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Alil village bathed in the sunlight of a new day, and farmers woke up early to tend to their fields. Despite being on the outer borders of the Rosia Kingdom, the village was lively and relatively safe. It used to be a battlefield, but the citizens dreamt of a better future for this land. 

Woody\'s Store was one of the few general stores that supplied the city with fresh supplies raging from dried veggies to chicken. Woody, the owner, was cleaning the hen house when a shadow passed over him. 

"A ship?" 

Woody realized that it was indeed a ship, but he couldn\'t understand why it was turning upside down. Then, as he was getting more confused, Woody saw a figure fall from the ship. 

The figure flailed his arms through the sky. Woody panicked and rushed toward the estimated location for its fall but had no idea what to do to save this person. 

\'If I had only practiced and hunted as my dad told me to...!\' Regret blossomed in Woody\'s gentle heart. He realized that this moment might be the reason for his existence, but he had failed to prepare. 

The figure landed in front of him before Woody\'s feet could carry him. Woody fell to his knees as he closed his eyes to avoid seeing the terror of the scene before him. 

\'I need to give them a proper burial,\' the poor man realized, and he steeled his heart. He didn\'t hear any screams after the full, so he hoped it was a painless death.

"Cough, cough," as the dust cloud began settling, Woody realized that the person in front of him was alive. "Damn it, Sergio, you have finally turned insane."

"A-are you alright, good sir?" Woody stood up hurriedly, but a young man walked out of the dust cloud before he could rush in to help.

"Oh," the young man paused. His attire was quite simple, but it was too modern. He wore a pair of sweatpants and a hoody, and there was a grey headband covering his head. "Ah, yes, I\'m fine. Can I know where this is?" 

"Alil Village, good sir," Woody looked up and down at the young man, looking for any twisted limbs or bleeding wounds, but there was nothing. 

\'Heck, he isn\'t even dusted!\' Woody couldn\'t believe his eyes. 

"Alil..." the young man muttered as he pondered, seemingly trying to remember something. "Ah, the border village that is going to..."

The man wanted to say something but closed his mouth. It seems there was something on his mind, but Woody couldn\'t force his mouth open or anything of that sort. 

"Are you truly okay, good sir? You fell off a ship!" 

"Dammit, the ship," the young man looked up and saw the ship readjusting its course in the sky as it flew away. "Dammit, Sergio, dammit. How is this solving anything?" 

"Good sir, if your ship is stolen, then you can seek out the three knights that are currently in the village hall," Woody suggested, but the man simply shook his head. 

"This is nothing but a simple disagreement with my friend," the young man scratched his head. "Do you have a store or something?" 

"I do,"

"Great, then you can help me with that. I want to buy some stuff from you," 

"Ah, what about your ship?"

"I don\'t think it will be going far," the young man shrugged. "Let\'s go into your store. I want to buy a few things," without caring about Woody\'s response, the young man walked into the store. 

"Ding," the bell announced the entrance of a new customer to his store, and Woody hurried to keep up with the customer. He hurried to stand behind the counter as the customer studied his items. 

"Well, can you give me these items?" 

Woody didn\'t know how the customer took a slip of paper out of thin air, but he was too preoccupied with reading the items to think about it. Then, after a few seconds, he realized that he had it all. 

"Right away, good sir!"

Woody hurried to grab the supplies, carrying boxes from the storage room to the counter. As he was loading them, he noticed that the customer leaned on the wall quietly and waited for him. 

"Ding," 

Woody heard the bell ring again while he was in the storage room. Fearing that the customer left without paying, he placed down the box of supplies and hurried to the counter. 

  "Ah, sir knight!" 

"Greetings," the knight aloofly smiled as he glanced to the side. "I saw a shadow through the window, so I thought you had another customer." 

"I..." Woody was about to say that there was indeed another customer, but he found the shop empty when he looked around. As he was trying to ponder if he was dreaming, the knight walked closer to the counter. 

"As a servant of his Majesty, we are here to ensure that Alil Village is safe from the recent monster attacks. But, unfortunately, there is an increased tax for the dispatch, and every resident needs to pay." 

"An increased... tax?" Woody\'s forehead began sweating, and his mouth dried. "Sir knight, please show kindness. The monsters\' attacks placed us in a horrible situation, deterring travelers and merchants alike. That\'s why an increased tax is..."

"Silence!" The knight\'s roar shook the store, and his sword left its sheath instantly. The blade\'s tip rested on Woody\'s neck, and the poor man\'s body trembled. "Without His Majesty\'s grace to dispatch us here, everyone in your village would have turned into some monster\'s snack. So pay your dues, peasant." 

"I... I... understand," Woody gulped, and the movement made the sword break his skin. A fine rivulet of blood fell to his neck. The knight withdrew his sword, and Woody hurried to collect the coins. 

After the knight left, Woody was left alone with nothing but abandoned boxes of supplies. The pouch he had in hand was light, almost empty, and it resonated with his crushed hopes of surviving this month.

"What am I going to do?" 

"I\'d advise you to leave this Village and go to a bigger city. Even as a homeless, there\'s less of a chance to get mugged by a knight or killed by a monster," a voice answered from the corner of the store, startling the owner. 

"Good sir! You are still here?" Woody wiped away his eyes. "What do you mean mugged? It was tax money, nothing else," 

"The kingdom did not impose a protection tax, not yet," the young man walked closer to the counter. "If you stay here, they will just milk you dry," 

"I have no other place to go, sir," Woody shook his head before rushing into the storage room to finish loading the supplies. "These are all of them!"

"Good, here you go," the young man threw a gold coin over, and it was almost double the price he needed to pay. 

"Ah, I lack the silvers to give you back... I think I can ask a few friends; can you wait?" Woody began looking in his pouch. 

"No need, keep the change," the young man shook his head. "As for those knights, they won\'t bother you anymore." 

"What do you mean, good sir..." Woody looked up, but the young man was gone, and so were all the crates. As if everything else was a figment of his imagination, only the gold coin remained in his hand. "Thank you, Good Samaritan..." Woody clenched the gold with tearful eyes, not knowing of the ominous fate awaiting the knights. 

*** 

"Damn it, Sergio, damn it," Nikolai grumbled as he walked through the shadows of Alil Village. Everything went south when Sergio confronted him about Nikolai\'s intentions to leave him. 

The alchemist didn\'t agree to it and cried that he would brew more potions. Naturally, Nikolai refused as that wasn\'t the issue, and the blonde alchemist decided that since Nikolai would leave after this journey is over, everything would be fine as long as he does not. 

"What kind of logic is that, Sergio!" Nikolai was furious, but he knew that his friend wasn\'t the most logical person alive. Alias couldn\'t have gone far, as no matter what, Sergio wouldn\'t abandon him. 

There were two issues: first was the supplies, as Sergio and Nikolai didn\'t account for two more people accompanying them, and then there was his Curse of The Banished. Nikolai needed to buy more rations and clean water and devour humans to keep the curse inactive. 

"I solved one of the issues," Nikolai muttered as he hid in the shadow of a tree, gazing at the knight walking away from Woody\'s Store after robbing him. "And it seems I have found my next meal," he bared his sharp teeth at the unaware knight. 

Despite being called Knights, some of these people weren\'t far from being bandits in the name of the king. They weren\'t satisfied with their income and chose to extort money out of simple people.