Gauss stood a step forward, his Magic Wand angled towards the front, his expression focused and calm, as if he were casting a Spell.
Ying stood to his side in the shadows, eyes sharp and watchful.
Aaliyah stood on Gauss’s other side, holding a Wooden Staff with both hands and striking it against the ground, a bright smile on her face.
Serdur, behind the three of them, held his palm upwards, making a spell-casting gesture for healing.
"Lord Gauss, I hope you and your companions will like this gift." Bruno spoke after everyone had finished observing. "We originally wanted to make a statue, but time has been tight, so we first made a wooden carving to place temporarily in the village center."
"When you visit the village next, you should be able to see the statue of you and your companions."
"We don’t have anything valuable to repay you, so we hope to place your statues in the village center, so future generations will remember who gave us this brand-new home."
"Thank you, I really like it." Gauss gazed at the wooden carving for a long time, almost speechless.
The once cold wooden carving seemed softer in the orange-yellow warm light emitted by the bonfire.
This was the first time someone had made a statue for him and his companions.
In just a few days, amidst the bustling construction, they had still taken time to create such a large-scale wooden carving, which was certainly thoughtful.
Not only him, but Aaliyah, Serdur, and even Ying seemed somewhat dazed.
Repeatedly looking at their likeness on the statue, feeling both familiar and strange.
This was probably the best gift they had ever received.
"Lord Gauss, we have one more request."
"Please, go ahead."
"Could you give the village a name?"
Gauss looked at the singing and dancing village, pondered for a while, and then spoke: "Let’s call it Bonfire Village."
The name wasn’t particularly unique, but he felt it was fitting at the moment, as a bonfire symbolizes hope and warmth—an outcome he sincerely hoped for the village’s future development.
He hoped that, years later, if he returned here, the village would have developed even better.
"So, from now on, our village will be called Bonfire Village." Bruno and the surrounding villagers repeated the new name in their hearts several times.
Actually, Bruno wanted to name the village after Gauss, but since Gauss helped name it Bonfire Village, he didn’t think it was a bad idea.
...
Gauss stayed in Bonfire Village for another day.
"Total monsters slain: 5915"
Looking at the kill count on the panel, he was certain that there should be no monsters around Bonfire Village, at least not for a while.
At the village entrance.
All the villagers came to the front of the village to see Gauss off.
"This is as far as we go."
Gauss mounted the chocobo.
Beyond the villagers, he saw the statue in the center of the village that belonged to him and his teammates.
"Lord Gauss, take care on your journey!"
"Come back and visit Bonfire Village when you can."
Withdrawing his gaze, Gauss waved to the villagers.
The two villages he had experienced so far gave him completely different experiences.
But he had also been touched in different ways.
Sometimes, it was as if he was the one commissioned to bring help to a village, yet he felt that he gained a lot from the village and its people.
Gauss embarked on a new journey.
As he wasn’t far from reaching a total kill count of 6000, Gauss, after leaving Bonfire Village at some distance, used the Flying Technique and soared back into the sky.
He was shimmering with the glow of blessing spells and enhanced attributes.
Wearing the [Eagle Eye Monocle], the world unfolded before him with clarity.
With concentration, he could see even the flapping motion of a cicada’s wings and the texture on the insect’s body from afar.
This experience, even though it wasn’t his first time, still felt magical.
This was the power of the [Eagle Eye Monocle] as a magical artifact; a normal telescope could never achieve such dramatic effects.
Moreover, the Eagle Eye Monocle could gather more information, transmitting it to his brain.
This information could continuously serve as input data to supplement Gauss’s brain map.
Before long, starting from Gauss’s location, a map with a radius of two kilometers around had been "scanned" and drawn.
He quickly identified several potential monster habitats.
Bonfires, piles of stones, caves, and crude tools—these signs of monster activity hinted that they were nearby, even if they weren’t directly visible.
He descended slowly.
"Did you find the monster lair?"
Aaliyah stretched lazily.
She was already accustomed to Gauss’s decision to kill some small monsters before moving on.
She didn’t plan to ask the reason.
Killing monsters, for Gauss, seemed as commonplace as eating and sleeping.
Would a normal person be surprised if someone ate or slept every day?
If he ever stopped sleeping, that would be the abnormal event.
So it was for Gauss killing monsters.
"Yes."
"Let’s hit the road then." Gauss mounted his horse. "It seems I saw some travelers ahead in trouble."
Upon hearing Gauss say this, Aaliyah and the others dropped their relaxed demeanor and quickly caught up with Gauss without wasting time.
...
In the middle of a sparse woodland path.
A few wagons were forced to form a makeshift defensive circle.
About seven or eight guards relied on the wagons to fend off an attack by more than fifty goblins.
The goblins howled, brandishing their rusty spiked hammers and Wooden Spears, repeatedly assaulting the convoy’s defenses.