Chapter 16 : A Confusing Thing

Their journey was, to put it kindly, peaceful, and to put it bluntly, boring.

They crossed valleys, passed through mountain paths, and walked across plains, and before they knew it, the sun had reached the ridge.

Of course, they occasionally encountered hungry bandits.

“Hi, hi…!!”

When a barbarian swung his large axe, most would be frightened and flee.

After days of just walking, Eden couldn’t help but be concerned about Nebula, who was following behind.

“The goddess’s legs are tired.”

“I wish some barbarian would give the goddess a nice foot massage…”

Eden sighed at her semi-joking remark and regretted it.

‘I should’ve at least bought a horse.’

But horses were expensive by nature.

Whether for war, transport, work, or even for food, their price was high.

Though Eden’s pouch of silver coins had gotten somewhat heavier recently, it still wasn’t enough to casually buy a horse.

‘But maybe a donkey would be okay.’

Eden decided that was the better choice and kept moving along the hill path.

Then…

A strange scream came from beyond the hill.

“Dr…!”

Eden tilted his head.

What was that sound?

After all, this era was full of mentally unstable people.

It wasn’t uncommon to run into a madman while walking.

So, Eden didn’t panic and focused on the next words.

“Dr, it’s a dragon…!!”

“……”

Eden thought after hearing the scream.

‘Hmm, this is a bit surprising.’

At least it wasn’t something easily predictable.

016. A Troubling Matter

Eden calmly thought through his options.

The wisest choice here was to turn around and leave.

After all, as a max-level barbarian, he couldn’t gain any experience from hunting.

He wasn’t born with a misplaced hero complex, and he didn’t have a hobby of helping medieval racists.

But the problem was Nebula.

“A dragon?”

Eden immediately realized that the option of “turning back” had disappeared after hearing her curious voice.

Sure enough, Nebula grabbed Eden’s belt and started stamping her feet.

“Did you hear that?!”

“No.”

“Yes, it’s a dragon!”

No, it’s not.

Eden briefly considered how to handle Nebula, who was now shaking his belt like a child.

“…There’s no need to be so amazed, is there?”

“What are you talking about?”

Eden grabbed Nebula’s head with one hand and calmly persuaded her.

“It’s not like you’ve never seen a large lizard before.”

Nebula nodded in agreement, but her desire to see a dragon seemed to persist.

“Isn’t the situation a little different from when the goddess lost her power?”

Though it was actually Nebula who was acting like a child, she continued to explain to Eden as if giving him a lesson.

“Originally, the goddess was a very huge existence, so much so that it was hard to affect the world. You might not understand, but it could be compared to watching a diorama.”

“Like some kind of fake model?”

“…You could say it that way.”

Eden, recalling the simulation games he’d played in the modern world, quickly understood.

Nebula continued to tug on Eden’s belt and pointed toward the hill beyond.

“Let’s go quickly!”

“Alright, alright, stop.”

I’ll have my pants fall off.

Eden climbed up the hill.

On the other side of the hill, there was a small village with many villagers gathered at the entrance.

They were each holding farming tools like pitchforks or sickles and were shouting at the roofs above them.

“Hey, hey! It’s eating the roof!”

“Does anyone have a net?!”

Eden listened to their chatter and thought to himself,

‘It really isn’t a dragon.’

Even if it wasn’t the kind of dragon seen in J-RPGs, dragons in this world were still powerful beings.

Not quite monsters, but neither were they intelligent beings.

What would a dragon want in such a small village?

It’d be more likely to visit a wizard’s tower somewhere in the world and threaten them.

Kiiiaaa!!

Even the scream was weak.

Eden and Neb quickly descended to where the villagers had gathered.

Though the sudden appearance of the barbarian would have startled the villagers, their attention was focused on the creature (or dragon?) sitting atop a building roof, so no commotion occurred.

“Is it really a dragon…?”

“It seems a bit small to be a dragon.”

Eden thought the same.

Up close, the creature’s appearance was strange.

The villagers, gazing up at the creature on the roof, began to voice their opinions one by one.

“If it’s not a dragon… Oh! Could it be a wyvern?”

“It looks like a featherless bird.”

“It’s too big to be a bird. No, it’s definitely a dragon. Look at those scales!”

Eden disagreed with them.

It wasn’t a dragon or a wyvern.

“Pteranodon.”

“…P, what?”

A dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period.

Eden had seen them when playing with his nieces and nephews…

He was shocked.

But not as shocked as the villagers, who had just seen the barbarian appear.

“What, what is that?!”

“It’s not Gordon… Who is it?”

As the villagers fell into another round of questions,

Kiiieeeek!!

The creature, neither a dragon nor a wyvern, screeched loudly and flew into the sky.

Eden stared at the shape of the creature that had eaten the straw off the roof and disappeared, then lowered his gaze and asked the people around him.

“I’d like to stay for about a day, do you have a tavern in the village?”

“…..”

Fortunately, Eden and Neb were able to stay the night in the village.

“There aren’t any inns or taverns, but if you just want to rest for a day, we can rent you a vacant house for five dinga. If you don’t have any, we can accept half a silver coin.”

Although there was no tavern in the small pond village, there were empty houses that weren’t inhabited.

Eden split his silver coin in half and handed it to the man.

The man, receiving the coin, guided them to a small house on the outskirts of the village.

“The firewood is over there, so if the weather gets cold, feel free to use it. Do you have enough food?”

When Eden shook his head, the man came back holding something in his hands.

“We were about to eat dinner ourselves.”

The man brought roasted corn, rye bread, and a soup with unknown ingredients.

“And take this too. It’s a simple honey wine, but it should be fine to drink.”

He even handed them a bottle of alcohol.

His kindness was unusually warm.

Eden, feeling awkward about the kindness, looked at the man with suspicious eyes.

If Eden had thrown an axe and cut off the head of the pteranodon in the village, that would’ve been understandable.

But Eden hadn’t done anything yet.

‘Did he put poison in it?’

Just to be safe, Eden took a bite of the food and a sip of the wine before Neb did. But there was no reaction from his [Poison Resistance] trait.

“This isn’t bad honey wine.”

“Hah, I knew you’d like it.”

The taste of the honey wine was also quite good.

It had a subtle herbal fragrance and a deep flavor, almost as if the village had a professional distillery.

The man drank the honey wine in one go, wiped his beard with his sleeve, and said,

“Actually, we had a barbarian… A friend from Torgrad. He wasn’t like what you’d expect from his appearance, a simple and kind guy.”

“Ho.”

That was a bit surprising.

A barbarian from Torgrad in this world was someone with a different mindset from birth.

When they were born, someone could whisper “Barbarian Never Cry” and they would stop crying.

“I hesitate to speak of him with you here, but he was really nothing like a barbarian. Thanks to him, I learned that even barbarians like to drink. Well, as long as they don’t cause a ruckus.”

“What happened to him?”

At Eden’s question, the man shook his head.

“He disappeared one day. Left everything behind. Maybe he went off to fight again, or perhaps he ran into some monsters or bandits outside the village. Anyway, forget about that.”

The man started preparing to leave and spoke to Eden.

“The atmosphere around here isn’t right these days. That creature that looked like a dragon… or whatever it was…”

“Pteranodon.”

“…Yeah. Anyway, it’s the first time we’ve had a creature like that enter the village. So if you’re traveling around this area, be careful. I see you’re traveling with your wife.”

“…She’s not my wife.”

“That’s what they all say at first.”

The man chuckled in a low voice, seemingly pleased with Eden’s response, and left in a lighter mood.

Eden, too, felt favorably toward him.

He placed his axe on the ground and sat down on the dry reed floor.

Though it was an unexpected kindness, there was no reason to refuse it. He had only hoped for a place to stay out of the wind for the night.

Perhaps Neb shared the same sentiment, as she smiled while sipping the soup.

“Kindness really does make people shine.”

“Didn’t you used to say we were insignificant?”

Before going into the village, Eden thought he should find something helpful to do, enjoying the rare hospitality.

The medieval night, without streetlights, arrived quickly.

The sun set, and the surroundings were soon covered in darkness.

Although the firelight was small compared to the size of the house, it still felt much brighter than usual.

Eden lay there, contemplating the end of the day, thinking he could just roll around and fall asleep, imagining himself back in his room.

‘What should I do today?’

Should he watch a movie, read a novel, or perhaps check out some comics?

The memories were hazy, but the things Neb had created were always perfectly structured.

Suddenly, Eden stood up, sensing a presence from far off.

“What’s wrong?”

“I hear something strange.”

“…?”

Eden ignored the sluggish Neb and opened the door to the house.

The outside landscape was dark. Apart from the faint light coming from a few houses, there was no source of light nearby.

Eden quietly looked toward the forest.

Between the sounds of the wind, footsteps could occasionally be heard.

The direction they were heading was toward the house where Eden and Neb were staying.

Neb, who had stuck close to Eden, whispered,

“Could it be the villagers?”

“No.”

Eden shook his head.

At least there was no malice from the villagers.

And to Eden, the presence in the forest didn’t feel like that of a living person.

Soon, something appeared from the darkness.

“Grraa…”

It was a corpse in the shape of a person.

The key difference was that it was standing on two legs, unlike a regular dead body.

Neb, shocked, tapped Eden’s back.

“What, what is that?”

“I don’t know.”

A living, moving undead.

Eden furrowed his brow.

He had never seen something like this, even in his long medieval life.

Not even on the battlefield.

But there was no denying that these creatures were filled with hostile intent.

The closest corpse rushed toward Eden.

“Grraa…, ugh!!”

And just like that, its head flew off.

Eden hadn’t hit it that hard.

Perhaps the corpse was old, as its body was surprisingly soft.

Eden himself was taken aback by how easily it fell.

As the commotion unfolded, it seemed that the villagers, hearing the noise, began to emerge from their houses with torches in hand.

“What’s that noise… huh?”

When they saw the walking corpses, they froze.

It wasn’t a common sight.

Eden raised a hand, signaling the villagers to stay calm.

“Don’t come any closer. It could be dangerous.”

This needed to be dealt with quickly.

Eden clenched his fist.

At that moment, one of the villagers, who had been staring at the approaching corpse, murmured in a trembling voice,

“Is that… Grandpa?”

The voice wasn’t only heard by Eden.

Other villagers looked at the walking corpse’s face and shouted in unison.

“Yes, it’s him! That’s Grandpa from the windmill! Oh, he could never walk when he was alive!”

“Isn’t that our father who passed away three years ago…?”

“Oh, Mom!!”

It seemed that every corpse was someone familiar to the villagers.

Once Neb understood the situation, she whispered to Eden,

“So… that’s…”

The very first corpse Eden had knocked down.

Its head was gone, after being hit by Eden’s fist.

Eden silently relaxed his fist, acknowledging the tragic nature of the scene unfolding.