Chapter 51: Little Hamster

Several hours ago.
Bean Village.
"Little brother, little sister over there? Is this Bean Village?"
Aman and Marie, who were learning to identify herbs at the village entrance, heard an unfamiliar greeting.
Looking back, they saw an unfamiliar carriage parked next to the "Bean Village" road sign.
Two people jumped down from the carriage first.
The first two: one was dressed similarly to Marco, with a bushy beard and a potbelly; the other was hunched over, looking unmistakably like a young errand boy.
The chubby middle-aged man waved at them with a beaming smile and asked again, "Is this Bean Village?"
"We are traveling merchants from Amber Town. We heard there are some very fine goods here, so we came to take a look."
Upon hearing that they had come to the village to look at goods, Aman's eyes instantly lit up, and he blurted out eagerly, "Yes, yes, this is Bean Village—do you, do you want to see the village chief?"
Marie, who was a year younger than Aman, was more cautious than him and looked at the two men suspiciously.
Wasn't Amber Town very far from here? Why come all the way here just to look at goods?
At that moment, another person jumped down from the carriage.
This man wore the deep blue top of the Awakened Patrol, with a square face.
The square-faced man saluted Marie and Aman: "I am from the Amber Town Awakened Patrol, temporarily serving as this merchant's guard."
"Bang!"
Why... was there no response?
After coming out of the village chief's house, the talkative merchant praised Bean Village in various ways once more, while complimenting Aman as "clever and smart, more sensible than adults" and "especially warm and hospitable," which kept the child grinning foolishly and made him even more eager to prove that he was "clever, smart, and knew everything."
The eldest brother muttered to himself.
"That place, the fragrance of that honey, oh, it's enough to make someone die of craving."
To be honest, this scene made his spine feel a bit chilly.
However, a stampede of this magnitude happened maybe once in a century. It had only been a few years since the last one, and now...
Chu Jiu's face turned instantly pale.
The merchant from Amber Town chatted with the village chief for quite a long time.
The third brother fell silent as well.
The combination they used this time—"traveling merchant plus Awakened"—was a trick that never failed them. They had swindled deposits from several remote villages and succeeded every single time.
The eldest brother took the coin placed on the table by the other party and licked it. "Right, we've found our conscience."
Cold sweat began to break out on his forehead.
When the time comes, maybe he could even sell soy sauce to Amber Town!
But at this point, they had no leisure for deep contemplation.
Chu Jiu prayed silently.
This was taking too long!
The two didn't waste any breath asking questions; they hoisted the dwarf orc, hoisted Chu Jiu onto the carriage, and raced back desperately.
He shook his head and stopped looking, his nose twitching again as he accurately located the large wooden barrel filled with honey.
Seeing that no business could be negotiated today, the merchant did not pester them further, standing up, dusting off his clothes, and preparing to leave.
The rumor that "something can offset the power of the road sign" had always existed.
Actually, he knew a thing or two about it.
Finally, the trees swayed, the air trembled, and an endless black shadow surged toward the cabin like a mudslide!
The fake errand boy chuckled. "Good, good."

(1/3)

(2/3)

However, the second after, a new prompt appeared:
As he spoke, the merchant's tone shifted: "Did you hire any 'Pioneers' for the wasteland in your village?"
Was that—was that a flying tree?!
*
The village chief glanced at the Awakened waiting outside and let Aman go.
Wait, why not find a place with his brothers to watch and see what level of monsters get attracted here?
[Monster detected entering the Pioneer Cabin area. Host, please determine whether to permit entry.]
The three brothers, who had brazenly come to scout out the place in the afternoon, quietly sneaked back into Bean Village and crept near the road sign at the edge of the wasteland.
The fake merchant glared at him. "Third brother, it was just a matter of convenience. How is that 'stirring up extra trouble'?"
The three of them had already discussed it: the eldest was responsible for burying the box near the road sign; the third was responsible for burying the box near the wooden cabin; and the second would follow the scent to find where the honey was hidden and stuff all the honey into leather bags.
In less than two minutes, a shallow pit appeared in the ground.
The third brother covered his nose and glanced aside—
Yet here he was, thousands of miles away, completely unable to do anything!
Night fell.
If he were right there in Bean Village, various props should be able to block the monsters, and he could organize everyone to set traps—
The eldest brother picked a spot to dig a hole, while the second brother followed closely behind the third, taking quick little steps toward the Pioneer Cabin.
The other party didn't hide it and told them directly that after taking out the items in this box, it would cancel out the effect of the road sign and lure the monsters over.
It really was a full barrel!
What the hell is hitting me?!
The other party smiled calmly. "What? Could it be that your conscience has awakened and you dare not take the job?"
The merchant understood the situation in his mind.
If anyone in the village survived by luck, they would only remember that "a plump traveling merchant came from Amber Town that day"; no one would ever suspect the three brothers.
The eldest of the three brothers didn't agree immediately, instead beating around the bush to ask what this was actually used for.
He stood up in confusion, crouched down again, and walked a few steps toward the Pioneer Cabin, making "shushing" sounds with his mouth to give their unique secret signal.
The items inside this box... radiated an eerie vibe.
Aman froze for a moment, the light in his eyes dimming slightly. "Then... I don't know..."
These three men were not from Amber Town, nor were they traveling merchants, and there was no Awakened Patrol member among them—the "third brother" among the three did possess special abilities and had once joined the patrol, but had long since been expelled for bad conduct.
Why did this place look completely different from what they saw in the afternoon?
After walking around the village a bit longer, the merchant asked some questions about who else lived in the village and when the Pioneer would return, before boarding the carriage and leaving.
*
Before he could even climb back up, that object slammed "clang" against the side of his head, followed by another storm-like flurry of fists!
The scent next to the wooden barrel was so sweet it almost made him intoxicated.
"Clang, clang, clang, I'm going to check on the bees, oh, I hope the bees weren't frightened," Kaka Ba said very gently.
Immediately after, the rustling sound magnified further, gradually turning into a roaring sound, resembling countless wild beasts trampling across the ground.
The village chief said nothing, but hearing this seasoned traveler value Bean Village so much made Aman beam with joy, his mouth stretching almost to his ears.
Douglas replied, "A monster stampede."
As for whether the village would be trampled flat by monsters, they didn't care.
However, these monsters might not necessarily charge toward Bean Village.
The forest, which usually echoed with the roars and noises of monsters to some extent, was dead silent in the moonlight, without a single sound.

(2/3)

(3/3)

"These crappy boxes are so weird... They're all hexagonal, and stacked together like that, it creeps a guy out," the second brother whispered, staring at the giant wooden boxes in the apiary.
Traveler merchants from another town have come to our village!
Outside Sea Moon City.
Chu Jiu slapped his forehead fiercely and quickly asked Douglas under what circumstances high-attack monsters would continuously flood into a specific area.
Chu Jiu's eyes turned blood red.
The little hamster said:
His head began to throb violently.
*
Upon hearing that "tofu doesn't keep for long" and "the honey has all been reserved," the merchant displayed a twelve-thousand-fold expression of regret, repeatedly sighing, "Then I must hurry and come earlier next year," while continuing to say, "Your goods will definitely be even more abundant next year," "I feel refreshed just walking through this village," and "When spring comes, I'll come looking for you again; there will definitely be other good goods."
[Emergency alert from "Honorary Area - Bean Village": Monsters have reached the village perimeter!]
"Calculating at 100 copper coins per jar, that's at least twenty to thirty thousand copper coins!"
This whip strike was extremely vicious, directly bursting one of his eyeballs and shattering the bridge of his nose.
I have to do something!
The unsummoned little hamster fluttered its wings and squeaked frantically at Chu Jiu.
Bean Village! Monsters have broken into Bean Village!
*
It's fine, I'm an Awakened after all. A monster or two, I'm still...
Not far from the small building, there was a structure resembling a granary—the second brother's nose twitched, and he whispered to the third brother that the smell drifting from that granary was entirely the scent of grain!
Sigh, let's think about which casino to visit after getting the money this time...
"Roar, roar, roar, we won't let these bad guys who want to steal the honey get away with it, roar, roar, roar!" The Roar Rabbit put its hands on its hips, glaring angrily at the humanoid figure wrapped up like a rice dumpling by tree roots on the ground.
Aman walked happily on his way home, thinking that when big brother Chu Jiu came back, he must tell him:
Could it be monsters?
Just as he was about to go further in, with a "pop," a whip lashed across his face!
What Aman didn't expect was that this team of "traveling merchants" hadn't actually left.
These two had just stood on this side of the road sign and looked toward the "Pioneer Cabin," seeing nothing except a solitary dilapidated shack.
Once everything was settled, the three brothers would make a quick exit.
However, the other party's expression was sincere, and their words everywhere reflected the demeanor of an honest merchant. Coupled with the fact that the accompanying guard was wearing the patrol uniform, the old village chief's doubts subsided.
The more the two men looked around, the more their eyes blurred and their heads spun, unable to understand why crossing a road sign would reveal such vastly different sights.
A carrot?!
Aman: "No, he lives in the wasteland."
[Remember to find me and let me return before your spiritual power is exhausted, otherwise we'll both die.]
"I reckon the honey hidden near that little shack is probably well over two or three hundred jars!"
He touched his face, which felt itchy from wearing a glued-on beard for too long, and said to the man who looked like an "errand boy," "Second brother, I saw your nose twitching just now. Did you smell something?"
The village where he grew up had been almost razed to the ground during an extremely rare, large-scale monster stampede.
"Our Pioneer Cabin is as magical as the road sign. Monsters will never run inside the cabin, just like they won't run to this side of the road sign!"
Mentioning this, Aman grew spirited.
Hearing this, the eldest brother said lazily, "Oh? Is there really something that can let the monsters out..."
When looking over here in the afternoon, wasn't there only a solitary dilapidated wooden shack from God knows how many years ago?

(3/3)