Chapter 74：A Hidden Village (2/2)

His manner of speech was still broken, but Arthur could make sense of it. He sighed as he realized letting this boy on his own wasn't the brightest idea that Arthur had. He sat down next to the bedrock as he stared at Dimon.

”What happened to your village?”

***

After a night of piecing out Dimon's broken words, Arthur managed to understand the general events surrounding the boy. There was a village where Dimon lived inside the mountains. Arthur had no idea how he has never heard of these people living there, but Dimon said there was a 'mage' responsible for hiding them.

From Arthur's hypothesis, these were refugees that couldn't handle the expenses of living in the city and have taken shelter in the mountains. Many such tribes or villages hid in these parts away from civilization.

The events proceeding Dimon's appearance at Arthur's village's entrance could be described but nothing but creepy. It all started when the mage who kept their village hidden disappeared. They looked for him everywhere but to no avail, he was nowhere to be found.

The villagers returned after that and decided that they needed to move deeper into the mountains. Their plans were proceeding smoothly as they sent scouts to find a suitable place.

The following nights, several villagers disappeared. Every time night descended; a couple more would disappear. No matter if they stayed awake or not, it made no difference.

It was on one of those nights that Dimon woke up. He heard noises around the house only to find his family walking in their sleep. He tried to wake them up, but it was futile. They were like walking corpses, no signs of life except their breathing.

Dimon followed his family until they reached an ancient cave, hidden behind a grove. His family walked inside, but Dimon was too afraid to follow. In the end, he stayed the whole night there, hearing their screams. His terror froze his legs and he ran away.

Arthur had to stop his questions since the pubescent youth started crying and shivering. Arthur sighed and infused a stamina rune into him, strengthening his mentality.

The rest of the story was about how Dimon wandered around the forest until he found the village of the goblins. Thinking it was a human village, he wanted to ask for some food. The result was him being captured by the goblins.

”What do you want to do now?” Arthur asked after gazing through the window, it was well past midnight. The youth gathered his wits between his sobs and answered.

”I live.”

Arthur expected him to say revenge or to find his family. However, it was also understandable that he wanted to live safely.

”But I want bury family.” His broken mind seemed to accept that his family was most likely dead, but he still wanted to give them a proper farewell. Arthur nodded his head and stood up.

”I have no reason to help you,” He stated flatly, Dimon shrunk under his apathetic stare. ”However, it just so happens that I want to move out of this place.” Dimon looked at him with confusion. ”In return for guiding me to your village, I will help you find your family.”

It wasn't that he was a saint. He was far from being one. However, humans had this trait called empathy. Losing his family so suddenly… Arthur saw his younger self in Dimon.

”But for now, you should rest,” Arthur said before lying on the wall to sleep. It was a bit uncomfortable, but he couldn't ask the injured kid to move away. He felt Dimon's gaze on his body for a few minutes before it disappeared.