All eyes were on us as we set foot in another unknown townlet.
The villagers halted their work in the field of herbal plants and darted their gaze to us, while the children who were playing some type of hopscotch along the pathway discontinued their leisure time and gave us a look as if we were celebrities.
"Just let them appreciate the grandeur of a ghoul. I suppose they've never seen a phenomenal spectacle in their whole life, and bringing them myself is a privilege," said Floette in her most arrogant voice.
"There she goes again, making believe that everybody adores her," Kooki whispered to me. "She's beautiful and no man could refuse to give in to her flirtations, but she's delusional in her most petty way."
"No man will love a woman like her. Playboys, maybe," I said.
When a toddler with a runny nose approached me barefoot, I began to suspect that these villagers were apparently inquisitive about me.
The toddler wanted me to grab his hand, so I took it, held him, and carried him as if I were his big brother.
"These children are such a nuisance. Their presence is causing a delay to our goal!" said Floette as the enthralled kids surrounded me.
An elderly woman with an austere physique reprimanded the kids; her voice was so supervisory that they followed her with respect. "Apologies for the disturbance the children have caused you," said the elder woman. "I am Chiro, the chieftain of Oogwen Village."
Since it was already lunchtime, Old Chiro invited us to her modest abode.
As we sat on the wooden floor, she was ladling the soup from the big cauldron, then she poured a cupful of ration into each of her guests' bowls.
"It tastes delicious, Old Chiro," Rosenth said sweetly. "Your cooking reminds me of my mom's."
"Don't flatter me, Rosenth," Old Chiro replied with a gentle smile. "Though for me, it's not compulsory that women should know how to fill the stomachs of men with good food, but when men are satisfied with your cooking, they repay us with more love, understanding, and protection, and that's what I've learned from my late husband. I learned to hone my cooking skills because of him."
A faint smile was evident on Old Chiro's face.
"We're sorry for your loss," I said.
"It's okay, Kintsugi."
"You're younger than me, and you still emit a sourness. You can still move on from your deceased husband. There are a lot of young farmers in your plantation. It wouldn't be hard for you to get one since you're the chieftain," Floette insensitively inserted herself into the conversation.
"Just eat, Floette," I ordered her.
We thanked Old Chiro for her hospitality, and I wanted to poke Floette for her ingratitude.
If we were in a fine dining restaurant, I myself would kick this Ghoul out of the premises.
"The soil in Oogwen Village is humus-rich, and the tropicality brought by the deity Oogros has made this place a domicile for some exotic medicinal plants," Chiro started as she sat in front of us, and as we savored her cooking. "Scholars travel here for research purposes. A lot of them, if not educators, want to be highly skilled physicians. We lived in harmony as our village had become an institution for learning, until the Mosquitomps found their way into the village and started pestering us."
The Mosquitomps are Meadow Ferals, similar to mosquitoes, however they are hulking in size, more jarring, terrorizing, and love to suck human blood until the body becomes paper-thin.
Mosquitomps are drawn to the smell of the therapeutic plants in this village, which they make their nesting place.
"My people once protested to stop the nurturing of these plants, but I contradicted their grievances. Instead of abolishing what we've known, I convinced them to face their fears. With each passing day, we became more courageous and territorial. We fought every Mosquitomp that flew into the village and honored the villagers who ended up losing their lives in the fight."
Since it's the blossoming season for the exotic plants, the Mosquitomps are bracing to infest, and they catch one's eye when the sun is no longer visible.
"For months, our village was protected by a good warlock named Kiosk."
When Floette heard that name from Old Chiro's mouth, there was a sudden jolt of awakening in her.
If before she was incurious about the conversation, hearing her ex-lover being brought up in the talk bewildered her.
"Kiosk became our protector, the elders hero-worship him, and the children love him for his comfort and security. But when a mysterious man told him that a Ghoul was going to steal the Diamond Oyster from its hiding place, he instantaneously left the village. Sadly, he passed away."
"Do you know who's this mysterious man who shared the news with him?" I asked Old Chiro curiously.
"He introduced himself as Mezoid."
We moved in our seats and, looking at Floette's crackling fists, she was jam-packed with spleen.
It seemed like she was on the verge of wrecking havoc any second now, so I instructed her to go out and take a breath of fresh air, which she felt coerced to do, thanks to the tiara on her head.
After the talk, I looked for Floette, only to find her on top of a cypress tree.
"How are you coping with the things you heard lately?"
"Through sightseeing, in the hopes of spotting a Grimsby or Mezoid himself," she replied with a smirk.
"But why did you look and feel betrayed?"
Floette jumped down and rushed in to harm me with her claws. Anticipating her predictability, I managed to evade.
I was about to make a French exit when she started talking more about Mezoid.
"In my desire to defeat my sister Flarynx, Mezoid came up to me and told me about the existence of the Diamond Oyster, saying it would help me be victorious. He went as far as to tell me the cartography Kiosk buried next to his parents' grave. I thought Kiosk only found out about my plan, but it just so happened that Mezoid exposed me to him. I felt double-crossed. We're being played by that vermin!"
I'm at a loss for words.
Her revelation left me closemouthed.
The nipping air blows and the dried leaves hitchhike with it, and when I look above, the sun is gone missing.
We hear the wailing of the children and the panic screams of the elders, and when Floette and I sprint back to the village, the inglorious besetting of the charcoaled Mosquitomps puts me in an emotional blender.
Its head is spherical with towering pixelated compound eyes, an antenna, and a feeding tube as dire as a syringe.
"My son!" yelped an ailing mother as her son was caught by one of the Mosquitomps.
"Bug out, you pests!" hollered the kid's father as he fluttered his poison arrow at the whirring monster.
The arrow didn't deal any damage, but fortunately Rosenth was on the kid's rescue. Blood spurted out of the mosquito's chopped neck.
"These mosquitoes can't be smacked by a normal person's hands," I grunt in fear as I watch them suck the vigor from the villagers they ensnare, and what's more heartthrobbing is that some children are sapped and withered away.
"The children are the best asset this striving world ever had. Protect them at all cost from the enemies!" orders Old Chiro to her bulwarking people.
The villagers with their poison-infused pikestaffs and poniards don't inflict damage on the obsidian metal-scaled skin of the Mosquitomps.
Fortunately, Rosenth is with them to defend. Rosenth drives the Mosquitomps mad as she rides on their backs and punctures them.
Kooki is doing splendidly with his cloud powers while Floette seems to be adding more Mosquitomps to his hill of unliving victims, and as for me, I can't just stand here and sightsee.
"The queen of the buzzarding parasites has shown her likeness!" shouts a villager, and it makes my head lift up to the sky.
It was as monolithic as the Christ the Redeemer, with a queen's regalia made of human remains.
It has three fragments of Diamond Oysters overemphasized on its crown.
When it flaps its wings, it blows away those who stand in its way, and with its high-pitched buzz, it edicts its followers to draw back.
"Don't let your guard down before it bestows more shambles!" Old Chiro reminds us with a firm tone as she grips harder with her solar-beam-emitting pikestaff.
I dislike how the queen looks at us humans like she thinks she can crush us easily, and when she darts her gaze at me, I begin to disfavor her more. She lets out a loud cackle, and that insults me.
"Hand over your collection of Diamond Fragments," it commands me.
"Or what? You'll destroy this village and make it your own nesting place? Don't you have any more diabolical reasons for me to give you the fragments, because if there's none, you'll have to kill me first."
"Sharp-tongued human like you makes my stomach grumble. Speaking of diabolical, this kid will be at your mercy."
Then she shows me her captive - that one kid whose nose is always runny and clingy to me. Choking, the kid is holding on for his dear life and pleading for her to let him go.
"The fragments or this midget version of a wimp you are?"
I took out my bow and arrow, and when I propelled the arrow, it turned into a blue-bladed broadsword, flew in a different direction, disappeared into thin air, and cowardly hid in its quiver.
I pulled off another heroic deed by propelling the arrow, but it only banged into a tree trunk.
The more I succeed in making failed attempts, the more the kid endures the pain, and the blood-loving queen gets pettier.
Floette, Kooki, and Rosenth rush to offer me a barrier, but I don't want to let them triumph in this battle without me, and I've had enough of their damn protection.
"I was entrusted by the Diamond Oyster to be its collector, its protector, so I must prove a point. A freeloading wimp isn't on my bingo card."
As the gang buys me some time, for the tenth time I missile-launched the arrow, and if it acts unaccordingly to my desire, I'm going to break it into pieces and throw it off a cliff and wait for Grandpa to disown me.
The broadsword slipped through the acidulous foam discharge on the queen's long tube.
It hit her crown, and the diamond fragments in her proprietorship oozed a luminous light as the broadsword cleansed the fragments.
The light was coruscating, and when it disappeared, it revealed a procession route.
For a minute, I was puzzled, but later decided to move forward and discover what mystery lay at the end of the walkway.
I'm in a whole different place.
"Why am I in an arena?"