Chapter 4 (1/2)
Chapter 4 – Adventurers＊
The entrance to the village was connected to a road that branched off a long highway that led all the way to the Royal Capital. Luru had often caught sight of Rusty saying things like “One day I’m going to leave down this road on an adventure!” whilst looking at this road.
From when he was old enough to perceive things, Rusty had always been like this, and his admiration towards adventurers was beyond description in some ways, thought Luru.
Luru had wondered many times just what had made Rusty so engrossed with adventurers, but it was probably that children in the village had little stimulus and too much free time, or so Luru concluded.
In the past when Luru had been in the war, he longed for a peace where you could gaze at the gra.s.s in a meadow being blown in the wind, but on the other hand, those who continued to live in such peace might have longed for war or adventure instead.
Even Luru had found these past few years of s.p.a.cing out just a little boring.
It wasn’t impossible to understand Rusty’s boredom, having been born without something like a past life and having lived in this village all his life, nor his longing towards adventurers.
“…They’re here!”
While Luru, Rusty, Mii and Yuuri were vacantly waiting at the entrance to the village, they saw two figures from the other side of the road.
With the exception of merchants and acquaintances of the villagers, almost n.o.body came to a frontier village like this.
In particular, considering that n.o.body had said they were coming today, there was no mistake that the figures were the adventurers that Rusty had heard about.
Like that, the faces of the apparent adventurers finally came clearly into view.
They were a group of two.
One was a brawny, bold-looking man covered in hard armour, and lightly carried a greatsword on his back.
His face was more wild than handsome, and wore an expression you couldn’t feel any darkness from at all.
The other was a woman.
Having said that though, from those long ears of hers and her exquisite beauty, it was clear that she wasn’t a human.
Of the species that G.o.d had brought into this world from spirits, she was of the one that boasted the longest lifespan; the ancient race{elves}.
She possessed their characteristics.
The two of them seemed quite like adventurers, and from a glance you could tell that they didn’t do normal jobs; they gave off a feeling of having a few eccentricities.
From Luru’s perspective, he could feel that the two of them held quite the degree of skill.
The quality and quant.i.ty of the mana they were clad in, and their skill with it meant that indeed, there was nothing strange about calling people like them ‘real’ adventurers.
Even without being able to see through their real ability, the two of them gave off a difficult to describe atmosphere, so Rusty gazed at the two of them, eyes sparkling.
Even Mii and Yuuri’s eyes seemed to say ‘some really amazing people have come’, and looked like they were looking at something rare.
Normally the two of them would have looked at Rusty’s dream with less pa.s.sionate eyes, but today alone was different.
I wonder if one day the two of them will be influenced by Rusty and aim to become adventurers as well, Luru suddenly wondered.
Not just a few young people left the village.
There was also the fact that the village alone wouldn’t be able to support a large number of people, but above that was the longing for the city, and many ended up leaving for the city, saying they’d become adventurers like Rusty, or the apprentices of some merchant somewhere.
Although the village wasn’t declining because of this, those left behind felt an indescribable loneliness.
Even if one day, they themselves would also leave.
While he was thinking about such things, the two adventurers finally arrived before their eyes.
Looking at them from up close, they didn’t really seem to be the violent type, so Luru felt a little relieved that they didn’t seem they would suddenly treat Rusty and the others as a nuisance and hit them or anything.
“What? You brats here to receive us?”
Just as they arrived at the village, having caught eye of Luru and his friends, the swordsman asked them this, rubbing his chin in confusion.
The elven woman smacked the swordsman’s arm and spoke,
“As if. Sending kids to receive adventurers is dangerous, so n.o.body would do it. They’re probably here to sightsee… Isn’t that right?”
The elven woman tilted her head as she asked Rusty.
Though he was bewildered at suddenly being spoken to, perhaps thinking that it wouldn’t be good to lie, he frankly muttered in a feeble voice,
“Y-, yes… That’s right.”
“Seeee? It was just like I said! In villages like this, there are quite a few kids who want to become adventurers, after all… You kids want to as well, right?”
“Yes… One day I’ll become a real adventurer!”
said Rusty as he raised his hand above him.
Perhaps feeling something from that, the swordsman patted Rusty’s head.
“Hahaha. I see, I see. Well, I’m not gunna say that it’s impossible. The road to adventurers is open to everyone, after all… Just, if you’re not saying it as a joke, but are seriously aiming for it, you gotta train. Adventurers who aren’t skilled are just gunna die, yanno.”
“Yes!”
“Good answer… Alright! Since you have some promise, how ’bout I tell you some stories of my adventures! Or so I say, but there’s no point in standing around. Mind showing me to the inn?”
“With pleasure!”
Seemingly hitting it off in that odd manner, the two of them walked shoulder to shoulder into the village.
Luru watched them go.
Mii and Yuuri sighed and muttered,
“It’d be nice if you didn’t fire Rusty up too much…”[Mii]
“I wonder if boys stay the same no matter how old they get…”[Yuuri]
before chasing after the other two.
Hearing this, the elven woman’s face cramped a little, and bringing her mouth to Luru’s ear,
“…Their relations.h.i.+p seems a little complicated, huh? Those kids, I mean.”
“Mmn, well… It’s the so called ‘love triangle’ isn’t it?”
Absentmindedly replied Luru, as he watched the four of them go.
Seemingly agreeing, the elven woman went ‘mhm’ as she nodded, and then tilted her head in confusion.
“Mn…? Huh, then what about you?”
It seemed that she found it odd that Luru wasn’t involved in the love triangle.
Luru thought about how to appropriately express his position, and then spoke,
“I’m an onlooker, I guess.”
“…You’re a strange one, aren’t you? You probably can’t tell since you’ve only been in this village, but those two will grow up to be quite cute before you know it, you know? If you make a promise with one of them now… [promise to get married etc.]”
To the woman who was giving advice that an adult shouldn’t give to a little seven year old [the advice is shameful, and not something an adult should be doing], Luru made a fairly ironic smile that you wouldn’t find on a child, and replied,
“These kind of things are more fun to watch, you know.”
The elven woman grimaced at his words.
Then, shaking her head,
“I retract my previous comments. You’ve quite the nasty hobbies, haven’t you.”
Well, I can’t exactly deny that, thought Luru, and decided to end their idle chat for now as he changed the subject.
“Hahah, well anyway, even if you are an adventurer, you must be tired, correct? Shall I escort you to the inn?”
“Eh, yeah. Right. Please do. We were attacked by quite a few monsters on the way here, so I am pretty tired…”
It seemed that the woman really was tired, as she made a weary expression.
She’d best rest up early today, thought Luru, and he politely guided the elven woman to the inn.
Luru hadn’t thought at the time that his concern would be wasted.
“Oi, bring me some alcohol!”
“Me too!”
That night, the bar connected to the only inn in the village was doing good business.
Each day this bar would be lively with drinking village men, but today was even more loud and boisterous than usual, and the zeal was amazing.
And it was little wonder that the heart of that noisiness was the adventurer pair.
The men in the village were happily listening to the adventurer man, as he told stories in a good mood.