Chapter 84 - Junior Adventurer
Chapter 84 – Junior Adventurer
It was already a week after I began teaching magic.
Millet and Collette were progressing well. They had already started with beginning magic.
Shiggy was happy, and the potatoes were growing.
And on that day.
I was sitting at my guard post, and Femm twitched, and then stood.
『Someone’s coming.』
「A demon?」
『Humans.』
「Maybe a peddler?」
Peddlers would pass by Mulg on a set schedule.
However, there were rarely anyone that came by, other than them.
『No…it’s someone I don’t know.』
「I see. Thanks.」
Femm really is reliable.
It must have felt cautious when it knew unknown people were approaching. The wolves were already herding their young into the wolf house.
It’s nice to have such a smart friend of a wolf. You don’t even have to say anything.
I think it would be best to hide Shiggy too.
I picked up Shiggy from its playing and put it in my chest pocket.
「ryaa?」
「Just stay quiet in here.」
「…ryaa」
Shiggy didn’t know what was happening. It was nervous.
Then I told Femm,
「Femm. You can stay here, but the other wolves…could you tell them to hide?」
「Ruff?」
「They’re going to be scared seeing a pack of magic wolves.」
『I guess with how strong we are, they have reason to be scared.』
Even when Femm was in his small form, it was still the size of a dog.
However, the magic wolves were all twice as big as normal wolves. The group was one scary force to reckon with…it was amazing to see them all together.
「Ruff ruff」
「Wuff」「Woaf」
Femm went to the wolves and barked quietly.
They answered and then all went into the wolf house.
「Moo mooo!」
「Oh, Moofy, you too.」
Moofy looked at me with glimmering eyes.
She might have wanted to hide too.
Moofy stuck its head inside a box that was lying nearby.
.She may not have known that her butt was hanging out, but she still thought she was hiding.
「Moo Moo」
「You don’t have to hide, Moofy.」
「Moo?」
Moofy just looked like a normal cow. The only thing different was her beautiful fur, and the cute look she had.
Mulg Village was based mostly on cattle industry. Moofy’s presence there would be no big surprise.
「What is Moofy doing?」
「Moo moo」
Vi-Vi had come back from tending to the field.
Just like usual, she was wearing overalls and a straw hat.
Moofy, with the box over her head, rubbed up against Vi-Vi.
「There are some unknown people approaching.」
「Hm? Really. Is that why Moofy has a box over her head?」
「Moo MOO!」
I took the box off of Moofy.
Then I rubbed her head.
「Do you think we should hide?」
「No, I don’t think there’s any need. There’s no problem with a devil like you being here.」
「Okay, then.」
Just then I remembered.
I had heard from the chief that this region Mulg was in had people famous for hunting down devils.
「Wait, maybe it IS better that you hide. I don’t want to deal with troops from around here.」
「I see. Then I’ll be hiding in your house, Al.」
「Ah, Vi-Vi. Please take Shiggy with you.」
Lately, Shiggy let others hold it without struggling against them.
It was also okay when I wasn’t around. It was growing quickly.
It was better that Vi-Vi hid the dragon in my house, then me trying to carry it around my clothes.
「Leave it to me, Al!」
「Shiggy, you listen to what Vi-Vi tells you to do, okay?」
「Ryaaa.」
Vi-Vi held the dragon, and ran off to my house.
After a bit, Femm’s tail stuck straight up.
『They’re here.』
「Okay, thanks.」
It took a little while for them to arrive from when Femm notified me that they were close.
This was because Femm’s perception was very sharp.
Femm was a wolf you could depend on.
Three adventurers arrived at the village.
From the look of them it was a heavy-armor and light-armor warrior, one each, and an archer.
All of them were still quite young. Only the heavy-armor warrior was male.
The heavy-armor warrior was covered in metal armor, had a wide, straight sword, and a metal shield.
The light-armor warrior had leather armor and a leather shield, had a thin, straight sword, and the archer had leather armor and a very high-quality bow.
They looked like a bunch of well-equipped adventurers.
They all walked up to the village entrance and I accosted them.
「What business do you have in Mulg?」
「We’d like to buy provisions, so we decided to visit.」
The leader seemed to be the heavy-armor warrior.
They glanced now and then at Femm, standing beside me.
For those that didn’t know Femm, Femm just looked like a dog. Femm was a beautiful one though, so no doubt they noticed.
「I see, you’re all adventurers, right?」
「Correct.」
「Could I see your adventurer cards?」
It was the duty of a guard like me to check the identification of anyone coming into the village.
They might be thieves simply dressed up like adventurers, for all I knew.
「Here you are.」
「Oh. You’re all B-class adventurers. Quite good for a group so young.」
「No…we just do the best we can.」
They all looked bashful about it.
The cards indicated that they were all around 20 years old. Very strong bunch to have a B-class ranking.
The heavy-armor warrior was Anton, the light-armor warrior was Emmy, and the archer was Liza.
「Why are B-class adventurers out in the country in a place like this?」
「We’re looking for a rare medicinal herb.」
「A B-rank group looking for herbs? That’s strange.」
Usually those type of medicine gathering jobs were done by beginners.
B-rank usually fought strong magic beasts.
「Well, this area has a lot of strong beasts, so gathering herbs is quite dangerous.」
「I see, that’s why you’ve been entrusted with this.」
It’s true that Mulg Village had basilisks roaming around it, so it was dangerous.
There were also very strong magical boars.
If one attacked you, it could stomp all your bones into a pile. It could also kill you with a quick stab from its tusks.
Also, its upper hide was so thick that normal arrows and swords had a hard time piercing it.
The light-armor warrior Emmy asked,
「And you, sir, are you confident enough to be guarding a village in a place like this?」
「Hey, don’t be rude, Emmy.」
Anton chided Emmy for talking smack in a village she didn’t call home.
Anton certainly was the leader of the party, then.
「S…sorry. I mean the beasts around here are strong…I didn’t mean anything bad by it.」
「No, don’t worry yourself.」
Emmy flustered and bowed to me over and over. I just smiled back at her.
It seemed they were quite an upright bunch of adventurers.
「I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took an arrow in the knee.」
「Did you? I’m sorry to hear that.」
The archer, Liza, spoke words of sympathy to me.
She seemed like a caring person.
「Since this village is in the country, I don’t know if you can get all the supplies you need, but please, enjoy yourselves here.」
「Ah, thank you very much.」
The adventurers then ventured into the village.
Femm watched them and said,
『Medicine… I wonder if it’s the ones that Millet always uses?』
「Maybe. But they bloom in a different season. It might be a different one.」
『Hm. Was there no magician with them either?』
「A magician is a precious find, though. There are lots of parties without one.」
「Ruff.」
We watched the adventurers walk into the village center, where the chief went out to greet them.
It was a big thing to greet a bunch of young adventurers for him.
And as we watched, I prayed that they would be able to complete their quest without any problems.