The man stared at Oliver's face, then said in a calm voice,
"Hold me."
Before Oliver could understand what he meant, he felt a strong hand grab him by the collar of his coat, and then the man jumped down from the top of the tree.
Oliver instinctively clung to him, his arms wrapped tightly around the man's waist as if his life depended on it, and Tell clung to the inside of the coat even harder.
The man landed firmly on his feet without making any sound.
Oliver looked at him while still clinging to him. Oliver looked at the man, then at the ground, then stepped back and began fixing his coat, trying to hide how embarrassed he was.
"Umm… thank you. But what are you doing here, Mr. Masked Man?"
The man was busy rearranging the daggers hanging from his leather belt. He answered without lifting his head toward him.
"I came to look for you."
Oliver stepped back until his back hit the tree behind him.
"Why are you looking for me?"
The man did not answer him. Instead, he pulled out a small dagger from his belt and threw it quickly into the air. Oliver shut his eyes immediately.
He braced himself for death, but several seconds passed and nothing happened.
He opened his eyes, then turned to his side. The dagger was impaled in a long insect clinging to the tree's trunk. Its color matched the wood perfectly, and on its ends there were tiny, extremely venomous needles that were about to leap toward his face.
The man pulled the dagger out of the insect, and it fell dead to the ground. Then he picked it up and put it inside his bag.
He said as he returned the dagger to his belt,
"I came to look for you and bring you back to the village."
"Do you know me, sir?"
"No. But the villagers were searching for you. I volunteered to enter the forest."
After he said that, he pointed at small footprints on the mud.
"I followed these."
He moved forward, and Oliver quickly followed him, carefully avoiding the massive monster corpse lying on the ground. Just looking at it made him feel afraid.
"How… how did you kill this thing?"
No answer came from him. The man kept walking.
"By the way, my name is Oliver. What is your name?"
Oliver's next step landed on a protruding rock he had not seen because of the darkness. His foot slipped and he almost fell to the ground, but the man grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back at the last moment.
Oliver wiped his forehead.
"Oh, that was close."
The man ignored him again and kept walking, his eyes focused on the horizon ahead.
"Are you a traveler? Why did you come to our village? I have never seen a stranger before! Did you come for the Harvest Festival?"
At that point, the man stopped walking. Not because he cared about anything Oliver said, but because he was sick of his chatter. He was using a tremendous amount of effort to stop himself from hitting Oliver just to make him shut up.
From inside the coat, Tell whispered,
"Hybrid, we need to get away from this man."
"Why? Do you want us to get lost in the forest again?"
"Something is wrong. Don't you feel it?"
"What do you mean by that?"
Tell lifted her head a little through the coat's opening.
"Don't you see the aura around him? You are supposed to be a hybrid, right?"
"You are the one who said I am a hybrid, not me. And honestly? This man seems very nice. Just look at him."
Tell looked at the masked man who was flipping a dagger between his fingers like a butcher preparing his tools. Then she looked back at Oliver.
"What exactly is nice about that thing? Do hybrids have a different definition of nice?"
"It's not like we have a better option. What do you want me to do? Go back into the forest so one of those monsters can eat me?"
Tell retreated back into the coat with deep annoyance.
"When this man kills you and skins your body, do not ask me for help."
"In that case, I don't think I will be able to ask for help anyway."
The masked man raised his hand and stopped walking without warning.
In front of them was a massive cave. At its entrance stood a large group of Grays gathered like guards. They were moving around the place carrying spears made of bone. One of them was even training his young son.
Without saying a single word, the masked man pulled out a blood vial. He opened it and scattered its contents over the trees and rocks around them. The smell was so strong that Oliver covered his nose.
"Why did you do that?"
Oliver asked while looking at the masked man, but as usual, there was no response. The man simply continued walking.
…
After many long hours of walking, the sun had begun to rise in the sky. But the masked man had not spoken the entire way. Oliver, on the other hand, had not stopped for a single moment. He told random stories, asked the masked man many questions which of course were never answered, complained that the masked man did not respond to him, and laughed at a stupid joke he told.
Even Tell was twisting around inside the coat, to the point that she also wanted to scream at him to shut up.
Finally, at last, the village borders appeared. The trees here were less dense, and their leaves had begun to fall with the start of autumn, unlike the thick trees deep in the forest.
The moment they entered the village's outskirts, a large group of villagers stood waiting for them. The anxious faces turned to relief the moment they saw Oliver.
Leading them was the village elder, who also felt relieved when he saw Oliver, and beside him stood a woman in her early thirties. Her hair was short and brown, her eyes green like emerald, and her expression was as angry as it was worried.
The moment she saw Oliver, she ran toward him quickly. Oliver panicked immediately and hid behind the masked man, clutching his coat tightly.
The woman stood directly in front of the masked man and bowed to him.
"Thank you for saving this little troublemaker."
Then she grabbed Oliver by the ear and pulled him out from behind her.
Oliver groaned in pain.
"Oww! Elinor! That hurts!"
"You should have thought of that before entering the forest alone! Didn't I warn you a thousand times not to do such things?! If it weren't for this kind gentleman, do you know what would have happened to you?! Do you have any idea how worried I was?!"
She pointed at the place where the man had been standing, but he had already walked away and was heading into the village.