Just Flying With The Siren
We saw the villagers off at the entrance of the tunnel, which led all the way above ground and connected to an abandoned mineshaft.
I also found out that Aoi isn't really the actual village chief but only playing the role of a stand-in chief. The real one was her father who had been away with the other hunters of their village on a hunt, which was also the reason why the slavers managed to capture them easily.
She most likely told me she was the village chief to make me think she was more important than she actually was and to take her more seriously I guess? Not sure if that was a good move on her part to be honest.
She did make me promise to visit their village in the future though. Since I planned to go through the forest on my journeys, I accepted it.
I asked if they could really return to their village on their own but they assured me that they would manage, stating that it would be rude of them to depend on me any further than this.