Chapter 274
Fallen Out
"M-My lady, why are you hitting Miss Nara!? This is so unfair." Although everyone was initially shocked, a male villager was the first to recover. He quickly rushed in to prevent Aria from hitting Nara any further.
"Unfair? You still don’t get it, do you?" Aria sighed heavily with displeasure. If this were the Femon family’s territory, Aria would have ordered the soldiers to arrest these villagers and anyone putting others in danger to be punished. Fortunately for them, they weren’t under the Femon family’s jurisdiction, otherwise...
"It seems everyone still doesn’t understand the problem here." After seeing the villagers still protect Nara, who did things stupidly and caused the chaos, Nadia, the primary force behind the stratagem installation, didn’t let Aria fight alone and stepped up to stand beside Aria.
Although she initially thought Aria might have overreacted by hitting Nara in front of the villagers, deep down, Nadia felt very pleased. That foolish woman truly deserved a strong lesson. However, after the use of force, if they didn’t explain the situation, the villagers would think they were spoiled young ladies, just as Nara wanted them to believe. So, Nadia had to step in to explain.
“Everyone must be wondering why we blame Nara as the cause of this serious accident and nearly getting someone killed, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Yes, yes. It was just an accident. Miss Nara didn’t make those rocks fall. Why hurt her?”
“Indeed, she almost got injured like the rest of us.” Several male villagers spoke up to defend the woman now sitting and crying in pain, as if a single slap had severely injured her.
Nadia shook her head. Although she didn’t like explaining things much, she knew this was something she was better at than others. As the daughter of the Ryuger family, known for their expertise in stratagem creation, it was best for her to speak.
“I know she almost got hurt, but it’s all because of Nara. The reason is that she knew our mission was to set up the stratagems and then help the villagers. I know everyone is anxious for help, but do you know why completing the stratagem installation mission is our top priority?”
“T-That’s because it’s your mission. After setting it up, you can leave. We can’t argue that you didn’t help deal with these rocks properly.”
“Yes, once you complete your verifiable mission, you can use a bit of power to deal with the rocks and then leave. In the end, we villagers won’t get any real help.” The villagers quickly voiced their thoughts, but their words, implying the students were doing sloppy work, made Aria even angrier.
"How can you think like that!! Do you see us as people who take on responsibilities and then do sloppy work?" Seeing Aria getting angry again, the villagers stepped back in fear.
"It isn’t wrong that you might think that, but Nara should know better why we need to finish setting up the stratagems first. Instead, she misled and misguided you all. You might not understand much about the stratagems we brought here, but I believe if you listen, you’ll understand."
"The 10 stratagems we’ve been assigned are actually designed to prevent future rockslides. They last for about 30-40 years. By then...you’ll likely have a larger population in the village, or better yet, I think you should save some money to buy these stratagems for future installation."
"With these stratagems, you won’t have to worry about your daily life anymore. Rocks that don’t fall will mean you won’t have to deal with piles of stones again. More importantly...if we deal with these stones after we set up the stratagems, everyone can work comfortably and use magic power to break up the large boulders. It won’t take long to deal with them, unlike now, where we have to be cautious all the time."
"Accidents like this won’t happen again. Villagers can collect small stones without fear. Do you think we don’t know these rocks didn’t fall in just a few months? A stone pile covering several acres must have accumulated over decades. Even in normal circumstances, you’d have to pay adventurers to deal with it."
"We don’t intend to just finish our verifiable work and run away. We have a professor supervising us. It’s not difficult. After setting up the stratagems, we can deal with all the stones in just 1-2 days!"
As Nadia explained calmly, the villagers exchanged skeptical glances. Could 10 stratagems really prevent rockfalls? How could that be possible?
"A-And how can we believe that?"
"Aren’t you just making excuses?" The villagers were still skeptical of something they had never seen. The high cost of stratagems meant they couldn’t afford to test them, so they didn’t know their effectiveness.
"Hmph! If you don’t believe or understand after this explanation, that’s your problem! Anyone who wants to stay and deal with these stones can do so, but I won’t. I’m going to finish the stratagem installation mission first. If anyone wants to join me, come over here. We’ll reassign tasks."
"Those who want to help the villagers with the piles of stones can stay with the villagers. Dealing with the stones is part of the mission too. Besides, I believe there won’t be many fools choosing this option—maybe just 1 or 2." Aria spoke decisively, and indeed, only 2 people as she predicted chose to stay.
The students from the beast branch wanted desperately to join Aria’s group but were held back by Nara, who grabbed their arms tightly, combined with the professor’s orders, forcing her to stay on the other side.
"How can you do this!? You were assigned to help us, weren’t you? So if you don’t listen to our requests, why did you come to this village?"
"Yes, exactly. We villagers welcomed you warmly because you came to help with the mission! If you don’t want to help us, then we won’t use any of our resources to welcome you anymore!!" The villagers grew angry seeing the students split into two groups, disregarding their opinions.
However, their threats had no effect. The students shook their heads, unconcerned about the villagers’ thoughts. In the end, the results were what mattered most.
"E-Everyone, please don’t do this. You all know the villagers have just experienced great loss. What will happen if everyone abandons them again? Sob, sob." Nara cried heavily, but no one paid her any attention. The large group of students who separated didn’t care about Nara or the villagers. They discussed among themselves and immediately began reorganizing into two groups.
"Alright...We still have almost half a day left. Let’s start setting up the first stratagem," Aria told everyone. Ellie, who had been silent, simply nodded. She had been ready to set up the stratagem from the beginning, even though it was one she had never seen before. But she had studied it thoroughly.
"Are you okay with this?" Nadia asked before everyone left. Although her words seemed to belittle Ellie’s abilities, Ellie knew the concern was genuine.
"I can manage." Hearing this, Nadia scoffed and walked away.
"That young lady spoke well with the villagers, but when it comes to you, she’s not so pleasant," Wint, who was following closely, analyzed Nadia. He didn’t know about the past issues between Ellie and Nadia in the Stratagem Branch, so Nadia still maintained her demeanor around Ellie.
"We’ve fallen out with the villagers. They will likely retaliate by not providing us with food. So, during the stratagem installation, I’d like you to hunt beasts or gather plants along the way. I have some fruits and tubers in my dimensional ring, but it would be better to have more meat."
"Understood," Wint nodded, accepting Ellie’s instructions. Hunting on the mountain wasn’t much of a challenge. With Ellie’s dimensional ring, he could easily hunt ten beasts.
The village was on a mountain with only one entry and exit point. Ellie and Nadia walked in the same direction until Ellie had to go further into a more dangerous area. Ellie’s group was skilled, so it wasn’t a concern for them to venture deeper.
Along the way, they encountered some small wildlife, but Wint chose not to hunt them, as they could be food for the villagers. Ellie’s stratagem installation was much faster, and fortunately, she had brought the stratagems in her dimensional ring. Hence, before evening, they had set up another stratagem. It turned out that in one day, they completed 3 stratagems.
Nadia’s group returned to the village first, worried about the approaching night. Ellie’s group went into the deeper forest both to set up stratagems and gather resources, so they hadn’t come back yet.
After completing the first day’s mission, Nadia and the students, who hadn’t had a proper lunch, began to feel hungry. As time passed, they were surprised not to see the villagers preparing dinner like they had in the morning. One student, curious, went to ask and was met with a hostile response.
"What? Not working for the village but still shamelessly asking for food? Are you nobles’ children or beggars!"
"Remember, our village no longer wants to welcome selfish people like you!"
"Exactly. Only Miss Nara and her friend will eat our food. She single-handedly helped destroy many rocks today. She deserves to eat all of your portions."
"Get out!! We’re being generous by not kicking you out of the village!!" The villagers shouted loudly, causing great embarrassment to the students who asked. Those who overheard also felt equally angry.
"What? We struggled in the forest to set up stratagems, and they think we didn’t do anything?"
"Heh, heh, heh, why do I feel like not wanting to do this mission anymore?"
"Damn it!! These stupid villagers. When we return to the city, I’ll report to the governor to punish them severely."
"We don’t need to eat! Do they think we’re begging!?"
"We worked so hard and have nothing to eat. I fear we won’t be able to work tomorrow."
"If it weren’t for the fact that these missions also had points awarded by the institute, I’d not care and leave right now. Do they think we want to stay in their village?!!" The students were all very upset. They were wealthy and honorable, never expecting to be treated like this.
Medik sighed slightly at the situation. However, he began to understand that the institution expected the students to learn something specific. This wasn’t about gaining combat experience as he had thought, but rather teaching the students how to control their emotions. Moreover...when he worked for the palace and villagers, he too had to deal with such headaches. Sometimes, the thoughts of those he worked for were even crazier than these villagers.
The villagers just had a prejudice and thought the students wouldn’t help them. But the people Medik encountered before...would even scorn his skills, no matter how hard he tried, deeming his efforts a waste of the kingdom’s resources.
Hmph! If it weren’t for his clear intention to help everyone, not just one person, Medik might have given up on many missions...
"E-Everyone..." Amidst their frustration, a familiar voice rang out. Turning, they saw the female student everyone currently despised.
She came with a bowl full of food, prepared with various grains. The hot porridge, combined with the smell of pickled plums and other ingredients, greatly whetted everyone’s appetite.
"Everyone, I’m really sorry, but the villagers only gave me this much food. I-I...Even though I’m very hungry, I want to share it with all of you. So, let’s divide this food among ourselves," Nara said with a caring tone, her actions making the villagers pity her even more!
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