Chapter 140. Back in the Stone Kingdome

Days have passed, and we split the group a long time ago, Froggy arrived at the Clan celebrating their reunion and getting some rest, while I was still on the road.

I tried to offer a brake to my group as well since we were thousands of blocks away from the outpost and they didn't have horses to catch up with us.

Even if they did, I don't think they would've sent a big force after us since I did a lot of damage to their homes.

The Ravagers were out, three mansions half burned, and who knows how many soldiers I killed with my fireworks.

They need some time to lick their wounds, they can't just charge after us.

But they wouldn't take on the offer, even though they were even more tired than me, the rush of them finally being free seemed to give them strength even after days had passed.

It wasn't all happiness though, as some villagers had a mental breakdown from time to time, mostly happened when we settled for the night.

Some still believe they're dreaming right now, and are afraid to wake up.

And the worst part is, that most of them don't have families or friends anymore since they were the survivors of a pillaged village, they were simple farmers living at the edge of the border, and they have suffered a lot for it.

Those people needed help, and unfortunately, I wasn't equipped to do that, but that doesn't mean I don't have an idea on how I could help them.

While the Stone Kindome lost a lot of its resources and people when the Zombie Lord attacked, that doesn't mean they would turn down a few refugees, I'll make sure of that myself.

Unfortunately, I could only help the people that were native to the Stone Kingdom, since I didn't intend on going to the Sandstone Kingdom anytime soon and I also don't know if their political fight got resolved.

Surprisingly there were also a few people from the Coral Kingdom, they were better than the other's since they had a higher level on crafting which meant they were very valuable to the Piligers, so they got a better treatment.

All of them wanted to get back home to their business, but If I ever wanted to visit that place I was welcome at their shops, which I would keep in mind for later.

But as we were galloping on our horses, I started to notice something peculiar, those trees and valleys seemed familiar.

We were close to Bobby's village!

10 minutes later, as I expected, there was a huge wall made of wood in our way.

Everyone stopped and looked at the wall with confusion and fear.

We were far away from the big cities, and they don't remember a new one being developed so close to the borders.

Was this another outpost filled with Piligers?

"Halt! Who are you and what's the purpose of your group."

A voice was heard on top of the wall, which caught everyone's attention, and to their relief it was a normal human.

"Hi there it's me, Trader! I'm with a group of refugees here and want to stop for a night, do you think we can do that?"

I yelled back while taking off my diamond helmet for my face to be seen.

"Sir Trader! Of course you can, you and your friends are always welcome here!"

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and looked surprised at me for knowing so many people, and what respect they gave me as well.

But I was tired of explaining why the guard was acting this way, and while I knew they wanted to settle in a big town, I wouldn't take any complaints now since we were safe.

But to my surprise, the villagers didn't seem to complain about the sudden stop, some of them actually looked relieved.

Maybe they only put a facade to not worry the others.

We entered the village and were greeted by a friendly iron golem, the others didn't seem to have the same opinion as they froze in fear, or trying to back down.

"Hi guardian, thank you for protecting those people."

The soulless red eyes looked at me for a few moments and then went on his merry way.

"W-what was that?"

The one who spoke was Shell if I remember correctly.

"That is the guardian of this village, the iron golem. If anyone wants to attack them, they have to go through him, and he's a tough guy."

Now that the unknown became known, their fear was replaced with curiosity and admiration as the golem continued his patrol.

We all got off our horses and went towards the center of the village, which at this point was a small town.

The houses which were under construction last time, were now finished, giving the place a peaceful atmosphere.

As we arrived at the center of the village I could see someone running towards us.

It was Toby, who looked all over the crowd for someone who wasn't here.

"Trader! I'm happy to see you, but where is Bobby I can't see him?"

"Unfortunately Bobby is not with me today, I came for another reason."

His smile died a little but was still happy to see me as well.

"You're always welcome in our village, you and your friends... you have a lot of friends this time, what happened?"

"Oh nothing much, I just know a person that..."

I then proceeded to tell him how my friend's village was purged from the surface of the earth, how some of them were kidnapped by the Piligeres and killed the others.

He looked sorry when he heard that. While this was not a common acurance it was not unheard of, especially if you studied at the academy.

What he didn't expect was the rest of the story, as I continued to tell him how I went with my friend to 'gather' intelligence only to end up burning a part of their outpost to free the prisoners that were now with me.

He was looking at me with his mouth open in shock.

"Bobby warned me about you, but I didn't know it was this bad."

Then he looked at the rest of the villagers.

"As for them, we would welcome them with open arms, those are our brothers and sisters who went through hell and survived, they deserves a feast!"

He yelled for everyone to hear, and then the villagers started to move preparing everything needed.

The huge bonfire was built in the middle of the village, chests were emptied of their food, and instruments were taken out to tell the tale of the heroes.

Slowly the sun was settling, and everything started, food, music, and dancing were all over the village, and even the prisoners were slowly warming up to the other people, until soon they were drinking and singing with them.

I was too tired to join them, and I didn't want to tell the story of how I got everyone free for the 10th time.

So after a few hours, I went to sleep, smiling for sleeping in a bed.

------

The next day I ate some breakfast and was ready to get back on the road.

But it seems that I was the only one awake to even ride a horse, as everyone else was plastered around the now finished bonfire, sleeping with a smile on their face.

"I think you could stay a few more hours here, they seemed to enjoy themselves a little too much last night. You can explore the village while you're at it, also the miners want to talk with you."

Toby came out of nowhere and offered me some advice.

"Geez Toby, since when we're you the stealthy type?"

His only answer was a smile.

"I wanted to talk with you either way today, so I guess that's for the best. Listen, the Piligers can't live without normal people, that's why I'm sure they would start some raids soon to recuperate what they lost, also they intend to invade the nations in two months, maybe less because of the mess I made. I want you to prepare a bunker for your people in the mines where you can retreat, worse worst-case scenario use my portal and then blow it up. Don't try to fight them since you would lose in numbers and quipment."

His face turned serious, taking all of my suggestions to heart, and I was glad for that.

The village can be rebuilt at any time, but we can't bring back the lives that would be lost.

With that being said I went over to the miners to see what they needed me for and was presently surprised to see that wanted to pay their 'taxes' which were of two stacks of iron blocks, and even a few diamonds.

This would've been useful a few months ago when I was leveling up my Crafting skill, but, it was still a pleasant surprise to see.

With that iron, I made two more golems and gave it to the village, this time hiding the process for it.

I realize how dangerous those were in the wrong hands, and I didn't want this information to be widespread, otherwise, the wars would look very different.

We stayed there another night and left the next day.

Or so I intended.

"We want to stay here, we talked with the head of the village, and he allowed us."

20 villagers decided to stay in this village which took me by surprise, but I guess that's a good thing since they chose to stay here instead of waiting for others to decide their fate.

"Well if everything is all sorted out I don't see a reason to object this, welcome to your new life!"

They all thanked me once again and I left the village together with the rest of the villagers.

Since there were only 30 people left, we decided to use the speed potion on our horses.

And we got fast, so fast that it took a little over a day to arrive at the capital.

The prisoners even now can't believe that horses can run so fast.

But now we were all in front of the castle gate, stopped by a guard while I had a group of very nervous villagers.

They told me they were willing to wait in the city, but I instead for them to come with me so the issue could be resolved quickly.

At first they didn't seem to belive me that I had connections with the royal family, and they were scared that I put them in hot water.

"Sir Trader, while you are the hero of this nation and are always welcomed back, you have to warn us ahead when you bring so many people with you, I have to announce the others first."

The villagers seemed confused, I was a hero to this nation?

"Don't worry, I don't intend on making your job difficult, just call Bobby here so we can solve this issue."

The guard thanked me and left to send the massage.

A few minutes later I saw my friend walking towards me with an exasperated face, but I could still see a smile that he tried to hide it.

What I didn't expect was to see the princess behind him walk at a respectful distance clearly leaving us to have our moment before she would join in.

"Trader! Is there any way you can visit me without something major happening? At this point I'm afraid whenever I hear your name mentioned by the guards."

He tried to sound annoyed but the smile couldn't leave his face, as we both hugged.

"Sorry friend, I'm glad to see you as well."

"I'm glad to see you alive. So what's with the big group behind you, do you intend to start a village."

He said that while looking at everyone that was nervously waiting on their horses.

"Hah, funny story, have you heard about a group called the Pillgers."

"Oh no..."