This place looked like a hall where they gathered. There was one big chair, which was supposed to be for the leader. Surprisingly, the ground looked dirty, as if it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time.
Fenrir glanced around and said, “There is nothing here.”
Nathan smirked. “Hahaha. This is going to be easier than I expected.”
“What easier?” Fenrir frowned. “What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing. We should go there.” Nathan pointed at the stairs leading to the basement.
It was surprisingly quite bright, with several cells in it.
“A prison? Do they place the people they kidnapped here?” Fenrir didn’t hear any sound coming from this basement, which made it weird. There was no trace of torture in this place.
Due to these reasons, Nathan summoned Anubis and Nidhogg.
“Huh? Why are you summoning those two?” Fenrir looked confused.
“Anubis. Can you sense death around here?” Nathan asked for confirmation.
“No. I don’t sense it.” Anubis shook his head.
“I don’t understand. What is going on? Why do you say this will be easier than you expected? Is there something else I don’t know?” Fenrir protested, wanting to know the secret as well.
“Fenrir. What do you think is the most essential resource for humans?” Nathan asked.
“Cores?” Fenrir tilted his head.
“No. It’s water.” Nathan raised his palm, forming three Soul Contracts. “I want the three of you to sign these contracts. I’m going to solve this issue tomorrow.”
Fenrir still didn’t understand, but he ended up signing the contract. Nathan was often annoying because he didn’t explain everything until everything was over, but his plan usually worked. Hence, Fenrir wondered how Nathan was going to defeat those bandits.
“Let’s go back, shall we?” Nathan made a cheeky smile.
“Already? Are you not going to find the holy relic?”
“Nope!” Nathan shrugged. “I’ve already found a way to solve this problem anyway.”
After saying those words, Nathan immediately exited the stronghold and returned to the village.
As he expected, the village was actually safe. There was no sign of bandits in the area, and Serafina remained safe.
The problem was that because of their disagreement, there was an awkward atmosphere between them.
That was why Nathan had to act first. He smiled wryly while saying, “Sorry. It took me a few more minutes to realize that villagers are more important.”
Sera wanted to complain, but she just let out a long sigh, dropping this matter. In the end, she was a nun, while Nathan was just a normal summoner. The way they viewed the world was different.
Sera shook her head. “No. I should apologize for imposing my ideal.”
“It’s fine. I think I’ve got a plan to defeat those bandits.”
“Really?” Sera looked shocked.
“Yeah. Is it fine if we discuss this with the village chief as well?”
“Of course.”
Upon agreement, they both headed back to the village chief as Nathan explained his plan. “This is my plan. With both of our abilities, we can defeat the enemy’s leader. However, that’s our limit.
“We have to separate the enemy leader from the rest of the group, especially the vice leader. How? The answer is rather simple. I just need your cooperation, village chief.”
“My cooperation?” The village chief pointed at himself.
“Sorry, what?” Sera frowned. They had just made up, but Nathan already planned to use the villagers against the bandits. It was as if Nathan didn’t have any intention of changing.
Nathan waved his hand as if telling him it wasn’t the case.
“All I need is for the villagers to build one building for me. It’s just a normal building, which should be pretty easy for you.”
“A building?” Both of them tilted their heads in confusion.
“Yes. I want you to build a building halfway to the stronghold. It doesn’t need to be completed. As long as there is a sign that you’re going to build the building, it’s going to be fine.” Nathan smirked.
“For what reason? I can’t really convince the villagers to do something useless.”
“Of course. Just tell the villager that by building this one house, the bandits will be defeated. After all, the original purpose of this house is to make the bandits think the villagers are planning to do something. They have no choice but to come out to check it out. We’ll ambush the bandit stronghold during that time and attack them from behind.
With enough element of surprise, we can definitely separate them. If you follow this plan, I can guarantee that the bandits will be defeated tomorrow.”
“!!!” Sera and the village chief widened their eyes in shock. Because of the graveness of the situation, the leader or the vice leader would definitely lead the bandits to check.
Nathan actually wanted to use this opportunity to ambush the vice leader before attacking the boss.
It was a clever plan that even Sera couldn’t help but agree. It didn’t seem that the villagers would be harmed as long as they were fast enough.
“Is that so?” The village chief looked happy. “I will immediately tell the villagers about it. We’ll cooperate with you as much as possible.”
“Yep.” Nathan waved his hand, assuring him they would succeed.
After the village chief left, Sera politely lowered her head. “Sorry, I’ve misunderstood you.”
“Don’t worry about it. Instead, we should help the villagers.” Nathan waved his hand.
A bright smile appeared on her face. “Yes!”
The village chief immediately rallied the villagers to construct a single building. Because Fenrir and Anubis helped them, it didn’t take too long for them to finish stacking up sandstones to make it look like a decent building.
After that, Nathan asked them to remain in the village. As thanks, the village chief actually cooked a bit more extravagant food for them.
“We have succeeded.” Sera smiled.
“Yes. With this, they’ll be gone tomorrow. I’m just going to say this… you don’t mind if I kill some who are resisting, right?”
“It can’t be helped.” Sera nodded. “Even I have to do that much.”
“Alright. That’s good then.” Nathan smiled.
Sera suddenly grabbed her head with a pained expression. “This… Why am I suddenly feeling dizzy?”
“What do you mean?” Nathan frowned, his eyes were twitching. He had a hard time even opening his eyes. “Huh? What’s going on? Anub—!”
Before he could summon Anubis, Nathan collapsed to the ground.