Chapter 51 Gather

Chapter 51 Gather

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He couldn't take anything here for granted, even the water.

He pulled the grime off of his body and he seemed to feel better and better with every wipe. Soon, he was practically clean. Unfortunately, his pants were very much not. He was reluctant to put them back on.

At that moment, he heard footsteps to his back, and he sent a glance over.

A familiar woman—Olivia, if he recalled correctly—appeared. She didn't seem surprised to see Sylas, or maybe she wasn't surprised to see a person here and wasn't necessarily looking for him.

The woman's eyes were unruly, but Sylas didn't really care. She didn't really seem to be interested in him, but was rather trying to test if he would get antsy under her gaze.

He had seen women like this before. They tended to like pretending to be bold, but shying away at the idea of the actual act. If you pressed them, they would fold. She was most likely far more innocent than she let on.

He slicked his hair back and shook the water out.

"Olivia, is it?"

Olivia nodded.

"Nice to meet you."

Sylas tossed the cup back into the bucket and then bent down, sitting on the balls of his feet. He would just have to sacrifice this water to clean up his pants a bit, it seemed.

"What's your name?" She asked from behind, as though she didn't know. Honestly, she just wanted to see if there would be a response. If she was asking his name, then that meant Cassarae hadn't even bothered to talk about him. Maybe she could see something from him.

She was disappointed.

"Sylas."

"Mm," Olivia nodded. "I can give you a pair of pants if you want. It would just cost three coins."

"Sylas, are you sure that you don't need any armor? I can give you a set on loan."

Sylas shook his head. "No, it's not a problem. These pants were enough."

His answer was quite firm, so Cassarae didn't say anything else. Since he had made it so far, and he didn't seem to have any of the scars the others had, he should know what he was doing.

"Alright. Again, I wish you all success."

Cassarae watched them all leave, a hint of worry in her eyes.

This Gnoll Rudimentary Village wasn't the first they had cleared; it would be the third. The first had almost wiped out her militiamen and the advantages she gained were all wiped out, trading with the system for more.

There was a slight respite after the first time, so she was much more cautious the second time around and took her time. Unfortunately, the result was that, not long after clearing this second village, a third appeared.

Luckily, the destruction of the second village had given her a Quest Trigger reward, allowing her to recruit some help while still benefitting from the destruction of the village. It should have only called those with strength strong enough to complete this mission. But of the 16 spots she had, only four ended up being filled.

That meant something much more worrying than she wanted to admit.

That Quest Trigger reward only had a limited range of about 100 kilometers. That meant in this range, barring those that might have ignored her request...

These were the most powerful humans here.

That idea was daunting.

Soon, more and more of such humanoids would begin to appear and the danger would only increase.

The first month had been a grace period for her. The first Rudimentary Village appeared after that and she cleared it within a week, taking heavy losses. The second Rudimentary Village appeared a month and a half after that. She took almost three weeks to clear it, and then another one appeared soon afterward.

From six weeks to three weeks. Would the next only take a week and a half to appear? Or was it just a coincidence?

"City Lord," a voice came from Cassarae's side. It was an older woman, one who seemed to be in her fifties.