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JAIME FONTOYA

After spending an hour going from house to house with a wagon and collecting every single book in the village, I found Ilias pondering in the common lodge with a quill at hand. The piece of paper in front of him lay blank.

I pulled the wagon in and piled the books on the table. "Delivery of eighty-eight books for Ilias Van Payne."

He didn't respond.

"A thank you would be nice. I'm drenched in sweat."

He ignored my question. "Jaime, if you were to give me a unique ability, what would you give me?"

What's this about?

I scratched my temple. "The ability to be stronger than me. You're the boy, but I'm the stronger one? With that skinny body of yours, you can grow out your hair and look like a tomgirl."

"I'm never asking you anything ever again."

"What's the question even for?"

"Except for the two of us, every one of the sentinels has their own unique ability. It's even more embarrassing for me since I'm a State Jynxist. So I'm trying to come up with my own."

I nodded in thought. "Yeah, I don't know."

"You're of no help."

He picked up a book and began flipping through it, making two piles. If I had to guess, one pile was for books he found useful and the other was for ones he did not. I grabbed the quill he had been fidgeting with, wiped off the ink, and began cleaning my nails by picking off the dirt that was stuck under them.

After a couple of minutes, Ilias stopped what he was doing and stared at me. "Could you stop that?"

"I'm trying to keep my hands clean. I'm picking out the dirt from my nails."

"Do you have to do that here?"

"You're the one that's complaining that I should start acting more like a maiden."

"I know what I said, but do you have to do that here?"

I rolled my eyes and put the quill back where it belonged. I then rested my chin on my arm and stared at Ilias, who went back to reading the book.

He's nice looking, but if someone were to describe us, most or all would assume the wrong genders. He looks way too cute for a guy.

However, even though he wasn't masculine, there was something about him I found endearing—

"What?" he asked.

"What?"

"What? What? Why are you staring at me? It's weird."

"You don't want me cleaning my hands to be more maidenly and you don't want me staring at your pretty face. Why am I here?"

"Askeladd told you to stay inside the village. Yesterday night, you said you'd help me. I'm planning the defence of this village. The bandits will come any day now."

I stood up and paced back and forth, picking up a book. "And one of these explains how to beat them? Look at this one—The Tales Of The Peddling Bard. These are fairy tales."

Ilias flipped over the book he was reading to reveal the cover. "The History of the Great Battles of Armestis." He picked up another one. "The Great Sieges of the North." He showed another. "Dwarven Advancement."

I pointed at the bigger of the two piles. "There are more fictional books than historical ones. I'd say we take all of these books, sell them, and use the money to buy better equipment."

"I doubt these books would go for much. What would you do?"

I thought about it for a second and grabbed one of the smaller books. "We can throw books at the bandits."

"We don't have many books."

"We don't have many capable people throwing them either." I pointed outside. "Right now, most of the villagers are working on that wall and they won't be trained until it gets built. How long will that take? A month? Three weeks at the very least?"

"Okay, you're clearly just going to keep distracting me." Ilias sat straight. "I heard Hanzo and his friends are going hunting. Why don't you join them?"

I attached my sword to my belt and went out the door. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

Ilias went back to reading before glancing back at me. "Wait, did you just say I have a pretty face?"

I marched around the village and found Hanzo and two of his friends practicing with their bows. They had a target set up on a stack of hay.

"Hello, Jaime," Hanzo said. "What do you need? By the way, these are Yumi and Toya."

"Nice to meet you," I bowed to them "Ilias told me that you three were going hunting. I want to join."

"Have you ever hunted before?"

"Nope."

"You were pretty good when you fought Askeladd, so sure." Hanzo sighed. "Let's go. We were just about to leave."

The three of them gathered their things and began making their way along the main road.

"Can I see your bows?" I asked.

Hanzo handed his. I wasn't trained as a bowman, but I could tell this bow was well-crafted. Even Yumi and Toya's. Back in Gilead, I got a lot of chances to see the military's issued bows. The ones these three had were even better. The wood was much lighter but also stronger, the string was flexible, and the handle was smooth. Even the arrows they carried were crafted with the same quality.

"It's pretty nice." I gave the bow back. "It's better than the bows the military issues for its soldiers. It must've been expensive."

Hanzo laughed nervously. "Yeah... We traded about five beaver pelts just for these three."

"Are these all you have?"

"Unfortunately."

They're lying. I can tell. They just might be scared that we'll take them. I'll stalk them and find out where they hide their things. I might be able to surprise the other sentinels if I presented them with equipment.

We went up the hills and stood there for a couple of moments. Apparently, Hanzo and the others were gauging the direction of the wind. Prey animals had a good sense of smell and they'd know where we were if the wind blew our scent in their direction. We had to make sure we were hunting in a way that the animals' scent would blow towards us. We had to hunt downwind.

After about half an hour of walking through the woods, Hanzo found tracks heading upwind—which was a good sign. It meant whatever we were tracking hadn't noticed our scent. The four of us stayed low, moving quickly but quietly across the forest floor.

We stopped about halfway up a hill. Hanzo and the others pointed out what I couldn't see. Our prey was camouflaged and someone who wasn't used to hunting couldn't spot it.

It was a wild boar eating mushrooms.

Hanzo drew his bow. "Alright, you two, practice your shots."

His two friends did as they were told. Yumi and Toya both pointed their bows at the unsuspecting boar.

"What do I do?" I asked.

"If these two fail to kill it, it'll charge at us. If that happens, I'll shoot it. If I miss or fail to kill it, draw your sword and protect us," Hanzo whispered. "We're useless up close."

Yes! I hope it goes wrong. I haven't been able to use this sword properly. Now that I think about it, I should name this thing.

"On my signal," Hanzo told the others, waiting for a few moments before slightly nodding his head.

Yumi and Toya loosened their bows at the boar, shooting it through the leg and throat.

"A hit," the two of them cheered as the boar screeched. Fleeing from the area.

"Aren't we going to follow it?" I asked.

Hanzo continued to stare ahead. "Not now. Toya nicked an artery and Yumi shot through its throat, it'll die within minutes. We can follow the trail of blood."

Hanzo adjusted his aim and loosened his bow, shooting his arrow between another boar's eyes. It was hidden among the bushes, but now it lay dead.

"I didn't notice the second boar," Toya said.

"That's your mistake." Hanzo stood up. "You have the skills to kill game. You should've noticed the second boar so that both of you could've shot two different targets."

"Our bad."

"If you two were alone, one or both of you would've gotten mauled. A wild boar's tusk is deadly."

As Hanzo was lecturing them, I leapt forward, drawing my sword and stabbing it into the bush. There was a sudden clash, but I maneuvered quickly and stabbed my blade into a boar. My sword drew blood and it let out a squeal. I had stabbed it right through the heart.

"There's no way it's still alive," Hanzo questioned. "I shot it in the head. Right between the eyes."

I wiped my sword on the boar's hide. "The one you shot is lying over there—dead. This was a third boar that I noticed sneaking around us."

"I didn't even notice. How did you know?"

"Do you know jynx?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there are gates in each of our bodies that allows mana to pass through. Every living thing has this flow of mana and if you focus mana into your eyes, you can sense the auras of living things. I noticed it when it went around us."

"You gotta teach us that one time."

"Hehe. I'm just that good, aren't I?" I grinned with enthusiasm. "It's impractical right now. But, I bet Ilias can write instructions on how to teach yourself after we deal with the bandits."

Yumi and Toya ran to where the first boar was.

"I call the mushrooms," Yumi screamed.

Toya grabbed his feet, causing him to fall as he leapt over him to get to the mushrooms first.

Hanzo wrapped the bow around him. "We gotta skin and gut the boars so we can carry it back."

"But that'll waste the organs," I pointed out. "Shouldn't we be using every part? I mean, the hide itself could get you some money back in Shoya. Why don't we just leave the boar we can't carry and come back?"

"The wolves have already smelled blood and they're on their way here. Once we leave a carcass behind, the wolves will claim it as their own."

"Okay, fine." I returned my sword to its scabbard and washed the blood off the boar I killed with Water Cannon. "Pick up the one Hanzo killed and let's go."

They were certainly surprised I could easily carry a hundred and thirty pounds of dead weight. Elves were usually skinny, tall, and thought to be graceful. So when they saw me pick up a dead carcass like I was a dwarf, they must've been surprised. There was also the fact I was four years younger than the youngest of them, shorter, and a girl—though that didn't really matter much.

They had work muscles—muscles they developed while working. They could do things for long periods of time like moving them in one motion and holding a thing in place, but my muscles were something I got because of working out.

Jogging every day, swordplay, exercises. I was stronger than them and this was confirmed when I had to help Hanzo carry his boar by having us both hold one end. But it also meant that I would tire quicker.

I could comfortably hold my boar, but once enough time set in, my muscles would tire. The way around this was to take breaks, and luckily, these three kept asking to stop so they could relax their muscles and catch their breaths.

The villagers gathered around us when we got back, celebrating our hunt. A decision was made to roast the biggest boar. The other two would be cut up into smaller pieces for preservation.

"See? I do much more help if I don't sit around reading," I told Ilias. "I'm going to start hunting with them if there's nothing to do."

"Yeah, you're a good hunter. You did a lot, so let the villagers take care of the cooking."

"Huh? I did all the hunting and you still want me to cook?"

"That's not what I mean. Just don't get involved with the cooking."

"Oh, then okay."

Ilias sighed, sounding like it was of relief. "Thank the gods," he mumbled.

"Do you think I can learn the bow?" I asked.

"No. Stick with the sword and jynx. Once you get skilled enough, you can use jynx to do this." Ilias swiped the ground with his hand and shot out earth spikes from his palm. "Rock Bust!"

"Teach me."

"You still need to practice jynx more. Also, Askeladd said he'll teach you the three sword styles. You're a swordsman, so stick to that first."

The twins watched the boar being roasted over the fire.

"The smell brought us here," Roxy mentioned. "That smells good. I hope there's a sauce to go with it."

"You killed it, right?" Roxanne asked. "Which part are you picking?"

"Whichever one I get."

"Whoever gets first pickings is special. You killed it, so you get to pick which parts you want."

"Oh, hmm..." I pondered. "What should I go for?"

Roxanne wrapped her shoulders around me and whispered, "The kidney."

"The kidney? Eww."

She sighed. "You like bacon, right?"

"I love bacon."

"Alright. If you roast a pig, it's cooked in a way that the belly won't turn to bacon. The closest thing to bacon is the kidney."

I turned to Ilias. "Is this true?"

He shrugged, yawning. "The kidney filters out salt, so I don't see why not."

I know the look Ilias is carrying. It's when he's exhausted from reading all day.

"Fine," I told Roxanne. "But if I don't like the taste of kidney, I'm getting your dessert, if we ever have any."

While everyone was distracted from the roasting boar, I noticed Hanzo, Yumi, and Toya slip away. I suspected that they had more bows and possibly more equipment.

I excused myself, shutting off my gates and trailing them. They were wary, always looking back to make sure they weren't being followed. They walked in circles, trying to throw off anyone before heading into the storage building.

I hid behind the hut across and waited until they rushed out. They didn't have their bows and arrows either so they must've stored them in there.

I went into the storage building, which was used to store all their wheat and food. I rummaged around but found no bows or arrows.

They must've hidden it!

Of course. Why would they just leave it behind and risk us stumbling upon it?

I lifted up a latch I noticed on the floor. The trap door led to a cellar underneath the storage building. But instead of a wine room or pantry, the cellar was an armoury.

There were spears. Not sticks with a sharpened end. Actual spears made of fine-crafted wood and spearheads made of cold-rolled steel. There were numerous pieces of equipment—helms, chest pieces, and shoulder pads. There were well-made bows and a thousand arrows. War hammers, maces, flails, even pistols and dozens of boxes of ammunition.

Woah! Why are they hiding this? We can easily higher our chances of beating the bandits if we have these.

The other sentinels need to know about this.

I returned the storage room to the way it was and headed back to the middle of the village. The woodcutters were back by this point and were waiting for the roasted pig to be served.

"Is it true that you killed that thing?" Mondatta asked when she noticed me. "It's three times bigger than you."

"Yeah, with this sword."

"Ha! That's impressive."

Once the pig was roasted, I picked out the kidney and a handful of meat with crispy skin just like Roxanne suggested. The kidney had a strong earthy flavour and didn't taste anything like bacon. I switched it with Roxanne for more meat. She devoured the kidney like it was nothing and even Roxy was begging her sister for a piece.

Do they actually think roasted kidney is a delicacy?

The seven of us sat in a circle a good distance from the rest of the village. We surrounded a fire that kept us warm from the rising night.

"How's the timber collecting going?" Ilias asked.

"Surprisingly, we're moving at a good pace," Tony said. "The villagers work harder when we're there. We'll have everything we need in a week. Less if we work faster."

"The problem is moving the timber back here," Mondatta mentioned. "If we pair up the villagers and have them carry logs back here, it'll take an entire day."

"Half a day," Ilias said. "I can help. I have a spell a friend taught me—Stone Free. They're earth hands that can do most of the heavy lifting."

"We'll split up the logs in the village and separate them so it's easier to build the walls."

"Enough about us. You were reading the entire day," Mondatta mentioned. "You found anything useful?"

Ilias shook his head. "Not any that we haven't thought of yet."

"Anything, though?"

"Throwing rocks down the walls would be good, but we don't have enough time to build battlements along the perimeter. And we're digging trenches to prevent them from riding up to the walls in the first place."

"Our plan is to let them through a chokepoint from the main road." Mondatta pointed at where the chokepoint would be "We can build battlements there and throw rocks."

"There was also a story about how the defenders of a city snuck out through the sewers and attacked the attackers from behind. So with the combined efforts of the defenders on the walls and the ones that snuck out, they managed to win a losing battle.

"But this place has no sewers." Mondatta crunched down on the crispy skin. "And there's no time to dig tunnels. Especially since we're already building a wall and digging a trench that we're filling up with water."

"We also have to train the farmers how to fight," Roxanne reminded. "Anyone can use a spear, but not everyone has the spirit to use it."

"Hey, Boss," Tony said. "When are we going to start training the villagers?"

Askeladd swallowed what he was chewing. "Once the wall is built. I know we're losing a lot of time, but we need as many men as possible chopping wood, building the walls, and digging the trenches."

"That makes sense, but it does scare me that we'll only have about a month or so to train them."

"Less than," Roxy pointed out. "Remember, we're spending at least three days harvesting."

Mondatta washed down her meal with water. "Is that even enough though? It might be if we had good gear, but we have nothing but wooden sticks."

"Hehehe," I giggled.

Ilias gave me the side eye. "Why are you snickering?"

I stood up. "So you know how you guys were surprised because I took down a boar three times as big as me?"

They nodded.

"That's not the only surprise I have." I pointed towards the direction of the storage building. "Follow me, soldiers! Bwahahahaha!"

They didn't follow me immediately. Instead, they sat down for another couple of minutes to finish eating before reluctantly following my lead.

"Jaime, this is the storage building. Why are we here?" Ilias questioned.

"You're supposed to be the smart one, but it looks like the farmers have deceived you too."

After they followed me inside, they were wondering why I had taken them here. They looked worried because if the farmers found us here, they'd accuse us of theft.

Suddenly, Hanzo rushed into the room. "Hey, hey, you guys aren't supposed to be here. The others will think you're stealing our stuff."

"We're not stealing your stuff."

"Please—"

"Shhh!" I pressed a finger to his mouth. "We came here to help you fight, so I think it's paramount that no secrets are kept."

I kicked open the trap door and led them to the armoury that had been hiding underground.

Mondatta grinded her teeth. "What is this?!"

"You were worried that the farmers would have to fight with wooden sticks and no armour. If the bandits saw us wearing these, we'll demoralize them." I put on a helmet that was way bigger than my head. "Armour, weapons, bows. Look, Susan, there are even extra pistols and bullets for you. Hanzo and the other two hunters have good aim, maybe you can teach them how to wield a pistol."

The other sentinels weren't celebrating my find. In fact, they clenched fists and bared teeth as silence drowned the room. Hanzo was in the corner with his imaginary tail between his legs.

I knew hiding this stuff was greedy, but they were scared of us stealing them. Besides, I found all this stuff pretty early on. Why does everyone look so mad?

"Hey, what's with the mood?.." I asked. "This is good, is it not?"

"Jaime..." Ilias said, his voice cracking. "These gears are from warriors and adventurers."

"Uh-huh."

"No, you don't understand. This stuff wasn't traded for. These are spoils."

Roxanne placed her hand on the pommel of her sword. "These farmers killed unsuspecting adventurers for these. They ambushed wounded warriors during wars. Look, there's even recent military gear here."

Oh... but... No, I'm just a kid. I don't have any right to speak out. I don't have any knowledge or experience of being hunted down. Ilias took the State Jynxist Exam, so maybe he has a right. But I'm just a sheltered girl who glorified fighting.

"My father told me stories about how he and his platoon were speared down by farmers," Mondatta vented. For a moment, I thought she was about to summon Zenyatta. "His brother in arms died to farmers."

Tony cocked his pistol, keeping it in its holster as he leaned in the corner adjacent to Hanzo. "Same with me, except I experienced it first-hand. I was part of a mercenary group once. Our mercenary group wasn't made up of bandits. But we were chased down all the same. None of us died, but still—that fear of being prey—it's something that sticks with a person forever."

"My sister and I do a lot of adventuring," Roxanne said. "But there are times when we had to spend the night outside because villagers would chase us out of their villages. It's not the same, but it's something."

The gunslinger tsked, continuing to eye Hanzo. "I feel like killing them now."

Ilias' eyes were pulled together. He didn't say anything, but his stare and silence spoke a thousand words.

I was the only one who couldn't be angry, so Hanzo looked to me for help. I broke eye contact and stared at my feet.

Mondatta shook her head. "I'm leaving tomorrow. I ain't fighting for people that would've killed my father."

I looked at her. "Wait, what? You can't possibly mean that."

"She does and so do I," Tony said. "I'm a man who's always trying to improve his skill. I wanted to climb as high as I could. I decided to help people who couldn't climb on their own. But I ain't helping people who are willing to kick me down so they can be even higher."

Roxy looked at her sister for answers. "Sis?"

"Roxy and I will find another way to make money," Roxanne said. "I don't want to stay in a village that would've killed me if the circumstances were different."

"But you need money to cross the desert," I said. "What about that?"

"We'll manage."

"Jaime, we're going to leave tomorrow too," Ilias said simply.

"But—"

"It's not worth it. If four of us leave, we'll surely lose to the bandits. Especially with Messina, Vienna, and Florence. We won't stand a chance."

"Boss?" Tony asked. "What about you? Why don't we all head back to Shoya together?"

Askleadd stayed quiet as we waited for him to answer. He had his back turned to us this entire time. He finally turned around.

"Farmers aren't saints. They are devils," he said. "This isn't the only hidden cellar they have. I bet they have more in other houses. They convinced us to fight for them because they have no money. But they have hidden money. They do. They are full of lies."

Hanzo continued to gaze at the floor.

"And you're right, they hunt adventurers, soldiers, and warriors like ourselves." Askeladd had tears coming down his face. "But do you know why they became devils? Because they had to. It's because of us. We underpay them, we raid their villages, burn their houses and fields, steal their crops, enslave them, kidnap their children, and if they refuse, we kill them. It's our fault why they're the way they are. This gear is nothing compared to the millions of unmarked graves of farmers. Nothing compared to what they go through."

He raised Hanzo's chin so they were eye to eye.

"I'm staying. Even if I'm writing my death sentence by doing so."

No one said anything. We simply stood where we were, taking in what Askeladd said. He wiped the tears off his cheeks as if the words he spoke were from experience.

Unless...

"Askeladd..." I said, putting my hand on his. "You were once a farmer, weren't you?"

He smiled at me, wiping his tears. He left the six of us inside the cellar. We hadn't even noticed, but the village had congregated outside the storage room. They all had looks of worry on their faces.

So this is why they were trying to keep this hidden.

The gathering parted to let Akira walk through. He climbed down the stairs and went right up to us. "What's wrong?"

The tight grip Ilias had around his staff loosened. Roxanne let the hand that was resting on her sword's pommel fall to her side. Roxy eased her shoulders. Mondatta studied the gear within the cellar for a long while before sighing.

Tony uncocked his pistol and shrugged off the chief. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong."