Chapter 277: One of the Three
Evening was slowly descending upon the village. It painted the sky in a bluish-gray hue.
Elyria circled above the rooftops. Humming a simple little tune under her breath, she joyfully zipped through the trees, performed tight turns around the log frames under construction, and simply flew all over the place.
Suddenly, the spirit froze right in mid-air. Her eyes widened, and her song cut off mid-word.
Elyria slapped her palm against her cheek:
"Damn! Iron told me to make the houses!"
She dashed forward, intending to reach the work site as quickly as possible. But in the very next instant, she spotted Iron's silhouette straight ahead.
In a panic, Elyria shot upward and bypassed him in a wide arc at maximum altitude. Dropping down slightly once she was behind his back, she whispered with relief:
"Phew... that was close..."
And, without wasting another second, she rushed off to carry out her errand.
Iron, who had been calmly walking down the street the whole time, caught a strange, sharp movement above his head for a second.
"Was that Elyria?" he muttered, but shaking his head, he kept walking.
A few seconds later, Iron turned off the road at the edge of the village and headed deeper into the forest.
Among the thick trees, the evening seemed even darker.
A couple of minutes later, Iron heard a series of sharp, rapid whistles.
Stepping out into a small clearing, he stopped. Noah was training in the clearing. He was drenched in sweat, and his legs were giving way from exhaustion. But despite this, he still continued to make one lunge after another, breathing heavily and raggedly.
Iron leaned his shoulder against a tree trunk.
After a couple more swings, Noah lowered his sword heavily and turned his head slightly toward the trees:
"How long are you going to stand there?"
Iron pushed off the trunk and took a step into the clearing:
"Didn't want to interrupt you. Maybe you should take a break?"
Instead of answering, Noah got back into his stance and made another lunge. His arm trembled from fatigue, and the blade dropped.
Iron shook his head and turned back toward the trail.
"Tomorrow we're going to the Kront Kingdom," he threw over his shoulder. "So don't overexert yourself."
As soon as Iron turned away from Noah, his gaze instantly grew cold and detached.
He walked silently through the forest as a continuous stream of thoughts ran through his head.
Spotting a small pebble under his feet, Iron gave it a short kick, tracking it with his eyes as it flew into the bushes, and continued his stride.
Reaching the very edge of the village, he stopped for a couple of seconds, looking at the dark silhouettes of the houses, and said quietly to himself:
"Really... why am I so angry..."
Iron headed to where everyone usually gathered in the evenings.
He needed to fully occupy his hands — whenever he was creating something specific, be it a complex schematic or a simple campfire, his mind automatically focused on solving the practical task and wasn't distracted by extraneous thoughts.
Getting to work, Iron dragged over several massive logs, stacked them by the prepared ash pit, and began laying out the fire pit.
Not wanting to leave the people without a hearty dinner, he teleported deep into the forest thicket. Quickly locating a large wild bull there, Iron instantly immobilized the animal with a clean, precise pulse — ensuring the carcass remained fresh and the meat wouldn't spoil from unnecessary stress.
A moment later, he teleported the prey along with himself back to the fire pit.
Iron laid out dry firewood, started a fire, and set about preparing the meat.
At that moment, Selena and Nastya were approaching the fire. Seeing Iron by the flames, surrounded by logs and fresh game, they stopped in surprise and then ran closer.
"Iron, what are you doing?" Selena asked.
"Just decided to help you guys out," Iron replied calmly, wiping his hands and getting to his feet.
Leaving the prepared fire and the meat by the logs, he turned around and headed toward the Main Building.
"Thank you!" Nastya called out sincerely after him.
Iron turned back for half a second and gave her a short, warm smile. But the moment he faced away again, that smile instantly vanished.
The engineer walked silently toward the Main Building, his gaze lowered, showing no reaction to the occasional people passing by.
Stepping up to the porch, he took his hand out of his pocket, grabbed the wooden handle, and opened the door. Iron went inside and walked down the hall toward his office.
And suddenly, right mid-stride, a powerful wave of goosebumps washed over his entire body. The feeling hit so sharply and strongly that Iron instantly froze right in the middle of the corridor.
He immediately and frantically rolled up his sleeve and stared at his arm. His entire body was covered in goosebumps, and the hairs on his skin stood on end.
And in the very next instant, he vanished right from the hall.
And at that same moment, he appeared right in the middle of the settlement's shop.
He froze in place, staring silently straight ahead. Inside the shop, Liana stood by the shelving units, sorting through goods and matching up supplies, checking if everything was in its proper place. Meanwhile, Helda and Eliza were talking by the wooden counter — Helda was leaning her elbows on the tabletop, bent slightly forward, and the two of them were quietly discussing something.
Eliza noticed Iron first. She stared at him in surprise — he was simply standing in the middle of the shop and not moving.
"Iron? Have you been here long?" she asked.
Iron slowly turned toward them.
Eliza peered at his face and frowned:
"Um... did something happen?"
At that moment, Iron could barely stay on his feet. His breathing became rapid and ragged, and his head spun violently for a second, as if the ground had fallen out from under him. But gradually, the sensation began to recede. To finally snap out of it, Iron lightly patted his own cheeks with his palms a couple of times.
Eliza watched all of this in total bewilderment, not understanding what was going on.
Liana, hearing the voices and making out the conversation, turned away from the shelves. Seeing the frozen Iron, she dropped what she was doing and quickly walked over to him:
"Iron! Do you need something?"
The engineer came to his senses and opened his mouth, about to say something. But not a single word escaped his throat.
He exhaled heavily, caught his breath, and said:
"N-no..."
Turning around, Iron exited the shop onto the street.
Out in the fresh air, his heart began to beat even harder, literally pounding against his ribs. Iron clutched his chest with his hand, feeling the rapid pulse echoing in his palm. He stopped, listening to the frantic thudding in his chest, and muttered something quietly under his breath.
Taking another deep breath, he said calmly:
"And now I can say it..."
He paused and added with quiet certainty:
"Alright... at least now I know it's one of those three."
Iron lowered his hand and kept walking down the evening street.
Meanwhile, there was confusion in the shop. Helda followed him with her eyes and shook her head:
"I think he wanted to tell us something..."
Eliza looked outside through the glass near the entrance, saw that it was already evening, and stepped closer to the door.
"I don't know..." she answered quietly. "Let's just go to the campfire, it's already night out, Nastya and Selena seem to be there already."