Vol 1 Chapter 32 (1/2)
Approaching Shadows (2)
“…and that is the situation. I apologize. We will buy you time with all we can. You should evacuate as soon as you can!”
The adventurers gathered in the a.s.sembly hall in the center of Torc Village were hurriedly moving around with serious expressions on their faces.
Some adventurers rushed out of the village square.
Their faces were haunted by a grim look.
Meanwhile, the villagers surrounding the a.s.sembly hall could tell, just by observing the adventurers, that the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
Here and there, anxious voices broke out.
She was hugged her father’s arm tightly, unable to hide from the anxiety of the villagers.
They had wanted to hear about the situation, but the villagers couldn’t interrupt as the adventurers ran about, yelling angrily.
They could only grind their teeth and watch.
The man who introduced himself as the leader of the adventurers in the a.s.sembly hall when they had arrived stepped forward.
Finally able to find out the situation, several villagers simultaneously asked for an explanation, and the man named Riggs began his explanation concisely.
About how the village was targeted by a bandit group.
How the group was on the scale of two hundred men.
About how there seemed to be Peters.h.i.+an soldiers among them.
About how there was already a casualty from the adventurer who went to scout.
How given the current battle power, victory was unlikely, so they should flee to the neighboring town, Nest.
“So we abandon our hometown?”
“Didn’t we request for you all to protect us!?”
Upon being told by Riggs to abandon their hard-earned work and beloved birthplace, the villagers drew near, raising their voices.
But—
“Quiet!”
At Riggs’s roar, the villagers were instantly silenced.
He was was still the leader of the adventurer group— even if they were normally different parties, all mixed together.
He was different than the simple villagers.
Scanning the silent villagers, Riggs opened his mouth.
“Good? You don’t have time to complain, and I don’t have time to listen to the complaints. I regret that I don’t have the time to persuade you. ”
Saying that all in one breath, Riggs turned around and walked back to where the other adventurers were.
The villagers could only stare in surprise.
They weren’t able to let out their voices.
Riggs exuded a bloodcurdling presence.
As he left, his words, which were in no way a joke, showed that the urgency of the situation was real.
“H-hey… what do we do?”
“Either way, we had better flee, as he said.”
The villagers slowly and sluggishly started moving.
Their faces were still disbelieving; was it all a lie? The doubt hung in the air, but they still began to prepare to evacuate.
“Daddy?”
“A-ah, let’s also prepare to flee.”
She pulled at her father’s arm, and he also started walking.
They returned home, and explained the situation to her mother.
Her mother, frankly, also seemed doubtful, but she helped her father load and secure their belongings onto the cart.
She also began preparations.
In the first place, the village was in no way plentiful.
So they didn’t really have many important belongings.
They soon finished their preparations.
‘That’s right! The seeds and things that can be sold should…’
Glancing at her parents, who were loading tools for daily life, she headed for the shed where the harvest and wild plants picked from the mountains were stored.
They didn’t know how long they would need to take refuge.
The discussions mentioned a foreign army being involved.
If the the village was captured, then they would not be able to easily return.
In the worst case, they may even have to evacuate Nest Town.
The remaining sc.r.a.ps of medicinal herbs and bark, which were used to make medicinal pills, were also loaded onto the cart.
They could sell it to a general store or apothecary.
Though it wouldn’t be sold for a high price, it was better than nothing.
As she did this, the other villagers were also prepared to evacuate, and gathered on the road towards Nest Town.
“Several adventurers will go ahead to Nest Town to request that the feudal lord there send the imperial army to reinforce us.”
Her father was speaking to a villager acquaintance.
Nest Town was a town that expanded around the knight order stationed at a fort there.
Several years before, when a monster horde approached, devastating the surrounding villages and townspeople, the refugees established a small town centered around the fort.