Chapter 37 — Life in the Village

Chapter 37 — Life in the Village

Ten days have passed. I have been living in this village for ten days now. The girl whose fish trap I broke — her name turned out to be Emilia — brought me to the village and made me work on her land, out in the fields, for two whole days. Yes, damn it, from morning till night I worked two days just to compensate for the fish trap I broke.

But you know… I actually enjoyed it. Back then, working under the scorching sun had always felt like torture. I used to hate it… but now, for some reason, it felt pleasant. Working in the field was surprisingly easy — well, mostly because of my level. I am way too strong now, and tasks like these do not tire me out at all.

Emilia provided me with food and even a roof over my head. And after just two days in this village, I liked it here so much that I decided to stay longer. Possibly forever. Maybe I will stay here until the end of my life.

And why not? This is a good village. Around thirty houses total — small, quiet, and the homes are spaced far apart.

Even the village chief gave me an empty house and the land around it. I recently finished preparing the plot and planted some wheat and potatoes. It looks like the family that owned this house and land left for the city several years ago and are not planning to return. So they gave it to me for free with one condition: if that family ever comes back and wants their land returned, I must give them both the house and the plot. The crops I have already planted would remain mine, but the land and the house must be returned. Well, that is more than fair.

And one more thing. I asked Emilia if it was too late to plant wheat or potatoes. She said that in this region, wheat is harvested twice a year, so it was not a problem. Yes, I will not make it in time for the second harvest — it is early summer right now — but I will manage to gather the first one. As for potatoes, she said I planted them a bit late, but they will still grow. Maybe not the best yield, but enough.

Honestly, I do not care how big the harvest will be. I have enough resources, and if I need money, I can simply sell monster magic stones or health potions.

Yes, staying in this village and growing wheat is definitely not part of my original plan. If this really is the world of the game “World of Chaos,” then truly safe places do not exist. If I do not raise my level and continue to grow stronger, eventually the time will come when I will not be able to protect myself.

But… reality has shown that dying during training is far more likely than reaching some incredibly high level that would let me live in this world without fear. Especially after the last dungeon, where I nearly died dozens of times.

So I decided that life in this village is far better than risking my life every day by fighting monsters.

Of course, I still intend to raise my level — just in a safe way. And my skill “Training Room” is perfect for that.

Now my days look like this: one day spent in the Training Room, completing tasks and increasing my level; the next day living in the village. Working in the garden, tending to the plants. Sometimes going into the forest to gather berries or anything else useful. Essentially, one day of constant training, and the next — a full day of rest.

And honestly… it is the perfect life.

Yes, everything is perfect… except the food. No, I am not complaining about the taste — on the contrary, the food here is delicious. Especially Emilia’s cooking — she is incredible. And the strangest thing is that she brings me food every day. Yes, we are neighbors now, but still, it feels… unusual. At first, she made me work two days on her land, and now she takes care of me every day as if it is the most natural thing in the world.

But there is one problem: she absolutely refuses to take money.

And that makes everything unbelievably awkward. I feel uncomfortable eating food someone brings me for free. Every time I offer her payment or help, she waves it off:

> “You will pay after you harvest your first crop.”

On one hand, it sounds reasonable. On the other hand… it is still awkward.

Emilia has a large family — an older brother, a younger brother, a little sister, and her parents. Six people total. Their land is next to mine. Not extremely close, but the house is visible — about three hundred meters away. Like I said, houses in this village are spaced far apart.

Well, I should sleep a couple more hours. Then I have some work in the field.

---

Day 15

[Task #4 completed.]
[Reward: +40,000,000 EXP]

[Status]
Name: Alisar
Level: 86
Experience: 12,553,339 / 44,000,000
Rank: 4

HP: 187,970 / 187,970 (+480)
MP: 27,720 / 27,320 (+480)
Strength: 3,821 (+16)
Defense: 1,865 (+16)
Speed: 13,111 (+16)
Intelligence: 646 (+16)
Magic Power: 641 (+16)
Magic Defense: 1,085 (+16)
Free Attribute Points: 1101 (+1024) (+77)

Skills: Swordsman (Rank 1), Berserk (Rank 2)
Special Skills:
• Training Room (Rank 3)
• Alchemy (Rank 2)

After finishing the fourth Training Room task, I even leveled up. But still… life in this little village is just so pleasant.

“Alisar, are you busy?” I heard a young man’s voice.

It was Gilbert — Emilia’s older brother. He is around twenty years old, just a year older than Emilia.

And honestly, he has become a bit of a problem for me.

For the last three days, he has been coming to me to “train.” To train with a sword.

He wants me to teach him how to fight.

But what kind of teacher am I?

My “training” consists of lightly beating him with a wooden stick while he tries to do something. But apparently, that is exactly why he thinks I am an incredible swordsman.

I try not to hit too hard, but the difference in our levels is so huge that the “sparring” looks… well, ridiculous.

I do not know if he gains anything from these lessons, but he stubbornly keeps coming.

I hope he gets tired of it eventually.

But… I cannot just turn away Emilia’s brother. Especially since she brings me food every day and I still have not been able to repay her properly. So… fine. If nothing else, this is one way to “repay” her kindness.

---

After an hour of beating, Gilbert was sitting near my house, breathing heavily and trying to recover.

“Well? Ready to continue?” I asked.

“Hey, at least give me a moment to rest!” he grumbled, wiping sweat from his forehead.

“Having fun, boys?” a pleasant female voice asked, and I turned around.

“Oh, Emilia,” I said.

“Are you hungry? I brought fresh rabbit stew with meat chunks,” Emilia said, lifting a small bucket from which warm, fragrant steam rose.

“Of course we’re hungry!” Gilbert said enthusiastically.

We ate well. Damn, the stew really was excellent.

Gilbert seemed like he was about to leave. He stood up, stretched his stiff arms, and as he headed home, he said:

“See you tomorrow.”

Tomorrow?

What the hell? He is still planning to come? He seriously wants to continue?

“Oh, thank you,” Emilia suddenly said.

I froze for a moment.

“Ah… sure,” I answered awkwardly.

She is thanking me… for beating her brother with a stick?

“You know,” Emilia continued, “even before you came, he kept arguing with father. Trying to convince him to let him go to the city to become an adventurer.”

“Really? And why won’t they let him?” I asked.

Emilia looked at me like I had said something unbelievably stupid.

“Are you an idiot?” she asked sharply. “We do not want him to die somewhere in a dungeon. And if he dies, they will not even bring his body back for burial!”

“I see… sorry,” I muttered.

Yes, she is right. I quit the adventurer job myself because I do not want to die in a dungeon.

“But,” Emilia continued more calmly, “when you arrived and he saw how you handle a sword… he immediately challenged you. And after you beat him up, he stopped whining about wanting to become an adventurer.”

She sighed.

“Well… almost stopped. Now he says he will only become an adventurer after he defeats you. So be prepared — he will be coming every day.”

Yes… I remember. That was four days ago. I was just swinging my sword to warm up. He saw me and instantly ran over to challenge me. At first, I tried to be careful… but he kept attacking me, so I had to… well… beat him properly.

Of course, we used wooden swords. Otherwise a tragedy could have happened.

---

Day 22

Today a merchant came to the village — with one large wagon. Since there are no stores or markets here, and no blacksmith either (which is not surprising: just around thirty homes and about one hundred fifty residents), the merchant seems to visit only once a month. He sells all the essentials for the villagers: different tools for farming, household items, and so on.

For me, his arrival was a real rescue. I finally bought my own tools — until now, everything I used was borrowed from Emilia’s family or other villagers. Now I have my own.

And I also managed to buy some sweets from him.

Well… “some.” I bought all the sweets he had.

Though it was not much — maybe around twenty kilograms.

Yes… life goes on. Another calm, surprisingly cozy day in this little corner of the world.