Hidden Village

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'After the battle was over, the Xenos slowly approached Silver, seeing that he wasn't a treat… For now...'

'These bizarre monsters, looking at him with intelligent eyes… It was surely a novel experience for Silver.'

'He could understand now why coexistence was difficult if not totally impossible.'

'After living as an adventurer for so long, growing up in this world like anyone else, he perfectly understood their perspective and why they hated the monsters so much.'

'It was thousands of years of confrontation and there was no way for this situation to change within a few months and for the people to accept them so easily…'

'How many people lost someone close to a monster? Be it within the Dungeon or outside?'

'And how many more would lose someone in the future?…'

'Even if they already lived in coexistence, would you be able to drink at a bar with a minotaur after your son and wife were killed by one in the Dungeon?'

'What if they can think and have emotions? They look alike and that's enough right?!'

'People already fight because of minor differences due to their colors and their size, sometimes if someone is fat or skinny, much less if someone is a completely different existence...'

'This world has no space for them…'

"So uh… What now?" Silver asked as he scratched the top of his head

"... Would you mind coming with us?" Lyd asked

"!"

"No, he..."

"Think about it..."

"But he..."

'This caused a few waves within the Xenos…'

"Lyd…" Said Ray worriedly

'But Lyd simply said:'

"We can't leave him like this, not after what happened. Besides, we need to talk, and this place isn't a good place for that…"

'He turned to face Silver and said:'

"Please, come with us, I promise that nothing will happen to you."

"... You know that's strange coming from a Lizardman, right?" Silver asked with a frown

I can't just accept them, I need to show at least some Level of suspicion since this was the first time we've met.

"Be it a monster or another Human, I would never go with them just because they asked."

'Lyd nodded, and said:'

"I understand your point, it's difficult to trust someone you met for the first time, and also, we're not monsters… We're the Xenos."

"I would like to say more, but this isn't the place."

'Silver also knew that refusing too much might have a different effect and that in the circumstance he did refuse and they acted, they could easily capture him.'

'Several of these monsters are Level 3, and their intelligence puts them at a Level completely different from these other monsters.'

'Especially these 2… The Siren and the Lizardman… They are strong.'

'Although… It's not like they would be capable of doing that in the first place as Silver would just flee far away through teleportation.'

'Yet, in the end, he loses nothing from going, and instead, he loses everything if he leaves.'

'So after thinking for a while he said:'

"I'll go, but first, can we collect the Magic stones and items left behind by the monsters?… Sorry if I am being insensitive." Silver said with an apologetic smile

'Lyd shook his head and 'smiled' slightly.'

"We are the Xenos, not monsters, we have nothing to do with them."

'Ray opened her mouth to add:'

"Even though we look like them, this doesn't mean we are their allies. Just like you all, they'll attack us on sight."

"They are just as troublesome to you as they are for us, besides, we also hunt them to grow stronger."

"Why do they attack you though?" Silver asked

"We… We don't know." Lyd said in disappointment

"The story is long and filled with inconsistencies, so let's go on our way."

'Silver nodded, knowing that staying like this in the open wouldn't be very wise, so he turned around and started to process the monster's bodies.'

'The first thing he did was to gather around the scattered pieces of magic stones and drop loot in the vicinity with a series of abilities, greatly shocking all present.'

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot…"

'Silver took out his classic and trusty camera, snapping a photo of the slain dragon so he could pass it on to the Guild, he would definitely be rewarded.'

"What is that metal box on your hand?" Lyd asked curiously

"Oh, this? It's a camera, it's meant to take pictures of something, and I'm doing it for this Dragon since it's an Irregular."

"Picture?" Ray asked

"Hum... It's like a painting, but better and worse... I'll show you more later." Silver said with a smile

'Next, he climbed on top of the dragon's body and slashed its chest, removing a fist-sized magic stone, incomparable to the previous thumb and finger-sized magic stones he was used to collecting.'

'The size of a magic stone changed slightly over time, but it eventually hit a limit since even deep down, many monsters are still rather small, so it wouldn't make sense for their magic stones to be massive.'

'Although bizarre, monsters still have their own biology and internal organs, and those need space.'

'Instead, what mostly changes it's their quality, although the magic stone doesn't change in color, at least for the ones he knows off, the glimmering light within it does change.'

'And that is an indicator of its quality and hence, value.'

'From a very faint spark that is emitted from magic stones dropped by Goblins on the first floor to the soothing light emitted by the monsters he just killed.'

/POOF/

'When he removed the magic stone from the monster, its body fully disintegrated and a series of items were dropped.'

'A large portion of its hide followed by one large horn.'

"Nice…"

This will surely amount to quite an amount.

'As Silver processed the body, Lyd suddenly woke up from his confusion and had everyone join in and help, and within a minute, the ground was filled with items…'

"How are we going to carry these?" Ray asked confused

"Leave it to me." Silver said with a carefree smile

'All of the items suddenly started to levitate, and with that, Silver said:'

"Done, I can carry them like this."

"Wh… That's pretty cool!" Lyd said with a nod

"How long can you do that for?" Ray asked interested in his strange abilities

"For this quantity… For about an hour? If I can maintain my focus of course."

'Ray was deeply surprised, she wasn't foreign to magic, but seeing such a thing in action was novel even to her.'

"Alright! No time to wait!" Lyd said loudly

'Everyone started to walk, looking at Silver with a curious look.'

…

/Time passed…/

'Silver didn't ask where they were bringing him, but he felt that it was without a doubt to one of their villages, or at least, a safe point where they could talk without worrying about other ears and eyes.'

'On the way, he learned more about the Xenos present here, and that around half of them were unable to talk, but all of them could understand him.'

'After asking he learned that around 50% of the Xenos were incapable of talking due to not having the necessary vocal cords to do so.'

'Xenos are normally very similar to their monsters counterparts, but that is not always the case as some Xenos could be born very different from the monsters.'

'Ray was a good example, she looked like a woman in every single way until you arrived at her legs and arms.'

'From her shoulder, her arm turned into a pair of wings, while her legs were covered in short yellow fur and her feet were similar to a bird's foot.'

'She also had several feathers growing on her head and waist, but that alone was enough to put her apart from other Sirens. Although not enough to make her completely different from them.'

'Some other Xenos would be born with the ability to understand the common dialect, but be unable to speak, some of them can learn to, others cannot.'

'This has to do with the memories of their past lives, but this can be left for another time...'

'And lastly, there are those who simply cannot understand shit, but they are usually smart enough to learn how to understand the common language, however, they'll probably never be able to speak it.'

'But Silver wasn't the only one asking questions as the Xenos were also very eager to speak with a Human...'

"So uh… Are you an adventurer?" Asked the Goblin with a sword on his back

"Really Tel? Is that the best you got to ask him?" Asked a Bugbear that was wearing a pair of leather boots

"A-And what was I supposed to ask him?!"

"You need to be more creative… For example... How's the surface?" The Bugbear asked Silver

"Ohh! That's a nice question!" The Goblin said

'Soon a few Xenos started asking him question after question…'

"Everyone… Calm down." Rya said

'She turned to Silver with an apologetic smile.'

"Sorry, this is… The first time we're ever given a chance to ask someone apart from…"

'She stopped talking, but silver simply smiled and said:'

"No it's okay, I'm just as fascinated by all of this like them."

'He then turned to the Goblin and said:'

"Yes I am, a Captain of a Familia in fact." Silver replied with a smile

"And the surface… That's hard to explain."

"Ohhh, a Familia Captain!"

'He seemed oddly excited…'

/Buzz/

'But they were interrupted by a faint light shining on Lyd's waist.'

"It's him." Tel said

'Lyd took the orb out and the reflection of a hooded figure was shown.'

"How was it?" It asked

"We found out the source, an Irregular Green Dragon was fighting an adventurer, but by the time we arrived everything was already over."

"A Green Dragon you say?! That's exceptionally rare… Thankfully this matter has already been taken care of…"

"We have him here with us." Lyd said as he moved the orb to show Silver's face

"..."

'The figure on the orb was frozen solid, taken by surprise to an incredible degree…'

"I-I'll be there!" It said as the call was suddenly cut

'Lyd was surprised by this as he said:'

"Sorry, she doesn't usually act like that… What happened I wonder…"

'But Silver only smiled helplesly.'

Of course, she is acting like that, they don't know much about the surface and what's been happening, so from their perspective I am a not-so-normal adventurer…

While from the perspective of the person on the other side of that Magic tool…

Seeing me, the Captain of the Hestia Familia here is certainly something unexpected.

"Don't worry about it, I bet she is as surprised as me…"

'Lyd scratched the top of his head as he continued to lead them deeper into the Dungeon…'

…

/A few hours later…/

"We're here." Lyd said as he looked at the Dungeon wall

"..."

'Silver also looked at the stone wall, but he saw nothing.'

'Upon a closer look, he did see a crack on the wall, but it was extremely well hidden and normally he would've just passed by this wall without looking at it.'

'Although in the first place, this section of the Dungeon was located within the unexplored grounds.'

'Although most if not all of the Upper floors were explored, every once a while a new area is found in three Middle floors, while the Lower floors are constantly being maped much less the Deep floors and beyond.'

/Crack!/

'Lyd pressed his hand against the wall, and it slowly budged under his strength…'

'Eventually, a hole was shown and everyone passed through it.'

"Come, don't be afraid." Ray said with a smile as she moved her wing

"That's not it…" Silver said as he took a step forward

/Growl…/

'But he was met with an interesting sight…'

'In front of him was yet another Green Dragon, and this meant business.'

'It wasn't bigger than the last one, but the pressure it exuded was considerably higher…'

"We're back Gryuu." Rya said with a smile

"..."

'The huge Dragon stared at Silver and puffed a bit of air, so Rya said:'

"This is Ryuu, he used to be our old leader, but he gave the position to us after he grew too old…"

/HUFF!/

'The dragon puffed a big amount of air, showing his displeasure…'

"Ahaha… Gryuu can't speak your language, but he can understand us just fine."

"Nice to meet you." Silver said with a smile

/Huff/

"Oh yeah, now that I think about it, everyone introduced themselves but we forgot to ask your name!" Ray said with a shocked expression

"What a blunder! But since we're here, how about we have him talk with everyone at once?" Lyd asked

"Just let me put this rock back in…"

/Clack!/

'Without saying much, Silver moved his hand and the rock fell back in place like a glove.'

"Thank you adventurer-san." The Lizard said formally with a smile

'Silver was still not used to it, his smile was a bit weird but it had sincerity.'

'As they walked deeper, Silver asked:'

"This place…"

"We call it Hidden villages, they are places where no monsters spawn and the Dungeon made it to protect us, her children that have no place within it." Lyd said in a deep tone

"That's one of the reasons we want to go to the surface, so we can safely walk with no fear." Lyd continued

"... And stretch out wings under the fabled sun." Rya said with a smile

"..."

'Silver went into deep thought…'

Just a shame this dream may never…

Actually happen.

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