Mountain Village

Auntie introduced herself as Keila.

Keila had taken care of Amel while she was unconscious.

She said that the village men had tried to peek at Amel, but she had stopped them, so I didn’t need to worry.

And,

“How long was I unconscious?”

“About a week since you were found?”

A week had passed.

If you included the time it took to find me, it would have been longer.

Amel smiled unconsciously, imagining what might have happened in a place she didn’t know during that week.

“How’s the soup?”

“It’s good.”

Amel ate the soup Keila gave her.

As time passed, Keila asked her various questions.

Well, things like where I came from.

Why I collapsed in a place like that.

Things like that.

I honestly told her that I had collapsed from exhaustion after unsealing and trying to defeat the ancient monster [Swordsmanship Doll].

“I unsealed and defeated an ancient monster near here. It was so hard to kill that I unknowingly overexerted myself.”

“Haha. You even make jokes like that?”

“I’m serious.”

She didn’t believe me.

Amel thought she wouldn’t.

It would be easy to believe if I showed her my Strength, but I didn’t want to go to the trouble of proving it.

“Thank you for the meal.”

“Are you sure you don’t want more?”

“Yes. It’s enough.”

“So skinny…”

“It’s enough.”

“Ah… all the nutrients went to your chest?”

“….”

I got up from my seat,

But I felt bad just leaving.

I took out something appropriate from my Inventory.

Something appropriate.

Money would be best.

There were two chests and a pouch of money in my Inventory.

The pouch was for everyday use, the large chest contained all the money, and the small chest was set aside for when the money in the pouch wasn’t enough.

I took out the small chest.

“I’ll give you this.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a token of my appreciation. I’m giving it to you to thank you for taking care of me.”

The small chest was full of gold coins.

Keila was speechless when she saw it.

As I was about to leave the house, Keila stopped me.

“You can’t go.”

“If it’s because it’s dangerous, I’m fine.”

“No, I’m not stopping you because of the Monsters. The village’s situation is pretty bad right now. Leave tomorrow morning. It’s best to leave early in the morning.”

“….”

Early morning.

It was a time chosen to avoid people rather than wild beast Monsters.

Amel sensed the [Mana].

[Mana].

Stats.

I had taken a part of it and implanted it in Dragon Girl.

Amel could sense the [Mana].

Dragon Girl was already so far away that I couldn’t feel the distance from the [Mana], only the direction.

Amel compared the direction Dragon Girl was heading with the [Map] to see if there was a Sealed Land, then turned to Keila.

“What’s there?”

“There are bandits.”

Bandits, huh.

In a forest teeming with Monsters, bandits usually meant Orcs.

“They’re not just any bandits. They’re so terrible that they’ll rush at you with fire in their eyes if they see a slender and pretty woman like you. It’s been quiet for the past week, but they’re still watching the village.”

“….”

Amel used her [Electricity] ability to heighten her senses and scan the area around the village.

A subtle current ran throughout the village,

And I felt an electrical reaction in the forest.

If I analyzed this reaction, which could be called a life reaction, in more detail, I could even know its size.

Because I had used all my [Mana] to seal the [Doll], I could affect the surrounding terrain if I generated a large amount of [Electricity].

I generated a weak [Electricity] within a range that wouldn’t cause any impact and only checked the size of the life reaction.

It was obviously human-sized.

There was one of those near the village.

That must be the bandit’s scout.

“Yeah, you must be worried.”

Keila concluded on her own, watching Amel’s expression.

“Right now, the village people are arguing about what to do when the bandits come. There’s no way to fight back in this village.”

“What about the Self-defense force?”

“…They left the village a while ago and haven’t come back. They went out that day because they said bandits were spotted, but they haven’t returned since then, so… um…”

Keila’s face became somber.

“Did they have family?”

“The leader of the Self-defense force is my husband. He said he’d come back after he left, but he hasn’t. He said he’d come back.”

“….”

“Anyway, rumors are spreading that the Self-defense force was defeated by the bandits, and that’s why this idea came up.”

“What idea?”

“Let’s offer something to the bandits and beg them to spare us before they raid the village and loot us.”

But it was highly likely that the bandits had defeated the Self-defense force, and the Self-defense force were the families of the villagers.

It meant bowing down to their enemies and begging for their lives, and Keila’s face was dark.

“Among those opinions, there was an opinion to hand you over.”

“Me?”

Why?

“You’re pretty. The bandit leader might be surprised when he sees you and look favorably on us.”

“….”

“I’m sorry to say this to you.”

“…I understand the situation.”

“So, there were guys who wanted to do something to you before handing you over, but I gave them a good scolding, so it’s okay!”

“Even if I understand.”

Anyway, the situation in the village wasn’t good.

The bandits could raid at any time and kill everyone.

Even the Self-defense force couldn’t defeat the bandits, so even if everyone in the village rose up, they wouldn’t be able to win.

The Self-defense force was the strongest force in the village, which kept the village alive in the dangerous forest, and their level was higher than that of an equal number of elite soldiers. Otherwise, a mountain village couldn’t exist.

The bandit group that had defeated such a group and was constantly eyeing the village was a formidable enemy.

“So, if you’re going to leave, it’s best to leave early in the morning. It’s better not to leave if possible, but we’re not all on your side.”

“It’s really okay. Just protecting me makes Keila my ally. More than that, we have a guest.”

“A guest?”

Someone was approaching outside the door with heavy footsteps.

Thump, thump, thump.

They knocked on the door.

“Keila, open the door! I know the woman’s awake, and I’ve come to find her! If you don’t open it, I’ll break it down and come in?!”

A man’s voice.

There were four more people besides the owner of the voice.

They were armed with swords.

They hadn’t come for a friendly visit.

“What should I do?”

“I’ll open it.”

“….”

Keila carefully opened the door.

“What brings you here?”

“Where’s the woman?”

“She just woke up and is eating. Can you wait a moment?”

“She’s awake, that’s enough. Move.”

“No, just a moment before that.”

The man tried to push his way in, but Keila pushed him back and went outside the door.

Keila must be quite strong. The reason why the men couldn’t push Keila away and lay a hand on Amel must have been more than just the fact that her husband was the leader of the Self-defense force.

Keila tried to persuade the man,

But she couldn’t persuade him with words like, “Don’t involve someone who has nothing to do with the village.”

“That’s enough!”

He roughly threw the door open.

The man… had no distinguishing features.

He was just a mountain village native who had been out in the world a bit, and he couldn’t hide his excitement when he saw Amel.

Keila also came back and stood beside Amel.

Amel sat on the chair at the table with her legs crossed.

“Do you have business with me?”

“Yes! I have something to propose to you. First, let me tell you who I am. I am the Village Chief of Stillo Village.”

“He’s the Village Chief’s son.”

Keila added.

“The Village Chief also went out with the Self-defense force and disappeared.”

“Shut up! I’m talking!”

“You have to tell the truth.”

“If my father’s not here, it’s obvious that I’m the Village Chief!”

“The Village Chief is the representative of the village. It’s just that your family had done it for a long time, but originally, the villagers would gather and choose a representative. You’re not the Village Chief or anything.”

“Shut up! Can we even elect a new Village Chief in this situation?!”

Well, that was true.

It wasn’t the time to hold a presidential election in an emergency where a war might break out.

Even if it was a small group like a mountain village, it was more efficient to have a relative of the original center of power, like that guy, the Village Chief’s son, take over, rather than leisurely finding a new center of power.

…If that son was normal, that is.

Still, judging by the four armed men following the Village Chief’s son, the Village Chief must have been well-respected.

Well, if he had been a reckless person, he wouldn’t have gone to meet the bandits with the Self-defense force.

The fact that the Village Chief went with them meant that he probably went as the village’s representative to negotiate.

Or maybe he was a fighter, unlike his position as Village Chief.

“I am Stillo Village Chief Teron.”

“Okay. So?”

“As long as you’re being protected by the village, you have a duty to obey the words of the Village Chief.”

“…So?”

“You wretch. What kind of way is that to talk to the Village Chief you should be looking up to?”

“So what.”

“Come with me right now!”

The Village Chief’s son held out his hand.

He was asking for a handshake.

Ignoring him, Amel got up from her seat.

“You should be grateful to Keila.”

“Why would I be grateful to a woman who doesn’t listen to the Village Chief?”

“Because if anyone had harmed me, the village would have been annihilated by me a long time ago.”

The Village Chief’s son made a face as if he had heard something strange, saying, “What?”

“You seem to have made a name for yourself outside, but if you’re going to faint from Monsters around here, you can’t be our match. There’s a limit to showing off! If you don’t want to get hurt, follow me quietly.”

“You don’t understand what I’m saying.”

I glanced at Keila. I didn’t know if she knew what I meant by looking at her, but she nodded.

The Village Chief’s son’s waist.

A sword was stuck there.

Swish. I pulled it out.

“…Huh? Uh?!”

“It’s a pretty good sword.”

It was on par with Gusta’s sword to some extent.

Gusta’s swords were at the top of the list of ordinary weapons.

The fact that it was comparable meant that it was in the quasi-top class.

I liked the sword.

But I didn’t like it.

I didn’t want to keep using the sword that the Village Chief’s son used to own as Loot.

I pointed the sword.

“But it seems too good for you.”

“Seize her!!”

The Village Chief’s son hid behind the armed men.

The armed men stepped forward with bitter faces.

“Put it down quietly.”

“You’ll get hurt.”

They told me to surrender because they didn’t want to hurt me.

“…It’s the first time I’ve been looked down on this much.”

Was it because I fainted?

More than that, couldn’t they draw their swords?

The swords that those guys were holding.

It would be easier to cut them with a sword.

But because they looked down on me, they didn’t draw their swords and tried to persuade me with words and bare hands.

‘How gentle.’

They were smitten with Amel’s appearance, but I respected their attitude of trying to resolve things with words while still having rational judgment.

So,

I put the sword on the table and said.

“Okay. I’ll offer myself to the bandits.”