Chapter 171: Recruiting the Snake Beastmen

“Well, since today’s agenda is clear, let me get straight to the point. Would the snake beastmen like to come to the surface? We want you to live together with us as villagers.” 

Upon hearing this, the chief responded without hesitation.

“According to Nanasia-sama’s words, things may be different now… But it has been passed down for generations that if we ascend to the surface, we will die. We cannot simply expose everyone to danger.”

Of course, that makes sense, I thought. But then he continued,

“Therefore, for now, let us snake beastmen go to the surface alone. If we survive, that’s good; if not, so be it. As for the selection criteria… was it loyalty? Please tell us who among us can become villagers.”

It seemed their decision had already been made. He added “We’ve discussed this as a clan over the past three days.”

“So for today, let’s just confirm who can become villagers. We want to avoid any possibility of someone dying.”

“But… sooner or later, won’t we need to go to the surface to confirm?” 

“Well, there’s actually another way. If I strengthen my skills, I can create a barrier within the dungeon. While it’s not guaranteed, it should be safer than going to the surface.” 

Probably… no, certainly, the snake beastmen loyalty is high. With the curse lifted and proven they can ascend to the surface, their loyalty would likely increase even more. It wouldn’t be wise to skimp on enhancing abilities for those who will become villagers in the future.

“I see… Is this skill enhancement something you can do unconditionally multiple times? If you can’t say, that’s fine…” 

“Well, to be honest, I can only do it one more time. But there’s a possibility it’ll increase in the future, so you don’t need to worry about that.”.

After a short pause, Snapenir said, “Give us some time,” and began discussing with the other snake people.

“Hey, village chief, are you sure about this? Is the possibility about the Empire’s heroes? We don’t even know when it’ll happen, and there’s no guarantee they’ll come to the village.”

“This is an invitation. We can’t just stay silent. For them, it’s a matter of life and death.” 

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“We kept this for times like this. We can secure a safe zone in the dungeon, killing two birds with one stone, right?”

In the end, it was decided that today would be only about confirming loyalty. The snake beastmen also planned to discuss the matter further upon their return. They requested to delay the dungeon’s transformation into a village for another day.

Anyway, for now, I issued residential permits and confirmed the loyalty values.

The chief’s loyalty was at 85, while the other six ranged between 70 and 80. Everyone here was in a state of ‘placing quite a high level of trust in the Village chief.’ It started with the white snake scales, and it seemed my being like an apostle and the story about the goddess statue were factors as well.

“Great, everyone can become villagers. What do you want to do? Should I issue permits next time we meet, or should I just cancel them for now?” 

“No, leave them as they are… There might be some benefits.” 

“I see… Well, there might be. I don’t know.” 

I don’t think they’ll be recognized as a villager unless they enter the barrier at least once… but since there’s no disadvantage to it, I decided to leave it as is and part ways.

“Then, Keisuke-dono, let’s go back first.”　

“See you again, I’m hoping for a good answer.”

“That’s right, we’re also looking forward to the day we become villagers. Well then, farewell.”

The snake people started moving quickly, activated the teleportation formation, and returned.

“Well, it seems like the snake beastmen are thinking positively too, so let’s get on with it. The next time we’ll see each other is in two weeks, so I’ll ask for your help then as well.”

After bidding farewell to the snake beastmen, we remained on the 25th floor and discussed our next steps. We were undecided whether to go hunting or return for the day.

“I hope the curse is lifted safely, and we can live together. It’s reassuring to have them as a village force, and I can’t help but look forward to it.” 

Sakura said with a relieved expression.

“Speaking of which, village chief, we’re thinking of moving to the development area soon. Right, Akiho?” 

Touya mentioned.

“Yes. Nacchan wants to start a business in the city, and it’s easier for me to work in the medical team there, so I agree.” 

“We have quite a few people now, and if the snake beastmen are coming, it’s a good opportunity. The land is spacious, so it’s easy to conduct military training.” 

“I see… Well, it’s also a good time for everyone to immigrate. We can use the village as farmland, ranches, and factories, and as for moving houses… Melinard, can you handle individual houses

“Yes, it’s not a problem.” 

We confirmed that Melinard’s Level 4 spatial storage could accommodate individual houses, although we couldn’t move shared houses or workshops. Since it utilized the flow of the river, facilities like mills and dyeing factories couldn’t be relocated, but other operations could be done in the city.

“All right! We’ll discuss those matters thoroughly later. Let’s head back for today.” 

Everyone agreed, so we activated the transfer circle to move to the first floor and headed towards the teleportation magic circle on the surface.

But then…

Suddenly, we heard a voice from behind. We were completely off guard since we were already inside the barrier.

Startled, I turned around to find… several villagers? No, they were different; I had never seen this group before. They were staring at me intently.

“Who are you guys? Why are you inside the barrier… And why are you wearing their equipment?” 

The humanoids in front of me were wearing the snake people’s gear, or so it seemed. Amidst the other members getting ready for combat, I immediately appraised to confirm their identity.

“Huh!? Are you guys… the snake people from earlier? But your appearance…” 

“It’s me, Keisuke. It’s Snapenir! The moment we left the dungeon, our appearance suddenly changed to this. I can’t believe even that legend turned out to be true…” 

While they had white scales on parts of their arms and cheeks, they looked unmistakably humanoid. And their levels had dropped slightly, with some skill changes. But Snapenirwas still the chief, and they were marked as villagers.

==

Snapenir

Level 119

Villager: Loyalty 93

Skills:

Spear Mastery Level 4

Super Recovery Level 4

“Hey, hold on a second. I have a lot of questions… Didn’t you guys return to your own village? Why are you here?” 

“Sorry about that. We didn’t mean to deceive you; it’s true.”

“No, I’m not blaming you or doubting you. I’m just wondering why? Especially when there was a risk of death?”

“It’s because of what happened earlier. We didn’t want to cause trouble for you or the village. And above all else—were we really going to break the curse? Could we really return to the surface? We wanted to know the truth as soon as possible.”

After that, we talked for a while about what happened when they came to the surface and about the legends.

When they left the dungeon and touched the barrier, their arms that slipped through instantly changed. When the chief himself passed through the barrier, his whole body changed to that of a human. The bruising that had been eroding them disappeared, and they felt as if something was being expelled from their bodies.

According to the legend, the snake people used to have human-like forms. While the current chiefs regarded it as fairy tales, it seemed to become a reality, shocking them to the core.

“Well, as long as you’re safe… You didn’t need to hesitate… No, it’s not that; I didn’t consider it enough. I’m sorry for putting you in danger.” 

“There’s no problem with that; it was all our decision. We trust not only the goddess but also the village chief.” 

Snapenir reassured me.

Snapenir said that, but anyway, since things turned out like this, there was no point in dwelling on it. I immediately called Haruka to appraise them, and it was confirmed that all seven of them had their curses lifted.

However, the levels of the snake beastmen here, including the chief, hadn’t dropped by even 10 percent. According to the goddess’s story, their levels should have dropped drastically once the moon goddess’s protection disappeared. I wondered what was going on.

“Hey, this might be getting ahead of ourselves, but… would you guys consider coming to the village like this? It might help explain things to the clan.” 

“Please, guide us. We’d like to see your city and confirm if we can go outside the barrier.” 

“All right, then let’s all go back together. And welcome to Nanashi Village, a place where we welcome new villagers.” 

After some back and forth…

We were able to safely welcome the snake beastmen into the village.

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