"So, can you repeat to me what happened again?"

At that moment Yuuto could only feel scared, his body looking like a shrunken small animal in front of a predator. Standing in front of him is the one who called himself Chief. He stands several centimeters taller than the elves who helped them earlier, his body looks more built compared to others who have a leaner figure. In the corner of his eyes, he can see Osgord waving his eyes and thumbs up. He let out an exasperated sigh and began talking.

Yuuto recounted how they ended up in the village, how Osgord escorted them inside, exploring the village, and the moment they saw the mother of the child and how they fought the crimson hounds. The Chief looked at him intensely while listening to him analyzing every word that came out of his mouth. While he is explaining himself Alice remains silent. He expected her to join him in explaining as she is clearly the one better in talking but to his avail she just remained seated silently listening too. After hearing what happened, the chief closed his eyes and rubbed his chin.

"I see… This is much more troublesome than I anticipated" he said, opening his eyes.

Alice suddenly breaks her silence "what do you mean by that" she narrows her eyes.

"It seems like our village has an increasing amount of monsters roaming around from this month. But at that time no one had ever been attacked directly. This current accident is what we can officially call a 'monster attack', " he explained "did you see anything unusual about the crimson hounds when you save the little girl; like behavior or features?"

"actually yes, " suddenly all the eyes look at him

"explain" the chief hardened eyes look at him.

"we saw tentacles growing out of the back of the hounds"

"Such troublesome development, " he took a hard sigh. Yuuto and Alice look at him. They both know that the hounds having a tentacle growing at its back is something unusual but is it really dangerous that the esteem chief made a statement like that?

The chief shook his head "Don't worry about what I said. You are guests in this village, just let me and the hunters deal with this and about the letter we will take about it after we fix this problem" he assured them "and thank you for saving two of the people of my village" he bowed before taking off.

After checking that the chief had completely left, Osgord approached Yuuto. "I thought that you two will be just exploring the inside of the village? "

"Well that's supposed to be the case but the lady suddenly appear, begging for us to help"

Osgord took a deep sigh, clearly being stressed by Yuuto who just got suddenly pulled into the problem of the village he was not supposed to be part of. He is just a visitor, he's not supposed to be dragged with the problem

"It's fine, I supposed I cannot change things that happened in the pass"

Speaking of the past, where could the child he and Alice saved, and what about her mother. Where did they place them? Due to the sudden appearance of the village chief and his interrogation, and the adrenaline rush from escaping the crimson hounds Yuuto had forgotten to check up on them.

"Where is the child and her mother? Are they OK? " Yuuto asks. Alice side eyes him but chooses to remain silent.

"I predict you will ask that but not this so soon" he said "the mother is outside, while the girl is inside of the druid's clinic"

'What did he mean by predicted? ' he mentally asks. Putting aside Osgord's statement. Yuuto needs to check up if the child and her mother are truly fine. Even though they are not related or acquainted with each other. He still needs to see them, he can't stomach the thought of not seeing them or just checking their health before they go out to the next town.

Outside of the village meeting hall, they are greeted by the figure of the mother approaching them. Unlike earlier, she is now much cleaner, without those grime and dirt around her body. Though, her eyes are still red from crying. She tried to block it off but her white skin certainly didn't help her cause.

Instantly she captured his hands "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you" she repeatedly said until it turned again into sobbing, water began to drop out of her eyes and once again she cried. "Thank you for saving my daughter"

"Don't worry, your daughter is safe now. There is no need to cry more." It was the first time for him to see someone crying in front of him. He had no experience to calm down someone crying, so he did what he thought would ease her heart. "Let's see your daughter. I'm sure she's waiting for you."

When they arrived at the clinic, they were welcome by the sight of the druid frantically pacing around the office. She is holding a lot of documents at her, some already falling due to the amount. Down on the floor tons of clipboards with pictures and diagnosis and documents sprawled around. Sensing their presence, the druid snaps her head to face Yuuto. The druid's face is nowhere better than her surroundings, her blue hair is practically a bedhead, black rings around her eyes, and unhealthy pale skin. If Yuuto didn't know that she is the druid he would think that she is one of the sickly patients otherwise.

She immediately approached them "I'm sorry for my state and my office. But despite this I'm certainly the druid" she tried to sound professional but she let out a tired voice. Seeing her state, no one can really blame her.

"Don't worry about it. I think we all have this kind of phase" he replied.

"Certainly" she let out a dry laugh "I presume you are here for the new patient" she ask

"Yes!" the mother instantly said, getting a surprise from Alice and Yuuto. "I'm sorry, I'm just worried for my daughter" she apologized.

"Follow me then, I think your daughter is wake up by now"

Without wasting any more time, the druid directed the group to one of the patients' doors. Upon opening it, the girl in question, the girl who he saved, the girl who her mother pleaded for them to be saved, was in the bed sitting looking at them.

Her verdant green eyes snap open. She let out a whimper, slowly tears began to form under her eyes. The girl tried to stop her upcoming tears but miserably failed, and in that moment her eyes were flooded with tears and her cries filled the room.

Her mother was no better. She swiftly ran towards daughter, tears flowing down on every step. She tightly hugged her, not letting go as if she would instantly disappear if she lost her grip. She let her cries bawled out, cherishing the moment to see her daughter again.

Both of them cried their hearts out, letting their tears flow down until both of them were too tired to go on.