"You really are a great help to this village!" The woman said sincerely as Mint sat on the ground, pulling out weeds.
"It's no trouble." He replied with a smile filled with such charm that it was sure to knock out anyone who saw it.
"Thank you for helping my sister out with re-painting too, will you really come back tomorrow to help?"
"Of course. My ability might only help with removing the paint but the work will only be complete once everyone is satisfied, right?"
"You're absolutely, right! You know I always tell my husband about this but he never listens. He keeps going on about how only the person doing the work should have a say and it's been getting on my nerves recently every since..."
As the woman continued complaining about her husband, Mint finished up with the weeding. He found that being liked was much easier than he originally believed. Just listening to people, even if it's without saying anything, seemed to build a lot of trust. Although he had hardly made any comments throughout her rant, by the end she was shaking his hand and thanking him for listening to her worries.
Walking out of her house after a long goodbye conversation, he stared up at the sky and saw how dark it was getting. But he didn't go straight back to the house, instead taking a detour through the forest. There was something he had left behind on that day which he needed to retrieve quickly.
The forest was even murkier than usual but he didn't need to rely on his vision to navigate through it. Following his intuition, he finally reached the broken shack that he stayed in for who knows how long. However, right before he could step in- he sensed a disturbance in the area around him.
"Who's that?" A low voice asked from behind.
"I don't know, boss." A meeker voice replied, "I've never seen him before. Do you think he lives there?"
In a split-second, something was being thrown at him. He dodged it narrowly only to find that he had been extremely close to dying- it was an axe they had thrown at him. The rain had begun to pick up and the ground was damp. Mint tried to grab the axe's handle but it was lodged firmly into the mud. Since that was futile, Mint tried to head to the shack, ignoring the sudden attack but a tall, burly man emerged from behind some bushes and stood in his way.
"Just where do you think you're going?" He had a different voice from the ones from before. It was more sinister sounding and his appearance only amplified the effect. One of his eyes were covered by some sort of wrap and he wore a belt around his waist that was filled with pockets. Mint was certain that all those pockets contained some kind of weapon or at the very least a sharp object.
"I live there." He said firmly but with a slightly confused expression- trying hard to convince them that he was just a foolish young person.
The man wasn't convinced, suddenly grabbing his shoulders and pushing him to the ground. Mint let himself fall but rolled away just before he hit the ground. Getting up shakily, he started running to the shack. Thankfully, there must only be three of them because nobody else got in his way. He could hear footsteps and shouting but his mind was fixed on getting to the shack in time.
Another knife whizzed by him, hitting his shoulder and causing him to falter a little. He turned around, feeling through his pockets for anything that could be of use. He was just a few feet away from the door but he knew that without a lock or distraction, it would be pointless to go inside. The shack was an enclosed space, even harder to get away in.
That's when he noticed it. His eyes widened. He had completely forgotten about stealing one of Welt's jars earlier. A smile slowly spread across his face. He could finally think of something to do.
The burly man was still running towards him, only stopping when he saw that Mint had also stopped.
"Given up yet?" The man asked with a chilling grin. "Since you seem smarter than you look, I'll give you a slightly less painful death."
"Before that-" Mint lifted the jar, "Catch." He threw it towards the man. It didn't matter if it hit or not, what mattered was what happened next.
Three. Two. One. The jar exploded. Mint ran inside.
***
The rain was pouring down on the village and even the children who loved playing in the rain were huddled up inside. Laura looked out through the window, nervously. Mint hadn't returned yet. Was he going to disappear again?
Welt and Fiona had the same expressions on their face. The table filled with all kinds of mouth-watering food was neglected by everyone, even Shena. The child kept running to the door and opening it as if Mint was going to materialize outside if she did it long enough.
"It's really late...do you think something happened to him?" Fiona asked, voicing out fears that all of them shared.
"Don't be ridiculous! Nothing happens here. If he's still in the village then he's definitely fine-"
"Ah!" Shena suddenly shouted. Everyone immediately ran to the door which was wide open, hearts beating wildly as they all wondered if he had finally come back but- No, it was Yana.
"Yana? What are you doing out in this rain?" Laura asked, bewildered as she pushed everyone aside. Fiona was nudging Shena back inside as Welt followed suit, occasionally turning around with a worried expression.
"Laura." Yana's face was stern- her features frozen like that of a statue's. Laura knew that something terrible had happened. That was the face her typically carefree friend reserved only for disasters. The last time she made that expression- it had been when the snow buried one of the houses.
"What happened?" Laura didn't feel any panic. She knew it would be useless then.
"Bandits have infiltrated the village."
"W-huh?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was impossible. There was no way for anyone from the outside to get there. Bandits? Weren't they just residents who went rogue at best? Even that was unbelievable but it was more realistic than the former option.
"It's true." Yana paused. "They're not residents either."
***
"Where's that guy?!" A lanky man was shaking an old woman viciously as he bombarded her with questions. Him and his partner had been doing so for the past three hours. They would steal things from each house and then ask the same question- where's that guy? The guy they described was familiar to everyone in the village at that point. The first few to be interrogated had feigned innocence but the act was over when one of the children accidentally let it slip that it was Mint.
As the crazed men went from house to house, everyone in the village had gone from trying to hide that it was Mint to detesting him. The bandits were not from their village and that was for certain. Did that mean Mint also lied?
"He brought them in here!" A woman whispered furiously. She was the sister of the woman from that morning who got Mint's help to paint the house.
"Come now, we don't know..." Her sister- Samo- tried to placate her but it was useless. They were both tied up and unable to use their magic. The same went for everyone. They weren't sure what was happening since it had never happened before but the thieves were clearly powerful to be able to incapacitate everyone in the magic village.
They didn't seem very clever, only taking common valuables that everyone knew of like gold, rings and food supplies while completely turning a blind eye to the rare artifacts and antiques which would fetch a much higher price in the market. Something didn't add up with them. If they were so strong then why did they need to steal? They could find a job easily enough. And the second doubt everyone had was if it was possible to be so strong while simultaneously being incredibly stupid? There must be others- was the conclusion. Mint was one of the others.
The door suddenly swung open with a bang. "Samo!" A voice called out. It was Laura! She must have escaped their detection because of how far away her house was from the others.
"What's going on?" Laura asked, breathless.
Yana had already run up to them and was undoing their binds. They could see many other figures through the open door, all heading into the mountains. Those must be the other villagers that were rescued.
"I don't know either." Samo answered with a sigh. "But there's no question about it, Laura. Those two aren't from our village."
Laura froze. The weight of the words finally sinking into her. The village's era of peace and solitude was over. Someone had figured out how to break in and that meant there would be more to follow.