*BOOM*
"W-What happened!?"
"Someone attacked our village!?"
"Who could it be!?"
"Aggghhhh! Runnn!!"
"Save your lives! Run away!"
"NO! This can't be! My wife is there!"
An ear-piercing sound was heard and all the villagers panicked. They turned around and saw a huge wave of fire engulfing everything and everyone started running around in panic.
Chaos spread all over the village,
Some villagers were running away,
Some were trying to rush toward the explosion to try and save their family.
Some abandoned their family and ran away.
It was unbearably chaotic as screams and people running away and that huge fire was the only thing that others could hear and see.
"What happened!?"
A woman questioned, she had blonde hair and blue eyes, and her long ears indicated that she was an Elf.
She was Nadia, the Village head of the Elven village.
"Village Head! One-fourth of the village is destroyed!" Another Elf answered.
"What!?" Nadia's eyes widened in shock when she heard the man in front of him.
She had felt the shockwave as well, however, she did not think that things were this bad.
"Do you know how this happened?" Nadia questioned as she moved outside her house and rushed in the direction of the explosion.
"No, we don't know what happened, we only heard the explosion as well."
The man answered and a frown appeared on Nadia's face.
She then increased her speed and rushed towards the explosion.
1 minute later, she paused and her eyes widened in surprise as she saw what looked like a barren land in front of her.
Houses were destroyed, corpses were mangled, and the closer she walked to the centre of the explosion, the more the destruction was.
In the end, she couldn't even find the trace of any corpses, they were all turned into ashes.
Women, men, children and the elderly, none were spared.
All of them died without even knowing how they died.
"W-Who did that…?" Nadia questioned with a shocked look on her face.
Tears had welled on the edges of her eyes, however, she took a deep breath and didn't allow the tears to fall down.
She won't be the one who will cry, she will make the one responsible for this incident cry.
She clenched her fist as she gritted her teeth in anger, and then, she started looking around.
An explosion of this scale can't be done without leaving behind any proof, it was just too sudden and powerful, there has to be a clue.
"V-Village Head, wait, you shouldn't do there!"
Nadia didn't care about what the man said and walked towards the centre, she could still feel the heat lingering around the area, however, it wasn't hot enough to become unbearable for her.
She could still take it on.
Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as she continued walking.
Then, her eyes fell on some pieces of white metal that were lying on the burned ground.
'Huh? What it this?'
She picked the white metal, however, as soon as she did, it turned into ashes.
Nadia's frown deepened.
She cannot find out anything if things go like this.
"Use the emergency contact and call the Golden Leaf Town."
She returned to the man and ordered.
"As you command, Village Head." The man bowed and then left.
Nadia nodded and then she turned towards her other subordinates who had joined the 2 of them when they were rushing here.
"You all, go calm the villagers, tell them that we have dealt with the troublemaker."
"Huh? We have dealt with him?" A woman couldn't help but frown.
There was no fight, right?
Or were her sense a little too slow?
Nadia shook her head and muttered,
"It is a lie, we do not even know who is responsible for this, how can we deal with him? The villagers don't need to know this. Just tell them that the troublemaker is dealt with, calm them down, running around like that won't help."
The woman understood what the Village head wanted and nodded.
Then, she and the other 2 men bowed and ran away.
After she was left alone, Nadia gritted her teeth in rage and her eyes turned even redder,
'I will make you pay!'
10 minutes later, the man who had gone away to calm the villagers returned,
"Why are you back?" Nadia questioned.
"Village Head, the Slaves…"
"Huh? What about them?"
"W-We cannot find a single slave in the whole village, all of them had run away!"
"Huh? The Slaves ran away?"
"Yes, I believe that they used the chaos that ensued to their advantage and ran away when no one was looking."
"Huh? Who gave them this courage?" Nadia frowned even more, however then, her eyes turned cold and she ordered.
"Send a few men to find them, drag them back here. All the reconstruction will be done by them, how dare they run away!?"
"As you command, Village Head." The man muttered, however, just as she was about to leave, Nadia called out.
"Wait."
"What is it, Village Head?"
"Let them be," Nadia ordered.
"Huh? We are going to let those slaves run away?" The man questioned.
"We do not have the time to deal with mere slaves, we still do not know who is behind this explosion, he and his team might be lurking in the shadows, waiting for the opportunity to strike us again.
If we send our men to look for those slaves, they might attack us again."
Nadia muttered.
The man's eyes shined in realization, however, he was still unwilling.
"Are we going to let those slaves go?"
"We have no other choice, slaves are the least of our worries right now.
Also, those slaves can't run away. They will get caught eventually."
The man nodded,
Indeed, the slaves weren't worth the risk.
"What about the village? Has everyone calmed down?" Nadia questioned.
"We are still working on it, the majority of them have calmed down, however, the people who lost their family members are still emotionally unstable." The man answered.
"I can understand that. Give them some time, let them calm down, now all we have to do is wait for the Town to send someone."
"Yes."
The man nodded and then left.
…
1 hour later, Nadia finally managed to get everything under control, though villagers were still worried and panicking, the situation was a lot better than them running around shouting like fools.
Now, everyone was sent back to their houses, those who lost their house were accommodated in their friend's houses momentarily and everything in the village turned silent.
Eerily silent.
Nadia and her subordinates, who managed to calm everyone down were now having a meeting in Nadia's house.
"What do we do?" A man questioned.
"What could we do, we can only wait for the help from the town to appear." A woman answered.
"Is that the only way?"
"There has to be something we can do right?"
"No."
This time, Nadia was the one who spoke and everyone turned silent.
Seeing that she has grabbed their attention, Nadia nodded and then continued,
"We cannot do anything else, we have calmed the villagers, our men are ready to fight if any attacks us right now, there is nothing else we can do.
The enemy is in the shadows while we are out in the open.
We cannot move recklessly.
We can only stay in our shell and play it safe till the people from the Town arrives, that is when we will make our move."
"Then why are we having this meeting?" A woman couldn't help but question.
"We just want to give out an impression that we are discussing something, it is to calm everyone down," Nadia answered.
Her subordinates nodded.
And then, the room turned silent and Nadia closed her eyes again.
Her words were clear, this meeting did not hold any meaning at all.
There is no point in discussing anything.
This made the atmosphere awkward, however, the subordinates quickly copied their leader and closed their eyes as well.
…
3 hours later, the help from the town finally walked into the village.
Nadia frowned when she saw the woman standing in front of her, the woman had an alluring figure with very pale green coloured hair, green eyes and a perfectly carved face.
She was a beauty that could win any man's heart, however, she wasn't the one Nadia needed right now.
'She is the only one? Where are the others?'
She thought inwardly.
However, all her doubts were cleared when she heard the woman's words.
"I am Eillia Dolreth,"
"I am grateful to be in your presence, Lady Eillia."
Nadia bowed respectfully.
Her subordinates were a little surprised by her actions, however, they bowed down as well.
No matter who she was, if the Village Head was giving her so much respect, they had to give her the same amount of respect as well.
Nadia was satisfied by how quick-witted her subordinates were, she then glanced at the woman in front of her and a big sigh of relief escaped from her mouth.
She knew this woman,
Eillia Dolreth, the strongest existence in the Golden Leaf Town, even stronger than the Town Head.
If she was sent here, it makes sense why she was alone.
She doesn't need anyone's help.
She alone was enough.
"Take me to the centre of the explosion," Eillia ordered.
"As you command, lady Eillia."
Nadia then took her to the centre of the explosion and soon, Eillia's eyes fell on those pieces of white metal that were on the ground.
"I don't know what it is, but I tried picking them but they all turned into ashes."
Nadia muttered.
Nadia then saw Eillia furrowing her brows and then, she scowled.
"Dwarves…"
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om