Chapter 39 - The Village Chief

On the dirt road of the village, a peasant woman hurried by, carrying a heavy wooden bucket. She glanced suspiciously at the four adventurers, then turned into a side path.

Several more peasant women and old men passed by, all eyeing the adventurers with extreme caution. They avoided them completely, not giving the adventurers any chance to strike up a conversation.

The sky was gloomy, and a crescent moon slowly appeared on the horizon. The "The Last Defender of the Way" team arrived in front of a larger house. Inside, yellow firelight flickered from the hearth, and the faint aroma of food cooked in lard wafted out.

Adventurers do not shy away from camping outdoors, but with the pair of twin girls, they need attempt to seek lodging in others' homes.

Barrett approached the oak door and gently knocked with his broad knuckles, making a "knock, knock" sound. They were hoping to find a place to stay for the night.

The door creaked open a little, revealing an old woman with a wrinkled face standing in the gap. Warm yellow light spilled out from behind her. She looked at Barrett with a mix of suspicion and caution.

Barrett bent down, lowering himself so that his tall frame wouldn't intimidate the short old woman. After carefully choosing his words, he said, "Hello, we are travelers from the north of the kingdom. Could we stay at your home for the night?"

The old woman looked Barrett up and down, taking in his attire, and suddenly realized, "Ah, adventurers!"

Barrett tried to put on a friendly smile, "Yes, we are mithril-level adventurers, and we can pay you..."

"Bang!" The door slammed shut, cutting off Barrett before he could say "money" and blocking out the warm light from inside the house.

From behind the door came the sound of a metal latch being pulled into place. Clearly, the old woman saw adventurers as plague carriers, desperately trying to keep the disease out.

Seeing the seasoned adventurer Barrett's failure, EeDeChi shook his head, "Young man, it seems you lack experience working at the grassroots level. Let me handle it next time and give you a lesson."

Barrett, long used to the younger EeDeChi calling him "young man" or "lad," reluctantly stepped back. The four of them walked a bit further along the village path and came to another large house, hoping it might have a room for them.

EeDeChi stepped forward and knocked on the door. Shortly after, an old man opened it.

The captain of the adventurer team cleared her throat, coughed once, and a smile appeared on her face. "Hello there, we are a disciplined and legitimate team. We don't take anything from the people..."

"Bang!" The door slammed shut, leaving EeDeChi's smile frozen on his face.

Barrett thought EeDeChi had some brilliant plan, but now he barely held back his laughter and said to EeDeChi, "Captain, why did you say all that? These villagers are too wary of us. Only gold coins can persuade them!"

Barrett had been an adventurer for almost twenty years and was used to this kind of rejection.

In these semi-isolated villages with poor transportation, a few strangers skilled in magic and armed with swords would naturally make anyone nervous and defensive.

But the villagers' reactions were unusually guarded.

Typically, farmers didn't dislike adventurers. A righteous adventurer could help the village by killing monsters that stole crops or harmed people. They were also willing to trade gold coins for the farmers' produce and bring news from other towns.

If a village was a kingdom, then adventurers were its heroes, messengers, and traveling merchants.

Unless, of course, some adventurers had previously committed crimes in Sheep Horn Village... Quite a few ill-natured adventurers could easily switch between being adventurers and bandits. Ten years ago, when Barrett couldn't get any quests, he would occasionally moonlight as a bandit. Naturally, he always considered himself a Robin Hood-like figure.

Reflecting on this and noticing the lack of young men in Sheep Horn Village, Barrett felt a sense of unease.

They arrived at a small brick-and-wood farm on the south side of the village. By now, the sky had turned completely dark, and a deep blue night had settled over everything. A young girl, holding a small brass lantern, was herding several goats into the barn.

This time, Stella volunteered. She lit up her staff, which glowed with a soft magical white light at the tip, and held several gold coins in her left hand as she approached the shepherd girl.

The shepherd girl was about the same height as Stella. In the gentle magical light, her hair appeared fiery red, and her face was sprinkled with a few freckles.

Her envious gaze shifted from the cleric girl's staff to the golden coins in her hand, then to the stern-faced, righteous EeDeChi, and finally to the strong Barrett and Sean standing behind Stella. A hint of caution appeared on her face.

After Stella explained their purpose, the shepherd girl finally nodded and promised, "I need to report to the village chief. Come with me."

The four of them, along with the relatively quiet twin sisters Ureirika and Kuuderika, followed the shepherd girl along the winding paths.

Barrett said to EeDeChi, "See, I told you, as long as you have gold, you can find a place to stay. There's nothing in this world that gold can't solve. If there is, use more gold!"

EeDeChi shook his head dismissively, "We got this place to stay not because of money, but because of sincerity and goodwill. It's because Stella's Justice Value is higher than yours that she could persuade people. Don't think that just because you have more life experience, you can define this world. I'm telling you, there are still many honest and kind people in this world."

It seemed both of them assumed that the village chief would agree to let them stay in Sheep Horn Village for the night. The shepherd girl also reassured them that although the village chief was stubborn, he was shrewd and would definitely agree to this mutually beneficial arrangement.

As they reached the center of the village, the village chief's house came into view. It was a low wooden cabin. The shepherd girl went up to knock on the door, entered, and began discussing something with the village chief.

Soon, the door opened again, and the shepherd girl came out. In the dim orange light of the lantern, a skinny old man followed her.

The old man was quite old, his face full of wrinkles, and his hair almost gone, with only a few wisps of white hair fluttering in the autumn wind like a few white threads stuck to his head.

Barrett and the old man recognized each other at the same time. At that moment, Barrett just wanted to cover his face and also cover EeDeChi's face with his other hand.

They never expected that the village chief was the stubborn old man from the market yesterday who was selling herbs.

Back then, Barrett had a heated argument with him over the price of borage officinalis, with both of them exchanging harsh words for a long time. As they left, Barrett even said that if he were still a bandit, he would specifically rob greedy old guys like him.

Now, Barrett still had the small bundle of borage officinalis he had taken from the old man's stall after tossing four gold coins at him in his spatial ring.

EeDeChi also felt awkward, but as the captain of the adventurer team, she prepared to say something, "Sir, our young friend here might have been a bit rude to you earlier. We hope..."

"Drive them away! Sheep Horn doesn't welcome these adventurers!"