I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 267: Unknown Enemy

Early morning.In the hazy mist, the village awakened under the gradually rising warm sun.

Gauss woke up very early.

The clay constructs had not stopped working since returning to the village last night, continuously cutting down trees and then transporting the smoothly carved logs to the open space in the village.

They possessed immense strength and never tired.

They just needed a constant supply of mana consumption.

Fortunately, Gauss had plenty of mana, and his mana recovery speed was faster than normal spellcasters, so he could maintain them.

Therefore, when villagers waking up early came to the open space, they stopped in surprise, looking incredulously at the mountain-like pile of wood.

Some were even rubbing their eyes, thinking they were still dreaming and hadn't woken up yet.

In the mist, several tall figures carried logs far larger than their bodies, walking step by step toward the village.

At first, the villagers thought they were people.

But until they approached, they discovered they were uniformly colored monsters!

"Monsters, there are monsters helping cut trees?"

Many instinctively wanted to run away.

But Gauss, standing nearby, spoke up to reassure them.

"Everyone rest assured, these monsters were created by my magic and won't attack anyone."

Hearing the voice, villagers looked up and saw Gauss sitting atop the mountain-like wood pile, overlooking the entire village from above.

So that's how it is...

The villagers who heard Gauss's explanation immediately felt relieved.

"Lord Gauss, please continue with your work."

Ordinary villagers still felt deep reverence for "important figures" like Gauss. After greeting him, they gradually dispersed.

Gauss was just mentally estimating the quantity of wood.

Last night, after bringing the imprisoned people down from the mountain back to the village,

he had communicated with Village Chief Serlandul.

Those willing to return home were escorted back to their respective villages by villagers,

while those who, for various reasons, had nowhere to go remained in the village.

This wood was prepared as material for building houses and defensive structures for the villagers.

He could also conveniently practice his clay magic.

Practicing magic itself was beneficial for leveling up, especially when done during outdoor training trips.

After a while,

more villagers gradually woke up.

They were immediately attracted by the materials in the open space.

Soon, under Village Chief Bruno's direction, the villagers began working.

Transporting materials, driving stakes, digging foundations - with the assistance of Gauss's team and the clay constructs, village construction progressed at astonishing speed.

Of course, Gauss's team and the clay constructs didn't handle everything.

Some work requiring skill and delicate operation was left to the villagers, such as wood joining, filling wall gaps with mud and thatch mixture, roofing, etc.

The clay constructs mainly handled the most labor-intensive physical work - carrying logs, compacting foundations, digging trenches, etc.

When villagers grew tired from labor, they could go to Aria to receive a Mana Berry to alleviate hunger and fatigue, while Serlandul also used spells to assist them.

The entire village resembled an orderly ant nest, with everyone immersed in busy labor.

Even those new villagers rescued by Gauss and others just yesterday - Gauss originally wanted them to rest well and recuperate - perhaps influenced by the village's enthusiastic labor atmosphere, these people also joined the work in a daze.

At first, these people seemed somewhat at a loss.

But as sweat soaked their clothes and mud covered their hands and feet, they actually became more comfortable.

Especially when they heard Gauss promise that some of the houses with compacted foundations were for them to live in, the numbness in their eyes gradually faded, and a glimmer of hope slowly rose in their hearts.

Realizing they were building their future homes.

And the sense of participation generated from this was unprecedented compared to when they passively endured suffering.

Gauss stood on the newly erected watchtower frame, gazing at the busy village,

feeling a sense of accomplishment slowly growing in his heart.

Although this journey had just begun, these first two villages had given him different experiences and insights each,

He even felt his experience gain speed had improved.

"Once the initial defenses take shape, we can start basic combat training," Gauss said.

Beside him, a dark shadow gradually materialized.

"Yesterday I roughly investigated the monster distribution around here," Shadow said.

Yesterday, when Gauss and others left the village to rescue villagers, she hadn't been idle, but had collected some intelligence in advance.

"Any special discoveries?"

"East of the village, there should be a relatively powerful monster. There are far fewer monsters there," Shadow replied simply.

"However, I didn't investigate deeply. Needed to watch the village."

"Oh?"

Gauss hadn't expected there to actually be a powerful monster individual nearby.

"Let's go check it out in a couple of days."

For current me, elite monsters are no longer my opponents,

Level 6-7 monsters, with teammates' support, I dare to confront them too.

In most cases, it's difficult to encounter higher-level monsters unless actively venturing into some dangerous areas.

.

Village construction showed initial results within two days.

The power of professionals and magic was immediate. With Gauss and others' help, work that might have taken months was mostly completed quickly.

Wooden houses rose from the ground one after another.

Protective fences outside the village enclosed the settlement, with two watchtowers built at the entrance.

Already completely different from the low, crude thatched houses Gauss saw on his first day.

Gauss and others finally had time to start training the villagers.

Same as in Goat Village, villagers aspiring to improve themselves gathered in the open space.

Then Gauss and others began teaching them some basic skill movements and conducting professional detection.

This village had less than a hundred people. Excluding women, children, and elderly, the number of suitable youth for combat training was even smaller.

Looking at the serious young men and women in the open space, Gauss sighed.

Compared to Goat Village, this second village indeed had inherent deficiencies.

Not only in population numbers, but even talent was slightly lacking.

Many clearly hadn't consumed sufficient nutrition during their growth periods in the past, resulting in diminished vitality and physical potential.

Even though he had tried to improve their diet these days, this obviously couldn't be changed overnight.

Moreover, many were already adults. Even with better food and drink, the physical deficiencies caused by nutritional deficits were permanent.

He could only ensure he taught wholeheartedly, letting them master as many combat skills as possible.

Looking at the three youths before him suspected of having skill learning talent.

"Ha!"

"Hah!"

The iron swords confiscated from the bandits whistled through the air as they swung them.

The remaining twenty-plus people, though without skill books to learn from, also listened along.

Perhaps because of that first day's bandit elimination experience, Gauss found that the proportion of people in this village willing to improve their combat abilities was significantly higher.

Plus he didn't stop them from listening and learning, so many would find time to listen along during construction breaks.

"My hands are so sore."

"Persist, didn't Lord Gauss say?"

"More sweat in training, less blood in battle."

....

Gauss watched the villagers gritting their teeth and persisting, nodding inwardly.

At the village entrance.

Serlandul was slowly sliding into the village, dragging a huge stag.

"Deer for dinner today?"

Gauss turned and greeted.

"Yes, Captain. Originally wanted to hunt a wild boar, but happened to encounter this, couldn't be bothered to look further."

Villagers training nearby looked at the muscular, well-built stag and couldn't help swallowing several times.

For the poor, meat wasn't much different from luxury goods.

In this era, prey had better physical abilities than in Gauss's previous life. Ordinary farmers normally found hunting prey quite difficult, while also risking encountering monsters in the forests.

Many hadn't eaten proper meat for a long time, until Gauss's group arrived, when they finally got some meat in their bellies.

Gauss looked at the pairs of eager, longing eyes and shrugged.

"Let's eat first then."

In the village center, village women quickly became busy.

Large pots were already set up on several stoves.

Others began skinning, bleeding, and dividing the meat...

Of course, they wouldn't eat all this meat at once - the remainder would be processed by other methods.

As crimson meat chunks were thrown into boiling pots, adding the deodorizing, flavor-enhancing herbs and coarse salt collected by Serlandul along the way, rich meat aroma soon filled the entire village.

Making everyone's stomach worms almost stir with anticipation.

Children circled around the pots unwilling to leave, staring eagerly at the meat floating up and down in the pots, constantly swallowing saliva in large gulps.

Adults scolded children to keep distance, but their own eyes couldn't help frequently glancing toward the pots.

When the meat soup was finally ready, Bruno personally took charge of the wooden ladle. Under everyone's watchful eyes, he first scooped a small pot for Gauss and others.

Then, after getting his approval, he began distributing meals to the villagers.

Everyone's wooden bowls received equally portioned meat chunks and thick soup.

The open space immediately quieted down.

Leaving only the sounds of "gululu" soup drinking and meat chewing.

Although this wasn't the villagers' first meat since Gauss's group arrived, everyone's face still radiated happiness as if eating meat for the first time.

As if performing a sacred ritual.

Some even had moist eyes.

For the first time feeling that life could actually be so wonderful.

Gauss ate the meat soup from his bowl - honestly he found the taste quite primitive, even somewhat fishy.

But seeing the girls rescued not long ago eating meat in small bites, tears silently dripping into their bowls, he felt this meat soup tasted somewhat different.

After the meal.

Gauss called Bruno to his side.

"Chief, the village's shape and basic defenses are established. I plan to clear the surrounding threats."

"My companion previously scouted that there might be a relatively powerful monster entrenched east of the village."

Hearing "powerful monster," Bruno's expression showed a trace of tension.

"What do you need us to do?"

"My teammates and I will be away briefly. You just need to handle village defense, same as previous drills. Watchtowers must have people on duty at all times, sound alarms immediately if anything is spotted."

"If encountering enemies beyond your capability, hide in the cellar."

"Yes, Lord Gauss."

Gauss and others, commissioned by the Adventurers Guild, could only provide assistance. For this village to truly develop and grow in the future, it still depended on their own efforts.

Since they currently had no intelligence about this target, Gauss didn't bring any villagers this time.

After monsters break through to elite level, they either extensively recruit monster minions or become lone wolves, hunting surrounding monsters because their existence squeezes the living space of prey in their hunting grounds.

Clearly, the target they planned to scout this time was the latter.

Although you couldn't judge their strength from these habits, generally speaking, monsters becoming lone wolves in the wild often weren't too weak.

Because they needed to rely on combat to drive out other monsters, their skills and levels would improve during this process.

"Be extra careful."

"Shadow, you need to be prepared."

"Understood."

Although Gauss's combat ability was growing stronger nowadays, every time he went out on commissions and arrangements, he would subconsciously remind his teammates.

This was probably the greatest gift left by that first unexpected encounter during his initial adventure commission.

That was always being mentally prepared for the worst.

Shadow's existence was the team's insurance - she could activate her ability at any time to gather team members together.

Afterwards, Gauss could also quickly cast Fly, evacuating with his teammates.

After riding the Ostrich for some distance.

Gauss clearly sensed the increasingly desolate scene Shadow had described.

Along the way, even the most numerous Goblins usually encountered had disappeared, as if extinct.

Some wild animals peacefully lowered their heads grazing on grass.

Hearing the sound of Gauss and others' mounts stepping on the ground, they ran away with all their might.

"What could it be?"

Clearly, unusual occurrences must have something strange behind them.

Gauss and others put away their mounts.

Then began carefully exploring the surroundings.

"Gauss, look over there."

Aria spotted an unidentified object in the distance.

The group walked over.

They saw a pile of broken stones scattered randomly on the ground.

Of course, this wasn't ordinary stone.

Gauss used Mage Hand to lift one piece.

"Is this an eyeball?"

He could clearly see some biological traces from the ground's broken stones.

"Some kind of stone sculpture?"

Gauss quickly shook his head.

In this wilderness, with no civilization traces, who would be so bored as to move a stone sculpture here and smash it to pieces?

Moreover, he could vaguely sense some special flowing energy within the stones.

"Could be some kind of petrification ability," Gauss shared his speculation with his teammates.