With each movement muscles pressed against the seam. As Vera reached to the top of the shelf, the sound of fabric ripping restrained his movements.
"Vera, I think my husband's clothes won't fit you. Are you sure you don't want to head to the market with Renta and buy a new set?"
"I'd rather not burden you anymore, ma'am. This set is a whole lot better than what I had before."
"No need to be so considerate of me. Feel free to ask if you change your mind."
"I will, thank you."
Vera's cordial expression of gratitude was overshadowed by the sound of his clothes ripping open as he reached for the top of the shelf.
"On second thought I think I'll take you up on that offer." He spoke as he scratched his nape, unable to meet eyes with Linda.
"Hahah."
"Don't worry about it; I'll have Renta take you to the market after he gets back."
"On that note, where has Renta gone?"
"He's gone to the council hall to meet his father. Something about an important item he needed to deliver."
"Ahh..."
After chatting for a bit longer, Vera helped Linda prepare for dinner. The thought of seasoned meat helped him forget about the stabbing pain in his legs.
As he cooked with Linda, time passed smoothly; before he knew it, night had arrived.
Low thuds echoed from the door.
"That should be Renta and Ken, my husband." Linda spoke as she hurried to the door, with Vera following at a slow pace.
At first impression Ken looked nothing like Renta, his build towering over that of Renta.
However, that impression only lasted till Ken opened his mouth.
His shameless grin mirroring Renta's perfectly.
"Honey! I'm home." The flourish in his words almost resembled a song.
His towering physique hugging Renta and Linda tightly, as though he hadn't seen them in years.
Soon his gaze shifted to Vera.
"Renta, is this the human that you traded the waterskins with?"
"Yeah."
Ken's visage turned to a blur, his glistening yellow teeth leaving an afterimage.
"Hello, sir..." Vera spoke with a strained tone. Ken looked up at him, his arms tightly wrapped around Vera.
"Hello, Vera."
Ken's bright yellow teeth almost blinded Vera with their radiance.
After Vera finally managed to slip out of Ken's overly enthusiastic embrace, he followed Linda and Renta to the dining room. The two walked away without sparing Ken's enthusiasm a second glance.
That much of a common occurrence, huh...
The lively chatter migrated from the hallway to the dining room.
The smell of rendered tallow emanated from the oil lamp that hung over the dinner table.
Despite Ken's resemblance to Renta, he didn't speak the same puffery as his son.
It turned out that dinner conversation was more engaging when the recipient didn't try to sell you 'Blessed Stones'.
"So, Vera, what brings you to the continent?"
"My master grew tired of my cowardice, so he packed me off to the continent to fend for myself."
"You, cowardly? It takes balls of steel to camp out in these forests. As a native, even I wouldn't venture out too far from the village."
"Hahaha!"
"Tell me about it. I almost died from exhaustion from all the challenges. Thankfully, I got a hold of the wildebeest blood."
Ken's cup of wine stilled for a moment. The word 'challenge' seemed to tell him something about Vera.
"Cowardly, huh..." Ken muttered under his breath.
"I'm sorry I didn't catch that."
"Don't worry, I was just caught off guard by the wine. Honey, did you do something different with the wine this time?" Ken took a sip of his wine, his intrigued expression turning back to his usual grin.
"Not much... probably just goes well with the meat Vera brought."
"Ahh... That makes sense."
"By the way, sir, I wanted to ask you something." Vera spoke through a mouthful of the seasoned meat he was craving.
"Go ahead, and stop calling me sir."
"What's with the sudden need for wildebeest blood? From what I've seen up till now, the village guards seem pretty formidable."
"Ahh... The whole thing has been a headache. While the wildebeest massacre was good news for us, it was good news for other demon hordes as well."
Ken took a sip of his wine; his throat was almost dry from all the talking.
"The wildebeest horde has been a deterrent for most of our neighbours from moving in large groups. But now that their threat has dispersed, hostile demons have started forming hordes again."
"I see. But higher-grade demons should be able to tell that the wildebeest blood is only a bluff, right?"
"Very true. Unfortunately, the wildebeest blood can only stop demons that haven't gained intelligence. The timing is also horrendous. To make matters worse, this is all happening when the mountain god is away. We need to be prepared for any high-grade beasts that may attack in his absence."
Just as Ken was about to tell Vera about the mountain god, he felt a slight tug on his robe.
He turned to look at Renta, who was trembling as he looked at Linda.
"Honey... The food is going to turn cold." Linda's low tone permeated through the room.
The hair on Vera's nape stood upright; he almost mistook Linda for his master.
Soon, the clay plates on the dinner table sparkled; not a morsel of food remained on them.
***
The next morning Vera headed out to the market with Renta. Having been handed a large sum of coppers, Renta was more than willing to take Vera to the market.
As Vera expected, the crowd's reaction to him was still the same as before. The market pathways cleared at Vera's arrival.
However, Vera figured it'd be best to ignore their reactions. After all, he was going to be here for another month or so.
At least Renta isn't trying to sell me this time.
Surprisingly so, Renta's racketeering was nowhere to be seen today.
"Does your mother really scare you that much? She seems like a nice lady."
Renta's prancing came to a sudden stop. He walked up to Vera while locking eyes with him.
"Tell me, Vera... Have you ever stared death in the eyes before?" He spoke with a low tone, his eyes turned hollow.
His face resembled that of a veteran who's haunted by the horrors he'd witnessed.
Vera's arm firmly grasped Renta's head, pushing him out of his way.
"This is what she gets for feeding you three times a day."
Renta followed Vera closely, narrating 'horror' stories about the unjust evil demon he called his mother.
Renta's incessant chattering morphed into white noise, turning Vera's walk into a montage.
After a few minutes the two had finally arrived at a clothing store.
The stall stood at the far end of the market.
An old chimp sat at a desk, listlessly knitting away. Two clothing racks stood on both sides of the chimp.
"Boss, I've brought you a customer!"
"Renta, come inside. How have you been? It's almost been a month since you last came; I thought you forgot about me." The old chimp spoke as he took a puff from his pipe.
"How could I have forgotten about you, old man? I was just away trading in the forest."
"Renta, you know better than to head into the forest in times like these."
"Enough nagging, boss. My mother took care of that when I came back."
"Hahaha. Even now the only thing that scares you is your mother."
"Hahaha."
"Anyways, my friend over here needs a new set of clothes; the bigger, the better."
"Sure, check out the designs on the rack. I'll tailor it to your friend's size."
"Vera, don't worry about the price. Get whatever you want."
Renta spoke with a sheepish grin on his face.
Vera's gaze narrowed. He could see through Renta's shameless scheming immediately.
"No amount of referral payouts will soothe the beating you're going to get from your mother."
Vera started to look through the designs. Each robe seemed to have been made of bast fibres.
The robes were adorned with subtle patterns that complemented their off-white colours.
Each robe was rather smooth, considering that they were woven from tree fibres.
After glancing at each robe, Vera dashed to the most plain-looking one. Nonetheless, the robe's cheap aura caught Renta's eyes.
With speeds far surpassing that of a third-grade demon, Renta picked up the costliest robe he could find. Immediately getting between Vera and the plain robe.
"Vera, buy this robe. I'm sure Ma would be unhappy if you bought that plain robe."
The atmosphere turned silent; Vera's breath was stifled, his eyes locked onto the embroidery on the robe.
Coarse snow-white fur surrounded its head.
Limbs dyed in a deep red. The red blood of the lives he'd snuffed out with those very arms.
A towering physique that obscured the very sun, its visage signalling doom for all those in its path.
"Zhuyan..." he muttered
The market's hustle and bustle faded into dark.
Eyes growing wide, Renta exclaimed with pride.
"Vera, you didn't tell me you knew about our mountain god."
Renta's words fell on deaf ears.
His irritating badgering failed to make Vera feel anything.
After all, at this moment Vera could feel only one thing.
Compunction.
Eyes turned hollow, his breath slowed.
The guardian he'd come to kill was the protector of the people.
The kind and innocent people, who had nothing to do with his path to ascension.
The light of day shone brightly on all those who lived in the village. The sound of hundreds of chimps that lived in peace because of the mountain god formed a symphony.
A symphony that, now, weighed on Vera.
A symphony that was far too heavy to carry.