Archmage Reincarnate Into Apocalypse World

Chapter 13 The Village Hidden Secret

When morning became afternoon, with the sky feeling cloudy, and the village head didn't see Zane's presence, he finally decided to head to the hut.

"Knock, knock—"

"Are you in there?"

There was no answer from behind the hut. After the village head called Zane several times, his frustration started to rise from him.

"I did give you a place to rest. But how long are you going to sleep? It is already noon"

"Creak—"

When he forced open the door of the hut, the village head found nothing.

Suddenly he felt uneasy.

"Where did the foreign men go? Is both of them awake yet?"

Suddenly one of the villagers approached the village head.

"Village head, y-you must follow me to the village hall, right now!"

The woman looked panicked. Seeing the woman's panic, the village head rushed to the village hall.

The place was indeed used for a gathering of villagers to discuss or bring together issues related to the village.

"What is this?!"

The village head's hoarse voice made the residents who had gathered at the village hall begin to split.

The head of the village approached one of the buildings, and saw Zane sitting relaxed, behind him he saw Asmo on guard, and right in front of Zane, many creatures in the form of animals had been dismembered.

"What is this, stranger?!"

Zane casually answered the village head's question.

"I brought you meat. This morning I was hunting with my friends.

Zane poked at the giant velociraptor heads that were placed in front of him.

"Now you won't be short of food, at least this meat will fill you up in the next few months"

The village head fell silent. His thoughts became jumbled, he wondered why a stranger like him was this good just because he was given a temporary place to rest.

Zane opened his mouth again, now with a chuckle behind his mask. "Why does your face look confused, village head? I've taken care of the monsters in the forest, in a cave not far from this village."

The village chief's eyes widened in shock.

Now he knew the meaning of that chuckle.

"W-why did you do that?!"

The village head still couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Zane tried to provoke the village head

"Did I do wrong?"

The village head snapped at Zane.

"Yes, what you did was wrong! Those monsters are protecting these villagers and this village!"

The chuckle from behind Zane's mask disappears, there's a murderous aura coming out of him.

"Isn't that strange, why are beasts like them protecting all of you?"

"But it's real! It's a truth that can't be denied!"

A question that shocked the village head and the villagers left them speechless.

"Then, are you sacrificing a foreigner like us to the monsters? and there is a possibility that if I look at the number of villagers, you may also be sacrificing some of you as food for the monsters!"

"H-how did you know?" Only the villagers know this!"

"I know a bit about this monster."

The head of the giant velociraptor was about a meter wide in diameter.

Zane knew its name.

"It's called the Antlerzard. A kind of Velociraptor that has a small horn on its head and is able to spit poison from its mouth. They will eat at night when the snow falls heavily. When morning came, they fell asleep. When morning comes, the snow will melt because the animal removes heat from its body. The effect of his body also digesting food. It made the snow in your area disappear overnight"

As soon as the monster's name was spoken, all the adult villagers, including the village head, face visibly stiffened.

In fact, they did not know the monster's name.

Even they didn't know that those monsters made the snow in their village melt to such an extreme degree.

The village chief tries not to believe Zane's words.

"Nonsense, how can a monster make the weather change overnight!"

"You are right. It wouldn't be possible if there was only one tail. However, they have multiplied a lot, so it is possible. "

It doesn't care about anything else besides satisfying its belly. They search for a hunting ground and, until it leaves, mark their own territory so that weaker monsters can't even come near. As they approached the border of the village, someone gave sacrifices for them.

"Stop, stop it!" The village chief panicked as Zane spoke as if he knew everything.

"This beast does not see the person who feeds it as its prey."

Zane tells the truth that the villagers don't know. So far, only the head of the village has always fed the monsters.

"So he won't be able to be eaten when the village head tries to sacrifice himself to make the villagers believe in him. Like it or not, you have to sacrifice other people and strangers to become the prey of these monsters. That's right, isn't it?"

Zane's words are considered reasonable by the villagers.

[Is what this stranger said true, village head?]

[So you've been lying to us all this time?!]

[You really are an asshole, village head]

[We thought you were a hero. You really are rotten!]

"Lies! It's all lies!" The village head screamed to defend himself.

Amongst them were people who made "inevitable" sacrifices.

[My son! The village head, my son! Bring back my son!]

"It's inevitable. Please understand"

"He fooled us!"

The village chief pointed his finger at Zane

"Don't get duped by the outsider!"

[No, we're fooled! I wondered why the monster did not eat the village head!]

"Calm down and…"

[He made my husband into that monster's food! Why would he do that? Why?!]

The villagers were outraged. Zane's words were reasonably trustworthy. Without his knowledge of Antlerzard's habits, they would never have found out.

Still, some people still believed in the village chief.

[My wife, my daughter…]

[My gosh…]

[Oh my! My Gina, My Lea!]

Zane watched as they mourned loudly. An inevitable sacrifice. Must be endured. There were those who had pent-up resentment at those words.

Rescue the village. Survive.

"Survive from what? The questions had already been answered by Zane himself. The village head could not do anything more.

"Starting from now…"

"Swirls—"

Zane gave off his killing aura. The magic that was longer on the inside of his body spread into the village. The commotion ceased in a flash.

"Everyone, please answer."

The villagers are now silent.

"You can decide to expel the village chief from this village or you can become the next prey for those monsters

Zane's eyes met the village head.

"Hick!"

The frightened village chief lost all his strength and flopped onto the ground.

"Everyone will make the call."

Suddenly a young man stood out, he was one of the victims whose family was the sacrifice.

[But isn't all of this too sudden?! We could fall prey to those monsters sooner or later because you killed a few of them!]

The young man was trembling. He looked scared, but he was different unlike the other villagers, who looked like losers.

"So, are you going to wait until he becomes prey to another monster?"

[That…]

"Also, there's one more thing that all of you are not aware of."

[What else do we not know?]

"If you keep offering human sacrifices every day, the number will increase each time. because there is a possibility that they reproduce. Here is the problem."

Zane asked, looking around. How long will it take for everyone here to end up in that monster's stomach?

The villagers keep quiet. They had quite a number of people, despite being just a small village, but what if the number of people they sacrificed increased exponentially? It wouldn't be that way for long.

"There's no need to know for certain. You could roughly guess. If you need verification, I could show you their nest in the middle of the forest near this village."

Despair. The thought of being able to live a bit longer was actually a shortcut to death.

A dark shadow cast on all of their faces, losing even the faintest trace of hope.

"There's a method."

[…A way?]

[What is it?]

The villagers pricked up their ears.

They thought all hope was lost….

But was there really a method?

As they needed a more detailed explanation, Zane had more to say.

"There's a way for everyone to live," Zane spoke, looking at the villagers surrounding him, "Will you listen to me?"

The villagers made a decision concerning the village head.

Not driving him away, but death.

There was no other way of repaying his actions to fool the villagers.

The village head had already offered the villagers to the monsters as sacrifices.

The village head, who could not endure flogging and beatings, shouted furiously.

"All of you are being fooled by him!" Some were wavered by his screams.

It was true that the village head had devoted his whole life to the village, and Zane was an outsider who arrived just yesterday.

The anger of the villagers whose families had become prey to Antlerzard was not easily shaken by his play.

[Didn't you say that there's a way for everyone to live?]

[Is the method right here?]

"Yes."

As they followed the path in the forest, they arrived at a huge cave. The sound of something roaring could be heard.

"Grrr—!"

Their eyes were glistening in the dark. The young men who followed Zane down stepped back in astonishment.

[M-m-monster…!]

[Run…!]

The monsters were the remnants of Antlerzard that Zane and his team did not kill on purpose.