BXBX NOVEL Chapter 562 Back to the North (2)
Zooming across the sky Marcus flew towards the first human settlement he ever entered after arriving on Mirrion.
It was a place that held a special meaning to him, and he wanted to make sure that it was not in peril before moving onto the rest of his mission.
Certainly, he should have met with the captain in charge of the emergency troops first, but he figured that he could do that tomorrow after he checked in with this village.
‘Well, it looks like it is still standing.’
Seeing the silhouette of the village from afar, Marcus could see that it appeared to be intact, and there were plumbs of smoke coming up from their chimney’s indicating that the people were still alive.
However, as Marcus got closer, he could see that the village looked quite a bit different than it had been before.
It now had a very sturdy looking fence that was around twelve feet tall made around it, and there were also a number of what looked like yurts had been put up all over.
‘What the hell are those? Did a bunch of people migrate to the village, and they set up temporary shelters? No, those yurts look way too nice for something made on short notice, and there is no way the villagers could afford to have them built.’
Wondering what the hell had happened to the village, Marcus picked up his pace and closed the remaining distance in just a couple of minutes.
Now he could clearly see that the fortifications of the entire village had been strengthened significantly, and the pathways had been cleared of snow which was unusual.
Even though winter had only truly started recently, this far north it had been snowing for a couple of months already, and there was around two and a half feet of snow built up on the ground..
Landing a few hundred yards outside of the new fence that surrounded the village Marcus reappeared and then ran up to the gate.
However, while he looked around, he did not see anyone monitoring this area, and even as he looked into the cracks of the fence, his viewpoint was not enough to see if there was any movement.
Of course, he could easily jump over the fence without any problems, but he did not want to cause any trouble if he could avoid it.
Knocking on the gate Marcus made quite the racket, and shouted out, “Hello if someone could open this gate please, I am trying to enter the village!”
A minute later he saw some movement coming towards the gate, and a person soon appeared on a platform that allowed them to look out over the gate.
Staring up at this person Marcus was surprised to see that they had furry ears similar to Lyra.
There was no doubt that this young man was a fox beast person like she was, though they had auburn hair unlike Lyra’s golden color.
When they saw Marcus, it was quite obvious that he had confusion written all over his face, not expecting to see a random person out here in the deep north.
Though what really surprised them was Marcus’ attire.
In his haste he had not put on any winter clothing and was just wearing a set of black clothing that was what he normally wore when adventuring.
It was truly perplexing to see and Marcus out here like this, and his ethereal presence with his snow-white skin and platinum hair made him look not quite human. Which of course he actually was not.
Marcus then watched as the fox beast person jumped down, a bit of fear on their face, and say to his comrades, “I cannot appraise her, whatever that thing is. I think it might be the fabled monster called a yuki-onna.”
Hearing this Marcus groaned since he was being mistaken for a monster. Well, he was sort of a monster, but not the one this fox beast person was mistaking him for.
‘Where the hell did, they even hear about yuki-onna from. I have not seen any mention of them anywhere.’
Seeing that things were not going his way, Marcus decided that the direct approach was the best way since he was now beginning to worry that the village had been taken over by whoever these people were.
Jumping over the fence and landing on the other side he saw a group of six beast people talking amongst themselves.
But as they saw him jump over the fence, they immediately became guarded and pulled out their weapons.
‘Hm those are pretty good.’ Marcus thought looking at their weapons.
All of them had mithril weaponry, and as he appraised them, none of them were below level twenty-two and the strongest was level thirty-four surprisingly.
In most places this would be considered quite the fighting force on its own, and Marcus wondered who they were.
It would not make much sense for a band of brigands to try and take over a village on the frontier, especially since it was patrolled by the kingdom’s soldiers at least once a year.
Really there was nothing here for them other than the people, and illegal slave traders would not set up camp and fortify a village they were going to ransack.
“Hello there. It seemed like you were not going to let me in, but since this is sort of my home village, I cannot simply stand by if it is danger. So, if you would not mind explaining to me who you are, I would be appreciative?”
Trying to act cordial, Marcus was hoping that things would go over smoothly.
Unfortunately, they went the exact opposite, as the beast people surrounded him while glaring at him warily.
As much as he was suspicious of them, they were even more suspicious of him, as he had just appeared here all of a sudden in an area people did not usual venture to. Especial during the winter.
After they had a standoff for a couple of seconds, one of the beast people lunged forward with her spear.
Following the trajectory of the weapon Marcus could see that it was aimed at his leg and that it seemed they were trying to disable rather than kill him.
Still, he was not going to let this rabbit beastwoman just stab him, and simply reached out and grabbed the spear.
Then with a hard yank he ripped it from her grasp, and she fell face first into the snow.
“Okay how about we try this again. I would like you to explain what you all are doing in this village. I do not recognize any of you, and while it has been a bit over a year since I was back here, I doubt that you all just decide to make your home here in the village.”
“Oh, and if you do not want to answer, I can simply pummel all of you instead.”
Shivering, all of these beast people’s heightened instincts told them that Marcus was not someone that they should be fighting.
Jumping back, they put a good amount of distance away from him, and the highest level one who appeared to be a snow leopard beast person let out a very high-pitched screeching sound.
Sighing, Marcus was about to just give one of them a slight beating for some answers when he heard something approaching fast.
Looking over to his left he saw a literal bear of a woman running right for him with a massive mithril club in her hands.
An instant later this bear beast woman jumped into the air and began slamming down with her club.
Feeling his danger sense going off, Marcus quickly jumped back a dozen meters as this woman slammed into the ground.
As she impacted, a huge spray of snow and dirt blasted up from the ground, and the area she impacted now had a ten-foot deep and thirty-foot-wide crater in it.
Seeing this, Marcus was pretty impressed by this person’s power.
‘That is not something just anyone can do. Ah level fifty-three. She is very strong. But what the hell is she and the rest of these beast people doing here?’
Watching intently, he stared at the bear beastwoman as she exited the crater she had made.
Yet now her hood had fallen back, and Marcus quickly recognized who she was.
They had never met before, but her remembered her for her brutality when she fought in the tournament.
She had killed her first opponent who was a knight and had beaten her other opponents pretty badly until she ultimately lost to Natasha in the quarter finals.
“Your Andrea, right? I saw you fight in the kingdom’s tournament. We never crossed paths, but perhaps you recognize me? I was another competitor, and I lost in my fourth round to a man named Quillon.”
Hoping that if Andrea recognized him, he might be able to resolve things peacefully, Marcus took a shot in trying to jog her memory.
Hearing him say this, Andrea looked intently at Marcus and a look of realization came over her face.
She did remember seeing Marcus, and while she had honestly forgotten most of the competitors, his battle with Quillon was very memorable.
Many said that it was actually the best fight in the entire tournament, and Ardea agreed.
Shouldering her club, she kept her eyes on Marcus, still cautious of him.
“Yeah, I remember you, or more precisely your fight with that swordsman. Though I cannot remember your name, so why do you not introduce yourself and tell me why you are here?”