Tale of Discovery

Chapter 342: Thoughts

On my way back to Carne Village, I use my senses to check on the state of the villagers and see if there have been any sneak attacks from behind.

Fortunately, the enemy did not seem to have expected their troops to get intercepted by a powerful force and get decimated, so they didn't have anything like that in place.

Currently, the only concerning matter is the possibility of another wave of soldiers being sent to this village, as unlikely as it may be. The reason I believe it's unlikely is that this village has close to nothing valuable in it.

Even if soldiers are ordered by a powerful individual to rid of it, the priority shouldn't be high enough for said individual to waste another batch of trained soldiers on it.

If anything, they would most likely attempt to figure out what occurred here first before laying down plans in hopes of exterminating me.

This could entail a few possible outcomes. One, a powerful individual will be sent after me. Two, a high number of professionally trained soldiers will be dispatched with the sole purpose of bringing me down. Third, the enemy would lie low until there are no signs of me left before they continue with whatever they had planned.

Naturally, the third outcome is the best one, since the enemy won't risk wasting their human resources on a single creature whose origin and power are both unclear.

"Mr. Vincent!" a man's voice reaches my ears as a muscular man runs toward me.

"Opilio," I say nonchalantly once he is right in front of me.

"What happened?" he says while catching his breath and looking behind me.

Since the battle took place quite a distance away from the village, there isn't anything to discern that it took place from here. Nevertheless, the residents of this village just might have felt the reverberation in the earth from the more powerful attacks.

"Some soldiers with no good intentions," I respond with a shrug, "Took care of them for you."

Opilio's brows furrow as he utters, "Soldiers? How many? From what kingdom?"

"I don't know exactly. There were about a hundred of them? As for their affiliation... Well, I can tell you what their armor looked like if that might help you."

Hearing my words, Opilio's eyes widen slightly, most likely because of the number I stated.

"Come on," I say as I step forth and place my left hand on his shoulder, "We should discuss this back in the village with the rest, no?"

"Y-Yes," he responds dubiously, "Uh... Mr. Vincent..."

"Hm?"

"Are you sure there were a hundred soldiers?"

"Ah. Well, could've been more. I didn't really bother to count," I respond with a wry smile.

Hearing my response, Opilio lets his right arm, which is holding a sword, rest as he releases a deep sigh.

"I know this might come off as a little surprising-"

"No, no," Opilio hurriedly says, "I kind of already have a vague idea of how powerful you are."

"Right. The skeletons," I say with a smile.

Silence ensues as neither of us seems to have anything to say, so I nod once before walking past him toward the village.

A dozen or so steps later, I sense some movement near a building before a small creature makes its way through the grass toward me.

Knowing that the approaching creature is none other than my cute little Aurora, I stop walking and wait for her to reach my leg.

Once that happens, Aurora immediately slithers up my leg and moves over to my left arm before wrapping her body around it.

"Good job," I praise her, "Too bad that you didn't get to shine this time."

[It i-is fine.]

The childish voice resounds within my head once more as she gazes at me with her small, sharp eyes.

---

"Are you sure?!" the man in front of me, who just so happens to be the village head, exclaims with vigor as he rises from his seat.

The reason he reacted so dramatically is that I just told him the color of the soldier's armor and the symbol I saw on their shield.

"But why?" he utters exasperatedly as he settled backs down on his seat, "Why would the king order his men to kill us, his own vassals?"

"Is it that hard to believe?" I question while considering the circumstances of this village, "From the way I see it, this village doesn't have much value to the king. The losses incurred from him getting rid of it should be negligible, if done cleanly, that is."

And by cleanly, I mean that he loses no soldiers and leaves no traces suggesting that he was the one who made the order.

But still, it doesn't make sense. Why would a king get rid of a small village in his own kingdom? Thinking back to the words Belius said before his death, it really seems that the perpetrators were the kingdom's soldiers.

However, there is one significant problem with that. When Belius made the claim along with whatever else he said, I perceived that he was lying. Whether the lie was about them being ordered by the king or something else, that I am not sure.

Even so, if one were to look at this matter objectively, it would be logical to think that things don't add up.

A king ordering his men to exterminate a village. A noble leading soldiers and lying about his purpose.

Hm... What if... the soldiers didn't belong to this kingdom? Actually, from my earlier conversation with the village head, he stated that the village is close to the kingdom's borders.

In that case, the attack was performed by a party that didn't belong to this kingdom and for some reason, they decided to impersonate the kingdom's forces.

Unlike the idea of the king ordering his soldiers to get rid of his vassals, it makes much more sense for an outsider to be sowing trouble.

Now, I just need to figure out the reason they would do this.

Looting for resources? A small campaign to draw the kingdom's forces out for an eventual all-out war?

I highly doubt that the enemy wanted to attack this village in particular. After all, there is nothing here anyway, so why bother?

At this moment, my senses pick up movement in the distance - from the direction the enemy soldiers previously came from.

Upon focusing on the movement, I notice that they're soldiers too. Similar to the ones I got rid of, they're riding horses.

The only difference between these soldiers and the previous ones is that they have much lighter armor equipped. Heck, some of them only have leather armor.

Frowning, I get up on my feet and say in a solemn tone, "More soldiers are coming."

"What?!"

"Though, they appear to be generally weaker than the ones I fought not too long ago. Stay alert, I will go check them out."

Having said that, I turn around and leave the village heads house just as his wife entered the room while carrying a tray with water.

How annoying...

Oh well. I wonder if these soldiers belong to the same group from before. They are armed differently, so there is a chance that they're not.

Currently, they have halted their movements in the giant hole that appeared as a result of the pillar of light.

A bulky man has stepped down from his horse and is examining the ground with a serious look on his face.

Anyway, the moment I deem these humans as enemies, their lives will be over in moments. Seriously, I can't bother to fight for an extended period of time. If they're weak, a few seconds is all they will get.

Shortly, the bulky man mounts his horse once more and ushers it forth while the rest follow after him. On their faces, I detect wariness.

Well, that's only to be expected. It's not every day that you get to see a giant ominous hole in a field while out on a mission with your fellow soldiers.

Now that I think about it, if I were to just walk over there, won't they just attack me immediately?

Yeah... I need to repeat what I did earlier, albeit more mildly.

Having set on the idea that I need to shock the soldiers, I stop moving and lean forth a little before directly leaping into the sky.

A few seconds later, I stop moving up and slowly begin to descend toward the ground with my set landing point being a hundred meters in front of the moving soldiers.

The next thing I know, I plunge into the ground, causing the soldiers to panic a little and stop their horses.

The atmosphere becomes tense as the soldiers all reach out to their weapons, but none dare to attack. This is exactly what I wanted. My display of clearly supernatural power directly after they saw the giant hole has instilled a fear of the unknown into their hearts, preventing them from outright attacking me.

Chances are, if I simply walked toward them, they would've made a hasty decision such as 'eliminate the not-so-human-looking guy in fancy clothing'.

Would that even happen? Thinking back to how easily I was labeled as non-human due to my appearance, then yes. I will need to look into that later - the oddity of my appearance, that is.

"Who is your leader?" I ask in a firm and loud voice.

Unlike before, the bulky man that I saw earlier ushers his horse forth with a serene look in his eyes as he responds, "I am. Who are you?"

"Now, now," I say with a smile, "There is no need to rush matters. And I will be the one asking questions."

Having said that, I deliberately pause while observing the man that claims to be the leader.

Black hair and sharp eyes. A bulky figure that seems to have formed after countless hours of training. Scars here and there on his firm, brown arms serve as proof of the many battles he has probably fought.

All in all, this man is completely different from that sorry excuse of a soldier and leader, Belius. This one is a veteran, and it's easy to tell.

Noting that none of the soldiers, including the leader, is planning to say anything, the smile on my lips grows as I say, "I suspected that you were affiliated with the armed soldiers that appeared here not so long ago, but from what I can tell based off of your emotions, that's not the case."

Yes, their emotions. It's not that of anger or pride. In fact, it's not anything negative. All I can sense is some nervousness and slight fear. Usually, there would be a hint of resentment in their aura, but I can't sense any of that, which most likely means they are not related to the soldiers I took out earlier.

"What is your name?" I ask the leader.

Frowning, he says, "I believe I asked you first."

"Like I care about that. Answer the question," I respond while fixing my gaze on his face.

Pure, utter silence. Seems like he isn't planning to respond. Is he just headstrong? Not that it matters.

"If you don't want your soldiers to be wiped out in the next three seconds, I suggest you answer me properly."

"Oi!" one of the soldiers immediately yells while gripping the sword in his hand tightly.

Likewise, the others don't take my words kindly.

"Three," I say casually.

The leader's brows raise before he narrows his eyes as if to see through me.

"Two," I continue.

"Gazef. Gazef Stronoff," he says in a slightly irritated tone.

The soldiers are displeased that he gave in as they mutter curses while glaring daggers at me.

"Good call," I say while smiling, "I wasn't exactly kidding when I said I would wipe them out."

"A bold claim," Gazef scoffs.

"It stems from confidence, you see?" I respond with a shrug.

Alright, so far, these guys are much more levelheaded. If it were the other soldiers, my taunts would've already had them scratching their skin off.

"Is that all you're going to ask?" Gazef inquires.

"No. I just have one more question for you - How are you and your men related to the soldiers that planned to attack the village nearby?"

"Foes," he responds bluntly, "We have rushed over in hopes of defeating them, but that seems to be no longer necessary."

"Indeed. A bunch of weaklings, they were," I remark while sounding disappointed.

"In that case, do you mind stating your allegiance?"

"Obviously, the Re-Estize Kingdom!"

"Not so obvious considering the fact the soldiers from earlier were dressed in this kingdom's uniform."

"What did you say?!" he says with his brows furrowed.

"You heard me. Anyway, let's take this discussion elsewhere. Surely, sitting down and having a talk is better than here, no?"

"In that case, let's head to Carne Village," Gazef says with a nod.

Perfect. Now, I can finally obtain some important information. How lucky... It was essentially offered to me on a silver plate.