"The small ones can probably hunt worms, and the bigger ones can hunt what, rats?" Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It would be good if they could bring one of those… Regardless, my lack of freedom continues to bother me. I suppose I could ask Father to take me outside of the village… but that would be weird since it would be the first thing I would say in this world. Mother is a worrywart, so asking her is out of the question as well. Using any kind of bird might be helpful if I am sneaky enough."

In the end, Gaius' genius came into play, and he found the best answer to the question: he just had to play dumb. He thought that he certainly deserved the Nobel prize for his ingenuity.

When his first chance arrived, Gaius focused his mind as he watched a group of birds passing above the village while screeching. Before they could get thirty meters away from his house, Gaius calculated their trajectory and current speed before he fired a magic bullet… While he had prepared his miss to fail a few times, instead of days, Gaius opened his eyes wide when his magic missile passing through the chest of the bird.

The creature Singing Bird has been added to your summoning list.

Singing Bird Lv 0 (00/1000)

Cost: 100 mana

Charge: 00

Summoning Bonuses: Wisdom +01

Loyalty:100/100

Health: 10/10

Mana: 10/10

Stamina: 20/20

Strength: 01

Endurance: 01

Adaptability: 03

Magic: 01

Resistance: 01

Wisdom: 03

Dexterity: 02

Perception: 02

Luck: 01

Free point: 00

To avoid suspicions, Gaius confirmed that his mother was busy working, and then he laid down on the floor of the house and pretended that he had fallen asleep. Soon enough, some people began to whisper around the village that a bird suddenly fell dead in the center of the village, and it would be suspicious if he decided to go to his room at such a moment.

"Putting that aside… Now that I think about it, the body of the creature still exists, so how can I summon it?" Gaius wondered. "Am I making a copy of them? It is also weird that I can summon or create a copy of something like a bird with so little mana. I didn’t think about that when I summoned insects, but…"

It seemed that after achieving his closest goal, Gaius now had some leeway to worry about some problems. Still, he soon shook his head and decided to rest for the day. He could summon the bird the next day and give the order to hunt.

On the next day, his mother mentioned that apparently, some sort of poisonous plants probably killed a bird on the previous day… It was weird how people came to that conclusion, but it was convenient for him. Didn't they see the hole in the chest? The answer was, who the hell cares? People in the village were free of worry.

Regardless, Gaius summoned the bird when he had the chance and made it go hunt. Unlike the ants, each time the experience of the animal increased, it was by ten points. That sure was progress… the bird also could find prey quite fast.

"Well, now, my next step shall be… I have no idea," Gaius thought. "Naturally, increasing the size of my army should be something that I should try every day, but I can't do that all the time. Maybe I should research how I can use mana in some other ways aside from firing it… and I also should try to keep targeting the birds since they gave me fifty points of experience. I don't like needlessly killing, but sacrifices need to be made, and if these birds can help feed the village, I shouldn't stop."

During the day, Gaius hunted the birds with his magic while trying to be as stealthy as possible… he didn't know if the birds were actually being used to feed the village, but at least he was trying to help.

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At night, he practiced the use of his mana… he tried to make a shield, but it didn't work. Gaius tried to reinforce his body, but it didn't work. Gaius tried to… it didn't work. He didn't even try, but it didn't work.

"I guess defensive and support spells are that hard to learn," Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Still, I am not in desperate need of them since my summons also works like support spells by buffing my parameters."

While Gaius was thinking about that, Kaira began to help him learn how to stand. Actually, he already could do that, and he was practicing how to walk, but he decided not to show that and take that pleasant surprise from his mother.

Speaking of mothers… Gaius had been watching the people of the village coming and going, but he didn't recall seeing kids younger than ten moving around, and they weren't even playing. They were working with their parents.

"I suppose that isn't my problem, but maybe it is a mystery that I need to solve…" Gaius thought. “It should be related to the origin of the village if anything.”

Speaking of mysteries, one day, while Gaius was looking for some birds to hunt, he heard a commotion, and then a large group of carriages and soldiers appeared and stopped in the middle of the village like they owned the place.

"They definitely aren't from here," Gaius thought.

Some guards of the village who weren't on duty approached to check the visitors, and they looked rather nervous. At the same time, Gaius saw from a distance his father and other guards coming from the east side of the village in a hurry. That was weird since they never returned in the middle of the day… Zairus also looked a bit pissed.

"Fufufu, I don't have time to speak with your lot," a tall man who had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and a rapier at his waist said. "Bring out your leader."

"We don't need one. We live here by cooperating with each other," Zairus said after he stepped forward.

"Well, if it isn't that nice?" The long-haired man said. "If you don't have a leader, I have one for you lot. Lord Ekirenton has claimed ownership over these lands after inheriting the title of lord of the area. You can obey him or leave. I will return in one week to hear your answer and follow my orders."

"We are hundreds of miles away from any lord territory. You can't come here and claim ownership of this place!" Zairus raised his voice while clenching his fists.

"And who is going to stop us?" The long-haired man asked. "None of the rulers closest to this place recognize this land as yours. You don't have an army; you don't have any affiliation. Again, who can stop us?"

After saying that, the group of soldiers left. Since they showed that they had more than fifty well-trained soldiers just to announce all that, it was clear that they had a proper army ready to come with them the next time.

"Well… that sure was something," Gaius thought when the whole village went silent for a while. "Hates goodness, check. Has an evil laugh, check. If he thinks that Undertale is overrated, then he is definitely a villain on my list."

The mood in the village got worse and stayed like that until the end of the day. Having no leader was nice in times of peace. It was even better when people could cooperate without someone ordering them, but in a situation like that, no one could take the reins and do what was necessary. Truth be told, Gaius didn't know what was right in that situation.

"I guess if they are the soldiers of the nearest lord, they must have been part of those that waged the war decades ago," Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Father and mother and everyone else ran away from that… couldn't they have gone even further east? I guess that would be further in demon territory."

When Gaius saw his father returning home, it didn't look like his parents knew what to do either. They were tired of wars since they lost too many families and friends in wars that other people started.

"Unfortunately, life is an endless battle that no one can truly run away from…" Gaius thought as he watched his parents at the dining table without knowing what to do or say. "I guess I need to do something about this, but what can I do when I am eighty percent bug catcher and just twenty percent bird catcher?"

Gaius' army still was lacking in all possible aspects… During the day, he considered giving the order to one of these summoned creatures to follow the long-haired guy and attack him once they had the chance, but that probably wouldn't work… The reason for that was the fact that the timing would be too suspicious. Not like any of them had enough strength to pull it off.

Putting that aside, Gaius wondered how strong an army of that world could be. As far as he saw earlier, it looked like people still hadn't developed firearms, but he saw some rather flashy weapons. The rapier gave a feeling of being a magic weapon, and since they are probably magic, that guy's strength should be the real deal.