It continued like that for a while, with everyone hacking and slashing at the monsters to keep them at bay—including even Alden now—as they rode faster and faster to reach home. Before long, they passed a bend on the dirt path, and Alden saw the edge of the forest approaching. He spurred his horse again for a final push as they broke through the treeline within a few moments, the monsters still chasing them, but by now they were lagging behind.

  The guards at one of the watchtowers had noticed them. One was already lining up his bow to take a shot, while the other blew a horn loudly, then bent over the edge, likely shouting a warning. Almost immediately, the village gates opened. A few guards ran out with spears, taking defensive positions on either side of the gate while leaving a narrow stretch open in the middle.

  They drove their horses hard, and within moments they were closing in on the gates. Roderic and the other lead guard slowed a little, shifting to the sides. They let Alden and Vusato pass through first before following behind in a rush.

  Once inside, Alden pulled his horse to a stop, drawing a shaky breath of relief. Vusato had stopped nearby as well, his hands shaking as he held the reins. But reaching the safety of the gates wasn’t enough.

  He turned back, noticing that the pack of monsters was still coming, the vanguards amongst them having already reached the gates by now, with the guards trying to prevent them from entering inside. He wanted to go and help them, but the adrenaline had left him by now, leaving his body feeling weak and exhausted. His feet refused to move towards the monsters.

  The villagers had also noticed the monsters by now and were fleeing in fear, some clutching children to their chests as they ran deeper into the village. Right after the captain had reached inside, he swung down from his injured horse, seized one of the extra spears kept by the gate, and rushed back outside to reinforce the guards already holding the line. The other newly arrived guards followed his lead without hesitation. Luckily, the able-bodied men of the village had just returned from the iron mines, and some of them were still nearby talking to their friends and families when Alden's group had entered. But noticing the threat, many of them told their families to run away as they grabbed spears and pikes, and hurried to the gates to help.

  The guards led the line, the villagers supporting them from behind. As the defenders fought at the gates, ready to give their lives to protect the village, Alden clenched his fists, wishing he could have done more for them. If only they had guns. If only they had even crossbows...

  One of the monsters had just been speared through by a guard, while another of them jumped high only to land at a collection of pikes held down by the miners. Another monster' body lay motionless on the ground beyond the group, while five more were being held back by spearpoints. Roderic and the additional guards pierced a small monster, while a larger one screeched in pain, an arrow burying deep into its body. Alden glanced up and saw the archer on the nearest watchtower already nocking another arrow.

  With the help of the village miners and the newly arrived guards, the defenders at the gate slowly thinned the monsters' numbers while the archer continued shooting whenever he saw an opening. It took only a few more minutes—though it felt far longer—before a guard drove his spear into the last creature, shoving it back long enough for another to step in and finish it with a sword.

  There was silence for a moment, before the guards and villagers erupted into loud cheers.

  “Take that!"

  “That’ll show you, bastards!”

  “Hells, yes!”

  Once things settled, and the guards started organizing the next steps, the captain jogged over to Alden, who had climbed down from his horse by then. “You alright, milord?"

  Alden gave a shaky nod. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” His gaze drifted to the guards, his thoughts catching on the fact that there were no modern painkillers or antibiotics in this world to help the injured. There were certainly healers who could use magic—elven mages the best amongst them—but no mages lived in this village. “Did anyone get hurt?"

  “Just a few scratches,” Roderic said, gesturing to the guards who had ridden behind Alden. One of them had a forearm bleeding heavily, while another had a long gash on his leg. “We’ll clean the wounds with boiled water at the manor and bandage them."

  “I think it was a mistake to leave the village with Lord Alden,” the captain shook his head, looking at Vusato and then at Alden. “You could have died out there if more monsters had surrounded us."

  “Perhaps...” Alden gave a reluctant nod. “I’m just glad nobody was killed."

  The majordomo exhaled. "You are just as reckless as your father, no matter how many headaches it gives others. I had told the baron to take a boat—which would be a lot safer—but he still decided to ride to Garitus, leaving the boat to carry more ore." He frowned at Alden. "You're no different. I saw your hands shaking out there. You should have waited to take such a long ride until after you were fitter. You were bedridden just yesterday, for God's sake!"

  Alden just grinned in response, not mentioning that his hands weren't trembling because of sickness. Not wanting to continue talking about it, he looked at the gates, where some guards were closing one half of it while others dragged the monsters' bodies away to be buried elsewhere. His memories told him their meat wasn’t edible and could even be poisonous in some cases, so there was no reason to risk it.

  The captain turned and called to another guard. “Take Lord Alden back to the manor. I’ll handle things here."

  Alden didn’t argue, knowing that he couldn't help them here. He mounted his horse again in the fading light of the sun. As he turned east toward the manor, he saw the injured horse and the two wounded guards being led the same way, to be treated properly.

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  He rode on, his heartbeat still uneven. They had been lucky today. If there were a few more monsters—or if some larger ones had joined the attack along with these wolf-type monsters—it could have ended very differently. Vusato was right in saying that it probably wasn't a good idea for him to go out. Not without much better protection, at least—which the village couldn't afford.

  He took a few deep breaths to calm down his heart. Having never gone through such a life and death situation back on earth—aside from his final moments in London—he knew it would take a long time for him to feel normal living in this world where survival was far from guaranteed. Where every morning you woke up was a gift, not something you took for granted.

  But wishing he hadn’t arrived here was pointless. If given another chance to re-live his final moments on earth, he knew he would always make the same choice. He just couldn't leave a child to die if he could do anything to change that. It meant his life in London was over anyway. That only left the option of never waking up again, or getting a new life in this dangerous, medieval, monstrous world. But that was hardly a choice. Living would always triumph over death. And now that he was here, he had to face this world. And he would.

  Today's events had only hardened his resolve that he needed to do more for these people. He had seen how readily the guards had risked their lives for him—how one of them had taken an attack meant for him on the road, which was what had caused that arm injury. After the sacrifice they were willing to make, doing everything in his power to protect this village and these people felt like the least he owed to them.

  The original Alden had been learning swordsmanship so he could lead his men in battle, just like his father Baron Edaroc did. That boy had never had any interest in reading or studying, so he couldn't contribute to the village in any other way, but the situation wasn't the same anymore with his arrival here.

  Even if Alden helped out these men with a sword, he was just one more body for the monsters to tear through. But instead, if he used the knowledge he held in his mind to help design and create various things to protect this village, that could help these people far more than an extra swordsman would.

  Back on Earth, he had always had a personal interest in the history of engineering, so had spent countless hours reading up on anything he could find on the internet regarding how the industrial revolutions started on Earth. He used to read about how the 21st century Earth technologies had grown out of humble beginnings, and how weapons were being made before something as basic to modern warfare as gunpowder was even invented.

  In the early part of his career, he had also worked on a government contract given to the company he worked at, to design and make new rifles for a certain branch of the armed forces. He and his teammate Steven had been partners in that project, both helping and challenging each other to do better. Working on that project was one of the main reasons he had become so interested in military aspects of mechanical engineering, which is why he had branched out to read on things about warfare and the development of guns, starting from the medieval times.

  For Sarnok, it meant that he could create both better defenses as well as improved weapons, which would turn out to be a tremendous help to save the lives of these people. His people.

  His mind kept racing as the group rode slowly towards the manor. If everyone had been equipped with crossbows today, they could have thinned the monsters out when they first appeared on the forest road, preventing them from overwhelming the guards. If scorpions had been mounted on the watchtowers, the archers could have killed the creatures much faster, and would even be able to take down larger monsters than the ones which had chased them earlier. This was only early autumn, after all. It would only get worse in the coming months. He didn’t even want to imagine the kind of monsters which would come in the winter. Still, he had to do his best to protect the village—and in turn, himself. There was no other way to survive in this world.

  Vusato was riding ahead of him this time, calling out orders to a runner to prepare the manor for treating the wounded, while two other guards rode on either side of Alden.

  Before long, they saw more guards running toward them along the main street, swords already drawn and shields strapped to their backs. They stopped near Alden, breathing heavily.

  “Milord! Are you fine? The horn was blown.”

  Alden nodded. “A pack of monsters chased us back to the village, but it’s taken care of now. Roderic is already at the gates and handling things there.” He gestured toward the injured guards nearby. “You can help them get back to the manor.”

  The guards nodded and moved at once to support their comrades. One of them ran ahead toward the manor to report that the situation was under control.

  As they continued riding slowly at the pace set by the injured men, Alden looked around, feeling a chill in the air. The sun had fully set, and merchants and vendors were closing their shops and stalls, pulling shutters down and sliding bars into place.

  Apart from the last of the light from the sun, the village didn't have any other source of light. It was in stark contrast to the well lit streets of London. However, as they moved ahead, he saw manor servants placing small burning braziers on some wooden posts along the main street which had iron hoops attached to them. Pools of light gathered around the sparse posts, while the long stretches between them lay in near-darkness. Without access to electricity, most of the village simply faded with the sun. Candles were for those with coins to spare, and he barely saw a single one outside the manor walls.

  They rode past the last of the day’s trade and entered the gates of the manor. Evening work was underway in the courtyard—maids carrying pails to the servant quarters, a boy stacking kindling near the door of the main hall, guards stacking up arrows to be given to those who'd pull the night shift at the four watchtowers of the village.

  Alden swung down from the horse, handed the reins to a groom, and stepped through the door of the main hall. Welcoming heat washed over him from the big hearth in the main hall, while the kitchen to the left brought the smell of roasting meat, making his stomach grumble.

  Hilda met him halfway across the hall, wiping her hands on her apron, as she glanced at him carefully for a moment to confirm that he was fine.

  "A guard just told us that the monsters were taken care of," she said.

  Alden nodded. "It's all fine now."

  “Good timing, by the way,” she added. “Dinner is just about ready." She turned back for a moment once she had walked away. "Don't let the food get cold!"

  Alden smiled as he noticed Caelen thundering down the stairs toward him.

  “Brother!” Caelen stopped in front of him, looking him up and down. “Are you alright? What was that horn earlier? Lira was terrified when she heard it, knowing you’d gone outside the village."

  “Don’t worry,” Alden said. “The guards took care of the monsters easily. Nobody died either. Everything’s fine now."

  “I’m glad." Caelen nodded, though uncertainty lingered on his face. “You should go see Lira. She’ll be relieved to see that you’re safe. I think she was crying earlier."

  “I won’t die that easily, trust me on that,” Alden said with a grin. He had way too much to do for this village first. “Let me wash up, and then we’ll help her down to the dining room."

  He glanced at the kitchen where the maids were busy working. "It'll just be the three of us today, with father still out. I think we can use this rare chance to talk Hilda into making a pie for us tonight. Father isn't here today to say that dessert is for special occasions only."

  Caelan grinned back. "I love that plan! We'll get Lira to ask her. Hilda can never say no to her."