"Eh?" The village chief was confused for a second, but he soon saw a huge jar next to Noel. Although he wasn't sure of it, he believed the jar contained water.
"I'm asking how many people are in this town." Noel asked with a serious expression.
"There are… There are a total of 23 families in this place with a total of 61 people." He answered dumbfoundedly.
"61 people, huh…" Noel thought for a moment before buying another Water Gallon from Ardagan and taking it out.
"Huh?!" The village chief was stunned when he saw a jar miraculously appear before his eyes. "This is…"
"I have something on me that can let me do this, but don't ask for more." Noel let out a long sigh while saying, "These two water gallons should be enough to last for a day, right? I'll change my plan. Instead of observing the monster for two days, I'll only do it for a day.
"Please, bear with me for a day. After that, I'll definitely kill the demons. And distribute this water carefully among the villagers so that they won't die from dehydration. Can you do that?"
The village chief sucked a cold breath as his body was shaking. If he was aware of Noel's real identity, he would have knelt already.
"Y-yes. I'll make sure that we don't use the water too much." The village chief nodded furiously, feeling happy that there was hope.
"Alright. You deal with this after I leave the village to scout the demons." Noel took a deep breath to calm his heart as he had another job to do.
"Ah?! After you leave the village? You're not going to distribute it yourself? I'm sure that the villagers will be thankful to you."
Noel shook his head with a smile. "No. It's your job because the people here know and respect you more than me. That's why if it's you, they will be more organized. Besides, if I help you, I'll be occupied for a few hours. The priority here is the river… the water gallons are just emergency relief. That's why I need to work hard to solve the problem."
"You…" The village chief was stunned. If Noel actually helped giving the people this water, they would be extremely grateful to him. And his name would be spread. Yet, the latter didn't seek fame. He just wanted to do his job without getting any recognition.
This was the first time he met such a genuine young man. In his heart, he swore to make sure to tell the tales about what happened in this place.
He would make sure that Noel gained the fame and recognition he would have.
"Alright, it's time for me to go. I'll leave the water here to you." Noel smiled and finally left the village chief's house.
Looking at his back, the village chief muttered his name, "Apprentice Knight Iadre…"
The tone was filled with respect and admiration, hoping that the man lived a long life. He was sure that Noel would help more and more people in the future.
Meanwhile, Noel met the two kids again and knelt in one knee, patting the kid's head. "Don't worry, kid. The problem will be over soon. Just make sure you follow the village chief's words."
"En." The kid nodded, not understanding why Noel instructed him to follow the village chief.
However, Noel had already stood up and walked away as he headed to the river. The path itself was quite easy since the villagers seemed to have plowed the soil, making it a simple road for the men and women to gather the water from the river.
Due to their remote location, they couldn't find any water source nearby since the nearest village from them was one day away. And with the current situation, they had no more money to buy the water, let alone bringing it back here.
So, the river was the main water supply of the village. Whether washing clothes or drinking, they used the river for the clean drinking water.
However, the supply was disrupted by the dam, causing a drought in the area. And when they approached the river near the dam, they would be attacked by the demons. They tried to go upstream but the problem was similar. It seemed that there were several demons that roamed inside the water.
Although they didn't know the reason for it, the kingdom seemed to have been investigating it. So, it wasn't his place to butt in.
His only goal here was to kill the demons and destroy the dam.
Noel walked according to the path the village chief gave him and found the dam half an hour later.
'Seriously? It took me so much time just to get to the dam?' Noel widened his eyes in shock, never expecting that the life of the commoner was much severe here.
In the fort, there was a few wells that took care of the water supply, but in this place, they needed an hour just to bring back the water. At the same time, they could only bring one bucket at a time, causing so much time to waste just to get the water.
And with some occasional attacks from the demon fishes, some villagers would die from time to time.
'Once again, I understand that I've been too entitled with my past life. When I was a noble, I didn't need to think about it. The maids and butlers would take care of everything.' Noel sighed and shook his head to regain his focus on the mission. 'I can think this later. For now, I need to focus on finding the monsters.'
Noel turned his head and found the dam they were talking about. The dam was three meters high and spread over ten meters to each side, causing the water to not flow down. The dam was built of boulders. On the downstream side, it'd been lined with logs. Some of them are big and quite heavy. And on the other side, it'd been packed with mud and vegetation.
'This is… to think there's a natural dam like this. If I destroy the dam, won't it cause a major flooding?' Noel sucked a cold breath before his attention was grabbed by something poking out of the water.
