Yuusha-sama no Oshishou-sama - Volume 1 - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Chapter 51 – In the Avian Village (Part 2)

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Laura heard the sound of furious knocking on the door, so she got up from her bed . When she opened the door, she saw the three adventurers she had hired . The party was made up of a boy and girl who were not even ten years old, and a teenage boy .

“How did it go? Oh, that child—”

She saw a little girl hiding behind Wynn and Leti, shivering in fear . Laura immediately guessed that the girl was the thief they had been looking for .

“Please, enter . ”

She invited them in . Her eyes widened for a moment upon seeing the wings on the girl’s back . The three children entered, but Paul stayed outside .

“Mrs . Laura, I must return to the guild . Could I ask you to do something for me?”

Paul asked Laura to ask the girl about her circumstances after letting her calm down, while he ran to the guild .

“I see . It would be indeed better for me to ask her about what happened . ”

“I’m sorry . It’s a bit strange since you are the one who hired us, but…”

“It’s fine . I can ask her about it . ”

“Ah, I’ll leave it to you then . Wynn, ah, then…”

“Since you’re going back to town, would you like to borrow a horse? Can you ride a horse?”

“That would be helpful . ”

Paul immediately left for Simurgh as soon as Laura prepared a horse for him . After seeing him off, Laura reentered the house .

“Now then, how about I warm some water for you to clean up with? A girl like you shouldn’t be this dirty . ”

Laura kindly smiled at the Avian girl, who looked up at her with wings folded up .

“‘Scuse me! Can anybody help me with a subjugation mission!?”

Even late in the night, the Eastern Branch of Simurgh’s adventurer’s guild was filled with adventurers loitering around . Many monsters were nocturnal, so the adventurer’s guild was open at all times . All eyes gathered on Paul, who had barged in with a loud voice .

“Did something happen?”

One of the guild receptionists asked him . Lilia must have been on a break .

“Goblins . I believe there is a goblin village nearby . I killed one that I found, but we must quickly form a group to subjugate the rest . ”

“If it’s just goblins, can’t your party take care of it? Or are you alone?”

“We’re a party of three, but the other two are just novice kids!”

Paul shouted back . Goblins could the smell blood of one of their own even from miles away . That was why, after slaying the goblin at the Avian village, Paul asked Leti to fly the four of them away . The Avian village was probably swarming with goblins drawn in by the slain goblin’s blood . In addition to that, goblins tended to be hostile towards those who had slain one of their kind . They would be able to tell by scent that it was a human who had killed a goblin and would proceed to attack nearby villages and travellers . The goblins needed to be exterminated before that happened .

“It can’t be helped . If ya lead us to the place, depending on the reward, we’ll help ya out . ”

“Really? I’ll lead you . Also, the request was mediated by the guild, so the reward should be recorded . ”

Paul told the receptionist that Lilia had processed the request . The receptionist nodded and took a binder out from behind the counter showing it to the forty-something-old adventurer who had offered his help . He then asked Paul for the details of how they had encountered the goblin while he browsed the binder .

“…Alright . There doesn’t seem to be a problem with the reward . Our party will take the job . ”

“Thank you very much . I’m Paul . ”

“I’m Oort . Nice to meet you . I’ll introduce the rest of my party over there . ” (TL note: The Oort Cloud has the same katakana as his name, and that’s good enough for me . )

The man led Paul to a table where his party members were . Their calm demeanor showed that Oort’s party was made up of seasoned adventurers . Paul sighed in relief, having easily obtained competent help .

“That young man is Louis . As you can see from the spear leaning against the table, he uses a spear . ”

“Nice ta meetcha . ”

Louis was a young man in his twenties, with dark grey hair tied into a ponytail . He greeted Paul by raising his mug of beer . His breastplate had numerous dents and scratches . Paul could also see that his arms were thick and muscular .

“And, this is Eliza . And surprise, surprise – she’s a magician!”

“I’m Eliza . Nice to meet you . ”

“Oh!”

Eliza was also in her twenties . She wore a loose robe and had long, dark brown hair . He didn’t see her carrying a weapon, so she probably only used spells to fight .

“It’s reassuring to have a magician with us!”

Paul vigorously shook Eliza’s outstretched hand . Few magic users introduced themselves as magicians . An adventurer party with a magician was sure to be in high demand . It would instantly be considered first-rate .

“And lastly, there’s me . I use an axe and shield . ”

Oort pointed to a bulky one-handed axe and an iron shield that was next to Louis’ spear . He had reddish-brown hair and sported a beard . Paul tried to imagine Oort wielding his weapons

‘His enemies would probably scatter at the sight of him, right?’ Paul wondered .

An axe-user, a spear-user, and a magician – it was a well-rounded party .

“I’m Paul . I fight with a sword . I’m very grateful a party like yours is here to help me defeat the goblins . It feels like a waste of your abilities . ”

“No problem! And how about your party members?”

“They are standing by at the requester’s house . They’re just two kids . ”

Paul felt slightly embarrassed . Compared to Oort’s party, his party was just a bunch of kids playing around . It would be ridiculous to put them on the same level .

“Hahaha, we don’t mind . You rookies did well with the preliminary investigation . Now it’s our turn to follow up . ”

“Nobody starts off as a veteran . Be proud of yourself . ”

“Ah, thank you . ”

“Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, I’d like to go over the details of the request . ”

Oort put the request sheet that the receptionist had given him on the table . Louis and Eliza leaned over to look at the paper .

“Paul encountered a goblin, and we are to subjugate the rest of them before they attack nearby villages . ”

“I wonder if there is a Goblin King?”

“There has to be . Well, it’s no match for us . Paul’s party will lead us to the actual location . Since they are still rookies, we’ll handle most of the subjugation . The reward for the subjugation goes to us, and the reward for the investigation goes to Paul’s party . Is that fine?”

“No problem . ”

“Then, let’s get ready to go!”

“Sorry, I made you wait! Huh?”

Having brought the adventurers back with him, Paul barged into Laura’s house . He saw three children eating leftover stew by the fireplace . He recognized Wynn and Leti, but there was one more .

“Is she… the Avian?”

While he had been gone, not only had she taken a bath, but also tidied up her hair . Her white wings gave off a silvery glow in the firelight . She was a member of the Avian race, which rivalled the High Elves, and were said to be close to gods and spirits . She was beautiful, almost doll-like . The clothes she wore were probably lent to her by Laura since the sleeves were rolled up to fit her . Holes were made on the back of her clothes for her wings .

“This is my first time seeing an Avian . ”

Eliza let out a breathless exclamation .

“It seems like she’s been through a lot . ”

Laura told Paul . The sight of her hungrily devouring the stew made her seem like a normal child, rather than some legendary being .

“She’s still so young…”

“Did you find out what happened?”

“Yes . ”

The girl’s name was Evelina . One day, dog-headed people and goblins attacked the village where she lived . It happened in the middle of the night . Her parents told her to hide inside the house, so she took cover under her bed . She heard screams and yells from outside . Later, the house caught fire . She eventually passed out from fear . When she came to, it was silent . Luckily for her, the house didn’t burn down completely . But she was the only survivor .

Paul and Oort eyed the girl, who was silently eating stew . Eliza was crying .

“Let’s take revenge for her . ”

All the older adventurers nodded .

“Dog-headed people, huh…”

“Rather than people, it’s better to call them fiends . Though, I guess there isn’t much of a difference to Evelina . ”

Eliza corrected Oort . The two adventurer parties sat in a circle, and Evelina was seated on Laura’s lap . Laura hugged her tight .

“When I think of dog-headed creatures, I think of kobolds, or maybe something like therianthropes?”

Beastmen dominated the southern reaches of the Alfana continent . They were rarely seen in the Lemmroussell Empire, which was in the northern part of the continent . The ones that were seen in the north were usually mercenaries or adventurers, befitting their characteristically bulky bodies .

“I don’t think beastmen and monsters would ever join forces, so it’s most likely kobolds . ”

Kobolds, like goblins, reproduced quickly . They also had the ability to wield simple weapons, but their strength was not much different from goblins .

“So, where is the exact spot?”

“Now that I think of it, I wonder how far it would be by foot…”

“Huh? Shouldn’t you know? You’ve been there once . Or did you chance upon the place while searching?”

“No, um actually… We flew to the Avian village . ”

““What!?””

Oort’s party looked at him as if he was crazy .

‘Yeah, that’s what you should think . ’

He was relieved that his reaction wasn’t abnormal .

“Oho! This is awesome!”

“This is fun!”

“No way… nowaynowaynoway! This can’t be!”

Oort and Louis were having fun looking around them, but Eliza, the magician, was in denial . The six adventurers were flying to the Avian village in the same luminescent bubble .

“She did it without a spell, and for this many people… I- I can’t believe this . ”

“What’s wrong, Eliza? This girl is awesome! She’s probably even better than you, right?”

“It’s on a completely different level!”

Oort called out to Eliza with a carefree voice .

“Do you understand how much this defies the common sense of magic!? It’s unbelievably difficult to be able to fly in the air . And she did just that, without a chant! ‘It just felt like I could,’ she says . Even a royal magician would be stunned!”

“Umm, Eliza, is this really that amazing?”

Eliza was agitated by the unbelievable situation . Paul timidly asked her a question .

“Visualisation is crucial to casting magic . Think of it as drawing a mental picture of what you want to happen . It can’t be a vague idea, it has to be a clear picture . A chant allows you to make that image clearer in order to manifest the change, but this girl just let out her magic power without a chant and forced it to her will . ”

Eliza eyed Leti, the one who had cast the flight spell .

“Put simply, this defies all the laws of magic! To other magicians, this is completely impossible!”

Leti was an innate genius in manipulating magic power . It seemed like somebody had taught her the fundamentals of magic . But it seemed like she didn’t know any more than the basics . From what Eliza felt, if Leti only needed a cup’s worth of magic power to allow them to fly, Leti was pouring a whole bucket’s worth of water into the cup . And yet it seemed like they could continue to fly without end . The girl had an inexhaustible amount of magic power, that was sure . If she gained more knowledge about magic…

“So, in short, this young lady here is an amazing person . Got it . ”

“Who in the world is she?”

The four older adventurers focused their gazes on Leti . Oblivious to their awestruck gazes, Wynn and Leti happily laughed as they flew through the sky .