CHAPTER 495: CONSENSUS (1/2)
A number of villagers gasped in surprise when the old lady walked out of the crowd. Given her age, it was a miracle in of itself that she had survived during the Undead horde’s initial push. Yet here she was, standing before them in a time of indecision.
Based on how she was acting, this granny clearly wasn’t here to help either. Even though Nicole wasn’t too happy about siding with Devils, there was no other choice right now. That was why she sided with me for now. “Granny, what’s your opinion on this matter?”
The old lady known as Granny Adele revealed an almost toothless grin and said, “Granny doesn’t have too many opinions left to share, but she just doesn’t know if those Devils can be trusted.”
Her intent was clear at this point. She was here to stir up trouble and that meant I needn’t hold back either.
“Ever since I’ve come to this village, I have never harmed a single villager. In fact, I have even helped to slay that Vampire. It might have been a failure, but I have never asked for any form of compensation despite our efforts. Is that still not enough to prove my sincerity?”
Having said that, a number of villagers fell silent as well. Everything I had said so far was true. Had it not been for Umbra’s Undead, we would have already left the village. In other words, while I might have been an Occultist, I hadn’t harmed them yet and had even saved them… at least that would have been so if the Vampire we slayed wasn’t Umbra’s substitute. Either way, these were all beneficial acts to the village and anyone with eyes could see that, barring that aunty.
“Little missy, I know you haven’t harmed the village, that’s why I’m also willing to believe you. But… those Undeads outside our village have to be dealt with… there’s no choice in this matter.”
While she might not have said so directly, her meaning couldn’t be any clearer. For the sake of the village, she wanted us to leave the village. In other words, she would rather believe that Vampire’s promise of forgiving the village’s transgressions.
What the heck, she would rather trust that bloodsucker than me?
In actuality, her actions weren’t as absurd as they seemed. A Vampire was a lot easier to believe than a Devil. A Vampire was basically a stronger human except that it had to drink blood to survive. It only had to drink blood from a single person each day, not like a Devil who ate the entire Human whole. Furthermore, Vampires were afraid of sunlight…
Sunlight! That’s right! That Vampire gave us 24 hours to decide, meaning we could just flee with the villagers during the day.
But is the solution really so simple? There’s no way that Vampire doesn’t know of his own weakness, not unless he’s a moron, and he clearly isn’t. If he dared to propose such a timeframe, he probably has some form of countermeasure as well.
“Everyone, listen to me!” While Granny Adele’s words might have caused a stir amongst the villagers, I was fortunately able to suppress their murmurings by magnifying my voice with mana. “Listen to me for a second. I’m sure everyone knows by now that Vampires are afraid of sunlight. What I’m proposing is this: if that Vampire breaks his word and tries to attack us before daylight, all of us will leave without argument. But if that Vampire doesn’t attack us, we can just flee the village together during the day!”
Having heard the entirety of the plan, Granny Adele nodded her head first, a sign that she recognised the feasibility of this idea. However, she soon shook her head and said, “but little missy, Vampires might be afraid of sunlight, but those Undead can still fight in the day. With so many villagers to evacuate, that plan might not work out too well.”
“The Undead might be able to fight during the day, but their strength will still be weakened. Furthermore, our numbers might be low, but everyone of us is a fighting force to be reckoned with. Escorting everyone shouldn’t be an issue.” If I had to be perfectly honest, those words were like an encouragement for me as well. Could I honestly be blamed for that? My original intentions were to leave with Nicole, and Ann as well. While this might not be too fair for the villagers, the only people I really cared about barring those following me were Nicole and Neneth. For the sake of Nicole, I was more than willing to set aside my conscience. Unfortunately, Nicole was adamant on saving the villagers, so here I was risking my life as well.
Because that Vampire had offered to forgive the village if we left, there was now an invisible rift between us and the villagers. They had naively chosen to believe that Vampire without realising that the whole reason for their despair was that Vampire in the first place!