Chapter 74: A villager who needs to choose and me who needs to make a decision

Translated by X-tremeEdited by X-treme

I went downstairs and found no one, so I quickly fried the tribute meat and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Normally, I quickly toss the meat with yakiniku sauce, but lately I’ve been eating it simply with salt and pepper. This way, I can enjoy the flavor of the meat more.

“I know, I know. I’ve got one for you.”

There’s Destiny who comes after me every time I’m cooking meat by myself. Even now, he is sitting on his own cus.h.i.+on in the corner of the dining table, staring at me. I used to put the plate on the floor and feed him, but since he’s such a wise buddy, I thought it would be better to put him in the same position as me, and that’s how he is now.

It may seem a little vulgar to sit on the table, but it’s just when the two of us eat alone, so it doesn’t bother anyone. I finished preparing the meal and put the meat on Destiny’s special plate as well.

“If you were human, you’d be in the binge eating contests.”

He eats as much meat as I do with that body. I’m not sure how he’s able to eat as much as I do, but I’m curious to see how much he’ll grow…….If he grows any bigger, I’m thinking of building him his own shed in the garden. It seems that the gla.s.s case is too small for him now, and he only goes inside when he sleeps.

“It would be easier if I could just tell everyone who Destiny is.”

I thought it was a lizard, but it turned out to be a basilisk. If I told them that, they’d probably doubt my sanity……. I’m sure they’ll be convinced if I show them the petrification and poison breath, but then I’ll inevitably have to mention the game.

I’m not sure if they’ll be able to keep their mouth shut. If I tell my mom about it, she might accidentally tell someone else about it without thinking twice…….I knew I should keep my family in the dark about this. After the meal, we returned to the room and looked at the village, seriously thinking about what to do with the oracle.

“If this were just a game, it would be a forced event. The option to refuse wouldn’t exist in the first place.”

It’s an interesting quest if I separate it from the game. From defense to offense and it’s with the dark elves. If this raid is successful, there are only advantages for our side. If the base is the last one belonging to the Evil G.o.d player, the game is over for that player.

Then the threat of the Temptation of the Evil G.o.d will be greatly reduced, and it will be easier to build a town. However, if the Dark Elves force everything on us, or if this invitation itself is a trap, we are sure to suffer a great deal of damage.

“Hmm, I’m torn. Unless there is a guarantee that they will never betray us, but I don’t know about that.”

There is no such thing as a lie detector, and there is no such thing as a miracle of convenience to see through someone’s lies. From the conversation, Sudhir the Dark Elf didn’t seem like bad people.

“Ah, but…If I make the wrong choice, the fate of the village will be……”

In the first place, I can’t be forced to make such an important decision when my life has been spent running away from the world. The best development was attacking the monster’s base. No casualties and a complete victory. In the worst case scenario, it was a trap and all those who went to attack were wiped out. The village is also attacked and destroyed. Game over.

If that’s the case, the best thing to do would be to let them leave without doing anything. But even if we could get out of this temporarily, we’d be in trouble later. If I can befriend myself with the Dark Elves and we can coexist, the future will be much easier.

“No, my thoughts are going in circles.”

I try to observe the Dark Elves again, but Sudhir, who is very curious, is restlessly wandering around the village, while the others are quietly waiting. I tried lowering the magnification of the map so that I could see a wider area, but I couldn’t find anything that looked like a Dark Elf village. The only area visible on the game’s map is where the villagers have come and gone in the past.

“If I knew what was going on in their village, I’d have a better idea of what to expect.”

With the increase in the number of elven villagers, I was able to get a pretty good grasp of the Forbidden Forest, but there were still areas that I couldn’t see. I wondered if they could come up with a way to get effective information or some kind of loophole.

I remembered that I had seen somewhere that when you use your brain, your brain needs sugar, so I grabbed some grape-like fruit that I had brought as an after-dinner dessert.

“Huh, it’s almost gone.”

I must have brought a lot, but there were only a few left. I quickly looked to the side of my plate and saw Destiny hiding a large amount of fruit behind him.

“That’s too greedy. Give me half of it back.”

He shook his head from side to side in refusal.

“No, no, no, no. See, I put yours on a separate plate.”

When I reached out to him, he swatted me away with his tail. What a greedy lizard. To be honest, I don’t want to eat that much, but I don’t like the idea of having it all taken from me. It’s not kindness to spoil him. I have to discipline him properly.

“Look. The one on this plate is mine, and the one on this plate is yours. So give it back because it’s mine.”

Don’t just stick your tongue out and pretend to be a normal lizard when it’s not convenient. As I stared into Destiny’s eyes without backing down, he seemed to reflect on his actions and picked up one of the fruits behind him and put it back on my plate.

“…..Well, okay, just one and…..too?”

I just had an epiphany. What is it? What’s stuck in my head? You can get the fruit at……Oh, yeah! It might work if I give them those conditions.

“If we can just get them to accept these terms, it’s going to be interesting.”

The only thing left to do is to use the oracle to tell the villagers. I’ll type in the oracle early tomorrow morning and decide what to do depending on their reaction.

“Work, work, work! I’m overzealous!”

I hurriedly changed my clothes, ran down the stairs and out the front door.

………

I had to start work in the afternoon, but I finished early enough to have dinner. Sometimes it takes only two hours to finish a job. When I got home, my parents were in the middle of eating dinner, so I ate with them in my work clothes and took a bath. After that, I went back to my room and went straight to bed.

Normally, I would be up at this time, but today I went to bed early. I glanced at the computer screen and saw that most of the villagers were still awake. It was getting dark, but there were still many houses with lights on. That’s because a large amount of glowstone was taken from the excavation site of the former cave, and now there is enough light for the night.

“It’s the opposite of usual. A little early, but good night.”

I just put the timer on my phone, got under the covers and closed my eyes. I used to have a hard time falling asleep, but since I started working, I’ve been able to fall asleep quickly. I’m starting to feel like a real human being. I let go of my consciousness while praising myself.

………

I wake up to the alarm on my phone going off. I check the time, it’s only 3 am. This is the time when everyone except the night watchman and the nocturnal Kang, Ran, are awake. The reason I woke up at this time was simple and obvious: to keep an eye on the Dark Elves. In my experience, it’s always better to be alert. If nothing happens, that’s fine too.

One of the things I learned on the message board was that dark elves have night vision. If it was a betrayal or a trap, they would most likely move after the villagers were asleep. I’ve been on the lookout……but I haven’t seen any movement. I peeked into the visitor’s building and saw that everyone was sleeping comfortably. I counted the number of people, and they are all here.

“If nothing happens, that’s fine.”

I could go back to sleep, but I think I’ll just continue to observe the village. It’s not often that I get a good look at the village at this time of night, so I feel a bit of guilt and a sense of freedom, as if I were wandering around late at night. First, I took a quick look around the village grounds and saw that the only people in the watchtower were elves.

“That’s extreme.”

Usually, there are about three humans for every one elf on the watchtower at the four corners of the town.

“Is that it? Are the elves as wary of the dark elves as I am?”

As proof of this, the elves’ gazes were focused not on the outside of the fence, but on the building where the dark elves were. I guess there was no need for me to keep an eye on them. So, I checked for monsters outside the fence instead, and it looks fine.

“I’ve run out of places to look. Maybe I’ll take a peek around the houses.”

It may seem like bad taste to watch them sleep, but at this time of night, they wouldn’t feel awkward during the night.

“Besides, if some villagers are coughing in the middle of the night and their health is failing, I need to think of a way to deal with them. This is an important thing for a G.o.d to do.”

I really have nothing to be guilty of, so what’s my excuse for being alone late at night? Gently and quietly, I manipulated the mouse and clicked on Gams and Chem house first. I’ve seen the inside of the house a few times before, but it’s still very plainly decorated. There are two beds, two chairs, and a desk. There were white flowers in a vase on the desk.

The only thing left was a chest of drawers made by Ran. Chem was sound asleep in bed. Gams is sitting not on the bed, but against the wall, asleep with his sword in his hand. This is the way he sleeps the day before the Temptation of the Evil G.o.d, or when he is on alert.

“That’s what Gams would do.”

So I didn’t have to worry about them after all. There was no point in looking at them any longer, so I s.h.i.+fted my attention to the Lodis family’s house. The whole family was asleep in the shape of a river on a king-sized bed.

All three of them seemed to be sleeping soundly, so there was nothing special to see. After that, I looked around a few more houses and finally took a look at the house of the Murus. She was standing by the window, staring at the building. I knew she didn’t trust them either.

“When our village was destroyed, our people should have asked them for help, but they didn’t……do anything. So why should we help……?”

A voice muttering in abhorrence echoed in the room. So that’s how it is. It’s not just that they didn’t get along, but that they had such a history. Until now, I was more inclined to want them to put aside their old misfortunes and join hands with us, but I think I should change my mind.

Even if we were to jointly attack the enemy territory, it might be better to have the elves stay in the village. I can’t deny that our strength will be reduced, but let’s not force them. The sky is starting to lighten up, so I need to think about what to write in the oracle.

………

When I came back to the PC after eating breakfast, the villagers had just finished their meals. I didn’t have a part-time job today, so I was going to enjoy my vacation, but I had to solve this problem. The important people of the village were gathered in the building that served as the meeting place, so I decided to activate the oracle just in time.

“Gentlemen, the Oracle!”

Everyone in the room gathered around the Bible as if they had been waiting for it. It seems that Chem will be reading the oracle as usual.

“I’ll read it…….Your hesitations, your wishes, accepted. The idea of striking a monster stronghold to reduce the risk of future repercussions is not a mistake. However, there are many who can’t shake the distrust they feel towards the Dark Elves. It’s a good idea to take a look at the actual results of your own research.”

It’s a long-winded description, but I wonder if it sounds G.o.d-like. Suppressing my inner turmoil, I focused on Chem reading the oracle.

“The proposal is to make one dark elf an inhabitant of this village…….What?”

Chem let out a squeal of surprise. The others were not expecting it either, and their eyes were wide open and they could not speak.

“Now let’s see what the villagers will do.”

I added a note to the rest of the oracle, “It’s not an order, it’s a suggestion and you don’t have to follow it.” What will the villagers…..especially the elves do?