Our New World - Chapter 2 Part 7

In case you wondering… The players only called each other with real name when they are alone. They called each other with their IGN when they are in front of others.

Author note: WARNING! HORRIBLE GRAMMAR

Chapter 2: The Heaven Lords in the New World

Part 7: Cleaning Neighborhood

That morning of the 17^th day of the Fifth Month of Dark-Half, at 662^nd Year of the Emperor of Holy Spirit, was the same morning that had dawned upon the small Village of Tinirese at the edge of Great Falgara Forest for countless days. However, as the villagers woke up and getting started to work at their fields, disaster struck.

A large group of marauders descended on the hapless village, which had been depleted from young man who were drafted by the endless 『Eastern Principalities(Soipora) 』 conflicts between petty kings. A band of vulture preying at the opportunity that was provided by the gaps of vacuum of power, as local nobles died or gets replaced and neither soldier nor knights were guarding the area. They consisted of mostly defeated soldier or mercenaries from the losing side, reinforced by thugs and ruffians and terrorize territories that were mostly undefended. Like the small faraway obscure Tinirese Village.

The small hapless village garrison quickly overwhelmed, their blood stained the broken palisade wall. The marauders quickly disposed the elderly and captured the young who will fetch high price in the Western Slave Market. Anyone who tries to interfere, get ruthlessly cut down as each house ransacked for captives, valuables and foods. To discourage any further opposition, they set fire on numerous building. The wooden and thatches house quickly subsumed by fire and sending ominous black smoke to the sky. A silent testament of the tragedy that had befallen on this unfortunate village.

There was no one they could ask for help. The previous kind feudal lord had died, murdered in power struggle by his rival who soon only saw the outlying village like Tinirese as nuisance at worst or someplace to milk out tax at best. The local knights had disappeared under the battlefield, replaced by mercenaries who are no better than the marauders. They had lost most of their food, their fields ransacked, their homes ruined. Even if they move to another village, it would be hard for them to start from zero, as the one who were left were only the elderly, the very young and the infirm.

As the survivors were lamenting their dead and send wailing prayers for the Gods’ Court and Holy Spirits, they noticed an unknown group came out from the forest and approached their ruined village. Wary and suspicious for another raid, the remaining women and children hide, while the men made their last stand with whatever left to arm their hand. They had nothing to lose as there is nothing else left in the village.

However, their suspiciousness lessened as their saw that the group wore attires that much more different from marauders or bandits. There also young girls and even people from another races amongst the group, dressed not in armor but with fine dresses and clothing. The high quality of their equipment was apparent for the villagers who soon thought that they are mercenaries, adventurers or maybe a merchant or noble entourage from somewhere, beckoned by the dark smoke beacon.

Although both parties didn’t understand each other as the language the unknown group used was unknown to the villagers and the unknown group strangely didn’t understand the 『Common Language(Palisan)』, the unknown group soon helped the villagers without being asked. At first their numbers were only dozens. But before the Right Sun set and herald the darkless night, hundreds visited the village. Healing the wounded, repairing the building, providing new shelter and hot food, and even resurrecting the dead. The unknown group did so many things that was above the villages could ask for.

Unknown to the villagers, that day mark the day the 『Nameless State(Chemkla)』, soon known as 『Archduchy Union of Neuschwanensee』, made their first contact with outside party other than war for the last 700 years.

Excerpt from:

Seliosa Et. Waseno, Fp. Celebrating 100^th year of Tinirese Village’s seminal role as Archduchy Union of Neuschwanensee’s first outside contact location. Journal of Zekria History. 762(7): 45-68.

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After the brief meeting with the girls, Yuuto decided to postpone the Instance exploration for now and checked the settlement for the time being. After all, Ichiko and Kiyomi was not here, and Yuuto thought to just bring half of the Gate Knight to storm the Instance. It was good for their training he guess.

Employing Kiyomi’s summon, Tatiana and Lacme, as airborne scout, since both of them are fairies who can fly, Yuuto also ordered the scouts to make wide surveillance perimeter. After all, information is important. They moved slowly at 30 km/hour so they could deal with whatever adversaries came out swiftly. After an hour, they arrived near the edge of the forest.

From what Tatiana, Lacme and the advance scouts reported, it seems that at the edge of the forest there was a human settlement, with about 60 buildings surrounded by battered and half destroyed wooden palisade wall. There was a vast field surrounding the village and mainly concentrated on the western bank of a small river flowed out from the forest that they used as irrigation source. About 1/3 of the building were burned or burning and 1/3 showed some sort of damage, the fields that look like it could be harvested in short time were mostly ruined. Most of the populace seems to gather at the square in the center of the village, while some were blocking the hole in the palisade with debris or watching the surrounding. It seemed that there was a battle happened near and inside the village with the village took substantial losses.

After they received the report about the village, Chie sent a silent glance towards Yuuto. The same kind of gaze also was thrown towards him from Saki and the twins. Yuuto made a wry smile and sent Stella a look. She just raised her hand as if to saying “just do what you like” and gave a tacit agreement.

“Let’s move up.” (Yuuto)

Judging that the village didn’t seem to possess danger for the group and confirming that there were no any hostile near the area, Yuuto took the girls, the maids and half of the scouts and moved towards the village. The reason why he brought the girls and the maids was so that the group wouldn’t look intimidating. After all, a group with young girls wouldn’t be dangerous right? Meanwhile Tatiana and Lacme were floating atop the village unseen using Lacme’s illusion magic.

The villagers gathered at the palisade wall that faced Yuuto’s group. Their hands rose up makeshift spear, pitchfork, sharpened burned stick, and short hunting bow while looking menacingly at the group. Yuuto then let the girls walked forward before stopping about 50 meter from the wall, when the villagers started to shout something. Unfortunately, Yuuto and the girls didn’t understand.

This was already reported by the scouts and from several planned encounters with native travelers. The language spoken by the native is practically unintelligible, and although the Scholars with Linguistic skill had identified probable basic grammar structure and sounds rule, it still far from properly understood the language in question. Furthermore, there seems to be dialectical or even language difference between the observed region of Mittagsland and Morgendrotsland. So the language of Abendrotsland is even more obscure. Yuuto hoped that the automatic language translation works, but it seems that Neuewelt is not that kind…

‘So the translation function really didn’t work for the natives, huh?’

While Yuuto was thinking like this, the villagers kept shouting something, some were even swing their weapon with threatening posture.

“Hey, we come to help! We are not bad guys, okay!” (Saki)

Saki yelled in bright voices, that soon followed by Mizuki.

“You have injured people right? We have medicine!” (Mizuki)

Hearing both of the girls’ yells, the villagers seemed to be confused. They seemed to have some discussion before an older man of them came out from one of the hole in the palisade followed by the several other middle aged men with pitchfork and spear.

The old man and the other villagers wore a simple shirt like garment albeit without button and trouser made from wool, linen or cotton that reminded him of the peasants’ photographs from Tsarist Russia. Based on how the other guarding him, maybe the older man is the village chief or elder. Yuuto then stepped out and stand before the girls.

“*foreign language*” (Old Man)

The old man spoke with a brash tone, but as expected, Yuuto couldn’t make head or tails of it. It sounds like European language, but it is definitely not English, or other Romance or Germanic language… Maybe Slavic or Uralic? The villagers have brown to red-brown hair, although they didn’t look that European… Maybe Central Asia, so Turkic language? Even so, Yuuto thought that if it indeed some European language it would be already translated by the automatic language translation, so maybe it was some other kind language or maybe it was ridiculous for Yuuto to think that it was even an Earth language. After all Earth didn’t have two suns or red moon.

“We are sorry, but we don’t know what you say.” (Yuuto)

Yuuto made gesture by pointing at his mouth, his ear and then shake his hand. He repeated this gesture several times.

“*foreign language*” (Old Man)

From the old man tone of voice, he seems to be not welcoming Yuuto and the group.

“We bring medicine and food. Hans, Oswin, take out your potion and ration and show to them.” (Yuuto)

Like what he had arranged before, Yuuto asked two of the scouts to take their potions and rations from the bag and showed it to the old man and his group. This seems to attract the ld man’s attention as he began to consult his entourage, there seemed to be a little discord before the old man finally began to speak towards Yuuto again.

“*foreign language*(point at the scouts behind Yuuto)*foreign language*(point at the spear on one of the villager)*foreign language*(point at the ground)*foreign language*(point at the village)” (Old Man)

“I understand. Hans, Oswin, Lief, Gastrad, entrust your weapon to the others and follow me. The rest establish a reconnaissance perimeter up to 5 km and search for signs and tracks of potential hostile entity.” (Yuuto)

“Yes Lord Highness” (Knights)

The Knights kneeled before executing Yuuto’s order. Four of the Knights walked in Yuuto and the girls’ flank, while the other Knights dispersed to the forests.

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The air was stale from soot, smoke and dried blood. Blackened building with half scorched crumbling walls was the common feature of the village northern side where Yuuto’s came. A handful of children and elderly were scavenging on the debris were the flame had died out, trying to salvage whatever were spared from the fire. Here and there some ember still alive and sent towering smoke that casted somber shadow on the ruined village.

As Yuuto’s group approached the plaza, the wailing of women became louder and louder. When they finally reached the plaza, they saw rows of lifeless bodies, covered with blood soaked cloths, arranged in the center of plaza. In one of the still intact building of the plaza, the villagers seems to have established a makeshift hospital where the wounded were tended as the villagers tried to stop the bleeding with just bandaging the wound using boiled scrap of cloths. This sight reminded Yuuto of the scene in the Knights infirmary on the first day they arrived in Neuewelt. Looking at the sad looks that the girls had in their face, Yuuto guessed that they also had the same thoughts as him. Yuuto patted Saki’s and Tsukimi’s head as if to console them, before he realized what he was doing… Old habits die hard, not that both of the girls mind it either way. Anyway, he showed a reassuring smile to them and then looked at his surroundings.

The preliminary scout found about 60 set of buildings… Assuming that every building set is a residence, and a residence is home for 5-6 people then that mean about 300-360 people in this village. Since the dead bodies count reach about 30, it mean that 1 in 10 people in the village died… If the injured number was about this figure then this village took a lot of casualties. For an agricultural based economy, this reduction of manpower would be harsh.

For an Earth medieval point of view, this village could be considered as big. However “Medieval” wouldn’t be the right term for Neuewelt, since the level of local technology was still unknown. Also, most of the native villages that the scout reported back had building count between 100 and 300 buildings, although this was only based on village in Mittagsland and Morgendrotsland. So maybe this village could be considered as small. It is worthy to note that almost every village had walls from wood or stone to protect the inhabited area. Even solitary farmhouse that dotted Mittagsland plain, were composed of several buildings gathered inside a wall. Maybe this was because as the countermeasure for the frequent monster attack?

While Yuuto was thinking this, he observed that the old man (Yuuto called him [temporary] village chief) and his entourage met with the some of the other men, also middle aged men. The lack of young men or women was quickly noticed by Yuuto. After they finished discussed something, one of the men came with the (temp) village chief and approached Yuuto’s group.

The man looked like he had passed his prime but his appearance was different from other villagers as he looked like an educated person. The smart looking man greeted Yuuto with a polite tone before he began to speak to Yuuto with words that Yuuto noticed had different style or manner. It looked like the smart looking man spoke in various local languages or dialects to try establishing an effective two-way communication. Unfortunately, none of the languages were recognized by Yuuto or automatic translation program. Yuuto pointed to his ear and shake his hand to make gesture he didn’t understand. The smart looking man and the (temp) village chief looked troubled.

Yuuto then took out a high-ranked Potion (Pokari fruit flavored) from his inventory. The villagers were surprised by the sudden appearance of the potion that was accompanied by particles of light.

“This potion (points to potion) I’ll give it to you (extend the potion towards the men) to heal the injured (point at the house where the villagers tended their injured)*smile*” (Yuuto)

The men looked dumbfounded, but then the smart looking man took the potion from Yuuto’s hand and examined it. He made a surprised face before telling something to the (temp) village chief who then made a surprised face. The (temp) village chief then shook Yuuto’s hand with a grateful face while repeating “Reski” numerous times. Well from the situation, Yuuto didn’t have to guess what “Reski” means. Now that was the first step to understand the language…

Yuuto then took out about 30 potions from his inventory and handed them to the (temp) village chief who then passed it to other villagers. The he also took out 100 pieces of rations box (Knight Standard Ration type 3: Rye Bread Bun with meat and egg inside) and a large barrel containing 400 liter of fresh water from his inventory and forwarded them towards the villagers, who received them with a mixture of bewilderment and gratefulness.

“Florea, Rarirea, come here!” (Yuuto)

Florea and Rarirea then step forward and bowed to Yuuto. The villagers were not negligent in noticing this.

““Yes Lord Highness. What can we do for you?””(Florea)(Rarirea)

“Use a healing magic at this men (point at the village chief and smart looking man).” (Yuuto)

““Yes Lord Highness!”” (Florea)(Rarirea)

Although Florea and Rarirea only possess rudimentary healing magic unlike Gemirea, it was still enough for this purpose. Florea and Rarirea took out their staffs from their inventory to the astonishment of the villagers.

“Oh Force of Nature, be a kind steward, and grant us restoration, Natural Healing.” (Florea)

“We beseech thee, Spirits of Yore, please aid us, and heal us whole. Minor Remedial.” (Rarirea)

A light then basked the (temp) village chief and smart looking man for a second before it disappeared. They seemed to notice that the maids just casted towards them with healing magic. Yuuto thought that they didn’t that surprised, but maybe they already predicted that someone from Yuuto’s group could use healing magic. Then this would be easy.

“They (pointed to Rarirea and Flore) will heal (swing hand) the wounded (pointed at the building), is it fine to you? (gesture towards the men)” (Yuuto)

The men looked confused from a moment before the smart looking man seemed to get the gist of Yuuto’s proposal. He gestured as if asking the maids to follow him.

“Wait!” (Yuuto)

Yuuto raised his arms up. The smart looking man stopped and seemed to be thinking if something wrong.

“Tatiana, Lacme. Come down.” (Yuuto)

“Alright!” (Tatiana)

“Yes, deshu!” (Lacme)

As soon as Yuuto’s ordered them, the two fairy girls cancelled their invisibility and descended from the sky and landed in front of Yuuto. The villagers were surprised by their appearance and made a commotion. Well, maybe human sized fairy was a rare sight in this place, Yuuto thought.

“Lacme, can you go with Florea and Rarirea to heal the people in this place?” (Yuuto)

Lacme is one of Kiyomi’s support oriented summoned spirits, of course she had healing magic albeit only low-mid rank one at her current form.

“Lady Melbiena, have gave me permission, deshu. I will do my best, deshu.”(Lacme)

“Thank you.” (Yuuto)

“Go get ‘em, girl!” (Tatiana)

Lacme then followed Florea and Rarirea towards the makeshift hospital.

“Tatiana, can you go and put down the fire in the buildings?” (Yuuto)

“Piece of sponge cake! It is an easy tasks for the great me (atashi-sama)!” (Tatiana)

Tatiana then flew towards a half burning building and froze it so that the fire died down, albeit the building now decorated with frosts and ice flakes. Yuuto then turned towards the rest of the group.

“Veniosa, Vedimari, Frimari, Rutidora, Mesidora. Prepare some hot soup for the people in this place. You can use this for ingredients.” (Yuuto)

“““““Yes Lord Highness!!!””””” (Maids)

Yuuto took out two crates of fresh food ingredient enough to feed his forest incursion trip party (scout team Knights and maids included) for 1 week. So maybe it could make enough good soup for the hundreds people in this village. After all, nothing beats the familiar comfort of hot food after a traumatic event, and from the look of it, this village had little means of food for the time being. The five maids do a curtsy and bowed their head elegantly. Veniosa then took out a large pot and portable magic stove from her inventory space, as expected from Kiyomi’s personal assistant. They soon were busy preparing the ingredients. Yuuto then turned towards the Knights.

“Hans, Oswin, Lief. Search the ruined house for any survivors or victims and bring them to the plaza. Gastrad, inform the other team to converge near the village gate, also I want a report if they find any tracks.” (Yuuto)

““““Yes Lord Highness!!!””” (Knights)

The Knights kneeled in front of Yuuto. Since the Knights was from a Scout team, they had Searching magic that enable them to monitor their surrounding, so this not only useful to search for hidden enemies but also, in this case, people buried out of sight.

“Yusis-san……” (Tsukimi)

“Yes, what is it Ciel?” (Yuuto)

“Don’t you think we can resurrect them using Ankh of Life like we do before?” (Tsukimi)

Tsukimi asked Yuuto with sad looking expression. Saki and Mizuki also nodded in agreement. However, even if Yuuto had a lot of Ankhs of Life in inventory and could manufactured it by a tap of menu, Yuuto thought that it better to not using Ankh of Life in this case and better let Ichiko use her Resurrection magic instead. Why? Because Ankh of Life is a tool… That means people would learn the existence of a tool could resurrect dead people. This could become a troublesome thing if the native or other potential hostile entity demanded to know about the production method or use violent conduct in trying to secure it. After all, who wants to live forever? The answer will be, well, most of the people. Even if Yuuto explained that Ankh of Life only can be used by the Players ―― or Heaven Lords in this case ―― who will believe it? So it was better if Resurrection only achieved by Ichiko’s magic. After all, they couldn’t demand Yuuto to hand over Ichiko, right? If they still do then… ufufufu… The story will become ‘very interesting’.

“I think it’s better for us to refrain from using it…” (Yuuto)

Tsukimi’s expression seemed sad, while Saki and Mizuki’s face were the very incarnation of ‘Why?’ Yuuto would explain his reasoning to them, next time, if the time permits. He just make comforting smile and patted the three girls’ head in succession… Before he realized what he doing… Bad hand… Why do you move by yourself?

“Yusis, do you think we should call Una then?” (Chie)

Yuuto nodded to Chie’s question so she also nodded as if she understood something. Stella was… Looking at the situation with rather overwhelmed expression. Well, Yuuto knew that she was weak for such kind of scene. Even if she put a harsh façade, her heart is quite kind and delicate. But, she would be mostly okay. She wasn’t a weak willed girl after all. Yuuto then turned towards the girls and put on a smile.

“As for you three… make sure everyone got potion and ration.” (Yuuto)

“Okay” (Mizuki)

“Alright” (Saki)

“*nod*” (Tsukimi)

“Sia, Stella, look after them alright?” (Yuuto)

“Yes.” (Chie)

“Yeah… yeah… leave the babysitting to me…” (Stella)

The three girls ran towards the Maids who were cooking the soup. Chie and Stella followed from behind. Yuuto then opened his Friend window and selected Kiyomi.

“*ring*ring*click* Hello, Dear Husband.” (Kiyomi)

Kiyomi soft and cheerful voice greeted Yuuto.

“About the situation in the village…” (Yuuto)

“Ah, I already know about it from Tat-chan and Lac-chan, Dear Husband.” (Kiyomi)

Well, since Kiyomi could receive telepathic communication from her summoned spirits, this was a given.

“Then, Mel, can you inform Una about the situation in the village and ask her to bring relief supplies and some of the Knights?” (Yuuto)

“As a matter of fact… wait a moment Dear Husband……… Okay, it had nice golden color. I’m sorry; let me continue again, as a matter of fact, I had informed Una-san just a moment ago. She will bring the necessary supplies, the people from medics and the engineer. Mitteherz and the Diplomatic Corps would also follow, also Lichkeit would also bring the entire Second Regiment with them. They would depart in 30 minutes and possibly reached the village at noon. I did the right thing, isn’t that right Dear Husband?” (Kiyomi)

“Yes. Thank you very much Mel. You helped me a lot.” (Yuuto)

“Hehehe…” (Kiyomi)

“Okay Mel. I have something else to do, so I will end this call.” (Yuuto)

“Un… Alright Dear Husband… I will be joining you later in lunch.” (Kiyomi)

Yuuto closed the phone call and observed the Maids and the girls, it seemed that the soup was still in the middle of cooking, and the girls had headed towards the makeshift-hospital. Then Yuuto noticed that a young boy, maybe 10-12 years old were sending him serious looks. Although he could be called as children, a short sword was tied on his waist. Yuuto could only make a wry smile looking at this.

“Hmmm… What is it young man.” (Yuuto)

“*foreign language* (gesture to Yuuto to follow him).” (Young Boy)

The boy repeatedly used his hand to gesture Yuuto as if to ask him to follow the boy. Yuuto thought there was no harm to follow him. Seeing that Yuuto following him, the boy started to walk away from the plaza while looking backwards to see if Yuuto still following him. Then they arrived at a rather big walled house, the boy opened the gate in the wall. Yuuto and the boy then were greeted by dozens of children and middle age women.

“*foreign language*” (Boy)

“*foreign language*” (Old Woman)

The boy started to talk with one of the older women. Then the other women swarmed in to join in the discussion. Yuuto was still conjecturing at what is going on, when he noticed the children there timidly observing him. Yuuto only showed a smile and then several children came and start barraging him with what seemed to be a question.

“*foreign language*” (Children)

Of course Yuuto didn’t understand a bit. Even so, the children looked interested to see his sword. So Yuuto showed his sword 『Yobel』 to them. The sword that had elaborate decoration on the hilt and sheathe attracted the children attention, after all it was coated in orichalcum so the aurora reflection from it was very pretty. Then the children dispersed as the women start to surround Yuuto.

“*foreign language*” (Woman A)

“*foreign language*” (Woman B)

“*foreign language* (point towards forest)” (Woman C)

The women seemed to say something to Yuuto with pleading tone and gesture, some even started to cry. Even if Yuuto recognize their emotion, he still didn’t know what they requested from him.

“I’m sorry I don’t understand (gesture to ear and then shook hands)” (Yuuto)

Yuuto said while gesturing in the middle of ruckus. The noises then died down, as one of the older women seemed to request the women to keep quiet. One of the women then took out something from her pocket, then the others followed suit.

“*foreign language* (showed a torn up girl’s clothes, point towards forest)” (Women D)

“*foreign language* (showed a realistic hand drawn picture of a family, pointed at a girl in the picture, point towards forest)” (Women A)

“*foreign language*” (Woman E)

“*foreign language*” (Old Woman)

The women started to show Yuuto paraphernalia for teenage girl or young women such as accessories, clothes, pictures, drawings, etc. Some even were begging at Yuuto’s feet while wailing. All the same, they pointed to the direction of the forest. Yuuto could more or less guess what happened in this place. The occasion was right too, so he was thankful for this.

“I see… I will do something about it. Don’t worry.” (Yuuto)

Yuuto pointed to himself and then towards the forest. Soon the women showed smile, and then they started to touch and rubbed Yuuto’s feet. Yuuto didn’t run away or do anything, since this maybe some of the custom in this place. Dealing with someone else without knowing the local norm was very awkward…

“*foreign language* Reski *foregn language*” (Woman A)

“*foreign language* Reski, reski.” (Woman E)

“Reski jureski.” (Woman C)

Yuuto then gestured that he would leave the place, the women keep following him and speak out “Reski” numerous times. When he reached the village central plaza, the Maids were distributing the soup together with the girls. The villagers originally didn’t form any lines however after being ‘ordered’ by Saki and Mizuki’s yelling they finally reigned down the villagers to form two neat line. While he was observing this, Gastrad came with two other knights.

“Report from scout, Lord Highness.” (Gastrad)

“Speak up, Gastrad.” (Yuuto)

“Third team found tracks of large group of people moving towards northwest.” (Gastrad)

Gastrad , together with the other knight, started to unfold large sized paper that showed the detailed topography map of the surrounding area. Yuuto was quite impressed by the speed of their map making. Gastrad pointed to an area of forest edge where an arrow was drawn to represent expected route. There were sign of numerous men, expected to numbering on 3 dozens or more. Not far away from the first sign of tracks, there were wheel marks as it followed a dirt road hidden among the trees.

“Thank you, Gastrad. Call Florea to meet me in the gate. Helmut, prepare the men at the gate. Heavy equipments and armaments authorized.” (Yuuto)

““Yes Lord Highness!”” (Knights)

The Knights kneeled and bowed before heading to accomplish Yuuto’s order. Just when Yuuto wanted to walk towards the village’s gate.

“Going somewhere?” (Chie)

Chie, suddenly stood beside Yuuto and asked him. He didn’t notice when Chie approached him, even so, it was not that surprising.

“Yeah, I’ll be going until noon, I need to clean the neighborhood a bit…” (Yuuto)

“……………Okay. Don’t be reckless. Be safe……” (Chie)

“You too, take care of the girls for me.” (Yuuto)

Yuuto patted Chie’s head and cat ears… before he noticed what he was doing…… Damn you unconsciousness!

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