Meeting the leader of this village was how I thought it would happen, I knew that if I was a good leader she wouldn't trust a group of unknown people that appeared out of nowhere, I was sure she would try to test me somehow.
But I must say she was much better than I thought she would be, she noticed that I was in charge and didn't take her eyes off me, she also noticed that Ivan was an Undead with a single look.
From the little I've seen she seems to be someone with great leadership skills as she has so many different races obeying her, her ability and strength seem to be very good, I'm not sure, but I think she must be stronger than me, but in a fight of Auras I still win since I have more Aura skills.
"Village leader, they are reliable, I can promise that." (Jana)
"The Guardian said that the presence she felt was comfortable and made her feel safe, I don't feel anything like any of these people, especially this creature in the form of a child." (Sapphire)
"Creature?" (I)
"You're being very rude to refer to someone you've just met like that." (I)
"He's right, Sapphire." (female voice)
"He's exactly who I felt, he might try to hide his Aura, but at this distance, I can still feel it." (female voice)
Soon a female voice came out of nowhere, I try to find the direction, but I can't, it seems that this voice is coming from everywhere.
While looking for where the voice had come from, I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder, as I walk away I see a beautiful dark-skinned woman, she has red hair and green eyes, this is a strange combination of colors, she is wearing a red and green dress made of leaves with vines decoration.
This woman looked to be in her thirties, somehow I felt immense danger coming from this woman, I felt like she was everywhere and this body was just a part of a whole.
"Guardian!?" (Sapphire)
"How can you get so close to someone you've just met, let alone someone so strange?" (Sapphire)
"We don't know your true intentions." (Sapphire)
"He has no malice, I also found out who he is, I may not know much about him, but I've heard of someone like that." (Dryad Guardian)
"He's a Fairy Keeper, am I right Dora?" (Dryad Guardian)
"You're right, he's a Fairy Keeper." (Dora)
This woman appeared out of nowhere, but from the way the leader of this village and Dora are talking to her I can tell she must be the Guardian, Jana talks about so much, a Dryad.
It seems that this Dryad managed to realize that I am a Guardian of the Fairies, I thought she was hiding my Auras very well, she must have certain perception abilities.
When the Village Guardian told me about me, with Dora confirming my identity, the village leader's eyes widened for a moment in surprise.
"Are you sure? His presence is too strange and chaotic for him to be accepted by Fairies who like harmony with nature." (Sapphire)
"You don't understand Sapphire, chaos is as much a part of nature's circle as harmony." (Dryad)
"There will always be opposites in nature like fire and water, light and darkness, life and death, harmony and chaos, etc." (Dryad)
"Fairies and Spirits have a duty to give balance to nature, not harmony, remember that." (Dryad)
"…" (Sapphire)
Even though she doesn't look old, her calm words are full of wisdom, I feel like she's watching a teacher teaching a student.
"But that still doesn't explain the Undead who's with him, how will I know he's not a Servant of Farus?" (Sapphire)
"Ask him then." (Dryad)
Everyone looks at Ivan, so he steps forward and cancels his spectral body ability by reverting to his Skeleton form, this makes the various races on the walls stand on guard by pointing their weapons at him.
"I may be an Undead, but my only master is Zenos, I don't know how I can prove it, so they'll have to trust us." (Ivan)
"You can see it, can't you?" (Dryad)
"His manner of speaking and acting is calm, he does not emit malice or aggression unlike the Undead of Farus." (Dryad)
"…" (Sapphire)
"Open the gate!" (Sapphire)
"But leader…" (Ogre A)
"He's an Undead…" (Lamia A)
"They're strangers, we don't know their intentions…" (Ghoul A)
"Shut up!!!" (Sapphire)
"We've been waiting months for Jana to come back with help, now let her open the gate!" (Sapphire)
It seems that the Dryad managed to convince the village leader, but the other villagers don't seem to trust us, they also seem to want to attack Ivan at any moment.
"They won't attack you, don't worry." (Dryad)
"Are you reading my mind?" (I)
"I don't have that kind of ability, but your wary eyes give away your thoughts." (Dryad)
"I appreciate you coming all this way, I hope you can do something to help Sapphire and the rest of this village." (Dryad)
After saying that the Dryad disappears and the gate in front of us opens, then most of the creatures descend from the walls and watch us from inside the village while the village leader is standing waiting for us to enter.
"We will." (I)
I go to the gate and enter, I stand in front of the village leader by the name of Sapphire, now that I am so close I see that she is almost two meters tall.
"Welcome, I wish I could welcome you differently, but our situation is not good at the moment." (Sapphire)
"Follow me to my house, let's talk there." (Sapphire)
"OK." (I)
I start walking behind the village leader with the others beside me and behind me, as we walk I look around and see stone houses, wooden houses, and some shacks.
Inside the village I see other types of creatures besides the ones that were on the walls or at the entrance, I see Hobgoblins, more Werewolves, some Lizardman and also some strange creatures that look like plants in humanoid form, they have leaves instead of hair, the skin of these creatures varies between different shades of green I can see branches and vines growing from some of them and their eyes are completely green instead of white with different colored irises varying for each individual I have never seen these creatures before but I remember reading about them in books, are treated like monsters but they look like Demis to me, if I remember correctly the name of their race must be Nymphs.
If I remember correctly, they are beings that look like women but are not, Nymphs have no gender being like living plants in humanoid form, they are beings that live in forest areas and absorb vitality from other creatures.
I was surprised to see so many different beings in this village, I didn't think there would be so many races here, this village is much bigger than I initially expected, there are also many people living here, from the little I saw until I got to Sapphire's house, there must be thousands living in this village. village.
The village was simple but beautiful, the houses were big enough to accommodate families of three or four, but Sapphire's house was a wooden cabin with a large stone floor, it only had the ground floor, but it was approximately 800 m² in size, this place is probably not just her married, it must also be a meeting and working place for the whole village.
As soon as we enter we are in a large room with a round table and several chairs of different sizes, Safira goes to a place where she doesn't have chairs and settles down with her snake tail on the floor.
"Please have a seat." (Sapphire)
I sit in a chair opposite her, but the others stand behind me, the village leader looking at each one before turning back to me.
"You have a very diverse group, I see some Demis among them, are the monsters from your Dungeon?" (Sapphire)
"(Then she noticed that the gate we came out of was a Dungeon, I thought it might make it look like a space portal like Layla's or some kind of teleportation magic, but it looks like she noticed what it really was, that might be good already that they would find out sooner or later.)" (me)
"I'm very proud of my group, but none of them are from the Dungeon." (I)
"I guess we haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we?" (I)
"True, when the gate to the Dungeon opened and I saw this Undead, I considered you enemies, the only reason I didn't attack was because I saw Jana and Dora with you." (Sapphire)
"I didn't even think about introductions at this point, as apologies for my initial hostility allow me to introduce myself first." (Sapphire)
"My name is Sapphire, I am the strongest Lamia here and the leader of this village." (Sapphire)
"My name is Zenos, I am a Vampire and leader of this group, at the request of Jana and Dora we came to help." (I)
"I appreciate your help, but I must ask this as the village leader" (Sapphire)
"What do you want in exchange for your help?" (Sapphire)
"Jana and Dora have already explained your situation to us, so how about I propose that whatever my group gets is ours." (I)
"Only that?" (Sapphire)
She looks at me suspiciously, it seems it's suspicious because I'm asking for so little.
"Farus is exploring dungeons constantly, so he's been accumulating a lot of items, plus he's gathered all three main races of the mountain range." (I)
"Therefore he must have acquired great wealth in his stronghold, asking for this wealth as well as anything we steal from him now as a reward will prevent future trouble." (I)
"That's considering we managed to win, Farus has an increasingly strong and numerous army, at this moment our chances are slim." (Sapphire)