Chapter 10 : The Collapsing Village Chief’s Plan

“Is there enough potatoes today?”

“Don’t worry. When you go to the plaza, you’ll see mountains of potatoes stacked up.”

“Hahaha! I can’t even remember the last time I went hungry!”

“It’s all thanks to Victor, all thanks to Victor!”

“Seems like that prophecy was true! The stranger who came down from the mountain said he’d save Rudin village!”

“Now we don’t have to worry about starving to death! Hahaha!!”

Since the garden incident, laughter had never left Rudin village.

No one could even remember when they were last hungry because they could eat potatoes, piled up like mountains, again and again.

Solving hunger was a form of salvation.

However, there were those who weren’t happy about the situation.

They were Kyle and Kai, who tried to stir up the people’s dissatisfaction to launch a coup.

They had a secret discussion in their home.

“What should we do, Father? People are praising Victor. At this rate, don’t we have no justification to rise up against him?”

“Shut up, you fool! If you have the guts, go cut off Victor’s head!”

“If I kill Victor now, what will the villagers say? Why are you acting like this, Father?”

“Hmph! Foolish excuses…”

With a disgruntled expression, Kyle the village chief muttered to himself as he took out a letter from his chest. It had the Imperial seal on it.

<To Village Chief Kyle, as promised, if you incite a coup and seize the Duchy of Grimoire from the kingdom’s border, I will grant you the title of Baron and make you the Lord of Rudin village. However, if you fail to meet the deadline, this promise will be nullified. Also, there is a man named Victor who has suddenly appeared in your village. If he is tall, strong, and handsome, he is likely a warrior exiled from our empire. If you find him, eliminate him as soon as possible. If you do, I will grant you the title of Count, not Baron.>

“Look at this.”

“This… this is… the Grand Marshal wants to make you a Count? But what? Victor is a warrior? That useless trash of a warrior?”

The reputation of the incompetent warrior Victor Evans had even spread to the borders of the Kingdom of Grimoire.

After all, a warrior was a famous figure, rivaling the Emperor or the Pope.

“Yeah, I knew he wasn’t ordinary, but I never thought he was a warrior.”

“A warrior… Wait, so he’s a former warrior, right? The current warrior is someone named Raul, and I heard he’s gone on an expedition?”

“Yeah, the former warrior is the one who imposed harsh taxes, the very reason we’re living in poverty today. If the villagers knew this, their attitudes would change.”

“But… the villagers are completely enamored with Victor now. Even if they know he’s a warrior, will they rise up for us and start a rebellion?”

“Idiot.”

Village Chief Kyle muttered fiercely.

“That’s why we need a catalyst.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

When Kyle the village chief said to come in, a group of strong men entered with grim expressions.

They were the people Kyle had summoned.

“Listen carefully. All you need to do is follow my instructions.”

Kyle secretly laid out his plan.

Later…

“Impressive, Victor. I never thought you’d distribute the potatoes in such a brilliant way. You’re smarter than you look, huh?”

Scarlett’s opinion of me had greatly improved after the potato distribution incident.

Nowadays, she praised me at every opportunity.

Sometimes, it felt a bit overwhelming.

“What are you talking about? I just copied someone else’s method. I’m just glad it worked. By the way, has my family continued to send potatoes?”

“Yes, don’t worry. My sisters wield a lot of power in the central government.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Now, I need to go stack more potatoes in the plaza.”

I lifted the bundle of potatoes, which must have weighed about 100 kilograms, onto both shoulders and walked toward the plaza.

Scarlett watched in awe.

“You’re really strong.”

“Huh? Am I? Now that you mention it, these potatoes must weigh about 100 kilos, but I don’t feel it at all.”

I guess my muscles have naturally grown stronger from following the expedition.

Well… there’s nothing bad about getting stronger.

“Anyway, let’s go to the plaza. The Lord should help too.”

“What? You want me to do manual labor?”

“I can’t do it all by myself.”

“…You’re just naturally making me work, huh?”

Scarlett followed behind me, carrying a basket full of potatoes.

“Walk a little slower!”

It was strange that she was struggling to keep up even though I was walking at a normal pace.

Wait, has my stamina improved?

I’m not sure.

Now that I think about it, I can’t remember the last time I felt tired.

But… there’s no point in thinking too deeply about it.

For now, I should focus on distributing the potatoes.

“There are a lot of people gathered in the plaza. I think they’ve come for potatoes.”

“Really? But… it seems like too many people, doesn’t it?”

As Scarlett said, there were a lot more people than usual.

Most of them were strong-looking men, rare in this village.

As usual, I placed the bundle of potatoes in the middle of the plaza and said,

“Take as much as you need.”

But no one moved to take the potatoes.

Instead, Village Chief Kyle approached with a hostile expression and asked loudly,

“Hey, Victor. Is it true that you’re the exiled warrior from the Renal Empire?”

“When did that rumor start spreading?”

I should have denied it immediately—but by the time I thought that, it was already too late.

Kyle was shouting loudly so the whole village could hear,

“Did you all hear that?! This is the warrior who imposed harsh taxes on us, right here!! How many times must I tell you! Victor is not a savior!! He is the very warrior who tormented us!!”

“Wait… when did I ever torment you…?”

“Are you going to play dumb?! Because of your extravagant lifestyle, we had to pay unbearable taxes!”

“Extravagant? I only spent 10,000 gold a year…”

“I don’t want to hear it, you scoundrel! You’re not even a warrior anymore! The Imperial General has already given the order to kill you!”

“What? The General… why…?”

As I was confused by the news that General Zero was trying to kill me, Kyle seemed to have been prepared, as he summoned a group of strong men.

“Alright! Let’s capture and punish this useless warrior and the wicked lord!! We have the Empire behind us! We have nothing to fear!!”

“UOOOOOOOO!!!”

Dozens of strong men suddenly charged at me.

Damn, I’m no fighter.

But I couldn’t just stand there and let them attack me, so I took a defensive stance.

Just then, a woman courageously stepped in front of me.

“Wait a minute, Chief!”

“Rose! What are you doing?”

“The Chief’s words don’t make sense! We are citizens of the Kingdom of Grimoire, right? To receive support from the Empire and kill the warrior—this can only be seen as a more sinister conspiracy! Could it be that the Chief has deceived us all? If that’s the case, we can no longer support him!”

“Hmph! I don’t care whether you support me or not! The Empire’s General is behind me. I have dozens of soldiers sent by the Empire. With their help, it will be easy to take over the Count’s castle, which has no guards. What are you all doing?! Get them! Grab them!”

Crrk.

“Wait… you really were a warrior, Victor? No, more importantly, how do we get out of this situation?”

Scarlett asked in a panicked voice.

“Well… hmm. I guess we’ll have to fight.”

I raised my fist, ready to fight.

But all that came to mind were memories of my past, feeling pathetic compared to my comrades who grew stronger each day.

I had never won a fight against demons.

Could I really defeat dozens of men sent by the Empire?

“Hahaha!! Come on!! Kill him! Kill him!! And make Rudin Village my domain!!”

“Follow the General’s orders!”

“For the Empire!”

“You useless warrior! Hiding out here!”

“Prepare to die!”

The men came closer.

Sweat ran down my back.

I had no way to fight back.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse…

Suddenly, with a swish, the men were sliced into countless pieces.

“Huh?”

The skill was so exquisite that even the victims didn’t realize what was happening at first.

“What… what is this?”

“Ugh… AAAAH!”

“My body… my body!!”

“Nooooooo!!!”

The twenty or so men crumpled to the ground, turning into a pile of lifeless bodies.

Only one woman stood in their place.

A blonde girl in armor, wiping the blood from her sword, stared at me intently.

“Are you… Victor Evans?”

She suddenly knelt down and spoke in a solemn voice,

“My name is Eri Rimaeri. I have come to take you with me. Please, come with me.”