The sun shone brightly in the sky as warm fresh winds blew alongside, revitalizing the village that was bustling with activity on a usual morning. The majority of the males either worked in the fields, plowing the hard and rocky terrain, or proceeded to chop woods inside the luscious forests. The females could be found tending to the various house chores, occasionally gossiping among themselves, mainly about the meals meant to be cooked in their neighboring houses.

The fragrant smell of meat wafted out from the house located at the back of the village. It was the time for a usual breakfast in the village hunters' family. The three people sat around a table that had plates filled with cooked meat along with some boiled green veggies. The little girl was the first to scoop up a chunk from the plate, before putting it in her mouth, a stream of drool being visible beside her chin.

"Lora, did you properly finish your prayers?" rebuked her mother.

"Ah!" joining her hands, the little girl closed her eyes as she started reciting some phrases, that came out incoherent because of her half-filled mouth. It was as if some catastrophic event awaited her future that made her body shiver slightly in fear, and the entire gesture seemed too cute for any angry god out there.

"O Divine entity Cirstag, the God of Hunting, I hereupon offer my hunt in your name. Let your divine blessings be upon me as I carry on my duties faithfully..."

The mother-son duo recited a daily short prayer, before digging into the protein-rich breakfast. As hunters, they naturally worshiped the God of Hunting, Cirstag. It was a common custom of his followers to always offer some of the meat to the god before feasting on it. Legas' mother was the one that had strictly drilled many of such rites and prayers into the two children and by now, it had become a part of their daily habits.

The world of Eucleia has many gods, overlooking mortal life. Who are these entities? Why do they care about living beings? No one knows. They have been present ever since the beginning of intelligent life, or presumably even before that.

All of them are characterized differently, either by emotions, actions, or situations. Merchants worship the god of wealth and prosperity, while warriors revere the god of might and valor. These gods, as often argued by the wizards, are considered to be formless, higher-level conscious beings that exist on an entirely different dimension. But they can exercise their will in this world through many conditions and restrictions. Throughout history, they have been represented in many different avatars in books and literature. For example, Cirstag is almost always represented as some variant of a deer.

These beings always expect some form of offerings from their followers on a regular basis and may even bestow various powerful abilities to their faithful ones. The value of such items may range from greatly extravagant, being out of reach of the common people, to something trivial. There can be dire consequences for people who had failed to please such entities, instead of incurring their wrath. Fortunately for our hunter's family, the god of hunting lay on the latter end of this spectrum, only demanding a few pieces of meat on his name after every successful hunt.

The family breakfast continued smoothly, if not for Legas occasionally scaring his sister about the tragic fate of a blasphemer. At one point she broke down in tears and had to be consoled in her mother's bosom before resuming her meal. The boy only made a wry smile in reaction to his mother's angry stare.

"You have been hunting frequently in the past few days, it's better if you take some rest," Legas' mother abruptly spoke once the breakfast was completed.

"Why?" Legas asked, intending to refuse as he glanced ahead. He could see his mother had a serious expression on her face which she used very rarely.

"Did something happen?"

"The forest has been...slightly strange as of late."

"Strange?" Legas donned upon a quizzical look. He had been hunting in the woods daily, but never did he encounter anything that could be considered abnormal. But in the next instant, he realized that he also had never ventured deep into the forest, unlike his mother who usually hunts higher level monsters.

"The stronger monsters in the area are, how do I say it...They appear restless? It seems as if there has been a lot of movement within the forest," Legas' mother explained, but it looked as if she wasn't fully certain herself.

But the boy's visage turned serious right in that instant. Directly receiving training from his mother and seeing her up close in action, there was one thing Legas held no doubt about, and that was his mother's ability to be cognizant of the entirety of the woods like the back of her hand. One just cannot brush off her words in that matter, and hence Legas had instantly taken her observations and suspicions to be the absolute truth, even if the person herself held a tinge of uncertainty.

Legas' eyebrows furrowed in thoughts. Monsters do not have any sense of belonging and they remain true to their instincts, unlike an intelligent race. Therefore, the only instance these creatures might feel anxious is when their life itself is threatened in some manner. It would not take long to conclude with that reasoning.

"..did a potential threat appeared in the vicinity? Maybe a higher class monster?" Legas pondered hard. His face had instantly warped in a frown, the moment he realized the gravity of the situation.

This was a very serious issue for the village. No matter what may be the cause, if the monsters living deep in the valleys are chased away from their regions, and were made to venture out into the fields, it would be an absolute disaster. Although the village had wooden barricading and personnel capable of a battle against them, a big horde of such creatures would decimate the settlement in no time.

Furthermore, it is not just something that only concerned the villagers. The various paths for the many trade caravans would come under direct monster assault. Any unfortunate traveler in the area could be shredded to pieces in an instant.

"It seems so," Legas' mother agreed. "Go and inform the chief about this, and ask him to stop the woodcutters for a few days. We cannot take any risks. I will scout out the deeper regions tomorrow to confirm any anomaly."

"Okay." While the mother-son pair had a deep and thoughtful frown on their faces,

"It will be fine mother! The adventurers will take care of it!", Lora butted in the conversation, oblivious to the tense atmosphere.

"Adventurers?" Legas eyes' suddenly narrowed to slits.

"Yeah! Yesterday, sister Beti said that four adventurers had arrived at their house. They must be strong! Apparently, one of them had a sword thiiiis big!!" the little girl spread out her hands far and wide, trying to replicate the weapon's length.

"A greatsword huh," muttered Legas' mother. "No halfhearted adventurer would possess such equipment. Maybe something did appear in the forest, and they came here to investigate it? In that case, I could team up with them."

"No!" Legas shouted with anxiety, abruptly getting up. His face had gone pale and was warped in displeasure.

"Legas, I understand your worry. But instead of scouting alone, it would be safer if I have people by my side."

"No! What if they abandon you in front of danger!" Legas shouted again.

"Legas." A short growl escaped her mouth. She had a furious look for an instant but wiped it off immediately after. The huntress knew very well, the reason why her son had distrust towards adventurers in general and could understand his agitation.

Legas dropped down onto his seat silently with a downcast face. He knew he was in the wrong in raising his voice.

"Listen Legas, you can't go on with such a mindset forever. If I had similar thoughts back then, I would have never married your father. Without trust, this civilization wouldn't function. You are smart. You should know to conduct better."

"I know that! I know but..." Legas' face had dried up with reluctance.

"It will be fine even if they abandon me!" his mother interrupted. "I'm not foolish enough to trust a stranger right off the bat. Plus it's still an assumption that they are here for that very purpose. They could just be passing by, or may have accepted a quest that the chief had issued."

"Hah, Relax son, I will make a short trip by myself first thing tomorrow. You go and warn the chief first. Okay?" Legas' mother consoled him with gentleness after releasing a heavy sigh.

"Okay," the boy nodded. However, the agitation on his face had not disappeared as he made his way out.