A Village Appeared on My Desktop

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Chapter 71 – Northern Wind (1)

“Ksai, while your condition seems to confirm it, isn’t ‘just northeast’ the only information we have? Are we sure the enemies are really there?”

“To be honest, I can’t say for certain. But one of the tribes following us was annihilated, and it’s clear the residents disappeared completely.”

“So, you’re suggesting we send an army to some unknown place?”

“I believe it’s necessary if we want to fully claim the northeastern land that is still unknown to us.”

He reported with a firm determination, as if he was already prepared for this course of action. Chieftain Garhan pondered for a moment, taking in his words despite being wrapped in bandages.

Logically, his words were not wrong. Garhan needed to make this entire area his complete dominion. He had to draw all the resources and people from there to himself.

Only then could he become a strong storm capable of overcoming another wind blowing in from the center of the grassland.

‘It’s clear there’s an enemy, and surveying the area thoroughly is necessary. It must be done.’

Garhan stroked his beard and made his decision. He would send an army to completely clean out the uncharted northeastern region and make it entirely his own.

“I’ll do as you say. I plan to select a large army and relocate tribesmen to that place. By doing this, we can transform the abandoned land into our territory completely.”

“Y-you mean we’re moving tribes too?”

Garhan took it one step further. He decided to relocate some of the tribes under his command to entirely claim the eastern land.

It was a method a powerful chieftain with many tribes could afford to use.

“W-which tribe are you planning to send?”

“I’ll send Luhan’s tribe. He’s a strong warrior as well as a loyal man, so he’s trustworthy. Of course, I could send more, but you know we need to be more vigilant toward the other side than the east.”

Unable to contain his curiosity, Ksai asked before stepping back. Garhan smiled slyly and answered without hiding it.

‘He’s serious about this.’

Ksai swallowed hard at that answer. Luhan’s tribe was larger than several small tribes combined.

Moreover, they weren’t just simple numbers. Luhan, being a fierce warrior, led a group of warriors and soldiers renowned as the ‘mad wolves of the wasteland.’

Even Garhan had only integrated them into his command through marriage ties rather than facing them directly in combat.

“I’m glad to be given all the eastern land, but I do feel a bit disappointed. I wanted to clash with those rascals in the center.”

“Once we’ve made that land completely ours, we can build up our strength and fight without any problems.”

Swift decisions. Right after deciding, Garhan notified Luhan, who promptly gathered his tribe and packed up to leave without any objections.

On the way, Luhan met Garhan and smiled as he looked at his soldiers transporting the supplies Garhan was providing.

Garhan hadn’t sent them away empty-handed.

“I hear there are arrogant fellows living there.”

“I didn’t think anyone would live there. We’ll just smash them and make them our slaves; that should make settling in easier.”

“Thinking like that isn’t bad. Indeed, we shouldn’t have to struggle.”

They were confident of their victory. Besides mere confidence, they had ample realistic grounds—population, weapons, skills, and all.

“There’s no need to hesitate. My tribesmen are all warriors. We’ll swarm and finish them in one go.”

True to his impulsive nature, he had no intention of dragging things out. He would charge in with his army at once to crush the enemy in a single battle, seize their village, or enslave them to build a new settlement.

“Is this…”

The problem was that someone who could see them as completely irrelevant was also watching them approach so boldly.

While they marched across the vast plains as if daring anyone to stop them, the transporter Morin, lifted into the sky while hastily eating breakfast, spotted them in the distance with sharp vision and quaked.

An enormous number of enemies, unparalleled in scale to anything seen in the area thus far, were advancing.

“Cough!”

Morin must have thought he had taken enough of a look because he was lifted back into the air once more.

He quickly crossed over the ground and returned to the village, rushing to Balun the moment he landed to report what he had seen.

“With their speed, they’ll surely reach here in two days at most.”

“W-what do we do!? I think there were at least two thousand, no, perhaps three thousand!”

“Calm down. You know we don’t have any options.”

Balun maintained his calm even after hearing Morin’s report. At least the mention of two to three thousand made him flinch, but he soon regained his composure.

“We must protect this holy site. We cannot lose to anyone.”

“But…”

“Didn’t I just take you to show you that? They’ll surely be with us.”

Balun mentioned the Guardian Deity to reassure the instinctively anxious Morin. Morin let out a small sigh. They wouldn’t fight alone.

The very act of him going back and forth scouting that far was already impossible.

“We need a strategy. Even if the deity steps in, we still need to have our own plans.”

Balun instantly fell into thought. He had accumulated quite a bit of power through various games and programs. These powers were far from ordinary logic. At the very least, they were strong enough to put a dent in the enemy.

The more power he had at his disposal, the more plans and strategies became necessary.

*

‘It’s obvious they’re not ordinary; I wonder if we can win?’

The serious face Balun wore while pondering likely reflected my own thoughts.

With no choices to evade or surrender, they would have to fight; hence, a plan was essential. The first thing needed was where they would fight.

They gathered information in ways the enemy couldn’t imagine ahead of time. Thus, based on that information and time, they could prepare in advance. I might not know much, but I understood that this was a tremendous advantage.

“—, —!”

‘So are they planning to engage elsewhere and not confront us here?’

I focused my mind on the actions of Balun and the villagers.

As they hurriedly equipped themselves and prepared for battle, it seemed they had no intention of fighting within their village surrounded by three-meter-high walls.

“Then I’ll help that happen.”

Chortling to myself, I began relocating them away from the village to the center of the path where the enemies were approaching.

I intended to fully support their thinking. In wars like these, they were more experienced than I was. If one didn’t know much, it was better to keep quiet and follow the experts.

Fortunately, they seemed to realize I was supporting them. Once relocated, they promptly took their positions and prepared to move according to the strategy.

‘What sort of strategy are they thinking of?’

I kept moving the mouse, transferring countless troops one by one.

Throughout this process, I observed Balun as he directed his men.

Balun didn’t simply bring soldiers with him. He made transporters like Morin gather large quantities of stone blocks and dirt blocks acquired from the game and mobilized a number of miners wielding pickaxes.

It was a stark contrast to past battles where resource gathering had paused.

‘Is he really planning to utilize everything? How exactly?’

Naturally, all the warriors were mobilized as well. Riena, along with those trained in monster essence and hunting mode, were all included.

Moreover, all the special equipment from Creature Hunting that had recently been brought into the village was also gathered.

‘This seems necessary.’

They needed more weapons. Seeing their preparations, I logged into Creature Hunting, turned into a raccoon, and headed to the equipment shop to buy a large quantity of the cheapest arrows available.

Special, oversized arrows made from monster bones and feathers.

I handed several dozen of those arrows to Naru and Dune, pouring in all the gold I had earned yesterday. They would surely understand the significance of this.

These were items acquired to catch large mutants or bugs, but it seemed they were going to be used against the wrong target first.

‘But the effectiveness is guaranteed.’

This matter was of great importance. If they won, it would be another opportunity for us to rise again; if they lost, that would be the end of everything.

Still, I didn’t feel incredibly tense. It was somewhat different from previous events.

Soldiers donned with uniform steel armor produced from a factory, warriors wearing unique armor made from the skins or bones of monsters, and a female knight adorned in special powers were all moving to confront the enemy.

Having already surpassed the average tribe of the grassland, I couldn’t help but be curious about how they would fight against their kind.

“—!”

As I moved nearly all the troops and supplies, Balun was executing his plan, directing the soldiers alongside the warriors.

‘Wait, could that be…?’

The most noticeable thing was that he had miners digging a long trench in the middle of the plain. With a group of them working away with their pickaxes, they had quickly dug a trench over two meters wide and more than a hundred meters long.

Then Balun had the transporters cover that trench with special blocks. He wasn’t filling it in; he was literally covering it.

I had no idea how he came up with such an idea. I didn’t think I had shown them clay blocks separately.

Connected into one continuous block, the uniform mud blocks were now filling the space as if they were items popping out of the game, but if someone other than a transporter—or even someone nearby—had gotten close, it would have collapsed, sending those stepping on it tumbling into the trench.

“…—.”

Balun, satisfied with his handiwork, threw grass and dirt on top of the mud blocks to cover it.

In a short time, he had literally altered the terrain by leveraging the special powers they had obtained.