Ch40. Getting the very first followers

It took almost fifteen minutes of hushed talks but eventually, the five oldest elves decided to give everyone the right to decide for themselves and informed the village about Rei's offer alongside the fact that he and his companion defeated the Evil Cursed Tree.

Everyone in the elven village saw the effects of Solution's Beam but now they knew what caused it too. This spread a wave of excitement through the village and yet, nobody came forward, willing to be the first to accept Rei's offer.

Ylven didn't either. She patiently waited, knowing if she joined now, she would have been followed by others but she wanted to see if the dark elves she helped to survive had the guts to join by themselves. That said, even she was disappointed nobody joined yet.

Finally, one woman approached Rei, causing the indecisive whispering elven crowd to quieten down and watch in anticipation.

"I... I will join you." She said in a downtrodden manner, causing Rei to look at her weirdly.

'Why are you saying it in a tone as if you were signing up for your own execution woman?' He dryly thought, not impressed at all.

It was then Ylven leaned closer to him and whispered, "It was her daughter who recently died to the Evil Cursed Tree."

"Ah..." Rei nodded, eyeing the sad elven woman, deciding to ask a question, "Might I ask why you decided so?" It might have been insensitive but... he was an archdemon.

A tear fell out of the woman's puffy eye, making her to quickly swipe it away with the back of her hand as she bit her lower lip enough to draw blood, "My husband died two years ago to the Evil Cursed Tree and now even my daughter died. You killed that thing and avenged my daughter. My life is yours, my Lord." She said with a lifeless uncaring look.

Rei inwardly sighed. What good would a woman who has mostly given up on life be to him? Shaking his head, Rei decided to be nice for once, "Take us to your daughter's body."

Startled, the woman widened her eyes but bit back her unasked question, only nodding in reply.

Rei lifted his eyebrows, expecting her to argue or at least ask why but when she turned around, he simply shrugged and followed her lead. The woman led Rei and Solution to the edge of the village where the body of a teenage girl was already prepared for cremation, laid on a makeshift pyre made of branches.

Rei patted the woman's back, trying to encourage her since she looked she would have a breakdown when she spotted the body, and walked towards the pyre while taking out a Wand of Ressurection from his inventory. As if he did such a rookie mistake and showed the spectators that he can resurrect people with no cost to himself. Ha! No way.

Rei then used the wand, much to the surprise of the curious onlookers, and the girl's body repaired itself before she sluggishly opened her eyes, making a few elves gasp in surprise and bewilderment.

The existence of resurrection magic was well known even in remote areas as it was the stuff of legends present in stories parents told their children for a good night but to actually see it...

Not believing her eyes, the woman who decided to join Rei first ran straight at her daughter, tightly embracing her while crying as she tried to make sure it was real. Only after a while did the woman realize she disregarded the man who brought her daughter back and turned her body alongside that of her daughter as she refused to let her go, she looked at Rei with eyes full of gratitude before bowing her head.

"Thank you, my Lord!" She said from her heart and Rei knew he just earned her loyalty for life.

Needless to say, from there it was quite smooth sailing for Rei as everyone in the village decided to join him. Even Ylven was totally flabbergasted. Not at the resurrection magic. That, while unexpected, was in the scope of what she thought somebody as powerful as Rei could be able to do. No... she was shocked at how efficiently he managed to win the villagers over to his side by just one gesture.

Yet again Ylven decided that her decision was correct.

...

The very first order Rei gave to his new followers was to pack up and prepare for relocation.

Obviously, nobody expected that, and people were naturally reluctant to leave their homes even though these said homes were shabby at best. Surprisingly there were only a few quiet complaints and the people having them didn't stir any trouble as they just decided to follow the majority and obey. Most kept their complaints in their heart, choosing a wait-and-see approach, believing their new Lord would bring them to a better place with his powers.

The packing took a few hours that Rei spent chatting with Ylven who was unexpectedly already packed and prepared to leave at moment's notice at any given time. Yet another thing why Rei's respect for the woman increased.

He got to know her backstory, how she became the village leader, and that she didn't like the leadership position at all because leading unmotivated people was extremely hard for her. 'Well, sucks to be her, then. She is staying as the leader and that's final.' Rei snickered, letting her be blissfully unaware of his decision as he wasn't sure she will appreciate it.

There simply wasn't anyone who could fill that position among the villagers. Rei wasn't overly impressed with them but this was the start and he couldn't expect educated people. Not in medieval settings. Hence, he would have to go about it the hard way and educate them slowly over time in things he deemed important to know for his people.

After hearing Ylven's experiences with leading the dark elves, Rei knew that change will come hard for these people, which only made him that much gladder he pulled that resurrection stunt earlier. That would go a long way in quelling any discontent towards how much was about to change in the lives of these elves.

"The people are gathered in the square as ordered, my Lord." Kerith, the woman whose daughter Rei resurrected, suddenly entered Ylven's house, bowed, and informed Rei they were ready.

Rei nodded and stood up, followed by Solution, who was back in her role as Rei's maid, before they alongside Ylven exited the house. Rei looked at the gathered crowd and involuntarily smiled,

'Hundred and thirty-two weak dark elves who never practiced magic, most can't write or read, and are used to survive on what the forest provides them. Couldn't get a shittier start if I actually tried,' He chuckled, 'But... this is it. This is the start to building my own realm and I sure as hell am gonna make it count.'

Seeing Rei, the crowd quieted down, waiting for him to do something. Fortunately, publicly speaking was something he had to go through quite often in his last life. Giving a motivational speech on the fly didn't give him much problem despite how awkward he felt.

"I am going to make a portal, a pathway to your new home!" Rei spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear him with such a firm and assured voice that put an end to any remaining doubts, "There I will help you build more comfortable lives for yourselves! Serve me well and put in enough effort and you will never starve again! It all depends on you!"

Rei decided to leave it at that when he noticed the silent excitement in the crowd and their determined looks. It wasn't deafening applause but one simply couldn't go wrong with keeping things simple.

Rei turned around and activated his most precious skill as fond memories of countless hours he spent grinding in order to improve it to its highest level filled him.

'[Gateway to the Lost World: Shiba's Garden]' Rei thought, curious if it will be exactly the same as in the game or if something changed when a portal as large as a house appeared in front of the dark elves.