I Became the Guild Leader in Exile

48 – 9# Emergence of the Hero Bronze Colossus! (4)

It might seem ludicrous to suspect someone simply because they lack a wooden blockade.

However, the world is not at peace. No one knows when monsters might appear from anywhere and wipe out the entire village, making wooden blockades more than just a simple precaution.

One scholar went as far as to compare the wooden blockades to the common people’s lifeline, which was not an exaggeration. Barricades like a wooden blockade played a vital role.

Even according to Evan’s words, the coastal villages were a kind of hellish disaster where monsters from the sea and displaced monsters from inland converged all at once.

Wouldn’t one even install a fence in a hell rightly called the “discrete extreme”?

If it appears strange considering this world’s conventions, then suspicion naturally turned towards the Bronze Colossus. Assuming that this Bronze Colossus is the real hero, he definitely wouldn’t neglect the village like this.

Having reached these conclusions, Zeke turned his head to look back at Isaac. Isaac understood what that meant and nodded, patting Zeke’s head.

“Good job, doubting is a good habit.”

“Thank you, my master.”

“But you must refrain from excessive doubt, understand?”

“I will keep that in mind.”

There is no denying that these are hard times. Therefore, it’s not wrong to be suspicious, but excessive doubt can invite trouble. Isaac pointed this out.

Not withholding any advice, Isaac passed the empty entrance with no makeshift blockades and entered the village. As Zeke and Isaac investigated the village and the remaining members aimed to survey the cliff and mansion area, they hoped to find something unusual.

And instantly after entering the village, they were greeted by a wooden statue carved to resemble a person. Albeit a bit peculiar.

The figure was extraordinarily large to be a human. Moreover, it had a bird’s head, and they had carved wings on its back. It was indeed hard to attribute it to a human model. Zeke broke the silence.

“Master, that wooden statue…”

“Could be the local deity of this village, or it suggests that the Bronze Colossus man looks like that.”

Different regions and countries have different legends or native gods, a natural phenomenon. However, if it is the latter and not a local deity, the situation might be more serious than they anticipated.

Of course, I cannot be certain.

It could just be a statue erected to honor a hero.

Regardless, there was too little information to have certainty.

In order to find out more definitively, Isaac and Zeke actively investigated within the village. There were quite a few houses, but strangely, there was no sign of people working inside.

“I don’t see anyone around.”

“There might not be a need to search.”

“Pardon?”

“People are gathered ahead.”

Isaac pointed in a direction with his finger. Not just a few. No, everyone in the village was sitting, facing somewhere, bowing in reverence. To Isaac, they resembled Muslims.

“They say in the Middle East, when it’s time, they stop everything and bow somewhere.”

It feels somewhat similar if you were to really scrutinize it. A religious custom passed down from ages? That’s not it. If it were a religious custom, Ebenezer wouldn’t ignore something so important.

Moreover, decisively,

There was a colossal statue in the direction they were bowing.

This time, genuinely made of carved bronze.

It was a statue of the same shape as the one seen earlier.

Shall we summarize the situation? The bronze figure claimed to be a hero and appeared in the village, driving away monsters and nobles. But that wasn’t the end of it. The bronze figure wasn’t simply satisfied with being a hero.

“It looks as if it wants to become a deity.”

“I’d say the same.”

“But why on earth?”

Unless it had the arrogance to want to become a deity. It would be unexpectedly troublesome otherwise. This existence called the bronze figure, what was it trying to achieve by making itself believe it was a deity?

However, Zeke couldn’t continue his train of thought any longer.

It was because the gaze of the villagers suddenly fell upon Isaac and Zeke. A chilling, emotionless look that felt like a ghost, devoid of any sentiment. Zeke unknowingly hid himself.

“I suppose the investigation ends here.”

* * *

Isaac embraced Zeke and swiftly left the village. Judging from the reaction of the villagers, who definitely didn’t seem normal, it seemed like the bronze figure or something similar had taken the lead.

It was a natural response.

After all, they had been defeated by heroes numerous times.

But looking at it from the other side, all the heroes had done was defeat the bronze figure. It meant they hadn’t discovered the secret to how the bronze figure could come back to life. Or perhaps they knew but left it alone.

“Master! And kiddo.”

“Who’re you calling a kiddo? Show some respect to your senior.”

“You’re shorter than me.”

“This guy…!”

“Now is not the time to fight!”

Thanks to Hertz’s timely intervention, their fight did not escalate further. Taking advantage of the brief lull, Hertz quickly shared the information they had gathered with everyone.

“In fact, we found another village while investigating the cliff.”

“Another village?”

“Yeah. It was difficult to make contact with the people there.”

“It was more like a refugee camp than a village.”

A cliff village, a refuge for those who felt something was amiss in the original village and escaped. Even so, their number was less than 50. The rest were all captured by the ‘Bronze Aberrations.’

“Wait, did you say ‘Bronze Aberrations’?”

“Yeah. You heard correctly.”

“Unfortunately, it’s not just one Bronze Aberration. It seems to be more than one.”

According to the refugees’ testimonies, as they tried to escape the village, several Bronze Aberrations chased after them. As a result, over 30 people were arrested and taken away by the Bronze Aberrations.

“They don’t even know exactly what they’re after,” people said.

“For now, what I confirmed in the cliff village was their religion.”

“Religion?”

“Yeah. They worship the Bronze Aberrations as if they were gods.”

The children exchanged information, putting together the pieces of the puzzle. Isaac watched from behind, clenching his fist. Yes, that’s it. He had to do his best with his own strength.

In fact, not much was known about the Bronze Aberrations. At best, examples of such incidents were given in the guidebook.

That meant it wasn’t such a big deal here.

Of course, the guild that properly resolved the Bronze Aberration request benefited greatly. However, what happened to the village and the Devilwater family was not known. They probably perished with a high probability.

“The refugees told us where the Bronze Aberrations are heading.”

“Then it’s best to go there first.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Risking their lives, the villagers chased the Bronze Aberrations and finally discovered the location. The children had no intention of wasting the efforts of those villagers. Isaac and his group immediately set off.

As they moved to the location revealed by the villagers, a rocky mountain unexpectedly appeared quite far from the cliff. Isaac turned his head. Diego had a troubled expression.

“What’s the problem?”

“Master.”

“If there’s a problem, be honest about it.”

“…Actually, I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do.”

Diego said honestly. According to the testimonies of the refugees, Devilwater was not such a good ruler either. He was more like a devil who looked down on people and oppressed them.

“Even if I noticed something strange about the Bronze Golem, there were still people left in the village. I thought the Bronze Golem was better than Devilwater.”

“I see.”

“But is it really the right thing to exterminate the Bronze Golem from them? I don’t know.”

Diego’s doubts were natural. After all, Diego was one of the abandoned children in Gideon. He had also suffered from various persecutions, so it was natural for him to develop hostility towards the nobles.

“As I’ve said before, when solving a request, you must thoroughly confirm both sides’ positions.”

“That…”

From Noble mtl dot com

“Now that we have confirmed Devilwater, it’s time to confirm the Bronze Golem.”

“……!! Huh?!”

The first to react were Diego and Sasha. Surprisingly, they didn’t have immunity to cruel things, so they ended up gagging at the sight of bodies rolling on the ground. Zeke spoke, clicking his tongue.

“After taking people somewhere, what did they do?”

“I see, everything makes sense now.”

The reason the Bronze Golem deliberately drove away other monsters and protected the village.

And even the reason they created that ridiculous religion. Everything was explained.

Cannibalism.

The Bronze Golems had turned the village into a ranch and raised humans like cattle.

Just like livestock.