VI. A small breather

Back at Prairie town, A few people gathered in front of the town's entrance. As they saw Gileon and Chrona's silhouette coming from the forest, they all hoped that the pair managed to bring Rose back home. But as the lamp posts light slowly revealed Chrona and Gileon's expression, their excitement and expectations dissolved slowly. They also saw an unconscious Timothy being carried by Gileon on his back.

"Are you two alright? What happened? Where is Rose?" Steve asked the pair as they arrived at the gate. "Yeah, we're alright." Gileon replied. "But Timothy-san is…" Chrona trailed off as everyone averted their eyes to the body on Gileon's back. Steve closed in to check on Timothy, when he realized that Timothy had died, he ordered most of the people to prepare a burial ceremony for Timothy immediately.

Gileon and Chrona just stood there on the town's entrance as people take Timothy's body to be buried. They're quite exhausted and still feeling guilty of what had happened to both Timothy and Rose. "It's not your fault, Chrona-kun, Gileon-kun." Steve told them after most of the people had left, leaving the three of them all alone. He then continued "I'm glad because at least both of you are fine. Fill me the details later when you're filling up to it. For now, rest your body. I'll get a place for both of you to stay tonight."

They were stuck in an uncomfortable silence for a while until Steve began to lead them towards the town's inn. "Can we drop by the mayor's place for a bit? I think we need to tell him about what happened." Gileon suggested in a low tone. Steve nodded then led the way to Mayor Harold's house.

When they arrived, the mayor was pacing back and forth in front of his house. He noticed the three and invited them to his house to talk, mostly reporting about what had happened in the woods.

After the explanation finished (Gileon doing most of the talk since Chrona is still a bit shaken) the mayor slumped on his chair. "Not only Rose was kidnapped again, and we lost Timothy as well." He said after a sigh. The room was silent for a while after that, until the mayor spoke "You young travelers must be tired after what happened today, go and get some rest. Thank you for your hard work." Steve, Chrona and Gileon then excused themselves from the mayor's house.

Steve then led the two towards the town's only inn and took care of the accommodation. "You two are welcomed to stay for as long as you wish." He said as he handed a key to each of them. "Now get your rest, you earned it." He added. Steve excused himself and was about to leave when Gileon asked him "We'll continue to search for Rose, right?" "Of course." Steve simply answered him. Steve then left them to rest for the night.

"Good night, Gileon" Chrona said "Yeah, Night." The both of them then retreated to their own room.

The room had a very homey and comfortable feeling to it. Tough it's a small inn at a small town, the interior of the room are very decent, clean, and neat. It's pretty spacious too. On the left corner of the room they had a single bed, a night stand with a lamp next to it, a desk with a wooden chair on the other corner, a small drawer, and a tea table with a few cushions to sit on the middle of the room. The door next to the entrance door on the left side leads to a decent sized bathroom.


Gileon's P.O.V

The moment Gileon entered his room, he dropped his bag, put off his gloves and lean his giant axe near the night stand. He then got down on the floor, finished two hundred push-ups and a hundred sit ups before he went to the bathroom for a quick and thorough shower. After shower, he sat on the bed with only a towel covering his lower half and started thinking about what had happened.

Starting his journey to search for his father, helping Chrona in protecting Lily, become friends with Chrona in a flash, going on an adventure to save Rose, a prophet and an ancient descendant. Only a few days had passed since he left his home and started walking the path to be the greatest warrior ever and so much had already happened. He smiled to himself mentally.

Today's event began to rewind on his mind. 'A lot really had happened today. Waking up in the forests, searching Rose with Chrona, fighting experimental goblins, minotaur, and a bunch of other monsters' he thought. 'I need to get stronger. If I wanted to find him I have to be.'

He then pulled out a change of clothes to wear. After sharpening the blades of his axe, he turned off the lamp and off to bed.


Chrona's P.O.V

After closing her door, Chrona put her bow and bag on the table while her mittens and quivers, which hold her arrows, are rested in the night stand. She took out a change of clothes for the night and headed to the bathroom.

She began to reminiscence the event from earlier as she took her bath. The sight of harpies throwing their blades at Timothy, his bleeding lips trembling as he told her to get Rose, his blood covered body. As she remembered all of this, her minds began to drift to her past. Memories of her lying on the ground as rain poured down on her.

'I need to get out.' She thought as she got up from the small tub, clean herself thoroughly once more under the shower and draped a towel around herself. She then changed into her casual clothing and exited the bathroom. Now sitting at the desk, she took out a map of the surrounding area she got from Steve earlier. She studied and pointed out some areas in the map 'If we're looking for harpies, we need to check the mountains and canyons'.

After she's done with the map, she stringed her bow for a bit and sharpened her arrows. Finished, she decided to call it a night; 'It's raining outside.' She thought to herself as she climbed on her bed, then tried to catch some sleep.

A few miles to the north east, another pair of adventurers had also set out on their journey in finding the prophet.