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Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter SS2




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Memories of Sacrifice 

“Go home!” 

The voice was clearly angry—infuriated even—and was soon accompanied by the loud bang of a door slammed in one’s face. Standing outside the door with her mouth wide open was none other than Rina Rupaage, a new adventurer with a somewhat ambivalent expression on her face. 

“No luck today as well, girlie?” 

The one who called out to the voice was a kind old lady—one of the villagers who had passed by. 

Rina was currently in a place a little removed from Maalt, a small place known as Ett Village. She was, of course, here on a request, but the request in question wasn’t going very well at all. 

“Yes, I’m afraid so... I wonder why Mister Jeoff refuses to listen to anything I have to say...” Rina dejectedly said to the old lady. 

“Well you see, dearie...Jeoff has retired from adventuring, you know? That’s why he became a bit of a hermit in our village. He doesn’t like adventurers very much. But he is a bit of a hunter, and sometimes he does take care of any monsters... To me, it’s not all that different, girlie.” 

“Right... I suppose so...” 

Jeoff, however, didn’t listen to a single thing Rina had to say. All she wanted to do was hand over a parcel to Jeoff. She felt silly for beginning her sentence with, “I’m an adventurer...” In that very instant, the door was slammed in her face, then bolted shut. 

“Well, keep at it, girlie. Resolve and determination are important in any sort of work, you know?” 

“Yes... Yes, you’re right. In that case, should I simply help with everyone’s work today, as well?” 

Rina was referring to this village’s specialty export: woven baskets. She’d been taught how to help by the villagers, and she’d spent her days doing just that. She had quite a great deal of spare time on her hand; she was basically free once Jeoff slammed his door shut in her face for the day. 

The next day, however, Rina didn’t quite understand why his door was left open... 

The old woman turned to her. “You are most welcome to join us! You seem to have gotten the hang of weaving, and you’re quite helpful to have around, you know. Ah, girlie. If only you became someone’s bride in our village! Now wouldn’t that be nice?” 

Rina had become so familiar with the villagers that she was able to keep up with their jokes. It had been five days since she arrived at Ett Village, but there was nothing she could do. 

Maybe this is what it means to show one’s resolve, Rina thought. 

 

“It’s terrible! Goblins! Goblins!“ 

Rina had spent almost a week in the village when those cries reached her ears. Rina was an adventurer by trade, slaying monsters being a large part of her job. 

She immediately drew her sword. “Where!?” she inquired, turning to the panicking villager. 

“There! Over there! Old Man Jeoff is currently doing something about it... Please help!” 

“I’ll go right away! Everyone, keep a weapon on hand and hide in your homes!” 

With that, Rina took off. 

 

There! 

Rina soon caught sight of the man’s back. Old as he was, the man’s musculature could easily be seen on his bare back. 

It was none other than Old Man Jeoff. Before him were five Goblins, each of them equipped with crude armor and weapons. They hardly seemed weak. 

“I’ll help!” 

“Don’t need it!” he shouted back. “I’ll deal with this myself...” 

Rina noticed he was wounded with a slash across his abdomen. It was by no means deep, but Jeoff didn’t seem to be in shape to defeat all these Goblins by himself. 

Rina ignored Jeoff’s claims, instead flying headfirst into the crowd of Goblins. She drew their attention, swinging her sword this way and that. Jeoff understood Rina’s intentions, and as soon as the Goblins let down their guard, he cut deep into them, slaying them one by one. 


The last Goblin was faced head-on by Rina. Dodging the swing of its axe, Rina decisively landed a blow, and its head was soon sent flying. 

“All right! So this is everything...right?” Rina asked. 

“Yeah, seems that way. But you’re pretty good, little lady. You look so young...I thought you were really a beginner. But you sure got them basics down...” 

“Eh? Really?! I’m happy to hear! It’s the first time anyone’s said anything like that since I became an adventurer!” 

Perhaps it was because of the sincere way Rina had responded, but Jeoff’s expression eventually softened. 

“Hah, all right, I get it. I’ll listen to what you have to say. You did save me, after all, and you’re pretty persistent, little lady... Let’s head back for now.” 

 

The villagers were elated at what they heard, that the Goblins had all been slain. They immediately suggested for a feast to be prepared. 

Monsters didn’t commonly appear in these parts, which was why a village had been built here in the first place. If a monster did appear, only to be slain without any deaths in the village, it was customary to organize a celebratory feast. 

“Hmph. Look at them, that happy bunch,” Jeoff said, smiling somewhat bitterly. His words seemed somewhat sarcastic, but his smile betrayed his actual emotions. 

“Everyone’s fine and all’s well that ends well. Isn’t that all right?” Rina replied. 

Jeoff nodded in response. “Yeah, it’s as you say, little lady. What brings you to a rural corner of the world like this, anyway?” 

Rina withdrew a small stone from a pocket. It was a transparent, somewhat ornamental-looking rock, set in a decorative filigree. 

“I was told to hand this to you, Mr Jeoff. It’s apparently called a ‘Memory Stone.’ It’s a type of magical tool that has a series of images sealed into it. Not too many though... Ah! It’d be much easier to understand if you experience it rather than me ramble on... Hmm. You press this here...” 

Rina placed the stone on the table, and as she pressed a horizontal protrusion on the rock, an image sprang forth. It was of a half-translucent person, who immediately began talking to Jeoff. 

“Been a while, Jeoff. Doing well?” 

“Toora?! You’re alive?!” 

Rina did not know much about the two’s relationship. From what she could gather of the half-translucent Toora’s speech, the two had apparently been grouped together in a party quite some time ago. Although the requests they both took had gone relatively well, Jeoff messed up one day and Toora fell victim to a particularly nasty curse, in addition to sustaining heavy injuries. Quite some coin was required to heal her, and there was the possibility that healing her would be impossible. Jeoff, of course, couldn’t afford any of those treatments. 

Somewhere in the middle of it all, however, word of Toora’s injury traveled to her parents, who promptly offered to pay her treatment fees. Toora’s parents were wealthy, and as such could easily afford said fees. In exchange, they demanded that Jeoff never meet Toora ever again. 

In the end, Jeoff had no choice but to agree, retiring from adventuring and hiding himself away in a rural village. True to his word, Jeoff had never met Toora, not even once, ever since. 

But Jeoff wasn’t aware of the second half of that story, mainly of Toora’s miraculous recovery, and how she was searching for Jeoff. Jeoff hadn’t mentioned anything about his hometown back then, and even if he did return, he’d made no mention of doing so. As a result, Toora had no luck in her search. Recently, however, Toora had finally managed to locate her friend and wanted to meet him. This was why the memory stone was sent, as a means of contact. 

“Jeoff, I know you feel responsible for my injuries...but really, that was my fault. You did well, you know? I told my parents that, too, at the time, but they were too stubborn. You were also really stubborn... That’s why it took so long for me to say this to you.” 

“You’re the stubborn one here...” 

“Well...I don’t really care about that injury anymore, you know? More importantly, a performing troupe I particularly like is coming to Maalt. Let’s go see the show together. I’ve told Rina of the dates, so ask her about it later, yeah? I’ll even pay for your travel fees and all that, so don’t worry about it. Hope to see you then!” 

“Hah...? What are you—hey! Wait!” 

With that, the image from the Memory Stone faded. 

Toora seemed like quite a strong-willed woman. She most likely understood it’d be impossible to meet Jeoff unless she did something like this. 

For a few seconds, Jeoff stared at the stone with a gaze most intense, as if he were about to shatter it to pieces. Soon after, however, he turned to Rina. 

“Well then, when is it?” 

“So you’re going after all...?” Rina asked, before she could stop herself. Jeoff’s response revealed his panic. 

“W-Well... See, if I were to turn her down, I ‘d have to do it to her face, right? Ugh... In any case, just tell me the dates.” 

“Ah, yes, of course. So you see...” 

As she issued the correct dates to Jeoff, Rina thought Jeoff would enjoy watching the show with Toora after all. If he really wanted to turn his friend down, he’d have just asked Rina to pass on his decision for him. 

While humans seemed to fall apart at the slightest notion, an equally small gesture was often enough to bring them back together. Perhaps it’d be the same with her own family as well... 



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