Chapter 7 - Meeting (2/2)

'Remember what I taught you and stick to the rules I imposed on you. Try not to get noticed too much, and if you run into some trouble, don't worry. I will come immediately to help you. Remember to come back here before sunset, all right?'

”Yes, mother, we'll pay attention, and we'll be back in time. Don't worry; everything will be fine.” Hei comforted Bao Bei as he hugged his mother, then it was Xing and Ye's turn to hug her even though it was a little different from the word hug since they didn't have arms.

Xing used her legs to wrap herself around her mother's legs as well as Ye, who used her tail instead.

After that, the two of them went up Hei's body, and they hid under Hei's clothes. For that occasion, Bao Bei had woven a scarf and a hat to hide the two little spirit beasts.

Despite not representing a threat, they were still species not liked by the majority of people, and it wasn't advisable to frighten humans during their first visit. So they decided to hide under Hei's clothes to look at the situation first.

At this point, Hei finally set off and left the Forest for the first time.

The sun had risen and had begun to heat the air, although it remained some of the night cold. With everything new to him, He looked around with curiosity, and then he went straight to the direction his mother had told him.

After a while, he could see a row of houses from afar that formed what looked like a village. Since it was the first time, he decided to observe it from that position for the moment.

Despite being curious, he also had a bit of nervousness for that unknown world he had known only through his mother's stories.

Seeing him uncertain, Ye urged him, ”Aren't we going? Even if we see things from afar, we won't be able to understand much if we are here.”

To this, Xing replied in Hei's place, ”Can't we take it easy? After all, we don't know who we're dealing with. Watching them from afar is more advisable for now.”

Seeing them having conflicting opinions, as usual, Hei smiled and hurriedly said, ”You are both right. If we stay here, we won't be able to observe much, but if we get too close without having understood a little how the village is, it could be dangerous. So, we will get closer, but we won't go inside for the moment. The ideal would be to be able to find that girl or another child.”

By opting to use both a proactive and a safe method, the three got closer.

Slowly, the houses got bigger and bigger as they could begin to see agricultural fields located on the opposite side. They also perceived some rumors coming from the people who lived there.

It was typical for villages' people to start their days with the rising of the sun, taking advantage of the sunlight to comfortably carry out their activities.

This village was named after the nearby forest and was called Leaf Village. Although it was a village, given the proximity of the forest with its abundant resources, it was larger than ordinary villages and housed not only farmers but also hunters, blacksmiths, leather workers, miners, and merchants.

Since it was the only settlement in the eastern side of the forest while Leaf City was on the western side, the village represented the only place where the merchants, who passed by, could buy the various goods deriving from the Multicolored Leaf Forest. Although they were products obtained from the outskirts of the forest, they were still highly sought after by people, and they were sold rather well.

As he didn't want to meet them directly, for now, Hei walked around the village, hiding behind every possible hiding place he could find.

His years of training in hunting had given him a considerable skill in concealing his presence and moving without being seen. After all, it was well known that animals had more perceptive senses than people, so it was normal for a hunter to learn these skills.

As he walked around the village, he saw a girl with long brown hair come out of one of the houses. Her fair complexion shone in the rays of the rising sun. She wore a dark green suit with the sleeves pulled up, and she left the house carrying a large bucket containing water.

Her light brown eyes were narrowed a little from the effort of carrying such a weight, but she still proceeded at a brisk pace towards the small vegetable garden behind the house.

When he saw her, Hei got excited because he immediately recognized her as the girl he had seen a year ago in the forest. Although she had grown up, only a year had passed. As a result, her outward appearance didn't change too much.

Unsure at first about what to do, he stroked Xing with his right hand while stroking Ye with his left hand. Feeling their warmth and their presence, Hei took courage, and he began to walk towards that girl slowly.

Since the girl's house wasn't located in the center of the village, and Hei had proceeded furtively, no one had discovered him. But when he approached the house, the girl was finally able to see him.

In truth, she remembered him. After all, meeting a child in a forest alone that suddenly disappeared was unusual. After Hei left, she begged her father to take a look around because she was worried about the child's safety, but they couldn't find anything. For days this thought tormented her mind, and it was only after some time that she managed to push it away from her mind.

But seeing him again, this memory surfaced alive more than ever in her mind. Rather than his face that she saw only for a brief instant, it was his shiny silver clothes in contrast with his brown complexion that had impressed her strongly. And it was these that reminded her who he was.

Seeing him getting closer and being in excellent shape, she couldn't help but smile. Just from this gesture, one could say that she was a good-hearted person since she was so worried so much about a child she didn't know at all.

When Hei arrived near her, he prepared himself to greet her using the language taught to him by his mother, ”Hi, my name is Hei. And yours?”

Although his intonation was a bit uncertain and his accent was not typical of the place, Hei was nevertheless able to formulate the sentence so that it had a meaning.

Because he used understandable words this time, the girl could replied, ”Hi Hei, I am Lei Lei, but you can call me big sister Lei. You're the child of that time in the forest, right?”

”Yes, I am... er... I'm sorry if I scared you that time, I didn't want to.” Hei said in an apologetic tone.

Bao Bei had expressly told him to apologize if he was able to see the girl again as it would be an excellent way to arouse sympathy towards Hei so that he would have someone who could introduce him to the village safely.