Chapter 115: A Polite Moranthal (1/2)

“Targets huh…I know that…I want to slaughter those damned bandits as well but…not everyone in the village understands this logic.” Io clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he said that. With a agitated but conflicted look on his face, he said: “I want nothing more than to rip those curs apart! If only I was my own man…but…I…”

“I understand.” George chose not to comfort him but instead shared his own feelings regarding the matter: “Expecting these bast*rds to be reasonable was silly to begin with, yet not only are these fools short sighted but I am as well…”

Would those short sighted fools be referring to the villagers…?

As he said that, he turned around and glared at Dioh, the meaning within his eyes clear for all to see.

“Oh, Dioh and Kevin are here as well, you’ve grown taller since I last saw you guys.” Due to his drunken stupor, he had only just noticed the two boys standing behind George. After greeting them as their senior, he turned towards me and Ancarin: “And these two are?”

Having said his greetings, Dioh rushed to introduce the two outsiders before George could: “They are Magister Mo Ke and Mage Ancarin. As a side note, Ancarin is Master Mo Ke’s student.”

“Oh…so we have two noble mages here, no wonder their get-up is so weird.” Io joked with a derisive tone. “So what are these two mages doing here?”

Ignoring his tone, Ancarin answered placidly: “Passing by.”

“So there will be mages backing us up in this battle?” Even though the question was directed at us, he asked George instead. Perhaps he was still drunk after all seeing as he lacked this basic amount of courtesy; a good thumping would solve that right away.

“There will.” Without waiting for George to reply, Ancarin promptly picked up the conversation. “Truthfully, the reason why Mister George had to seek aid was because of us…”

Ancarin spent the next two minutes recounting our encounter with the Wolf’s Fang and Plateau Village, which elicited a string of sighs throughout from Io.

“Sigh, even though saying this might upset George, I still have thank you all for this opportunity…”

As for why he said that, *cough cough* even a fool would understand without being told. Right after his dad was murdered, the man must’ve definitely gone through a difficult period where he had to choose between revenge and survival. Seeing as he was standing before us right now, he clearly chose survival albeit unwillingly.

It was this decision that ended up throwing him into a spiralling descent of guilt, alcoholism, pain and self-condemnation. Even when his wife, whom he had a great relationship with, left with their child for her parents’ home, Io still hadn’t pulled himself out of this torturous rut. Just the opposite, their departure threw him further into the depths of despair.

Just as he was about to go through a mental breakdown, we arrived with an invitation to “take revenge on the Wolf’s Fang together.”

The reason why he didn’t rush off to take revenge after his father was murdered wasn’t because he didn’t care about the dead man but rather because he was a logical person. He knew very well that rushing in alone was nothing more than suicide. As for asking the villagers for help, he more than anyone else knew that they wouldn’t do so unless they had a dire reason to do so.

After all, living under the yolk of these bandits was still living. If they were to offend the bandits because of his grudge, they might end up getting implicated as well. Thus, Io chose to bear the burden of his guilt alone.

In truth, Iroi Village wasn’t the only village in such a situation. With Plateau Original Village included, all the villages basically adopted such a passive attitude towards the bandits. Those curs were simply too strong and combining forces might not even guarantee a victory.

This was why the Wolf’s Fang was able to prosper for so many years without any of them trying to stop them.

“Since you’ve decided to stand with us, then you better start recruiting some men quick. With my understanding of Dawson, he will attack in two days tops.” Having finished our business here, George rose from his seat and prepared to leave. “We’ll be leaving now, we still have two more villages to visit after all.”

“You’re not staying behind to eat?”

“There’s no time for that, if we survive this battle we can have a celebration then.”

“Be careful, don’t die out there.”

“I should say that to you instead.”

“By the way, about our numbers…” He awkwardly scratched his head sending off a storm of snow flakes as he did so. Despite this embarrassing scene, he chose to say it in the end; some things were too just important to be left unsaid. “I’m not sure how many people will join us for this battle, our opponent is just too strong after all…”

“I…understand. Just do your best.”

“Got it.”

Leaving behind Iroi village, we spent another three hours on the road before reaching South Plateau Village. By now it was already night time and the majority of the villagers had gone home for dinner with only a few idlers roaming outside.

George was a kind of local celebrity in this village. Upon entering, his presence was immediately discovered by some of the more busybody villagers who immediately circled around him asking him about our trip here. George gave a cursory answer and asked to see Moranthal.

Moranthal? Haven’t I heard of this name recently?

It seems I had accidentally vocalized this bit of confusion seeing as Ancarin immediately stepped forth to remind in a whisper. “Moranthal is that poor man who had his wife kidnapped.”