“H-How is this possible?” Shin sputtered. “Is this water flowing through the whole village? Where’s it coming from?”
“The truth is...” Kyle began.
Shin was dumbstruck by the events his brother went on to explain. “Let me get this straight...” he eventually said. “The Divine Beast—the same one from your grandmother’s fairy tales—popped out of a hole one of the visitors dug. It went on a rampage, looming as large as a mountain...until the visitor just up and...slew it?”
“Yes, that’s the gist of it.”
“Then he crushed up the creature’s remains, sprinkled them across the sand with some water, and the ground suddenly became fertile? Of all the... I think the myths your grandmother always told us were more realistic.”
“I get what you mean. I was there to see it, and still, I find it hard to believe. There’s more to it, you know—things we haven’t even told the others.”
“Well, what you’ve said is enough for me, I think. My brain already feels full to bursting.” Shin shook his head, still trying to come to grips with Kyle’s story.
A wide smile peeked out from beneath the elder’s bushy white beard. “Well, all you really need to know is that our home now has arable land. Yes, it happened through a string of miracles more shocking than any of the stories my doddering old mind can remember, but who are we to argue with our new reality? Other settlements who heard the rumors are already requesting our assistance—and we intend to help them all, of course.”
“Do we have the means?”
“Fortunately, yes. We have more than enough money for any construction materials they might need, and enough water to provide it freely for everyone. No wonder so many wish to move here.”
“Seriously? You’re giving out water of this purity...for free?”
“We have rules in place, but yes—it is free for everyone’s daily needs. That was our visitors’ wish, and we have no intention of defying it.”
“This is all...so much to take in.”
“Put simply, everything is going smoothly. That is why we are so busy. Constructing new homes, caring for the crops, fending off bandits—there is too much to do! You came back at just the right time, Shin!”
The elder grabbed Shin’s hands again and gripped them tight. The former gladiator, still doubting everything he had seen and heard, merely stared up at the sky. Only a booming cry from above brought him back to his senses.
“Oh?! Is that Shin I see down there?! It’s been too long, big brother!”
Shin traced the cry to a nearby watchtower, where several young men were waiting with bows by their sides. One of them—a large, sturdy-looking man—was waving down at him.
“I’d recognize that needlessly loud voice anywhere,” Shin remarked. “Is that you, Golba?”
“Ha! It is indeed!”
“When did you get so big? You make Kyle’s growth seem tiny in comparison.”
“Ga ha ha! Well, I was the only one with plenty to eat!”
Shin looked part exasperated, part sentimental as he remembered Golba’s love for strange foods and the poisonous Death Scorpios he had eaten by the dozens. Then, he heard a high-pitched whistle.
“What was that? An alarm?”
“Good guess!” Golba called down. “We’re under attack!”
“We are?”
“From time to time, bandits come by looking to take our food and water!”
Shin was still trying to work out what was happening when a young beastfolk—one of the village’s guards, by the sound of it—called out a warning. “Captain Golba! There’s around thirty of them, south-southwest!”
“Got it!” the captain shouted back. “Only a small one today, then! Let’s go with Capture Plan A!”
“Yes, sir!” cried a chorus of voices.
“Capture Plan A...?” Shin mumbled. Unable to follow the words and commands being shouted above his head, he simply watched as a volley of arrows was loosed from the guards’ bows. The arrows tore neatly through the air, then landed to a cacophony of explosions and screams. Large clouds of dust billowed from the impact site.
“What on...? Did those arrows just explode?” Shin asked.
“Wa ha ha ha!” Golba boomed. “Not the arrows, but our magical traps! The arrows only drove our enemies into ’em!”
“Magical...traps?”
“Instructor Rolo set ’em up before he left. They’re nonlethal and made for capturing, so even the youngsters can handle ’em! Our settlement couldn’t be more secure!”
“When did our simple little backwater become so capable?”
“It’s all thanks to Instructor Sirene’s training!”
As Shin struggled to formulate a response, guards began to carry in the bandits, all of whom were bound.
“Captain Golba, we’ve captured all the raiders!”
“Excellent work! Take ’em to the usual place and get some grub in their bellies!”
“Hold on. You’re feeding them?” Shin asked. “Even though they came to rob you?”
“Indeed we are! It was hunger that drove ’em to banditry in the first place, so we’ve gotta feed ’em before we can hope to start up a proper conversation! That’s how our visitors saved us, you know! Bandits—take your time and enjoy yourselves! We’ve more than enough food and water to go around. And once you’re set straight, you can go home!”
“What...?”
Golba leaped down from the watchtower, kicking up a cloud of sand where he landed. He laughed, grabbed some of the bandits by the scruffs of their necks, and dragged them farther into the village.
“What in the...?” Shin uttered. He was still reeling from how much his hometown had changed when the elder spotted the small, worn leather pouch in his hand and turned white as a sheet.
“Shin, wh-where did you get that p-p-pouch?”
“Oh, this? It’s why I’m here, actually—I was asked to deliver it.”
“A-Asked to...b-b-by whom?”
“This guy—Noor. What’s gotten into you?”
“Noor?! D-Does that mean it c-c-contains...?!” The elder snatched the pouch from Shin and yanked it open. The moment he saw its contents, he twitched once, then froze. “Rain...”
“Elder? What’s wrong?”
“R-R-Rainbow... Beautiful, rainbow-colored...” The elder shoved his head halfway into the pouch and chuckled maniacally. “I knew it,” he muttered. “It’s rainbow! It’s all rainbow! The world is rainbow!”
“Show me, Elder.” Kyle extricated the pouch from the old man’s grasp and peered inside. Cold sweat beaded on his brow. “As I suspected... It’s all kingsgold.”
“Kingsgold...?” Shin asked.
“A denomination we’d never expected to see in our lifetimes. Each one is worth ten platinum—or a hundred greatgolds.”
“Wh-What?!” The blood drained from Shin’s face. Had he known the truth about his cargo, he would never have taken the delivery so lightly. “N-Noor must be insane. We met only once...yet he entrusted me with a genuine fortune.”
The pale-faced elder pressed closer to Kyle, who was still examining the contents of the pouch. “I-Is there anything else?!” he stammered. “Just the kingsgold, yes? Please let that be the worst of it!”
“Just a letter, from what I can see.”
“A letter?! G-Give it here!”
The elder snatched the letter Kyle had retrieved from the pouch and immediately began scanning its contents. Gold-accented paper bore a short message in handwriting more beautiful than any the elder had seen before.