“Don’t think too much about it. The world is full of different people.”
Joonbum nodded. It was not easy to see such tragedies unfold in the world. But that changed instantly as the lord ordered the villagers to leave the land. They looked at the Ainos with rage and anger as they blamed them for taking away their land.
‘They changed instantly.’
It was the same people who cried and thanked the Ainos for saving them.
“Hah.”
Joonbum sighed as he watched the villagers change their attitudes upside down. He felt his face glowing red with anger as he watched them.
‘I guess they don’t need sympathy.’
“So… do we have to be kicked out of our village because of the Ainos?”
A middle-aged man carefully asked the soldier who just ordered them to move out. He glanced at the Ainos in disgust as he asked his question.
‘Hah? He must be out of his mind.’
Joonbum was disgusted.
“HOW DARE YOU!”
“Ugh!”
Hectos, who had been quietly listening, kicked the man. The man dropped to the ground, but Hectos ran at him and started kicking mercilessly.
“ARGH! I’m sorry! I’m SORRY! Please forgive ME!”
Yet he did not stop. As Hectos kicked the man, the other soldiers picked up their spears and aimed them at the villagers. Their faces turned pale.
“You RATS! We let you leave like this when you ran away to avoid paying taxes, and yet you dare to DISOBEY THE COUNT? You think this is YOUR LAND? You who do not pay taxes, do not join the militia, and do not perform the required labor, dare to ask questions? HUH?”
He kicked the man until he could barely walk. All the villagers avoided the eyes of the soldiers and Hectos.
“YOU are all RATS! Don’t pretend you are on same rank as US! We are the protectors of this land. We pay taxes. We do the labor required by the land. That is why we are different. You are lower than the slaves! Don’t you dare accuse the Ainos for anything. They are allies of the count! So be gone from this land at once!”
Hectos shouted in anger. There was no more of the alcoholic lazy man in him.
‘He’s like a warrior,’ Joonbum thought as he watched Hectos shouting like a tiger.
‘They must really despise these people.’
Hectos and soldiers looked at the villagers in disgust. All the things Hectos mentioned was a must for the people of the land. It was considered a heavy crime to avoid such duties.
“YOU IDIOTS! There’s thousands of Keroxes moving down the mountain and you want to stay here? And DIE?”
One of the soldiers shouted, scolding them for their stupidity. That was when everyone seemed to be shocked.
“W-What? Are you sure? Thousands of Keroxes?” one of the men asked back. He seemed to be unconvinced.
“That’s why we’re telling you to leave!”
The man scratched his head as he blushed, but he asked once more.
“But, why? The Ainos can…”
Then the soldier spat and watched him. He sighed and spoke to everyone that was listening.
“Have you not seen it? Even the Ainos kids never miss their arrows. These Keroxes are no match for them. It is only us that cannot handle such monsters.”
People did know about the rumors of the Ainos of the Forest. It was just that they did not believe it to be true. It was when they heard it from the soldier himself that they realized it was true. People then began to bring out their stored food and belongings, preparing to leave.
*
The sound of machinery echoed continuously throughout the forest.
“TIMBER!”
A thick tree that was about fifty feet tall was chopped down. The area became noisy as the trees were being chopped, but it had to be done.
“It’s our turn!”
Ainos women approached the trees that fell with their chainsaws. With her safety helmet on, Mayze led her crews to work on the tree.
‘It’s kind of sexy.’
He grinned as he saw Mayze and the Ainos working together. They all had safety helmets on along with thick clothes and boots, but the heat forced them to pop open the top buttons of their shirts, revealing the flesh inside. As Joonbum watched Mayze and everyone else worked hard to clean out the area.
‘Hail my mother.’
Joonbum’s mother’s knowledge of using heavy machinery had paid off. Elders who heard how Bran Town was built were fascinated to watch the unbelievable speed of town building by themselves. With the help of construction machines, the work that normally required days was finished in hours. The wood used to create fences, houses, and roads were built around town.
“It is noisy, but it’s lively. It feels safe too.”
An elder commented as he caressed his long beard while watching the tall building being built. It was crude, but it was built with safety and convenience in mind.
“It’s as he said.”
Another elder spoke and they turned to Joonbum who was working hard to build the town.
“I didn’t really put much faith in him before. He is a human after all. But I’m ashamed to think of him that way now. He is a blessing from the sky to us Ainos people,” the elder commented. Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Look, the cafeteria is done already!”
One of the elders pointed to a huge building. There were nineteen more buildings that looked exactly the same next to it. It was to house almost 7,000 Ainos people for meals.
“I worried about having a place to wash up, take care of business, or eat. But all of that was solved so quickly.”
“I heard that it’s now time for a public bath area?”
“Yes. A water mill will be built to bring the water into the village from the river.”
Elders communicated with each other as they watched the progress.
Joonbum had been busy repairing all the machines as he was the only one who could fix them at this point.
“Roni, Heather, Jim, Eric. Look, this is called a filter.”
“Eww. Dirty.”
“It’s black!”
“It’s too dirty.”
“Right. What do you think it will happen if we keep breathing through this? That’s why we replace these. By doing this…”
Kids focused as Joonbum taught them how to replace a filter. They were smart and skillful, so it wasn’t hard for them to learn simple maintenance. That helped load some of the work off Joonbum. The new Ainos village quickly began to take shape.
