章 4: Chapter 4 - The culprit
With things in the village being handled by the chief, Rio thought it was a good opportunity to just distract himself, so he headed not so far out from the village with a satchel of books. Magic books to be exact.
Over the course of his stay, Rio has become very interested in the mystic arts of the world, however, he realised early on that humans were at the bottom of the food chain when it came to using magic.
From the countless pages he's absorbed, the male outworlder learned that magic works in two ways in the world of Ortus.
The first way was Script Magic, it can be cast onto a surface by writing certain characters then letting energy flow into it. This was the basic form of magic that all races could perform without any problem, but the second form of magic was heavily dependent on the race and the one humanity could not use freely.
Dubbed Flow Magic, this was the type of magic seen in many fantasy books where the user can cast it freely, without any need for a catalyst. The types of creatures that excelled with this type of magic were usually elves or onis; while humans and beastmen were pretty much unable to use it.
With this in mind, Rio worked to the bone in finding ways to use script magic away from its traditional way of just applying it to appliances or weaponry.
Though it wasn't exactly going to plan.
"Ok please work, or else I'm going to end up hobbling back home again." Using a rock, the boy carved a character onto the ground then held his hand over it.
The character then began to glow white, while Rio could feel his body being drained of its energy.
Without warning, a pillar of ice then sprung from the ground knocking Rio back straight onto his butt.
After a couple of seconds of letting his heart calm down, the boy let out a deep sigh of relief from just managing to dodge the pillar by mere inches. "Oh thank god, I didn't get my face smashed in this time."
Reminiscing over all his failed attempts, the boy shivered at the countless times he's been knocked out from explosions or stone pillars from pouring too much of his energy into his spells. He shook even more at the memories of Sora berating him for his recklessness, which was far more terrifying than any explosion. She was relentless, making him kneel as she chewed him out for all his damaged clothing and injuries. He never knew she could be such a mom.
Still, it wasn't what he wanted, he didn't want a pillar, he just wanted the stone to be covered in ice.
"I need a break."
While relaxing for some time, the boy heard a couple of rustling noises come from some nearby bushes. At first he thought it was just a small animal, but when the rumbling was then accompanied by mumbling, his curiosity was piqued.
Sneaking through the shrubbery, the boy followed the mumbles until he reached a small opening where a random man was kneeling with a cage by his side.
Rio recognised him as Eric's friend or lackey for a more accurate description. Though it was odd to see him separated from Eric.
"What's he up to?" Rio pondered, crouching in some bushes and peeking through the leaves.
"Man Eric, why do we have to mess up the food? We won't be able to eat now," the man voiced out loud, most likely thinking he was alone. But of course, he wasn't.
Rio wasn't particularly shocked that Eric was the culprit for the barn being invaded by some rats and the cage his friend had was more than enough proof, but still, to think that Eric would actually go through with such a plan was still startling, to an extent.
Once he was gone Rio returned to his training site and packed his books into his satchel before heading home. On the way he thought about how oddly easy it was for him to find the culprit.
"Gods must be on my side."
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At nightfall, the village was pretty much crammed in the dark, not even a single candlelight could brighten the place. A perfect disguise.
With the moon hidden in the clouds, Eric and his friend snuck back into the barn, but rather than just bust through the front doors, they snuck in through the back since the front was now guarded after the discovery of their previous attack.
Prying the back door open, the two miscreants carefully made their way inside where Eric's lackey placed the cage he had been carrying down on the ground. But before he opened the gate, he turned to Eric and asked if he was sure that he wanted to ruin the crops, it wasn't like they were to get anything out of it.
"Of course I'm sure, we just need to ruin the crops and then pin it on that bastard Rio," said an irritated Eric.
"How can you exactly pin this on Rio? He's not exactly the most suspicious person in the village," the lackey mentioned.
"It's simple really, he goes out of the village for who knows what, so we can just say that he's been bringing them from the outside." Eric then began to silently guffaw at his greatness, completely believing he was going to get away with his plan.
Meanwhile, what he called his friend was deeply thinking twice about this entire thing. However he couldn't just not do it, Eric would stain his name, it wasn't the first time he's done so after all.
The memory wasn't too old, someone had angered Eric and he used his charisma to pretty much convince most of the younger villagers to think Eric was right driving the person to leave the village.
Rio was definitely someone Eric didn't like, not only was he an outsider but he was also friends with one of the most beautiful women that Eric had ever laid his eyes upon and in no way was the charismatic schemer not going to prey on her.
Letting out the rats, the two watched as the rodents scurried across the barn and began to gnaw on their crops.
While Eric's friend watched in guilt, Eric himself couldn't help but grin as he watched the critters eat their heart out.
"Once this is all over, that annoying block Rio will be out of my hair."
Sneaking back out of the barn, the two men left the rats to do their work, but they were completely unaware of the fact that back inside the place was a figure hidden amongst the shadows, who watched and listened to the two as they went about executing their sabotage.
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With a flickering candle next to her, Sora was tucked in her bed cosily as she read one of the many storybooks that her house provided, courtesy of the previous owner.
With no internet to surf, the girl had to entertain herself with something else just before bed and reading was the perfect candidate. She often picked out the romance stories from the bunch, imagining herself as the main heroine while her romantic interest was Rio. Although she would be first to admit that the boy wouldn't probably do some of the things the males in her stories had done. From having a dark rival, to fighting large scale wars: she just couldn't see her friend in those situations, even if she did fantasise about it.
Sighing, the girl closed the book after she finished another chapter. She then blew out her candle before descending into her pillow and layering her blanket over her, letting its soft, warm presence engulf her body. She closed her eyes then let her tiredness take over her for the night.
Though her silent sleep didn't exactly last long when booming cheers entered her ears causing her eyes to suddenly open in shock.
A bright light then flashed in front of the girl's face and she reflexively shielded her eyes from the shine. Once her eyes adjusted to the shine, she then was met with an array of dancing colours. Near and far the faint lights swung backwards and forwards in sync with the cheering of hundreds of people.
"Come on Sora-chan!" a cheerful voice chirped beside her.
Turning her head Sora locked eyes with a familiar face, her black, short hair and pink eyes, it was a no brainer. It was her friend as well as co-worker AZKi.
"Wave to them!" AZKi pointed back at the crowd. "They've been cheering all this time."
Sora then looked to the other side and there she saw the huge lineup of girls all wearing similar outfits, waving and grinning from ear to ear. She then looked down at her hands, they were gloved, she normally didn't wear gloves…. except.
"I'm in my idol outfit," she whispered, "but I was back home, tucked in my bed. How am I here?"
"Hmm?" AZKi tilted her head to the side slightly, her smile never once fading.
Sora glanced back up to the crowd, her mind was drawing blanks, none of what she was seeing made sense to her. But, even if it didn't make sense, she knew exactly what to do.
Allowing a smile to grace her lips, the girl's hand shot up and with a booming voice she shouted, "Thank you all for coming!"
The beauty, kindness and explosiveness of an idol burst out of her, in mere seconds, she had pushed away all confusion and was just enjoying the moment in front of her. This was what she missed.
The cheers.
The smiles.
Her friends.
She missed all of it, but unfortunately, every good dream comes to an end.
When she woke up, it was already morning, the sun was already rising on the horizon and the birds were beginning to sing their tune.
Sitting up on her bed, Sora stared into her hands, eyes watering. She then closed her eyes slowly, exhaling deeply as tears dripped from the sides of her cheeks.
The girl hobbled out of her room and into the bathroom where she splashed some water on her face. She stared at her reflection, and slightly jolted when she witnessed her own red eyes, had she really been crying all this time?
"Get a hold of yourself Sora, you need to think positively, you're not alone," she told herself in an attempt to brighten her mood.
The girl then made her way down to the kitchen and began to take some ingredients out, but she realised she had been alone for all that time. Where was Rio?
Heading to her friend's room, the girl knocked on his door, but he didn't answer. Confused, the girl tried again only to be met with no answer. Now growing worried, she let herself in to check up on him. However, instead of being greeted with a sleeping Rio, she was instead now inside an empty room.
Rushing out of the house, the girl searched everywhere for Rio eventually leading her to the barn where once again a crowd had gathered. Thinking he was probably there, the girl went into the crowd asking everyone if they had seen the boy, but even they didn't know where he was.
Away from the crowd, in front of the barn doors was once again the chief with the boss and head farmhand. They had not come to any conclusions as to who their culprit could be, so they were worried that the food had been ravaged once again. Although they had some comfort from the guards telling them that they had seen anyone near the barn, they still needed to confirm with their own eyes.
Opening the doors the three were reeled back when they laid eyes on the figure in front of them.
With his body hunched over, sitting crossed leg on the floor, sleeping peacefully with a bloody block of wood resting on his shoulder. His clothes tattered and stained, a smell of putrid death enveloping his very being, was Rio.
クリエイターの想い 
Monochrome_Library
Monochrome_Library Nothing much to say this week everyone, I just hope you all enjoyed this chapter. But I will say this, we are nearing the end of Riverbank and also Rio's time in the spotlight, he'll still be there for us to look at but not as predominantly as this.
You'll see what I kind of mean in future chapters, till then, we're stuck with him.
Once again, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all next time.
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