Summoned and Unwanted

Vincent noticed Awa was feeling terrible, and he understood the situation vaguely. ‘The gig is up.’ He thought.

‘Awa feels bad about lying to her parents in their faces after returning alive. If Awa wants to start being honest with her parents, then I can only help their relationship return to when they trusted each other.’

Vincent decided to reveal the truth now that all the dull hands apart from Awa, Amie, and Lamin remained.

*Sigh* “It is only us now, Awa. We can tell your parents the truth, at least.”

Vincent looked at both Amie and Lamin. “We lied about being lovers. Even though I do not mind having Awa become my sixth wife, I have no intention of making Awa lie to her parents any further.”

Vincent smiled a friendly smile, continuing, “Now I hope this news will help you know that I will leave and your daughter will not miss me.”

Vincent looked at Awa and teased, “Or am I wrong? Did you perhaps fall in love with me? Hehe.”

Awa slapped Vincent’s shoulder with her weak strength. The slap appeared similar to a playful slap in Amie and Lamin’s eyes. Furthermore, they had never seen their daughter constantly brighten her cheeks red.

.....

Amie and Lamin understood that their daughter might not have lied to them after all.

Both of Awa’s parents weren’t blind. They knew their daughter didn’t know what love meant, as Awa had trained to be chosen as the next clan leader’s next wife from a young age.

Both of Awa’s parents understood that to Awa, love was a formal thing. A necessity instead of indulging in momentary emotions and happiness to make one’s life expiring by every second joyful.

Vincent moved his arms and swiftly lifted Awa. Vincent couldn’t help but chuckle at the view.

Awa was covering her face with her hands because she was too embarrassed to face her parents at this moment. Amie and Lamin also revealed a faint smile. This was the first time they saw their daughter acting so embarrassed in front of them.

“Plow. Zero. Let’s go inside.”

*Pho, pho* “Plow wants to eat too. Plow is hungry.”

“Zero. Will. Follow.”

“Sure, Plow. I will feed you when we get the chance to.”

*Pho ?* Plow jumped happily at the thought of eating before the time to sleep arrived. She was getting hungry after Vincent wanted to return Awa home while taking little breaks.

Amie and Lamin stared at Plow after hearing a little fox speak. They saw Plow look at them and tilt her head cutely.

“Awa Awa parents. Hurry, hurry. Plow wants to eat.” *Pho* Plow urged.

Amie and Lamin snapped out of their daze. They noticed Vincent had already walked a meter or two.

“I want to trust our daughter’s judgment. ” Amie said in a hushed voice.

“I also want to do that. But I do not know what is going to happen to our clan. This is the first time an outsider has been accepted to fight for the position of the clan leader.” Lamin added in a hushed voice.

Amie nodded. “We have to support our daughter if that man’s plan comes to fruition. Our daughter can not lead our people alone.”

“... I will try to help as much I can before I succumb to the wound the great Orso gave me. At least now I know that monster will not be able to send my daughter to Valhalla after my death.” Lamin told his wife in a hushed voice.

Lamin knew his time was nearing, and he knew his wife was the one who needed to support their daughter the most. If Vincent dethroned the current clan leader and his mother as he announced, Awa was going to have a rocky path ahead.

Amie gently nodded her head while she tried her hardest not to let her husband notice the sadness on her face.

Vincent arrived in front of the log gate. The gate was split between two heavy log doors that were connected by ropes apparently made from strong root fiber.

Vincent looked inside the small hidden Dullahan village. There were many shacks made of the branches removed from the log wall defending them from the outside. It made Vincent wonder if the Dullahans felt cold inside such shacks.

Vincent looked from left to right. He could see Dullahans wearing a lot of pelt-patched clothes sewed by roots. The Dullahans appeared thick instead of thin because of their attires, but Vincent knew the reason why.

The first time Vincent fasted after becoming too engrossed in a comic and forgot to eat for an entire day, the cold Vincent felt made him confused if he had gotten very sick.

The moment Vincent ate, his heart raced to process the new source of fuel, and his body began to return to its usual temperature. Vincent could tell the Dullahans were compensating for the extra feeling of cold from eating a little with extra warm pelts.

However, Kazumi noticed a thing Vincent did not notice at this moment. The Dullahans processed the pelts, and Vincent never mentioned how they smelled of rotten meat.

Kazumi started to wonder if this could prove to be a great business opportunity. The Dullahans could become more than allies if Awa was placed as the one in charge.

Vincent casually walked inside the village. The more Dullahans exited their homes and gathered to watch what the commotion about a challenger was about. The more Vincent could see a variety of Dullahans.

The female to male ratio was about the same. The males died mostly from hunting, and the females died mostly from conceiving children.

The youngest child Vincent saw was a little boy that was five years old and was starving. This information meant one terrible thing.

It meant the Dullahans didn’t have a child successfully and safely born in the last couple of years, and all the female Dullahans had most likely passed away.

From the entrance to almost the end of the village, Vincent saw a total of two pregnant women. They were suffering from malnourishment, and it was obvious they weren’t going to make it.

Vincent had flashbacks of when Shana’s parents passed away. Such a recollection made Vincent infuriated. It became obvious that the current people who are leading the Dullahan do not care about their people. They only care about their well-being.

“V-Vincent. Please put me down if you are going to stop in the middle of the path to the training grounds.” Awa embarrassingly said while covering her face.

*Tsk* “Awa. I was wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“I never knew pride could feed the starved enough to survive. The Dullahan race indeed has strong warrior’s blood coursing through all of your veins. The desire to survive with this kind of horrible leadership is impressive.”

“...” Awa did not know how to respond or if she could respond to Vincent’s words.

It was between being praised for their will to survive and mocked for keeping living with the current horrible leadership at the same time. Awa could only agree that Vincent’s words contained a lot of truth after she stopped being one of the sheep following a horrible shepherd.

Vincent arrived at the training ground. There were a lot of Dullahans gathered, and more were arriving from behind.

Vincent looked around and saw a couple of sticks in the ground to be used for training. There was a log cut a few inches thick attached to a large rock. It had two makeshift spears in the wooden target.

Vincent noticed an entrance to a cave, but the Dullahans lived outside. It made him wonder if the cave was being used for something else or if the cave was too small to retain approximately the same temperature all year round.

Awa noticed Vincent keenly looking at the cave. “The food is in the cave. ” She said while peeking at Vincent from behind her hands.

“Is the cave large?”

Awa gently shook her head. “No. It is not that big, as far as I know. The cave has a lot of small holes, and I heard we are able to store the food safer or something like that.”

[Shall I take a quick peek?] Kazumi asked. Her curiosity was urging her to go.

-Sure...- While Vincent was agreeing, Kazumi left his body like a speeding bullet.

“Lamin’s daughter has returned. But why is she being carried by a slave trader? Is she his hostage?”

“I heard the slave trader took the friendship potion before coming here.”

“I heard Amie’s daughter fell in love with a slave trader, and she is going to have his child.”

“I heard our kind Awa has fallen for the tricks of the horrible slave trader, and our great clan leader intends to save her.”

“I heard something strange too. The great Orso was felled by that slave trader, his little blue fox, and that small plant thing.”

“Does that mean we will not have to worry about the great Orso attacking our village ever again?”

Vincent smirked while hearing the curious Dullahans chatter. Other than being great at manipulating information, the clan chieftain was good for nothing.

Green light appeared in front of Vincent. A large decapitated head of a bear with yellow eyes soon materialized.

The Dullahans stopped talking all at the same time. Their very eyes were witnessing the proof of Orso’s death.

Some Dullahans wiped tears from their faces. Some spat on the ground while acting as if Orso got what it deserved. Some stared at Vincent and observed his every action.