For the award ceremony I guess I glanced around at the jovial crowd of villagers and humans So what's new Have you heard anything since I left Yeah This kid Tucker I think said he was playing on the wall the other morning and saw a rabbit on the plains And not just any rabbit He claims it was a zombie Stump made a spooky face then busted out laughing The imaginations of kids these days Hmmm I said Actually I'd like to look into it I'll speak to him later Also I keep seeing this weird old man Stump said Red robes Red hat Black sunglasses Huge white beard Said his name is Cocoa Cocoa Witherbean Cocoa Witherbean huh I thought for a moment but the name didn't ring any bells and neither did the description That wasn't all that strange though New people have been showing up at our gate almost every week Survivors Usually it's a small group of clueless villagers who've fled from some tiny obscure town after being attacked in the middle of the night Otherwise it's a lone human who's been wandering the Overworld for months We take them all in show them around and assign them some work to do 6
So this Cocoa I said is he one of the new arrivals from this morning Maybe Whoever he is he's creepy I've seen him snooping around outside a library too Interesting Once more I thought back but didn't remember seeing anyone who fit Stump's verbal sketch All right I'll keep an eye out for this guy I said Anything else Nope Not really Well keep up the good work I said And don't let your guard down Even at a time like this I reached up and patted my diamond sword which was now sheathed across my back we can't forget who we are Stump's smile faded Yes sir Hey You don't need to call me that But they said I'm supposed to call you that now that you're a captain That doesn't matter We've been friends since we were just a single block tall I'm just Runt okay Sure thing he said frowning You know Runt you you're acting awfully serious all of a sudden What happened Is anything wrong I lowered my head unsure what to say What could I say I couldn't stop thinking about what the mayor had said earlier You're a 7
warrior Runt a sworn defender of our village And today you must act the part Of course I didn't need to say anything to Stump He understood He understood better than anyone He'd been there when hundreds of mobs breached the wall So as I stood in silence he didn't say anything either just gave me a slow nod Perhaps he was recalling it as well Several other villagers ran up laughing and joking and handing us slices of cake and the images quickly left our minds For the moment For that matter I was so wrapped up in the celebration that I almost failed to notice the villagers clothes Many of them were dressed in human style outfits like me Breeze was right We really are becoming more and more like the humans Then again they're becoming more like us too One look at their leader was enough to convince you There he was Kolbert21337 He Who Hails from Earth Lord Commander of the Lost Legion dressed in a villager's robe PLEASE STOP CALLING ME THAT he yelled KOLB WILL DO JUST FINE I really need to find another one of those enchanted name tags so I can change this silly name By the way I have an important announcement My best friend Kaeleb recently discovered how to craft apple pie We'd like to share 8
9 some with you guys In return we'd love to try some of your famous grass stew We've heard it's a village delicacy and we really want to know what it tastes like He went on to explain how there's a holiday on Earth that celebrates a time when two vastly different groups of people shared food with each other The humans wanted to start something like that here Unfortunately for them they had no idea what they were getting into Grass stew is considered a village delicacy not because it tastes good but because it's hard to craft You need shears enchanted with Silk Touch to harvest grass As for the taste you're better off eating grass raw Poor Kolbert uhh Kolb He quickly discovered this
