After returning the way they came, the group arrived back at the spot where they had rested outside the city wall. Then, following Arute's suggestion, they continued to retreat further into the surrounding forest. Of course... this wasn't because they were cowardly and intended to ignore everything they had seen, but for other reasons.
After retreating into the forest, everyone remained silent. Following their usual routine, Arute immediately jumped onto a treetop to keep watch. The uncle silently took out the Nine-Headed Serpent meat he had stored in his spatial bag and began preparing it. Sir Xia Na and Ellie went to gather firewood.
Originally, Arute was also with Ellie's group, but... as soon as Arute arrived, he immediately sat on the ground, deep in thought. It seemed that what he had seen at the Ranch had deeply affected him. Seeing Arute's serious expression, Ellie was naturally pleased, as this was the situation Ellie wanted to see.
During the late dinner, everyone was silent, and the atmosphere was unusually heavy. Everyone seemed to have lost their appetite; after all, it would be strange if they could still eat after witnessing such a horrifying scene. Among those present, only Ellie was still in a good mood, but she didn't show it.
"I think... we can't just stand by!" After a long while, Arute was the first to voice his opinion.
"My opinion is the same as the captain's," the uncle also agreed with Arute's opinion.
"But what can I do for those people? Looking at the scale, there are tens of thousands of them, not just dozens or hundreds. Even if we really take this place down, what can we do for them? Leave them here to fend for themselves?" Arute, lying on the treetop, raised a rather pointed question.
This was a question Ellie had considered from the very beginning. Going to see it with her own eyes naturally included the intention of clarifying this point. Now that it was clear that those imprisoned were truly human, there was no reason not to save them, especially since the correct historical timeline still needed to be advanced.
"Food... clothing... and their safety. Although I really want to release all those poor people right now, we would have no way to deal with the aftermath, would we?" Livia-san also hesitated on this issue.
It seemed everyone wasn't concerned with the guards, but rather more with what would happen after the rescue. This was tens of thousands of people, and this number was indeed the biggest problem. Ellie also didn't have a good solution for this. If it were a few hundred or a few thousand people, it would be understandable, but tens of thousands right off the bat, wasn't that a bit too hasty?
"I can use portal magic. Transferring these tens of thousands of people in a short amount of time shouldn't be a problem," Sir Xia Na said quietly.
"Portal magic? That would indeed be a huge help. Then the remaining problems are food and clothing," Arute's tense face relaxed considerably after hearing Sir Xia Na's words.
"It seems you're determined to help those people, Captain?" Arute noticed that Arute wasn't asking for everyone's opinion as usual, but was considering what would happen after the rescue.
"Yes... Miss Bai Xia was right before. The purpose of bringing us to this world is probably this. So we must do what we can," Arute said with a glimmer in his eyes.
"Since that's the case..." Arute's answer seemed to be within Arute's expectations. Arute didn't finish her sentence but stood up and jumped directly from the tree, giving everyone the illusion that if they wanted to court death, she wouldn't accompany them.
"I think the food problem can be temporarily solved with these two items. Then the remaining problem is clothing." However, Arute didn't do what everyone expected. After jumping down, she took out two items from her spatial bag.
"Oh! Aren't these the two items that were considered the most useless divine artifacts in the game back then?" The uncle reacted first when he saw the equipment Arute took out.
"The fertility basket and the endless wine glass? With these two items, the food problem can indeed be temporarily alleviated... I didn't expect that useless items in the game would actually be useful in this world..." Arute was quite happy to see these two items.
"Hey, hey... what are those two pieces of equipment for?" Ellie quietly asked Sir Xia Na beside her. Although she could tell from the name that the endless wine glass should be able to pour an unlimited amount of wine, what about the fertility basket?
"In the World Tree game, there were many divine artifact items that didn't live up to their names, and these two were among them. Although they were divine artifacts, they were completely useless to players in the game. Eating food in the game didn't have any taste, it just added a simple buff. The fertility basket could infinitely generate edible fruits, but those fruits were all low-level fruits that could be picked in the wild and had no effect whatsoever. The endless wine glass was similar; although it could endlessly pour wine, it was equally useless to players," Sir Xia Na explained.
Oh! Although that wine glass is still useless even now, that fertility basket is indeed an excellent item for the current situation!
Indeed, what were trash items in the game world are all good things here, such as the Vitality Gauntlets that relieved fatigue mentioned earlier, General Enri's Goblin Horn, and now the fertility basket and endless wine glass.
"These two pieces of equipment can indeed solve the most crucial problem, thank you very much," Arute said happily.
...Arute somewhat awkwardly handed these two items to Arute, then jumped back into the tree. It's a pity... if Arute were a girl, there would probably be a scene of: 'Hmph! I didn't hand over the items for you!'
"Then, the only remaining problem is clothing... Does anyone have a good solution?" At this point, Arute asked everyone. He should have realized that everyone actually wanted to help those people, but due to conditions and other reasons, they hadn't shown it.
"Uh... I don't think the clothing problem is a big deal. The climate here is quite pleasant. Couldn't they just use some leaves or something to cover themselves for now? Just like primitive people used to," Livia-san said.
"Hmm? Primitive people? I wonder if this can be useful?" The uncle seemed to have thought of something, then picked up the leftover Nine-Headed Serpent skin from earlier and said.
"Snake skin? This can't be made into clothes, can it?" Livia-san said with a disgusted look after seeing the snake skin in the uncle's hand.
"It might not be suitable for warm clothes, but it could be made into armor. These scales are very hard," the uncle said.
"What's the use of making it into armor? You're not implying you want those people to go... Ah? I understand," Livia-san also seemed to realize.
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime... We can't take care of them forever. Since that unknown immortal brought us to this world to save humanity, then I think these tens of thousands of people here are just a small part of it," the uncle said with a smile.
"Hmm... then let's do that! For other specific plans, we'll decide after we rescue all those people. So now, let's first formulate a rescue plan," Arute said.
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