Chapter 563 The Village’s New Security

Being faced with Andrea and having the option to end things peacefully, Marcus readily answered her questions.

“My name is Irene Geist, but you can just call me Irene. As for why I am here, it is because I was sent by the kingdom to help defend villages like this one. Though truthfully this is also close to my original home, and I have a number of friends here I came to check on.”

Unfortunately, when Marcus mentioned his name and who had sent him, Andrea’s demeanor which was closer to neutral, once again became hostile.

Of course, Marcus could easily figure out the reason since it was clear in her fights that she did not like the nobility of the kingdom.

“I see. So, the oh so mighty crown finally sent one of their nobility up here to help fight. Yet all they send is a single person to defend almost three dozen small towns and villages. I can see how much they care for the people up here.” Andrea said in a condescending tone.

Obviously, she was not impressed by Marcus who was a noble, and the kingdom’s lack luster response in her opinion.

“Well, you do not need to worry about this village. We are protecting it in return for a nice place to set up camp and some food. Our tribe is not like the kingdom. When we promise to protect someone, we follow through in full.”

“Now go ahead and shove off. We do not want the kingdom here, and already sent the meager six soldiers that had been stationed here packing.”

Sighing, Marcus could see that Andrea wanted to get rid of him as she wanted nothing to do with the kingdom..

Her tribe did not really answer to their authority and was normally nomadic, traversing the lower and mid areas of the Great Gome Woods.

However, with the recent outbreak of monsters and beasts, they had been forced out of the woods and had set up camp here in the village, mostly to take advantage of their food stores.

At the very least from what Marcus could see they were sincere in their promise to protect the village. He imagined they were likely the ones who put in the majority of the work to build the fence around this place, and they had responded to him with a decent amount of force that would have repulsed most beasts or monsters.

Still, he worried that the villagers might run out of food, and he at least wanted to check on everyone to make sure they did not need his aid in anyway.

“Sorry, I am afraid that I cannot just leave without first at least visiting the village chief.” Marcus said with a stern expression. “Honestly if this was any other village, I would be more than willing to leave without meddling, but as I said this place is close to where I used to live and I have a lot of friends here. Maybe you know about the small community that lived a few miles north of here. That is where I am from.”

Standing firm, Marcus was not going to back down even if Andrea tried to force him to leave.

Naturally she could see that from his expression and posture, and said, “Fine you can see the village chief. But I do not want to deal with the kingdom if I do not have to, so I would like it if you did not stick around too long.”

She then turned to the other beast people who were her followers and said, “Go back to your stations and keep a watch out for beasts and monsters. I will go inform the others that we have a visitor who will be leaving soon, but not to mess with her while she is here.”

As Andrea turned around and walked away. There was visible confusion on their faces since they had never seen their leader act like this.

Normally she would chase off anyone connected to the kingdom, and she was known to give any nobles a good beating before sending them packing.

When they had first gotten here, she ran the soldiers out of the village, and they pretty much took over like they owned the place.

But now she was letting this noble, and one sent by the kingdom no less, to go about as they pleased.

This was very far from her character, and they could not understand why she was doing this.

Though the reason was actually very simple. She did not want to fight with Marcus.

She had seen how strong he was during the kingdom’s tournament, and honestly even though she had gotten a bit stronger since then. She was unsure if she could even win against how he was back then, and especially did not like her chances now that he had gotten stronger as well.

‘It will be better to not fight. Just let her go about her business and wait for her to leave.’ Andrea thought as she headed off to tell the others of her tribe about Marcus’ appearance.

‘Well now that everything is cleared up. I should go check in with the village chief and leave some supplies here, before heading over to see that captain in Norr Village.’

Walking through the paths that had been cleared through the snow, Marcus headed right for the village chief’s house.

He not only wanted to make sure that the nomadic tribe led by Andrea was not mistreating them, but to also to make sure they had enough to eat.

From the number of yurts he had seen set up around the village, he could guess that there were anywhere from thirty to fifty people in Andrea’s tribe, and that meant a number of more mouths to feed when food was already scarce.

As he walked through the village, he noticed that a lot of the houses had been upgraded with thicker doors, and the windows also had new shutters that closed tight and looked pretty sturdy.

Though what was the most surprising was the main hall where the villagers gathered for celebrations.

It was now outfitted with its own fence that was even taller and stronger than the one around the village and was likely meant to be a shelter in case a beast or monster broke in.

Still, Marcus was a bit suspicious about all of this since honestly the village did not have enough to pay for all of these defenses.

‘I will just need to ask the chief and find out exactly what is going on.’

When he arrived at the village chief’s house, it was clear it had also been upgraded in its sturdiness.

Knocking on the door, Marcus waited for an answer, and within just a few seconds Amos the chief’s son opened the door.

Looking at him, Marcus was surprised by the change in his appearance.

He had bulked up quite a bit and had a number of scars on his body. Not to mention when Marcus appraised him, he found that Amos had reached level eighteen which was quite a bit higher than he had been before.

Though as much as Marcus was surprised to see Amos’ new appearance, he was just as surprised to see Marcus here.

“Would it be alright if I came in, Amos?” Marcus said after Amos just stood there for a few seconds.

Shacking off his daze, he said, “Ah yes, please come in.”

Getting out of the doorway, Amos let Marcus in and quickly closed the door behind him to keep the heat in.

Once inside Marcus could see that a large fire was crackling in the fireplace and was providing warmth for the house.

“Sorry about dropping by all of a sudden, but I heard about what was going on here and had to come and make sure that all of you are safe. Though it seems that you have a new security force from what I have seen.”

“Now I have a lot I need to discuss with your father, do could you get the chief for me?” Marcus asked.

However, Amos shook his head, and said, “My father is currently asleep, so it will be best if you speak with me. Anyway, he has retired now from the position of chief and passed it on to me.”

Hearing this Marcus was a bit shocked, since he figured the old chief was going to stick it out until he died.

“Well congratulations are in order then. I am sure that you have been and are going to continue to be a good chief.”

After saying this Marcus sat down on the couch in the living area and Amos took the chair to the right of it.

“So first I need to ask about your arrangement with Andrea and her tribe. Are they forcing you into it, and are they taking advantage of the village? They said what they get out of the deal is food and a place to stay, but is that really all?” Marcus said with a concerned expression.

Sighing, Amos leaned back and thought long and hard about what to say.

“Yes, I suppose that they have forced us into this arrangement. They kicked out the soldiers that had been posted here by the kingdom and set up camp after coercing me to give my permission. However, I cannot say that the arrangement has been bad. They have stayed true to their word in protecting us, and even helped fortify the entire village. Since they have come here, we have not had anymore deaths from beasts or monster attacks, and the people feel safe.”