Food To Gain People’s Trust

“A feast?” Old Man Albert and the rest of the men were surprised.

It was completely unheard for them to have a feast at this kind of time because even the harvest season barely provided them with enough food.

“Yes, we need to set up a feast,” Ryan said as he walked towards the village square. “We all need enough wood for a large fireplace, skewers for the meat… a lot of them. We’ll eat to our heart’s content tonight!”

All of the five Kobolds, Tom, Spike, and Doran followed after him. It was almost a natural thing.

Ryan walked with confidence and it was as if each of his steps were perfectly measured, making other also want to follow him.

— — — — — — —

An average-sized Kobold did not have a lot of muscle and strength, but now that they were the same size as a human, their strength and endurance was finally on par with one.

Throughout the five-hour walk, all Kobolds and Tom carried 20 pounds each, resulting in a significant contribution of 120 pounds of deer meat for the people of Stonefall Village. It was a substantial amount.

Once everything was prepared—spare firewood sharpened and the current fire crackling and burning the meat, coaxing some of the deer meat to let out delicious wafts of its aroma. Ryan was pleased with the results.

“Please gather everyone and invite them to come over and eat,” Ryan said, but then paused as if realizing that there was something missing to complete the feast. “Do you guys have alcohol? You guys grow barley, so I'm assuming that you might have some beer.”

“Y-yes, yes we do.” Old Man Albert nodded.

“Bring those out too.” Ryan grinned. “I’ll pay for them. How much can you guys drink? Two gallons? Three gallons? Let’s all drown in beer and celebrate today's spoils.”

——————

It had been an exhausting day for the farmers and other workers in Stonefall Village. When the word spread about gathering in the village square due to Master Ryan's orders, there was initial grumbling among the villagers. However, their dissatisfaction disappeared when some men who had been sent ahead informed them of what awaited them in the square.

Their eyes widened in disbelief.

"Can it be true that Master Ryan has brought enough meat for everyone to eat?” one villager exclaimed in awe.

"We should go and see for ourselves. They might be exaggerating the numbers. There are a hundred people in the village, and even if the children eat less, it's still more than a hundred mouths to feed," another villager commented suspiciously.

“Well, one of the runners said it’s because Master Ryan fought a giant snake all by himself!”

“They said it was a giant deer!”

“Is that really true?”

“Not only that, but I also heard that he also brought back some monsters!”

“Monsters? For what reason? That must be a lie.”

“No. They saw it for themselves. Oversized Kobolds. Not just the small ones, but Kobolds around our size.”

“That can't be true. Have you ever seen a Kobold, much less one that’s bigger than a kid?”

——————

“You have gained 100 Grimoire Points. Everyone in the village is talking about you right now,” The Grimoire said.

'I made them a promise, so it's natural that everyone's talking about me. Can you believe someone bringing in such a large amount of meat on their first return?' Ryan said, maintaining a cool expression. 'Those Grimoire Points are insignificant compared to what I spent today, but I'll easily make up for it once I've completed the mission.'

'Well, you could have easily bought plenty of food with the money you received from your family.'

'It's not as good as tapping into the natural resources available in the Ironcross Mountains. Besides, a noble can certainly buy food with their wealth, but this? It's something accomplished through hard work.'

Ryan was seated down on the grass patch around Stonefall Village’s square, while Joan was grabbing him some skewered venison in the distance.

'You could have made a speech of some sort before everyone started eating,' The Grimoire said.

“Nah. Everyone’s hungry and eager to eat. What good would that do? As long as everyone knows who it came from and aren’t actively screaming in fear because of the Kobolds, I’ll consider it a win.”

Ryan glanced around, and in a couple feet away from him were the five Kobolds, sitting together in a circle. They had received a share of the venison and were eating, but they would occasionally talk to each other with animated kriees as they looked around the village.

It was probably their first time being surrounded by so much humans while also being allowed to stay in their presence instead of being attacked.

However, they were a background to the crackling fire, the merry conversations of the Stonefall Villagers, and the boisterous atmosphere that had settled into the night.

“Ryan, I’ve brought you the venison and a pint of the beer.” Joan smiled and plopped down beside him.

“Thank you.” Ryan took a bite and then let out satisfied sigh. “This is fine cooking, isn’t it?”

“I’m glad that you think that way.”

“Of course. Simple things like this are also great.” Ryan picked up the tankard of beer and drank. “Ooh, this one is quite strong. Not bad.”

“Are you satisfied with how things went today?” Joan asked.

“Yeah. We've only worked for a day yet we were able to immediately solve the food supply shortage… Well, for the short term I guess. But we’ll solve it permanently by the next harvest—you know what I mean,” Ryan grinned. “And to think we've only started with the Kobolds. Tomorrow, we’ll do much more. Now, we start with five, and by next time, we've taken over the entire mountain.”

“About all of that…” Joan pursed her lips and eyed the book that laid on the grass beside Ryan.

It had almost never left his side since they left the Finis Palace. Even during their time in Ironcross Mountains, the book was there too.

Joan was an assassin, and it was part of her job to take any suspicious relatively unnoticeable thing into account. She wanted to ask him about the book.

‘Now’s not really the proper time with everyone around us.’ Joan sighed.

Ryan noticed her gaze and squeezed her hand. If there was anyone who he would share his secrets with, it would obviously be his most trusted person.