As soon as he entered the village,
the first impression was one of desolation.
The village was not large; with a single glance one could see all the houses, which numbered only around thirty.
Some parts of the ground were covered in a layer of gravel and were relatively clean, but most areas were overgrown with weeds.
Judging from how the weeds were of different heights in different spots, someone clearly came by to clear them from time to time.
All the houses were low, single-story buildings. A few of the better ones were made of stone bricks, but from the grayish-white walls, even those "good" houses were clearly quite old.
"Our village is small, but we do have a few empty houses. If you don't mind, you can rest in that one up ahead," the village chief said. The thick gray-brown beard on his cheeks and chin trembled as he spoke.
"Thank you, Chief," Aaron replied, glancing at the house the chief pointed to, then voicing his thanks.
"Heh, it's nothing. It's been a long time since we've had guests here," the chief chuckled warmly.
As they spoke,
curious faces and heads peeked out from the doorways and windows of nearby homes.
Carne Village was not big. Any commotion was quickly noticed.
After a simple word of thanks, Aaron stepped into the vacant house under the gaze of many villagers.
Carne Village was, in truth, very ordinary. There was not much here that interested him.
If anything stood out,
it was only that girl named Enri.
The girl who, relying on a simple magic item, the Goblin General's Horn, had somehow blown herself an entire goblin army.
Aaron strongly suspected she might have some kind of innate ability like "extremely high goblin affinity."
But for now, she was just an ordinary village girl.
Creak.
The wooden door scraped loudly against its old frame as he pushed it open.
Inside, the house was very empty, furnished with only a single wooden bed. A thin layer of dust coated the floor.
The beams overhead and the corners of the ceiling were draped with tattered spiderwebs.
Along the base of the walls, where the wooden boards met the floor, the color had darkened slightly, probably from damp.
In a poor border village like this, Aaron had not expected much from the accommodations. He had come to Carne Village only because it was the closest settlement to the Great Forest of Tob.
And because it lay within the Wise King of the Forest Hamsuke's territory, it was actually quite safe.
The trip from E-Rantel to Carne Village took about a day. A round trip would be at least two.
Even with his supplies restocked, he still had to plan for emergencies where he might need to withdraw from the forest early,
or situations where his supplies were consumed faster than expected and became insufficient.
In those cases, he needed a nearby place to rest and recover.
Carne Village was perfect for that.
"If I'd known, I would've brought a Clean magic scroll," Aaron muttered, eyeing the dust and cobwebs and shaking his head.
Sure enough,
even after everything he had learned from the Rock party about how adventurers prepared for forays, there were still things he had overlooked.
He had no choice but to clean the room himself, clearing out a small, clean space.
Then he took a basketball-sized ceramic pot from his Item Box and set it on the ground, pulled out a piece of cured meat, broke it into uneven chunks and tossed them in, then poured in water from his waterskin.
"Heating."
He extended one finger and touched the pot.
In less than thirty seconds, the water was boiling, gradually turning into a pot of meat soup that filled the air with a savory aroma.
"Whatever else you say, this spell is incredibly handy for heating food," Aaron remarked with a faint smile as the salty smell wafted through the room.
In the blink of an eye, the one-minute duration had passed, and his simple soup was done.
He ladled himself a bowl, then started eating it together with some black bread.
Even after boiling, the bacon was still heavily salted, but paired with the hard, dry bread, it was surprisingly good.
Cured meat was one of the staple foods adventurers carried when traveling. Because it was so salty, it was almost impossible to eat straight.
It was usually boiled into soup or used as a salty seasoning. For physically active people like adventurers, it was an important way to replenish salt.
The faintly salty aroma of the soup drifted out through the window.
Soon, a small stir rose throughout Carne Village.
The village's main sources of income were wheat and other crops, and gathering herbs along the forest's edge.
Hunting beasts?
For villagers whose average level was only 1, that was extremely dangerous.
Aaron recalled that there was a hunter in Carne Village with the basic class Ranger, but even he was only about level 2 at best.
He glanced at his status panel.
Genius Lv1 + Sword Saint Lv6 = Overall Level Lv7
The left-over EXP from killing the two Eight Fingers members, plus the goblins and small monsters he had slain on the way here, had earned him another level.
All in all, not bad progress.
He figured it would only take a few days to max out the intermediate class Sword Saint. After that, he would mainly focus on raising Genius.
Shalltear and Absolute Death's "Priest" class were both at Lv10.
Aaron did not know if that was a prereq for "Valkyrie" in terms of priest level, but raising it to that level for consistency's sake certainly would not hurt.
The next day, June 2nd.
At first light,
Aaron packed up and left Carne Village.
Before departing, he made a point of stopping by the chief's house and paying 5 copper for his night's lodging.
The villagers here were honest folk; the chief had not intended to take it, but Aaron forced the coins into his hand.
He would quite likely be returning to Carne Village later. It never hurt to build some goodwill ahead of time—that was just basic social sense.
And 5 copper was well within his means.
...
The air was thick with the mixed scents of leaves, earth, and decay—the unique smell of the jungle—billowing out of the Great Forest of Tob.
Rustle, rustle—
Aaron walked over a thick carpet of leaves and moss. Each step made a soft, crunching sound as debris crumbled beneath his boots.
From deep in the forest came occasional cries from beasts and birds.
He gripped an iron sword and moved along the outer perimeter, heading toward the eastern part of the forest.
Of the three Forest Rulers, the strongest and hardest to deal with was the Wise King of the Forest, Hamsuke. With Aaron's current strength, if he ran into it, he would not even be able to escape.
It might look cute in the anime, but that was only from Ainz's perspective. In reality, the Wise King of the Forest was a truly fearsome monster.
As for the other two Forest Rulers,
the Western Demon Serpent Naga had high intelligence and was also a magic caster, which made it extremely dangerous as well.
Only the troll was different. It was powerful, but not very bright, the type to charge straight ahead.
Most importantly, it was a warrior-type. Apart from its powerful regeneration and physical attacks, it had no other means of offense.
In an accidental encounter, the chances of escaping from a troll were clearly higher than from the Serpent of the West or the Wise King of the Forest.
Bright green, towering trees spread out all around him. Sunlight filtered through layer upon layer of branches, spilling in dappled patches across the forest floor.
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