Chapter 70. Surprise in the village

After a good night's sleep and some trading with the locals, Bobby finally arrived for the journey.

Apparently, Princess Elizabeth was very reluctant to leave her right hand in another dimension for a few days, especially now when the morale of the troupes was so low, she couldn't afford to have another accident.

But at the same time, she had more responsibilities now, the king decided to give her more authority over the Nether because Froggy contributed a lot in the past few weeks with his potions.

Sure the Royal Family all were masters at the Brewing skill, but they couldn't leave the management of the country in the middle of a crisis to make potions nonstop.

They did help when they had some spare time, but Froggy did the heavy lifting most of the time.

It also didn't help that this war was expensive, there was only one villager that had a high enough level in the Crafting skill, in the whole Stone Kingdom and his job was to make golden apples every day.

Since there was a cure for the infected people, they couldn't just kill them like the other zombies, they had to send people to rescue them, which meant more people, more training, and more spending.

The Sandstone Kingdom was still in a political mess to lend help during this crisis, and the Coral Kingdom took advantage of this and raised its prices.

Unfortunately, rotten flesh wasn't a sought-after item unless you made bonemeal, so there's not a lot of profit from this war.

There was a sliver of hope once Bobby told Princess Elizabeth about his findings with the people of the Nether.

They were not bound by the limitations of the system, they could craft, enchant, and brew at any level without a problem.

The first suggestion was to speak with the brutes to have a deal with them. But that was quickly thrown out the window, the brutes take gold as their only currency, and we were in lack of those already with the golden apple crafting.

So instead, Bobby suggested communicating with the tribe he 'found by chance' to trade with them.

Elizabeth was ecstatic about that idea, tho suspicious when he made her make an oath in the Royal name that they wouldn't be taking any slaves.

That was done, now they traded goods in exchange for their crafting expertise, at a relatively low price but still acceptable.

Now while everything was starting to go smoothly Bobby came to Elizabeth to tell her the tradition of the Tribe after a good deal is to celebrate for a few days with the other party.

And since a Royal member couldn't be here, he was the next best option, which in the end she had to accept.

"And that's the gist of it Trader, I also didn't forget to get some potions while I was there. You really need to meet with Froggy soon, he's burying himself with work so he doesn't have time to grieve."

That sounded very bad, I really need to check up on him soon.

"I'll do that as soon as I'll see how big the problem is with the Zombie Lord."

"Good, because I sent some horses as a 'gift' for Toby and you'll use them to get to the capital faster."

That would greatly speed up the journey, but unfortunately, they will arrive in a few days, so we won't be able to use them to get to the infected town.

"Let's go and visit your village, Bobby, how long has it been since you've been there?"

"I'm ashamed to admit but a few good months. Hopefully, nothing too bad happened."

Better not jinx it.

So the three of us went towards the first portal I ever made in this world. It would take a few hours and I was the guide this time since I'm the only one who knows the way from the new location the tribe moved into.

"So Bobby, how did you two meet? You seem very close to Traveler, even after the accident. Oh and please call me Merry. "

"He didn't tell you? How can you not tell her about our amazing adventures Trader, she must know what living legend is besides her."

I could hear the sarcasm in his voice without me having to look at him.

So for the rest of the journey, he told her about how we met, how much I changed his village, and the adventures in the Nether.

Finally, we arrived at the designated hill, and I was more than happy to be there.

If we traveled for one more hour I'll be as red as the netherock around us from embarrassment.

"Ok, chit chat is over, we arrived."

They only laughed at my embarrassment.

We broke the blocks to the entrance only to be met by a crossbow pointing at us.

"Who are you?"

"It's me, Bobby, and Trader!"

I responded quickly while lifting my hands up. The pigling seemed to freeze but didn't lower his weapon, so I got off my golden helmet.

"Oh, it's really you two, sorry for the scare, I just did not expect to have visitors today."

"No problem, how come you're here then?"

"There's been a few brutes around the area sniffing for gold and I was sent just as a precaution against them."

Well, he was equipped with iron armor and some fire resistance potions since I could see some floating particles around him, so he was pretty prepared.

They really do care about our portal, I hope they don't use my mine as well.

"Thank you for protecting it, we're going to our world now, so keep up the good work."

He just nodded his head as we passed the dark line.

"Home sweet home!"

Bobby was the first to speak, as we got closer to the ladders.

I stored the golden armor in the first chest I saw.

If I was going on a dangerous journey, I'll take a better armor than this.

First was Bobby then Merry, and lastly me.

When we got to the surface I was surprised by what I saw, they were villagers walking all over the village, but they were different than what I remembered, they had hair on their head and could speak normally, the more I looked the more I realized that those were not Bobby's villagers.

"What happened here?"

Bobby looked confused at the new population of his villagers.

"I don't know, it wasn't like this last time I checked."

We walked around the streets with confusion until finally, Bobby recognized someone.

He wasn't the only one that recognized the child playing with the iron golem.

"Lily! What are you doing here? What happened here?"

"Uncle Bobby! I'm here with my dad, and the rest of the village, we've moved here a few weeks ago."

She quickly got off the shoulder of the giant golem and looked at as with a bright smile.

She quite grew since the last time o saw her, about half a block if I remember correctly.

"Can you take me to your dad so I can talk with him?"

Bobby spoke with her with a smile on his face, but I could feel that he was angry about the surprise.

She nodded and walked us to a corner of the village. There was nothing there except some empty space last time I'd been here, but now there were huge houses, three stories high.

I could see people walking, talking, and building all over the place, but everything was in moderation.

Every building had a balcony, and ladder that went through all of them, that's how they got to their apartments.

I could see some of Bobby's anger leave his body as the new villagers didn't evict the old villagers to take their homes.

Soon we arrived at a house that looked exactly like the others, Lily opened the door on the first floor and let herself in.

"Daddy I'm home! And Uncle Bobby is here as well!"

Rushed steps were heard beyond the wall, and soon the door to what I could assume the bedroom was opened.

"Lily! Did you enough fun today? You can go and get some food from the kitchen then. Daddy will talk with Bobby for now."

After she left, Bobby was the first to speak.

"So what's this all about?"

"Sorry about the surprise, but I thought the letter had everything explained in it?"

Bobby looked confused once he said that.

"From your expression, I can guess you didn't read it. I've sent it a week ago. "

"I didn't get any letter recently, I think this is one of those filtration packages Elizabeth was talking about."

He could only sigh in frustration.

"Uhh, what happened?"

Merry asked still confused.

"Sorry miss, I'm Bobby's friend and for the past few weeks my people got more worried with the news about the zombie invasion, and after they heard about the fallen town they got even more scared, so we took your advice Bobby, and got some refuge. But I couldn't leave your village alone, so instead we decided to move here. We have high walls and a guardian to protect us in case of anything, this is better then some other town's."

"So that's what happened, I kind of got scared once I saw all the changes in the village. Where did you move my villagers then?"

"I didn't move them anywhere, we just made our houses separately to not bother them."

Bobby seemed to be pleased with everything now, so he went to more light-hearted topics.

While Merry whispered something to me.

"So I'm guessing the giant with the kid was the Iron golem? What is he, a monster an animal?"

"It's not a natural spawning being, at least not in this world, I was the one that made him."

"You can make something like that as well?! Why don't you have an army of them, it seems powerful."

"It is indeed, but it requires a lot of resources to make, but at least there is no maintenance for it, it's more like a robot honestly."

"Can I also make one?"

"Yeah, there's no restrictions like the skills. But why would you want to make one?"

"Are you kidding? How badass would I look with that walking into a town?"

I could see the fantasy magic all over her eyes.

"I don't think you'll get the reaction that you want. From what I know I'm the only one that knows how to make something like that in the whole world, so I think you'll get more in trouble than admiration."

Though, I think we could use some golems to fight against the Zombie Lord, even if it would be an expensive idea.

"Uff, that's a shame."

While the conversation died down, I remember something from my old world.

"Hey, remember that most of the time the hero does small jobs for the villages before fighting the big bad guy?"

"Recently they're more of a game janra then a book one, but yes I know about it, why?"

I didn't respond to her, instead I turned towards the two friends talking.

"Hey Toby I feel that this village is getting cramped with all those new people here."

He stopped his conversation with Bobby and looked at me.

"That is true, unfortunately. But we're trying to expand up to have more space to move around here."

"Why won't you expand the walls?"

"I've seen the work you've done Trader, and I don't think I can replicate it as well as you. A lot of resources went into that wall after all."

"What would you say if me and my friend here would help with the construction? I've managed to do it in one day with the people here, imagine how much we can do with so much manpower!"

"I would love that honestly, but this is still Bobby's village so you should ask him."

I looked at Bobby who seemed to have a complicated expression on his face.

"Do you really want to do this?"

"Yes, I mean I've already bonded with some of the people in this village, and if Toby can protect it while you're preoccupied at the palace, why shouldn't I help him be more comfortable."

"Thank you Trader I really appreciate it."

Both of them smiled and I looked at Merry who seemed to be bewildered about what just happened.

"Well, looks like we got your first quest, isn't this exciting?"

"Yeah, but I expected to slay some monsters not build a wall!"

We all laughed at that while she got embarrassed, but with a sigh, she accepted her new quest and went outside to gather the materials.

I was not too far behind her.