Esperanza pitched in to help as they continued their journey to the village the next day.

Neither Eda-Zil nor Kvar-Litu realized what happened while they slept in the night, but Adan-Zil made sure to brief them in the morning. Since Esperanza saw no more reason to hide what she could do, she told Dali and Gordy to hunt for edible animals while they moved towards the village. Within an hour, the stretcher used by the natives to carry their food had been loaded with twice as many animal carcasses as what they originally had.

There was so much on the stretcher that Adan-Zil had to join in to help the youths drag the stretcher, and even then they only really managed to move it because Esperanza discreetly helped support the weight from below. She also recalled Dali and Gordy – both of whom clearly took the chance to have some snacks while they hunted – to her side as they continued on their journey.

Sometimes one or the other, and on occasion, both, dogs would veer off into the forest, usually followed a short moment later by a faint yelp of some forest creature that was likely attracted by the bloody scent of all the carcasses on the stretcher. As a result, while Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu were somewhat unnerved by the bouts of violence that happened not too far away from them, they made the trip back to the village unbothered.

“Our village,” said Adan-Zil just after they crested a small rise in the terrain. The small village he pointed to was located right in the nook of a river’s delta, where two small rivers merged together into a larger one. Esperanza saw the palisades that surrounded the village, as well as the relatively bustling activity of the inhabitants inside.

Her [Gaze Unto the Abyss] allowed her to identify the distant figures just fine, though. The results she got were slightly on the depressing side. The vast majority of the villagers were either second tier or at most, early third tiers. There were a few children and youngsters around still in their first tiers, but other than Adan-Zil, the next most powerful person she noticed in the village was an older guard who was a [Farmer’s Child Lvl20/Novice Militia Lvl20/Veteran Militiaman Lvl10].

There were a few elders who had high third tier levels, but their classes were not anything that could be considered combative in any way. Given the obvious discrepancy between classes meant for combat and not, chances are those elders would be of little to no help if some beasts were to attack the village. A couple of the youngsters who had [Novice Militia] or [Novice Hunter] as their second tier class would likely do better in that regard.

While they were pretty far away from the village still, and it would obviously be harder to notice their four figures on the small rise through the trees, compared to them noticing the village, it was still rather discouraging that none of the guards who patrolled the walkways of the palisades noticed them at all. It was only when they were already halfway to the village that someone noticed.

At first, Esperanza worried that her unannounced presence might cause some trouble for Adan-Zil. Generally isolated villages like these didn’t like it when some of their people brought strangers home with them. Her worries were alleviated when she noticed the welcoming party that streamed out of the gate to welcome them, however, as they were not only composed of most of the village’s elders, but also immediately prostrated themselves before her.

Much like what Adan-Zil did during their first meeting.

As a result, Esperanza was forced to spend the next few minutes coaxing those elders to stop them from prostrating so much in her presence. She honestly felt uncomfortable with such blind obeisance given by people she had never met before, and thus made it clear to them that all the bowing and scraping were to stop unless they wished to piss her off. That finally got the elders to rise and guide her into the village proper.

During the short walk, Esperanza took her time to look over the inside of the village. The village within the palisades itself was as simple as it got. Huts and hovels made from wood, mud, and dried leaves were what the villagers used for accommodation. Their proximity to the rivers meant that they had no shortage of water supply, while most of the land not occupied by a hovel or a hut were cultivated with several kinds of vegetables and grains growing on them. It was clearly a place where function took precedence over form, and every little bit of value was eked out.

Another thing that caught her attention was just how varied the people that lived in the village actually were. When she had met the three hunters, she thought all their people would look like them, but that turned out not to be the case at all. Instead, there were people from what seemed like four or five distinct races living together in the village.

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There were a few normal humans, which she easily recognized. The others looked more like the fantasy races she had read in books, however. Some people were slender and tall, almost like a basketball player who got stretched even more vertically, with long, pointed ears. Others were short but very wide – easily as broad as they are tall – and so hairy she almost mistook them for some sort of great ape at first sight.

Another kind had skin that ranged from greenish or yellowish to brownish, which seemed to come in two varieties. Some are around human-sized, but notably larger and bulkier, with prominent tusks jutting out from their lower lips. The others are even smaller than the hairy short folk, with more slender bodies and less brutish look. She was not sure if the two kinds were the same race of people or not.

Most of the villagers, however, exhibited features from multiple of those folks at the same time, like Adan-Zil and his two apprentices. Given the situation, Esperanza could only think of the obvious reason for such a mixture of features. Namely that all the races that composed the village must be capable of interbreeding somehow, despite the notable differences between them.

Then again, she was also incarnated as some sort of eldritch abomination in a different world with a game-like system by a group of gods that asked her to destroy the world and might or might not have already gone completely insane for all she knew, so who was she to call that a strange thing?

The village elders – or at least she guessed them to be ones serving that sort of role, given their generally advanced ages and high levels – led her to the largest building in the village, a house that was mostly built with wood, with dried leaves woven to form its slanted roof. There the elders bid for her to take the one seat in the house, on an upraised dais of sorts, while they sat cross-legged on the floor instead.

Esperanza immediately noticed that none of the youngsters other than Eda-Zil and Kvar-Litu – both of whom had been freed of their burden by many other youngsters who took away the carcasses to be cleaned and prepared – had followed into the building. She wondered if it was because they met her first, or for some other reason. Fortunately the oldest-looking man in the room, one of the normal humans, answered her questions soon afterwards.

“We, the elders of this humble village of Navef, greet the honored messenger of the Deities of Yore,” said the old man as he once again prostrated himself so low his forehead touched the floor. Fortunately he lifted himself from the position a moment later before Esperanza could get angry at him. “This humble one is Avec-Litu. I gratefully thank the honored messenger for deigning to visit our humble village, and for having forgiven what transgressions our youths might have committed by accident in your august presence.”

“Avec-Litu, huh? Any relations to Kvar-Litu over there?” she asked in turn. So far the people she met seemed to use that second part of their name like a family name, so it hinted at some relation between the elder and the youth.

“That one is this humble one’s grandson, honored one,” replied the elder as he gave her another bow of obeisance. The old man seemed somewhat afraid of her. Hell, all the elders looked at her with equal parts worship and trepidation, other than Adan-Zil and the two youths who had accompanied her for the past day or so. Clearly she needed him to tell the others about her more. “This one hoped that he had been of use to the honored one.”

“I see. He had done a satisfactory job,” replied Esperanza politely to the old man, which made him let out a long sigh of relief at her words. As far as she could tell, the old man was either a very good actor or just wore his feelings on his sleeve. Given how Adan-Zil and the two youths had acted similarly, she assumed that it was likely that the villagers happened to be particularly open, honest sorts. “I would like to stay in your village temporarily and observe your way of living. Would that be fine?”

“Certainly! Most certainly, honored one! We would be greatly honored to host your presence in our humble abodes!” said Avec-Litu with haste, a broad, genuine smile of joy spreading on his lips. It was as if Esperanza had just told him that he won the lottery or something. “Does the honored one have any other bequests for this humble one to consider?”

“No, that should be all. Thank you for your hospitality,” said Esperanza politely. She had expected for one of the elders to maybe point a residence out for her, but to her surprise they stood up and started to file out from the room instead. As such, she called out with some haste. “Adan-Zil, can you stay a moment? I have a few more questions for you.”

“Yes, honored one,” replied Adan-Zil with a bow while the rest of the elders and the two youths left the building, leaving only Adan-Zil, Esperanza, and her dogs – comfortably nested around her feet as usual – behind. “How may I be of aid?”

“Tell me why all those elders look so worried and scared of me,” she said. “I saw how they have the same worshipful attitude you had when we first met, but they also seemed far more afraid than you had been back then.”

“Forgive this humble one’s words, honored one, but belief in the teachings have been… sorely tested in the past couple generations of this village,” admitted Adan-Zil with an apologetic bow. “We had lived in this forest for many generations, from the times of our ancestors. While we passed on the old beliefs from father to child, in the generation before mine the practice had started to waver. Some had argued back then that we ought to renounce the old ways and try to integrate to the rest of the world instead.”

“... Let me guess. Your village was assaulted by a horde of beasts that drove you away and you took that as a sign that the Deities of Yore were displeased?”

“That was what the elders of the time believed, honored one. When we were driven further outward again and again, many believed that to be continued punishment for our failings,” explained the old hunter. “As such, some of the elders were torn. Some believed that we must have paid enough for our sins already, while others feared more punishment to come.”

“And then I showed up and they were unsure if it’s a pardon or an execution they were staring at, no es así?”

“That is so, honored one.”

Esperanza couldn’t help but sigh exasperatedly at the answer she got.