After he had bumped into one of the imperial soldiers he fell down, the people he came out of Reiko's barrier with were all surprised to see him fall.
"See, I told you that there were still some people left in the village."
One of them said, his tone was filled with joy and excitement. This person was either an idiot, or someone who thinks everyone around is the same.
They didn't know that the person Hajime had run into was not one of the villagers but an imperial soldier from the capital of the kingdom.
"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Hajime said as he tried to look up at the person he had run into while the man was taken by surprise that he thought he was being taken on by a surprise attack.
"A kid?" The man muttered as he looked down at Hajime who was now trying to stand up from while keeping an eye on the man.
The man looked in front of him and that's when he heard people's chatter.
The chatter was obviously coming from the group of people Hajime was with.
He raised his left hand up and placed it by the ear while his right hand was occupied by the weapon he was carrying.
A small red light flashed where he placed his left hand that was followed by a feint ringing sound while his attention still on Hajime and the chatter ahead of him.
He was calling for the other imperial soldiers to inform them that he had found the villagers.
"Sorry again." Said Hajime with a smile as he tries to continue going where he was off to, but the moment he started moving the man grabbed him by the shoulder and said to him with a smile.
"Hey!"
"Where can I find the others?"
Hajime turned and looked at the man with a surprised expression, while still maintaining his smile.
Of course, the smile looked like it was being forced.
"The others?" He asked his tone confused as he slowly turned looking by the corner right behind the man.
'Why does he want to know where the others are' He wondered while the man was still holding him by the shoulder.
"They're right behind that corner there." He said as the man turned to face where Hajime was looking.
"Over there?" The man asked as he lets go of Hajime's shoulder.
"Okay then, see you soon mister." Said Hajime as he leaves the man looking at the corner as he touched his ear with his left hand again.
Meanwhile, as Hajime had just left the man. The other people he had come with where still near the training ground and they looked like they were waiting for something or someone to come out of the barrier, but it looked like there was no barrier because it just looked like it was just a plane ground with no one around, even the statue that was there earlier.
"Huh?"
One of them uttered, he had noticed that something was not right with the barrier because it looked like there were no traces of it.
"Hey, look!" Another one of them said as he faced at the training grounds with a surprised expression on his face.
Though his face expression looked surprised, it just felt priceless to the imperial soldier who bumped into Hajime earlier.
He was standing from a distance while observing them and waiting for orders to attack.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
The others turned to face the training ground but as their eyes made contact with it all their face expressions where complicated to tell from where the imperial soldier was standing.
"Wasn't there a barrier here about a second ago?" One of them asked while still looking at the grounds.
"...Hah..."
"What do you mean a second ag-" Another one asked as the whole group glanced at the grass Infront of them.
"What the hell...?"
They said again with an even more surprised and complicated face expressions as they scanned the ground, when suddenly, something that looked like a small portal appeared in front of them.
This was the barrier opening up and giving the people who wanted to get out it to pass without doing any harm to them, and from the point of view of the people who were still inside it. It just looked like everything was normal and there was no portal opening or closing inside the barrier. But that couldn't be said for the people outside it.
"So, what should we do next?"
A voice coming out of the portal said followed with the sound of footsteps from several people walking on grass.
The people outside just stood there with their attention on the portal while there faces looked like they were confused even more.
From a distance, where the imperial soldier was standing. He observed everything that was happening were the men were.
A second later five people came out of the portal and one of them was holding a black rose that was only found deep within the training ground of this village.
These people looked like they were some kinds of adventures. Weak ones at that.
A moment later the portal started to close slowly while the five people that came out of it just passed the other group without saying anything to each.
"...Is it that..." One of them uttered as he moves fourth towards the ground, but no portal appeared, but he just went straight and entering the plain training ground without anything happening to him.
"Hmmm." They all uttered, surprised with what just happened.
They were expecting that maybe the barrier would activate and vaporize him.
"Why didn't the barrier zap you?" One of them asked, as the one on the training ground looked at them.
"Hah..."
"Is it down..."
"... But if so, then why can't we see anyone else?" Another one thought out loud as the others looked at him.
From a distance not far from where this group was, the imperial soldier moved closer to them while hiding in shades of black.
The group didn't notice him because they were too busy trying to figure out what was happening with the barrier.
Meanwhile Hajime inside the village, was still walking while heading to his house for some water. He looked left and right but all he could see were the imperial soldiers who were just ignoring him for some reason.
The imperial soldiers were ignoring him because they thought he was no threat and there was no point in murdering a little kid who want fight back even if they do so.
He noticed that all of the men were carrying some kind of weapon, then he remembered that even the first one he had met was carrying it too.
"Why are they carrying guns?" He wondered as he kept moving forward without looking back.
He didn't realize that he wondered and knew something he had never seen before in his life.
This world had no weapons like guns until just recently when the kingdom of Melcelut just introduced them as a new kind of weapon.
"Wait..." He decreased his pace.
Then he continued.
"What's a gun?" He wondered with a confused face as he starts to pick up the pace again.
Not far from where Hajime was, a woman screamed like she was terrified of something out from a movie. Her voice sounded like one of the people who looked like adventures that came out of the barrier earlier.
The group that Hajime had come out of the barrier earlier heard her, and with their attention piqued. They stopped trying to figure out how Reiko's barrier wakes and rushed to see what was happening.
The imperial soldier that was watching them did not bother to follow but he decided to stay on hidden site and observe spot were the group was hoping to see if more and more villagers will appear.
Of course, he was just following orders he had been given through the growing light and the ringing sound from earlier when he was talking with Hajime.
"What's going on?!" Was the first question the group asked as they reached the woman that creamed earlier. She looked terrified and her four friends were all down while their bodies were gashing with blood. And one of the bodies appeared like it was trying to cover the woman from an attack but ended up receiving too much damage.
"What happened here?" One of the men on the group asked as the woman looked like she was shocked due to what happened to her friends. her hands were covered with blood that it looked like she was trying to heal her dead friends.
Some of the men on the group fell down on their knees and started to vomit because of the sight they just witnessed while some of them just froze with fear that they were just too afraid to move, while the others were looking around to see who could have done it. But they were out of luck because in an instant one of them fell down for good without even knowing what happened to him.
From a distance, near a destroyed building, there was an even taller building that looked like it was still being built. Rose was laying down with her weapon or let's just say a sniper which uses mana as ammo, to target the villagers one by one as they come.
But she was not alone in this unfinished building, the man who looked like he's always having a good time and other three soldiers were with her assisting in her specialty which was long distance assassination.
"Can I take out the woman?" One of the men she was with said.
"No, keep her alive." The man that looked like he was having a good time said. His name was Mathew, and he was the one who was leading the attack on the village, and Rose was second in command to him despite being the only female on the group.
The Mathew added
"Just make sure you take out all the others."
"They seem useless to even work as slaves."
He was busy drinking bear which he brought with him while the others worked. But it wasn't like he was just sitting around and doing nothing. His whole job was to lead the imperial soldiers and make sure that they succeed.
Rose turned her sniper a little bit to her left and noticed that there was someone in one of the houses that was close to the center of the village.
This someone was just Hajime inside his house drinking water while standing near a window.
"Is that a kid?" She muttered, her tone confused.
"Did you say something?" Mathew asked as Rose turns her gun away from Hajime.
"No... Just don't kill the kids."
"They might be useful if properly trained as imperials knights."
Rose replied as her arm flinched a little. Mathew didn't respond but just smiled as the other knights who were with them looked at him.
On the training grounds, five more groups of people came out of the barrier while complaining that they were bored and some were saying that they needed to go home while the others just kept on complaining that they were hungry.
Meanwhile, inside the barrier as Reiko was talking to some of the villagers who were mostly women children and adult men. She noticed that Rica was sitting alone with the baby dragon, but Hajime wasn't with her.