Chapter 8: 1.8 Growing closer

I could see a black-haired girl far away. Something inside me was telling me to go closer. I had this urge to see her face, this feeling that my unfulfilled wish, my long-awaited dream will come true if I just see that face.

"WAIT!"

I shouted at the black-haired girl, but she kept on moving as if she couldn't even hear me. I tried to run towards her but the distance between us only grew larger. I couldn't reach up to her and after a while, she was too far for me to see.

"Nara, what's wrong, what happened?"

I opened my eyes and saw Sistina face right in front of mine. I realized that it was just a dream. So, quickly let go of her hand that I was unconsciously holding.

"I just had a strange dream. Why are you here this early?" I asked while rubbing my eyes with my hand.

"Oh, you already forgot. You asked me to show you around the village, remember? The harvesting season is over, so everyone is preparing for the festival. This is the perfect time for the visit."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. Let me get up and get ready." I replied.

"Okay, I will be waiting so get ready soon."

After saying that, Sistina left. I got up and went to the bath area. I liked taking a bath in the morning while everyone else liked doing that in the evening. I heated the water using fire magic and started taking off my clothes. I was just about to wash myself up with the water when I heard someone come in.

"I am in here so please wait until I finish." I shouted event though it was probably just a cat or something.

The bath area inside was big but the passage leading to the bath area was small and there is a curtain at the end of it. The curtain being closed indicates that someone was already inside. But it never hurts to be careful.

"Oh, it's just your big sis, don't worry about it."

'What! what do you mean there is nothing to be worried about?! There should be a limit, even if it is Arica.'

"Wait, wait, wait. It's not good for an unmarried guy and girl to take bath together."

I tried to stop her, but she started undressing in front of me, so I faced the other way. After she finished undressing, she wrapped a towel around herself.

"Don't worry about that, we are just taking a bath, there is nothing wrong with it. I will also wash your back for you."

"No no. I am fine by myself."

After saying that, I quickly splashed a bowl of water on myself. I then grabbed my clothes, and rushed out in hurry while putting them on.

'God, I can't handle fast girls. Neither could I do that in my past nor in this one. Guess some things never change.'

After surviving this trial of god, I went to my room and got ready. I then went to the dining room where Sistina and Nina were sitting at the table.

"Good morning Nina. Did you have breakfast already?"

"Nope, Sistina said she would wait for you, so I decided to wait as well," Nina replied, getting the plates ready.

"Ah, you guys could have just started without me if you were hungry," I said sitting on one of the chairs.

"We weren't that hungry. Plus, it's fun eating together." Nina replied serving the food on the plates.

After this conversation with Nina, we started eating. The food we were eating is made using bacon, egg, and bread.

"Nina, did you make this? It's yummy." Sistina made the comment.

"Yeah, it's really good." I followed Sistina. This is not just lip service; it really was good.

"So, what will you guys be doing today," Nina asked.

"Oh, nothing much. I am just going to show Nara around the village." Sistina replied.

The village wasn't very big so you could visit almost everywhere in one day.

"Ah, I am free today so can I come with you?" Nina asked.

"Yeah, why not?" I replied to Nina.

Somehow Sistina didn't look very happy with my response. I just thought with more people it will be more fun.

After we finished breakfast we headed out. We were passing through the market area when a large muscular middle-aged man with a bald head called us, so we stopped by a shop that appears to be a blacksmith workshop.

"Hey there Sistina. Good morning." The man said raising his hand.

"Morning Jabal. Are you busy with work? Where's Siri?" Sistina replied and we went closer to the shop. Looks like they know each other.

"Siri is busy looking after our kid. He is a year old now and has started walking. Unlike others, my shop isn't busy at this time of year, so I don't have much to do today." Jabal said.

"I will have to visit your house sometime to see how much he has grown," Sistina replied.

After this conversation with Sistina, he turned towards Nina and me.

"So, who might this be? Don't tell me you found a boyfriend already." Jabal said looking at me.

Sistina's face turned red and she started waving her hand to deny it.

"No no. We are just friends. He recently started living in the orphanage. He doesn't remember much about his past, so he has been learning various things about life here. Nina and I are just showing him around the village."

"Is that so? Don't tell me, you are the boy whom Andrew and I found in the forest on our way back from the city." Jabal said looking closely.

That sounded like me since Andrew found me in the forest on his way back from the city. 'But why is he looking at me with a shocked face?'

"That sounds like me. I am Nara, nice to meet you."

"Your injury was so bad that I didn't think you would survive." He said with the sign of surprise in his face.

"Yeah, thanks to god I survived but I don't remember much about my past. I don't know who I am or where I came from."

I replied since the last thing I remember was meeting with the girl who called herself God.

"Is that so? You look like a good kid; I am glad you survived."

"Thank you very much."

After he said that I thanked him. It looked like he really is a nice guy.

"Nina, you are always so quiet around me. How are you doing lately?" Jabal turned towards Nina and asked her.

"I am fine, and I am not quiet, you just talk too much and don't give others an opportunity to talk," Nina replied to Jabal. She then turned towards Sistina, "Sistina, let's go, there is a whole village left to visit, you know. If we keep on standing, we won't be able to cover all the places."

"Yeah, you are right, let's get going," Sistina replied.

After Sistina and Nina agreed we said our byes to Jabal and left. We visited various places like the vegetable market, the trading area, and the village inn.

"That is our Knight station. We have 3 knights assigned to this village. They are not always enough for the job, so some people help by working as a village guard." Nina said.

Nina showed me a house that looked comparatively bigger and expensive-looking house than normal.

After Knight station, we decided to visit the temple which also happens to be our final destination for today.

Temple was close to the orphanage, but I hadn't been there before because I was busy learning the basics of this world. Since it was the afternoon already, we decided to head towards the Temple. There were around 100 steps that we needed to climb to reach the temple.

"So, this is our temple. The worshipping area is inside the temple building and there is a large plain outside where the festival will be organized." Nina explained.

The gate to the temple looked like a traditional Japanese shrine gate. Inside there was a large plain area surrounded by trees with a stone-paved path in the middle that went to the main temple.

"It looks very beautiful."

The words slipped from my mouth. It really looked very beautiful. We climbed the stairs and walked through the stone-paved path and reached the main building.

"Let's go inside the temple. I will tell you about the gods that we worship here." Sistina said.

We went inside the temple's main building. Marina, Ronald, and Martha were helping Miss Rose with cleaning the temple.

"Hey everyone. How are things going?"

"Hey there. We are almost done."

When we entered, I greeted everyone, and Ronald was the one who answered.

"Hey, Nara. I heard that Sistina was showing you around the village, did you like it?"

"Yes, very much," I replied to Martha who was mopping the floor.

There were three big statues inside. They were made up of dark-colored stone. One of them had a long beard and was holding a book in his hand. The other one looked more like a demon than god, she had big horns and long canine teeth coming out of her mouth. The last one was wearing a crown and looked like a king more than a god.

"These are the three main gods that we worship. The one holding the book is Bram, the one with animal characteristics is Maha and the one who is in the middle with the crown is Bish." Sistina explained.

'So, they are the gods that they worship. They are different than the ones I met so I am not sure if they are just people's imagination, or do they really exist.'

"We are almost done with the work inside. Can you guys help us with cleaning the leaves that fell from the trees outside?' Miss Rose asked.

"Okay, we are on it," Sistina replied.

Since we were done with the visiting all the places for today, we could spend the rest of the afternoon helping here.

Next Chapter: The Village Festival