Chapter 145 - Under the Sunset (1/2)

It was just as the clamor around the farm started to die down that the villagers began to gather. They were all holding torches. When the light in the area increased, the devastation of the farm became clearer.

The grass was dyed with blood. The fences were broken by the wind. The ground was all upturned… The first old man who appeared was the farmer who owned this land. He was talking with Yis as they approached me.

“Ah, so you are the one who killed the lesser wyvern. Thank you. I’m Regar, the owner of this farm.”

“I’m Asagi. Sorry…that we made such a mess…”

“What are you saying! It would have been much worse had you not put an end to that thing! I am grateful, and see no reason why I should blame you?”

I looked up at his face then. Mister Regar was smiling as he offered his right hand. I was a little surprised to see him so happy. And before I knew it, I was smiling and squeezing his hand.

After that, I left the rest to Yis and went running back to Daniela. She was sitting in the shadows of the same building and looking at us. She seemed calm as she waved at me.

“I’m back, Daniela.”

“Welcome, Asagi.”

We hugged tightly. She wasn’t shaking anymore, but I held her close regardless.

“Sorry that I was late.”

“It does not matter. We are both alive. What more could we want?”

She said as she slapped me on the back and then let go of me. She was fine now.

“Still, Daniela. I’m surprised with you. You were fighting with it when you had been so afraid before.”

“Not as surprised as I was. Perhaps being with you has removed some of the poison in my body.”

She had been alone for so long… And maybe she had found her medicine. If we stayed together, one day she might heal completely.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Come on, the others are waiting.”

“Aye, let us go.”

As we walked back to the farm, Marco came running towards us. I petted him as he looked at us playfully. Yis was waving towards us. We waved back. For some reason, his face lit up and he began to wave excitedly, which was a strange thing to see from someone of that age. Daniela and I looked at each other and burst into laughter.

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Later on, everyone returned to their houses for the night. It had been decided that the mess would be dealt with the next morning.

When the morning came, I, Daniela, Mister Yis, Mido and Marco walked together towards the farm. The villagers had gathered as well. They were excited to dissect the lesser wyvern. However, it would not be cut by ordinary blades. And so I created knife-sized ice swords and passed them out. The fact that maintaining the edge on those blades took so much magic energy that I ended up being even more exhausted than I was after the battle with the wyvern…would be kept a secret.

By the time we were finished taking the monster apart, the sun was about to set. That was strange… It seemed like it had been morning only a short while ago.

“Ahh, that was tiring work!”

Regar said as he sat next to me on the grass. He was wiping the sweat off of his forehead, but looked incredibly pleased.

“It’s not exactly the first time I’ve killed a wyvern. But I never had to cut one up before. I’m exhausted…”

“What? You have fought a wyvern before, Asagi?”

“Uh, yeah… I had been watching some other Adventurers as they fought one. And things were looking pretty bad, so I butted in, let them escape and then sort of just ended up killing it.”

“Ohhh… You must be a lot more dangerous than you let on…”

That being said, that wyvern was wounded. It couldn’t even fly.

“Still, I am glad that you came. That wyvern had been making a meal of many of our livestock… We were all worried that it would move on to human flesh…”

“It’s a good thing it was dealt with before that happened.”

“Aye. You are damn right!”

Losing your livestock was like losing the tools of the trade. It was losing the foundation of your livelihood. And yet, Regar was laughing as if he had never been more entertained. It was as if he found pleasure in just being alive… Or gratitude…

“Well, then. You helped us greatly. But this is a small village, and there is no guild. So we all pooled our money together in order to offer you a reward. Though, I’m sorry that it is not much.”