Chapter 29:
Ogre King…and Waiting
I PUT THE FEE in my small money pouch and put that pouch in my bag. I had no idea I’d get paid. It made me downright nervous. My hands were sweating, even! I bowed my thanks to the nice lady and left.
Money…if I let anyone else see it, I could be in danger. People could deposit their money at adventurers’ guilds, but that required registering…and to register, you had to let them look into your skill. They’d find out I was a no-star. And sure, the merchant guild wouldn’t check your skill if you registered, but what did I have to sell?
What do I do? Oh, money…haah…
Still, I was surprised that info on monsters was worth real money. I’d overheard from the talk in the back room that the monsters were ogres, led by a fearsome Ogre King. The veteran adventurers who’d gone to search had found ogre markings, and soon afterward saw the Ogre King itself. According to a book I’d read, Ogre Kings were so strong that you needed multiple veterans to take them down. I hadn’t sensed it while passing through, but I was glad I hadn’t stayed out too long. I could’ve run into an ogre, or even the king itself. Scary!
I took a walk around the village, observing how people were acting. The news about the Ogre King hadn’t spread, so it was pretty peaceful, but people were beginning to notice that the adventurers were bothered about something.
After that, I went back to the adventurers’ plaza where I’d slept last night. There weren’t many adventurers there since this village had cheap inns. Good luck for me—I didn’t sleep well with people nearby. I mean, it was better than having to stay awake to keep an eye out for monsters, but the presence of strangers woke me up. During my nights sleeping in the Ratoto plaza, I’d come to realize that I just didn’t like people much.
I found a spot in the plaza without any tents and took a break there. It was as far as could be from the cooking equipment, so it wasn’t crowded at all. I’d claimed a similar spot back in Ratoto.
What should I do now? My initial plan had been to head to the next village if I could find potions in the dump here, but it’d be a lot safer to stay in the village if we were dealing with an Ogre King. They were putting out an urgent request for adventurers, so the hunt would probably start tomorrow or the day after. Also, if there was an Ogre King, there was probably an ogre den nearby. Or at least that’s what one of my books said, I think, but…I only remember a bit. I’ll check later.
It would probably take…a day or two to find the den? Then they’d have to destroy it and the ogres, so…I was looking at about five days in Ratomu Village. It wasn’t really a problem, though. It’s not like I could sleep in the forest, after all. The trouble would be keeping Sora fed.
I’d have to find an uninhabited place in the village, which would be hard since it was pretty crowded. Worst case, the slime would have to eat inside my bag.
I sighed. The unexpected income was great, but it was a shame I couldn’t go into the forest. Still, safety was most important. I felt bad for Sora, but it would just have to make do for now.
In the evening, they announced the news about the monsters and gathered the veteran adventurers. The sheer number of adventurers really got me thinking about how large this village was, with way more veterans than I’d expected. But despite their large force, the man from the office looked grave. The Ogre King must have been a really dangerous monster.
Still, to think I’m stuck here for ten whole days…
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