Chapter 189: Resolve (Part One)
“Hey, Little Shay, it was you who told me to rush back to the village overnight, and as soon as there was a situation, to tell everyone to hide in the back mountains. How could you forget something so big?”
In a shabby thatched hut nestled in a valley not far from the western part of the village, a young man named Ryan squatted down with his pant legs rolled up. He poked at the campfire with a stick to boil some water while casually talking to the silent young woman sitting next to the fire.
“As soon as you told me that night, I came back right away, didn’t sleep a wink, climbed a tree at the village entrance to keep watch. Before long, there seemed to be a fire over there. The explosion sounded huge—like thunder! I almost fell out of the tree, felt something was off, and hurried back to fetch people!”
The iron pot on the fire was bubbling away. Ryan put down the stick, lifted the lid, and once the steam cleared, turned around to grab a wooden cup from the table. He filled it half full with hot water, smiled, and handed it to the girl: “Here, have some water.”
He quickly realized something, his dark skin reddened, and he hurriedly explained, “The cup—it’s mine, but I washed it by the creek this morning. I haven’t used it since; it’s clean!”
While he was talking, the girl had already taken the cup from his hand, cradling it in her small hands, blowing on it before taking a sip.
“Careful, it’s hot.”
Ryan couldn’t help but warn her, his smile a little nervous.
He sat down on a low stool, watching the girl quietly drink. She had hastily washed her face by the stream, and her bangs were still damp, sticking softly to her forehead. Her delicate, pink lips rested on the cup’s edge, cheeks puffed as she blew on the water, and her eyelashes fluttered occasionally, her eyes still slightly puffy from crying.
Her skin was too delicate; even though she had already stopped crying, the redness hadn’t fully faded, and Ryan could hardly keep his heart from racing at her pitiful appearance. He swallowed hard, feeling embarrassed to look at her for too long, and awkwardly turned his gaze away, rubbing his hands together. After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat and picked up the previous topic.
“Ahem, so that night, I went door to door, telling everyone that the village might be in danger and to hide in the back mountains.”
He couldn’t resist glancing at the girl again.
“At first, they didn’t believe me and wouldn’t listen. Many didn’t see the flames; they just heard the noise and thought it wasn’t a big deal—no need to panic. I had no choice but to bring up Grandma Claire, waving the handkerchief you gave me. As soon as they heard it was from you, Little Shay, their eyes practically popped out, and they believed me immediately!”
“We ended up leaving in a hurry, so we didn’t grab a lot of things—like warm clothes, sleeping bags, tents, animal traps, cutting knives, and canned food. Someone even mentioned they wanted a can of mackerel, and there wasn’t enough firewood. Luckily, Jim and the others came back to the village today, planning to grab some supplies and check the situation. I didn’t expect to run into you here…”
As he went on, Ryan realized he was getting a bit long-winded and was basically just filling silence with words.
In reality, he wanted to impress the girl since he often came off as carefree and had left a bad impression on the villagers. That night, making them believe him was pretty tough. Like that time he banged on the door of the hot-tempered hunter from the west side of the village, only to interrupt them while they were in the middle of their own nighttime activities. He got chased from the west to the north of the village, and no amount of explaining helped—if it hadn’t been for Grandma Claire showing up just in time, he would’ve received quite the thrashing.
However, all this was something he could share with others, but not in front of Little Shay. In his heart, a girl as pure and lovely as her couldn’t possibly understand the whole “nighttime activities” concept.
Furthermore, given her current distracted and heavy-hearted demeanor, she probably didn’t have the mind to listen to him.
But he couldn’t just say nothing; otherwise, he’d feel even more awkward.
After a brief silence, he awkwardly asked, “Well, Grandma Claire will be here soon. Just sit tight. Are you hungry? Want something to eat?”
The girl shook her head gently, took another sip of water, and stared blankly at the ground.
With the conversation apparently done, Ryan went back to vigorously rubbing his hands as if they had an unresolved feud.
Then after a little while, Little Shay suddenly looked up, as if finally processing what he had just said: “Where’s Grandma…? I’ll go find her.”
“No need! Just sit here and rest a bit.”
Her gaze made Ryan feel a little anxious again. He dared not look into those star-like eyes, scratching his face and turning away to peek outside: “Earlier in the morning, she said she wanted to stretch her legs and take a stroll in the hills; even the village seamstress went with her. You know how Grandma can’t sit still; I’m not even sure where she wandered off to. My dad and Jim have gone to look for her, and they should be back soon.”
Little Shay’s response was a muted “Oh,” and she lowered her head again, placing the cup down, falling into another silence.
Ryan couldn’t help but sneak glances at her.
Actually, although he wouldn’t say he and Little Shay were incredibly close, they were familiar enough. In the year they spent in the village, many things happened that would make people either laugh or cry, including that time he got her drunk. But then Ryan realized he liked her and learned about her heroic identity, things changed, and it wasn’t as easygoing anymore. There was no need to feel so tense since she was still Little Shay.
What truly made Ryan uneasy now was the striking, awe-inspiring armor she was wearing.
Or rather, it was the heroic aura she emanated now in that armor that contradicted his memories of her as a delicate girl. This new version of Little Shay created a gap in Ryan’s heart, overwhelming him with confusion about how to communicate with her, making him fumble around nervously.
Although Little Shay didn’t look pristine, her hair was fixed, but there were still hints of dust, remnants of dirt clinging to her.
And she had just been crying.
But Ryan could still feel that weight of pressure.
He knew very well that Little Shay had gone through a battle before coming back here—a battle that not only he felt, but everyone in the village did.
That battle might have had hardships they couldn’t possibly imagine; the enemy must have been terrifying, likely a chilling demon. The outcome wasn’t necessarily smooth, given the tattered appearance of Little Shay’s clothes, which looked like they had been singed by fire, and the twisted, deformed black scythe that leaned in the corner, not to mention the sounds from that night. All these clues led Ryan to conclude that something very bad had happened.
Because Little Shay had cried.
This was the first time he had ever seen her cry.
Though he didn’t know exactly what had happened, Little Shay had indeed cried. Ryan recalled his past bullying of her just to see her cry; now that he had witnessed it, it was soft and pitiful, but he didn’t feel happy about it. He wanted to see her frustrated, yes, but not genuinely sad.
“Little Shay, are you… really okay?”
Ryan couldn’t help but ask again. He had already asked once before, but outside of that, he didn’t know what else to do to help Little Shay feel better, to distract her from those distressing, unknown events.
“I’m fine.”
The girl gently shook her head.
“Are you sure? You… you’re not hurt anywhere?”
She shook her head again.
When Ryan couldn’t think of anything more to ask, the girl suddenly turned her gaze towards him and said seriously, “Ryan, thank you.”
This unexpected gratitude completely caught the young man off guard.
“Th-thank me for what…?”
He scratched his head awkwardly, unsure why Little Shay was suddenly thanking him. Inside, he was still thinking, I haven’t even had the chance to thank you yet!
Ryan felt his face heat up. He stood up and walked over to the support frame holding a cloth bag, turning his back to the girl for a moment. His hand fumbled around in the bag, and there was the handkerchief Little Shay had given him earlier. Ryan intended to take it out and return it, but when he felt the soft fabric, he hesitated.
The handkerchief must be pretty important to her, right? After all, it’s something personal…her personal item… Should he really give it back to her?
He had secretly sniffed it afterward, and it was filled with her unique scent.
He wanted to keep it…
“Little Shay…”
After a mental struggle and unable to make a decision, he decided to change the topic to free himself from the internal dilemma: “What exactly happened over in Stag Town…?”
As he asked, he pulled his hand out of the bag without holding onto the handkerchief.
After all, Little Shay hadn’t asked for it back; she probably had forgotten all about it…
“Ryan.”
He turned around, and Little Shay hadn’t replied to his question. In the time he was pretending to look for something, the girl seemed to come to a realization. Her expression shifted from uncertain to calm and steady: “It’s been a few days since that night.”
Ryan thought for a moment and held up three fingers.
Although he felt puzzled and didn’t understand why Little Shay would ask such a question, he answered honestly: “Today is the third day. I stayed up that night, listening to the commotion from the hillside until dawn when it finally quieted down. I thought it was over, so I went to sleep… It’s been pretty quiet these last couple of days. But yesterday evening, someone said they saw golden light in the eastern sky. When I went to check, it was already gone; I have no idea what that was.”
“Really…”
The girl looked a bit wistful, furrowing her brow as she pondered for a moment before asking, “Did the church people come back?”
“The knights left a long time ago,” Ryan shook his head. “Just after you left the village, they packed up their camp on the south side, and I heard they headed deeper into the forest. They haven’t been back since, not even Father Merlin.”
Upon hearing this, Little Shay furrowed her brow even deeper.
She opened her mouth as if wanting to ask more, but suddenly someone burst in.
Ryan recognized the visitor as his father, who looked serious, only glancing at Ryan’s face for a moment before speaking to the girl: “Little Shay, something’s happened. You should go check it out.”
