After waking Zach up, we had breakfast. It was a quiet affair, and after packing up our things we headed across the rest of Hyrule Field. We joked about a few things here and there, and even Midna had a joke to tell. We killed a couple of monsters here and there, and over a couple of hours we finally reached the Faron woods. We stopped by the lantern guy's house, where we found out his name was Coro, and ate lunch with him since we were starving by that point.
After lunch, we headed towards the village. When we got there, a couple of the villagers waved hello to us before moving along. We quickly found the Mayor in front of his house, and he called us over.
"Hey! Russell and Zach, was it? It's good to see you safe and sound. The villagers had told me that they had seen you about a week ago, but I had no idea that you had returned to town. Come inside, quickly!"
Zach and I shrugged, before following him inside. Once there, we explained how the children were under Renaldo's care in Kakariko Village.
"Well, that's good. Renaldo's an old friend. If the kids are in his care, then we can relax. So, don't keep me waiting, Tell me about my daughter! Ilia is with the rest of them, right?"
We thought about it, and both Zach and I shook our heads. "Sorry sir," I said. "Neither of us saw Ilia with the other children."
"Oh, I see… that ain't what I wanted to hear…" He looked downtrodden, and I knew that he was worrying about where his daughter could be. "Ah but, I guess I should think about all five of those poor kids, not just my own. They're all in danger. What I should be asking is how I can help out."
Zach looked at me briefly before speaking up. "Actually sir, we need to get on Death Mountain. But right now, the Gorons for some reason are being unreasonably hostile towards us and the village below. We heard that you might be able to help us out."
"What's that now? The Gorons of Death Mountain?" The Mayor said. "I see, so Renaldo told you that… Well, it's true. I did defeat the Gorons in a contest of strength and earned their trust. That is, with the help of a little secret. I can teach you the secret, but you have to promise that you will absolutely, positively will not disclose it to anybody, particularly Renaldo or the Gorons."
Zach and I nodded. What had we to lose by keeping a little secret?
"Alrighty then, you can't tell a soul! Come this way."
He led us into a back room, where a raised circle stood in the middle of the room.
"Now, you two have heard of sumo wrestling, right? Gorons like to match strength in sumo contests. The basics of sumo wrestling are simple. The first man to push his foe outside the arena wins. You have to grapple with the opponent and push them to the side, or backwards. These techniques are pretty basic. Master them and you'll be shovin' folks out of the arena in no time."
I looked at Zach and gave a small grin. "Zach, we both know that you have way more muscle than me, so you're going to need to be the one who wrestles the Gorons.
He gave me a stinkeye. "Oh no you don't. In order for us to travel the Gorons' lands, we're both going to need to learn how to wrestle."
And so we spent hours learning the secrets of sumo wrestling. Where to grab the body from maximum leverage; how to slap the opponent to knock them off balance, giving us an opening to grab them, even how to counter slap someone who dodged our grab or first slap. We learned how to get out of a grip properly, and by the time we were done, both Zach and I had thrown the Mayor out of the ring several times.
"You guys are naturals. However, you would still never be able to beat a Goron as you are. Now, the secret to beating the Gorons is locked away in that chest. Take is with you." He pointed at a treasure chest behind him, and we approached it. Inside was a pair of metal boots.
"You can probably tell, those boots are made of Iron. Whoever wears them won't easily be pushed around, even by a Goron. If you're fixing to fight a Goron, be sure to wear those boots. Let's be square though: you two can't tell ANYONE about those boots. Especially Renaldo. Unfortunately I only have the one pair, so Russell was right earlier that only one of you are going to be wrestling the Gorons. Good luck to the two of you!"
Once we left the building, Midna quickly zapped the Iron Boots away to wherever she held our gear for us. "That'll be way too heavy for you guys to lug all around the countryside with you. That being said, it's getting dark, you guys should sleep for the night.
And so we made our way over to Rusl's house, which we had planned on doing already. After knocking on the door, Uli greeted us and ushered us in. We ate dinner with her telling her about how her son and most of the other village children were in Kakariko, under the protection of a man named Renaldo, whom the Mayor trusted. She smiled with relief when we told her this.
"That's good news. My husband actually left the town a few days ago, about a day or two after you left, and I haven't seen him since. He probably meant to join up with you, and if you see him on the road, could you give him this?" She held up a coat. "He always forgets how cold it can get in the northern parts of Hyrule, unlike us here, where it's always warm. Promise me that you'll give this to him if you see him?"
We nod, and slept at her house that night.
In the morning, I once more practiced pulling my magic out through the small hole slowly, doubling the amount that had access to the rest of my mind. While doing so, Midna instructed me on how to properly organize my mind. Instead of swirling darkness, I now had a lightened room as a stage for my mind, but I couldn't get much further before it was time to leave.
After we had breakfast with Uli, we left the building. On her suggestion, we stopped by the village farm, to buy a horse. After talking to the man who ran the farm, we bought a horse from the man for close to a thousand rupees, which we had collected steadily over the course of the tree temple and just picking up rocks and cutting grass. This world's economy must surely be a joke considering we could buy a horse just for three days' worth of essentially mowing lawns and killing monsters, but hey, who was I to complain?
The horse that we bought was black, with a white mane and tail. It looked incredibly intelligent, and the farm owner told us that it was a girl horse by the name of Nyx. She had been trained to listen to all directions given to her, and after saddling her up, we made our way out of town at a much faster pace than we would have otherwise made.
Going across Hyrule Field seemed like a breeze on a horse. On the one hand, we weren't killing any monsters, and thus weren't sharpening our sword fighting skills, but on the other hand, we rode passed the monsters and they didn't give chase, seeming content to just hang out on the field.
I suppose that we probably should be cutting down the monsters, but from my hypothesis, the ones we were seeing came from another world, which is why they puffed into smoke when we killed them. As such, they were just going to keep replenishing their numbers until we closed the door to this other world, wherever it might be.
We reached Kakariko Village right after lunchtime, and what we found there stopped us in our tracks. The Huge monster, the one on the giant boar that attacked the town the first time with his underlings, was holding up Colin by his arm, and he was seemingly passed out given his state of not moving. At least I hoped he was unconscious. The huge monster gave a wry smile and charged his boar towards the exit of town, and Zach and I gave chase on Horseback.
Once we were out on the field, I quickly realized that we wouldn't be catching up to the monster anytime soon with two people on Nyx's back. Zach realized this too, and jumped off her back.
"Midna, come with me, I'm going to need your help!" He shouted, running towards the smaller monsters on boarback that held bows and arrows. Midna obliged and left my shadow to join them. She pulled the wind boomerang out of where she held her items, and tossed it to Zach, and he began to throw it at the smaller monsters, confusing them and throwing them from the boars' backs.
I rode off, toward the larger monster than now had Colin tied to a giant stick, held aloft on the boar's back. I urged Nyx forward, and got close enough to the monster to lash out with my sword, aiming for its armor straps. The pieces of armor came off one by one as I sliced it, it trying to lose me by switching directions after I would cut off a pauldron or its breastplate. Finally, it had its boar jump above a blockade of wood, and I followed, only to realize that I had followed it onto a bridge. A smaller monster from above shot the wooden blockade with a fiery arrow, and it caught on fire.
Luckily this horse was trained to trust its rider, or I would be in trouble. Those vicious tusks of the boars extended quite far from its mouth, and I knew that I would have to make Nyx dodge to the side to avoid getting skewered. This was an impromptu joust.
I urged my horse forwards, and the boar aligned itself with us on the opposite side of the bridge, and we both charged. Luckily, I knew that boars could move fast, but they were almost impossible to stop moving forwards and turn with, so a few seconds before we collided, I tugged the reigns, and Nyx dodged around the boar's tusks, and I lashed out with my sword arm, striking the large monster atop the boar. He looked dazed, and I could tell that one more hit and it would fall.
Once more We charged towards each other, the boar roaring with bloodlust, and once more I had Nyx dodge it's tusks, and slashed the monster across its face, leaving a deep gouge across its nose. It fell off the boar, falling into the canyon below us, and I quickly made to free Colin from the boar that was left, it seeming to have calmed down once it's master was knocked off of it.
Going back across the field, I picked Zach up, where he was cleaning the blood off of his sword, and Midna rejoined my shadow. We walked into town, and the rest of the kids crowded around, all talking about how cool we were and how they wanted to be stronger like us. Colin in particular mentioned how he wanted to be strong like us, not because we were strong, but because we were brave.
The kids told us of how the monsters were going to take Beth, but at the last moment Colin had pushed her away and let himself be taken. Zach and I were surprised that someone so young could be that fearless, and we encouraged him by saying that he did the right thing.
At some point, Colin passed out once more, and Renaldo brought him back into his house to treat him.