"Pfft."
Enri, who was hiding behind her father, suddenly let out a giggle as she watched Hades frantically explain himself. She said to her dad, "I don't think he's a bad person."
Seeing this, Hades quickly added, "Of course I'm not a bad person. I just want to know where this is…"
Gurgle~~~~~
Just as Hades was speaking, his stomach let out a loud growl, making him a little embarrassed. At the same time, his brain began to protest, and the feeling of hunger instantly swept through his body.
Emmot lowered his steel fork and said to Hades, "This is the border of Re-Estize. To the west is the Baharuth Empire. Let me guess, are you from the Abelion Hills?"
"I don't know. I remember drinking some wine last night and falling asleep. When I woke up, I was already here. I'm penniless now," Hades said, choosing his words carefully. Casually agreeing with the information in the other party's words could easily lead to suspicion.
For all he knew, the man might be testing him with false information.
"Is that so?" Emmot nodded, his expression easing. He teased, "I was a little worried you were a bandit or something, but I don't think any bandit would rob on an empty stomach. Though this village isn't rich, there are plenty of men who can fight."
His words carried both humor and a warning.
"Believe me, I am absolutely not a bandit," Hades said firmly.
But then his stomach rumbled again, and an embarrassed look crept onto his face.
"Hahahaha…"
Enri covered her mouth and laughed from behind Emmot. Emmot shot his daughter a glare, but soon a smile tugged at his own lips as well, making Hades feel even more embarrassed.
"All right, I can give you some food, but you have to leave here immediately. After all, strangers aren't very welcome in the village," Emmot said.
Some things in life are just strange like that—Emmot, who had initially been so wary of Hades, began to lower his guard after hearing two hungry growls from his stomach.
Emmot was not a cold-hearted person to begin with. If it had been daytime, Hades likely wouldn't have been treated so cautiously. But it had to be said—the timing of his knocking was definitely inappropriate. Almost anyone would be suspicious of a stranger knocking in the middle of the night.
"Thank you, but I have nowhere to go right now, so… could you give me a place to rest? Don't worry, I'll leave tomorrow," Hades said, rubbing his stomach.
If this was another real world, there were many things he wanted to ask, and he certainly didn't want to leave just like that. Besides, if he left, he had no idea where he would even go.
He also needed somewhere safe to organize the information he had and calm himself down. Although he seemed composed now, his heart was far from at peace.
"Hmm…" Emmot stroked his beard, glanced at the boy's pitiful appearance, and finally pointed toward a building not far away. "I'm sorry. Although I don't think you're a bad person, I can't let strangers stay in my home. That's the village's newly built livestock shed. If you don't mind, you can use it for the night."
Hades looked in the direction Emmot pointed. A few wooden boards under a thatched roof—not just breezy, but completely open to the wind.
Hades swore that the worst place he had ever slept in was still thousands of times better than this, but clearly, this was not the time to be picky—especially with his stomach protesting nonstop.
"Thank you very much," Hades said.
"Mm." Emmot nodded, then said to Enri behind him, "Go to the kitchen and get two pieces of black bread."
"Okay, Dad," Enri replied cheerfully, turning to run into the house. She seemed a little excited.
Before long, Enri returned—but she wasn't carrying black bread. Instead, she held a basket. Emmot glanced at it and was about to take it from her, but Enri walked straight over to Hades.
"Um, I'm Enri. What's your name?" she asked, holding the basket out to him.
"Uh, I'm… Hakimi…" Hades started to give his real name but stopped midway, fabricating a false one based on its pronunciation.
The villager before him had been cautious from the start, worried he might be dangerous. That alone told him this world wasn't particularly safe, so he also had to be careful when dealing with the unknown.
Although he didn't know what risks revealing his real name might carry here, in his original world, disclosing personal information was a dangerous thing to do.
If your personal data was leaked, you could face endless harassment, aggressive product promotions, carefully crafted scams, and even kidnapping.
Since he didn't yet understand his current environment, Hades had to be all the more cautious.
"Ha… Kimi?"
Enri tilted her head, finding the name a bit awkward. It was her first time meeting a traveler, and both his appearance and way of speaking were completely different from anyone she had ever known.
Especially that strange greeting of slapping himself—it was just as unusual as his name, and it couldn't help but spark her curiosity.
It had to be said that a handsome appearance made for a good first impression. Enri had been wary at first, following her father's warning, and she'd felt a little afraid.
But his bizarre self-slapping greeting, combined with the embarrassment of his growling stomach, made him seem a bit cute in her eyes.
It wasn't love, or even love at first sight, but for a girl like Enri—who had always lived in the countryside and had never seen much of the outside world—the boy's completely different temperament from anyone in the village greatly stirred her curiosity.
That was why she didn't follow her father's instructions to just give him two pieces of black bread. Instead, she secretly added more food, enough that it had to be carried in a basket.
"Yes… Hakimi," Hades nodded, taking the basket before glancing at Emmot. "I'll return the basket tomorrow."
Emmot nodded, then scolded his daughter. "What are you still standing there for? Get inside and go to sleep."
He had originally thought it was too early for Enri to be exposed to certain things, but after seeing her disappointing performance tonight, Emmot was now considering taking her to E-Rantel someday—so she could see more of the world and broaden her horizons.
To be so easily captivated by a stranger boy—it was truly embarrassing. Come to think of it, she was already sixteen; time really did fly.
Emmot shook his head, stepped back into the house, and shut the door tightly. Still uneasy, he wedged the steel fork against it as a brace. Even if that boy wasn't a bad person, he feared his daughter might follow him eagerly with just the crook of a finger.
So, precautions had to be taken.
If Enri knew what her father was thinking right now, she would probably protest. She had never considered herself the kind of shallow girl her father seemed to imagine.
At the moment, she was simply thinking about how she could talk to the boy tomorrow and hear from him what the outside world was like.