The few figures sneaking toward Steven's room clearly hadn't expected him to step out so suddenly. In an instant, the atmosphere at the doorway dropped to freezing point.
"Go on, speak up. You guys were looking for , weren't you?"
Steven watched them with a mildly amused smile. Compared to the other villagers, who wandered around aimlessly like lost souls, these n seed far more spirited.
He rembered them. Back when he had pulled gold nuggets from his pocket, these were the very sa people who had been hiding in the crowd, eyes gleaming with greed.
It seed that no matter the world, there was never a shortage of scheming opportunists.
If they were here to borrow so money from him, well… that would depend on whether they had the capability to take it.
"..."
"Outsider, you need to understand the rules of this village."
Since their sneaky approach had already been exposed, the villagers no longer bothered to hunch over and hide their intent. Instead, they straightened up and spoke with an air of self-righteousness.
However, their eyes flicked cautiously toward the longsword hanging at Steven's waist. While their tone was arrogant, they still didn't dare make a move.
After all, in this world, anyone who walked around openly ard was rarely soone to be trifled with.
"Oh? So this village has so kind of special rules? I've been wondering about that. No one's told a thing."
Steven was more than happy to chat.
He's in Minecraft all by himself for so long that he was practically starved for conversation. Even though he knew these people were probably going to spout a bunch of nonsense, he was still willing to humor them.
After all, it's not like they were charging him for it, right?
"Do you have any idea how much trouble taking in an Ægir like you will bring to our village? Do you know how much risk we have to bear because of it?"
The villagers hadn't expected Steven to be so easygoing, but they quickly took his attitude as a sign of weakness. Their tone beca more aggressive.
"Oh, my bad. I had no idea. But from the way you're saying it, should I be thanking you instead?"
Steven shrugged. He wasn't from around here—he didn't even know what the hell an Ægir was supposed to be. How was he supposed to understand the risk they were talking about?
But he was pretty sure they weren't here just to warn him. The real point was coming up next.
"Of course! Even though you paid the village chief, the danger still affects all of us! Shouldn't you compensate us as well?"
The villager speaking straightened his back, as if completely convinced by his own logic. His tone carried an air of entitlent.
"You make a good point. I didn't think about that carefully enough. So… you're here to ask for extra compensation?"
Steven nodded seriously, as if he were genuinely agreeing with their argunt.
"Exactly! What you gave before isn't enough. We deserve our fair share!"
Encouraged by Steven's seemingly ek response, the n grew bolder, stepping closer to him.
To them, Steven was obviously so rich, clueless noble's son—soone who could casually pull out gold nuggets must have more money stashed away. If they could just deal with him, they'd be able to take his gold and finally escape this miserable village for a better life in the city.
At this mont, they no longer saw Steven as a mysterious and dangerous outsider.
To them, he was nothing more than a walking pile of gold—the key to their long-desired freedom.
It looked like Steven's attitude had convinced them—surely, he was going to cooperate, right?
"Oh, I do have more gold, but… can you really represent all the villagers? Maybe I should go talk to the village chief and see what he has to say?"
Steven put on a troubled expression, his gaze filled with confusion and hesitation. Combined with his eternally youthful appearance—forever stuck at eighteen ever since his arrival in this world—he looked exactly like an inexperienced, naive young man who had just stepped into society.
At this mont, even Steven himself felt like he deserved an award for his acting.
"N-no need for that! Just hand the money to us—we'll make sure it gets distributed to everyone."
The mont Steven ntioned the village chief, the n imdiately panicked. It was clear they feared that elderly man—despite the fact that the old chief needed a cane just to walk, his re na was enough to make their voices weaken.
"Oh? I wasn't aware that you guys had the authority to speak for the entire village."
Just as Steven was considering how best to end this little act—maybe by teaching these overly bold swindlers a lesson—a deep, aged voice suddenly cut through the conversation.
Pande, the Village Chief, had appeared behind the scheming villagers, his expression calm and unreadable. But despite his frail, aging body, Steven could feel an unmistakable sense of pressure emanating from him.
Was this what they called the aura of soone in power?
Steven hadn't expected a re village chief to have such presence.
This world was turning out to be even more interesting than he had thought.
"V-Village Chief, we… we were just trying to—"
The villagers attempted to explain themselves, but a single glance from the old man shut them up instantly.
"Enough. Disperse. Standing around the guest's door like this—do you want to make a fool of yourselves?"
With just a few words, the would-be extortionists were dismissed.
Steven clearly saw the resentnt and unwillingness in their eyes, but not a single one of them dared to defy the village chief.
Interesting.
A bit of a sha, though—Steven had wanted to interact with these low-level troublemakers, maybe even earn so WAPs or sothing.
But now, that didn't seem possible anymore.
Letting out a small sigh of disappointnt, he shifted his gaze back to the old man who was now walking toward him, leaning on his cane.
"Guest, I've brought you so food. As I've said before, if you need anything, just co to directly. I hope you'll forgive the villagers for their ignorance."
The old man, whose head bore a tuft of hawk-like feathers, handed Steven a plate of sothing that, rather than resembling bread, looked more like a solid black brick.
Then, to Steven's mild surprise, the elder offered him a sincere apology.
"Heh, don't be so humble. If you hadn't shown up, who knows what might have happened to ?"
Steven accepted the food, finding the village and its chief more and more intriguing.
"You jest. It is only because of your generosity that you do not hold their actions against them."
The old chief bowed his head slightly, but in his eyes, there was a fleeting flash of fear.
He had no idea what level of power the young man before him possessed.
But the scent of the Seaborn blood lingering on Steven was unmistakable—he had dealt with those creatures for many years, and his nose could not be deceived.
Did those ignorant fools not realize just what kind of being they had been trying to extort?
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