“What if I put it like this?”
“It is very visible.”
“What are you going to do with the arm?”
“Let’s get rid of it right away.”
“How many more are left?”
“About twenty people.”
“Alright, I will make sure of that.”
“We are the only ones suffering. What are the others doing?”
“But you were promised an intermediate seat.”
“Well, it seems like a good town with good girls.”
As the conversation continued, Hendrick saw that there were a total of four adults pulling a corpse. The men looked familiar;
He must have seen them in town before. All of them had vigilante marks on their arms. Then he saw another vigilante body on another side.
“All are vigilantes,” he thought to himself in shock, “Did the four kill the other two?”
The village was without a chief, so the vigilantes could be said to be the central axis.
From the conversation that went on, Hendrick figured that they were a stronghold of bandits. If they could kill the remaining number of people, it was possible to overthrow the village and make it their base. He had to inform the village. But then he hesitated. If about twenty vigilantes were remaining, it meant that a large number of them were already in control.
However, the refugees were mingled with thieves. It was not easy to distinguish them. He did not know who to trust. His parents never taught him how to handle such a situation.
Hendrick stealthily moved away from the scene. When he got to a safer distance, he sent a message through the helper. He used the points obtained by destroying some items.
A reply came:
-You don’t know who to trust? In that case, don’t trust anyone. It is better that way.
-If you doubt anything, take caution. The one you trust could be the traitor. I know, because I have been betrayed.
-if you are unsure as to who to trust, then the best choice of action is to not trust at all.
What God said felt like the answer. But it was shocking that God had also been betrayed. The thought made Hendrick realize that he had to be more careful.
Once he was done preparing some herbs, Hendrick went down to the village. As usual, he found his younger brothers at Aunt Hopa’s house.
“Oh. I did not have as much today as yesterday. But what can I do? There is nothing left to eat today,” she said as she saw Hendrick.
“It’s okay, aunt.”
Hendrick wanted to share what he discovered with Aunt Hopa but restrained himself as he remembered what God said.
They went home quietly. At home, Hendrick called Belter aside to inform him of what had happened in the mountains. He did not want Dorothy to know yet, but she was suspicious, for Belter was not good at managing his facial expressions.
“The bandits are dangerous.”
“Yes, they are.”
“There are about twenty people left. That is almost half them.”
There were about 50 vigilantes in this village, and they specialized in defending and guarding the village. They were selected from the village residents after a certain evaluation. They would take turns patrolling when on duty, and would resume their normal business when off duty. However, they would all come together during emergency situations.
As the brothers talked, they realized there had been a loophole. People entered and left the village freely. That was possibly how the rogues found their way to the village. If they were too many, then it was too late, even if they informed the adults. Yet, if they didn’t mention a word, it would become a village of thieves. If they overthrew the village, the consequence would be worse than the normal looting: they would settle down and make them their slaves, the boys would be recruited as bandits, and girls could suffer more.
“How about leaving the village?” Belter asked, “I know that outside the village is dangerous, but with this type of situation, it makes no difference,” he was thinking hard.
The village was not well established in terms of security because it was far from the province. It had been formed by people who left the war.
“Leaving? Where would we go?”
The nearest town was to the west, a ten-day walk by an adult, and much longer for young ones. There was also no guarantee for their safety should they arrive there.
“Is there no adult to talk to?”
“I can’t trust anyone now,” Hendrick said as he shook his head.
“At least one would not be a thief,” Belter suddenly brightened.
“Who?”
“The vigilante commander.”
“Ah, yes. Vigilante Fuval would not be a rogue.”
Hendrick knew him since the early days they came to the village. His parents had received a lot of help from him. But Hendrick shook his head, “I can’t be sure.”
He did not trust anyone anymore, even those he used to, for they might have changed.
“Let’s go in now. The kids will be hungry.”
“What else did you bring?”
Hendrick gave him a big smile, “I brought some good stuff.”
Belter looked confused as Hendrick showed him the sleeping bag. But he was shown how to use it. “Then, did you become a wizard?”
“No, I’m borrowing it for a while.”
The younger ones could not see where the items were coming from. It just seemed that Hendrick was pulling something out of the air. It was as magical to them as it had been with Hendrick earlier.
“It’s a little too much to use all four sleeping bags.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll share one with Tian. It’s too wide, though.”
“Is that so?”
“Huh.”
“Then I should put one aside in case of an emergency.”
Dorothy was more pleased with the braid than she was with the sleeping bag. She was not told how to use it, but Dorothy quickly found out and used it on her hair.
“Another chocolate bar?”
“Eat about two of these.”
Everyone ate two high-protein chocolate bars, vitamins, calcium, drank mineral water, and brushed their teeth. The chocolate bar tasted delicious, but the vitamins were awful. The calcium didn’t taste anything. The helper had explained that they were a kind of medicine to help make their bodies stronger.
“It would have been nice if God had helped us earlier,” Dorothy said, thinking about medicine, “Then our parents would not have died,” her tone was regrettable, but it indicated that she did not hold it against God.
Hendrick patted Dorothy on the shoulder and asked everyone to get up and leave.
“Where are you going at this time?”
“You have to wash and sleep.”
“Wash? Why?”
“It’s the way of the healthy, that’s why.”
It wasn’t what God said, but he had learned it after hearing the helper’s explanation. Hygiene had not been given the importance it deserved, for it was not easy to get water.
“Do I have to wash every day?”
“Preferably.”
“I’m glad the stream is not far away.”
They headed for the stream together. No other people were bathing at that time, so they were the only ones. Hendrick took out the soap and gave a demonstration of how it was to be used.
“It’s slippery, so you have to be careful not to miss it.”
“There is a bubble.”
“I like the scent. It feels like a flower.”
They did not enjoy bathing, but after trying the soap, they loved it. Dorothy even washed her hair with it. But it was so tangled so that she had to be helped to loosen.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a towel.”
“Do the towels look like this?”
They had never seen a towel that felt as soft as fur. Everyone admitted that it was also a gift from God.
“I washed well, but I feel weird in my dirty clothes.”
“We can’t help it now. We only have one set, Hendrick said, “Come here one by one.”
They gathered, and Hendrick measured the heights one by one with a tape measure. He was the biggest with a little over 140 centimeters. Belter was about 130, Dorothy was 110, and the youngest, Tian, was only 94 centimeters. They were all shorter than people who were the same age as them.
Hendrick also took measurements of his foot and wrote it down in his notebook.
“Wow. Is that a book?”
“Is it a bell? Isn’t it very valuable?”
“I also have an ink pen.”
“But what are you writing?”
“It’s a divine number.”
“Wow,” the younger siblings said in unison. They showed keen interest and watched as Hendrick continued to write onto the notebook.
Suddenly, the town became noisy.
“It’s coming from the village.”
It sounded like a mix of people shouting and metals knocking. Immediately, they knew what it was. It was the sound of the bandits attacking.
Dorothy hugged Tian tightly. Belter looked at Hendrick with knowingly.
“It’s from the mountain,” Hendrick said as he put his notebook and pen in his inventory, “I’ll take a look.”
“Isn’t it better to go together?”
“We might have left something precious in the house.”
“I was careful not to leave any traces of God in the house. Take this,” he said, handing over the market bag to Belter. It had a bottle of mineral water and several chocolate bars in it. “Protect the others, will you?”
Hendrick pulled out the thin sheath as well as the work gloves. The metallic blade shone in the faint moonlight. He then held it out towards Belter. Recognizing what it was at a glance, Belter nodded, accepting it carefully.