Chapter 120 - Bear-san Arrives At The Village
Bear-san Arrives At The Village
A villager welcomed us when we arrived at the village.
More villagers slowly came until a few dozen villagers had gathered.
Wasn’t this too much just for fetching us?
「Welcome to the village; we were waiting for you. I’m Kabos, the village chief.」
The chief stepped forward and greeted us.
They must have been contacted in advance.
Even if it was just for a short while, the nobility from the capital’s academy came to visit. It was normal for this many people to gather, right?
The chief looked at us. When his gaze reached me, it stopped for just a moment before moving on.
Marcus stepped forward and stood in front of the chief.
「We came from the academy. My name is Marcus. What we brought is inside the carriage.」
Marcus responded as our representative.
Now that I thought about it, wasn’t Marcus the leader of the party?
He was the one who gave orders during the fights and also decided on who would do what.
Sorry Shia, but it was Cattleya who seemed the most competent to me.
It was also like this in the game; boys were the leaders in almost every mixed party, right?
「Thank you very much. We will tend to the carriage right away.」
When the chief said that, Timor, who was still holding the reins, climbed down from the carriage.
The chief then went to check what was in the carriage and tilted his head, confused.
「Is something wrong?」
「No, I just thought that there would be an adventurer inside the carriage. Is it possible that you came here by yourselves?」
Did he possibly think I was one of the students?
I wasn’t wearing the uniform, you know? I was a Bear-san, you know?
「But I heard that you had an adventurer escorting you…」
I see. So, the chief was looking for the adventurer, huh.
When he said that, the students all looked at me.
「The adventurer is right here.」
Marcus looked at me with a difficult expression.
What was with that bitter smile of yours?
「Huh, are you saying that this missy is an adventurer?」
「Yep, more or less.」
When the chief heard those words, his expression crumbled.
Not just the chief, all of the villagers also wore discouraged expressions.
「Are there any other adventurers?」
The chief looked around.
「Nope, only her.」
When Marcus replied as such, the chief looked at me.
He then started to stagger as if he was about to collapse.
What!?
Wasn’t that really rude?
Looking at me and staggering as if he had recieved a shock…
He was shocked to hear that a girl like me was an adventurer, right?
It didn’t mean that he received a shock after seeing my face, right?
It was rude either way, though…
「Chief!」
The villagers rushed to the chief and supported his body.
「I’m fine.」
The chief looked at me again.
「Miss, are you an adventurer?」
「I am.」
「I see.」
The chief thoroughly looked at me and sighed.
「What? If you have something to say, just spit it out already.」
His attitude was really irritating me.
Just sighing after looking at my face.
「You seem to be acting a bit strange. Did something happen?」
Shia asked the chief.
「It’s not something we could ask the students to do.」
「You can’t know that if you don’t tell us what it is.」
Seeing the chief’s attitude, Marcus’s normal tone returned.
「Chief, isn’t it okay to tell them at least?」
One of the men supporting chief’s body said.
「But, asking the students is……」
「As he said, you won’t know until you tell us.」
I agreed with Marcus and Cattleya.
The chief was still hesitating and looked at the people around him.
「I guess you’re right. Would you at least listen to my request?」
It was decided that we would discuss it in the chief’s house.
Judging by how the villagers and the chief were acting, something that needed the help of an adventurer had happened, so they wanted to speak to one, but when they saw that I was the adventurer, they all received a shock, didn’t they?
Wasn’t this the moment when they should look at my guild card or ask me how strong I was?
Weren’t they told that they shouldn’t judge a person by their appearance?
Almost everyone judged others by appearance, huh?
I did it too, so I couldn’t really complain.
When we arrived at his house, the chief started to talk with a dark expression.
「Goblins have appeared close to the village.」
「Goblins?」
I was guessing some monsters had appeared, but it was just goblins?
「Normally, the goblins stay deep inside the forest and don’t appear around here.」
「And now the goblins appeared close to the village?」
「Yes. You see, silkworms live between the village and the goblins. When the goblins try to come to the village, they become silkworm food. The silkworms keep us safe.」
「And yet the goblins have appeared?」
「Yes. That’s why we wanted to ask an adventurer to kill those goblins for us. We knew that an adventurer would escort the students during their practice training, after all. I know that I’m asking for too much, but if we can’t enter the forest safely, it’s all over for our village.」
There was something strange about this story.
The silkworm ate goblins? Didn’t they eat tree leaves? They were carnivorous?
More importantly, how big were they if they could eat the goblins?
「What do you mean by that?」
「A lot of villagers collect silkworm’s cocoon for a living. We would all be troubled if they couldn’t gather it anymore.」
Ah, that was why so many people came to welcome us.
They weren’t waiting for the students, but for the adventurer, huh?
I now understood why they all wore such desperate expressions.
「How many goblins are there?」
「The person who saw the goblins said there was quite a few of them.They have been seen at other locations as well, so we don’t really know their exact number.」
Were the goblins that we had killed on our way here possibly a part of the group?
I could understand why they were there in that case.
「I understand. We will go subjugate those goblins.」
「Marcus!?」
Everyone was surprised.
「I mean, they are in trouble, right? Also, it’s just goblins. We can deal with that much, right?」
「That may be so, but isn’t it dangerous when we don’t know their exact number? Don’t you think so too, Shia, Timor?」
Cattleya asked the two who were keeping quiet.
「Hmm, I understand Marcus’s feelings, but I also see your point.」
「I’m against it. There is no need to put ourselves in danger.」
「Timor, you’re against it too?」
「I want to help the villagers, but I think it’s dangerous. We should leave it to experienced adventurers, who really know how to subjugate the goblins.」
「Experienced adventurers……」
Marcus and Timor looked at me.
Yes, I was an adventurer. What about it?
「Could you handle it?」
「…… Let me see. Village Chief, did you place a request at the Adventurer’s Guild?」
Would they ask other adventurers when they had an adventurer, who could easily kill those goblins, right in front of them?
「No, we didn’t. They appeared recently, and we knew that you would be coming soon, so we decided to ask the adventurer who came, and only ask the Adventurer’s Guild if he refused.」
Village Chief looked at me.
It would be nice if you guys stopped looking at me each time an adventurer is mentioned.
「And it’s okay if you don’t enter the forest until then?」
「If their adventurer comes soon, it should be fine.」
「So, it all depends on whether an adventurer accepts the request or not, huh.」
「Well, the adventurer would be the one to decide the reward.」
「Still, the Adventurer’s Guild won’t consider it an urgent request since no villagers have died.」
They were just students, but they all knew a lot about the Adventurer’s Guild, huh.
Was it considered common sense here?
Silence settled in the room.
「Shia, what do you think? You haven’t been saying anything for a while.」
「You want my opinion? Well, I don’t really mind what we chose to do. I will go with what you guys decide.」
「So, you don’t mind fighting?」
「I don’t mind.」
Shia look at me and smiled.
Shia knew how strong I was, so did she think that it wouldn’t really be dangerous?
「Shia, if I’m against it, and Marcus still decides to go and subjugate the monster, what will you do?」
「My job is taking care of Yuna-san; if she is going to protect Marcus, I will go with her.」
「Not with me but with this girl, huh!」
Marcus suddenly became mad.
「But, of course.」
「I get it, I guess. Marcus, I will also come to defeat the goblins. But, I have a condition. We won’t try to do the impossible. If we think that it’s dangerous, we will back down. If you accept this, I don’t mind coming with you.」
「Of course. I also don’t want to die by doing the impossible, after all.」
Marcus looked at Cattleya.
「I will help you as well.」
「It’s decided then. We’ll be doing a goblin’s extermination first thing tomorrow morning.」
Marcus managed to bring everyone together.
「Is it really okay? Putting students in danger…」
「This is also a part of the practice training. We won’t do the impossible. If we can’t do it, we will give up.」
「Thank you very much, and please don’t push yourselves too far.」
I wondered how I would mark them if I was their professor.
They were taking action without abandoning the village. That was a plus.
Even though they weren’t adventurers, they were doing something dangerous. That was a minus.
Also, as their guard, should I have stopped them?
They told me to let them do what they wanted as long as I thought that they weren’t in danger. With only goblins, there should be no problem, right?
Author’s note:
This story is such a template, right?