by Pegaz
As they were waiting, Sarah lowered her head. John noticed it from the corner of his eye and looked at her, only to see that she was getting nervous. Knitting his brows, he couldn’t think of a reason why she would be acting that way.
A few seconds later, Sarah sighed. “You know what happened the last time a stranger saw my face?”
Both John and Kelly stood in silence. Kelly was confused as to what she was referring to. Her mother was quite beautiful, and to her, it would be insane for something bad to happen from someone seeing her face.
John, however, was perfectly aware of what happened. He was embarrassed that he had forgotten something so important and traumatising.
Kelly tugged at Sarah’s clothes. “What happened, Mom?”
Knowing that Sarah might not be in the mood for a lengthy explanation, John answered instead. “Remember the story we told you about our past? Well, there was one part we left out.
“After I helped your mother fake her death, we wore masks to hide our faces so that nobody could identify us. Your mother was with our friend’s family while I was off training, and there was a man in the family who accidently saw your mother’s face.
“He didn’t know who she was and even if he did, he wouldn’t have reported her to her family because he fell in love with her at first sight.
“Not long after, your mom went to give some maps to a friend. During the visit, the man who saw her face went crazy and killed her best friend.
“After she found out about her best friend's death, she began hunting for the killer. This was exactly what he wanted. He used this situation to lure her out so that he could see her again.
“That man wormed his way into becoming your mother’s apprentice in medicine, but he only wanted to get close and see her more often. When the two of them were out hunting monsters, he purposely lured more monsters towards them so he could act cool and save the damsel in distress, but she took out the leader of the monsters while he got beaten up badly.
“Your mother eventually found out who the killer was and then began investigating the man to figure out why. She found out that he was a spy for another family and she gave this information to the head of our friend’s family so that they could hunt him down.
“Eventually, the man declared his love for your mother and explained why he did everything. The idiot didn’t know that your mom and I were married. He didn’t know about me at all, actually. It was definitely the shock of his life… which ended soon after.
John cleared his throat. “Since then, no other stranger has seen your mother’s face. Isabel and the others were no exception, and only after they started working for us did your mother show her face to them.”
Kelly stood with her mouth agape as she stared at him. John was starting to think that was her natural state as it happened far too often.
Looking over at the people who were gathering at the village’s fences, John rubbed the back of his head before directing his gaze towards Sarah. “This changes things. I was hoping to walk up and peacefully talk our way in, but to keep history from repeating itself and to give you some peace of mind, I think a little show of force is necessary.
“Something to make everyone think that if they even stare at you or Kelly, I’ll hunt them down without fail.”
Sarah’s head snapped up. Her piercing glare needed no words, but she said them anyway. “No deaths.”
John gave a nervous smirk and made his way towards the town. Without turning around, he waved his hand in the air before shouting, “If I can help it.”
“Does dad kill people often?” Kelly asked worriedly.
Sarah’s heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t a question she wanted to answer, but she knew it was best if she responded honestly.
“In this world, you’ll eventually have to kill somebody in self-defence, to defend your beliefs, protect your family, or many other reasons. Your dad… Well, how do I put it? He found a permanent solution that works for all problems with other people.”
John, who was still able to hear their conversation, was rather impressed by how Sarah softened her answer.
He looked at the people gathered outside the village and noticed none of them were equipped with any armour. They all wore holey clothes that had been patched up in some places and most of the equipment they had were long sticks with sharp stones attached to the ends.
Is the village that poor they can’t get weapons and armour for their fighters? What happens if a continuous bear comes out? It’ll eat a few people, walk away unharmed, and then come back later for seconds.
When John got to about forty feet away from the group, one of the older men walked forward and stopped roughly five feet away from him.
“Who’re you and what do you want?” the man asked.
John looked at him. The man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, was carrying one of the group’s few metal weapons and his trousers were being held up by several strands of frayed twine tied around his skinny waist. His eyes and cheeks were sunken, making him look sickly.
John only smiled at the man before throwing a punch. Using as little strength as possible, John hit the man’s stomach which caused the man to lunge forward while holding his stomach. Then, he hit the back of the man’s head with the side of his palm which knocked him out.
John started walking towards the rest of the group after the man hit the floor.
Seeing that negotiations had failed, the group of people ran towards John while screaming.
The first man tried stabbing John with his makeshift spear, but John leaned to the left to dodge the thrust before he grabbed the weapon and snapped it in half. After that, John used the same tactics of hitting the stomach then the back of the head to knock the man out.
A few seconds later, John had already knocked out five people when a long axe was swung towards his waist.
Keeping his composure, John moved his back leg further away so his body could duck under the axe’s swing. When the long axe passed above him, John stood back up and rushed to the man to knock him out, too.
John got a lovely surprise a few moments later when someone standing inside the watchtower grabbed a bow and launched an arrow at him, using what little strength the malnourished man could muster.
He hadn’t dealt with ranged weapons since the tournament on the Sword Sect’s private planet. Arrows were a rare commodity because they needed to be created from stronger metals and other materials to have a chance of hurting or killing immortals. Because of this, the cost of creating arrows that you might not get back after one shot far outweighed the pros of using them.
John shoved his foot under the long axe the man had just dropped and lifted it into the air, catching it before it had a chance to fall.
He then moved the axe into the path of the arrow.
What nobody knew was that he used his threads to make it happen since he had never done that kind of stunt before. He did it this way to impress his daughter more.
After the arrow was lodged into a part of the wooden handle of the axe, John grabbed it and threw it to the guard inside the watchtower.
The arrow hit the ceiling of the watchtower as it flew only inches away from the guard’s head. A vibrant buzzing sound caught the guard’s attention as the arrow vibrated, causing his whole body to shake. His forehead started sweating and he collapsed to the floor in fear.
John took only a few more minutes to knock everybody out.
He started walking towards the second largest building inside the village as his Scan had picked up an old man with a long, shaggy beard sitting at a desk.
The old guy wore better clothes than the villagers and was slightly plump. It wasn’t wrong for John to make an educated guess that the elderly man was in charge of the village.
Sarah and Kelly started walking towards the town. Although Sarah had used her Scan to see everybody was only unconscious, she still checked everyone with her Life Vision to make sure that John hadn’t killed anyone.
To hid
e the fact that she knew everyone was alive without being near them from Kelly, Sarah walked up to each person and checked their pulse.
After checking the last person’s pulse, she turned to Kelly and smiled. “Your father didn’t kill anyone. That shows that he’s in complete control of his strength which is more difficult than you think. You might get to this stage in about fifteen years if you work hard.
“It also shows that he possesses the knowledge needed to do it. Strength isn’t just about training your body. It’s about training your mind as well.”
Kelly nodded and clenched her fists.
Sarah saw Kelly clenching her fists, but she didn’t know if it was new determination to become stronger or the fact that studying was mentioned.
She dropped the subject and placed her hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “Let’s go catch up with your father and see what’s happening.”
Chapter 8: New Home
John smiled at the plump, old man and then showed him the Bahan Kingdom’s insignia on his brown t-shirt before speaking. “The people outside couldn’t recognise this, surely as the head of the village you’re different?”
The elder looked at what John was pointing at.
The symbol was anything but simple. It consisted of a small, round shield supported by a Pegasus on each side, resting on a grassy hill. A lavish crown of crosses with rows of precious gems decorated the outer rimes as it rested atop the shield.
The shield itself had five colours which were painted in a symmetrical vertically striped pattern. Underneath it, near the top of the grassy hill, was a banner that carried the kingdom’s motto, which read, “Reap what you sow.”
This was the insignia that only the kingdom’s knights were allowed to wear, making knighthood a dream for most men. Knights were there to protect the kingdom, kill monsters, enforce the law, and help the public. They were given the legal right to kill anybody in their way.
The old man stood up and his shaky hand pointed to the insignia on John’s shirt.
“Seems like you recognise it. The men outside didn’t and I taught them a lesson, but nobody died,” John declared with a grin. “My family and I want to settle down in this village. I’m retired with the king’s blessing, my wife is a doctor, and my daughter is training under us both.”
“Welcome! Welcome!” the elder said with a cackle. “Sorry for the watchmen. I’ll make any complaints of theirs disappear!”
With a toothy grin, the old man scratched his belly and took a bite out of a stale cookie nearby. “This must be fate because the previous knight in charge of protecting this village was called back to the capital a year ago. You can take his old house if you want it. It’s the largest house on the outskirts, facing the jungle. It has a large training area, three bedrooms, and because it was built only a few years ago, it has indoor plumbing!”
John was surprised they had a house ready for them to move into—he was expecting to have to build one himself—though the circumstances were odd to him.
“Why was that knight ordered to return to the capital if he was living way out here? The capital is thousands of miles away. Surely there was someone closer to return instead of him.”
The old man was still smiling as he shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t know if it’s true or not, but I heard the king was attacked just over a year ago.
“They buffed up security, probably needed all the extra men they could find. Anyway, let me show you to the house! Where’s your wife and daughter? Are they here with you?”
John nodded. “My wife is probably out helping the villagers I knocked out, just to make sure there’s nothing wrong with them. I’ll go fetch them while you wait here.”
John walked out, but a thought popped into his head.
Was the attack on the king the incident I caused? The timing does fit.
If ever the knight comes back, I should go attack the king again, or keep going back every now and then just to stop the knight coming back in the first place.
Inside his Scan, he could see the entire village only had seventy houses which were built close together. All but one had people inside who were cowering, praying, or holding a weapon while staring at the door. John assumed that the empty house was the one they would be living in for a while.
As he walked down one of the few paths that wasn’t covered in mud, he saw Sarah and Kelly walking towards him. He smiled and waited for them and as soon as they reached him, he began explaining what the old man said as he took the big bag with all their stuff inside it from Sarah.
Kelly was excited as she kept asking John questions about the fight. She held John’s hand with both of hers as she faced him and examined his hand.
John was laughing at Kelly’s excitement and Sarah was smiling too, but she had to warn Kelly about watching where she was going since they were walking to the old man.
As they walked, John described the house to them and Sarah played along, even though she already knew what it looked like just from using her Scan.
When they reached the old man, he was talking to somebody who saw them and ran off.
“The villagers went into their homes and waited for any news after the warning sound went off. I asked that man to tell everyone it was a false alarm. Come, I’ll show you to your new home!”
“My wife wants to open a small, medical practice, but according to your description of the house, there isn’t anywhere she could practice.”
“No worries!” The old man turned and winked at Sarah. “The village will be more than willing to build you anything you want! All you have to do is ask! This village hasn’t had anyone who practices medicine live here before, so you might need to tell us in detail what you need built.”
John and Sarah knew what having nobody who practiced medicine actually meant. With mortals, if there was nobody who could help, they would abandon the sick person.
Usually the family would get one person to try and nurse the sick back to health by feeding them and letting them rest in bed. They did it this way to minimise contact in case the illness was contagious.
If that didn’t work or the other person got sick too, they would carry the sick individuals into the wilderness and let the animals deal with it. If they believed it was highly contagious and the village was at risk, then they wouldn’t take the risk of being infected and would instead burn the house down with the people inside.
People who knew medicine were more welcomed than knights since doctors were rare outside the capital. The king would gather doctors to help heal knights after training and in case a member of royalty was to fall ill.
Coming out of their dark thoughts, they arrived in front of their new home. Kelly ran inside to check out each room and the facilities while John listened to Sarah explain what she needed built.
She didn’t ask for much, but they decided to build the medical practice close to the house so she could easily run to the medical facility in case of an emergency. She asked for a good amount of beds since she knew medical equipment was non-existent in this universe, thanks to the immortals halting any technological advancement.
After more than an hour, the couple thanked the leader and watched him hobble down the road to inform the villagers that they had a new project to start.
When he was out of view, John and Sarah entered their new home.
Chapter 9: Those Who Can, Teach
As John and Sarah were unpacking in their new home, Kelly went to explore the nearby area. Along her journey, she spotted a girl around her age eyeing her from the corner of one of the more rundown houses. Kelly waved and walked towards her, but before she got close, the girl panicked and ran away. Out of curiosity, Kelly ran after her.
The little girl ducked into a house a few houses down and slammed the door behind her. Kelly walked up to the house and knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a tall woman with a sunken face and skinny limbs. Kelly was going to ask if the little girl could come out and play, but she didn't know the girl’s name. By the looks of
things, the woman wouldn't let the girl come out either.
"S-sorry… I have the wrong house," Kelly stammered before backing down the walkway and running home.
When she got there, she found her father sitting at the kitchen table. "Dad… There are people starving here. Why don’t they hunt like you do?"
John looked at her, baffled by the sudden situation.
"Some people just aren’t as strong as me and your mother. The creatures out there are tough when you’re underequipped.”
“You can hunt. Can’t you help them? I saw a girl that’s my age and I don’t think her father is around. That could have been me if you…”
Her words faded. She seemed bothered by it more than John expected.
“I tell you what,” John said, patting her on the head. “I’ll hunt a bit extra when I go out tomorrow. Just this once, since you’ve asked.”
Kelly’s eyes brightened up and she tossed herself against John, hugging him tightly.
* * *
The next day, John went out to hunt various monsters for their meat.
He knew that continuous bears were carnivores, which meant there must be some kind of species to be preyed on and after a few minutes of searching different areas with his Scan, he found a creature eating pieces of wood off a tree.
It had short brown hair, a long face with two small eyes near the centre, and two ears at the top shaped like satellite dishes. Its short front legs had sharp claws which grabbed the wood for its buck teeth to dig into. The body of the creature was straight for the most part, but then it started to curve downwards, at an angle that made it look like a cliff with a hump. The back legs were straight like a human, but there wasn’t much of a leg above the ankle.
John compared this creature to a beaver that didn’t have a tail and was much larger as it stood at two feet on all fours, but over five feet in length. He killed it and harvested its meat for the villagers.
I’ll teach the villagers how to hunt these rodents while defending against—and maybe even killing—continuous bears. In the meantime, I’ll go to the higher ranked areas and get the good stuff for Sarah and Kelly.