Chapter 6: Key

I was roaming mindlessly through bustling roads, in an attempt to sort out my thoughts. The sun was hanging in the sky, directly overhead. A couple of villager children, who were chasing colorful stray cats, passed me by. It made me feel a little better, seeing them have fun. With that distraction out of the way, I decided to sit by the stone well that was at the middle of the village. I passively acknowledged the gold bell that was hanging from the middle of its roof.

I took a glance at my reflection in my inventory. My eyes had bags under them, and my hair was unkempt. It was no mystery what had led to this disheveled appearance of mine. A few days had passed since I started defending Cornelia from the endless waves of the mobs. I didn't like to admit it, but things had gotten out of hand.

Initially, I was doing a pretty decent job at thwarting the monsters. The first couple nights were pretty similar to each other, with very few encounters that could be considered noteworthy. During that time, I'd spend most of my free time getting to know the town in more detail.

I learned how to use emeralds, as well as the ways of trading. To sum it up, any villager with a profession can engage in a trade, with emeralds being the main currency of said trades. Villagers can offer a variety of items, depending on their occupation. It took me a while to get the hang of this system, and in hindsight, that farmer I traded with the other day definitely tried to scam me.

That unpleasant memory aside, out of all the villagers I'd met, Johnathan was the only one I couldn't trade with. I'm not sure why, but it probably had something to do with their mayor position. What could they even offer in the first place?

Other than items – some more fairly priced than others, trading also grants a few experience orbs. With all the experience I had collected since the start of my adventure, through taking down mobs, mining ores, and trading, I was at around level 16. I still had no idea what that meant, though...

Although trading was a rather fun activity for the most part, I didn't gain anything too exceptional in terms of materials, other than some food and some minerals. Regardless, as the days – or nights, rather – progressed, I got bigger things to worry about than a few unfavorable deals; monsters would begin to appear increasingly more frequently. This became no more apparent than on the third night.

I had to take down at least a dozen zombies and it hadn't even been midnight yet! I was grateful my sword was enchanted with 'Unbreaking'. At some point on that night, the villager that had been monitoring me, pointed out a distant knocking sound. Something that sounded like knocking on wood. At their insistence, we followed it. Turns out, its source had been a zombie breaking down a door that belonged to a villager's house.

Horrified, my partner yelled out in an attempt to grab the undead's attention, while I dashed towards it. After I disposed of the threat, my supervisor explained that zombies are naturally bent on hunting villagers.

"Even worse, when one of us gets claimed by a zombie, they become infected, and the cycle continues! We end up having to fear someone who was once our own sibling!" they said with desperation.

"So, that's why Johnathan insisted on me keeping an eye out for zombies..." I concluded.

"Exactly!"

Additionally, I even had to face a new enemy over the course of the nights: spiders. In truth, they generally don't hit too hard, nor are they difficult to spot – their glowing red eyes and the nasty slurping sounds they make are a dead giveaway in the darkness. The thing about them is that they're faster than skeletons and zombies, and they can also climb walls. I learned that last one the hard way... To say I was caught off guard would be an understatement... One moment all was calm, and the other, a spider jumped down from a near rooftop and landed on me, startling me in the process. In any case, spiders amounted to just another obstacle, and not even the greatest one at that.

No, that title went to my lack of sleep – or to be precise – insufficient sleep. Johnathan had told me that I could sleep only after midnight, and only if no enemies were present. With their ever-increasing rate of appearance, it soon became clear that that wouldn't be an option. What this meant, was that the only opportunity I had for sleeping was at dawn. That was simply not enough. Not to mention, sometimes, when I arrived at the inn a little too late, I couldn't fall asleep. At all. I didn't know why. I even tried to block the windows and the door, but every time, if the sun was just a little above the horizon, I would just lie on my bed with my eyes wide open.

Anyway, without much sleep, I couldn't really give it my all. I felt sad for admitting this, but in reality, I simply couldn't cut it. There were plenty other times where either I, or another person, got in danger. Seeing this, I didn't have much of a choice, other than to voice my concerns to Johnathan, and so, I did.

Upon hearing the issue, Johnathan called 'The Council' for a meeting. 'The Council' was the unofficial, but more common name of Johnathan's, Sebastian's and Emily's group. The official name was 'The Order of the Stone', but few people seemed to actually call it that anymore. During the meeting, they made the decision to send someone capable enough to escort miss Rana and the iron golems back to Cornelia, thinking it would be best for the town and its residents in the long term.

Their plan at first was to send a wandering trader to the location they suspected the previous protectors would be, who would help them escape with potions if necessary. Unfortunately for them, the wandering traders they had were away on other expeditions. As a result, the honor fell on me.

According to them, they weren't too keen on the idea of Cornelia remaining defenseless in my absence, but I assured them that I'm willing to go through with the plan. To minimize the time I'd have to spend away, I was provided the fastest horse they had available. Emily, at Johnathan's suggestion, had given me a potion of healing, in case of an emergency. And that was it. I would head out at dawn tomorrow after a full night's sleep.

Apparently, the location I'd go to was east, at the edge of a forest filled with dark oak trees. There, was supposedly a base that belonged to an enemy tribe, that had been antagonizing the villagers for a long time. That was the tribe of the illagers.

According to the Council, the illagers were a savage and brute people, who only relied on violence to settle their disputes, in contrast to the villagers' pacifist nature. The illagers, who had access to weapons, would often try to raid Cornelia, but would get stomped every time by the town's golems.

To circumvent that, they decided to clear the way of those 'obstacles'. And now, it was my job to set things right.

'I'm not sure what I'll come up against there, but whatever it is, I hope I'll be ready to face it.'

The sun was setting. I walked towards my room and geared up, making sure to pack enough resources like iron, for backup. 'Hopefully that'll be enough. Time to rest...'

...

Somewhere, that night.

The sound of arrows colliding against iron, in conjunction with sharp breaths, and sinister grunts, echoed throughout the valley, and drowned out in the near forest.

...

*CLANG*

...

Silence, at last...