The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 113 – The Forest Hermit Returns Home

It was two weeks since the demon thrashing.

As I sat at the entrance of the gate, I watched Shiggy flap around happily.

Femm was lying on the ground, watching the dragon.

「rya rya」

「gya gyaa」

Shiggy was clinging and playing on to the great dragon Doby. Shiggy was as big as one of Doby’s fingers.

Because they were both dragons, Shiggy seemed to have a lot of interest in Doby.

「Vi-Vi, Moofy, good work.」

「Sure.」「Moo mooo」

「How was the field?」

「Almost ready for harvest.」「Moo moo」

「I see. I can’t wait.」

Then Vi-Vi looked at Shiggy and Doby.

「Doby looks like it got better.」

「It’s a great dragon…has a lot of vitality.」

And Doby did look rather healthy.

It ate a lot of meat, and drank a lot of run-off from the hot springs.

「gyaa gyaa」

「ryaa?」

Doby cried out in a loud voice, and Shiggy seemed surprised.

Whenever Doby cried out, that meant Vallimie was coming home.

「I’m baaack!」「Gaau!」

「Welcome back. You’re early!」

Vallimie went to the capital just about every day. She always came back at night.

She was now a noble. There were a lot of parties involved.

Cruz and the others were late too.

She was busy with all the paperwork in the transfer of her new land.

Luka and Yureena were busy cleaning up the remains of the demon affair.

「I finally finished all the processes and ceremonies today.」

「I see, good work!」「Good job, sis!」

Vallimie looked away into the distance. She seemed lonely in a way.

「It was fun living in Mulg, but I need to go back to my forest.」

「Wha? Sis, you can stay in Mulg as long as you want!」

「I don’t think so. I have to protect the creatures of my forest.」

「But…」

She wanted to say something else. Instead, Vallimie just embraced Vi-Vi.

「It’s a job that only I can do.」

「…I know…」

「Vi-Vi, do you want to go home with me?」

「…I have my own work to do too…」

Vi-Vi also looked lonely.

Moofy and Rai quietly sniffed one another.

「Vallimie, when will you leave?」

「Hm. Maybe tomorrow morning.」

「Tomorrow?! Sis, that’s just too fast!」

「I’ve been away from my forest for too long. And…also if I wait longer it’ll get worse.」

She definitely had decided to leave.

So that night we had a going-away party for Vallimie, Rai, and Doby.

The villagers gathered, and we had a blast.

Vallimie cut the party short and went back to my house with Vi-Vi.

They probably had their own parting to talk about.

◇◇◇

The next morning. Everyone saw Vallimie off.

Vallimie was going to return, riding Rai.

「I’ll miss you!」

Cruz said, almost crying. Luka and the others looked on sadly as well.

「You can always come and visit. If you have any problems, please call.」

「Sure. We’ll arrange a time to visit later.」

「Sister, Rai, Doby, be careful.」

「Sure, you too, Vi-Vi.」

Both Vi-Vi and Vallimie seemed okay with the parting though.

They must have done their goodbyes last night.

Millet gave her a lunch box, and Vallimie set off.

「gyaa gyaa」

Doby leapt into the air. It flew along with Rai as Rai ran through the forest.

「ryaa ryaa」

「gyaa gyaa」

Shiggy and Doby called back to each other. Doby spun round and round in their air as it called to Shiggy.

「Okay, bye!」「gaaw」

「Take care!」

And Vallimie rode off into the forest with Rai.

They kept running without looking back.

「ryaaaaa」

Shiggy flapped its wings while chasing after them for a few steps. Shiggy is a baby but still recognizes someone is parting.

Then, Shiggy returned to be, looking lonely. It grabbed onto my leg, somewhat sadly.

「They’re gone, right?」

「To Lindobal Forest. A long way.」

「ryaaa」

Luka and Cruz said to themselves, silently.

Shiggy cried out while springing up and rubbing its beak into my cheek. It’s been a while since it needed comforting like this.

I rubbed Shiggy while thinking about the road to Lindobal.

It would take a week on horse to get there…and I wondered how long on foot.

「With the speed of Rai’s running, probably only three days.」

「It’s so far.」

Cruz said, looking far off while rubbing Femm. Maybe she was remembering how Rai felt.

Femm stood there and said,

『I would take two days.』

『Me, one.』

Femm and Moofy said to each other. But there wasn’t much difference in their speeds and Rai’s.

Two days probably, but one day was definitely impossible.

Moofy walked over and had her head rubbed by Vi-Vi.

Moofy was probably thinking it would make Vi-Vi feel better.

「Good girl, Moofy」

As Vi-Vi looked out into the distance while rubbing Moofy’s back.