Overlord: Welcoming the Birth of the King
Chapter 31: Preserved Meat Soup, Journey to the Ogres' Territory

Upon entering the village, a desolate atmosphere immediately greeted them.

The entire village wasn't very large, with all its houses visible at a glance - only about thirty buildings in total.

Some areas had gravel paving that appeared relatively clean, but most places were overgrown with weeds.

The uneven height of the weeds in different areas suggested someone occasionally cleared them.

All the houses were single-story low structures, with a few better ones built from stone bricks. However, judging by the grayish-white walls, even these better houses had seen many years.

"Our village is small, but we do have some vacant houses. If you don't mind, you can rest in that building ahead," said the village chief, his thick gray-brown beard on both cheeks and chin shaking as he spoke.

"Thank you, Chief." Tang Zheng glanced at the indicated house before expressing his gratitude.

"Heh, it's nothing. Our village hasn't had visitors in quite some time," the chief replied with a gentle chuckle.

As they spoke, curious eyes and heads peeked out from doors and windows throughout the village.

Carne Village was small enough that any activity quickly became common knowledge.

After brief thanks, Tang Zheng entered the vacant house under the watchful eyes of the villagers.

Truthfully, Carne Village was quite ordinary with nothing particularly noteworthy for Tang Zheng.

If he had to name something, it would be the girl named Enri - the one who had somehow managed to summon an entire army using just an ordinary magic item called the "Goblin General's Horn."

Tang Zheng strongly suspected she might possess some innate ability like "Extremely High Goblin Affinity."

But for now, she was just an ordinary village girl.

Creak!

The wooden door protested loudly as Tang Zheng pushed it open.

Inside, the vacant house was sparsely furnished with just a wooden bed and a thin layer of dust covering the floor.

Tattered spiderwebs hung from the ceiling beams and corners.

The areas where the wooden walls met the floor showed darker discoloration from moisture.

Tang Zheng hadn't expected good accommodations in this poor border village anyway. His reason for coming to Carne Village was simply because it was the closest settlement to the Great Tob Forest.

Moreover, being within the territory of the Forest Sage Chagama, it was surprisingly safe.

The journey from E-Rantel to Carne Village took about a day each way, meaning at least two days round trip.

Though Tang Zheng had replenished his supplies, he needed to account for unexpected emergencies requiring early withdrawal from the forest, or situations where supplies might run low.

For such cases, having a designated resting place was essential, and Carne Village fit perfectly.

"I should have prepared a 'Cleaning' magic scroll," Tang Zheng muttered, shaking his head as he surveyed the dusty room and cobwebbed ceiling beams.

Indeed, even after learning much about adventurer preparations from Team Rock, there were still oversights.

Tang Zheng had to clean the room himself, clearing out a usable space.

He then took out a basketball-sized ceramic pot from his toolkit, along with some preserved meat which he broke into uneven chunks and placed inside, adding water from his waterskin.

"Heat."

Tang Zheng touched the pot with a finger.

In less than half a minute, the water began boiling, gradually transforming into a meaty broth that filled the air with its savory aroma.

"Whatever else might be said, this magic is incredibly convenient for cooking," Tang Zheng remarked with a slight smile as he inhaled the salty fragrance.

Within a minute, a simple meat soup was ready.

Tang Zheng served himself a bowl and began eating with some hard black bread.

Even after boiling, the preserved meat remained quite salty, but paired well with the dry bread.

Preserved meat was standard adventurer fare - too salty to eat directly due to heavy curing, usually used in soups or as salt substitute, providing essential sodium for physically demanding work.

The faintly salty aroma drifted through the window, causing a minor stir in Carne Village.

The villagers' main livelihoods came from wheat farming and herb gathering at the forest's edge.

Hunting? Far too dangerous for villagers averaging only level 1.

Tang Zheng recalled Carne Village did have a hunter with the basic Ranger class, but at best level 2.

Checking his status panel:

Genius 1LV + Sword Saint 6LV = Total Level 7LV

Experience from killing those two Eight Fingers members plus various goblins and small monsters along the way had leveled him up again.

Progress wasn't too slow.

Tang Zheng estimated he'd max out his intermediate Sword Saint class within days, after which he'd focus on leveling Genius.

Both Shalltear and Zesshi's Priest classes were at 10LV.

Though unsure if this was prerequisite for Valkyrie, matching their level seemed prudent.

June 2nd, dawn.

Tang Zheng packed up and left Carne Village.

Before departing, he specifically visited the chief to pay five copper coins for lodging.

The villagers were quite honest - the chief initially refused payment, but Tang Zheng insisted.

He might need to return to Carne Village later, so building goodwill through basic social courtesy made sense.

Five coppers were negligible to him anyway.

........

The air carried the distinctive forest blend of leaves, soil and decay as Tang Zheng entered the Great Tob Forest.

Rustle—

Each step crunched through thick layers of foliage and moss.

Animal and bird calls occasionally echoed from the dense woods.

With iron sword in hand, Tang Zheng followed the outer perimeter eastward.

Among the Three Forest Rulers, the most dangerous was undoubtedly the Forest Sage Chagama - against whom Tang Zheng wouldn't even escape alive.

The anime portrayed it as cute, but that was from Ainz's perspective. In reality, Chagama was a terrifying monster!

Of the other two rulers:

The Western Serpent Naga was highly intelligent and a magic caster, equally hazardous.

Only the ogre, while powerful, had low intelligence and single-mindedness.

Most importantly, as a pure warrior class, aside from incredible regeneration and physical attacks, it lacked other combat methods.

If encountered unexpectedly, escape chances were far higher against the ogre than against Naga or Chagama.

Towering verdant trees surrounded him as sunlight filtered through dense canopies, casting dappled patterns on the forest floor.