the clothes himself, Xander quieted down.

Sam backtracked to find the seller, and Xander headed back to Laina's house. Sam found his seller walking towards the fields near the outside of the village.

"Hey! Is the offer available for the clothes?" asked Sam. He didn't ask for his name, so Sam was stuck with just shouting really loudly from a distance to get his attention.

His seller had a small jaw and small eyes. His height was similar to Sam at around six feet. Like most of the villagers, he looked young in his early twenties.

Sam started to notice a strange pattern in the village. There were several kids in the village, from babies to early teens and several people who looked around the same age as Sam and Xander. But, there were a lot of people that looked to be in their early twenties. Almost two-thirds of the village was around this age. The number of older people was very small, other than the village head, Sam only saw two other people that looked to be in their early-late age.

The man turned around and saw that it was Sam who he heard. "Yes, but we still didn't agree on the price yet," he said as he stopped walking. He waited for Sam to come closer.

Sam hadn't set a price for the clothes yet because he wanted to see what he was working with. If there were a lot of people that he could buy from, he had a little bit of leverage and could, hopefully, bring the price down. Right now, Sam was desperate and didn't have another choice, but his seller didn't know that. Sam could just wait until they go to a different village to buy clothes, but he didn't want to wait any longer.

"How much do you want for them?" asked Sam. He definitely wasn't going to buy the clothes without bargaining for them first, but he needs to know the relative value of the coins before he could do anything.

The man thought for a little bit. "Six copper. The clothes are brand new," he said.

"Six copper!? No way am I going to buy clothes for six copper!" said Sam tone. He had an expression that made it clear that he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Sam, obviously, had no clue if six copper was a good deal or not. The only thing he did know was the skills that he picked up from drama class in middle school.

"You know what, I'll be generous and offer four copper. The food situation will be hard for a little while since your crops were all burnt and you can't exactly eat clothes, can you?" said Sam. He took a risk when he mentioned the crops. He didn’t exactly know how he would react when the crops were mentioned.

The man thought for a few seconds and then said, "Five is my final offer."

"Fine, I guess we have a deal," Sam was satisfied with that. The man didn't look like he would come down from five. Sam followed the man back to his house.

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While they were walking, Sam paid attention to the ages of the people that they walked by. As he thought before, there was a lack of middle-aged villagers. Sam could guess a few reasons what could cause it, but none of them seemed likely. He figured that he could just ask Laina when he saw her later.

They reached the man's house and knocked on the door. a woman, most likely his wife, opened the door. She was about to say something to the man when she saw Sam. She swallowed her words and stared at Sam with daggers in her eyes.

The man ignored her and walked inside. After a few seconds, he returned with clothes in his hand. He offered them to Sam, and Sam did a quick check. There were two pieces of cloth for his upper body and a pair of thick pants. They looked to be in good quality as the man promised.

Sam took out the pouch and handed the man his five copper. He said his thanks and left. Sam went back to Laina's house. He did everything that he wanted to do and was free for the rest of the day.

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Laina had just finished selling everything. Like Sam said, she was able to get good prices for the crops and the food.

She had gone to the village head to oversee the deal and finalize it. Most of the large deals in their village were handled by the village head. He was there to make sure that both of the parties did what they said they would do.

Laina started to walk back to her house when she stopped. There was still a lot of time before the day ended and she wanted to go somewhere before she left.

She exited the village and went towards the fields. As she passed by the crops that she spent so much time and effort into growing, she finally started to feel the decision that she made start to sink in.

They were no longer hers, and she would no longer come here every day. She might never see the village ever again. The chances of that were low, but there was still a chance of that happening.

Laina bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt. She felt its texture and how it slipped out between her fingers. She tried to remember this feeling so that wherever she went in the future, she would always remember.

Laina started to feel herself tear up, but she held them back. There were other villagers around, and she didn't want them to see her so weak. She bottled up all of her feelings temporarily and started to walk away.

She went to the south of the lake, where she usually went, to get some alone time.

When she saw her familiar sitting rock, she sat down on it and started to cry. Her wails got louder and louder as more and more of her feelings were let out.

For the last six months, Laina told herself to stay strong for her father, so when he did come back, he could be proud of how well she handled herself when he was gone.

Now, Laina had fully given on to that hope. She accepted that her father wasn't going to come back. She accepted that she was all alone in the world.

Laina also cried about her leaving the village. It was true that she was never close with anyone, but they were all the people that she knew of, outside her father. It still hurt to think that she wouldn't see them anymore.

It was several minutes after Liana started to cry that she felt something touch her leg. She had not calmed down at all and so she was startled when she felt something move her foot.

"Aah!" With a small yelp, Laina opened her eyes and blinked the tears out. She saw a familiar shape near her leg. At first, all she could see was just a blob of white, but as her sight got clearer, she recognized that it was Stratus.

She calmed down, and her heart, which felt like it would jump out of her cheat, started to slow down. She reached down and touched Stratus on the head. She temporarily forgot about everything and turned her full attention on Stratus. And that's why she didn't notice that someone else was standing to her side.

"Ahem," Xander cleared his throat.

"Aha!" For the second time, Laina was startled and yelped. She looked up and saw Xander standing to her left. She started to feel her face heat up from embracement. "How long have you been standing here?" she asked.

"I just got here," replied Xander. It was true, but he decided to not tell her that he could hear her from a distance. "So... how are you feeling?" he asked, trying to end the awkward silence that emerged.

Laina had a small smile when she heard Xander. She said, "What do you think?" She taped on a spot beside her.

Xander sat down and said, "That wasn't a good question, was it? So what are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing. I'm just going to miss the village," she said. She was starting to feel better. She let her emotions all out, and she got over her crying. "What are you doing this far from the village?" she asked. Other than her, no one really went out of the village and farms and into the forest. She was curious why Xander was all the way out here.

"I just wanted to walk Stratus," he said. When he saw Laina carrying a confused expression, he chose to explain better. "I wanted to let Stratus stretch his legs and poop if he needed to."

"I see," said Laina, understanding.

They spent the next few moments silently. Laina and Xander watched the lake and how the small waves brought the water up and down. The silence, this time around, was comfortable. Neither of them felt the need to speak and just continued to enjoy the silence.

"I miss them as well," Xander softly said. He said it so quietly, that Laina doubted if she heard it. She was about to ask him who "them" was, but Xander answered her before she got a chance to ask. "My friends, family, my classmates, and everyone else. I miss everyone."

Still looking at the water, Laina softly asked Xander, "Then why did you come here?"

Xander let out a small chuckle and replied, "I didn't really have a choice."

"If you did have a choice, would you have decided to stay?" she asked. She was trying to understand what happened with Sam and Xander, but she knew that now was not the time to ask about it. If they trusted her enough, then one day they would tell her.

Xander thought about it for a while. He never really thought about that before. His previous world wasn't too great, but he had his friend and parents to share it with. This world was different. He was someone special, and he felt like he could do more here. The only drawback was that he was a stranger to the world. Sam and Laian were people that he considered he was close with, but they were only two people.

"I don't know. I guess only the future will tell," he said after a few seconds.