Tale of Discovery

Chapter 331: First Impression ; Nice Guy ; Guest

Hearing the yell, I curiously shift my sight over to the somewhat bulky man that's rushing over here. In his hand is a dirty and fairly rusty short-sword held high as if he is planning to decapitate me with it.

Hah~ These people... They're most likely from the village that I was going to. Seeing the basket the girl dropped and the spilled content, they appear to have been out here in the forest collecting fruits and herbs

It's unfortunate that my first encounter with the villagers is in such a manner, but I can at least rest assured at the thought of my situation being easily salvaged if I play my cards right.

For instance, my current appearance is that of a handsome rich young man dressed half-formally. Compared to the shabby clothes of the villagers, the difference is extremely apparent.

Nevertheless, this isn't an issue, but in fact, it's going to be a factor that will play into the 'backstory' I am planning to present to the villagers in order to lessen their suspicion of me.

Honestly, I would've preferred the usual method of torturing and indoctrinating to gain information, but that's not possible at the moment.

Firstly, I no longer have my indoctrination ability. Even if my other profile, Overlord, has it, it still wouldn't be worth it to use it on the villagers. The reason for this is that I don't want to use these villagers once and discard them.

But instead, I plan to slowly integrate into them and gain their trust, which in return would earn me a small source of information regarding this world. Surely, the village has merchants that go elsewhere, be it a city or other villages, to trade the crops and various other goods produced here.

While doing so, they're prone to hear of rumors and learn of something, which I could easily find out by holding a casual conversation with them.

For this reason, I have come up with a 'backstory' and will try to appear as friendly as possible.

"Wait a moment!" I exclaim nervously as I raise my hand in front of me in a 'stop' gesture.

"Get away from Enri, you demon!" the man exclaims as he hastens his pace.

At this moment, I notice some movement behind the man, which upon closer look turned out to be small disgusting-looking creatures.

Their appearance is that of immensely deformed young children who have been exposed to an extreme amount of radiation.

If there is something worth noting, it's going to be the fact that these ugly creatures are each holding some sort of weapon. One is holding a broken dagger, while another is holding a thick twig. All in all, there are five of them, and they're all armed in a way.

Perhaps, I could take advantage of this opportunity...

With such a thought swirling in my mind, I focus my senses to the point that time appears to slow down. Following this, I swiftly get off the girl and get on my feet before dashing forward and effortlessly taking the sword in the man's hand and continue to to move toward the monsters.

Once I'm close enough, I don't waste any time as I cleanly cut two of the monsters' heads off before slashing the sword in front of me, resulting in a thin shock-wave to finish the other three off.

Satisfied, I get out of my Enhanced Cerebration state as a smile forms on my lips.

"Huh?" a shocked and confused voice escapes from the man's lips behind me as he anxiously looks around.

"You should be more careful," I say in a nonchalant manner as I turn around.

Stunned, the man turns around, only to be further startled by the sight of the bloodied sword in my hand and the carcasses of the monsters around me.

Flashing a grin, I casually swing the sword, intending to wipe the blood off, only for the force behind it to send off a gust of furious wind, resulting in some plants and rocks to fly off.

Acting as if nothing happened, I keep my expression 'friendly' as I approach the man with the sword lowered.

Despite my earnest actions, the man is still more than a little suspicious of me as he takes on a defensive stance, with a stubborn look in his eyes.

This idiot... He is most likely thinking about protecting the girl behind him, even at the cost of his life.

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I present the handle of the sword to the man as I say, "Here, your sword. Thank you for lending it to me."

Perhaps not expecting my friendly attitude, the man's expression turns weird as he takes the sword while uttering, "O-Oh..."

Nodding once, I focus on the girl who is now sitting up with a curious look on her face.

"Sorry for what just happened," I say while raising my right arm and scratching the back of my head, "You see, I was in a rush and didn't see you as I ran through the forest."

"Big sister!" a young girls cry reverberates within my ears as the small red figure I saw earlier appears and quickly runs toward the girl on the ground.

"Nemu! Are you okay?!" as if realizing something, the girl's expression turns heavy as she looks over at the little girl running toward her.

"I am okay!" comes a light-hearted response from the little girl as she reaches her and hugs her.

Seeing that she is unhurt, the blond-haired girl lets out a visible sigh as she affectionately reaches her arm out to rub the little girl's head.

Suddenly, I remember the basket I knocked out of the girl's hand. Looking over, I take a moment to recognize what should be the contents that have spilled out before entering my Enhanced Cerebration state once again, as I collect everything and grab the basket.

From others' perspective, I simply vanished and reappeared where I am now while holding the previously half-empty basket, which now has everything back in it.

This, is anything but ordinary, which makes the shock on the man's face right now understandable.

Not heeding him much attention, I casually walk over to the girl on the ground and offer her the basket as I say, "The name's Vincent. You?"

Since I am going to be performing some intelligence-gathering work, it's only natural that I will make use of an alias.

As for the reason I chose Vincent... Well, it kind of just popped up in my mind and felt right?

"Ah, y-yes. Enri. I'm Enri Emmot."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Enri (Enri-san)," I say as the smile on my lips grows.

"Likewise," responds the slightly dumbfounded girl as she lets her guard down, even if a little.

--

"So you're not from here?" the man, whose name is Opilio Gregoras, asks with a hint of curiosity in his voice as we walk through the forest.

"Nope. I hail from a closed-off region, and only came here at the behest of my father," I respond.

The background I have given myself is that of a noble from somewhere that's separated from the rest of the globe.

This way, I can pass off anything unordinary about me as something normal where I live, which would in turn decrease the suspicion of those around me.

After all, it's not weird for a foreigner to be different from a certain region's norm.

"Are all the young men as brilliant as you, Mr. Vincent? (Vincent-san)" he continues in a curious yet respectful manner.

Brilliance... he is most likely referring to the power and speed I displayed while dealing with those monsters from earlier - goblins.

"Yes, while my peers aren't exactly at the same level as me, they still wield fine strength and speed," I respond with a smile while thinking of the resident of Nazarick. This way, I could introduce my 'comrades' to the villagers if I ever need to without garnering any suspicion.

From the sound of it, Opilio thinks of me as a noble of sorts, perhaps the young master of some noble family. Such thoughts are to be expected, considering the way I have been acting and the attire I wear.

"Still, I've got to thank you for earlier. If it weren't for you, I doubt that I would've been able to handle all the goblins by myself while protecting Enri and Nemu..." Opilio says in a solemn tone.

"Don't think much of it," I say as I chuckle lightly, "If a man has power, it's only natural to help others out."

Hearing my words, a smile forms on his thick lips as his gaze turns even more respectful.

It's rather easy to get a grip over his attitude toward me. If I didn't know better, I would've thought that I had some mind-controlling skill to help me with that.

"I am a good demon, aren't I?" I question in a joking tone.

To this, Opilio looks at me with a confused expression, only for his face to get flushed a moment later.

"Ah, about this..." he says in a nervous tone while chuckling awkwardly, "Excuse me for the rude remark I made earlier."

"It's fine, it's fine," I respond while smiling, "I didn't take it to heart."

"I'm grateful," he says with a slightly rigid smile.

"Ah!" suddenly, the little girl who had been walking while humming exclaims as excitement covers her face, "Papa!"

Looking ahead, I notice a man standing in place with a worried look on his face. His attire is similar to Opilio's and the sisters in quality. As for his looks, they can barely pass-off as average, coupled with his reddish-brown hair, he hardly had any remarkable feature about him.

Even so, the littler girl, Nemu, excitedly increases her pace while gazing at him.

"Nemu! Enri!" the man calls out once he notices us, "You're fine!"

From his tone, I can tell that he was worried. The question is, why? Did he find out about the planned attack on the village? Or is it simply because they returned late?

Shortly, I get the answer to this question as the man looks at Opilio and asks, "What took you guys so long?"

Before he could respond, however, the man suddenly notices me and asks warily, "Who is this?"

"This man is Mr. Vincent. He saved us earlier when we ran into some trouble," Opilio states.

"Trouble?" the man repeats whole narrowing his eyes.

"Yes. A group of goblins," responds Opilio as his expression turns a little grim.

"That's odd. Monsters tend to stay away from this area usually, yet now..."

"If monsters start attacking the village, I doubt we would be able to suppress them with our manpower," Opilio states grimly.

"You're right. This is going to troublesome."

"Say," I suddenly interject, "I currently have no place to stay. Would it be possible for me to temporarily stay in this village until my men come for me?

"Of course, while here, I will unsure the protection of this village."

Hearing this, the man in front of us frowns a little and sizes me up before looking at Opilio.

"Indeed, if Mr. Vincent were to protect us, we would be fine. I believe his skills in handling a sword rival that of the soldiers stationed in E-Rantel."

"Is that so?" the man responds in a tone that suggests he isn't convinced.

"Well, anyway," he suddenly turns much more amicable as he smiles and says, "You're welcome to stay in Carne Village. I am sure the village head will help you find an accommodation."

Nodding my head as confirmation, I look behind the man, at the village in the distance. The sky is currently dark, so there aren't many villagers outside. This reminds me, why were those three in the forest at such a time?

Thinking of it, I can assume that they left much earlier, but got delayed for some reason until the sky turned dark. This is also why the man was standing at the entrance of the forest with a worried expression on his face.

As for the reason they were delayed... Perhaps, they encountered monsters?

"Let's go. It has gotten rather late," the man says.

"Oh, right," he suddenly stops just as he turned around, "My name is Emmot Callus."

"Vincent," I simply say.

Nodding his head, Emmot turns around and begins walking in the direction of the village.

Nemu quickly follows behind, while Opilio lightly pats my shoulder before walking past me.

And so, I am left standing at the entrance of the forest with the girl I ran into earlier, Enri.

Currently, the lass is gazing at me curiously for some reason.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Enri?" I ask as I turn my head to face her.

To this, Enri suddenly blushes as she raises her hands and waves them in front of her while nervously saying, "No, no. I was just thinking of how you fought the goblins earlier..."

"Hm? Are you curious about my power?" I ask with an amused smile covering my lips.

As a response to my question, she simply nods her head meekly while grasping her dress.

Letting out a chuckle, I shake my head before beginning to walk, as the girl soon follows along.

--

After meeting the village head and his wife, it was decided that I was going to stay in a house with another family.

Fortunately, they didn't question much about my origin and powers. In fact, the whole thing went so smoothly that I am starting to get a little concerned for the villagers, in case someone wants to stir up trouble.

They're too trusting...

Anyway, I am currently following after the head of the house I will be staying in, who just so happens to be Emmot.

Apparently, they already had an extra room prepared for Nemu, but she was too young to stay in a room all by herself.

For that reason, it was decided that I will stay with them for now.

Thinking of the rather good-looking lass and the adorable Nemu, this might not be bad...