CH 34

It didn’t take Ayra long to realize that the atmosphere in the village seemed solemn. Walking along the roads, he encountered a sobbing woman surrounded by people trying to comfort her. As he moved closer, the young lord saw several dazed people lying prone on the ground. His steps naturally accelerated–something bad had definitely happened in this village.

Right at this moment, someone called out to Ayra. Two villagers approached the young lord, wary at the sudden appearance of an outsider. They had shovels in their hands, their faces were haggard, and appeared openly hostile. “Who are you? Why have you come here?”

Seizing this fortuitous chance, Ayra asked politely, “Ah, I’m someone dispatched from the Lord’s castle. Something seems off in this village, did something distressing happen?”

Their response was very enthusiastic and exuberant. The villagers, with all wariness wiped from their faces, looked pleased and dragged Ayra into the fold. “Ah, really?! You were dispatched by the Lord? Aigoo, 1 what a relief. Let’s gather our village elders first. This way, please.”

Ayra was guided forward and followed the villagers; Pebble, which usually hid on Ayra’s body, traveled to the back of his hand and manifested a new system window.

<Quest!>

[Let’s save the citizens in crisis.]

*Rescued citizens (0/9)

Reward: the Merchant’s return, Rising support

This quest window really reminded the young lord of a game. Though, if this reality were really a game, its ratings would definitely be at rock-bottom…

First of all, the merchant, fortunately, seemed to be physically alright, since his return was a reward for this quest. After walking for about 10 minutes, they finally arrived at their destination–the village outskirts. Ayra’s face hardened as he took in his surroundings.

‘Just as expected, the avalanche hit here too.’

Ayra could see villagers desperately calling out names as they shoveled futilely at the vast blanket of snow on the ground. It was clear that there were people buried underneath. The denizens that guided Ayra here shouted out and rushed to an old man. “Revered elder! Revered elder! Someone from the Lord’s castle came here!”

At that shout, the people that were shoveling so hard their faces turned dark red from the bite of the cold turned their gazes towards Ayra. When they heard that the young mage was a delegate, their faces brightened for a brief moment. However, their expressions soon darkened once more after they took in Ayra’s slender appearance.

The old man rushed to give his greetings, but Ayra cut him off, “What happened here?”

At first glance, it seemed like an emergency–there must be villagers buried alive by the snow. However, it would be better to hear a brief explanation before moving forward.

According to the elder, a huge avalanche had recently buried the village and killed many residents. In order to recover goods and materials alongside the bodies, the villagers had been trying to clear away snow and rubble whenever they had the chance.

And, three hours earlier, a deafening roar had sounded out. Everyone evacuated in a hurry, but nothing happened, so they went back to work, relieved. Unfortunately, what the roar heralded was a delayed avalanche, and many folks were swept away.

‘So, many people have already been crushed to death?’

Why was the return of the merchant reward for the quest? Ayra’s face froze as he checked the quest window again.

<Quest!>

[Let’s save the citizens in crisis.]

*Rescued citizens (0/8)

Reward: the Merchant’s return, Rising support

He was sure the quest stated that there were 9 people to save earlier, but that number had dropped by one during the short walk here. Even now, the people were likely to be dying by the minute. Even though the residents were shoveling hard at the snow, the expanse was just too vast. They couldn’t figure out exactly where the folks were buried.

‘My search magic cannot cover such a wide range, and it’ll be hard to keep it activated for a long time… But I’ll try to save at least one person for now.’

With that thought, Ayra stepped forward and paused.

‘Wait, do I really need to use search magic?’ Doesn’t he have magic that’s more efficient and versatile? He needed something that he could sustain for a long time… He had delayed his level up quest for this exact scenario–his choice of reward stats was clear.

Ayra immediately pulled up the elder’s stat window.

<Ijolie Sears>

HP: ???

MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

Magic Attack: ???

Affection: 17 <3

“Hurry, hurry–please contact the castle. We need more people to clear the snow.” The impatient elder stomped his feet and urged the young mage.

Ayra raised his hands to stop him. There were five seconds left now. “Yes, of course. Please wait one moment.”

“Aigoo, every minute and second counts–we’re short hours right now! 2 We can’t afford to procrastinate here!”

As the frustrated village elder knocked on his chest impatiently, Ayra maintained the elder’s stat window for the necessary five seconds. A notification window popped up before his eyes.

<Quest Complete!>

[Let’s open another stat category.]

*Accumulated Stat Window Use time (12/12 hours)

*Check two stat windows simultaneously (100/100)

*Check three stat windows simultaneously (30/30)

Reward: Open one stat category designated by the User.

[GM spirit is now level 3!]

[Please choose which stat to reveal as your quest reward.]

Though a list of reward stat categories had appeared, Ayra made his selection without giving it a single glance.

‘HP!’

First, he had to save the survivors who needed emergency care—and he could sort them in order of increasing health. For these means, the HP stat was the most useful category.

It took a long while to load the specified number of stat windows–made even more difficult by the fact that the area was larger than the young lord’s field of view. As the stat windows popped up in groups of 2 and 3, Ayra’s complexion became somewhat gray as an incomparable amount of mana had been sucked away from his reserves.

[Loading…]

The people shoveling the snow gradually adopted fiercer expressions, for the supposed representative from the Lord’s castle seemed to be simply looking around. Ignoring their sharp gazes, Ayra silently waited with his arms folded across his chest.

As time passed, someone finally could not suppress his rage any further. The man threw away his shovel and stomped towards the young lord, right as the stat windows finished loading.

Eight stat windows popped up over the vast snow field.

“Hey! Why are you just looking around? If you’re not going to help, get out of here!” The villager, charging up with a pointed finger, suddenly hesitated. He hadn’t expected Ayra to suddenly move and pick up the shovel he had thrown away. The young mage walked towards the stat window only he could see.

<Sansara>

HP: 7

MP: ???

Physical Attack: ???

Magic Attack: ???

Affection: 21 <3

While the other denizens at least had HP in the double digits, Sansara’s had already fallen to the single digits. A clumsy maneuver with the shovel had dropped it further down to a meager 6. Ayra urgently beckoned at the villagers, “There’s someone buried here! Come and dig them out!”

“……!”

Surprised at those words, the villagers rushed in with their shovels. They moved very swiftly–as befitting those who’d lived in a snowy area all their lives. At approximately the 1-meter mark, someone’s pale–almost blue–face appeared.

A cacophony of cheers and sobs rang out, “Sansara! Sansara, wake up!”

“Wait a moment, we’ll get you out right now!”

Fortunately, once the villager’s face was exposed, their HP was able to recover a little as they were no longer deprived of oxygen. Therefore, it was possible to rescue them safely. However, seven more denizens were still buried. Ayra compared the rate at which the survivor’s HP fell and designated the next rescue target. This one was urgent as well–their HP was at 16.

“Who’s the best at shoveling?” The young lord shouted, “Please, quickly get over here!”

The denizens, doubtful yet hopeful, dug at the spot Ayra pointed to and followed along without another word. A glimmer of hope appeared on the denizens’ frozen faces. Ayra clicked his tongue at the sight of their desperate shoveling.

‘If I hadn’t dallied, would I have been able to save at least one more person?’

Ayra suddenly felt a pang of remorse over the death of that ninth villager, but he soon shook that thought off. There’s nothing he could do about those who had already died. They had to concentrate on those who were still living.

‘But, it’s strange. How are these people still so full of life?’

There were only three people left to rescue. However, those people somehow still had HP in the triple digits. Furthermore, unlike the others who could be reached without much shoveling, these people were buried deeply and required much more than a minute of digging.

Soon afterwards, Ayra realized something. “No way…the people who were supposedly buried a while ago are still alive?”

It wasn’t luck that the current surviving residents–those the villagers had already dug up–were found after a little bit of shoveling. In fact, while digging deeper into the snow, they found the bodies of the deceased.

However, to think that the people, including the merchant, that were buried about a week ago were still alive…

TL: HP is our next stat opened! Honestly, I would have been impulsive and opened a stat as soon as I got the reward rather than waiting to see what stat would have been most useful. I guess that’s why I should definitely not transmigrate–among other things like no internet!!!