Chapter 30

After Tang Zheng left "E-Rantel" in the early morning, he followed the intelligence and crude map collected from the Adventurers' Guild.

He headed toward the northwestern border area, which belongs to the "Re-Estize Kingdom" and is closest to the Great Forest of Tob.

There was a place there called Carne Village.

This village.

It was a border village, yet it possessed a history of nearly a hundred years, though even with such a long history, it could not change the village's current state of poverty.

It was an existence in the kingdom that was completely inconspicuous and even ignored, yet in the anime, it ran through a series of plot points!

Of course.

This village was actually unrelated to various plot points and was more like a plot transit station.

"Waa waa!"

In the grass of a desolate small hill by the roadside, a goblin lying in the grass suddenly rushed out.

Tang Zheng cast a glance, drew the iron sword at his waist instantly, easily dodged the ambushing goblin with a sidestep, and simultaneously swung his arm to slash down.

Pfft!

The blade flashed!

The goblin let out a miserable shriek, and its body was slashed into two halves on the spot.

【Gained 30 experience】

Tang Zheng expressionlessly flicked the green blood stained on the iron sword and looked around, only to see 4 more goblins emerging from the grass.

"What troublesome creatures." Tang Zheng's thoughts stirred, and he spoke:

"Magic Arrow!"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

After consuming 5 points of magic, Tang Zheng consumed another 1 point of magic, creating 4 magic arrows in one breath and shooting them at the 4 goblins that appeared.

Four green blood flowers bloomed!

As the sound of them falling to the ground rang out, information appeared on the attribute panel.

【Gained 27 experience】

【Gained 25 experience】

【Gained 30 experience】

"About the same experience as wild beasts. I should be able to level up by the time I reach Carne Village. Leveling up is indeed quite fast in the early stages."

Tang Zheng walked up and cut off all the ears of the dead goblins. After all, goblin ears could be exchanged for money at the Adventurers' Guild.

This was no small amount of income.

During the rest of the journey.

Tang Zheng encountered a few more waves, though they were no longer just goblins, but also attacks from some small magical beasts.

Under such conditions, Tang Zheng finally arrived at a small village surrounded by wooden fences with wisps of cooking smoke at dusk.

Scanning it with his eyes.

Such defensive wooden fences basically had little blocking effect against the attacks of magical beasts in the forest!

And the fact that this Carne Village, which was very close to the Great Forest of Tob, had always existed without being destroyed by magical beasts was an interesting thing in itself.

Having encountered attacks from magical beasts from time to time along the way, Tang Zheng naturally felt this most acutely.

After leaving "E-Rantel," the number of magical beasts and goblins gradually increased, but the closer he got to Carne Village, the number of magical beasts actually decreased significantly.

This is because there are three major magical beasts in the Great Forest of Tob known as the "Forest Rulers"!

The Great Magical Beast of the Forest Ruler in the south—the Wise King of the Forest, Hamsuke.

The Eastern Giant of the Forest Ruler in the east—the Ogre, Go!

The Western Magic Snake of the Forest Ruler in the west—the Naga, Rururus!

These three existences could be said to jointly rule the entire Great Forest of Tob, and Carne Village was precisely in the territory of the Wise King of the Forest, Hamsuke.

This was also the reason why no magical beasts attacked Carne Village.

These three Forest Rulers were all around level 30, and the Wise King of the Forest, Hamsuke, had an even higher level; according to human terminology, they were all existences who had stepped into the realm of heroes.

But humans who were also in the realm of heroes could almost never be the opponents of the three Forest Rulers in a one-on-one situation!

This is the advantage of demi-humans or heteromorphic species.

Tang Zheng moved his gaze away from the gate of Carne Village and looked toward the not-so-distant, endless primeval jungle that was already visible to the naked eye.

His line of sight was blocked by towering, dense branches and leaves, and he could see nothing, yet Tang Zheng's eyes revealed solemnity and wariness. The truly terrifying thing in the Great Forest of Tob was not the three Forest Rulers!

It was an existence located in the deepest part of the forest!

200 years ago, one of the magical beasts that descended upon this world during the era of the 13 Heroes, the "Evil Tree," had a level as high as 85. Even back then, it was not completely destroyed, only sealed in the deepest part of the Great Forest of Tob.

When the anime plot began.

The reason Shalltear suddenly encountered the troops of the "Slane Theocracy's" strongest scripture, the "Black Scripture," and was even carrying the world-class item 【Downfall of Castle and Country】.

It was entirely because Shalltear was unlucky!

The true purpose of the "Black Scripture" carrying the world-class item was because the seal on the "Evil Tree" had begun to loosen.

They wanted to break the seal of the Evil Tree and incidentally use the world-class item 【Downfall of Castle and Country】 to control it, but they ended up encountering Shalltear.

This led to the two sides fighting for no apparent reason!

In the anime, it was only briefly mentioned, but in the light novel version, there was still some description.

The "Black Scripture" suffered heavy losses, and the human who used the world-class item was killed by Shalltear's desperate counterattack before she was controlled.

This is also why Shalltear, despite clearly being controlled, turned into a "wild monster"; it was entirely because the person who used 【Downfall of Castle and Country】 was already dead.

"Who are you!"

Suddenly, at the entrance of Carne Village, two middle-aged villagers holding steel forks appeared, looking wary and vigilant as they looked at Tang Zheng, who had appeared at the entrance of their village.

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"Excuse me, I am a traveler passing by the village, and I would like to stay the night here." Tang Zheng looked at the two and spoke softly while maintaining a gentle demeanor.

Hearing this.

The two villagers holding steel forks looked at each other; the wariness and vigilance in their eyes did not fade at all, but they first glanced in the direction behind Tang Zheng.

Discovering that it was only Tang Zheng, the expressions of the two villagers eased slightly.

"Wait a moment."

These two villagers clearly could not make a decision; one of them spoke to Tang Zheng, then turned and ran quickly toward the village.

Not waiting long.

The villager who had left brought back a man who looked to be about forty or fifty years old, with dark, rough skin all over and gray-brown hair.

Judging by the man's appearance, he should be the village chief of Carne Village.

After the village chief hurried over, he carefully sized up Tang Zheng, especially lingering his gaze on Tang Zheng's black hair.

"You are here to stay the night?" The village chief asked in a somewhat rough voice.

"That's right."

Tang Zheng nodded.

"Then please come in." The village chief did not ask any more questions and instead spoke quite readily.

This actually surprised Tang Zheng a little.

Carne Village was rarely visited by outsiders, except at the end of autumn when tax collectors and merchants buying herbs would come.

"Village Chief?"

The two villagers spoke with some surprise, clearly not expecting the village chief to agree so readily.

It was already dusk, and arriving at their village at this time clearly made the two villagers feel uneasy.

"These past one or two months are exactly when the magical beasts and wild beasts in the forest are at their most restless." The village chief sighed softly and opened the fence.

Hearing this.

The two villagers then realized that although their village was peaceful, the road to get here was not peaceful at all.

The fact that the other party could arrive here alone showed that his strength was extraordinary, and the village's wooden fence could not stop him at all.

And since the other party did not do so, it meant the black-haired youth had no malicious intent.

Thinking through this point.

The two villagers no longer had the wariness they had at the beginning.

Led by the village chief, Tang Zheng followed him into Carne Village.

(End of chapter)