KINETIC

Chapter 15 Village

It only took two days for Leo to reach the bottom of the mountain. He had no trouble on the way down and managed to have a smooth trip. He stopped only to recover his stamina, and he walked even through the night since he doesn't need sleep too often.

'I should be able to reach the village nearby in around an hour if I walk... Less than 15 minutes if I run though.' Leo smiles and picks up the pace, he doesn't go into a full sprint, but is moving at what can be considered a fast jog.

It doesn't take long before Leo can see the village in sight. The village has no wall surrounding it, only a 1 meter tall wooden fence. 'That fence won't do anything for defensive purposes. It must be a way for everyone to know where the village boundary ends.'

There are 3 straight roads, stretching roughly 200 meters each, going through the village. Each one has buildings on either side of it. Their are people walking around through the streets, going about their daily lives. A few horses pulling carts can be seen as well.

It appears to be a regular village like any other. When Leo gets within 100 meters of the entrance to the village he starts slowing down and begins walking. The entrance is just a wooden gate, the same height as the fence.

Currently the entrance is standing open, with two men standing in front of it looking out towards Leo. 'Are those two meant to be the guards for this village? They don't seem like they'd be able to stop anything...'

The two men each had a shabby looking wooden spears with iron tips at their sides. The wood looked like it had broken several times and was being held together by string. The iron points were blunt looking and chipped all over.

Both men wore an orange colored cape that was connected to their armor. Their armor consisted of what Leo believes to be pots and pans that were melted together.

When Leo was around 15 meters from them, one of the men directed his voice at Leo and stuck out his open hand with his palm facing Leo. "Stop where you are stranger! What business do you have in Grove village?"

Leo stopped walking only after he was around 10 meters away from the guards. "I'm just a traveler who's looking for a place to sleep for a few nights. Do you have any good taverns where I could rent a room?"

The two guards look at each other and the one raises his eyebrow and shrugs his shoulders. The one who spoke the first time speaks again," Why would you come to our village? There's nothing here for a traveler."

Leo stares at the guard for a moment. The man appears to be in his early 30s, he has a stubble beard on his face and short blonde hair. The guard behind him is much younger, maybe mid 20s, he has no beard and short blonde hair similar to the other guard.

'I wonder if these two are related.' Leo considers the possibility for a few seconds before realizing that he doesn't really care.

"I wasn't coming to your village intentionally, I got lost and your village is the first I've come across." Leo says with a straight face and an almost monotonous voice.

" Hmph! Fine, the tavern is the only building with 3 floors, it's in the main road." Leo nods and walks forward. Just as he passes the guard, the guard reaches out and grabs Leo's shoulder, "Oh I forgot, you're going to have to pay a tax if you want to enter our village, you understand I'm sure."

Leo stood still for a moment when the guard grabbed his shoulder. His muscles tensed and when the guard finished speaking, Leo turned to look at him." If you wish to keep your hand, then you best remove it and never touch me again." Leo's eyes were glowing blue with energy. It was clear to the guard that it wasn't natural.

The guard was frightened when he saw Leo's eyes glowing and he took a step back and released Leo's shoulder. Once the initial shock had left him, he grabbed his spear and pointed it towards Leo.

The guard was about two meters away from Leo. His spear was just short of being two meters long, so the tip was very close to Leo's chest.

Leo looked at the spear pointed at his chest and spoke. "I come to your village to seek shelter, yet you tried to get me to pay you what I can only assume to be an illegal tax and then pointed your weapon at me without reason?"

The guards face twisted in anger "Of course I had a reason, you threatened me!" Leo raises his left eyebrow, "Oh? I didn't threaten you. I just told you what the consequences for your actions would be. Watch, I'm going to do it again right now. If you don't lower your weapon in the next 5 seconds, you're going to die."

"Five"

"Four"

"Three"

"Two"

Leo starts to channel his power through his body, sending to his arms a larger portion of his energy.

"One"

Just as Leo was about to move, the younger guard steps forward and pushes the others spear away from Leo. "Stop this! He's right brother, just leave him be."

The older guard looks towards the younger one who's now between him and Leo, "Fine... But only because I don't feel like killing anyone today." He then turns around and walks back to his post.

The younger guard looks to Leo, "I'm sorry for the trouble, please go ahead with your business, we won't give you any trouble."

Leo turns around without saying anything and walks into the village. The younger guard is staring at Leo's back and thinking to himself, 'Did I see that right? It looked like his hand was glowing, just like his eyes. If I hadn't stepped in...' He then turned around and walked to his post, standing next to the older guard who was now glaring at him.

Leo walked down the street towards the tavern. The people walking around were all looking at Leo, they could tell he was an outsider and many were curious about him.

Leo reached the tavern in no time. The tavern was three stories tall with a double door at the entrance, music can be heard coming out from the bottom floor, along with laughter and loud voices.

Leo walks through the double doors and enters the tavern. Immediately all eyes turn to him and the room gets quiet. Leo walks forwards, straight towards the counter where a woman who appears to be working here is standing.

Shes a young girl around Leo's age. She has long red hair tied into twin braids that go down to the small of her back. Shes 1.6 meters tall with bright green eyes.

"Can I help you, Sir?"

"Yes, I'd like to rent a room."