The first thing that comes to mind in introducing myself is not letting people outside the village know that I am an outsider, and from what I understood, especially not to clergy. Nearly all religious folk will see my very existence as a violation of whatever holy commandments they follow. The person in front of me is clearly some sort of priest - “Umm… there is no need to be hostile, see?” He stretches his robes to show the symbol embedded onto his robes, in red on white it looks like a compass rose with dragon wings and in the center a coiled snake. “See, I’m from the healers of the Church of mythos, no need to be suspicious. My name is gregory. Where are you headed? Are you a traveler?”

Gregory… should I answer him? He smiles radiantly at me awaiting my response. ohh I just realize how tense I must look right now, I open my mouth to answer but before I can. “Gregory! Why are we stopping? there are people to help out there, we can’t stop for every encounter.” different man comes out of the carriage wearing the same clothes, he seems to be in a rush and he eyes Gregory intensely.

“ahh, sorry, my name is Fren and I’m traveling to Mandoza to join a hunter's guild… did you say you’re a healer?” A healer… that could be useful if we traveled together.

“Well… an adventurer, I should have assumed from your attire, excuse me and Guy, we need to move to a nearby town, it was attacked by monsters and we need to aid them, perhaps…”

We look each other in the eyes, knowing we both think the same thing. Honestly, I don’t want to delay my arrival to the guild, traveling in a group is better. for a brief moment I try to calculate within my head what might be better. I won’t say that Gregory’s kind demeanor isn’t a swaying factor.

“Well then, Let’s move on then, Gregory. He’s clearly capable of handling himself and we need to move out!” The person behind him I now understand is called Guy rushes him to get a move on. Gregory turns to him with a slightly whining tone.

“Guy, wait. I was thinking if maybe he could come with us, he could help us.”

“We don’t need help, we have some incredible reinforcements coming, did you forget who they assigned? He’s probably eager to become a famous adventurer and we’ll only hold him back, isn’t that right… What did you say your name was?” hmm… I give a bit of an awkward look.

“Did you forget the requirements weren’t even yet deployed? They sent us to help and recover without protection. What if we found a town under attack when we’d arrived?”

It looks like some friendly tension between the two. Gregory looks to be taking it cheerfully but that’s not to say he’s more flexible about it, I could almost see a battle of laser beams with their eyes locked as they are.

“Actually…” I utter.

They both divert their attention to me.

“Actually… I wouldn't mind tagging along.”

“I knew it! I saw it in his eyes, we were thinking the same thing before, didn’t we? we were, you were considering joining us.” I climb on board the carriage, but Gregory’s mouth won’t stop. It seems aside from the driver it’s Gregory, Guy and a third person whose robes cover the face from the candlelight, probably to have better sleep as they are found sleeping in a sitting position. “I knew you were a kind person. You immediately suspected me, which is odd since I’m a priest, but I saw in your eyes that you only meant to protect yourself and not to harm us, I didn’t think you’d be a kind person from way up the road, what with that getup and the sword but now it all makes sense that you’re an aspiring adventurer, just like our reinforcements, didja know?...”

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Gregory won’t stop talking, he sure seems excited. He looks about Dan’s age, which I guess is what ‘my’ age would be when I present myself. Maybe he’s just excited that someone of his age group is joining, I think Guy looks in his 30’s, and the sleeping one… if they sleep all the time then I guess it doesn’t matter, hehe, I almost admire them for being able to sleep through Gregory’s nonstop chatting.

“So what brings you to be an adventurer? Was it a lifelong dream? Is it because of those bedtime fairy tales?”... He finally stopped, only waiting for my response.

“Actually I said hunter, there is a difference I heard. The man who gave me a referral said so at least. I… um…” Gotta think of something fast… “ I wanted to become like my uncle, he is an old Hunter.” Rodrick comes to mind when I say this, I can base the lie off the truth.

“Oh wow, retired? That’s cool. Did he give you this armor? I’m surprised it fits you.”

“No, this armor is mine, the village smith worked hard on it.” I bet I can add something to the conversation here. “This is from a goblin” I point to the teeth protruding from the torso armor. “His name was Gaveng.” Gregory looks surprised, even Guy now takes interest in the conversation.

“His name? you mean the tooth?”

“The Goblin” I laugh a bit “Not the tooth, hahaha”

They both look at each other. “The goblin had a name? before he died? Who killed him? Was it your uncle?” Guy asks, he now joined the conversation completely.

“Umm…no… It was me…” Should I say it was me? or should I say… My dad? They both open their eyes in amazement, I should not have added that. “I-I almost died! and my uncle helped me! a lot actually. Really it was what made me understand I needed to join a guild and not just do things on my own.”

A moment of silence. I don’t know what to add and both Gregory and Guy are silent completely. The silence is so strong that the ambient sound gallops of the horses took over my ears, it’s so deafeningly quiet that even the inhales and exhales of the sleeping priest are audible in the background.

“Umm… it…” did I say something wrong? They both have such odd faces and peculiar expressions. Maybe... “It was a lie, it was a lie. It’s actually a fake tooth.” I guess now they don’t know what to believe. They keep silent for a while longer… C’mon Gregory, a moment ago you couldn’t stop talking, what is going on with this awkward silence. No, the silence I could do with but the faces they give me, as if I’m some alien… wait, did they realize I’m an outsider? Is this what Barn warned me about? I look at the carriage door, maybe I shouldn’t have accepted this situation, I should have kept going on my own.

“It must be a lie, named monsters are far too powerful, even a goblin would be catastrophic for an entire village of wanna be adventurers. Maybe it’s an unnamed goblin’s tooth, Fren, you should know that naming them after they died is not going to do anything.”

I look at the window, Gregory is silent but still sort of cheerful, looking out the window on the other side, maybe he will catch another errant wanderer. Guy opens a book he had next to him and utters some words, then tries to copy the sleeping priest and doze off until we arrive. I myself haven’t slept, and I do need some rest. A yawn or too and I find myself at dawn, with the words “We’re here!” From the carriage driver.

I exit first, the town looks nice, nicer than the village, it looks like Rodrick’s nice house but everywhere, it’s also slightly more dense, and there’s a bigger manor up on a hill, it looks like out of a fairy tale of a magical kingdom. There is one ominous thing that’s very evident after a moment of looking around. There are no people. There is some blood and signs of battle but there’s no one around, but if I squint slightly I can see someone at a distance coming up the road. Their skin is grey, and their face expressionless. It isn’t the case that there are no people, there just are not living people.