132 Rumors (1/2)
Xue Wei and Hei Gou both looked curiously at the village. Although it was many times smaller than Tiankong City, it was the first 'proper' human settlement either had visited in a long time.
When on the run, they did everything they could to avoid human settlements. Although they had lived amongst others in the Chaos Vulture Tribe, that was a nomadic society with tents for houses.
This was something that reminded Xue Wei of his home, which made a slight tinge of sadness wash over his heart. A sense of loss followed this sadness, but Xue Wei quickly picked his saddened heart up from the floor and clenched his hands.
The Kingdom of Heping was no longer his home. They had hunted him and killed Tie Haolong, who was like a brother to him. It was only fair that he took vengeance when he became stronger. At the same time, however, he had mixed emotions because it had also been the place he had grown up. Most of his earliest, happiest memories came from this place as well.
Xue Wei could not help but sigh as he looked up into the dazzling sun and squinted his eyes.
”The sun is the same; the air is still fresh. People behave the same no matter where you go, so it does not matter where I am. It is a shame that I have nowhere to call home, but I have a friend by my side, and I am not alone. I should not be greedy. Being with a brother is already better than having that empty home in the Heping Kingdom where I was bullied every single day,” Xue Wei muttered to himself.
Hei Gou did not notice Xue Wei's sudden onset of melancholy; his eyes were wide as saucers as he looked at everything around him.
Although they had been in villages before, it was a rare thing, and he was now excited to see more of the way humans lived their lives.
This village was the same size as Lingyun Town, but it was filled with life. The streets were bustling as carriages came driving down the roads, mercenaries returned from their work in the Vermilion Forest, and women and children rushed about on their way to deal with the chores they had.
Xue Wei awakened from his strange trance and looked around. ”Let us find an inn. We can stay in a proper bed for the night, and then head out to the Vermilion Forest tomorrow. No one here knows us, so we will continue to call ourselves He Jie and He Lin,” he said with a compressed voice.
Hei Gou returned to his senses as he heard Xue Wei's voice. Xue Wei did not mind Hei Gou looking so surprised and bedazzled as they walked through the village. They were supposed to have come from the Flowing Blood Prairie where everyone lived a nomadic lifestyle, so it was natural for them to be stunned upon seeing such a village like theirs.
In fact, Hei Gou's reaction made the people who noticed it chuckle and be thoroughly convinced that these two experts came from the Flowing Blood Prairie on a journey to temper themselves.
Seeing that Hei Gou was not answering, Xue Wei smiled and shook his head as he dragged Hei Gou with him towards the inn that was located right in the middle of the village.
Many small children ran right behind Xue Wei and Hei Gou. Every one of these children curiously looked at the two strangers. It was clear that they wished to ask lots of questions, but their upbringing had taught them that strangers could be dangerous and thus no one dared to be the first to engage the two strangers.
Xue Wei chuckled when he saw this. After regaining some of his memories from Lingyun Town, he remembered being exactly like them, running right behind the mercenaries as they returned from the Northern Taiga to hear their tales of the Fierce Beasts they had fought or the treasures they had found.
If merchants came to town, the children would gather at the square in the middle of the village to get a glance at what they were selling or buying, and if some wandering strangers appeared, they would also curiously follow them to hear about the happenings of the outside world.
These children were all learning martial arts, but the truth was that they were weak. Their entire world was the village in which they lived, and that would be all they saw until the day they were drafted into the army.
They were too weak to enter the hunting grounds, and their task was to cultivate for the sake of facing the beast hordes. No one allowed a child beneath the age of twenty-five to become a worker of any kind. These children were supposed to cultivate and gain strength for the sake of the kingdom's future.
Since this was the case, the older children would be the most curious about the outside world. The older they got, the more curious they would become the more time they spent confined to the boundaries of their respective villages, but they were often too proud to go and observe the strangers.
Hei Gou did not understand this. At the same time as the children were following Xue Wei and Hei Gou, some of the mortal beasts in the village started acting strangely. A few dogs ran to Hei Gou with wagging tails and licked his hand before he shooed them away.
This scene made many puzzled, as these dogs were ferocious guard dogs. Although they were not Fierce Beasts, they could still cause some damage to humans with their sharp canines and their large sizes.
They were in no way docile animals, but they had shown complete and utter endearment towards this young man from the Flowing Blood Prairie.
This caused Xue Wei to break out in cold sweat suddenly. Were they now going to be exposed because of this?
Fortunately, no one paid it too much attention other than being stunned for a moment. As they made their way into the inn, the previously loud and bustling place turned quiet, with the patrons curiously looking at Xue Wei and Hei Gou.