Reincarnated as the Elder's son: My Infinite Shop Points System-Chapter 3: Northerners.

"How is my father?" Jared asked, waiting for his reply as he observed the look on Lucy's face.

Her expression most definitely changed after Jared asked that question, though she tried to hide it.

"The village elder, well, he... he couldn't make it," Lucy said with a sad face. "He died a day before we found you."

"I... see."

Jared gripped his fist, focusing his gaze on the ground before him.

While he was upset, it was also something he expected to happen.

A witch's curse was not something one could cure so easily. No one had ever heard of even the mightiest mages being able to break the curse of a witch.

The former Jared would have broken down and completely torn himself apart with depression from the death of his father.

But his current self knew all too well what it felt like to lose a loved one. He did lose his parents in his former world, after all.

So even if he wanted to cry, he was most definitely not doing it in front of Lucy.

With one hand covering the side of his face, Jared looked to the side. He could already notice the buildings had begun to rot.

"Tell me, what's the current condition of the village?" he asked.

Lucy was surprised Jared would ask such a thing after being told about the death of his father.

Jared was supposed to be a shy and kind guy, weak but incredibly cheerful. No one in the village could bring themselves to hate him, even if he did cry all the time.

'He is really... trying so hard,' Lucy said to herself.

She figured Jared must be putting up a front since he was going to be next in line to rule over the village.

"Uhm, we have begun to run out of food. We tried asking the neighboring village, but in exchange for giving us a bag of rice, they demanded we hand over our watering hole," Lucy replied to Jared's question and then continued,

"Some of the villagers are considering leaving since they can't survive if there's no food. Not to mention we are constantly being bullied by the other villages. It's only a matter of time before they decide they want to claim this land."

Jared sighed.

'Of course, people will decide they want to leave. And I don't even blame them. In this world, survival should always be the top priority,' he said to himself.

The village he was supposedly supposed to rule over was called Sikone Village, and it was located in the northern region of the kingdom of Manin.

Long ago, a huge war broke out within the kingdom's factions. It was supposed to be a rebellion against the king of Manin at the time.

Apparently, he was a dictator who not only wanted to exterminate every witch in the world but also despised demon humans, classifying them as demons just for the fun of it.

As the war raged on, the people ended up becoming victorious with the help of other kingdoms. And while they won, there were lots of casualties involved.

That included the complete devastation of the northern region.

The entire place became a wasteland since it was where most of the war took place. Mana no longer existed as it should, the ground was bad for plants, witches took their base there, and monsters were being born from the abnormal chaos magic in the ground.

Soon, no one wanted to live there, and they began heading back to other major cities. No one except the northerners.

People despised them, claiming they were the cause of the bad curse that roamed their land. They didn't want the same curse to reach their cities and kingdom.

Thus, the king banned the northerners from ever leaving the north.

Those who tried ended up being executed publicly.

The northerners had only themselves to take care of, hence why the strongest among them ruled over the rest. They created villages, some larger and stronger than others.

'Just so happens, Sikone Village is the weakest of them all. Now that I think about it, Father never really focused on the strength of the other villagers. He felt that as long as he was there, he could protect them all. Such a weak ideology.'

Jared looked at Lucy.

"How many people have left so far?" he asked.

"Two of our farmers. The rest are waiting for you to wake up. They said they want to see the face of their lord's son one last time."

"How many are there?"

"Thirteen."

'We are about 56 in population. If that many people go, it would affect us. There's no denying that. I need to do something before that happens.'

Since he used to be an author in his former life, he knew a thing or two about what to expect from people.

Whether or not he was going to be a good leader depended on the circumstances and events that happened around him.

In other words, Jared Hunter was going to resume the role his father could not complete.

Standing to his feet, he looked directly at Lucy.

"Gather everyone. It's about time we made some actual changes around here."

Lucy was taken aback by his sudden authority, but she didn't bother to question him—not when he had so much determination in his eyes.

"Sure, I'll do that right away," Lucy said before leaving the room.

Suddenly—

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

[You made Lucy think highly of you.]

[10 SP has been added to your account.]

Jared stared at the notification.

At the very bottom, he could see the amount he had in total.

[Total: 396 SP.]

Being asleep for three days meant the SP he was supposed to collect daily had been automatically allocated to his account.

'Shop.'

The shop category opened up at his command.

'Now, I just need something to convince the people that change will happen. Something that will raise their hopes up a bit.'

He noticed the item.

'Jackpot,' he grinned.