There was no one opposing Shions suggestion to return to the village for now.
Animals and Monsters were all nocturnal which was astonishing new information to Renya. However, Shion asserted this to be common knowledge.
“Nevertheless I will act during the daytime.”
The luggage of the six mercenaries who were left behind in the forest contained an considerable amount of items.
Returning to the village, the villagers were surprised to see the number of adventurers to have dropped by six people. Shion told them that after they got separated on the way their whereabouts were lost.
“Will you report this to the guild in the same fashion?” (Renya)
“I cannot lie to the guild. I will report the truth to them.” (Shion)
asked Renya worriedly regarding treatment of murder in this world.
However, Shion simply rejected his worries.
“Because these kind of people usually conduct themselves badly, one gets acquitted immediately if the circumstances are explained properly.” (Rona)
“At any rate, these fellows … I can’t find any weapons in these.” (Shion)
The fireplace was lit up and the two threw the unnecessary luggage into the burning fire.
Towards this too appropriate treatment, Renya silently prayed for the 6 people who very likely departed this world already.
“Are you looking for something?” (Renya)
“Proper money and goods. I thought we need this and Renya should have a proper weapon.” (Shion)
“I do understand your hesitation but you should still use a weapon with a proper blade, Renya.” (Shion)
“If your attacks are limited to only stabbing, your attack range will be rather narrow.” (Shion)
responds Rona towards Shions argument. However Shion denied this right away.
“Well, such a way of thinking is possible too.” (Rona)
“Umm .. well .. there will be no problem with him using it, I think.” (Rona)
Rona somehow judged after taking a moment to decide. Shion didn’t seem to mind it either as she took out a longsword from her bag and passed it to Renya.
Upon receiving the longsword from Shion, Renya drew the blade from its sheath. Levelling the longsword horizontally in his right hand with a firm grip, Renya focussed his attention on the blade.
“How is it?” (Shion)
Renya answered Shions question flatly.
The blade was crude without any decorations trimmed only towards its practical use. The iron used for the blade was of inferior quality devoiding the blade of any feeling of life within it.
Renya remembered that weapons were used for crushing rather than slicing when paired up against full plate armour in the medieval times on earth.
In contrast to the poor blade, the quality of the hilt was magnificent.
The sword guard displayed two intertwined dragons using respectively gold and silver to depict them, having them face each other in the centre of the guard serving as crest.
“Though the blade was broken several times, the hilt portion was handed down as legacy. I am no match for your discerning eye.” (Shion)
Shion admits wearing a slightly mortified expression.
Even though Renya was still somehow dissatisfied with the sword he accepted Shions sacrifice to lent him something precious. Not using the sword would be rude thus he stored his shinai in the inventory.
“That’s true. It is a skill which causes requests to carry payload to flood in with only that.” (Shion)
As Renya didn’t comprehend their excitement he looked at them with a questioning look. Shion then explained.
“Rumors say the amount of items that can be stored away is limited. Still it an enviable skill as it totally disregards weight restrictions.” (Rona)
At first it was planned to finish investigating before the next regular carriage arrives in two days, thus the amount of luggage for two people was reasonable making it possible to simply shoulder it.
Considering that these two were moving around a lot to different places it was easily understandable that possessing a skill which allowed them to not carry the luggage all the time was indeed enviable.
“That would be very helpful as it would save us some of the faring expenses.” (Rona)
The carriage driver decides the price by the equipment worn and the additional baggage included.
“That is an easy task. But before that we have to finish investigating safely.” (Renya)
“That’s true. Our opponents may be goblins, nonetheless one has to be careful.” (Shion)
Although it was vaguely called an investigation, but as there are no maps available for the area, it is mostly wandering aimlessly through the forest until the goblin settlement was found by a stroke of luck. Shion explains the basic outline. Alternatively one could follow goblins who were hunting for food, using them to calculate the position of the goblin settlement, it seems. Without a map of the forest deriving the location from accumulated information might be quite difficult though.
To confirm the situation once more Renya started to open his mouth but suddenly he felt a chill down his neck making him stiffen his back. Rubbing his neck with right hand, Renya approached the window.
The rented house was facing towards the outskirts of the village. The defensive wall which was set up had approximately the same height as the trees. Not too far away from the wall the black silhoutte of the forest was slightly visible. Even though Renya strained his eyes, he couldn’t see anything within that dark mass. But if Renya was to trust his intuition there was something definitely there.
Shion inquired, noticing his grim face as he was watching intently at the forest.
“Is this another of your skills?” (Shion)
After a short while of pondering over the matter Renya shook his head.
“Intuition, huh?” (Shion)
Even if his memories were wiped by god, his acquired senses were not. Renya was determined to believe in his intuition.
“Yes, no problem.” (Rona)
This pose caused her bountiful chest to be pushed up emphasizing it furthermore. Realising this, Renya shook his head lightly as now was not the time to think about that.
“I beseech you.
Identify the being disturbing our peace.” (Rona)
As the wave converged Rona looked up to Renya.
“This is … ?” (Renya)
“It is the magic practised by priests who serve a god. If there is someone with malicious intent in range of the spell the caster will be able to tell. Still … 50 or more? What the hell is going on …” (Shion)
“… This is bad. There is a commander leading the goblins, huh?” (Shion)
It said that sometimes there are rare cases of monsters born with high individual ability who would gather a large group.
“Right away.” (Rona)
Seeing Rona off Shion turned around to Renya.
“Our bad luck seems to continue. Will you help out too?” (Shion)
Renya could pretty much tell that the situation was quite bad.
Renya asked which Shion confirmed right away.
“What’s the degree of difference in military power?” (Renya)
Moreover the men of the village have not received any combat training if the situation becomes one versus many in contrast to one versus one fights.” (Shion)
“I don’t want to imagine it.” (Shion)
“Once the village is taken over, those guys will consider humans as fodder. The young women if not dead by then will wish they were considering the things they will experience.” (Shion)
Renya uttered in jest, not meaning it earnestly though. Although one might say that’s the way life goes. I don’t think there is AV in this world though.
“Please don’t joke about it, it is not very funny.” (Shion)
“Somehow … the tension has become weird, hasn’t it? If you …” (Shion)
“Why … Are you laughing?” (Shion)
Even so, you can’t say it was a good smiling face.
After thinking for a moment what to say, Renya continued.
“After all, the fight is interesting because it is disadvantageous, isn’t it?” (Renya) (T/N: evil smile)