A Village deep in the woods

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/Step step…/

'Still walking Silver easily protected them all, after a light discussion, he gave Artemis her bow back, which had been stored in his inventory for safety and to lighten their burden.'

'Even now, aside from their clothes, they weren't carrying anything with them.'

"Hm?"

Have I finally found it?

'Still, as he walked, Silver's attention was momentarily taken away as he looked to the NorthEast.'

'There, deeper in the mountains next to a long river that went through the many precipices and ravines hidden by the rocks, a rather large Village stood within a hidden forest.'

'Enough to be called a small town even.'

'There was a simple path connecting the main road to the Village through a bridge going over the river, but it didn't seem to be used often due to how hidden it was.'

'In the first place, it was unlikely to meet anyone here, the number of people that would cross it could likely be counted on one hand…'

'And most of them were adventurers, people who usually didn't go that far from the city unless it was due to an important reason, like a commission or simple retirement, which was rare.'

'However, what's important was the fact that this Village was a bit different from the others they had seen so far…'

'It was clearly located at the heart of the mountains in an area with quite a few monsters, yet it looked peaceful as if nothing had ever attacked it.'

'There were no broken trees, no toppled houses, no shattered blocks of stone hauled by wyverns, and the river was full of fish and the forest of birds...'

'Only a large forest and the many farm fields within it.'

This has to be the place...

No amount of luck can give birth to such a place unless all of the odds of the universe come together...

'Silver's right eye shined with faint light as he used his Plasmids, taking control over his "drone".'

'Right now, he had several birds flying in the sky, observing the surroundings and making sure nothing dangerous approached them.'

'Silver could likely prevent anything bad from happening but he wouldn't take any chances.'

'Aside from that, those birds could notify him in case anything of interest passed by.'

'Thanks to them, he found around three broken wagons full of items inside, mostly broken or rotten materials.'

'Together with a carriage with jewelry and gold, and now, an entire Village, the third one they found, albeit the other two Villages were rather obvious as they were in the path.'

'Of course, that wasn't something he told nor showed the two Goddesses next to him, seeing the bodies that usually accompany such disasters would only work to spoil their overall happy mood.'

'So with his eyes sharpening, he said:'

"I think there's a Village nearby, and we've walked for quite a while, would you like to make a quick stop to rest and take a look while we're at it?" He asked calmly as he looked at the two Goddesses

"Of course, but... A Village? So deep in the mountains?" Artemis asked with a confused expression when she heard his words

"I'm curious about it too, but I'm pretty sure there's one nearby." Silver added with a light smile

"How do they fend off the monsters?" Hestia asked as she touched her chin

"Let's figure that out then." Silver said with a smile as he turned to the right, following the off-road path leading to the Village

'It was full of vegetation and given how perilous this place is, no one would try to risk going onto the wilds, that must be how the Village defends itself from Human problems.'

'After all, monsters aren't the sole issue people have to deal with while living outside of a city's strong walls…'

'And often times, even people protected by large walls will fall victim to the greed of man and the ferocity of a monster...'

'More often than not, those were just decorative.'

…

/Half an hour later…/

'Following their descent into the overturned path, they eventually arrived at the entrance of a Village, a large wooden arc with a few words inscribed in it.'

'It read, "Welcome to Edas Village".'

'There were no walls to protect the Village, only a tall wobbly fence barely good enough to prevent children from wandering off too far.'

'Though knowing how children are, there is definitely a holy hidden somewhere they use to go out of its perimeter.'

'Silver wondered where they got the metal to make the nails for their fences, given they're quite a few hours away from the city and that it would be quite dangerous for them to walk there...'

'But then again, being surrounded by mountains on all sides, there's no one stopping them from collecting directly from the source... Or if they were lucky, maybe they can just scoop it up from the rivers' shores.'

"Hum…"

There are no monsters around… Nothing, not even a sign of one.

In this entire massive forest a few Kilometers in diameter hidden in one of the most dangerous regions surrounding Orario, there's absolutely nothing here, only common wild animals.

Yup, that confirms it, this is the place.

If it's not then something pretty serious is going on...

'Inspecting his surroundings, Silver was quite impressed by the peace that surrounded the Village.'

'And for a moment, he thought that maybe… It wouldn't be so bad to live like this…'

'Until he remembered that would mean not being able to sleep in his Ultra deluxe mattress bed made with the silk of Dungeon spiders...'

'Though with his powers, life anywhere can be made trivial as long as he had food and water.'

'He may be efficient, but he can't keep condensing water from the atmosphere to recover his stamina and Mind, it may work for a while but eventually, things would balance out.'

'It's not like water is a block of coal he can use to fuel his body to keep mining for more...'

/Whistle.../

/THUD THUD THUD!!/

'As they approached, they met with their first Vvllager.'

'Right next to the gate was a man crouched on the ground, hammering a nail onto the fence surrounding the Village as he whistled in a low tone.'

"Hm? Who...? Oh! HEY! We have visitors!" The man exclaimed as he saw them approach

'He then turned around and walked deep into the Village, leaving the trio hanging awkwardly as they approached the entrance.'

/Chatter…/

'As they got near, a small crowd began to gather around the entrance, mostly children although there were some adults in their midst.'

'They all seemed very curious about them but from the atmosphere and the looks on their faces, on the mountain path, sometimes through their feet, others times through Silver's Plasmids, the trio had already gone quite deep in the mountains, so much so they met monsters