Chapter 51 - Mysterious Tunnel

Tonight, the villagers' actions would determine whether they would cooperate or not.

That old woman Tia was a miserable, vindictive and scheming shrew. 

She hated outsiders and she gave him hell during his past life.

Unfortunately, she was the Village Shaman.

Once he got into an argument with her for not knowing their customs and after that, he was almost banished from the village.

Her words hold sway in the village. If not for Boki interference, he probably would have been chased out and not survive the first few months he was stranded here.

He had never got along with her in his past life and he had hated her to the core. 

He thought she would only agree on the surface then arrange assassinations while they slept. 

Fortunately, the night passed peacefully and Kiel was genuinely happy he might have a good chance to make changes and help the village.

He woke the girls up and just as he was about to go out, there was a knock on the door.

He opened the door to find 3 village women came with trays of food for their breakfast.

He gladly received them and started eating with the girls inside.

After breakfast, he told the girls to explore the villagers and find out more about the situation while he would go see the village chief to discuss their options.

He secretly held hopes on Xue Er as he knew that she gained the "Hidden Class: Ice Mage" in this level in her previous life.

After asking around, he was led to see the Village Chief in the village's main hall.

After they sat down, Kiel began to explain his purpose and plan for the village.

He wanted to improve on their defensive structures, improve the villagers fighting strength and increase their survival capabilities.

Boki assured Kiel that the village was well defended with its tall walls.

While the Naga raids have been more frequent and the Nagas have been more aggressive lately, they still managed to cope somehow.

Furthermore, it was nearing the full moon, the usual time period when Nagas were the most active.

The height of the raids was during the nights when there was a full moon.

But due to the tall walls they have always been successful in defending the village.

They would plunder anything outside the gates and anyone who were unfortunate enough to be out during the raid were usually taken away.

Hearing that, Kiel shook his head and after thinking for a bit, he decided to explain to the Chief.

Nagas have bad eyesight. 

Deep in the sea, there was hardly any light. 

So they rely on other senses such as current flow to feel their surroundings with their skins.

This in turn made their skin sensitive and thus they can't stay in the sun for too long or the skins on their soft belly would be sunburned due to the hot sands.

On land, they had no choice but to rely on their pitiful eyesight to determine their surroundings.

Thus they could only come on land when there was sufficient light, the air was cool and wet, like the nights during full moons.

Hearing this, the Chief revealed a deep pondering look and thought for a long time.

Kie did not rush him and sat waiting for him to come to a conclusion. After what seemed like a long time, the Chief nodded and agreed with his conjectures.

Chief said he wondered where the kidnapped people were.

Kiel simply said that they became fish food.

Naga has no need for humans and there is no way humans can survive under the sea in their environment. 

So the villagers should not harbour any wistful thoughts.

The Chief face turned sombre and he explained that for the last 2 years life had been hard. 

Previously there would still be merchant ships visiting the island but there had been none for the past 2 years.

He recalled that 2 years ago during a full moon, he saw a bright light coming from under the sea.

The next morning, he had personally set out with his boat and some warriors to find out about what had happened but came back empty handed.

From then on, Nagas seemed to become very active.

No more ships came and none that left ever returned.

They now dared not even sail as those that did had never returned.

So far they had relied on their livestock, fishing from the shoreline and some plants and fruits from the island.

Kiel listened carefully and nodded along although he had known this before from his past life.

Kiel then asked for a tour and an explanation of the village defence system. 

Boki obliged and began to lead him around the village starting from the main gates. 

Chief slowly and carefully explained everything, the tour took 2 hours and by the end of the tour, Kiel was dejected.

He then started listing out the issues with the defence system with recommendations on how to fix them:

One, the gates needed to be thicker, and stronger. Nagas can not jump, there is no need for overly tall gates.

Two, nothing can lean on the gates from the outside as the Nagas can use these to slither up the gates. Furthermore, the gates should be smooth so they had a harder time climbing or slithering up.

Three, although they can't jump, they are very good at climbing at an incline. So the ground in front of the walls needed to be flat and the gates needed to be very straight.

Four, there should be dry moats with spikes at the bottom all round the walls.

Five, there needed to be more defence structure, like javelin towers as arrows are useless to them and they should build machicolations, trapdoors where they can pour boiling oil or water.

Six, all and any kind of opening need to be fenced properly and guarded in the patrol duties.

Seven, the defender needed to be stronger and better trained.

Eight, there should be an alarm system and traps spread out around the forests near the village. 

Nine, everyone in the village, male, female, adult, children, elderly, need to participate in the war effort. 

Kiel then left them to their own devices and told them he would go out for a stroll and return after sundown.

He went out and made a quick trip around the island, and on the South of the island he reached a cliff that drops into the sea where the waves were choppy and the shallow sea was covered with jagged rocks.

However, he saw a curious small island 400m out into the sea that was surrounded by jagged rocks.

Even from where he was, this island seemed out of place, while the other rocks protruding out from the waves were black and glistened. This small island's rocks were grey and dull. 

It looked out of place.

He had never heard of the villagers discussing this place even in his past life. Well not that he could even reach here then if he knew of it.

Feeling adventurous, he decided to explore the strange island in the sea.

He casted "Basic Mana Armour(C)" then leapt down then used "Instant Step(S)" at the last moments to land in the water safely. 

After about 30 minutes of swimming and getting tossed around he reached the rock island battered and exhausted. 

He then made his way to the middle of the island where he discovered a small cave which led to a dark tunnel. 

A mysterious tunnel in an isolated island. 

Kiel hoped it was not a nest of some monster. 

He decided to rest before exploring the cave.