Having all eyes fixed on my location made me feel slightly uneasy. So far I have consistently garnered attention from those around me. Of course, I have learned in this short amount of time that the cause is due to being an anomaly. Although this is the first time I have had eyes on me filled with worry and distrust.

“Ah, Erica!! Welcome!”

One of the women at the table called out, prancing up to Erica with a friendly smile on her face.

“Oh, is this the boy? Hey there, my name is Katie, but, most call me Kat.”

She crouched down to my level while looking at my face with a warm genuine smile.

“Hello…. I am Niko.”

“Niko, huh. Welp, why don’t we go over and have a seat and get started with the meeting, okay.”

“Nods”

Katie began turning around to walk back towards the table but is stopped due to Erica lightly grabbing her arm. Katie turns around with a confused face, Erica scoots closer to Katie whispering to her.

“Hey, Katie, why do some of the council look so upset about Niko?”

“They are afraid that he might be one of the child soldiers from Ailiven, They are worried they might come for him if they know he is here.”

“But, we can’t just abandon this child who is in need, even if he is one of the child soldiers then we need to try helping him, I hear they are treated horribly, tortured and forced to become killing machines it’s so awful.”

“I understand how you feel Erica, some of us on the council are not against helping him, but, we still don’t know anything about him, so if we did decide to help him we would have to be sure he is not going to cause a threat to the village by being here. For now Let’s sit and finish the discussion with the council, okay?”

“Okay”

Katie led the two of us over to where everyone else sat, there were two seats open next to Katie where she gestured for us to sit. As if sitting was a sign to once again continue the conversation the others around the table seemed to have forgotten our existence already and once again began debating.

“I understand the opinions of those who are worried about bringing in Niko, due to the fact that he was found half a mile from the wreckage of the altercation between the Nation of Ailiven and the Nation of Ayria. When he was found he had a military uniform common among the Ailiven forces, so of course, we can assume that’s where he is from. During the two weeks that he has been unconscious no one has come looking for him, the soldiers only came to check the wreckage and ask questions. They know we are a neutral village settled in between the two warring factions if they wanted to raid our village looking for him they would have done so without the worry of any repercussions. This leads me to believe that for whatever reason they are unaware of his existence and think he is dead along with the rest of the crew.”

The whole table agreed with this point. Why would they just come and go without any search for the boy if they knew he existed? The children soldiers are rumored to be some of the most effective elite’s Ailiven has. Some of the council once again stole a glance in my direction with a face full of thought. I could tell they were trying to come to an understanding about how they feel regarding the situation.

“Hmm… I hear your side clearly, Niko could you tell us a little about your situation? Where do you come from and how did you end up in the forest?”

“I was on one of the Ailiven ships. Ashley asked me to help defend against an attack when we got ambushed by Ayria ships trying to take over one of the outposts setup at a mana pool. Ayria destroyed the ship Ashley was on, so, I destroyed Ayria’s ship in a fit of rage. I used up a significant amount of mana during the battle as well as causing myself to be injured, then I lost consciousness before waking up in the forest, where I managed to stumble around before being attacked and once again losing consciousness. Now we are brought to this current moment.”

Everyone seemed surprised by my words. Erica looked at me, her mouth opening and closing before finally managing to speak.

“Niko, are you saying you managed to take down an entire ship?”

“Mmm… Yeah, although I used up all my mana during my rage so it seems like I am unable to tap into my abilities, all I have left is my physical capabilities.”

“Is that normal for child soldiers?”

“… I.. Don’t know, I have never met any. Although due to the attitude of those that surrounded me, my capabilities seem abnormal.”

“Hmm… your situation seems a tad odd but due to the fact that the soldiers are not aggressively looking for you from either side, we will allow you to stay tell your wounds have healed. Worse case scenario we should be able to pass it off as just helping a child who was lost in our forest, and being neutral should save us from any issues, but, if we decide to allow you to stay you will be put to work helping the hunters on top of other jobs alright.”

“Nods”

“Alright then… All in favor of allowing Niko to recover in our village say Ay.

(All) “Ay”

“Alright, then this will conclude the meeting for now. Erica, Katie, Since the two of you call the shots for the hunters why don’t you take Niko to the training grounds.”

“Sounds good Chief!”

Katie and Erica waved to me gesturing for me to follow behind, we then exited the village chiefs house.

“Chief, that boy is an unknown how can we just allow him into the village? Especially being a child soldier we have no idea what may happen.”

“Although he is a child soldier we cannot just leave him on his own. If Ailiven comes searching for him we can try to garner favor using the fact we helped their own. The child seems a little disconnected, who knows what he has been through, if we can help him then we should, you have heard the rumors of children soldiers correct? That is no way to live.”

“True, We all agreed in hopes that you are correct, so, let us pray we do not regret this decision.”