He was taken to a small hall in the middle of the village. The village itself was quite lovely. It was clean and had robust buildings. He even spotted several decorative fountains and nicely paved streets on his way through the village.

The main thing that he recognized, compared to a city like Auraulos or Heston, was that there wasn't an intense feeling of mana coming from the buildings. Often, these other cities had buildings or structures with massive enchantments running throughout them.

This village had some enchantments, but it was far more simplistic in nature. The majority of the mana he sensed came from the protective barrier surrounding the village.

Although the group of men followed him, they didn't come with him to the front door. They watched as they went into the building.

Upon entering the hall, he and the man were greeted by a woman. "Are you looking to see the chief, Gavin?" She asked while writing something on a clipboard.

The woman looked a little older, but not so much that she looked elderly. She also had very sharp and stern features.

"Yes, if you could let him know that someone from the Shattered Winter School has arrived, that would be wonderful, Eda," the man, Gavin, said to her.

She nodded and went toward the back, where she entered a room. A minute later, she came out and beckoned them with her hand.

"He is just finishing up another big meeting, but it should wrap up in a couple of minutes."

"Is it okay that we enter then? We can wait until he is finished," Gavin offered.

Eda shook her head. "He said that it might be something that you might need to hear anyway."

Gavin still hesitated and tossed a quick look at Julius. It was discreet, but Julius was still able to catch it with his perception skill.

"It won't matter. As someone who is here to help us, the chief does not believe it is important to keep secrets from our few allies. In fact, the small group of adventurers who arrived a couple of days ago are in there as well," Eda explained to them.

Gavin accepted this, and they followed the woman into the room where the meeting was being held. There were a lot of people already there. Some of the people swiveled their heads when they entered the room. Their eyes lingered on Julius for a little bit longer than Gavin's, but they quickly focused their attention back onto the chief, who was speaking.

The chief wasn't quite as old as Julius expected. The man looked younger than Gavin, which wasn't surprising, considering he was a Tier 5. Much like many of the men he had met during his visit in the northern regions, the chief was quite tall and had broad shoulders.

He was clean-shaven, though, and had short brown hair parted on each side of his face. His blue eyes were quite brilliant, though. They radiated with power and weight.

He was the only Tier 5 Julius that Julius was able to sense in the entire village on his way through. Of course, he didn't know if this was for sure. There might have been hidden experts in the village. Or some old Tier 5s who wanted some peace and quiet.

Julius tried to listen to what the man was saying, but with no context of the situation, it was hard to follow along. Instead, he examined the people in the room.

Other than the chief, there were around two dozen people. The ones that stood out the most must have been the adventurers that Eda talked about. There were six of them, all dressed for combat. Their leader was actively participating in the conversation with the chief and was organizing an upcoming mission.

They were all Tier 4s, and their tightly constrained auras demonstrated a certain level of skill. The other people he spotted were a group of elders off to the side of the chief. They were clearly the oldest-looking in the room. One man looked absolutely ancient. His stark white hair and hunched back stood out.

However, upon closer inspection, Julius sensed that there was something hidden beneath the elderly appearance.

It didn't take long for the meeting to end, and a bunch of stares suddenly besieged Julius. He hadn't been paying attention, but apparently someone had addressed him.

"Pardon?"

The chief smiled kindly. "I hear that you are the person whom the Shattered Winter School sent to us. Is that correct?"

Julius ignored the other people's gazes for the time being and nodded. "Yes, that is correct."

"May I know your name?" The chief asked.

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Julius gave a polite smile. "My name is Julius. It is an honor to meet you, Chief."

"Don't worry about honorifics right now. There is already so much going on, you can call me Emil if you wish."

Julius nodded gratefully and looked at the elderly woman who had something to say.

"Are there going to be more people following you?" She questioned him.

He shook his head. "I don't believe so. As far as I know, I am the only person who took this mission," he answered.

He saw several people frown upon hearing this. They, much like the people from outside, didn't think this was good news. He even listened to some disgruntled murmurs with the words 'Tier 3' mixed in.

Even the chief, who was still smiling at him, looked a bit strained. "I see. While more reinforcements would have been a blessing. I am grateful that you have decided to make the journey all the way out here to help us. It's just a shame that the Shattered Winter School didn't have anyone else to send over," the man sounded a little disappointed, but Julius didn't feel like the man was blaming him.

It sounded more like he was blaming the Shattered Winter School for sending only a single person.

"I am sorry. However, if I am being honest, many other villages are facing similar troubles at this time. Many of them will not receive any help at all. A small school like the Shattered Winter School is already stretching itself thin to help others," Julius defended the school and chose to give an explanation to the people in the room who might start holding a grudge against the Shattered Winter School.

He didn't want these people to start thinking that the school hadn't cared for their cry for aid. However, if they chose to blame the school, then Julius would have a good idea about the character of these people.

The chief, Emil, seemed to understand what Julius's words meant and took them to heart. The man gave a shallow bow. "I apologize if I came off as ungrateful. I didn't mean to offend you or the Shattered Winter School."

Julius nodded, appreciating that he didn't have to say anything outright. "No, I understand your disappointment. But I promise you that I will do my best to help your village in this time of need," he promised solemnly.

While some of the others seemed to scoff at his proclamation, the chief didn't look down at him. He grinned gratefully at him and gave another shallow inclination of his head before addressing him again.

"I was just discussing a plan with these adventurers, and I would normally offer you a spot on the mission, but the circumstances are very complex at the moment, and things have already been sorted out. Rather than that, I believe that it would be best if Gavin and Eda got you up to speed about what we are facing and go from there. Is that alright with you?" Emil asked politely.

Julius nodded his head. The chief sounded sincere and didn't seem like he was just being polite.

"Are you a healer by chance?" Emil suddenly asked.

Julius was initially shocked that the man knew this, but nodded anyway.

He had been hiding his aura pretty well and didn't think anyone other than Cain or Freya would be able to see through it. But it took longer than it should have to realize that the man had spotted the robes that Julius was still wearing.

The white and blue robes still displayed the healer's badge. Julius was curious about how the man had noticed this, though. He must have had some knowledge of the school's practices if he knew what the badge meant.

Additionally, when the chief mentioned healer, this seemed to spark some enthusiasm in the people who had scoffed at his appearance. It would seem that they were much happier now that they knew a healer had come to help them, even if he was only Tier 3.

Emil must have felt the same way because his eyes glinted with joy as well. "That is wonderful news. We will need to discuss some additional options. Come back and see me after you have been filled in, okay?"

Emil then motioned to Gavin, who understood what the chief wanted. He escorted Julius out of the meeting room to presumably explain the situation in the village and the kind of threats they were facing.

Julius just followed along and listened as Gavin began to explain the intricate details of the situation.

***

From what he could tell from Gavin's explanation. The group that has been harassing the village was called the Frost Bear Clan. They weren't so much a clan, but rather a group of power-hungry savages who stole and pillaged what they wanted from other people around the region, at least, that was according to Gavin's description of them.

What made them so dangerous was that they had a shared skillset that allowed them to ambush members and transportation routes, stealing food and supplies. They hit hard and they hit fast, disappearing into the wind.

They were presumably led by a Tier 5, but nobody had seen this leader for themselves. They also had a decent number of Tier 4s in their group and a much larger number of Tier 3s.

Other people from the village had tried to hunt down where their base was, but it had been for nought. They had not been able to lure them out and were still getting harassed by these Frost Bears clansmen.

Gavin admitted to Julius that the village was running low on supplies, such as mana stones, to fuel their enchantments and other tools. They relied on trade with other towns and cities, but these bandits have been stealing most of their supplies. The perilous terrain around the village made the journey from the village to the other surrounding towns a very dangerous endeavor.

What made things worse was that the clan understood the precarious situation the village was in and employed some underhanded tactics, such as creating avalanches or luring large groups of monsters to attack caravans.

They had also been increasing the pressure in recent weeks. It was why they had sent out pleas for aid from the various guilds in the region. However, with the village being located where it was, it was difficult for most people to get there. This meant they chose not to risk it or opted for another village to help instead.

It was a sad story, but it was reality. Most people didn't want to take such a risk to come out to a remote village when they could take safer missions.

While Gavin was explaining this to Julius, trying to communicate how dire their situation was, Julius was trying to hide a grin.

He didn't want to make light of these people's circumstances, but he truly believed that this mission was going to be the perfect one for him to test himself and maybe acquire some new skills while he was at it.

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