Sh*t!
When Grey turned around, he saw the woman from before, Lucy, and three figures in masks standing behind her.
"Tell me who you are and how you came here."
"Ah, my name is Grey. I was just walking in this forest and stumbled upon this place." Grey tried his chances even though he knew it wouldn't work.
"Catch him. We can learn who he is later."
The three figures started running toward Grey.
What should I do?
There was no way he could fight. These three had knives in their hands, unlike those thugs. Also, they seemed like trained soldiers.
There were only two options for him.
One, he could try to defend himself for a while before attacking the woman with a surprise attack.
But it was risky since he didn't know if he could even defend himself against these three. Also, he didn't know how strong this woman was.
So, he chose the second option, running.
He immediately ran back outside the concealed area and found himself back in the forest he had come from.
Since he was experienced, he had already left some markings to find his way back, so he ran and ran.
When he looked back, though, the three assassin-like figures were still behind him. Even worse, they were jumping on top of the trees like ninjas.
But it was okay. This was his home ground, the forest.
He pulled out his axe and activated his Art of Wood. He felt a headache first. Since he was in the middle of a forest, a lot of information flowed into his brain.
Every tree, every branch, root, or even wood on the ground had colored rings over it.
Grey only focused on the black rings. Whenever he saw one, he hit it with his axe, and whatever he hit fell to the ground.
Sometimes, he cut small trees with one hit. Of course, they were probably dead trees since he wouldn't see black rings or couldn't cut them with one strike otherwise.
Fortunately, it worked. Since they were in a forest, it wasn't easy to change directions instantly, so they slowed down, and in the end, they lost track of Grey.
Obviously, they didn't recognize Grey's markings. So, even though they knew the forest well, they couldn't find where Grey had headed.
"You will go back to inform her. We will go to the slums to wait," one of the masked figures ordered.
Of course, they would wait in the slums for Grey to come back. Unfortunately for them, Grey wouldn't be there since he was already following the shortest route back.
---
Ding
"Welcome! What would you like?"
Grey was back in the center of Mila.
As soon as he came back running, he entered one of the stores he saw. It seemed like a restaurant from the outside, so he thought he could stay inside for a bit and rest.
The owner came to his table instantly and welcomed him.
The only issue was that he didn't know what was sold in this restaurant.
"Do you have a menu?"
"What is a menu?" Unfortunately, there was no such thing as a menu in villages since the options were limited.
"Ah, I am okay with anything. Please bring me something to eat." Since Grey had received money from Roget, the village chief, he could eat anything.
"Hmm... You seem like you are not from around here. Are you here for the festival?"
The streets of Mila were getting more and more crowded as the festival got closer. So, tourists visited the restaurant a lot.
"Yes, I am here for the festival," Grey lied.
"Then, let me cook you our original food. It is called pasta!"
Huh?
Grey looked at the owner. His face made him seem like he was an aristocrat, but his outfit told that he was a cook.
"Honey, please start preparing one serving of pasta!" He shouted toward where the kitchen was.
"Okay," a woman's voice came.
When Grey raised his head, though, he couldn't stop saying, "Viola?"
"Huh? Do you know Viola?"
No, she wasn't Viola. The one who answered was a woman older than Viola, but still beautiful.
She had the same hair color. It was a bit shorter than Viola's, though. And, unlike Viola's, it wasn't tied in a pigtail, but a ponytail.
"Ah, I met her when I came to the village. She was also selling pasta."
"I see. She is our daughter. I am happy to meet one of her friends."
"Well, we are not exactly friends. She just made food for me." Now that he looked, the cook, Viola's father, had the same hair as Luca, Viola's brother.
"And, doesn't that make you friends?" Viola's father laughed.
Grey was happy, actually. Viola's food was okay, so he wondered what her father's cooking would be like since she praised it.
And he was already planning to come here before he got his money stolen. So, this was lucky.
"I will make you some extra," Viola's father said with a wink and went inside the kitchen.
Grey also started thinking about what he saw before.
What were they building?
Since he heard them talk, he wondered if something would happen during the festival.
The woman had said, "We would most probably make it to the festival," so Grey wasn't exactly relaxed anymore.
Should I say something to Roget?
As he thought about that, though, the food came. It looked much brighter than Viola's for some reason.
The cook also waited in front of Grey, as if telling him to try and give feedback.
Grey didn't mind the feedback, but it was stressful to eat while someone was looking at you right in front of you.
Luckily, though, it tasted great. He didn't know how Viola's father managed this, but the pasta tasted really good. It could easily be sold back on Earth, even though it didn't use the usual seasoning.
Of course, the expected notification came soon.
[Your endurance increased greatly for two hours.]
What? Endurance? How?