Chapter 5: Night Watch

Part 2: Nighttime

The sun was setting. The sky was cast in a spectrum of colors, ranging from a dark, calming blue, to a bright, energetic yellow. A faint handful of stars was already beginning to dot the sky. When I arrived at the blacksmith's shop, Johnathan and the blacksmith themself were already there, waiting for me. I hoped I wasn't late.

"Alright, Steve, this is it! I just want to thank you again for your willingness to help us in these trying times."

"That's alright, Johnathan. It's not a big deal."

"You shouldn't downplay your kindness! No matter what happens tonight or the few nights after, the community of Cornelia is indebted to you. Now, before you start, there are a few things that need to be done. Gordon?"

"Ya got it, Johnny."

The blacksmith, who was named Gordon, approached me and handed me a shiny iron sword that had a peculiar glow to it. It almost reminded me of the glowing book I had found in that spawner room.

"This is the complimentary weapon you're gonna be usin'. It's an improvement over yer dinky stone one. It's enchanted with 'Unbreaking' for durability and 'Smite' for the undead. In other words, it's pretty darn decent."

Checking the sword in my inventory revealed that it had an attack stat of 7, higher than my previous sword by one point. I assumed the most substantial difference between stone and iron lied in their durability. Then again, if the attack stat displayed didn't include the enchantments, it would turn out to be even stronger.

"Thank you."

"Excellent!" Johnathan spoke up.

"Now that that's out of the way, it's time to get into the specifics of your shifts. You'll be out, patrolling the surrounding area of the town from sunset to sunrise, slaying hostile mobs when you see them. Gordon will be monitoring you tonight. A different person will stay up with you each night to help you - as well as to make sure you don't snooze off," they added with a light chuckle.

"If for whatever reason you feel the need to go to bed, you can do so, only after midnight. Additionally, you must give the person monitoring you a heads up, as well as make sure that there are no monsters in the immediate area. Your reward will be given to you in the mornings. Do you have any questions?"

"I don't think so. I believe I can handle this."

"Great! Well, I'll be off then. Oh! I almost forgot! Be very mindful of zombies. They are one of our biggest threats. Alright?"

"Alright."

"Okay. Goodnight and good luck!" they said and left me and Gordon alone. By the time Johnathan had left, only a few embers of sunlight remained. With a sword and shield in hand, I turned to face Gordon. They nodded with determination in response.

At first, we began our rounds in silence. There weren't too many hostile mobs to take care of at the moment. The occasional skeleton or zombie couldn't take more than two swings of this sword. I got a feel for the power of the enchantment, as the blade would shoot off bright sparks whenever it would come into contact with the threats. That being said, I remembered what happened the last time I got complacent around mobs, so I kept my guard up.

We were currently located in the eastmost section of the town, since that was its darkest spot. Mobs had a general affinity towards shady places, which was something I needed to take care of. I swiftly brought up the crafting grid, crafted a few torches – which were blocky, like everything else in this world - and proceeded to place one down on the grass.

After a mildly eventful encounter with three zombies, I shifted my gaze towards Gordon. They seemed a bit surprised, but I couldn't tell by what. They hadn't been saying much the whole time. In an attempt to break the ice, I cleared my throat and started speaking.

"So...things have been going smoothly so far, right?

"I s'pose. It's strange though. Mobs tend to spawn more frequently as the night goes on. Wonder why..."

"..."

Silence once again took hold of the atmosphere. After a few moments of pondering while circling the town, I decided it would be a good idea to try and get some answers.

"Cornelia seems like a nice place so far," I start off.

"Guess so. Normally, it's a little boring, but if ya're askin' me, these last few weeks have been too much t' take in. 'least Johnathan knows how to handle sticky situations."

That was as good a conversation starter as any.

"Speaking of whom, what's Johnathan position in this town anyway? They seem pretty well respected."

"They're the mayor. One of the three authority figures of the town, along with Sebastian the librarian, 'n Emily the cleric."

While the blacksmith was talking, we continued patrolling. I was placing down torches near particularly dark spots, hoping the light they emitted would prevent the mobs from spawning, at least even a little.

"I met Sebastian just today," I replied. "They seemed...nice...I haven't met Emily yet though." I chose not to go into detail about how my exchange with Sebastian actually went. Gordon let out a short, deep chuckle.

"'Nice' is quite the description. Lemme guess; did they look at you with a face that screamed: 'I'd rather be literally anywhere else'?"

"...Yeah."

"Hah! Don't worry; they're like that with everyone. As for Emily, I'm not surprised ya didn't see 'em; poor thing."

A zombie wearing an iron helmet appeared before us. With a single jumping slash, I managed to take it down despite its armor.

"Why? What happened to them?"

"They secluded themself in the church ever since their sister was banished for witchcraft. They tried to advocate for her, but in the end, there wasn't much they could do..."

"That's saddening," I replied.

"Personally, I agree, but ya can't do much 'bout witches; they're too unpredictable. I just kinda wish Emily'd talk more, though."

So, even though these beings weren't quite human, and probably didn't multiply in the same way, they could still have siblings? Odd... As another skeleton was reduced to bones and experience orbs, I was reminded of the reason I was doing this in the first place, as well as of other questions that were floating in my head.

"Hey, Gordon? What happened to the previous protectors?"

"Ah, yes. The iron golems. Ya see, they're incredibly powerful movin' statues with an iron exterior, and a heart of gold. We were lucky to have two of 'em," Gordon said with a smile.

"Thing is, they vanished almost a week ago, with the only clue being a banner of a rival race. So, miss Rana took it upon herself to bring our golems back safely. For a while, we were left without defenses, 'til you showed up! And judgin' by how well ya're able to clean up zombies and skeletons, we may be safe for a while."

I nodded at the compliment, before deciding to push the subject.

"Could you tell me more about Rana? I've heard the name around, but I don't know who they are."

"Heh. An odd one, she is. She's been a citizen for a short time. Took her a while to open up tah anybody. When she did, we learned that she was a real sweetheart. A good fighter, too. Oh, she even suggested the name 'Cornelia' for our town! We had no need for a name, but it felt fitting, anyway. Even Sebastian seemed to agree with that..."

"She sounds nice," I respond simply.

"Ya bet. She hasn't returned yet, but I'm not too worried. I bet she'll be back in a couple days."

"Alright."

There wasn't much left to say, but the silence was peaceful this time, rather than awkward. We were currently located between two houses at the town's eastmost borders. It was past midnight, yet the mobs we encountered were relatively sparse.

Until...

Rustling sounds emanated from the distance. A shadowy figure emerged from the tall grass. Its silhouette was different from anything else I had seen up until that point. I set down a torch in front of us and cautiously raised my shield.

As it finally reached a distance where we could make out its appearance, I felt dread by what I made out. Not only was this creature something I had never encountered before; it also looked completely different. It was not like a zombie, or a skeleton, or a villager, or even an animal at all! In fact, it appeared to be some kind of plant creature.

It had four, stubby legs, and three black sockets that were shaped like a frowning mouth, and a pair of eyes. Agony and anguish were painted on its face. The rest of its body looked like it was comprised of various types of vegetation, like leaves, ferns, and grass, of multiple shades of green.

"Umm, Gordon? What is that?"

"Hmm? That's a creeper. Don't be such a scaredy cat; they may look a little weird, but these guys are docile."

Gordon sounded dismissive about it. Even so, when my eyes locked with that thing's dead-black eye sockets, my apprehension grew. It was walking around, almost idly before, but now, it marched right at us. Almost like a monster.

"Are you sure this thing is docile?"

"Positive, I tell ya."

"Then, why is it homing in on us?"

"I dunno. Maybe it wants a hug. Why don't we go a little closer?" they said half-jokingly.

Shield raised, Gordon and I approached the grassy creature. As we did, it began to shake. The closer we got, the more violent its shaking became. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Gordon's expression change into one of curiosity. Soon enough, the creeper started hissing.

"Ssssssss..."

…

*BOOOOOOM!*

Before I could process what happened, I realized I was sent flying. I landed a few blocks back. I could hear faint ringing in my ears, as well as a grunt of pain coming from my supervisor.

"Are you alright?"

"Ugh...I think so. The hell just happened? I've never seen a creeper do something like that."

After getting back on our feet, we saw that a crater was located where we'd been standing. Lots of tiny dirt blocks were floating in it, and the creeper was nowhere to be found. Did that thing just explode?

Taking a glance at my health bar, I saw that I had only lost a single heart, and that was from my little flight. My shield had taken the brunt of the explosion and broke. It served its purpose well enough. I returned to Gordon.

"Are you hurt? I have some pork to give you if you need," I said to them.

"Thanks..." they replied as they took the porkchop I offered.

As we were about to continue our patrol, we were greeted by Johnathan.

"Good morning, Gordon, Steve," they said smiling. "The first rays of the sun have shone! This marks the end of your first night. How did things go?"

"It went alright, Johnny. Steve, here, managed to defeat all the enemies we faced with ease," Gordon replied with an uneasy smile. They showed a few pieces of rotten flesh to the mayor as proof.

"Excellent! Here is your reward as promised, sir."

Johnathan pulled out a small, shiny green gem from their pocket and handed it to me. "It's one emerald."

Checking the recipe book revealed that, unlike all previous ores I had encountered, emeralds were not used in any crafting recipes, other than emerald blocks.

"..."

"Is everything alright, Steve?"

"Yeah, it's just that...what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Emeralds are our currency. You can use it in trades."

"..."

"You seem tired, sir. Why don't you go rest? The sun hasn't fully dawned yet, so it might still be easy for you to get some shut-eye."

"Alright... Thank you, Johnathan, and you too, Gordon. I'll see you guys later."

And with that, I headed towards the inn.

-Meanwhile-

"Johnny..." the blacksmith spoke up. They were still shaken up by what had just transpired, which made their words sound a little shaky.

"Hmm? Gordon? What's the matter?"

"There's something I need to tell ya..."

"What is it?" The mayor felt a little weirded out by their subject's sudden shift in attitude. They behaved normally until that point.

"A creeper blew up."

...