"Hu…" Noel took a deep breath after killing the last beaver. In this second day, Noel could see that the dam had half destroyed and the water only had a third of its original volume. If he continued working this way, they could wrap everything up by tomorrow.
The longer he waited, the lesser the beaver demon that came to him too, so he expected that he would be able to find every single one of them tomorrow.
Eventually, the time had passed and Noel didn't find a single beaver demon during the third day. But to his surprise, the farmer, who was injured, still tagged along to fetch some water. But this time, he was accompanied by another muscular man that was tasked to get the water. It seemed he was adamant to visit Noel just to check his condition.
And he was the one who had been bringing him food so that Noel didn't feel hungry in the past three days.
Because there was no more beaver coming out of the dam, Noel finally asked them to pass the words to the village chief, telling him that the river had returned to normal.
In that instant, the village chief went all the way to the half-destroyed dam to see it himself.
And as expected, the beaver demon didn't come out anymore, proving that Noel had completed his job.
"Normally, the beaver demons will come out in a few hours interval. But it's been around 16 hours and there's no sign of another beaver again." Noel explained.
"I see… So that means…" The village chief's body was shaken as the plague that had been creeping in his heart disappeared. The trouble that had killed more than twenty people in his village had finally been taken care of. "Thank you… Thank you…"
"It's fine. This is just my job. For now, I'll wait until tonight to confirm my statement. And looking at the water level right now, I'll destroy the rest of the dam tomorrow. It should return to a normal river soon. But I can't do anything about the demon fish…"
"No, no, it's alright. The demon fishes are the demons that have been living with us. No matter how hard you exterminate them, they'll just come back since they come from upstreams. We already know how to deal with them." The village chief shook his head, assuring Noel that he had fulfilled his job.
"Alright. I'll go back when the night arrives and get some rest before leaving tomorrow." Noel nodded with a smile.
"I understand. I'll prepare the proof of completion as well." The village chief promised Noel. "And I'll make sure that you can get a proper rest after all this work. Thank you very much."
Noel saw them off while the farmer remained next to him. It seemed that he had something to talk about.
"Ehm…" The farmer hesitated for a moment before asking politely, "Do you have a time tonight?"
"What do you mean?" Noel tilted his head in confusion.
"Actually, we've been preparing a feast for you. We want to thank you for your hard work. Besides, you've given us that huge fish. So…"
"Ah, you mean that fish." Noel thought for a moment. He thought it would be rude to reject him and there was something that he wanted to witness for the first time, so he accepted the invitation. "I understand. I'll be back an hour after the moon rises, so I have plenty of time."
"I see. Thank you very much." The farmer smiled and hurriedly returned to tell them the good news.
Noel smiled as he watched this enthusiastic guy returning to the village. It was told that he would have a hard time to work in the field anymore, yet, the guy wanted to thank him so much.
He really couldn't believe it.
"Back in the fort, I killed the guy that had been bullying me. Even though what he did wasn't that much related to me, I still killed him. But there is this guy, who is thanking me even though I task him with a job that forces him to step away from his work.
"Am I crazy? Psychopath? Or am I just a normal person and that guy is just overly kind? But then again, there are those kids maintaining their brightness despite experiencing such a situation… There are those women who are strong enough to stand back up after witnessing hell." Noel lowered his head, wondering what was the right thing.
On the one hand, if he didn't eliminate his bully, he would treat the people around him worse than he could imagine. On the other hand, he asked himself whether it was possible to mend the situation?
"This is really hard." Noel let out a sigh. "Still, I'll keep exploring around the world to see numerous kinds of people so that I can get the answer I'm searching for. I promise that I'll use everything I've learned in this journey to treat the people in my future territory better."
This was the reason why Noel managed to wake up his Spirit in an instant. The spirit didn't wake up earlier because he thought his goal was to take revenge for his parents. But he soon learned it wasn't the case.
After taking revenge of his parents, Noel asked himself what he wanted to do? It was at that time, he got an answer. Learning how to govern his future territory was just one of his small goals, not his ultimate goal that woke up his Ice Spirit, Heisk.
Noel clenched his fists, getting fired up.
After that realization, Noel continued watching over the dam, making sure that not a single beaver coming out. He also patrolled around the area but found no demons. After another few hours, he decided to wrap up his mission and return to the village. He was quite exhausted and sleepy after working for three days without sleep.
But when he returned to the village, he found that the lifeless atmosphere that the village had a few days ago had disappeared.
There were lights all around the villages, brightening the area.
The village were brimming with energy as the people walked back and forth, preparing the meal for the feast.
The farmer was the first to greet him as if he knew that Noel would come around this time.
"Welcome back. Please come with me." The farmer smiled.
