The villagers spontaneously contributed useful items, converting farming tools like sickles and grass forks into weapons and organized basic lineup and combat training.
No one ventured out in the dim mornings and evenings anymore, and activities like farming, collecting firewood, and fetching water were done in groups, with so farmlands and hunting grounds farther from the village temporarily abandoned.
The villagers conscientiously faced the Green-skinned Goblins hovering around the village, fully prepared.
But, knowing the evil nature and cruelty of these creatures, they also had to consider the worst-case scenario and be prepared.
So might ask, given the danger of encountering such demons, why not request help from the nearby lord or directly hire an adventurer team.
Located in the deep mountains and forests, too remote to even encounter a few passing rchant caravans all year round, the geographical location aside.
Regarding the forr, how could those Big Shots living in beautiful, grand castles care about the life or death of their tiny village that can barely pay much annual tax?
As for the latter, hiring adventurers to help...
One can only say.
If the villagers still have the chance to fight to the death against those goblins and ultimately win.
Inviting an adventurer team whose strength far exceeds ordinary people to the village would almost be handing over the lives of the entire village’s residents to them, especially in such a deserted place.
It would be an even more deadly gamble.
Encounter a few adventurers with relatively poor professional ethics, with the slightest evil thought, and only village slaughter awaits.
In so cases, adventurers are even more dangerous than goblins.
"Zila... zila..."
The sound of sharpening a firewood knife echoed in the room again, the elder brother’s movents slow and forceful:
"Uncle John took a risk a few days ago and followed a few goblins to find their nest. He said... the size of the nest’s entrance is unusual, and the number of goblins is far more than imagined."
"If we happen not to hold the line, at least you are still outside, this ho... can’t all fall here."
The father also lit his pipe, the spicy white smoke swirling upwards, making his face unclear:
"This is not those legendary adventure stories, Colin."
"This is a matter of life and death."
"Colin, you are my son, I know what you are thinking, but true protection does not rely on re enthusiasm, but rather making the most beneficial choice for the family after consideration."
Saying this, he suddenly paused, exhaled a long breath, and with weary, deep eyes looked at the boy in front of him, as if trying to etch his figure in deep mory:
"Tomorrow morning, when the sunlight is bright enough to penetrate the dark corners of the forest, take the dry food and copper coins the family gathered for you, go to the village entrance and et with those young lads and girls leaving with you, about your age, you should know each other."
"At that ti... rember to listen to the village chief."
Colin opened his mouth, looking at his father’s graying hair, his mother’s red-rimd eyes beside him, and his elder brother’s figure in the corner, steady and reliable like a mountain.
A complex emotion indescribable in words, never experienced in more than a decade of life, like a spring in a crack, slowly seeped out from his heart.
Finally, under everyone’s gaze, he nodded extrely slowly.
But just at this mont when the atmosphere was stagnant and suffocating to the extre.
"Tok, tok, tok."
Suddenly, a crisp knocking sound broke the dead silence in the air.
"Who?"
The father asked loudly.
But there was no answer from outside the door.
The pair of murky eyes suddenly sharpened, and as he got up quietly, he signaled with his eyes for his wife to quietly move towards the back window of the house with Colin.
Unlike the little rebellion earlier, Colin now behaved exceptionally well, directly shielding his mother behind him, instinctively grabbing the Hunting Bow placed on the table, and pulled away to a distance.
As for the elder son, who had a steady character, he stopped the knife sharpening action the mont the knock sounded.
At this mont, he already grasped the firewood knife, which despite being sharpened to its sharpest still seed blunt, and was in front of the door.
"Who is it, speak!"
Quietly lifting the grass fork prepared for ergencies aside, the father took two steps forward, and as he approached the door, he loudly asked again.
The response to him was only the renewed soft, rhythmic three knocks on the door from outside.
"Tok, tok, tok."
Father tightly gripped the grass fork with both hands, his arms slightly trembling from the excessive force, the pronged tip pointed directly at the door, ready to thrust at a mont’s notice.
Deep breath.
He gently nodded to the elder son by the door.
Imdiately, Colin’s composed elder brother lifted the firewood knife high with his right hand while his left hand slowly reached for the door latch.
Holding his breath, signaling to his father to get ready.
Then... suddenly opened the door!
"Bang!"
The sound of friction and impact between the hinges nearly connected in an instant, forming a sharp and piercing noise.
The rapidly spinning wooden door kicked up a cloud of dust upon the ground, slamming against the wall due to excessive force, causing more dust to shake loose and producing a loud crash.
Whew——
The warm breeze from outside the house poured into the room through the open door, sweeping away the stiflingly stuffy air inside.
The brilliant golden twilight instantly filled the room, dissolving all the previous darkness and gloom.
Cloaked in the intense and radiant glow of the setting sun, a tall, slender shadow stood quietly in front of the door.
Backlit against the sunlight, the figure ford a profound silhouette, obscuring the specific features, but the edges of the body carrying Dual Swords were outlined by the sunset in a dazzling golden edge.
Suddenly illuminated from a dim environnt, the room seed frozen in ti; the four mbers of Colin’s family stood there dumbfounded.
Colin’s eyes widened to the maximum, pupils reflecting the silhouette outlined in the golden light.
In his ears, a distinctly young male voice gently arose:
"Hello, I am a passing adventurer."
"You can just call Xia Nan."
...
...
The atmosphere in the room remained silent.
Yet, the oppression and dead silence once pervasive in the air were all but dispelled without a trace.
The pipe emitted white smoke amid sparking embers, and the grip holding the firewood knife slackened slightly in tension.
Colin stood aside, watching the tall figure in the middle of the room, imrsed in a hearty al.
With a body tensely rigid like that of his parents and elder brother from stress.
Yet his cautious eyes road curiously.
Gaze traveled upwards from the uniquely textured leg guards resembling bones, lingered slightly on the silver-grey Iron Armor with obvious combat traces and slight damage, scanned over the cool, cleanly black Arm Shield, finally stopping on those two Longswords with only the handles exposed, his mind instinctively recalled the elegant Dagger with a unique pink hue resembling an expensive gemstone seen being wielded when slicing ingredients.
"Adventurer..."
At this mont, Colin felt as if all those adventure stories he had heard might have truly co to life.
Just a mont ago, this young adventurer with black hair and eyes, with an unrealistically gentle deanor, politely asked if he could borrow their kitchen and so ingredients for a bit.
While Colin’s father in a daze nodded in disbelief, in front of everyone, he actually dragged in a half-cleaned wild boar carcass.
Chopping, cooking, plating...
By the ti everyone realized, the dark-haired youth was already sitting by the wooden table, starting his dinner.
He even left an entire wild boar front leg along with several coins as compensation for using their kitchen and so food supplies.
"Wouldn’t you like to try so?"
Xia Nan swallowed the piece of at in his mouth, waving the pot in his hand towards them, slightly revealing the crystalline, viscous, semi-transparent liquid inside.
"This Anvil Honey is pretty rare, and it tastes really good."
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