Building Affinity with Villagers (3)
Building Affinity with Villagers (3)
Landslide. The water pipe exposed above the dirt.
And a suspicious mucus-like substance heavily stained on the water pipe.
Think step by step, and you can quickly figure out the answer.
'It's a Slime.'
That's right, a Slime.
Those bastards are monsters that dig narrow, damp burrows underground and live there.
Sometimes when their burrows collapse, they wander around looking for new hideouts, and at that time, they end up slipping into the pipes.
'Going straight into the water pipes is something I only saw in old books.'
Maybe the landslide was a major variable.
So the burrows all collapsed at once, and the Slimes that lost their homes must have flocked towards the water pipes in a hurry.
Then they clumped together and completely blocked the pipes.
Jabak.
I scooped away the dirt pile with a branch I picked up nearby and explored.
'As expected.'
Indeed, I could find one Slime individual nearby.
It's a wobbly blue jelly, and inside there's something like a cracked gem.
It seems it got pushed and crushed by its own kind, and while trying to force its way into a narrow gap in the water pipe, it ended up dying.
At that moment, a status window appeared and announced a reward.
[The 'Slime (Blue)' has been added to the Solanium Monster Encyclopedia.]
[Acquired Slime kill experience.]
What? I didn't kill it?
[You can sometimes acquire a portion of experience from the remains of already killed monsters.]
[By activating the 'Scavenger' trait with Hunting Skill Points, the probability and rate of acquiring experience increases.]
The system supports functions like this too?
I feel like I'm reaping benefits just by standing still.
As a bonus, I picked up the Slime core that will come in handy later.
Anyway.
'Now I understand why the pipe wasn't cleared quickly.'
With monsters blocking the front, there's no way a normal spell could break through.
It's only natural that the impromptu spell I made just to clear mud residue wouldn't work properly.
Now that I know the cause, it's time to solve the problem.
I plan to reinforce the water pipe spell I used yesterday and grant it attributes effective against monsters.
Since I need to efficiently remove the mucus, adding a coagulation attribute seems good.
And I also need combat power to face living monsters.
But at the same time, I must be careful.
It's only right to have minimal destructive power so that the already weakened pipe isn't damaged.
After adding a few symbols and calculations to the spell, I placed my hand on the water pipe exposed above the dirt.
Syreuk.
Just now, I inserted a small ball of mana into the pipe.
The principle is the same as the initial spell.
It's cone-shaped, and this thing will move around inside the pipe, acting like a drill.
And as a bonus, if it encounters a Slime along the way, it will fight it.
This will probably take about three to four hours.
Since I have other things to do, I decided to slowly head back to the farm.
Building affinity with the villagers—Miroa will handle that.
I hear that residents who become close occasionally provide gifts.
From things that are quite helpful to useful items that aid my plans.
I'll just work hard at what I need to do and then receive the gifts later.
Meanwhile, a little before that time.
Miroa had come down the mountain with Gwen and entered the village.
Even while carrying a large bucket full of water in each hand, her breathing was not disturbed in the slightest.
Rather, Gwen seemed tired.
"Huu."
"Do you need help?"
"No, we're almost there... I'm fine."
Are you really okay?
Miroa, rare for her, sent such a gaze with emotion in her eyes.
Gwen added a few words.
"Ah. I'm a knight aspirant, so I can handle this much."
Even in Miroa's eyes, Gwen looked quite strong.
If she were a truly ordinary girl, she wouldn't have been able to lift the bucket at all.
Making it this far means her talent for physical enhancement is excellent.
"Is that so."
"Yes! We're almost there, so let's do our best!"
In truth, Miroa doesn't need to exert more strength.
Gwen, realizing that, corrected herself.
"Ah, no, I'll give it my all!"
Gwen mustered her strength until the end and walked toward the destination.
Miroa's gaze lingered on the building, then fell to the sign at the entrance.
[Solanium Village Hall]
'Village Hall?'
Since she came alone to fetch water, I assumed the destination would be Gwen's house, but...
The place we arrived at was unexpectedly the Village Hall.
"This is the Village Hall."
Inside the spacious hall, many villagers were gathered.
It seemed the entire village was responding jointly to the sudden water shortage crisis.
As soon as the two carrying buckets entered, people's gazes focused on them.
"Oh my, Gwen! Did you carry that heavy thing all the way from morning by yourself?"
"Hehe. I'm a knight aspirant, you know."
"Don't think about working more. Just rest well. The other young men can handle the rest."
Then a question cautiously came towards Miroa as well.
"But who is the person beside you...?"
"I've never seen you before. Who might you be?"
Miroa bowed politely and stepped forward.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Miroa. I will be living here in the Solanium territory with my master-nim from now on. Though we are meeting for the first time, I humbly ask for your favor."
A polite but cool and dignified atmosphere.
The people gathered in the Village Hall also reflexively bowed in return.
And they sensed something.
"If you have a master-nim, does that mean you're a noble?"
"What business does a noble have in this rural village...?"
The person before them is a noble.
Up to this point, Gwen could explain.
"He's a mage who was researching at the Academy, but work got tiring, so he came for a rest cure, it seems."
Among mages, there are occasionally eccentric ones who come down to the countryside.
He's clearly a noble, but since there's no power relationship involved, the residents tend to just pass by indifferently.
From the perspective of a noble who just wants to rest quietly, there's no reason to cause trouble in the village.
"Ah. I see. So he's a mage."
"I've heard stories of them coming down with servants when taking a break from research."
"There have been cases like that. Hmm."
"This village has also received help from a mage-nim before."
So far, it was all fine.
That is, until Miroa calmly threw out the truth—the atmosphere was just passing by like that.
"And the Rii-nim I serve is also the new Lord-nim of this Solanium territory."
In an instant, the hall became as quiet as if cold water had been poured over it.
Heok.
Heuek?
Kellok, kellok! Kkeulleok!
A sound close to a scream burst from Gwen's mouth as well.
"Neeek!? W-Why are you saying that now?!"
"Yes? That a noble of master-nim's caliber is the lord is an obvious fact that doesn't need to be hidden."
If he's the lord, the story is completely different.
"I didn't know!!"
Why couldn't I think that far!
Because this village has been living on its own for a long time.
There was no lord, no knight, no guard managing the village.
I heard a great mage-nim once helped the village, but that was something I only experienced briefly in my childhood.
"What do I do? If he later punishes me for disrespect, what will happen to me?"
But Miroa.
Firmly shook her head.
"No. Master-nim is not someone who would punish a territory resident for something like that."
And she recalled the sight of her master from earlier in front of the bathhouse.
Right after hearing from Gwen that the village water supply was cut off, master-nim stood there, staring into space, lost in deep thought for a long time.
I saw it clearly. Master-nim's troubled expression.
Shouldn't the villagers know this too?
"Master-nim even this morning rose before dawn and silently cleared the weeds in the farm and front yard by hand. And after hearing from Gwen-yang that the village is suffering from water shortage, he was deeply pained at the thought of the territory residents suffering, and fell into a long, silent, deep contemplation."
At Miroa's words, the villagers fell into confusion once again.
What noble in this world would worry for commoners?
And a new lord who suddenly appeared, at that?
Usually, when a new lord appears, that person doesn't even come down to the territory.
The average is that they do money lending in the Imperial Capital, buy a territory, then just send a servant down to squeeze taxes.
"Lord-nim is for us?"
"Yes. The reason I carried Gwen-yang's heavy water instead, and the order to personally check on the villagers' well-being—all of that was master-nim's will for the territory residents."
Miroa could see the atmosphere stirring.
It couldn't be helped. Master-nim is utterly great.
Feeling a swelling emotion inside, Miroa spoke with conviction.
"This water shortage crisis as well—once master-nim's magic reaches it, it will be resolved quickly."
But the residents couldn't easily believe.
'Magic? Isn't that just a luxury item nobles use to show off?'
In this world, magic is utterly useless in the daily lives of commoners.
'It's true that a great mage-nim helped the village before, but it's hard to expect that from another mage.'
'But back then, didn't that mage also try to remove weeds with fire magic and end up burning down a warehouse?'
The village had indeed received help from a mage before, but even then, the magic itself wasn't very practical.
The village head hesitated and cautiously opened his mouth.
"I am endlessly grateful for Lord-nim's gracious heart, but... breaking through pipes with magic... is something I have never heard of before."
The other villagers shared similar opinions.
"R-Right. If it's the magic of nobles, it's about changing the color of tea leaves or embroidering pretty flames in a banquet hall, isn't it? There are large-scale battle spells, but I've never heard of breaking pipes with magic."
"If we recklessly use magic, the old pipes might burst entirely!"
But Miroa did not even flinch.
Rather, as if seeing something pitiful, she looked at the residents with cool eyes full of conviction.
"That is not correct. The magic you know is not real magic in the first place."
"Yes?"
Right at that moment.
Someone flung open the back door of the Village Hall, arms spread wide, and burst inside.
"It's coming out! Water! Water is coming out!!!"