Walking to the center of town was not high on the list of things Leo wanted to do today. Especially after Markus' kidnapping was announced to the village. Yet here Leo was, walking toward the mass of people with mother and Maya because mother wanted to see what the commotion was. It was becoming evident that the villagers were not happy about recent events. Their loud voices make themselves present, with a few shouts of either objection or agreement.
The cloudy sky accurately reflected the mood of the villagers. While the clouds were not dark enough to indicate rain, they were clearly dark enough to agitate everyone. Yet the clouds kept rolling in, and without the wind present, the air became stagnant and humid. Not an environment that many could enjoy.
"We need walls and guards on watch! We can't risk anymore to these damn birds!" A male voice screamed out from the crowd.
"You just want to protect your own skin, the village can't afford the manpower to build or maintain anything like that." A woman called out in response.
The crowd began to open a hole in the center revealing the two individuals. The male in question had almost grey hair yet looked young. His body showed no signs of wrinkling and muscle was clearly present. The anger could not only be heard in his voice but seen by the veins threatening to pop out of his neck.
"I don't care about myself, I'm worried about the children that we keep losing. My son was taken from me not even a day ago, and you expect me to care about myself?"
Meanwhile, the woman continued to get in the man's face. Her dirty blond hair fell down to her middle back and swung side to side while she yelled at the man in front of her. The small woman appeared to be barely an adult but carried herself with a sense of pride that could very clearly be heard in her voice. Almost as if she believed herself superior to the man in front of her.
"Oh boo hoo, your son got kidnapped. Maybe you should have done a better job of hiding and protecting him like the rest of the village."
"You will never know the pain of losing your son because no men will be left to bed a woman like you! If we had protection we wouldn't have to worry about hiding anymore."
"Then why don't you start protecting the village, if you're so pent up why not do it yourself. The rest of the village is thriving without it."
"Thriving? We can barely produce enough food to feed ourselves. I used to be captain of the guard before I had to start working on the farm to provide for my own family."
"Captain of the guard" The woman laughed, "Then where are the rest of your men, your precious guard."
"The damn harpies took them, like they took the rest of the men in this village. Because people like you are more interested in your bees than picking up a bow and fighting for your damn home!"
Leo was getting frustrated. This argument was continuing, and it showed no clear sign of stopping. Nothing was being gained and everything was being lost. The villagers were beginning to take sides, walking behind their respective parties to show support and cheering in agreement to their points. The last thing this village needed was a full-blown riot. The already short-staffed farmers could not take any more losses, any more hits to their production.
If everything kept going the way that it was headed, this village would be in flames before noon arrived. He wanted to intervene, he felt like he needed to intervene. However, Leo knew that any hostile action would result in a fight breaking out. Someone pulls a knife, someone throws a rock, and the entire village burns.
Being lost in thought, Leo failed to notice Maya picking up rocks at her feet. She reeled her arms back and threw them at the crowd.
"Maya don't!" Leo called out, drawing the attention of his mother to the two of them. Who quickly responded by pulling the twins closer to her. Maya's handful of rocks falling to the ground in the process.
However, it was too late for Leo, the rock sailed through the air and nailed the woman in the head. Causing her to recoil and immediately charge the other group with fists raised. The woman's charge encouraged the others in her group to follow.
The fight had only just started but screams of agony could already be heard. The village center descended into a brawl. Fists were thrown at each other, clothes were torn, and it was hard to tell when it would escalate further. It was only a matter of time before someone was knocked unconscious or even killed in this frenzy.
Leo ran closer to the fight, "Stop th-" only to be immediately pulled back by his mother.
The glare she had when he looked up at her was terrifying. It was so cold it gave him shivers and when Leo looked over at Maya she shivered in place. The flat look on mother's face as she watched the fight. Not rooting for either side but rather watching intently. Almost like she was studying the crowd.
"Enough of this!" His mother's voice boomed and the crowd grew silent, all focusing their attention on his mother. If the mountains in the distance were close enough her voice would have echoed time and time again. Instead, Leo and Maya were left shaking in place.
"Do you expect fighting to solve our problems? Do you expect ignorance to be our solution? How about you all stop bickering like children and start actually working towards a solution."
The grey-haired man, with blood streaking down his face, pushed his way out of the crowd to face mother. "Fighting is our solution Anna. The only way we're going to survive is if we kill the harpies when we have the chance. You weren't able to do anything to protect Markus, were you?"
Mother's expression and tone never wavered. She kept her stoic expression towards the man, "I was able to kill two and injure one to protect my own family while the rest of you ran to hide. My family is safe because I don't run away."
"You expect the untrained farmers to fight monsters at least three times their strength? We weren't all adventures like you and Adrian, but wait." His expression morphed into a sinister smile, "Not even good ol Adrian could fight back against the harpies!"
The crowd released a burst of mild laughter at the mention of Adrian. Leo could not place the name, but he could only guess that Adrian was close to mother and potentially his father. Mother had never spoken of him before nor had she taken the twins to see a grave.
Despite the laughter, Anna did not back down, "We tried to train you all when we were in our prime. When there was a chance to push the harpies back further than you all could have imagined. But you got complacent Theodore, all of you became complacent from our protection. Adrian threw down his life for this village and all you can do is mock him."
"We would have been perfectly fine without you and Adrian bringing in trouble, that's all you adventurers do. You bring in danger, you brought the harpies on us en mass."
The crowd started to shift their attention more toward mother, with their attention, however, came their anger. The shouting from before continued but instead of it being directed toward the other villagers, it was directed toward mother.
Mother grabbed our hands lightly and turned around, she looked back at us and smiled warmly, "Let's go work on the farm, how does that sound?"
The two twins nodded in agreement, Maya whispering a quiet 'okay.' Leaving the crowd to turn on itself.
The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, mother clearly tried to keep Leo and Maya away from the confrontation this morning. In order to do this, they continued plowing the farm and scattering seeds along the way. Despite the clear distraction from recent events, Maya kept looking up towards the horizon, watching for something to fly over the tree tops.
Harpies, a fairy tale brought to life, a thought that still ravaged Leo's mind. It was likely the same for Maya considering her constant glances to the sky. Yet despite all that happened he could not help but wonder what life was like for the harpies.
Surely they had their own civilization or tribe, considering that they were a constant threat to the village. Yet the thought of nomads came to mind, maybe the harpies were a migrating civilization similar to birds that came by when the time and climate were right? There had not been an attack in years from what he was aware. Maybe that was the reason for the massive outburst this time around.
No, that would not make sense, mother mentioned pushing the harpies back. So they must have a central gathering location, somewhere to keep the kidnapped kids and their own children. The victims would have run away at their first chance if they were not kept under lock and key.
Leo needed to know more but he could not bring himself to ask anyone. He could not risk his own life or even an inquisition by the church. Information on the harpies was critical, but if a four-year-old kept asking around people would get suspicious. If this world was anything like the church from medieval times then anything out of the ordinary would put his life at risk, potentially more than the harpies would.
He had no idea what the harpies did to the males that they kidnapped and he could only hope it would not be worse than killing for sport. It would make more sense for the adult males, people who already had muscle and were somewhat able to fight. However, that does not include the kids or the reason it was only men taken.
Leo's face paled when he remembered the tenant in their faith, the one that confused him so much earlier, 'thou shall not have intercourse with monsters'. His stomach threatened to turn itself over and caused him to stumble in the process.
'No, that's disgusting,' he thought to himself.
Forcing children to have sex, was revolting in every sense of the word. These monsters were violating them and what did they have to gain from it, essentially nothing. They were not even the same species! Breeding would not be possible yet they still did it.
That could not be the only reason for taking males, the harpies on the farm were all female. So it was entirely possible that they were female dominant society and the male harpies were typically sickly. But that still leaves out servicing the male harpies, if sex and pleasure were their main reason, why were the females excluded.
"-o" a voice sounded.
Maybe they groomed the kids to be househusbands and caregivers while giving them time for Stockholm syndrome to kick in. That would make sense from a rev-
"-eo"
The next thing Leo saw was Maya standing in front of him shaking him.
"Leo!"
He blinked his brown eyes several times and refocused on his sister, "I'm here Maya, I'm here."
She had a worried look in her eyes, "Are you okay Leo?"
"Yea I'm okay, I was just watching you throw the seeds and got a little tired."
She smiled, "Well, I put my seeds down let's put yours down."
Leo started dropping the seeds, making sure to note that mother was watching him with brows raised, showing some concern. He knew he messed up, getting lost in thought. He needed to stay low, any unnecessary attention to himself could get him killed. The last thing he needed was his mother sending him to a priest for demonic possession.
He always thought he was more reserved and hid it well, but the past few days made him question how well he had actually been hiding the idea that he's not who everyone might think he is.
Sooner than before Leo had run out of seeds. He called out to mother and they went to get more and continue planting, getting much more done compared to yesterday.
The day came to an end with the sunset and mother bringing them to bed.
"Goodnight you two, love you." mother whispered to the two of them while they lay in bed.
"Love you, Goodnight." The twins echoed.
Maya was fast to fall asleep, rolling over and almost instantly passing out. It was how Maya worked, if she wanted to sleep, she'd be asleep before you could say her name. When she did not want to sleep, you'll have to knock her out yourself to get her to settle down enough.
Leo on the other hand typically had trouble getting his rest. He felt his reasonings were understandable, being forced into a world not his own. Yet at the same time, it had been four years and he still could not get over that fact. He understood that everything took time and that he could at least come to terms with the situation eventually. Leo just thought he would have adjusted more than he had.
He laid in bed for around twenty more minutes before he decided to get out and walk. Nothing he could do would put him to sleep, he had too much on his mind, too much he needed to do, and no ability to get it done.
The boy opened the door and walked out into the main room of the house, only to find a candle still lit, illuminating the kitchen. Sitting at the table with a book in her hands was his mother, with small tears in her eye.
She noticed him the second the door opened, while it did not creak the movement was enough to set her off.
"Leo," She called warmly, trying to disguise the tears in her eyes, "What are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep." He called back quietly.
Mother got up and walked over to him, "Come over here, you can sit with me for a bit."
He nodded his head and she picked him up in response, bringing him over to the chair where she was sitting.
"What are you reading?" Leo asked, pointing to the book. It was hard not to notice, especially considering that it was the first book he had seen in his time here.
"This is my diary, it has memories of my time with Adr-" She paused, "Your dad, before you two came along."
So that's who Adrian was, his father. It made more sense now that he thought about it, why else would the villagers target both mother and Adrian. They adventured together so he could understand them becoming emotionally attached.
"What was dad like?" He asked. It was a simple question, one he would expect a child to ask about someone they have not met.
Mother smiled at the mention of her husband, "He was always looking out for everyone. Always made sure we were alright before continuing on with our adventure. Your dad was so focused on making the world right. It's why he started traveling, to change what he could when he could."
She sighed with a longing look on her face, "At first he wouldn't hurt anyone, absolutely refused to, always thinking there was another way to approach the monsters. We thought he had a soft spot for the monsters but it turned out he just hated to see people get hurt."
Leo looked at her and tilted his head in confusion, "He didn't want to hurt the harpies?"
"It was all monsters, harpies, elves, slimes, and so on. Every time we got out of fighting one he would always be down and gloomy. It wasn't until we came across a bandit camp where we realized it wasn't just monsters he didn't want to hurt."
Leo became more interested at the mention of bandits. He was not aware there were any in the area. Considering the lack of protection that the village had it should have been raided time and time again by bandits, but nothing of the sort had happened. Yet, mother mentioning them must mean they are prevalent elsewhere.
"We found that bandits were raiding villages around Grand Noah and went to check it out. The next thing we knew there was a camp of around thirty bandits in front of us and they were not happy. It was just me, your dad, and Lydia, facing outnumbering odds."
His eyes widened at the mention of Lydia, so she was also an adventurer with mother. It all started to connect, why the two of them were isolated. If the situation this morning was any indication of the way the village treats outsiders. They must have decided to settle down here and start families when their adventures were done but were cast out by the village.
"Lydia's armor was enchanted by some mages in Grangold, made it much more resistant to the constant barrage of arrows coming our way. I couldn't count the number of times we stood behind her and her shield.
"She protected your dad while he took time to cast a massive fireball to break through the bandits. It kept growing in size before he eventually launched it at them, giving us time to go in and bring the bandits to justice."
"It wasn't until afterward that we noticed your dad crying for the first time in a while. He really felt bad about what he did to the bandits and we didn't have time to think of another approach before they saw us."
"It was then we finally realized that he couldn't bear to see anyone hurt, yet he kept pushing forwards. He wanted to make the world a safer place for the children, so they wouldn't have to live their lives on the run."
Just watching mother talk about father was heartbreaking to him. He could tell she was still struck with grief, having to live every day without the man she had grown to love. Not to mention being constantly reminded of him by seeing Leo and Maya. Perhaps that was a good thing though, allowing her to never forget him. Maybe it gave her purpose, to see us grow up and be responsible adults with our own families.
Leo simply wrapped his arms around her, he had to cheer her up somehow, "He sounds really cool, I'll be sure to make you both proud," He looked up into her hazel eyes, "Thank you for telling me about him."
Mother stroked his hair and smiled brightly back at him, "I'll tell you and Maya more stories about him later, okay?"
Leo nodded his head, the more he could figure out about his family the more he could figure out what mother could actually do. It was evident to him that she was still hiding things from him and Maya, maybe it was because they were so young, maybe it was for other reasons. He just had to keep poking to find out.
She picked him up and blew out the remaining candles before towards his bedroom, "Now how about you get some sleep, another big day on the farm tomorrow."
He allowed himself to be tucked in again before mother walked out and closed the door behind her.
This certainly was an interesting development. Both mother and father were adventurers and Lydia was with them. However that was not what caught most of his attention at the moment, while the past was good to know, it was also the past.
Magic was real and prevalent. Casting fireballs, enchanting armor, the list could go so far beyond that. Plus his father was a mage by the sounds of it, so if anything he had learned in TV and anime lore was correct then magic was either universal or linked by heritage. If it was universal then he was fine, he would just have to learn it.
However, if heritage allowed him to use magic then that would make him much more valuable than he thought. It was a chance that he could not pass up on. Magic, of all things, would allow him to delve deeper into understanding why he was brought here.
Finally, something that Leo could work with. He was constantly isolated from most of the village thanks to his mother being an 'outsider' and was never able to fully eavesdrop on conversations. Instead, he was sheltered from any information that he could potentially hear about.
Leo could only imagine the work it would take to learn magic, let alone understand how it affects the world around him. This wasn't technology where if you could hold it, you could use it, it was something that was unique to a specific group of people. Typically the educated and religious people, which he was, unfortunately, neither.
The next day came faster than he expected. Maya was up before Leo and made sure to shake him awake the second the sun started to rise. She was much more of a morning person than Leo ever was, in both lives.
"Leo come on~" she whined in a sing-song voice, "Let's go check out the forest, I saw a fox yesterday I wanna see if she's still there."
"Alright, alright, I'm coming Maya."
Leo always felt that he could let his guard down around Maya, something about their twin connection made him think she would never be out to get him. Even if he seemed off.
It was nice when mother just let them explore, not bound by any rules, and let the two of them be kids. If only she allowed them to explore within the village, running around with the other village kids would help Leo understand the culture more, plus it would let Maya socialize with people that were not him.
The two made their way out to the sign that read 'Happiness Village' and walked towards the plentiful trees that surrounded the village. The trees were far enough apart to run around but did not give the impression that it was a few lone trees. The ever-present canopy was great for showing that it was still, in fact, a forest.
Before Leo could say anything Maya was already running out into the trees.
"Foxy, Foxy!" She called, "Come out Foxy."
"Maya if you keep calling it I think you're going to scare it."
She jumped around and pouted at him, "Foxy wouldn't run from me, she was watching me not running away from me."
He laughed, "Sure, let's go look for Foxy."
The two walked the edge of the forest, Leo made sure to keep an eye on the village so they did not wander too far and get lost. They never knew when the harpies would come back, and it was always better to be careful than not.
Maya touched everything, essentially bouncing off of the trees while Leo followed the path that she made.
"What did Foxy look like?" Leo asked, trying not to get hit by the branches that Maya pushed his way.
"She had black fur and pointy orange ears! You can't miss her."
"Black fur?" Leo spoke to himself, he did not think foxes could have black fur, but if Maya said it did, the fox probably did. Although, it might not be a fox at that point.
Maya kept going further and further ahead of Leo, to the point where she was starting to get out of his sight.
"Maya slow down! We're supposed to be looking together, you're leaving me in the dust." Leo called out.
He saw her turn around to face his direction, "Then catch me!" She giggled and ran off again.
Leo sighed loud enough to where he hoped Maya could hear him. Her continued laughter made him think she indeed heard him and chose to keep running.
After around five minutes of Leo chasing Maya around the forest edge, he finally heard her stop.
"Maya, you okay?" He called out, concern evident in his voice.
Leo saw her put her hand up in the air with her palm facing him, telling him to stop or be quiet. Followed immediately by a loud 'shhh' noise.
Slowing his approach, he made his presence known that he was behind her. Placing his hand on her shoulder. Her response was to point off to their right.
Munching on a few berries there Foxy was. The black-furred fox was standing about ten meters away. Its orange ears moved in both directions almost like a fan turning to cover the entire area. However, the orange did not stop at her ears, it ran a little down her neck and was spotty around her the base of her tail.
The more Leo watched Foxy the more he stared in amazement, she was a fox with black fur. He had always assumed that they only came in shades of white or orange, snow foxes and normal foxes in his eyes. Alas, it was something he should have expected, not every creature is the same and he had no idea what else was out there in this world.
"It's eating berries," Maya whispered.
When Maya spoke Foxy immediately turned both its ears towards us, clearly having heard her. Leo wanted to speak but the sudden turn of its ears had him worried, he had no idea what else was nearby or if Foxy had friends around.
His sister did not have the same level of caution and proceeded to speak again, "She looks like she's enjoying it."
Foxy jolted her head up, still chewing on the berry in her mouth, looking directly at the two of them.
"Leo she's looking at us!" She whispered excitedly.
Leo on the other hand was about to lose his mind and immediately put his hand over his sister's mouth. Foxy watching them put him on edge, he did not want to scare her away and he definitely did not want her to attack them. He knew some dogs were territorial when it came to food, he had no idea if foxes were similar.
Maya's muffled complaints could be heard from behind Leo's hands, she would have to deal with it for now.
Leo tried to keep the two of them still and unmoving but the Foxy did not care, she just chewed and watched them until she was finished. When she finished with her current berry slowly turned around to pick up another, keeping her ears focused on the two of them.
Foxy turned around with a mouthful of berries which Leo expected. What Leo did not expect was for her to start walking toward them. It scared the hell out of Leo, almost to the point where he was shaking.
Slowly he let go of Maya's mouth and she reached back to grab his hand. She squeezed it tight, while Leo was unsure if it was intended to comfort him or herself. Regardless it put the two of them at ease, at least partially.
Foxy dropped a mouthful of bright red berries directly in front of the two of them then briefly tapped her paw next to them. She then slowly backed up and laid down facing the two of them, with her tail moving slightly back and forth.
Leo was in disbelief, the fox, who they had just met was trying to feed them. Almost like it understood Maya's comment about the berries. Still, he refused to move unsure of what the fox had in mind. He was not about to fight a fox with his weak body, there was no way he could ever get her jaw off his arm or throat if she attacked.
Maya once again did not share his concern and spoke directly to the black fox before them, "Are these for us Foxy?"
Almost in response, the fox's tail started to sway back and forth faster.
His twin grinned and reached out for the berries, "Thank you Foxy!"
However, before Maya could grab any of the berries Leo quickly grabbed her hand.
"Maya don't, we don't know if they're poisonous to humans or not. I can't see you die from this." Leo stated with wide eyes.
She pulled her arm forward and shook his hand off of her, "I'll be okay Leo, Foxy ate them so we can as well. She's not trying to hurt us."
He tried to pull her arm back again but was pushed back by his sister.
"Some animals can eat things that we can't. Berries are one of those things, and I don't want to test that now!"
Leo tried to pull his sister back again, but before he could get close Maya had already put a few in her mouth. While he was not paying attention to the fox she had walked around Maya and was looking at him. Tilting her head slightly in response to his statements.
Foxy dug her claws into the ground kicking some dirt back behind her. Next thing Leo knew the fox was walking towards him. Each step the fox took the louder Leo's heartbeat became. Eventually, the fox stopped directly in front of Leo, before taking the moment to climb onto his legs and lie down facing Maya.
Leo was petrified, if the situation did not make sense before, it certainly made even less sense now. A wild fox was currently laying on his lap. If this was his past life he would be ecstatic, he loved animals and frankly still does. However, it was not the animals that scared him, but rather the world around him especially since he was not strong enough to help himself.
Maya on the other hand was pouting again while savoring the berries that Foxy had given them. "This isn't fair! I saw Foxy first and she lays with you."
She reached over to pet Foxy and the fox complied. This fox was almost like a domesticated animal craving attention.
He had no idea what to say and simply sat still. The Fox was showing him something, trying her hardest to show him that she was friendly. It was unbelievable to him, yet at the same time, it was happening.
She gave them food almost like she was feeding her young. Treating them like the children they were, trying to take care of them. Sitting on his lap and essentially protecting him.
After a few moments, Leo caved and started to lightly pet the fox's back. Her black fur was exceptionally soft, much softer than any blanket he had and much softer than any other animal he had pet before.
Stroking her fur calmed him much more than he expected, it was bliss. All his negative thoughts left his mind and he was left with the soft fur against his skin and the cold grass on his feet. Leo looked around for the first time in a while, trying to admire the scenery.
"I guess you were right Maya, Foxy isn't trying to hurt us. She's protecting us like mom would."
"I told you." Maya put her face right in front of Foxy, "She's so fluffy it feels so nice."
"We can agree on that one." He sighed.
His gaze kept wandering upwards towards the canopy, the tree leaves swaying in the light wind. He always needed to be on the lookout for harpies, despite how calm he felt right now, there were some fears that he could not get rid of so easily.
Looking at the fox in his lap he chuckled, guess not everything is out to get us. Foxy even cleaned her paws in the dirt before walking onto his lap, how courteous of her. His gaze drifted down toward the spot in the grass where she cleaned her paws.
The lines her claws made were clear, furrows in the ground almost like trenches with how deep they went, all done at the same time. While it was only the topsoil it was still a decent amount of dirt to move with such a sharp edge.
Wait, that's it! He looked at the trenches again and envisioned the farm back home. He could see the even lines that mother made in the ground. She tried to be as even as possible to make the field look nice, and with that organization came some level of efficiency.
If he could lay down the seeds and plow the land evenly, all at the same time, it would save them precious time. He would just need an ox or two to pull the plow. But maybe he could make something to put the seeds down evenly and all at once, which would give them more time to focus on getting the dirt ready.
Not to mention they would be able to quickly replant after the first harvest of the year if they did not need to replow the field. This was it, Leo finally had an idea that he could work with, something that he could make, something to put him and his family on the map.
Maybe when this was all over he would be able to see what else the village had in store, instead of cowering in fear away from the mob.