Chapter 10 - Echos

Kuro's Village - Mess Hall - Two hours later

{Analaize}

Sigh.

He repeated the process several times before eventually standing up from the table and returning a small sample of powder to its sack.

I guess things never are that easy after all.

Simon quietly turns his head towards the small girl sitting beside him.

"Kayae, I'm heading out for a bit. Please keep directing the villagers while I'm away, alright?"

"A-Are you heading into the forest?"

Simon shakes his head to the side before replying, "No, I'm going to go talk with Kuro about the powder for a bit. Hopefully, he might know something about how it was made or at least some of what’s in it."

The crimson-haired girl's expression lighted up at the news before nodding her head with a smile. Happy to know she wasn’t going to be left behind, "Alright!"

Sorry, he thinks as he exits the building.

Near the front door, Kuro is standing nearby thumbing the cap of his empty flask idly just out of sight. With a nod Simon motions with his hand for him to follow as the two men head towards the village's edge.

"You can be a real bastard at times, son, you know that?"

Son? A sly smile tugged at Simon's lips before he replied, "So you've told me. But I can't babysit her in the forest, especially when I've got no idea what I'm going to find in there."

With a sigh the Elder nods his head before speaking, "That's true. Be careful out there. The monsters in the area used to be rather passive, but something in them has changed over the last few years. They didn't attack our villagers when they went out to gather herbs and the like, but then one day... something within them changed.” Kuro sighed while staring off into the distant forest,” The wolves stopped running when we approched and instead they started holding their ground and attacking solitary targets. Eventually, they even started attacking larger groups. I'd tell you more if I could but well, no one left in the village has been in that forest except possibly Kuritn, being a former adventurer and all."

One of Simon's eyebrows raised up slightly at the 'adventure' statement but chose to ignore that tidbit for now. Adventurer? I thought he was a former bandit and mercenary. Although thinking about it, I doubt there's much difference between the three professions in all honesty. Mercenaries always did have a tendency to commit banditry whenever they thought they'd get away with it, even back on Earth.

Shifting his attention back towards the elderly man Simon replied, "Alright. I'll scout out the area for a bit and ask Kuritn for more information if I spot anything I can’t handle. Last I checked the old musclehead was still passed out in the storehouse after we finished torching his place."

The elder's pace suddenly quickened slightly as he grabbed hold of Simon's sleeve, clearly not done with their conversion, "...You know why, don't you?"

Simon shook his head before meeting Kuro's gaze, "No, but I can take a guess."

"A guess?", the village elder asked while crossing his arms, urging Simon to continue.

"Aye. Judging by your explanation I'd assume that they most likely developed a taste for beastmen flesh or even monkra flesh after finding some remains and eating them. If that's truly the case, we've stopped being two-legged monsters with sharp sticks to them and instead turned into an easy meal with an included toothpick."

Kuro's ears perk up at the word, clearly enraged, "W-Who called you that?!"

Simon waves his hand in the air, clearly dismissing the slight, "Don't worry about it, but can you at least tell me what the proper word is? Judging by your reaction it's probably best I don't go around calling people that look like me 'Monkras'."

"Human. It's human," Kuro states dejectedly clearly still enraged.

"Human. I see. Thanks. I'll try to bring back some more food for the village. I'd rather not have to rely on the jerky for any longer than absolutely necessary."

Kuro shudders slightly at the thought, "I agree. What's a toothpick?"

"It's a thin piece of wood you use to pick anything that gets stuck out of your teeth with."

"Ah, we call that a toothpick. I've heard that humans and elves have a tendency to use them after eating. Never saw much point in it myself since well..." Kuro flashes Simon a smile before licking in between his teeth. "We beastmen have a built-in one I guess you could say."

A smile crosses Simon's face before turning serious. Kuro notices the sudden shift and quickly changes his expression to match Simon’s before the latter starts speaking, "Do the kids know?"

Kuro shakes his head from side to side, "No, I've already spoken with several of the villagers, None of us are going to mention it to them. Ever. Anyone that doesn't already know isn't going to and honestly, I'd like to believe those that don't already know are smart enough not to ask where a sudden influx of strange jerky came from."

"Good, despite not sharing your religious views, I've never been fond of ‘horse’."

The tired Elder shakes his head at the obviously glaring omission before noticing the all too familiar sad smile across his newfound friend's face, "Aye. I've never been fond of 'horse' myself either."

With a nod Simon tries to step around the man only to feel a hand tightly grab hold of his sleeve, "You still haven't told me why you think they've developed a taste for our flesh."

Shit.

Simon let out a soft sigh for speaking, "Kuro, those bandits weren't carrying any food or camping supplies, right?"

"Aye," the old man stated while tapping his fingers across his crossed arms with a raised brow.

"While I was out earlier, uh, 'attending' to things, I took some time to scout around the area. I never found any sign of a campsite anywhere nearby even after looping back around and following the horse tracks. They came from inside the forest, which means that wherever these bandits are coming from, their base is likely somewhere in that forest."

"Aye, I admit I was curious about their lack of supplies myself, but I haven't really had time to look into the matter. I've been busy running around cleaning up after a certain new guest and putting out literal and figurative fires."

A sly smile crossed Simon's lips, "Heh. Aside from that something else stood out to me, more specifically, this." He gestures towards the long coat currently draped around his shoulders before giving it a light pat. "This doesn't seem like something any normal bandit would typically wear, much less head out to a raid in. I'm not even from around here and I can already tell you that."

Kuro's eyebrow tilted upwards, "Why not? It's excellent quality and well made. Not to mention durable."

Simon nodded his head in agreement, "That's the problem. Something like this would most likely sell for an astronomical amount judging by everyone else's reactions and what the other bandits were wearing. Even if the bandits had to bribe a merchant to sell it for them, they still would have made a considerable profit off of it, and yet they chose to use it themselves. Which likely means..."

Kuro's eyes widened as the old soldier's words trailed off, "These guys aren't bandits?"

"Maybe, but it's safe to say that what we're dealing with here isn't your average group of bandits."

"But still, what does that fact have to do with the monsters in the forest?"

"Everything," he said with a sigh while staring out into the forest. "Suppose we assume that the nearby villages have already been destroyed. In that case, we can also assume that the villagers were taken as well since a prisoner is more valuable than a corpse." Simon tilted his head for a moment before correcting himself while staring at an impaled corpse."In most cases anyway. At the very least, the women and children would likely be captured. We can safely assume this since one of them did try to abduct Kayae before I arrived."

Kuro nodded his head grimly, clearly still following along with Simon's train of thought.

"Once the villagers were captured, the bandits most likely took them back to their camp in the forest before transporting them somewhere else. To be sold off as slaves or something else along those lines. If that is indeed the case, not all captured villagers likely managed to survive the trip either dying accidentally along the way or actively resisting. Leaving the bodies behind in the plains has a chance of discovery. Either by someone stumbling across the body or someone noticing birds circling overhead. Meaning-"

Kuro spits onto the ground interrupting him, "They left um for the monsters."

"Aye." Simon says with a solemn nod.

Kuro turned to the side as Simon walked past him before calling out, "H-How you know all this?"

"Because I've done similar in the past," he replied softly as he exited the village.