The tavern slowly found its rhythm again after the commotion.
At first, people spoke in hushed voices, glancing toward the girl who had nearly died only moments ago. Then mugs were lifted again, chairs scraped across the floor, and conversation returned in uneven waves. Fear lingered in the air, but life in the village had taught people how to keep moving even when danger was close.
Several men had already left to report the incident to the village chief.
Kairo, meanwhile, returned to his meal as if nothing unusual had happened. He tore another piece of bread, dipped it into the stew, and ate in silence.
Across the table, Dren, Lysa, and Bram were staring at him. Kairo looked up calmly. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
Bram pointed across the table with an accusing finger.
"Because you're a healer."
"Yes."
"You never said that!"
"Well, you never asked." Kairo replied.
Bram dropped back into his chair with a groan.
"I hate how often that answer works."
Lysa rested her chin on one hand, studying him with open curiosity.
"If you're truly a healer, then why are you going outside the walls to hunt monsters?"
Kairo took another bite before answering.
"Because I wanted to."
"That is not a normal answer," Dren muttered into his drink.
Lysa shook her head, half amused and half confused.
"You know healers earn more money than hunters, right? Far more. They live better, eat better, and usually don't come home covered in blood."
"Healers are valuable," Dren added. "If you can actually cure curses or diseases, you'd have guards protecting your door by tomorrow."
Kairo thought about that.
Money ,Status ,Safety are useful things, certainly.
But hunting had given him something else—growth, understanding, and the freedom to test his power away from watchful eyes.
"I still prefer hunting," he said.
Bram snorted into his mug.
"You really are broken in the head, you know that."
"I am?. But I am improving though," Kairo replied.
Lysa laughed softly.
"You actually are."
It was true. His speech had changed. The pauses between words were shorter now. His answers came more naturally, and he no longer sounded like someone trying to imitate a language he had only just discovered.
Kairo noticed it too. The more he listened to humans, the easier it became to sound like one.
---
Their conversation drifted back toward the strange sickness that had nearly killed the girl.
Dren lowered his voice.
"If beasts are carrying some new curse, then the others need to know immediately."
Kairo looked at him.
"The others?"
Lysa blinked. "You don't know about the other villages either?"
"No."
She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.
"There are five villages in this region, including ours. We're the southern gate settlement. Then there's Eastwatch in the hills, Hollow Ridge near the cliffs, Fen Hollow in the marshlands, and Stonemere to the west."
As she spoke, Kairo quietly memorized each name.
"We've been fighting the monsters for three hundred years," Lysa continued. "Maybe longer. Some of the records say more, but no one can prove it."
"Long enough that nobody remembers how it started," Bram said, taking another drink.
At that moment, a faint shimmer passed across Kairo's vision which only he could see.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TRIAL UPDATE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
New Condition Available:
[Nightmare] End the war between the Five Villages and the Northern Monsters
Reward: Ability Upgrade
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kairo read the message once and calmly reached for his cup. His expression did not change but Inside, however, interest stirred.
The Trial was reacting to information now. That meant knowledge itself could create paths forward.
Lysa was still speaking when he asked another question.
"This village chief… What rank is he?"
Dren raised an eyebrow.
"Now that is a smart question."
"He's Peak Rank Two," Lysa replied. "Strongest person in this village by a wide margin."
"And the chiefs of the other villages?"
"About the same," she said. "Some stronger, some weaker, but all near the top of Rank Two."
Kairo nodded once.
"And the leader of the monsters?"
That question darkened the table immediately.
Bram's smile faded. Dren's hand tightened around his mug. Lysa exhaled slowly.
"Rank Three."
"That's the problem," Dren said. "We can defend ourselves. Sometimes we can even push them back. But we can't end the war."
Kairo rested his elbows on the table.
"Have you tried speaking to him?"
The three of them stared.
Then Bram barked out a laugh.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
Lysa rubbed her temple.
"There have been negotiations before. Envoys, gifts, offers of territory, trade agreements, ceasefires…"
"And?"
Dren's expression hardened.
"He always gives the same answer."
Lysa's voice sharpened with irritation as she repeated it.
"I just want to kill everyone. It's more enjoyable."
She clicked her tongue in disgust.
"He's a fucking psycho."
Kairo listened carefully.
A creature ruled by impulse and pleasure. Simple minds were often dangerous, but also predictable.
"Where does he live?" Kairo asked.
Now all three of them looked suspicious.
"Why?" Bram asked.
"I am curious."
Lysa pointed north with one finger.
"In a castle built over the old ruins. About fifty kilometers from here."
"Black stone fortress," Bram added. "Ugly thing sitting on a hill."
Kairo stored the direction immediately.
North. Castle. Fifty kilometers.
"Why not attack him there?"
Dren gave a humorless laugh.
"We tried."
"More than once," Lysa said.
"We lost some of our best people," Bram added quietly.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Lysa pushed away her empty plate.
"Well. This conversation became depressing."
---
They had all finished eating by then.
The tavern had thinned out as more villagers left to carry warnings through the settlement.
Dren stood first.
"We're going."
"Meet us tomorrow morning if you want to go on a hunt with us," Bram said.
"I will be going alone tomorrow to hunt but on the next day we can hunt together."
Lysa smiled faintly. "Ok then it is decided you will join us the day after tomorrow."
"And by the way, try sleeping like a normal person tonight."
"Ok?."
They turned toward the door. Then Kairo spoke again.
"Where can I buy a weapon?"
Dren didn't stop walking.
"We'll show you tomorrow."
"I would prefer to know now."
Bram laughed.
"Sure buddy."
Lysa sighed and pointed toward the street outside.
"Go straight down the main road, turn left at the well, and you'll find a row of smiths and traders selling weapons."
Kairo repeated the directions in his mind.
Then he paused.
"A well?"
Lysa frowned. "Yes."
"That is where the water comes from?"
She stared at him for a full second.
"…Of course the water comes from the well. What kind of question is that?"
Kairo nodded seriously.
Bram nearly doubled over laughing.
"Good night, weird healer!"
"Goodbye, Kairo," Lysa said.
He answered after only a brief pause.
"Goodbye."
The word came naturally now.
---
He left the tavern a short while later.
The cold night air met him as he stepped into the street. Lanterns burned low along the roads, and the village had grown quieter, though not silent. Somewhere nearby, someone was singing badly. Somewhere else, a child was crying.
Human settlements never truly slept.
Kairo walked toward the central square until he found the well.
It stood on worn stone, with a wooden beam overhead and a thick rope hanging into darkness below. Several buckets rested beside it, damp from recent use.
A shared source that's used by everyone.
Efficient.
Kairo stepped forward and placed one hand on the nearest bucket.
A faint pulse of darkness slipped from his fingers into the wood.
Then into the rope.
Then deeper still, seeping into the water below.
The plague spread silently through the well, invisible and dormant.
Waiting.
He withdrew his hand and glanced around.
No one had seen him.
Then, without another word, he turned away from the weapon shops and walked back toward the inn.
Tonight, the village would sleep peacefully.
Tomorrow, many things would begin to change.