I was accidentally injured by God and I just want to be an ordinary person

"Is that so... Oh, by the way, I forgot to introduce myself. Mayor Galaga, please just call me Ella. Also... why did you choose to build a village here? Wouldn't it be dangerous to be isolated in the forest?"

The first half of the sentence was her own thought, and the second half was instructed by Camisia. Thinking that asking directly might make the other party unhappy, Ella couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Galaga, who was half a head shorter than Ella, paused for a moment, showing an expression as if he wanted to say something but hesitated. Finally, he shook his head and sighed deeply.

“… Actually, that’s what happened.”

Perhaps feeling the need to find a quiet place to discuss things in detail, Galaga extended his hand as a gesture of invitation and led Ella and Camisia to the mud houses in the village that were not affected by the fire. The others stayed where they were to treat the injured dwarves.

The earthen house is very simply furnished and looks no different from the living room of an ordinary family - the stove for boiling water and the living room are in the same room, chopped firewood is piled in the corner, and in the middle of the wooden house there is a square wooden table that looks quite old.

Since there was no time to boil water, Galaga could only clasp his hands together nervously, raise his cloudy eyes, and speak softly in an extremely polite tone.

"Please take a seat, my lords."

"Um."

"Who is this gentleman...?"

Since Camisia was just standing behind Ella, Galaga looked a little confused.

"I am the princess's bodyguard. Your Excellency, please do not worry about me."

"Princess...I understand."

The moment she heard the address of "Princess-sama," Galaga showed a look of astonishment, but recovered instantly.

Perhaps this is the calmness of the elderly.

Thinking about this, Ella looked at Galaga, who was sitting across from her at the wooden table, and resumed the previous topic.

"Did Village Chief Galaga have something to hide just now?"

Chapter 12: Galaga's Request

Galaga sighed without panicking because of Ella's identity.

"Actually, our village has existed here for a long time. The reason it was besieged by monsters this time is because the sacred objects that protected it recently lost their effectiveness, which is why it has become what it is now."

"Holy relic?"

According to Ella's knowledge, there are indeed items in this world that can make monsters avoid, but they usually only work on low-level monsters. The principle is similar to that of wild beasts being afraid of fire. It is only effective by making the opponent feel fear, not physical isolation. If it were not the case, Dragon Island would not be troubled by the active period of sea beasts every year.

"Yes, our ancestors were followers serving Saint Eve. Lady Eve fell asleep here during a war thousands of years ago, and our ancestors chose to guard Lady Eve's soul here. Blessed by Lady Eve's sacred artifact, the 'Staff of Holy Light,' monsters fear our village. However, the magic power of the artifact has been decreasing recently, weakening its effectiveness in deterring monsters. Our tribe is also short of mithril ore, so we sent some warriors out to search for it. As a result, we were attacked by monsters before we had time to prepare."

Perhaps because he was ashamed of this matter, Galaga lowered his wrinkled face slightly. As the village chief, he had no way to deal with the clan's treasures. If it weren't for Ella and her group saving the village, Galaga would never have been able to bear the shame and mention this matter to Ella.

"A holy relic?... If it's a holy relic, there's nothing we can do..."

Ella murmured in a low voice so that Galaga wouldn't hear. If the object was a holy object, then it was understandable that it could stop the monster. Weapons left behind by strong people would have other effects based on the abilities of their owners. This had also happened in history.

It would be very rude to remain silent for a long time, so Ella continued to ask.

"If it's just that the magic power is low, can't it be replenished artificially?"

"We've always used a magic circle to assist, with the higher-level villagers taking turns to refill the magic power. But recently, there seems to be a problem with the sacred object. No matter how much magic power we put in, it won't be refilled. It's like something is absorbing the magic power from the other end."

“Is that so…”

Subconsciously, she wanted to go and take a look, but since it was a sacred object, she would not let outsiders touch it easily. Of course, if the object was herself, the person who saved the village in the crisis, Galaga might agree, but she did not want to make others feel embarrassed, so Ella chose to respect herself.

"Eve? Is that the Eve from the Church of Enstanit three thousand years ago? Eve Enstanit?"

The one who spoke was Camisia, who had been waiting for the opportunity nearby.

Hearing Kamisia's words, the village chief Galaga raised his head.

"Yes, it was Lady Eve who repelled the undead army here three thousand years ago."

"So it's her, huh? Well, thanks to her, the undead creatures haven't invaded the western demon territory."

"Does Camisia know Eve?"

"Well, that era coincided with the time when 'Shunzhen' was traveling across the continent. To resist the invasion of the undead, 'Shunzhen' deliberately interrupted his travels and returned to the Demon Tribe. However, not long after, news spread that the undead had been purified by Saint Eve. At that time, the undead army simultaneously attacked the neighboring Goblin Territory, Dwarf Territory, the Bruzea Empire, and the Holy Academy from the north. However, in the end, due to Eve's presence, there were actually not many casualties."

Galaga's eyes lit up at Kamisia's retelling. These words sounded like words of praise to Galaga, and a sense of pride arose spontaneously. A look of joy appeared on his face, and he even stood up excitedly. There were not many opportunities like this to tell outsiders about the deeds of his ancestors, so it was natural that he would lose his composure a little.

"Lady Eve came to our dwarven territory from the very beginning of the war to fight against the undead army. Ultimately, at the cost of her own life, she severely damaged the Undead Lord, who was far superior in rank. She also purified the remaining undead in the surrounding area, forcing the Undead Lord to withdraw his troops, ending the war before it even began. If it weren't for Lady Eve, the final outcome would have been horrific."

It sounds like a heroic biography with many exaggerations in it. Putting those aside, it is probably about Eve leading a group of priests to repel the Undead Lord and force him to withdraw his troops.

Since Galaga kept talking to himself, Ella, who was a little impatient, could only interrupt him - in the form of questions. Of course, she didn't mean to find fault, but just asked out of pure curiosity.

"I remember that the Church of Enstanit treats all creatures equally, including the undead. Why would it take the initiative to fight against the undead army? And where is the severely injured Undead Lord?"

Ella's words made Galaga pause. His excitement was poured with a bucket of cold water. He touched his nose awkwardly and sat back in his seat.

"Yes, that's true...but the Church also opposes harming others. So, in order to save more people, fighting against the undead army is necessary. As for the whereabouts of the severely injured Undead Lord, I suspect Lady Eve's magic was too powerful, and he succumbed to the injuries."

To prevent Ella from getting confused, Galaga placed his hands on the edge of the table and continued to add.

"After all, there have been no reports of the Undead Lord appearing in the three thousand years since then. Furthermore, the undead have remained confined to a narrow strip of land in the north of the continent, not gathering together as they once did. Therefore, we can only assume that the Undead Lord has been seriously injured and died."

“Is that so…”

Ella could only give a wry smile to Galaga's reply. The speculation that he was seriously injured and died was really not convincing, and it also sounded like a flag. Thinking of this, Ella couldn't help but feel that the Undead Lord was actually accumulating strength, and might come back again later.

"Well, even if they come, the current church will definitely send people to deal with them. It has nothing to do with me. I should leave the Dwarf Territory as soon as possible and go to the Enstarnit Church to be officially ordained as a high-ranking priest. Otherwise, Lucia will come looking for me every day again."

Imagining Lucia coming to the mansion to pester her every day, Ella made a quick decision and stood up to go out to find a partner to treat the dwarf.

"Please wait a moment, Lady Ella."

Noticing that Ella showed signs of wanting to leave, Galaga immediately stood up, looking a little embarrassed.

"What's wrong?"

“…Actually, I have a humble request… Although it may seem a bit much for the benefactor who saved our village, this is the rule established by our ancestors…”

For a moment, a strange idea emerged in her mind that everyone passing by here must leave behind offspring. Although it was impossible - no, such a rule might be surprisingly reasonable for a closed mountain village, but no woman would agree to such an excessive request. Besides, the other party should have known her identity as the Demon King's daughter. Unless she was an idiot, it would be impossible for her to make such a request.

After hesitating for a moment, Ella looked at the embarrassed old man in front of her and nodded slightly.

"Tell me, if I don't like it I'll leave."

"Of course, if our benefactor doesn't like it, we won't force it. Besides, your subordinates are very powerful, so we can't really do anything forced."

Galaga defended himself anxiously, as if he regarded Iris as Ella's subordinate. Then, as if he was afraid that Ella would go back on her word, Galaga continued to add.

"I hope... you can try to take the holy relic, the 'Staff of Holy Light'."

Chapter 13: Holy Light Staff

"Huh? Wait, did I hear that wrong?"

Ella was a little confused.

"Ah, I didn't explain myself clearly. I meant that I hoped that our benefactor, Lady Ella, would take our village's sacred object, the 'Staff of Holy Light'."

While speaking, Galaga even stood in the empty space beside the table and bowed to Ella as if asking for help.

"This is the rule left by our ancestors. We hope that all travelers passing through the village will try to pull out the Holy Light Staff to fulfill Lady Eve's last wish."

"Pull it out? Could it be that the Holy Light Staff is stuck somewhere? And what is that last wish?"

Although I didn't think this was an excessive request, and it just happened to fit in with my original desire to go and see it, it would be better to find out the reason before agreeing.

Instead of standing up, he continued to bow and beg for mercy, with a hint of pleading in Galaga's hoarse voice.

"Yes, just as Lady Ella said, Lady Eve sealed the Staff of Holy Light here at the end of her life to prevent the undead army from invading again. However, Lady Eve also stipulated that whoever pulled out the weapon must deliver it to the Pope of the Enstanit Church. Furthermore, as a reward, the Enstanit Church would grant the person the title of Bishop, and after confirmation by the Pope, they would also obtain ownership of the Staff of Holy Light. Before her death, Lady Eve hoped to find a new owner for the Staff of Holy Light."

Hearing this, Ella finally understood why Galaga said it was an "excessive request." For ordinary people, this would be considered an unreasonably generous condition, but for herself, the next Demon Queen, it inevitably felt like a waste of time. She already had the entire demon clan, so why would she care about a bishop title? What's more, she had to go all the way to the Papal States in the eastern end of the continent for this. It felt like asking a billionaire to waste his time for a few gem coins.

But that was because Galaga knew something. The reason he came here was because he was going to the Enstanit Church, so it didn't matter even if he succeeded. Although he had no intention of becoming a bishop, it would be nice to be able to take a look at the legendary holy object. What's more, whether he could take it away was still a question. From what Galaga said just now, it can be heard that the Holy Staff of Light seems to be quite difficult to pull out.

Just in case, Ella spoke out her thoughts.

"I have no problem agreeing to Chief Galaga's request, but that sacred object called the Staff of Holy Light should be quite difficult to remove. Just now, the chief said that anyone passing through the village must attempt to extract it. Has there been no travelers in all these years? And since it's a sacred object of the Enstanit Church, why haven't the Enstanit Church members come to retrieve it?"

Galaga was not disgusted by the series of questions and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing Ella's first words.

It was the look of someone who had let go of a heavy burden.

In fact, in the current predicament of the village being destroyed, Galaga has already planned to give up guarding the sacred object and lead the villagers to escape from the forest. Therefore, the appearance of Ella is as timely as a traveler who is about to die of thirst in the desert seeing a source of water. Although it is not certain whether Ella can take it away, the guilt of giving up without making any attempt and the guilt of failing after trying are completely different things.

From Galaga's point of view, if even this group of people who can sweep away the wild wolves with just a single spell can't do it, then it would be useless to continue to hold on. It would be better to leave it entirely to the Enstanit Church to handle it themselves.

Although this group of people are descendants of the priests of the Enstanit Church, they have actually been assimilated by the local dwarves long ago. The evidence is that the village that originally had diverse ethnic groups has become full of dwarves after a long time.

Galaga moved a few steps to the side to make way for Ella, stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation, indicating that the two should follow him, while at the same time he did not forget to answer Ella's previous doubts.

"Yes, more than half of the Holy Staff's length is buried deep in the soil and is also sealed. Forcibly pulling it out will only cause it to lose its divine power and become an ordinary weapon. According to the will passed down from generation to generation, only the chosen one can successfully take the staff away."

Led by Galaga, the three walked out of the mud house. The sunlight at noon was a bit dazzling. In order to adapt to the brightness, Galaga stretched out his old hand to block the sun and paused for a moment.

All the injured outside the house have been sent to their respective homes. Not far away, in the square that occupies a considerable area of ​​the entire village, countless dwarves are watching the magic airship brought by Ella. While Ella was speaking, Iris had already parked the airship in the dwarf village.

The dwarves seemed to regard the magic airship as a monster, with infinite fear in their eyes. They even dared to approach it tentatively, taking small steps at a time, for fear of angering the magic airship.

This huge creature naturally attracted Galaga's attention. He put down his hands that were used to block the sunlight and looked into the distance with a look of astonishment, his mouth slightly open.

“—What is that?”

"That's a magic item my friends and I made. Since it's a prototype, the appearance might be a little..."

"What a perfect prop! No, it's not an exaggeration to call it a work of art. Surprisingly, it was crafted by someone as young as you. If the craftsmen in our dwarven territory saw it, they would surely be so excited that they would kiss this majestic work of art."

“…Ahahaha, even if Chief Galaga says so…”

At first, Ella took the village chief's words as a compliment - after all, the airship had not started yet, so it was impossible not to see any clues. However, when Ella noticed the village chief's eyes, as if he had seen something dazzling, the original polite words could only turn into a perfunctory smile.

After being stunned for a moment, Galaga realized his loss of composure and coughed twice awkwardly.

"Uh... ahem. Sorry, Lady Ella. To follow up on my previous answer, you asked why some travelers hadn't pulled it out. Actually, up to this point, aside from the 174th Elf Queen who reported hearing a slight metallic chime when she accidentally tried, no one else has experienced anything unusual."

"For the first hundred years, the allure of becoming a bishop attracted countless people to try, but all ended in failure. Eventually, rumors spread that the Staff of Holy Light was impossible to remove. This is one of the reasons why the village is so rarely visited now."

"That's a lie they fabricated to cover up their own lack of ability, right? They don't want to admit they're inferior, or something like that. These rumors must have come from humans."

Without expecting Galaga to answer, Camisia waved her hand as if to drive away mosquitoes. Ella had known for a long time that Camisia hated humans - especially the Kingdom of Barris.

Kamisia's words put Galaga in a difficult position. While it was true that those words came from a human's mouth, there were also humans in Ella's team. Without knowing the relationship between the two, making a random assertion might lead to an irreparable mistake. Therefore, Galaga chose to answer with a wry smile that was so ugly that it looked like crying. The wrinkles on his face made any expression look terrifying.

Then he turned his gaze to Ella.

"...Hmm... Let's continue what I was saying. Finally, Lady Ella asked about why the Church of Enstanit hasn't sent anyone. Actually, the Church of Enstanit sends a group of knights to the village every three months to serve as guards. However, due to a recent shortage of mithril ore, needed to maintain the magic circle, the village has been sending a group of warriors and the guarding knights out to search for mithril. They're all out now, so there's no sign of the knights in the village. We were surprised to see a monster attack... This is the first time in over three thousand years."

"There haven't been any attacks in over three thousand years? No wonder those warriors had such ordinary weapons..."

This is already a euphemism. If it were Iris, she would probably describe it mercilessly as "crude".

As for why the church did not take the Staff of Holy Light away, the reason was very clear. They could not take it away by force and there was no suitable candidate, so they could only send knights to protect the holy relic. However, in the final analysis, after more than three thousand years, the church still sent knights to guard it, which already showed the kindness of the church's top leaders. After all, the holy relic now has no benefit to the church, and there is no guarantee that it will play a role in the future. Sending knights is tantamount to wasting resources.

Ella's word "ordinary" made Galaga lower his head in shame. These mistakes were ultimately due to his lack of awareness of precautions. Whether he chose to let some knights stay in the village or trained the combat capabilities of the dwarf warriors early on, the village would not have fallen into the predicament just now.

In order to prevent Galaga from being so depressed, Ella chose to change the subject.

"Can I bring my companions with me regarding the extraction of the holy object?"

"Of course, it's no problem. It would be great if your partner is willing too."

"Well, then, please wait a moment, Village Chief Galaga. I'll go gather my companions now."

"……Thank you so much."

Facing the departing figures of Ella and Camisia, Galaga bowed deeply.

Chapter 14 What should I do if I accidentally break the sacred object?!

"Lady Ella, this is the shrine where the sacred object is enshrined."

After telling Ella in a slightly hoarse voice, Galaga stretched out his trembling hand and used the key to open the iron lock - although from Ella's perspective, this iron lock was completely unnecessary. The frame of the wooden door had been rotten, and the black and gray between the shallow grooves were very obvious. It felt like if someone kicked the door hard, the wooden door would shatter.

With a creaking sound, Galaga pushed the wooden door open, revealing the dark interior of the ancestral hall. Because this place has been guarded by dwarves for generations, the height of the wooden door is so high that even Ella needs to lower her head slightly to enter. As for Camisia and Iris, they have to bend down to avoid bumping into the door frame.

Galaga lit the torch and then walked into the ancestral hall, lighting the candlesticks on both sides of the road one by one. The originally dark hall was revealed - compared with the door frame, the interior seemed quite spacious, with a ceiling at least five meters high and an area that could accommodate hundreds of people, giving people the feeling of entering another world.