The tension that hung over the surroundings disappeared with Kurumman's departure, and the entire village temporarily returned to peace. The villagers gathered around, but they didn't get close to me completely, but stayed two or three meters away from me, after all, they would be wary of strangers who suddenly appeared.

Because everyone's attention was so focused on me, that the village chief was completely ignored, and the poor old man still sat on the ground. Of course, it's not that he doesn't want to stand up, but as he gets older, his bones become fragile, and he was pushed hard just now, so it's probably quite difficult to stand up on his own.

So, I walked over to the village chief.

"Are you alright, are you hurting anywhere?" I grabbed the village chief's arm and slowly helped him up.

"Ah, thank you so much...... Mr. Carter. The village chief's voice was a little muffled when he said the words Mr. Carter, probably not sure if he had heard my name.

"Mr. Carter, let's come," saw my actions, and two male villagers ran up to take the village chief from me. There was a subtle discussion around me, and although I couldn't hear it completely, I could probably understand that it was discussing me.

"Thank you so much just now, but you came to our village?" The village chief looked at me, and although his tone was full of gratitude, his eyes were still guarded, and he really deserved to be the village chief.

"That's ......"

"This is Mr. Carter, he's a very good fighter, and that one over there is Mr. Eir, who is also a very good priest, and they're a traveling in practice. I took them to the village to thank them for saving me in the forest, and I took them to the village...... "It was Kilo who introduced himself in my place, and then he began to recount how easily I defeated the demon ape. It's easy for a kid at this age to worship the strong, and I was a great admirer of Ultraman when he was his age, and Kilo was no exception. The more he talked, the more excited he became, and he simply began to play multiple roles on the spot, causing the surrounding villagers to laugh.

The cheerful laughter lifted the vigilance of the majority, and a look of relief appeared on their faces, but the village chief's expression became more and more solemn, and he looked at me as if he wanted to say something, but his lips fluttered slightly, but he did not say a word.

The light through the clouds fell to the ground, and the surrounding scenery gradually dimmed. After looking at the sky, the village chief said to me with deep meaning, "Mr. Carter, thank you for helping us, it's not too early now, come to my house for dinner, let's talk while eating." ”

Then I would be respectful and obey my fate, I wanted to say something like this, but I only said the first two words.

"No, I've already told Uncle Carter that he's going to eat at my house tonight! Right, right? Without giving me more time to speak, Kilo forcefully rebuffed me, looking up at me, anxiously awaiting my reply.

His eyes were full of anticipation, and in the face of such an innocent child, no one would bear to disappoint him.

"Ah, I appreciate your kindness, village chief, and I did promise Kilo to go to his house for dinner, so if you have anything else to ask, I'll come back to visit you later."

"Mr. Carter, you're welcome, my house is the house over there with a big clock hanging at the door." The village chief pointed to a slightly dilapidated house in the middle of the village.

"Okay, then you can go back to dinner," I nodded to the village chief.

The names of the surrounding villages gradually dispersed, and Kilo jumped up and took my hand.

Kilo's home is in the northern part of the village, one of the farthest from the forest, and the houses have some signs of repair, but they can be seen everywhere in the village. The space of the house is not large, but it still looks quite empty, because there is very little furniture inside, and there is hardly anything to see except a bed and a table, and it seems that Kilo and Nina are having a hard time.

"The house is relatively simple, Mr. Carter, you can find a place to sit." Nina rummaged around for the ingredients in the house, and said embarrassedly when she saw me.

"Ah, it's okay, I'm bothering."

"Big Brother Carter, you're so slow, but Nina's cooking is really delicious!" Il was lying on the table, holding a bowl in his hand, which was supposed to be pasta from the rest of the food scraps, and several baked potatoes were lined up in the center of the table. I was just wondering where this kid had gone, but it turned out that he left me and came back with Nina first.

"What's the matter, Il, you've won the prize." Being praised like this in person, Nina looked a little embarrassed.

"Well, I'll just say that the food made by Nina is delicious." Kilo looked smug.

"How many times have I said it, I want to call my sister!"

"What's the matter, stingy!"

"It's a matter of politeness! Anyway, did you go to the forest again, and your clothes are torn? ”

"I'm fine!"

……

One person's tone was tough, the other's tone was lazy, and the sisters and brothers quarreled like this. This scene can't help but remind me of my mother, who is often bumped into by me, I don't know how she is now, whether she is well, hey, I still have to find a way to go back.

"It's dangerous in the forest, what if something happens, how can I explain it to Sister Anya?"

Nina blushed and looked very angry, but after saying this, the two fell silent at the same time, and the surroundings fell silent all of a sudden, and I stood there at a loss, until Il raised his head and looked at it, and then buried his head and ate with relish, as if he was not affected by the atmosphere in the slightest.

"I'm sorry, Sister Nina," Kilo stepped forward with his head down and grabbed Nina's arm, "Sister Anlia will be back, right?" ”

"Well, I'll be back, I'll definitely be back," Nina stretched out her thin arms and hugged Kilo tightly, tears unconsciously flowing from her eyes.

Feeling very embarrassed, I coughed lightly, and only when I heard the cough did Nina and Kilo realize that there were still people standing around.

"I'm sorry, Anya is our sister, she was captured by the bandits more than half a month ago, and then there has been no news, but I have asked for a pretty powerful ...... I'm going to help me find my sister, and I'm sure she'll be back soon," Nina touched the tears in the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, and reluctantly smiled, "Sit down, there's nothing at home, so I can only grieve you to eat a little more." ”

"No, no, don't worry, it's already quite hearty." I comforted Nina and sat down in a chair with one leg missing. That pretty powerful character must be talking about me, I was really asked by her when I was in the fortress city, I'm really sorry, Nina.

The next time Nina went into the kitchen again, made a few simple dishes, and then we started to enjoy dinner. Of course, as a skeleton, I couldn't eat, so I could only watch from the sidelines in the name of practice, but luckily neither Nina nor Kilo showed the slightest suspicion.

"Then I'll go to the village chief's house next." It was always unpleasant to watch others eat, so I walked out of the house and walked towards the village chief's house.

The village, surrounded on three sides by forests, was soon engulfed in darkness, and as a few male villagers walked back and forth, seemingly on patrol, I passed by them, nodded slightly, and walked straight forward, their conversations sounding behind me.

"With Mr. Carter here tonight, it seems that I can rest assured."

"yes, don't be afraid even if a monster comes in."

From their words, it seems that although this is a human village, it is not safe.

When he came to the village chief's house, he had just finished dinner, and the village chief's wife was packing up the dishes.

When the village chief saw me, he greeted me quite warmly and asked the village chief's wife to make tea for me, the green tea was steaming white, but I couldn't drink the tea, so I had to let it get cold quietly.

"Mr. Carter, won't you take off your mask?"

"Ah, for personal reasons, I have to wear a mask at all times, and I'm sorry if I bother you."

"No, no, I'm the one who said I'm sorry, but I have something I want to ask you for." The village chief put a box in front of him, and his tone was quite embarrassed, "I know that this amount is far from enough, but we will definitely make up for it in the future." ”

I opened the box, and in the reflection of the light there were white lights dancing in front of me, and there were many silver coins in the box, and I roughly estimated that there should be more than a hundred.

"Village Chief, what are you?" Not knowing the other party's intentions, I looked at the village chief suspiciously.

The old man let out a long sigh as if he was about to vomit out the pain in his heart, and then he continued, "I won't tell you that our Gu'an Village is very peaceful, except for the tax collector who comes to collect taxes once a year, few people will come, and the monsters in the forest will not take the initiative to run out, although everyone's life is not rich, but it is also rich and well-fed. But in the last two months, it has been different, the lord has come to recruit soldiers repeatedly, and the young men in our village have basically been taken away, and the conscripts in previous years will always write back letters, or take time to come back to visit their families, but this time they disappeared after leaving, and we went to inquire in the fortress city, and the news was that the garrison under the lord's jurisdiction had not increased. ”

"It's weird, but do you mean you want me to help you look into this?"

"No, no, although this matter also bothers us, there is a more urgent matter at hand. Recently, the monsters in the forest have suddenly become active, and from time to time they have come to the village, at first they were just small animals and slimes, but recently there have also been fierce beasts and toothed wolves. After listening to Kilo's account today, even a powerful monster like the Demon Ape has come to this area, so I think something must have happened in the forest. I had asked for help from the Lord's Garrison before, but you also saw that they didn't care about our lives or deaths, so we pooled the money together to hire adventurers, and it happened that Lord Carter came to our village, and after discussing it, we thought that it would be great if we hired you who could easily defeat the Demon Ape. I know it's rude, but there's really nothing we can do, so please accept our commission! ”

The village chief leaned down to me, trembling all over, and he could see that he was very excited.

Although helping villagers in remote areas does not quickly improve their reputation, and it does not have much effect on my plan, it is not so easy to refuse such a sincere request from an old man, and it seems that in the final analysis, my heart is too good.

"I see, I can try, you can take this money first, if I can solve the mutation in the forest, it won't be too late to give it to me." I picked up the kneeling old man and pushed the box back in front of him.

"Thank you so much, do you need our help?" The village chief's eyes flashed, and a smile appeared on his wrinkled face.

"No, with all due respect, you'll only drag me down when you go to the forest, and I'll just go tomorrow with Il." I looked at the village chief and said in a firm tone.