After they were welcomed, Mira asked them to follow her saying: "Well, we've introduced the village people to you. Come on, let's take you to the place where you'll be staying." Mira began walking through the markets crowded with people. Jesse and the others kept looking with amazement at the strange creatures being sold in the place, such as small creatures resembling crabs but covered all over their bodies with hair, being sold in one of the small shops. The group members kept looking with amazement at the village markets and the things being sold in them while the voices of vendors were everywhere promoting their goods: "Lentils for ten Inro." "Bread for five Inro."
Mira stopped in front of one of the huts and said: "Well, this is your accommodation, boys. You can take some rest. As for you, my friend, follow me to take you to the women's hut." Mira and Jenny slowly moved away from the place while Jesse and the other two entered the hut. The hut from inside was a medium-sized room with three separate beds and a clay jar full of water in front of the door. Nicholas's pupils widened and he rushed toward one of the beds and fell on it, then pulled the cover and covered himself with a big smile on his face saying: "Oh, the warmth! Oh, the comfort! Oh, my happiness! I had completely forgotten the good feeling when sleeping from sleeping so much on dirt and rough ground." After that, he fell into deep sleep.
Jesse headed toward the water jar and began drinking, then he too headed toward the bed and covered himself with the blanket, and began closing his eyes slowly to rest from this tiring day. After the two fell asleep, Ethan remained awake. He stayed for some time looking at the hut from inside, then turned and left the hut and began walking and seeing the small shops here and there, between shops selling knives and others selling food.
While Ethan was amazed by what he saw, he collided with one of the passersby in front of him, causing both of them to fall to the ground. The passerby in front of him was a boy of the same size as him, with smooth hair wearing a blue shirt and brown pants. The boy looked at Ethan angrily and shouted at him: "Can't you look where you're going, you fool?" Ethan didn't react except to get up and look at the boy with bewilderment. The boy's pupils quickly widened and he pointed his finger at Ethan saying: "Oh! You're that new person who can't speak." The boy put his hand on his head with a slight smile saying: "Sorry, man, this is our first meeting and I started it by shouting."
The boy raised his arm to shake hands with him saying: "Let's forget what happened just now. Your name is Ethan, right? My name is Joseph, pleased to meet you." Ethan looked at Joseph's hand with bewilderment, then remembered the moment when Jesse returned the handshake to Mira. Ethan raised his hand and shook the other's hand. After that, Joseph asked Ethan to follow him.
They moved between the markets and huts until they reached a small red-colored stall with five wooden chairs. Inside it was an elderly man with white hair and a big beard with small eyes, along with two other people sitting on chairs eating soup while talking to each other. Joseph and Ethan sat down and Joseph ordered two bowls of mushroom soup. The stall owner took their order and went to prepare it. Joseph said: "This stall serves the best soup in the village, and I'm sure you'll like it. This will take some time but it's worth it."
The two remained waiting for their order, while Ethan kept staring at the stall from inside, looking at the utensils and ingredients. He couldn't hear anything except the market noise and the talk of the two men who were eating in front of them. He started looking at them out of the corner of his eye while focusing on what they were saying.
One of the men said: "Man, did you hear what happened to Marcus's squad?" The other replied: "Yes, the news is spread everywhere." The first said: "What bad luck they had meeting the Katoran Empire." The other continued: "Yes, I feel bad for the victims' families, especially old lady Rahaf. I heard she's been crying day and night since the news spread." (He closed his eyes and sadness appeared in his tone of voice). The first said: "Yes, but there's nothing we can do for her. He's already dead."
Ethan was distracted from listening to them when the stall owner placed a bowl of mushroom soup in front of him. Joseph thanked the stall owner then turned to Ethan with a slight smile saying: "Come on, try it and feel its attractive taste."
Ethan looked at the bowl with squinted eyes, then took it and began smelling it to be surprised that its smell was appetizing. He then carried it and took a sip from it. From the first sip, his eyes widened greatly, then he took a second and third sip, and with each sip the taste became better. The soup was so good that he finished his bowl in just a few seconds.
Joseph laughed a little while looking at Ethan's mouth full of soup remnants and said: "Hehehehe, man, I think you liked it a lot." Ethan looked at Joseph's bowl with wide eyes and quickly snatched his soup and drank it. Joseph's features froze for seconds, and before he could react, he found that Ethan had finished his bowl too. Joseph looked at his empty bowl, then looked at Ethan. Seconds hadn't passed before the stall owner began laughing hysterically saying: "Hahaha, boy, he loved the soup more than necessary, hahaha!" After several seconds, Joseph also began laughing, while Ethan was licking the soup remnants on his mouth.
Joseph paid for both bowls and told Ethan he would go to his hut. He said: "Goodbye, my friend, I really enjoyed being with you. I hope to see you again." While Ethan began returning on his way back to his hut, the markets were empty and most people were closing their shops, and others were heading toward their huts.
During his way, Ethan began hearing the sound of hysterical crying. He directed his gaze toward the source of the sound to see an old woman fallen on the ground with tears flooding her eyes. Her face was red from so much crying, and there were some people around her trying to calm her while she screamed: "(crying sound) Why? Why my son? He didn't do anything wrong, so why did they kill him? (crying sound)." One of the people who were trying to calm her said to her with a gloomy face full of sadness: "Calm down, madam, I'm also sad about your son's death, but you know how savage and powerful the Katoran Empire is." The old lady put her hand full of wounds on her face and her crying voice began to increase: "Curse Katoran, curse them all! (crying sound)."
While Ethan was watching the woman's screaming, he felt a strange feeling he had never felt before, a feeling that wasn't comfortable. Slight features of sadness appeared on his face. After that, he averted his gaze from her and continued his way toward the hut, with the old woman's voice decreasing little by little with each step.
Ethan reached the hut at sunset to find Jesse and Nicholas lying on the ground with some food in front of them. Jesse looked at Ethan quickly with features of bewilderment on his face saying: "Boy, where have you been all this time?" Ethan ignored him with cold features and headed toward one of the beds and went to sleep. Nicholas looked at the sleeping Ethan angrily, and with a kind of anger in his tone of voice said: "Hey, boy! Get away from my bed." Jesse put his hand on his shoulder and said: "Don't worry, man, you can take his bed, the matter isn't worth shouting about." Nicholas removed Jesse's hand from him and continued eating the food in front of him, while Jesse kept looking at the sleeping Ethan with a look of bewilderment, wondering what had happened to him that day.
(the end)