“So you’re telling me you knew about the knight going around killing people?”

Damon’s fingers drummed against the table in annoyance, a thunderous galloping noise, his face a deep scowl. The other two users sat opposite to him, looking uncomfortable. Sybil appeared just about ready to run, and all he could see of her expression were her eyes, everything else hidden behind her cowl.

“No. We only had suspicions.” Han quickly replied. “The guild picked up on an anomaly. The proportion of users that died here was higher than that of users going to other nearby villages despite the whole area having the same danger rating. We were given orders to investigate since we already intended to stick around in wait for the monster lord.”

“We couldn’t know if it was because of some particular monster having emerged, but we suspected the knight might have had a hand in things since the village was terrified. We couldn’t make a claim based only on guesses, however.”

Damon let out a sigh, rubbing at his temples. “Yeah, well, the village knew, and are more than happy to share their grievances over it. So you can ask away and gather all the evidence you could need.” With a sharp breath, his hands lay flat against the table. A part of him understood there didn’t appear to be a police force, but this felt ridiculous all the same. Where was the oversight from whatever asshole ruled this chunk of land? No, going over that would only give him more headaches. “What I want is to get back home, so checking the gaper cave is my current priority once you’re up for making the trip. How did the hunt go, anyway?”

Sybil straightened out in her chair, green eyes glimmering from under her hood with enthusiasm. “It was a very hard fight.” She picked something from her satchel, placing a shiny rock on the table. It was perfectly circular, made of some sort of metal, and filled with cracks. The cracks fizzled and sparked, pulsing with a light of its own. “A very worthy foe.”

“So that’s a graft core.”

“Electric graft core, and of good quality too!” Sybil spoke excitedly. “Do you see the intensity of the light? It means that the monster lord was killed practically at the peak of its power!”

“This dander-brain intentionally stalled the fight so she could get it to die when it was at its strongest.” Han groaned, leaning onto the table with an exasperated expression. “It attracted so many teethers, too. In the end, I wasn’t sure if the one needing more healing was her or me.”

“You should come next time!” Sybil proclaimed. “With your strength, you would’ve been able to wipe out the smaller monsters without a problem.”

Damon stared at her, blinked, remembering the ugly rat things and their very sharp teeth. He kept his smile polite. “I’ll think about it.”

“Ok. I’ll go clean up and sleep.”

“Wait.” Damon stopped her before she stood up. “Knight’s in the washroom, and I think we should talk about… well, him, before you go.”

“About what?”

“What do we do with him?”

Han nodded. “It is a good thing not to rush judgment. We’ll ask around, gather some proof and recordings. We should also visit the cave to confirm there’s no further proof to be found there, and also confirm the items they might have picked up from the merchant.”

“That’s good.” Damon nodded.

“But if things are as you described them, then chances are we will execute him and his daughter.” Han continued without missing a beat.

“That’s it? Just… kill them?”

“They’ve killed users… or at least the knight has. The daughter might not have had the intent.” Han replied, stroking his beard and frowning. “The complication would be ensuring the village remains safe. We’ll probably have to stick around and wait until a squire to be turned into a knight and sent over.”

“That’s… that’s it? Just like that?”

“It is how things work this far away. Knights are obligated to carry out the law, and in their absence, users are to take the mantle.” He shook his head. “We’ll do everything properly and send the evidence to the guild as well. They’ve been stringent on this kind of issue for a while now, but if the knight killed users for profit, it’s a pretty direct ruling.” Sybil agreed, nodding as she glanced at Damon. “This troubles you?”

“Kind of?” He scratched his cheek. “I know I joined the army and all, but murder in cold blood is a bit…” A grimace followed. “One of those things that you always think someone else would have to deal with. Preferably someone smarter.”

“Army?” The two shared a look of concern. “You… are a soldier?”

“I’d signed up, yeah, but I got kidnapped a little after basic, so I’m technically the barest of bares in terms of being a soldier.” Damon shook his head. “Look, I’ll lend a hand where I can, but if this were up to me, I’d put the guy to do hard labor. The village’s going to need someone able to actually finish the traps, and I don’t think any of us have plans to stay here indefinitely.”

At his words, they shared a glance with each other.

“Wait.” Damon frowned. “I’m guessing ‘soldier’ is a word with certain implications? Some other special role I’m not aware of?”

“It’s the name of the warriors that waged wars before the Gods imposed the edicts of peace.” Han answered. “It is not a role.”

“Oh, yeah, that’d be about right. Where I come from, we still have wars going about.”

“But…” Sybil frowned a little. “Why would you become a soldier if you do not find murder appealing? Is your kingdom under attack?”

“I joined mostly because of money problems.” Damon shrugged, avoiding answering the second question entirely. “Made one too many bad choices. But I’d joined up as part of the military police, so it’s a role that sees a lot less combat. At least depending on where you’re deployed.” He waved his hand, trying to dismiss the subject. “By any chance, would there be a way to use the edicts to force the knight into the whole hard labor thing? It’s tricky enough to get the villagers to help.”

“All edicts restrict action, not force action. And what do you mean about the villager’s help?”

“Been thinking of how to convince the villagers to defend themselves.”

“That goes against the edicts.” Sybil declared.

“Depends on how you go about it, the traps are one way to go about things, but I’ve been thinking about a few others.” Damon muttered. “They’ve been somewhat of a tough crowd to convince in digging holes in the first place.”

“Because the task of defending the village falls on users and knights. It is how things have always worked.”

“So, what? Villagers can’t help make traps?”

“Sybil might get a bit heated on this subject.” Han said. “But she does have a point. It is very rare for non-users to be pushed to help in the defense of where they live, only in the more extreme cases, such as some of the larger cities needing shield bearers to serve as walls of metal to slow down monster hordes.”

She nodded to her friend’s words. “There’s no need for such things where there’s such little threat.”

“Except it makes it less possible to hold users or knights accountable if they overstep.” Damon pointed out. “But the idea of putting up shields is a good one, I’ll admit. I think there might be some interesting options to consider.” His words were followed by a quick shake of his head. “You should go do whatever it is you do after killing lots of monsters and I’ll get back to helping with the trap making.”

“You’re… not tired?”

“Oh no, I’m beat!” He grinned as he stood up. “But I figure I’ve got at least another couple hours’ worth of work before I’m definitely completely wiped out. So I might as well go at it while there’s still sunlight to burn.”

Sybil and Han just sat there, watching him go in stunned silence.

“Maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t want to hunt monsters. It could put us out of a job.”

“What do you mean, ‘not want to’? He said he’d think about it!” Sybil replied with indignation.

“Sure.” Han rolled his eyes.

Seeing the villagers needing rest so frequently felt off to Damon. Who’d consider an hour long break for every hour of work? At first he thought they might be just trying to laze about and do their minimum, but Linda had been quick to point out that the situation was the exact opposite. He was the one that was out of place.

The doubt of her words was gone by the end of the first day. The silver-eared sasins might have had hymns, but it was impossible to miss the slack-jawed stares they’d throw his way the longer he worked chopping and carrying around tree trunks. It was tiring work, but Damon preferred tiring himself out than staying still and letting his mind run circles on subjects he had no control over.

The most distracting thing to think of was the differences between himself and the locals. Sasins could reliably outrun him in a sprint, and the speed with which they could do manual labor was impressive. But the endurance was bad. Damon didn’t know any biology to find a reason why this was. Despite their clearly alien form, their basic shape was humanoid. Perhaps it came from how quickly they seemed to overheat from exertion? At least that was his suspicion, based on how more and more villagers had to focus on bringing buckets of water from the well to keep everyone hydrated.

Then again, biology had not been his strong suit.

His musings on the matter were put on pause when he realized his rest between trips was taking too long. The sun was well past the zenith, it felt like a good time to stop for the day. Damon headed on over to the smith, giving a once-over to the progress thus far and feeling quite happy about how things were turning out; they were roughly two thirds of the way through.

“Hey.” He called out to the older man as he worked on fixing the knight’s sword.

The short man shrieked and jumped, already half-way to the back door before he noticed it was Damon and stopped. “Oh, it’s you.” He glowered.

“Sorry, just passing by. I wanted to ask you for something.” He stepped into the smithy area. “A tool for you guys to potentially wield.”

“Tool?” The man frowned, putting down the glowing piece of metal. “What sort of tool would we want?”

“Something to protect yourselves.”

“If you want to deck the village in armor, you better have a lump of gold hidden in that house somewhere.”

“I was thinking about something cheaper.” Damon replied. “The concept is simple, a sturdy long stick capped off with a second curved stick.”

The smith put down the blade, snatching a piece of paper, tossing it at Damon. “Draw it.”

With a shrug, Damon made the two lines. A straight one connected to the curve of a very broad ‘U’ on its end. “That’s it.”

“That’s it?” The smith frowned. “This is a weapon. A really bad weapon at that.”

“It’s not meant to cause harm. The tips would be blunted.” Damon explained. “To put it differently, can you pin my hand on the table?”

“I’ve seen you carrying those trunks. The answer is a very solid no.”

“Imagine if twelve sasins were wielding this and trying to use them to pin an individual to the ground or a wall.” He extended his hand. “Or imagine them using it to obstruct a monster from getting closer. It couldn’t hurt or kill them, only block their path.”

The man’s eyes widened. “This feels similar to the shield idea.” He rubbed his chin. “Do you know of the shielders?”

“Only heard a bit about non-users having shields.”

“Non-users carrying shields. It’s a job in the big cities that can spare the metal. Non-users can be often put under the command of a knight and guided to make barriers to block the advance of monsters.” The voice came from the entrance. Damon turned to see Linda standing there, approaching with a raised brow. “I felt old Gaus being surprised and inspired. That doesn’t happen often.”

“Look.”

She took the piece of paper, nodding slightly. “Inspired by a fork?”

“It could be useful against teethers and people.” Gaus replied. “Like using shielders to pin a monster down.”

Tapping her chin in thought, she glanced at Damon. “Your second pair of boots are ready, by the way.” She made a motion towards her house.

“Oh, neat.”

“Get washed up and I’ll have them ready at my place.” Linda lifted the piece of paper, waving it. “Gaus will make four so you can show us how to wield them. Tomorrow.”

She eyed Damon one more time, a slight smile on her lips. “Remember, clean up.”

As she walked out, his gaze lingered on the sway of her hips. He couldn’t remember seeing Linda in such a good mood since meeting her. It had started off as hard determination to bull her way through into the house to cook, but she’d quickly become the one to get the village organized to take part in the whole hole digging and trap making.

The woman had been of great help.

Which had left him mostly unsure how to handle it other than stepping back and letting her help. There was something definitely endearing about that drive.

“Better hurry.” A slight chuckle at his side turned him to see the amused Gaus as he shook his head and returned to work on the sword.

It was clear Damon was missing something, and he suspected it had something to do with the hymns. Again. It was like everyone around him could read each other’s minds and he was not in on the joke.

Another thing to get used to until he found a way back home.

With a shrug, he returned to the house, confirmed the knight was still alive as usual, ignored his silent glares, dropped off some food, washed up to dry off all the sweat from a long day of work, and put on a lighter set of clean clothes while hanging the work-ones to dry off.

He walked up to Linda’s place, knocked twice, and stepped inside.

The work area was empty, tools littering the counter, and no boots to be found.

“I’m on the upper floor!” Linda called out. “Close the door behind you!”

The only other door there led to the living space, which was odd. Damon closed behind himself and followed up the creaking stairs to the second floor. He reached a small common area with a fireplace and a dining table.

His eyes were drawn instantly to the only other person in the room.

Linda stood next to the table, wearing a light brown shirt that reached all the way to her thighs and a set of shorts that didn’t make it to her knees. It was the body of a woman who’d worked hard for most of her life, she kept herself well, there was just enough plumpness to her figure to promise many places Damon could hold onto if he so wanted.

The thought was immediately pushed aside when he noticed she was looking at him very intently, her hand patting a bundle of cloth that rested on the table. “These are your boots.”

Though she said this, Damon didn’t step forward to claim them, feeling she had something more to say as she brushed the French braid over her shoulder. There was some odd amusement in her eyes as she nodded at him.

“So you really can’t hear hymns, huh?”

His back straightened a little more. Was this some sort of faux pas? “No, ma’am.”

“Alright, then.” She tapped the bundle on the table. “You can take these and walk out, if you want.” Her cheeks took a slightly darker green coloration as her hand dropped from the table and moved to pinch at the edge of her shirt. “Or you can accompany me to my room before you take them tomorrow morning.”

Damon hesitated. “You are aware I’m looking for a way back home.”

“I’m aware. I prefer it that way.” She nodded, not moving from where she stood, fingers dancing with the hem of the shirt.

“May I ask why?” He really didn’t want to, his throat was dry and his eyes kept moving to her calloused fingers as she teased the shirt slightly upwards. But a part of him felt like he’d miss something crucial if he didn’t.

“I had a mate. I enjoyed that while it lasted, but it’s not something I am looking for anymore.” Linda took a step forward, gazing into his eyes, inching the shirt slightly further up, revealing a hint of navel. “Does this bother you?”

He quickly shook his head. “No, I’m just not aware of the local customs.” He stepped closer. “I’d rather be sure of what’s expected before I step into anything.”

“Oh.” Her lips curled forward, stopping right in front of him as she began to raise the shirt and revealing a belly button. “What you should expect is one night, with a potential for repetition based on results.”

“No concerns we might be incompatible?” He crossed the remaining distance, looking down at her cheeky smirk and feeling himself growing hotter.

Her hand reached for his crotch, giving him a squeeze. Her eyes widened a little as her face took a darker green. “Why don’t we find out?”