Chapter 297 - Sneaking into the separate village of Izvratya
I waited till around 9:30 in the evening before I made my move towards the separate village which I only found out to be named "Izvratya" from Void's reports. It turned out that even the name they used for this place was degrading as Void said that it has outrightly tagged the village as a place of debauchery, simply filthy. I had to calm myself down as I heard the increasingly disgusting description of how beings have been living inside the village while Void was giving me his report.
As per what the beast men in Marahuyo said, the residents of the village were either beast men who were abandoned by their previous wives since they can't have children even after several years or previous residents of Lyartaim who were tagged as undesirable since they are at least 5 years past their coming of age and they have not married yet. This fact has been confirmed by Void after he infiltrated the place to look around.
Since life in Izvratya is way worse than the life inside Lyartaim itself, the rescue has to be prioritized over the visit. For the mission for tonight, I asked the youngest deer brother, Pelle to accompany me. It took a lot of time to convince his two older brothers about it but eventually they agreed since I promised to protect him. His only task is to guide me around Izvratya a bit and find me a more reliable guide once were inside so I can send him back to Marahuyo.
At exactly 9:30pm, Pelle and I have left the borders of Marahuyo towards the direction of Lyartaim. I made one quick teleportation towards the area that I have vidited before that was nearest the beast men's sanctuary to save time.
I placed an invisibility and stealth spell on myself and Pelle so we can approach Izvratya undetected. Pelle guided me towards the left side of the walls where there was a place which was easy to climb up from. The child was quite agile in movement, no wonder his brothers have a hard time controlling his habit of sneaking around.
Once we are inside the Izvratya, he held my hand and we started running through the maze-like structure made up of sevetal small huts inside the village. It took about 10 minutes of running before he stopped in front of an entrance going inside a cave. This must be the hiding place where that friendly beast man brought him into the first time he sneaked in.
We did not immediately remove our stealth until we are already a few steps inside the cave. Pelle started calling out the name of the guy, "Artak" several times but nobody answered. I extended my senses and felt somebody inside the cave but his breath seemed to come in short and weak gasps.
I carried l Pelle under his arms then we hurriedly ran to the inner parts of the cave. I casted a small light spell and inside, we saw a man who was very thin, his breath was shallow and his face flushed, seemingly having a high fever.
I looked around the cave and it only had the bare essentials like a bottle of water, a few pieces of ragged cloth that seemed to be used as a blanket and a straw mat for a bed. The place was dark, damp and smelled moldy. There was no food around and with this type of dwelling, no wonder this guy is in a really bad shape. If we did not come today, I don't know how many days he had left.
Pelle kicked his legs and tried to get down from my arms so I immediately placed him down. He immediately ran to the man calling him "Mr. Artak" and shook the guy's body to wake him up. The sickly looking beast man opened his eyes a bit and when he saw Pelle he looked stunned.
He murmured in a soft voice with the meager strength that he has left in his body and admonished him, "I told you never to come back. I am like this now so I can't help you escape safely."
Pelle sobbed and replied, "I brought help, kind brother. Big sister can heal you then we can heal the others too. She can get you out of here soon."
Upon hearing the child's words, that was the only time he noticed my presence. I was currently standing several step behind Pelle, hidden in the darkness. He immediately looked straight to my eyes. It did not surprise me since leopards do have amazing eyesight during the night making them the perfect nocturnal hunter.
His eyes started from surprise then he started eyeing me with a bit of fear and accusation. Did he actually think that I tricked a child to sneak me in here and I have another purpose?
Ignoring his glare, I walked towards Pelle and the guy named Artak. I felt him stiffen and he even tried to move back further inside the cave to escape my incoming hand but he did not have enough strength to do so.
Pelle tried to convince him that I was kind and helpful but he kept looking at me warily, distrust obvious in his eyes. Women in this world aren't the most trustworthy so I totally get the fear and distrust from his eyes so I did not feel offended.
Since he is already wary of me and there is nothing I could do for him to trust me right noe, I simply lifted my hand to cast a spell on his body to stop him from moving. He ended up laying stiffly on his straw mat.
I can feel him trying to fight the spell with all his remaining strength and his sheer will. I grabbed his chin and forcefully opened his mouth then dumped two pills inside. The brown pill addresses his severe malnourishment and the green pill will heal any illnesses or any injuries that he may have.
If I did not need him as a proper tour guide in this place and Pelle isn't sobbing in worry for him, I wouldn't have made this much effort and just teleported him back to Marahuyo to have someone else heal him. After his body absorbed the pills which only took about a minute, Pelle looked in surprise as Artak's body looked healthier in size and his skin looked a lot less pale with wounds healing up under the naked eye every second that passes.
After a few minutes more, I released the spell from his body and he immediately sat up from the mat. Just when I thought that he will attack me angrily, he started kneeling towards my direction. He said his thanks in a soft voice then begged for me to save the others even if he had to exchange himself and work all his life to repay the life debt of the whole village.
I dismissed his pleading and asked him to get up. I asked him to just guide me to where the other villagers are living in so we can check on their health conditions as well. He stood up and led the way but he murmured, "My repayment still stands after all of this is over."
I ignored his stubbornness and followed him out of the cave this time. I already placed the same spells on him so he will also be undetectable as we move around. We might need to visit every house and finish what we need to do within the shortest time possible.
I talked to Pelle and advised him that since I already have Artak as my guide, I will be sending him back to Marahuyo to ensure his safety. This was also a promise I made to his two older promised that I needed to keep. He nodded his head obediently and with that I sent him back then he disappeared from where he was standing.
Once it was only the two of us, Artak asked, "Are you his adopted parent? What mystique race are you from? You definitely do not smell like any type of beast man, definitely not human either."
I looked at him and replied, "You don't have to force yourself to talk to me if you are uncomfortable. Let's just focus on the task at hand."
As I said that, I grabbed his hand and he saw a symbol light up on the back of it which eventually disappeared after a few seconds. I explained concisely, "For teleportation and barrier identification." He furrowed his brows in confusion but opted to keep his questions to himself for now.
He brought me to one of the small huts at the back most part of the village. When we went in, I was bombarded by the scent of rotting flesh. I placed a barrier around the hut to hide what is happening inside. I thank the gods for giving me excellent night vision as well.
As I looked on the bed, I saw a beast man with both of his legs broken in weird angles. His bones actually broke the skin and the awful smell came from his festering wounds. Artak whispered, "He tried to escape two weeks ago so they broke his legs then never gave him any medicine, much less any food."
I grabbed the chin of the guy laying on the bed and pried his mouth open. I slid three pills at the same time. It was the same for Artak but I gave a third one, a yellow one, which was for making someone sleep. The health potion would reset his bones to how it should be but it would be too painful for someone who is conscious. I also don't want him to further weaken himself by possibly screaming or writhing in pain.
Artak looked at me with a questioning gaze and I briefly explained, "Resetting bones is painful so I made him sleep." I touched the sleeping man's hand to place the same symbol I gave to Artak earlier and then gave him an order, "Next".
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Author's Note:
Though "Izvratya" is not a real place or name, the word itself is derived from words from different languages that I strung together. The words I used mean "debauchery".