The village chief was rubbing his head on the floor while apologizing, the villagers behind him bowed in a similar position.
After that, the village chief has abandoned all the tricks and strategies, then simply revealed his real intentions.
According to the story, it was like this:
Even though theyāre not wealthy, itās a small village in the depths of the mountains where they have been living on agriculture, forestry, and hunting, also itās a pleasure to be in a nearby hot spring.
then one day, they came. the very familiar, thieves.
However, without attacking the village or robbing them of their livelihoods, they seemed to have come up with some kind of a deal.
{Weāll protect the village, so give us money, food, and women as a reward.}
It was comical.
Apparently, they were going to make this village a <Feeding Ground> because the life of a thief was unstable.
Instead of hitting and crushing it all at once, just turn into a stable source of food and gold.
A source of women.
And continue using it as a source of thief apprenticeship and training facility for a long time.
However, if the girls and young women are to be used up by themselves, while the boys and adult men are to be used as disposable pawns instead of meat shields, in a few years only the old folks will the ones to remain in the village.
But thereās no problem with that.
When that time comes, the last thing to do is to deprive the villagers of everything and move to the next feeding area.
And the bad thing about it is that they are <requested for escort>, though itās just for show.
At this point, you cannot ask the Lord for help. Theyāll just say <I havenāt done anything yet.> and <We are contracted as escorts.> something like that.
They are only presenting the terms and conditions, also they are not making any threats or committing criminal acts.
ā¦ā¦But no one knows what would happen if the contract was rejected.
You may get information of the acts of bandits, but you donāt know what damage was done by those guys, the survivors of the attacked merchants donāt live nearby, they probably wonāt remember the thiefās face as it will be concealed. And if the suspect says that he <doesnāt remember>, then itās all over.
Also, if the lord of the territory sent out the territory army, all they have to do was to move their thieving business elsewhere while the territory army was being mobilized and return after the territory army had withdrawn.
In reality, there is no way the Lord can situate the army in such a remote village for such a long time.
To begin with, itās better to leave the villagers to be exploited than to send out the army for a small village in the depths of the mountain and take casualties in the fight against the thieves.
The tax should not be reduced(wasted). No wonder the lord decides so.
The situation may change a little if this was a village that pays more tax, or a village that produces rare items thoughā¦ā¦
[ā¦ā¦So, you didnāt do anything wrong, and you only thought of trying to make the unrelated foreigners who got tricked and got dragged into fighting the bandits, you say? Moreover, itās also those people with children who have only three people who can fightā¦]Ā Kaoru
The villagers may think that Bell was also a combatant because of her style, but Bellās daggers were mostly decorative and were only menacing. At best, it would be a success if she could be mistaken for an opponent.
It would seem that Bellās role was to become a meat shield to protect me and to earn a few seconds for Emile and Francette to rush-in.
Holding on to the sword stuck in her body, so they cannot pull it outā¦ Who would make you do such a thing!
[No. No, I donātā¦ I donāt think you can fight against nearly 30 thieves by yourselves!]Ā Village Chief
ā¦ā¦No, we can fight them.
[Of course, we will fight, too! The people gathered here are all of the people in the village, excluding the children and the young people who have not yet made their mark.
However, they are all amateurs who have tough fights and have a slightly better physique but have never done interpersonal combat. But enough to be able to fight a little as a hunter. Though, even that, their experience against a beast is not very useful.]Ā Village Chief
However, the village chiefās eyes were not dead yet despite what he said.
[At any rate, if the young men go to the town saying that they will have a life of their own, their families would be abandoned, the old folks and young children will have to do farm work, hunting, etc., on their own. They wonāt have a choice but to abandon the village and go to the town as well.
To live in the mountains is better than to die in the poor slums. If thatās the case, Iād rather fight here.
Even if you ended up fighting and dying on a battlefield, itās ten million times better than to regret watching your poor wife and children dying in poverty within the slums, you cannot escape there!!
Then, when the kids informed us about you, who seemed to be used to fighting against those kinds of people, the devil intervened.
Do you want some strength?
Do you want to increase the probability of winning even a little?
If using a girl or a child would raise the chance even a little, it doesnāt matter what my life would become, I would even accept falling into hell after death instead of heaven, so pleaseā¦]Ā Village Chief
Saying that the village chief pressed his head against the ground once again.
If you look at it, some of the villagers here are quite old.
Rather than take the old people out of battle and protect them, are they going to use them as stones to keep young people alive?
The village chief himself was included in itā¦
Hmm, is that so?
Hmmm, itās that kind of thingā¦
I stood up, crossed my arms and said.
[Village chief. Why did you try to involve us by using weird tricks?]Ā Kaoru
[ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦]Ā Village Chief
He canāt say anything, the village chief just kept pressing his head against the ground.
And so I spoke.
[You could have asked us without any weird tricks, like saying: <We will fight for the village, for our lives. So please help us.> You should have just said thatā¦]Ā Kaoru
The village chief and the villagers continued to prostrate.
[As expected, Kaoru-chan!]Ā Francette
After the villagers dispersed, we all went back to the same room, Francette immediately speak. Followed by, Roland and Riette-chan.
[Umu.]Ā Roland
[Shining Face?]Ā Riette
Francette is unusually pleased that I do goddess-ish things and gather faith from people. Roland also tends to be pleased when heās able to participate in the act of protecting the people. Needless to say, Emile and Bell as well.
ā¦ā¦And Riette-chan, what do you mean by [Shining face]!
Thatās not funny at all!
(TN: Francette said [Sasuga=As expected] while Riette said [Sasu Kao=Shining face] though correct me if Iām wrong.)
Anyway, itās not the job for the front, the owner of [Convenient Shop Bell], but the person at the back earning business, [Goddessā Eye].
ā¦ā¦No, itās not a separate job. Well, something like a hobby or club activity?
Iām taking it easy, thoughā¦
[Then, the relaxation trip of the storeās employees and the related people is temporarily suspended. From now on, as the [Goddessās Eyes], we shall set aside the common sense of the world for a bitā¦]Ā Kaoru
Koku Koku Koku Koku KokuĀ (Everyone nodding SFX)
Umu, then, letās go!
I spoked with the villagers a little bit since then.
In the past, they were chased from another land, there was no other choice but to cultivate and create a village in a mountain. The hardships of their ancestors who succeeded in cultivating while losing many friends.
They cannot return to nothing with this generation, just because of some thieves.
And so, to protect the village, itās okay for most of the men gathered here to die, huh.
If the women, the children, and the younger children survive, the village will survive and the knowledge will be passed on. And in the next generation, they should have many children. Then, they will inherit the lives of the former generation.