Archmage Reincarnate Into Apocalypse World

Chapter 12 Rotten Side of Man

Despite his pale skin, his face was covered with many wrinkles and was covered by a long beard. He looks like a humble man.

"I heard that you were looking for me. What is it?" Just like other villagers, the village head also feels threatened by Zane's presence.

"I was just passing by and saw a village here. I would like to stay for a few days. Is it possible?"

The village head was a little pensive, "Is that all? You don't mean to do anything to harm us, do you?"

Zane was shocked. He didn't think that the Village head suspected him to that extent.

"There's nothing to take from us. Our village is a poor village."

Zane is considered a thief who wants to steal from villagers. Apparently, he needed more effort to convince them all.

"No. I don't want anything; I just hope for a place to sleep. I also brought my own food."

"…Really?"

The village head's eyes brightened at the word: food.

Zane nodded his head and answered.

"Of course. In fact, I will share half of my food. Even if monsters attack this village…"

"No monsters will attack this village!"

The daughter who was always carried by her mother screamed at Zane.

Zane fixed his gaze on the little girl. Her mom hugged her tightly.

"In that case, okay. There are several empty houses here. Maybe you two could use one of these. As for the food…"

"I will give it to you…"

The village chief nodded his head with a smile.

However, Zane remembered the little girl's words again.

[No monsters will attack this village, Mr. Zane. Isn't that weird?]

As Zane was thinking about the words that came out of Asmo's mouth, his thoughts were interrupted by the village head.

"Follow me, I will take you to one of the houses that you will temporarily occupy"

"Thank you"

…

The empty house chosen by the village head was a hut where several parts had holes in it. Even he wasn't sure if it could properly be called home anymore.

Zane couldn't help but accept it.

After that, Zane put his hand inside his cloak.

He took some food from his inventory and put it into a medium-sized bag which he also took from his inventory.

[Looks like I'll have to summon him for this task]

"Get out, Caim"

Zane summons one of his summonses again.

Famous as a killer in the dark. Assassination is his main skill.

Caim appeared with a hood and a black robe covering his body. Even Zane didn't know what weapon he was carrying, or what armor he was using.

Only, when his eyes met Zane's, he lifted his hood to reveal half of his arm which was covered by a black leather suit and a skull mask contrasting white covering his entire face.

[Can you investigate this village without the knowledge of the villagers as well as the village head? I still feel something is wrong here]

[Leave it to me, My Lord]

Caim, disappeared in an instant as if he had never appeared.

[As usual, he's very mysterious]

Asmodeus joked.

When he had finished preparing the food to be given to the villagers, Zane opened the door and left the hut. He saw a little girl who seemed to be waiting for him.

"Are you waiting for me?"

Zane knelt so his height was level with the girl.

The little girl's eyes lit up when she saw Zane's hand holding the food bag.

"You want this food?"

"Yes"

The girl answered Zane, excited.

Zane took a piece of meat from the bag.

When the little girl was about to reach for it, a hoarse voice was heard that startled the little girl.

Village head snapped at him, "What are you doing, kid?!"

The hoarse voice sounded loud from an old man whose figure looked modest, "…and you're a foreign man, haven't you promised me? I already gave you a place to sleep! Now you will give the food bag to me!"

"Isn't this girl also a resident here?"

Zane was left wondering.

The Village Head's expression still looked stiff.

"What does a brat know? She could only take all the available food and satisfy her own appetite. But this, this food bag will be able to fill all the villagers here!"

Zane felt that there was no point in continuing to discuss this with the village head.

"Okay, take this. I think that's enough for everyone here."

Zane gave the food bag to the village head.

Village head seemed to take it by force. After he checked the contents, the man immediately rushed away.

Meanwhile, the girl he snapped at, began to see tears in the corners of her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore after the village head left.

Knowing this, her mother approached her. Stroking her head and trying to calm her down.

"Don't cry. Take this…"

Zane again gave the little girl a piece of meat.

However, her mother refused him subtly.

"Please don't do this. I'm afraid that if the village head finds out about this, we'll be punished…"

But Zane persisted.

"In that case, I will give it to you. If it's to you, you won't refuse right?"

Zane didn't just give him a piece of meat, but he took a little more from his inventory.

In the form of several slices of bread, and also pieces of meat.

The mother of the little girl finally accepted it. Before they said goodbye to Zane, the mother of the little girl whispered a sentence to Zane.

"Don't hate our village head. He has done much for our good."

When Zane heard that, he felt something was wrong there.

[What's that? Why do I feel something is not right]

Asmodeus replied.

[That village chief…there's something wrong with him]

Zane decided to return to the hut. He tried to figure out what was wrong. While waiting for the report from Caim, his eyes began to close.

[Please rest, Mr. Zane. I will stay on guard]

Since summons basically didn't need rest or food, Asmo chose to watch over his master that night.

Zane's eyes opened when he realized that Caim was back.

[So what did you get?]

[Village head stores some meat in a basement not far from the village. But I don't know what that much meat is for, My Lord]

[That guy is such a jerk!]

***

At the same time, Zane also felt extreme weather changes.

The blue night sky had become morning, but it was more like cloudy.

The ground on the first night was still covered with thick snow, but when morning came, there wasn't even a bit of snow left.

It was his first time entering a village like this.

When he was still in his own body, he had never met such a resident in this strange world.

His focus has always been on killing monsters.

But, this time was different.

It was as if someone had managed the Tower of Magic's system without his knowledge.

Are the villagers' expressions, speaking, lifestyle, and civilization all made up? Or could they be real living thing? Nothing could be confirmed, but Zane was certain of one thing.

They are reacting based on their thoughts and emotions. So, he would have to treat them the same as humans.

Regardless of Caim's information, Zane tries finding out about the village chief — what kind of person he is, how had he lived his life — but everyone's response to those questions was cold.

"Why do you ask that?"

"You have something up your sleeves, right?"

"Don't you dare harm our village head, otherwise I'll—!"

Zane had no idea. But at one point, Zane was able to hear a rough story when he approached a mild-looking middle-aged lady.

"Please understand. We reacted this way because our village got looted by outsiders quite often. Although I do not know what the village head is thinking, we do feel uncomfortable accepting outsiders."

He had expected that. Weak villages would only get looted in this world. But Zane was curious about something else.

"Why does everyone trust the village head so much?"

"That is because the village head is a hero to the villagers." Zane was like being struck by lightning on a hot day.

"…Hero? That old man? No way!" Zane asked about the details. He wanted to know what had happened to make everyone here regard him as a hero.

"Ah, I don't know. I can only tell you this much."

The old woman didn't seem to want to tell what she knew more.

Hero. There were a couple of things he was sure of if the village head was called by that title.

The village head saved the villagers, and it must have been through an extreme method.

"...He didn't seem to be that kind of person."

Zane and Caim had observed the village for a while. It wasn't long until they started to widen their area of ​​search. There was no more information to be had from the villagers. Zane is sure that they are leaning toward the village head.

Zane decided to look for information on his own, of course with his team, which he trusted more.

First, I'll need to find out… From what did he have to protect the village? He required an answer to that.

But as he left the village's entrance, an aura appeared in Zane's eyes. A completely familiar aura.

 "It couldn't be."

As soon as Zane got closer to the place where the aura was coming from, Zane looked around, and his doubt became the truth.

"Fuck."

During his life as Arnold, he already knew the pros and cons of humans.

A good person has become bad just because of lust.

And now, he saw it happen again.

Right before his eyes.