Tima the Creator God's Overlord Journey

"I gave birth to four children. Two of them died young. Of the remaining two, my son is now making a living in the city, and my daughter... fortunately, thanks to you, milady mage, she survived." The old woman spoke as she said this. "My son escaped the werewolves, and my daughter didn't die either. It's a blessing amid misfortune."

"The city?" Aya silently took note of that keyword.

"So thank you very much. Without your help, everyone in this village would probably have lost their lives!"

The old woman suddenly lowered her head in thanks. It was fortunate that she did not kneel, but Aya was still slightly taken aback.

In her previous life, Aya had never received such sincere gratitude. It was not as though she had never been thanked before, but thanks such as, "Thank you, young miss, for looking after my family's business," or, "Thank you, young miss, for your investment," had never made her happy.

There had been sincere gratitude too, things like, "Thank you for sparing my family," but Aya had not liked those either.

So now, perhaps it was a remnant of being human. Receiving this kind of gratitude did not make her particularly happy, but she did not dislike it at all.

"Of course, we will still do our best to pay you a reward, milady mage, though we may not have anything that would satisfy you right now." The old woman continued, and that attitude did make Aya view her a little more favorably.

It was not uncommon for the weak to take the strong's help for granted, or even resent the strong for refusing to fulfill their wishes. In her previous life, she had often heard so-called friends say things like, "You're so rich, so just give me this."

Compared to that, Aya found the old woman's humble gratitude somewhat admirable, though it also made her feel a little awkward.

"If possible, could you tell me about the surrounding area? Start broad, then go into detail." Aya asked. "A map would be best, if you have one."

Information was what Aya lacked most at the moment. There was no doubt about it, so she could not let any opportunity to obtain it slip away.

"No need to rush. Just tell me slowly." At Aya's request, the old woman began her explanation.

First, this was not any of YGGDRASIL's nine worlds. Aya came to that conclusion when she heard the old woman mention the Dragon Kingdom.

There had been no human nation called the Dragon Kingdom in the game—she had never even heard of one. That meant this was most likely the legendary other world.

The Dragon Kingdom was a human nation currently in crisis, fighting demihumans. This village lay on the border of Maplemoon Territory in the Dragon Kingdom, right next to the Moonshade Great Forest.

Maplemoon Territory was relatively stable because it was far from the front lines of the war. However, because it bordered the forest, it had quite a few adventurers. The entire territory was ruled by a duke and the nobles under him, while its capital was a large city called Kaelmais City.

After explaining this basic information, the old woman began to describe the village's problems.

This village was called Est Village. It had been founded by pioneers several decades ago. Because it was so close to the forest, it had been tasked with guarding it and monitoring magical beasts, and in exchange, much of its taxation had been reduced. As a result, it had attracted many people over the decades.

The surrounding land was highly fertile, and with the forest nearby, Est Village had managed to live somewhat above a merely self-sufficient existence through farming and income from timber and medicinal herbs.

"If we gather everything the village has, we could probably put together five thousand copper coins, though that is still insignificant compared to the help you have given us," the old woman said.

Five thousand copper coins? Aya had no idea what that was worth, but she could not ask directly. That would make her seem far too ignorant.

"If you give all your money to me, how do you plan to farm afterward?" Aya's mind worked quickly—or perhaps it was simply her innate business sense. The moment she heard about money, the first word that came to mind was "production."

"Many of the men died, didn't they? And if I'm not mistaken, your plow oxen and the like must have suffered losses too. Without any money left, you won't be able to farm at all." Aya had guessed correctly. In fact, every plow ox in the village had been killed by the werewolves.

"We plan to leave this place." The old woman revealed a bleak smile.

"Leave?" Aya raised an eyebrow. "Go seek shelter in another village?"

"No. No village would take us in, because we are heretics."

"Heretics?" Aya realized this was a piece of information that required special attention.

The old woman sighed. "For a very long time, the Dragon Kingdom has suffered at the hands of demihumans, while lacking sufficient military strength of its own. It could only accept aid from the Slane Theocracy, and the price was the promotion within the country of the religion of the Theocracy's Six Great Gods."

"And the original pioneers of this village—including most of the people still living here—were followers of the local faith who refused to change their beliefs, so they were driven out by the other villages."