Meanwhile, Noel kept running and running for days. He didn't drop his guard all this time, thinking the killers could come to him at anytime. After all, he couldn't sense their presence earlier.
So, they could hide their presence now until he dropped his guards before swiftly eliminating him.
'This is annoying. Are they following me or not?' Noel gritted his teeth. 'Am I being paranoid? No, this should be the correct course in my current situation. Instead, dropping my guard down is a foolish action because it gives them the opportunity to kill me.'
Noel ended up staying like this until he reached his destination, Sothbame Village. This village was only a few hours away from the one where the Master Blacksmith resided, so it was a perfect village to do his mission.
As soon as he entered the village, the villagers looked lifeless as if they hadn't drunk anything for days.
They were lying on the ground or leaning on a house with their thin bodies.
"…" Noel looked around for a moment before closing his eyes. He wanted to help them, but his Honor Points weren't enough to buy enough water for them. After all, he couldn't afford to waste his Honor Points like that.
But to his surprise, Ardagan told him otherwise.
When he felt that tingling sensation, he walked to an isolated place and opened his system.
He didn't get the notification, confusing him for a bit. But he soon saw the change in the 'Shop' feature.
Available Points: 6 HP
1 Skill Point (2 HP)
Disinfectant Bandage (1 HP)
Water Bottle (1 HP)
Water Gallon (2 HP)
Torch (1 HP)
'Huh?' Noel sucked a cold breath. 'Now that I think about it, where does Ardagan have all this item? Is he creating them magically? Still, he was curious about the water gallon because it only had a difference of one Honor Point.
In the end, he didn't do anything yet. Instead, he walked to the village chief's house to understand the situation a bit first.
As expected, the village chief also had the same lifeless aura around him. If not for the hope that Noel brought with him, he wouldn't even meet him.
"Village chief, I'm the Apprentice Knight from the Demon Banner Army, Iadre."
"O-oh!" The village chief's expression brightened. "Thank you for coming, Sir Knight."
"Well, it seems that I need to do my job as soon as possible, but if you don't mind, can you explain the situation first? I need more information before doing my job."
"Certainly." The village chief nodded furiously, thinking the faster he explained it to him, the quicker he would work. So, he immediately explained, "Our village has been relying on the water from the river nearby.
"But three weeks ago, a group of demons came to the river and created a dam that stopped the water from flowing. We tried to look for the demon, but some of us ended up dying and some who were fortunate enough managed to survive with severe injuries.
"We immediately requested the assistance of the Demon Banner Army who was specialized in handling the demons, so please help us. We managed to hang on our lives by using our water reserve, but it has been used up yesterday. If we continue like this, we'll die soon." The village chief lowered his head, begging Noel to take action immediately.
"Hmm… This is hard." Noel thought for a moment. "I don't know the numbers of the demons and what their level is. And fighting them in the water is a first for me."
"That's…" The village chief's face became pale.
"I need to investigate the situation first before being able to do anything. After all, if I go recklessly, I might end up dying instead of solving your problem. And if I die, the villagers will also die because another person won't be coming." Noel explained.
The village chief bit his lips. He wanted to ask Noel to just go, but his explanation made sense. If Noel went and died, they would die together with him due to the lack of water.
"The most I can do is to stay for one or two days to observe them before trying to kill them." Noel sighed, thinking, 'A demon living under the water, huh… This is the first time I encounter one of them. I don't know what kind of trap I can use against them… Well, my strength should be enough to deal with Low Level Demon, but I don't know if I can fight a Mid Level Demon underwater by myself.'
Noel saw the hopelessness in the village chief's face and said, "Let me think about it first. Who knows there's another option."
"I-I understand." The chief nodded with a sigh, knowing that it was impossible to force Noel do everything they wanted. After all, Noel might end up getting pissed and leaving the village.
Noel walked outside the house and looked at the conditions of the villagers.
Suddenly, a young kid walked to him while carrying a girl who seemed to be connected to him.
"Mister… do you have any water? Can you spare us some water? No, it's just for my sister. Please…" The young kid was begging. Even Noel could see her sister was already too weak to even walk.
Noel sighed and said, "Don't worry, I'll deal with this problem and soon you can drink. Just wait for a few minutes, understand?"
The young kid didn't know what to do, but Noel had already returned inside the village chief's house as if he was avoiding him.
However, Noel just used that chance to buy the water gallon and summon it, wondering how much water does this one contain.
To his surprise, he found a huge container. The container was a cylinder with the height of half a meter.
"This is…" Noel looked at the water gallon and muttered inwardly, "With this alone, it should be enough to sustain the villagers. And it's the same situation as the dancing children from the fort, whenever I helped them, the progress still continued to rise. So, with this, I could get another progress and by the time I solve their problem, the progress will rise once more. Doesn't this mean I'll get two birds in one stone?"
When he saw this gallon, he smiled and immediately headed to the village chief. He asked energetically, "Village chief! How many people do you have in this village? I think we're not out of options yet!"
