Chapter 30 | The Bandittide

The bells of the church rang, reverberating across the small village. Theo stepped out of the Alchemist Filip’s house, wiping his hands on a towel. A frown hung on his face. He crossed the gravel pathway and went into the street. Villagers were running around, seemingly scrambling for the church.

But he was quick to notice that they seemed more annoyed than scared.

“What’s happening?” Theo asked one of the passing men, Mr. Luke, the village’s baker.

“Oh, Theo. I guess this would be the first time for you. Come, walk with me. I will tell you on the way.”

Theo nodded. He had finished the next batch of Summerleaf soap for the villagers and had cleaned up the lab already. There was no reason to linger. He locked the door and pocketed the key before following the man.

“Don’t tell anyone that I said this.” Luke squinted his eyes and leaned closer to him, speaking with a conspiratorial whisper. His gaze seemed to wander over to the forest in the far distance every now and then. “But the bandits have become much more active since the independence.”

“Hm? Why?”

The man gritted his teeth, looked around once again as if he were scared of others hearing, then answered.

“It’s because of the new king.”

“The new ki—?”

“Shush.” Mr. Luke stopped him. “On second thought, let’s not talk about this any further. You will come to learn more as you live around here.”

“O~kay.” Theo turned his attention back to the small church. The building had a visibly different architecture than the rest of the village, made up of well-masoned stone blocks. A bell tower rose high, about ten meters if Theo had to guess. And in the front-facing wall of that bell tower was a huge insignia made of what seemed like brass, displaying three brilliant stars, each one bigger than the other.

Mr. Luke pinched his glabella and prayed under his breath for a second when he saw the insignia.

This wasn’t out of the ordinary for a villager. Theo had seen many others do the same before. None of them seemed particularly religious, so this was more cultural than anything.

It seemed that the previous Emperor himself had these churches built all around the realm. Before that, there were apparently many different religions. But those religions had been rooted out with the immense efforts of the last few emperors. The remaining religion was utilitarian in its teachings; at least that was what Satou had told him.

The Star Lady and Madame Moon, Theo repeated in his head.

The current state religion for the kingdoms of the realm worshipped two deities.

Although Theo couldn’t find much on the topic, especially because he hadn’t personally talked to the pastor himself, the people here either worshipped the manifestation of the moon or the stars.

The small courtyard in front of the church was quickly filled with villagers. Theo reunited with Satou and Long Tian amidst the crowd.

“Hey, what exactly is going on? I asked Mr. Luke, but he was being all sneaky and suspicious about it,” Theo asked.

“One of the nearby villages must have been raided by the bandits.”

Theo crossed his arms and raised a brow. While that did sound bad, it didn’t explain why they had gathered here.

“What does that have to do with us?”

“When bandits raid, they don’t simply raid one village and leave. They will raid the general area before high-ranking warriors can be dispatched from the capital and leave beforehand.” Satou shook his head.

“Huh, makes sense. Will we have to fight?” Theo asked, his hands twitching at the thought. He wasn’t sure what to do about the prospect of fighting other humans to the death. Though he had no delusion that he would be able to somehow stay a pacifist, the thought still made him frown. Whatever happens, I will cross that bridge once the time comes.

“Probably not. I haven’t ever heard of this village being raided, even once.”

“What? Why?” Theo asked.

“No one knows, but whenever bandits try to approach this place, they are found unconscious in the forest or just straight up can’t find the place.”

“That’s weird. Are you sure you are not the one doing that?” Theo asked. Protecting the village from the shadows sounded exactly like the type of thing Satou would do.

“No.” The Assassin simply shook his head. Theo raised a brow.

“So there are no guarantees?”

“There aren’t,” Satou said. “What I can say is, I will be here to protect this village. I… like it here.”

When Theo heard Satou’s words, he understood. This place had a place in his heart. It could even be the place Satou would settle for his so-called slow life.

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And Theo had a quest. One that he was eager to complete.

[Ding!]

[Quest updated.]

Huh. What is—

Before Theo could look further into it, a young man tripped while running and crashed against his side. When he lifted his head, Theo noticed the youngster was crying. Without giving him the time to ask, the young man rubbed his eyes with his arm and ran away.

“What the hell?” Theo muttered as he turned to look. Although he couldn’t quite see what was going on, he did notice a crowd of young men just like the one from before standing in a circle. He focused, pushed aside the unnecessary noises, and listened in on their conversation.

“Tch Tch… To get rejected by his childhood sweetheart,” one of them said.

“How sad. They used to get along so well, but I haven’t seen them together lately. Any idea why?” another one asked with a frown.

“You know that guy? The one who used to sit around reading all day. What was his name again… Aiden, right? They have been getting really close with Emma lately. I have to admit, he had quite the glow-up.”

“Damn, we should go cheer Kai up. A man must not give up just because of a rejection. Doesn’t he want to become a knight? A person like that shouldn’t be bothered by childish things such as romance.”