Chapter 4: First Encounter
"What in the hell."
Stoln was stunned at the fact that three unusual people, if that's what they were, were currently right in front of him with no given explanation as to why. As Stoln was trying to reason why they could possibly be here, the man who was half centipede waved at him.
"Hello there! We are your new neighbors, but we won't say where we live unless we decide you are trustworthy. Now then, would you be willing to chat with us for a minute? We're new here after all, so we have many questions."
Stoln showed a friendly but wary smile.
"Well I'll be darned, the bug man knows how to speak. Sorry, but I can't do anything for ya guys until the Chief hears about this and decides what to do. You could be man eating monsters for all we know, so sorry but I can't stay and chat."
As Stoln said this, he slowly drew an iron dagger from a small pouch at his side and readied it.
"Don't take offense, but I'm a bit wary of you folks. I'll be back after getting the Chief, I trust you'll be fine with waiting?"
A sudden bloodlust filled the air around Sylvia. Shelly just continued to patiently smile, showing no emotion about what was said.
"You arrogant human, you dare to order Lord Pestil to wait?! How rude can you be to a man as strong as he is?!"
The sudden outburst, from the now angered Sylvia, had Stoln become deathly pale with fright. Just as he thought, "This is it I'm not gonna live through this one", Pestil reached out a hand to calm Sylvia. She immediately lost all anger and only seemed worried as to if Pestil would reprimand her.
"I'm flattered that you felt like you needed to defend my time, but I'm just a normal person, I can wait like everyone else."
Pestil looked towards Stoln, his strange green eyes looking him over.
"What's your name?"
Stoln sighed in relief that he was spared from the anger of Sylvia, and replied.
"Stoln's the name, I'm one of the residents of Fren village, the place behind me. Could I trouble you guys to wait a bit, I need to get the Chief, he'll decide if we can trust ya or not."
Pestil nodded in response and Stoln quickly ran back to the village. From where Pestil was standing, there seemed to be a bit of a commotion in the village, and all the sleeping residents woke up and came outside to see what the ruckus was about. After a few minutes, Stoln, the now wide awake Florn, a lean but short man with brown hair, and an aged old man in white priest's clothing all started to walk over to Pestil and his companions. Once they approached the old priest stared intently at Pestil and his companions for a full minute before he extended a withered old hand out towards Pestil.
"I am the chief of Fren village, Desmond, and these three men are Randolph, Florn, and Stoln. I have decided that you three aren't hostile, at least yet, and thus we are willing to show some hospitality to you."
The old man smiled with this last sentence. The lean man with brown hair decided to speak up.
"Chief, I don't agree with this, how can we trust monsters?! Even if you have a unique ability that lets you discern people's natures, I doubt it even works on monsters! Have you forgotten what happened to Trel village five years ago? One day they were all alive and well, the next they were all found to have been ripped apart and shredded by Piercing Banshees! Chief, Elaine died that night, I won't stand for wretched monsters, like those bastards who attacked Elaine, to be allowed into our village! We ought to just kill them now!"
The Chief looked sadly at the man, and tiredly spoke.
"Randolph, that incident was tragic and brutal brutal affair that some monsters enacted, but you have seemingly already forgotten the kindness some monsters can show. Our friends at Carne village were protected by goblins, whom we would normally expect to only be able to ravage and destroy. Generalizations are dangerous you know, and lead to conflict when it is easily avoidable."
Randolph still seemed to disagree when a loud metallic shriek filled the air. The sounds of grinding metal could be heard from within Sylvia's mouth as she gritted her teeth in anger. In her hand was her ruby encrusted cutlass, having been quickly drawn from its sheath, and she currently pointed it at Randolph.
"You mere weakling dare to talk about Lord Pestil like that, when he's so much stronger than you?! Have you no respect towards those with power?! I'll slay you here for these transgressions!"
Sylvia was about to slash Randolph's throat when Pestil put a calming hand on her shoulder. She immediately calmed down, but looked confused.
"Lord Pestil, it's only natural for a weakling like this human to die here after insulting the strong, so why would you not let me end him?"
Pestil sadly shook his head at Sylvia, as she didn't understand what he considered to be a basic rule to know, and explained.
"We must treat everyone with the respect and kindness they deserve. Even if they aren't kind to us, we mustn't break that rule, unless they do something truly horrid and either cannot be reasoned with or cannot be forgiven."
"Lord Pestil, I'll take this to heart! Thank you for explaining this to one as ignorant as I, I won't make this mistake again!"
With being Pestil's logic having been explained to Sylvia, she sheathed her cutlass and retreated to be slightly behind Pestil. Pestil sighed and then looked Desmond in the eyes, his buglike form reflected in the old man's eyes.
"Chief Desmond, I swear upon my name and insect kin, that neither my subjects or myself will harm you if you do nothing to provoke us. If you treat us with respect and kindness, then we will return it in kind. A wise man once said, 'An eye for an eye makes the world blind', and I agree with this. I also believe that most intelligent beings are good, and willing to revive and hand out kindness. If you're willing, I would like to intrude upon you for a little while, and ask some questions. I'll be sure to return the favor."
Desmond had a bright smile appear upon his wrinkled face, and looked quite happy.
"Well then, Sir Pestil, I think you and me will get along nicely, the seemingly kindred spirits that we are. I would like to welcome you into our village. I've also heard from Stoln that you are apparently living nearby. We will be conducting talks at my house, as everyone else probably wants to go back to sleep as it's late, so forgive me for their not being a feast to welcome our new neighbors."
Pestil returned the bright smile with one of his own, and extended his hand outwards to show his sincerity to the Chief.
"Yes, I agree with the sentiment that we'll get along, and there's no need for a feast for me, I only want to get to know my new friends."
The Pestil and his entourage followed Desmond into the village, and into the largest of the houses. Stoln, and Randolph could only stare at the leaving backs of the three strangers in stunned confusion. Florn yawned and then turned to Stoln.
"Well this has been one hell of a night hasn't it Stoln? I'm not gonna even try thinking about this and what it means, I'm just gonna let Randolph take over my shift as guard and get myself somd well earned shuteye."
Florn walked away into one of the houses and left Stoln with Randolph. Randolph looked both frightened and furious at the fact that the monstrous people were let inside the village.
"The Chief is a nice guy, I'll admit, but he's also very stupid about some things! What is he thinking letting enemies of humans into the village?! I'll have to do something to get these bastards out of my village!"
Stoln only gave Randolph a cold glare that seemed to say, you'd better not do something stupid.
End of chapter 4
Author's note, I'll make sure that the next chapter will be longer than all of the others, as it'll feature interactions between Pestil's gang and the village, as well as important dialogue. Sorry this one is so short, I just wanted to get something written fast to thank you guys for reading! :D
