บท 129: “Jue, right? What are you doing here?”

The sky was turning blue as the sun was rising slowly. There were sounds of birds chirping in the distance,

Ryu was enjoying the atmosphere as he had woken up before everyone else,

'So, calm, it almost reminds me of my old room…' thought Ryu as he looked towards the carriage. It looked pretty to him as the first rays of sun hit it, creating a serene look out of the simple carriage, and suddenly someone peeked out of the carriage,

"Big brother, when did you wake?" Jue, who had just woke up, came right out of the carriage, not seeing Ryu in it,

'It isn't going to be similar anytime sooner,' smirked Ryu and spoke,

"I was planning to go ahead to the dungeon alone,"

"Big brother, that is cheating!! Rafa sister said this dungeon boss is mine!" Jue replied in a pouty voice. He would've understood Ryu's joke if he wasn't still drowsy,

"I was joking," Ryu replied,

"Really?" Jue asked, and Ryu nodded. Finally, Jue sat beside Ryu and started staring at the carriage, too; a warm environment surrounded them,

"Big brother, when will we reach the village?" Jue asked,

"We will reach soon," Ryu replied as he made a glyph from his feet out of boredom,

"You are saying the same for five days, though," Jue said.

"I am saying truth see that way," Ryu replied while pointing backward, and when Jue turned his face, he was shocked as he noticed that the village was just down the path they were camping nearby,

"Big brother? Why are we here?" Jue asked, confused as he wanted to know why they didn't enter the village while being this near to it. Ryu replied,

"We reached last night, but then Rafa big sister said that we shouldn't wake you so late, and I also thought it would be better to enter in the morning,"

"Wonder what kind of dungeon is here!!" Jue said with a spark of excitement in his eye, looking more awake than before,

"It is written in the map Faltar gave…." Ryu was about to tell him how the dungeon was, but before he could, Jue shouted,

"No, big brother, don't tell me… it will spoil my surprise!!" Ryu put a hand on his mouth, and he laughed beneath it as he thought how childish Jue was. He didn't say it out, though, as Jue doesn't like to be termed immature,

Jue practiced with the spear he picked up, trying to keep his arm straight while Ryu was cultivating mana using some minor complex glyphs customized to circulate mana.

In a while, Aiena and Rafa woke up. Aiena was surprised that they reached this soon.

They felt a sense of relief as they reached the village, which looked simpler with no border encircling it.

'Did dungeon monsters around here choose a different path?' thought Ryu, but the relief was short-lived because as soon as they reached a bit further into town, they noticed collapsed homes being rebuilt. There were also several people between the builders who had small and big wounds on their bodies,

Ryu looked around for someone to ask about the situation in the village, but everyone seemed busy with their work in a flow. He looked around once slowly,

'He seems working hard, his work seems important, that guy is too injured…. This one,' after scanning people, Ryu went towards a somewhat younger child who was filling water buckets from hand pumps,

"Oii kid, what is going on here?" asked Ryu, and the child replied,

"This is called work. If you are too free, go do something else" the child clicked his tongue, and Ryu, who was about to smack his head out of habit due to orphanage kids, held his arm back.

'This kid…'

"Aiena, big sister. This village is the biggest one we have come to so far, right?" asked Jue, and Aiena replied with a finger on her chin,

"You are right, Jue… this village seems half as big as Zerah."

"O Undine spirit of water…." Ryu chanted while pointing towards the buckets, filling them up instantly with water,

"You… you are a wizard!?" the kid looked back at Ryu. His I couldn't care more attitude was nowhere to be seen, and he looked amazed by what Ryu did.

"Yes, do you want to see fire magic?" Ryu asked with a grin, and the kid nodded.

"Then be quick and tell me what happened here" as soon as Ryu said this, the kid began explaining everything that happened in the village,

"Our Village is the second biggest village under Lord Hathi's territory… dungeon attacks…. we believe in self-preservation…." Listening to what the child said, Ryu understood various things,

"We should hurry up with this dungeon," Ryu said to Fusion souls,

"Big brother, my knuckle is broken" Jue showed Ryu his broken knuckle indicating they couldn't hurry up,

'Damn, this dungeon is so near to becoming permanent…. Also, that other party might be our competitors' thought, Ryu, as he recounts what the child had told him. According to the child, the attacks were regularly occurring due to dungeon monsters, but the village being self-sufficient, is repairing things quickly,

And he also told Ryu that there was a party that arrived in town a few days ago with a member of the party belonging to the village to get rid of the dungeon,

"I also wanted to heal the people who have been injured…." Aiena added in a low yet clear voice,

"In that case, I and Rafa big sister could…." Ryu tried speaking, but before he could complete it, he saw the expression on Jue's face, which looked pouty, and dropped the idea of completing the dungeon with only two people.

'This brat… at least shout if you don't like the idea,' thought Ryu; he took a long breath before he began speaking calmly,

"Okay, then Aiena and I will go to wherever they are keeping highly injured people, and Rafa and Jue will go to the blacksmith,"

If it was the time when they had just met Rafa, this plan would've been a pipe dream, but recently Rafa is becoming more and more mature with every dungeon they pass. It was as if she was growing mentally,

"Big brother, can I use one of Taran's canines to reinforce my knuckle?" Jue asked, and Ryu gave a thumbs up because they had gotten 4 of those,

Ryu and Aiena walked towards the infirmary, asking people the way, while Jue and Rafa moved towards the Blacksmith's shop,

"Rafa sister, does your sword also need to be reinforced? Big brother wouldn't mind if you used one of the canines too," Jue said while moving, and Rafa replied,

"No, my sword is strong!!" she slashed her sword once to show Jue the sharpness and added with a smile,

"It doesn't need reinforcement," meanwhile Jue thought,

'Big brother said not to ask… but I still want to know how Rafa sister's sword became like this' his curiosity was on the spot as what used to be a simple iron sword had changed over time as Rafa used it guard of sword looked like wings now, and the pommel protrude outwards like a spike,

"Jue, watch out," Rafa said as she grabbed Jue's collar, and Jue, who was walking while immersed in thoughts, finally noticed he was about to hit the Blacksmith's shop wall,

"Thank you, Rafa sister," he said as he opened the door to the Blacksmith's shop,

"Welcome to the smithy," the cheerful Blacksmith with a monocle over his eyes spoke,

"Thanks for having us, Blacksmith uncle," Jue said, and Rafa nodded. With a hearty laugh, Blacksmith spoke,

"Hahaha, after seeing those dumbasses for a few days, I thought respect has ended among kids these days. You are welcome to tell me what I can do. "

Jue was confused about whom the Blacksmith was talking about but not minding it, he requested,

"How much will it cost to fix and reinforce my knuckles, uncle? And can I have them done quickly, please?"

The Blacksmith took the pair of knuckles and examined them for a while, pulling his monocle out and moving it near the merchandise,

"Umm, kid, where did you find them?"

"They are mine, uncle. My grandfather gifted them to me" the Blacksmith still was not sure about the quality of the production method used for knuckles was far better than his own, which was quite challenging for any human blacksmith to do in this part of the kingdom,

'If it is this kid…' after looking over Jue for a bit, he decided that he was a trustable honest child,

"I see. It would've taken me four to five hours to do it…." after speaking till here, Blacksmith could see a shine of excitement in Jue's eyes, and he didn't want to break it to him.

"But I already got three pieces of equipment to repair and a new equipment creation, so I cannot complete it before tomorrow."

Jue looked disappointed as he knew Ryu was hurrying about this dungeon for a reason and began thinking,

'What if I use kukri… or maybe spear?' he envisioned himself in a completely unknown dungeon with a weapon he had not mastered, and it didn't look good,

Seeing Jue's disappointed expression and Rafa's menacing look due to her thinking the Blacksmith made Jue sad. The Blacksmith coughed before he spoke.

"If you could convince the other party to get their order late, I can do them today… they must be coming."

"Really, blacksmith uncle!!" Jue said with renewed hope, and Blacksmith nodded when the voice of the door opening came to their ears,

"As soon as we say the name, monsters appear," the Blacksmith spoke as Jue turned around,

"What happened, kid?" The Blacksmith was confused as Jue, the lady, and the people who had just entered the smithy, were completely quiet, staring at each other.

"Jue, right? What are you doing here?" the lady who entered the smithy with her party asked Jue.

-to be continued