Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1024 - 1017: The Change in the Village

Chapter 1024: Chapter 1017: The Change in the Village

While he was sorting things out, Luo’er couldn’t help but reach out and rub the two fuzzy bunny ears standing atop his head, smiling wistfully, "It’s been almost three years, hasn’t it? You’ve grown quite a bit."

"Hehe, really? I’ve been working hard to protect the village every day." Hearing Luo’er’s words, Taran became very excited, perhaps adjusting the rifle on his shoulder.

Due to his height, he still struggled somewhat to carry the Lee-Enfield Rifle, occasionally worrying that the gun would touch the ground.

"Protecting the village every day..." Luo’er’s face twitched for a moment, and then he couldn’t smile anymore.

In his view, at Taran’s age, he should have been in school studying, instead of carrying a rifle every day to guard his own village. When they had offered their suggestions to Meila Village initially, they hadn’t imagined the disaster would last so long. Three years later, when he returned, Taran still needed to carry a rifle to protect everyone.

Of course, he could understand Taran’s actions. After all, the massacre had reduced the village’s population by half, and Taran was one of the few able-bodied laborers left in the village. If he didn’t stand up to protect the village, then no one would be able to.

Thinking of this, Luo’er couldn’t help feeling a thousand different emotions, and he sighed deeply.

"Big Brother Luo’er, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you happy?" Taran looked up at him, his eyes wide with curiosity.

"Oh, no, it’s nothing," Luo’er shook his head, then forced a smile before asking, "By the way, do those Beastmen still often attack the village?"

"Mhm," Taran nodded and replied, "They keep coming, but they’ve been coming a lot less frequently recently. They only come once every few months now, and there aren’t many of them each time, so they’re easily driven off."

As he spoke, he became excited without warning, then took the rifle off his shoulder, held it out in front of Luo’er, and said excitedly, "Look, Big Brother Luo’er, these are my kill marks, a total of thirteen!"

"Is that so? That’s really impressive." Luo’er smiled and nodded, then took the rifle that he was holding high.

This Lee-Enfield Rifle had a series of notches cut into the stock with a knife, four vertical marks connected by a horizontal mark to represent an integer. There were two integers on Taran’s rifle stock, plus three additional marks, making a total of thirteen.

"I only carve them in when I make the kill. If I injure them and they run away, or if someone else finishes off the ones I’ve injured, I don’t count them." Taran squinted his eyes and said proudly.

"It seems like you’re quite familiar with this rifle now?" Luo’er inspected the rifle while nodding his head.

"Hehe," Taran, receiving Luo’er’s praise, scratched his head and chuckled again. Suddenly, as if he’d remembered something, he looked up eagerly and asked, "Big Brother Luo’er, have the other brothers and sisters come as well?"

"Yeah, they’re in the carriage!" Luo’er said without looking up.

"That’s great!" Taran exclaimed, jumping with excitement.

"All right, here’s your rifle, go lead the way, let’s head into the village," said Luo’er, handing the rifle back to him.

"Okay, okay, I’ll lead the way," Taran slung the rifle over his shoulder, excitedly waving his hand to signal his companions to make way, then called out to a fellow militiaman, "Go tell the village chief, say Luo’er Big Brother and the others are back!"

"Oh, alright!" The militiaman nodded vigorously, then turned and sprinted toward the village. His hood fell back, revealing two fuzzy bunny ears that were very conspicuous as they bobbed up and down.

Luo’er returned to the carriage, prompting the convoy to continue forward. Taran seemed very excited, running and jumping ahead, clearly delighted by the arrival of Luo’er and his companions.

After walking about a few hundred meters along the road, the view suddenly opened up, and the convoy arrived at a plain that had been cleared by felling trees. About a kilometer away, a wooden wall constructed from stakes could be seen, with spikes facing outward at its perimeter.

Clearly, the village chief had perfectly implemented Luo’er’s suggestions, clearing all the obstructive trees around the village and even extending the cleared area outward.

In the cleared areas, they hadn’t been idle either. They had planted crops and vegetables, and when the Beastmen didn’t attack, the fields outside became a source of food supply.

The village had tall watchtowers built at each of its four corners, with a sentinel guarding each one. At the same time, there were mobile militias like Taran’s, roaming the outskirts, guarding against potential Beastman threats.

Seeing this, Luo’er understood why the frequency of Beastman attacks had become so sparse. With such a level of defense vigilance, it was likely that the enemy suffered losses each time they attacked.

As they had no horses, the militias could only rely on their feet. Yet they were fast enough, and Taran, with nothing but his feet, had already made it to the gatehouse before the convoy left the forest.

The convoy continued along the road, which, to their surprise, was paved with stones—it seemed the villagers paid great attention to maintaining their village, unlike the muddy dirt roads outside.

When the convoy reached the gate, there was no need for greetings; the wooden doors were opened immediately, allowing everyone to enter the village with ease.

Upon arriving in the village, Luo’er was the first to dismount from the carriage, and the surrounding throng of villagers, upon seeing him, excitedly gathered around.

Compared to before, the villagers seemed much more lively now, their faces wearing genuine smiles. Luo’er remembered when they fled their calamity, every face was steeped in despair.

Luo’er also noticed that during his years away, the number of children born in the village had noticeably increased; some women carried one on their back, another in their arms, and yet another by the hand. The slaughter from before had deeply influenced the village, so they had begun to increase their efforts to reproduce, and now they had just barely recovered a bit.

As soon as Luo’er stepped off the carriage, the village chief, Feron, approached him. The chief, close to seventy years old, saw Luo’er and was so overwhelmed with emotion that he burst into tears.

"Lord Luo’er, we’ve been longing for your return," Feron said, gripping Luo’er’s hand with excitement.

"I’m truly sorry, Chief, we’ve had many issues after leaving, which prevented us from returning to see you all," Luo’er said with a hint of regret.

"Lord Luo’er needn’t say such things. We are overjoyed that you could visit us. How could we dare to expect you to come back often?" Feron said sincerely.

"Speaking of which," Luo’er looked around, then said to Feron, "Chief, you’ve managed the village very well. With these walls for protection, it’s much more reassuring."

"Yes, thanks to your advice, Lord Luo’er. Now, in our battles with the Beastmen, although we still suffer some losses, compared to before, it’s much better. We haven’t had a tragedy where half the village perished anymore," Feron said, shaking his head.

"We came here on a mission and passed by, so we took the opportunity to visit and see how you were. Seeing you like this now, I feel relieved," Luo’er said.

"Hehehe, thank you for your concern, Lord Luo’er. May I ask how your other friends are..." Feron asked hesitantly.

"Oh, they’re in the carriage. I will call them down," Luo’er said, turning to signal his teammates to get out.

At Luo’er’s call, everyone got off the carriage one by one. Although the villagers had seen Hu Daoke before, they were still taken aback when he stepped off the carriage.

Talis got off the carriage, looked around in amazement, and exclaimed, "Wow, there are so many rabbit people here!"

As people continued to disembark, they greeted the villagers. The Advance Team members had mostly seen the villagers before, so there wasn’t much of a sense of strangeness.

Just as Baiyue stepped off the carriage, Feron couldn’t help but exclaim, "Ah, Aniya, you... sorry, I mistook you again."

At the mention of the name Aniya, Baiyue visibly shuddered and then looked somewhat panicked at Village Chief Feron.

"Sorry, she really resembles Aniya..." Feron said with a saddened expression.

Luo’er looked at him, then at Baiyue, with a thoughtful expression. It appeared that a proper explanation would be necessary at some point.

Feng was the last person to step off the carriage. As soon as she dismounted, Village Chief Feron exclaimed in surprise once again. But unlike his reaction to Baiyue, his first instinct upon seeing Feng was horror—he was so frightened that he sat down on the spot, shaking all over.