Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang told Wrath to choose a settlement that looked peaceful, and he arrived at the village. The Spirit Eyes immediately scanned the village. The village had twenty-seven houses, and the field in front of him was not the only field in the village. More fields surrounded the village, with wooden fences separating the two areas. It seemed the village's main source of food was the field.

Through the Spirit Eyes, he noticed a group of three coming toward him. However, more villagers held their farming equipment back in the village, ready to fight anytime. His presence alarmed the villagers, and they looked scared even though he had not done anything yet.

Two men in their late forties and a woman in her earlier fifties approached him cautiously. The man with gray hair stood in front of the other two. "Hello, Sir. Do you need something from our village?"

From the way the gray-haired man greeted him, Tang Shaoyang could tell the villager did not welcome him or maybe any outsiders. Instead of saying, "Welcome to the village," the man greeted him and asked his purpose for coming to the village. The villagers wanted him to leave as soon as his business was done here.

Tang Shaoyang nodded and told the villager his purpose of coming to the village straightforwardly. "I want to stay in the village."

The three villagers looked at each other, caught off guard by the direct request. Of course, the fact the three did not want Tang Shaoyang to stay in their village was apparent on their faces. They had troubled expressions. They wanted to decline the outside's request to stay in their village, but they were also scared to drive the outsider away.

"In exchange for me staying in your village. I will fight the monster that attacks the village." Tang Shaoyang offered something instead of living for free. The offer was something hard to refuse. He saw what had happened on the other side of the village. There, the fields were destroyed along with the fence and also three houses.

The three looked at each other once more. The offer was truly something hard to resist because the monster had become more ferocious lately and started attacking the village. This was the third time the monster entered the village's area in a week, and they truly needed someone to fight the monster.

"We will provide lodging and also food, but you have to fight not just the monster but also the bandit!" The gray-haired man made the decision without consulting the other two, but he came up with another term, the bandit.

"Bandit?" Tang Shaoyang was genuinely confused as he did not expect that there was also a group of bandits on the eleventh floor. It was just out of his expectation that the native decided to be bandits in a world where monsters outnumbered them. The people fought at each other instead of banding together to fight the monster to survive.

"We call them bandits because they rob our harvest very often. They are actually people from another village, but they live by hunting. Each time they fail to hunt something, they will come to our village to rob our food." The woman in her early fifties explained. She did not fully agree to let an outsider like Tang Shaoyang stay in the village, but it seemed they had no other choices since their Village Chief had agreed but with conditions.

"I see…." Tang Shaoyang nodded. "Does that mean you guys are short on food?" His words hit right on the spot as the three immediately lowered their gazes. The village seemed to have a food shortage after those series of events.

"We can still provide the food for you if you promise us to fight the monster and drive away the bandit!" The gray-haired man tried to convince Tang Shaoyang. He thought Tang Shaoyang would leave if they did not have food.

"Ah, that's not what I mean." Tang Shaoyang waved his hand and took out the monster he had just hunted before he came to the village, or to be exact, his skeletons hunted the monster.

It was a Steeer, a giant steel-furred dear. The deer was five meters tall with a red antler. It died with a hole in the forehead, a sign that the monster was killed by Keeper. The ground shook a little bit as the monster landed on the ground, startling the three.

The three had their eyes widened open, not expecting to see the monster that destroyed their field was dead right before them. Of course, this one might be one of many Steeers outside there. However, the dead Steeer was proof that the man in front of him was not a scam and was capable of protecting them from the monster that haunted the village.

"You can take this and share it with the others. That should be enough to feed the village until I hunt the next monster." Tang Shaoyang actually had a lot more in his inventory, but he did not want to show it all. He did not want to be worshiped by these villagers while staying here. He just needed a place to stay for the time being until he figured out what he should do next.

"Hmmm…. Sir…." The gray-haired man hesitated for a moment. "Can you process the Steeer for us? We don't have the tool to dismantle the Steeer."

Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow, not because he was bothered by the request but because he did not have any tools to dismantle the deer. Titan Blade could cut through the steel fur, but he did not think it would be easy to skin the Steeer with that giant sword. If a big sword is hard to use to skin the monster, let alone the battle-ax. Then he recalled the Blacksmith who gave him the long knife. 'Does he foresee that I need this knife?'

He shrugged and took out the long knife. "This knife should be able to cut the Steer." The latter took the knife carefully.

The gray-haired man treated the knife as a treasure, then he saw the window stat of the knife. He was surprised for a moment before bowing his head toward Tang Shaoyang. "I will immediately prepare the lodging for you, Sir…. May I know your name, Sir? I am the Chief of Greeny Village, Urun. She is Rini, and he is Irun."

Urun and Irun were brothers. The big brother was the Chief of the village, while the little brother was the one who was responsible for the field and also the security of the village. As for Rini, she was the secretary of the village, the one who managed the food and other daily necessities for the villagers. The village was more organized than he thought.

"Tang. You can call me Tang."

The three bowed toward Tang Shaoyang. "We are very grateful for your generosity, Sir Tang."

The three then led Tang Shaoyang to the village, but Urun forgot to tell the villagers to put down the farming tools. Urun nudged Irun, and the latter immediately ran toward the other villagers. "Put your farming tools. He is our guest, not the bandit from the Thorn Village."

The villagers were confused, but they followed the order. Then Irun chose dozens of strong men and brought them with him. Meanwhile, Rini brought the other villagers back with her, leaving Tang Shaoyang and Urun.

"I will lead you to your lodging, Sir Tang."

All the houses had the same design, and half of them looked worn down over time. The wood was rotten, and there were a few holes in the roof. They passed the houses that were in bad condition and showed him the newly built house. He could tell that by the wooded wall.

The house had four rooms, three bedrooms, and one main room. Urun explained that all the houses had the same design, afraid that Tang Shaoyang would misunderstand that he gave the bad house.

"It's fine. I would like to get some rest. Can you call me again when the food is ready?"

"Yes, Sir Tang." Urun then left the house.

The house was empty, and there was no furniture inside, an indication that the house was just finished. Not like he really needed that furniture. He chose one bedroom and placed the bed inside. Fortunately, the room was big enough for his bed, even though the bed took up most of the space in the bed.

Tang Shaoyang hopped on the bed, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He looked calm on the outside, but deep inside, he was holding his anger. It would have been a lie if he was not angry after what happened back in the city. His action toward the called Young Lord was his emotional manifestation of how he felt toward the guild and the Mistovel Family. Even though the blame was on him for trusting them, he just did not expect that the guild and also the Mistovel Family would turn against him after what he had done for them. He did not see their effort to shield him against the so-called council.

"Let's forget it and think of my next move." After three times taking a deep breath, he put away the useless thoughts.

[You have to be careful. They might try to hunt you down. Especially you have to be wary of the Virandal Empire and also the Mistovel Family.] Rosalie, the Flame Empress, reminded him that the factions in the Starter City #5 might hunt him down, either to pay for what he had done or for what he possessed.

Tang Shaoyang opened his eyes. "While I don't have an intention to actively hunt them, I will kill whoever comes to me!"