Vol 1 Chapter 51 (1/2)
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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, s.h.i.+vering 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 circ.u.mstances 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.&r
dquo;
“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 rea.s.suring 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 s.h.i.+eld.”
Oort pointed to a bulky one-handed axe and an iron s.h.i.+eld 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 embarra.s.sed. 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.”
“n.o.body starts off as a veteran. Be proud of yourself.”
“Ah, thank you.”