Dungeon Defense (WN)

“…….”

Riff, huh? That’s a name I wasn’t expecting to hear.

I was suddenly struck with regret.

Riff of Jalsen Village, how could I have forgotten about him? Not only was he the leader of the first adventurer party I defeated, but he was the first person I met in this world.

“……Tell me exactly how many villages allied with the adventurers.”

“Five villages, O Great Being. They all possess their own civilian militia.”

“Those guys have been threatening us however they want!”

An entirely different voice spoke up. The voice belonged to a young man with overwhelming muscles. He gave me a slight bow. His tan, upper body was completely revealed since he was topless. His eyes were filled with vigor.

“I apologize for interrupting! However, I believe that this conversation will take all day if we leave the talking to this old man. This humble one will explain the rest.”

“This old man is the leader of a village. Do you have the qualifications to take his place?”

“I may be young, but I am also a village chief.”

Seeing as none of the other envoys spoke up, he was most likely speaking the truth. Once I turned to gaze at the old man, he let out a sigh and took a step back. The young man stepped forward and took the old man’s place.

“Your Honor! The reason why a youngster like myself even became a village chief is because of those adventurer bastards. They’ve been visiting villages with those civilian militias and they would ask the villagers to join them. My father, the original chief of our village, immediately refused them.”

The young man gnashed his teeth.

“And those bastards immediately cut off my father’s head. Your Honor, do you understand what I’m trying to say? If we refuse, then our heads will have to say goodbye to our bodies, and if we accept, then we would have to risk our lives to fight against Your Honor as a village that doesn’t even remotely have a noteworthy civilian militia. There are no good options.”

“O Great Being…….”

The old man who was talking before bowed.

“Please forgive this humble lad. He is uneducated, so his words are a little crass, but he is by no means ill-natured.”

“Why are you being like that, old man? Is the way you talk really important right now?”

“Fool! You simple baboon!”

The old man shouted at a volume I had no idea his throat was capable of creating.

“One must always be courteous when addressing a person of a higher standing!”

“Hmph. I don’t know what courtesy is and no one has taught me about it, but there is one thing that I do know, though.”

The man looked at me with blazing eyes.

“The situation we are currently in is incredibly crucial to Your Honor as well. Since this is the case, isn’t it a good thing that we made our way here hastily in order to tell Your Honor about this matter? Acting for the sake of others is the greatest courtesy, is it not? You really are narrowminded, old man.”

“This barbaric boy!”

I clicked my tongue in my head. The young and old man were arguing about an antiquated topic. Personally, the discussion was rather interesting and I did want to listen to the man talk a little longer, but this wasn’t the time or place for that. I raised my right hand.

━ Thud.

Thirty golems all stomped at the same time. The envoys stumbled once the ground shook abruptly. Some of them even fell over. They looked at me in a panic.

“How dare you have an unpermitted argument before me.”

“My apologies!”

“Please forgive us, O Great Being!”

The group of almost 20 envoys all got on their knees at the same time.

“It is only natural that one should be courteous. It is also correct that the situation should be conveyed quickly due to its urgency. From what I can see, young village chief, it would be too much to ask of you to be courteous as you have never been educated on the matter. Therefore, I will allow you to omit this courtesy today.”

“I knew I could get through to you, Your Honor!”

The man shot up. Sheesh, he’s more like an animal than a human. I let out a mental sigh before continuing.

“Nevertheless, it was wrong of you to have rebutted your senior when he gave you a reasonable piece of advice. Before deliberating further on the situation, give a formal apology to the older gentleman first.”

“H-Huh?”

The man’s face contorted as if he genuinely didn’t want to do that.

“Uhm, Your Honor. This humble one is also a village chief by name.”

“Allow me to kindly teach you a single piece of etiquette. Do not make me repeat myself. If you make me needlessly repeat my words, then I will make you pay the appropriate price.”

I didn’t want to overlook this. I didn’t like the way the old man explained things either. He would only answer my questions and wouldn’t tell me anything else on his own. The young man’s opinion was right. I currently didn’t have the time to go along with that kind of conversational method.

Nonetheless, if I take the young man’s side here, then the pecking order among the village chiefs would get messed up. The old man was most likely elected as the representative of the envoys because he was the oldest. Therefore, age is a traditional standard that has been determined tacitly among them. If that standard collapses, then it’s obvious that these village chiefs would have no idea who to pick as their representative and how to make compromises. They’ll then harbor hatred towards me for creating that disorder.

I acknowledge what they accept as their standard for prestige. This is why I ordered the man to apologize. Nevertheless, I felt like the young man would give a better explanation, so I planned to make him speak. I guess you could say that I’m both profiting and getting a justification from this.

“Uhm……I’m sorry, old man.”

“Tsk.”

I raised my right hand. Another thud shook the earth. The man seemed to immediately pull himself together as soon as it did since he promptly groveled before the old man.

“I apologize for speaking so crassly. I will not do so from now on.”

The old man happily accepted his apology. The ordeal must have been putting a lot of pressure on the old man. He had a grateful expression on his face once I helped him preserve his honor.

I didn’t do this for his sake, but there was no need for me to correct his misunderstanding. The other envoys behind him were also nodding their heads in satisfaction. Notifications that their affection had increased appeared before me. This was proof that I had made the right choice.

“Now then, proceed with the explanation which you seemed to be so confident about, young village chief.”

“Ehem. As this humble one had said earlier, some piece of trash named Riff is leading the adventurer party and the civil militias. Putting them all together, they have roughly more than seventy people. Your Honor, I don’t know if you’re aware, but it would be difficult for even soldiers to suppress seventy well-trained warriors.”

“If a group of seventy people travels together, then provisions should be a difficult matter to handle.”

I looked upward.

These villages managed to survive despite being threatened by a combat group of more than seventy people. They chose to not fight against me as well. It’s obvious what this means. They had to provide them with something as a price for being spared.

“What did you do?”

“We offered them food. They said that it was our lives on the line or our wheat, so we had no other choice. We came here to also apologize about that as well.”

The envoys all groveled again. They started to plea and apologize.

I wasn’t interested in something like that. I didn’t want to reprimand them for offering their food in order to save their villages. These guys aren’t my vassals and their villages aren’t a part of my territory. Simply coming here to apologize and inform me about this matter was enough for these people to be considered loyal to me. It would probably be fine if I just scare them a little and send them back. The village chiefs most likely know this as well.

We were loyal to our duties.

Thus, even if you come out victorious in your battle against the adventurers, please do not punish us. We had our own reasons as to why we had to provide the other side with provisions.

These envoys chose the best possible option for their villages. In other words, they found a way to survive whether the adventurers won or I won. What would happen if I intimidated them more than necessary here? Their demeanors are telling me that they’ll threaten to betray me and also join forces with the adventurers. This is a simple business deal.

“…….”

What drew my eyes weren’t the envoys who were alluding to an illicit exchange, but the young man. Only the young man didn’t bow and continued to stand brazenly.

He spoke up before I could question him.

“Allow me to be honest. I seriously don’t like our current situation.”

“Y-You insolent fool!”

The old man was struck with dismay.

“Ah, old man. Can you be quiet for a second? I don’t like these kinds of ploys.”

“What are you talking about……?”

“Stop. Let me talk first, okay? Just listen to me! After handing over the wheat we worked our asses off all year to harvest, we came here to tell His Honor about what has been happening. You guys think you did the smart thing by doing this, but I think differently!”

The young man looked at the other envoys.

“Let’s say that we defeat those adventurers. Will it end there? Do you think the civilian militia that was made with an alliance of five villages will simply disperse? Those bastards already made us their bitches once. Damn it, they took the wheat they didn’t even harvest themselves! They already had a taste of being able to do ‘something like this’ with a group of 70 people. Do you think they’ll just disperse or do you think they’ll keep taking advantage of us?”

I was somewhat surprised. He did so before, but he crassly pointed out what was important.

I might need to use my <Acting> skill. I activated the skill in my mind before waiting for the perfect moment to speak.

“This is undeniable! Did we not become accustomed to this kind of behavior before? It’s what those wretched lords would do to us all the time. What we’re doing right now is no different from bringing up another one of those lords ourselves.”

“…….”

“They have broken our rule to not invade the other villages! We must punish those who have broken the rules. Do you understand? If we don’t want to become pushovers, then we must put an end to those bastards. With this in mind, would it be a good idea for us to work together, or to work together with His Honor?”

The village chiefs turned to look at each other. They had astonished looks on their faces, but it was clear that they were trying to figure out which option would benefit them more.

“I don’t know where you guys are using your years on. If His Honor were to win, wouldn’t we still be in a bad situation? We revealed that we’re a bunch of rats that had teamed up with both sides, so would His Honor trust us? I’m certain that we’ll one day have to pay the price.”

“Kuhahaha!”

I laughed loudly. The young man and the envoys all focused their gazes on me.

“Young village chief, tell me your name.”

“I-It’s Parsi.”

He answered me in a somewhat terrified tone. I grinned widely.

“Parsi, I thought you were only a runt who did not know manners, but it seems I had underestimated you slightly. That is right. You guessed correctly. I intend to make you all pay for this; however, you are wrong about one thing, young village chief.”

“W-What is it?”

“I am not going to make you pay the price after I have dealt with the adventurers. I am going to make you pay the price before. Cutting the enemy forces’ supply line is one of the most basic of basic strategies. I learned that you are the ones providing them with provisions, so why would I not take care of you all first!? I will run them dry by annihilating your villages first!”

The old envoys’ faces became pale. They began to plea for mercy again. I paid them no mind as I continued to speak over their heads.

“Cease. You have only two choices. You can either assist me or join the adventurers and become another one of my enemies. Decide now!”

“O-O Great Being……! Even if we were to s-submit to you……we have no way to protect our villages from our immediate threat!”

The old village chiefs trembled.

“We……We beg for your kindness……!”

“Do not worry. Did you think I would simply make you act as arrow cushions?”

Since I had threatened them with death, I have to offer them a way to survive now.

“T-Then?”

“Vow that you will assist me. I will then kindly show you all a bright future.”

I grinned twistedly.

***

TL note: Thanks for reading the chapter! I hope you guys are all doing well during these, uh, tough times. Albeit, it mustn’t be that bad since everyone is just being told to stay at home. I’d be happy if these online classes didn’t take hours of my time to finish.

In any case, I’ll try to maintain this pace while doing my assignments. I’ll see you guys in the next release.