The sky began to clear, and finally, a comforting calm could be felt after the intense battle.
—"D-did we… do it?" I asked.
—"Yes," Zara nodded with a smile.
—"Yaaay, we defeated the evil wolf-nya!" Noko exclaimed, hopping in the small puddles that remained.
Maya lay on the ground staring up at the sky, exhausted after the fight.
—"At last… I did it…" she murmured.
Noko jumped and landed on her energetically.
—"Maya, that was amazing-nya! That final attack was suuuuper cool!"
—"Noko… get off me, I don't have the strength to get up," she answered.
Zara and I approached.
—"Noko, let Maya rest," I said.
—"Oki-nya!"
Zara kept looking at Maya, and Maya noticed.
—"What now?" Maya asked.
Zara smiled.
—"Nothing," she replied. "I just wanted to say you did a good job."
—"Ugh… I'll never get used to your kindness," Maya retorted.
Once Maya had caught her breath, she got up. The four of us celebrated that we had finally defeated the creature and headed back to the village to inform the villagers.
—"I'm glad we managed to defeat that wolf. I think this has been our toughest battle so far," I said with relief.
Maya went silent for a moment.
—"Guys…" she said after a pause. "Thank you so much for helping me with this. I was finally able to close that chapter that haunted me since childhood… it feels like a weight has been lifted off me."
The three of us smiled at her words.
—"It's nothing, we're a party after all, right?" Zara said.
Suddenly, shouts in the distance interrupted us. The villagers were coming along the paths. Their faces were filled with tears and smiles; from afar, we could hear words like "thank you!" and "you're our heroes!" After so much fighting, we hadn't had time to think, but in that moment we realized we had truly helped those people. A wave of comfort washed over us all.
We returned to the village, rested, and the next morning, the sky was already clear, though it still smelled faintly of damp wood and soil.
The people worked raising posts and salvaging belongings from their homes. When they saw us pass, they came over to greet us and thank us.
—"Thank you," a villager told us. "Without you… the village probably wouldn't have survived."
They gave us some provisions such as bread and dried fruit as a sign of gratitude.
—"Thank you-nya! This bread smells delicious!" Noko cheered.
A pair of children timidly approached Maya. They held a wildflower crafted with stems.
—"For you," one said. "I'll train hard to be as strong as you."
Maya crouched down and accepted the flower carefully.
—"Thank you," she replied with a smile. "Train very hard."
—"Yes!"
We helped however we could until midday: moving planks, raising fences, securing roofs. The villagers insisted we had already done enough and offered us food before our departure. They insisted so much that we accepted.
Before we left, many villagers gathered at the village entrance to see us off. The innkeeper who had welcomed us when we arrived stepped forward.
—"Thank you so much for what you did. If you ever come back, you'll always have a room at my inn."
—"Thank you very much," I nodded. "We hope to see you again."
We set off. Noko hopped from stone to stone, testing her balance. Maya walked by my side and, without looking at me, said:
—"Thanks for yesterday."
—"Thank you. You were amazing," I replied.
She gave a faint smile.
Behind us, the village could no longer be seen, and we continued on our way.
—"What's our next destination?" I asked.
Zara checked the map.
—"We should head back to Lumis. We've been away for a while, and we need to report what happened to the guild. If we follow this route, we'll get there in two days."
—"Sounds good. Let's go back to Lumis," I replied.
We set out on the road back, though one thing worried me: Purin hadn't contacted me all this time. What could be happening?