Adele stood at the entrance of the village. The evening breeze ruffled her red hair, but she simply gave him a nod, her voice neither loud nor soft. “Thank you. I can stand on my own.”
Hector withdrew his hand and scratched the back of his head, a rare look of awkwardness crossing his face. “Suit yourself.”
As Hector stood there, his lackeys also spread out to either side, hands on their hips.
Leopold stood a few paces away, taking in the entire scene. In his mind, he gave Hector quite a few bonus points.
“Village Chief,” Leopold turned to Job, “could you arrange a place for her to stay first? It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just somewhere livable.”
Before the village chief could speak, Hector chimed in, “The empty shed next to my house used to store farming tools. It can be lived in if we tidy it up a bit.”
“You?” The village chief gave him a surprised look.
“What, I can't make decisions about my own family's property?” Hector stiffened his neck. “It's just sitting empty anyway. What's wrong with letting this girl stay there?”
“Alright, the one next to your house it is.” The village chief didn't say anything more. He simply gestured to Adele. “Come with me, young lady. I'll have someone bring over some bedding for you.”
Adele hesitated for a moment and glanced at Leopold. Only after Leopold nodded at her did she step forward to follow the village chief.
Hector stood in place, watching Adele walk away.
“Honestly, what a pain.” Hector sighed and turned around, only to find Leopold staring right at him.
“What are you looking at?” Hector asked, feeling a bit self-conscious under his gaze.
“You actually have quite a sense of manly responsibility.” Leopold smiled and turned to leave. “Make sure to take good care of her. Don't let down my expectations of you!”
During the three days Adele stayed in Cabin Village, a subtle tension hung in the air.
No one actually rushed up to cause trouble for her. Hector's stance that day had truly shut everyone up. After all, Hector's family was the local powerhouse in the village; no one would dare start a commotion in front of his house.
Yet, whenever Adele walked out of the house to fetch water from the well or sat on the stone steps in front of her door to sunbathe, there were always people stealing glances at her from across the yard.
Adele seemed to have expected this. She didn't take the initiative to strike up conversations, nor did she deliberately avoid anyone, quietly going about her own business.
Hector, on the other hand, would wander over to the adjacent courtyard wall every now and then with a bowl in hand, chatting with her off and on.
“Where did you live before?” Hector squatted by the base of the wall, holding his bowl and chewing on a piece of pickled radish.
“Everywhere,” Adele said, sitting on the stone steps with an old book she had brought from the cathedral spread across her knees. “Cathedrals, mines, temporary camps—it's all the same.”
Hector didn't reply. He felt this girl was a real handful.
If his father hadn't ordered him to build a good relationship with Leopold's group, he wouldn't have bothered with this girl of unknown origin.
Chewing his radish, Hector's gaze fell on the book on her lap. “What book are you reading?”
“A cookbook.”
“A cookbook?” Hector almost spat out his radish. He never would have expected this boring person in front of him to be interested in cooking.
“You know how to cook?”
“No.” Adele calmly turned a page. “That's why I'm reading it.”
Hector opened his mouth, closed it, and only after a long moment managed to squeeze out, “...Then can you actually learn it?”
“I don't know,” Adele replied, still not looking up. “But it's better than doing nothing.”
Hector squatted at the base of the wall, chewing his radish as he watched Adele's profile as she looked down and flipped the pages.
The setting sun dyed her red hair a deeper hue. Adele was certainly good-looking, but at least for now, Hector didn't know how to appreciate it.
He suddenly found it a bit dull. Placing his empty bowl on the ground, he stood up and patted the dust off his trousers. “...If you actually learn how, make some and let me taste it.”
Adele finally looked up and glanced at him. “Aren't you afraid I'll poison you?”
Hector was taken aback for a moment, then grinned. “Before you poison anyone, you'll have to learn how to chop vegetables first, won't you?”
Of course, during these three days, Leopold hadn't been idle either.
After all, Leopold was thoroughly convinced in his heart that the Lord of the Black Tide could attack at any moment.
On the empty land in the southeast corner of Cabin Village, the original wasteland had been cleared into a flat area about the size of two threshing floors.
Over a dozen young, strong villagers were lined up in a crooked formation under Blake's commands, holding sharpened wooden sticks and old farming tools gathered from various households.
“Raise your staffs!” Blake stood in front of the queue with his hands on his hips, his booming voice echoing over the valley. “You, raise it higher! Stop shaking so much! And you, thrust the stick forward, don't poke at the sky!”
A few stifled chuckles came from the formation. Blake narrowed his eyes and swept his gaze over them, and the laughter instantly vanished.
Leopold stood on the ridge at the edge of the field, watching it all unfold.
“How's the progress?” Isabella walked over from the direction of the village and stood beside him.
“The militia's training is still underway. What about the progress on your end?” Leopold looked at Isabella.
“The neighboring villages are willing to cooperate, but there are a few troublemakers who have been opposing us.”
“Troublemakers?” Leopold tilted his head. “Which ones?”
“The village chief of Hexi Village, and the militia leader in Kanu Village who calls himself 'Iron Fist'.” Isabella counted them off on her fingers.
“The old chief of Hexi Village says we are 'bandits of unknown origin,' and Iron Fist is even more direct—he said, 'If you want us to listen to you, beat me in a fight first.'”
“...Iron Fist, is it?” Leopold withdrew his gaze. “He lives in Kanu Village?”
“Yes, and he's also the militia instructor of Kanu Village.” Isabella paused. “Moreover, I heard he used to be a mercenary on the border, and he supposedly knows Martial Skills.”
“A militia instructor who knows Martial Skills,” Leopold pondered for a moment. “It's enough for Blake to keep an eye on the training here. Come with me to Kanu Village to meet this Iron Fist.”
“When do we leave?”
“Now.” Leopold had already turned and started walking toward the village. “While it's still light, let's go and get back quickly.”
Isabella didn't ask any questions and quietly followed by his side. As the two walked through the training queue, Blake was shouting at the top of his lungs, “Thrust! Retrieve! Thrust! Retrieve! Are you poking an anthill? Put some strength into it! Don't look like you haven't eaten!”
Kanu Village lay southeast of Cabin Village, about a half-hour walk along the dirt paths between the fields.
Large fields of wheat, already heading, stretched along both sides of the path. A few farmers were bent over working in the fields, occasionally straightening up to glance at the passing man and woman before bowing their heads to resume their labor.
“Life in the village is really quite peaceful.” Isabella looked around, seemingly rather interested in this method of obtaining food through labor.
“This is agriculture. It is the skill humans rely on to survive,” Leopold explained.
“Agriculture?” Isabella had never heard of such a concept. After all, dragons only needed to wander around their territory to obtain a fairly bountiful feast.
“Yes.” Leopold nodded. “This is the reason humans can sustain such a large population. Hunting can only support a limited number of people, but farming provides continuous yields to sustain a massive population.”
“The foundation of any human empire is inseparable from solid agriculture. This is also the secret of humanity's thousand-year continuation.”
“Human empire? Leo, when did humans ever have empires?”
Leopold's steps faltered. It seemed indeed... He tilted his head to look at Isabella, whose ice-blue eyes were filled with pure curiosity.
“Yeah,” Isabella tilted her head. “Aren't humans the Seventh Race? The very bottom race that can't even use magic. How could they possibly build an empire?”
“—I read about it in some ancient texts,” Leopold hurriedly explained. “Rumor has it that in ancient times, humans built many empires, such as the Roman Empire!”
Isabella stopped in her tracks, furrowing her brow as she thought seriously.
“Rome? Which era's empire was that? I've never heard of this name in the royal family's inherited memories.”
Leopold's mind raced. He cleared his throat. “...It—it was recorded in a very ancient text. I only flipped through a few pages of that book, so I don't remember it very clearly.”
“Let's not talk about that for now. Is that Kanu Village ahead? Let's hurry in!”
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