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, shivering 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 circumstances 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 reassuring 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 shield.”
Oort pointed to a bulky one-handed axe and an iron shield 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 embarrassed. 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.”
“Nobody starts off as a veteran. Be proud of yourself.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, I’d like to go over the details of the request.”
Oort put the request sheet that the receptionist had given him on the table. Louis and Eliza leaned over to look at the paper.
“Paul encountered a goblin, and we are to subjugate the rest of them before they attack nearby villages.”
“I wonder if there is a Goblin King?”
“There has to be. Well, it’s no match for us. Paul’s party will lead us to the actual location. Since they are still rookies, we’ll handle most of the subjugation. The reward for the subjugation goes to us, and the reward for the investigation goes to Paul’s party. Is that fine?”
“No problem.”
“Then, let’s get ready to go!”
“Sorry, I made you wait! Huh?”
Having brought the adventurers back with him, Paul barged into Laura’s house. He saw three children eating leftover stew by the fireplace. He recognized Wynn and Leti, but there was one more.
“Is she… the Avian?”
While he had been gone, not only had she taken a bath, but also tidied up her hair. Her white wings gave off a silvery glow in the firelight. She was a member of the Avian race, which rivalled the High Elves, and were said to be close to gods and spirits. She was beautiful, almost doll-like. The clothes she wore were probably lent to her by Laura since the sleeves were rolled up to fit her. Holes were made on the back of her clothes for her wings.
“This is my first time seeing an Avian.”
Eliza let out a breathless exclamation.
“It seems like she’s been through a lot.”
Laura told Paul. The sight of her hungrily devouring the stew made her seem like a normal child, rather than some legendary being.
“She’s still so young…”
“Did you find out what happened?”
“Yes.”
The girl’s name was Evelina. One day, dog-headed people and goblins attacked the village where she lived. It happened in the middle of the night. Her parents told her to hide inside the house, so she took cover under her bed. She heard screams and yells from outside. Later, the house caught fire. She eventually passed out from fear. When she came to, it was silent. Luckily for her, the house didn’t burn down completely. But she was the only survivor.
Paul and Oort eyed the girl, who was silently eating stew. Eliza was crying.
“Let’s take revenge for her.”
All the older adventurers nodded.
“Dog-headed people, huh…”
“Rather than people, it’s better to call them fiends. Though, I guess there isn’t much of a difference to Evelina.”
Eliza corrected Oort. The two adventurer parties sat in a circle, and Evelina was seated on Laura’s lap. Laura hugged her tight.
“When I think of dog-headed creatures, I think of kobolds, or maybe something like therianthropes?”
Beastmen dominated the southern reaches of the Alfana continent. They were rarely seen in the Lemmroussell Empire, which was in the northern part of the continent. The ones that were seen in the north were usually mercenaries or adventurers, befitting their characteristically bulky bodies.
“I don’t think beastmen and monsters would ever join forces, so it’s most likely kobolds.”
Kobolds, like goblins, reproduced quickly. They also had the ability to wield simple weapons, but their strength was not much different from goblins.
“So, where is the exact spot?”
“Now that I think of it, I wonder how far it would be by foot…”
“Huh? Shouldn’t you know? You’ve been there once. Or did you chance upon the place while searching?”
“No, um actually… We flew to the Avian village.”
““What!?””
Oort’s party looked at him as if he was crazy.
‘Yeah, that’s what you should think.’
He was relieved that his reaction wasn’t abnormal.
“Oho! This is awesome!”
“This is fun!”
“No way… nowaynowaynoway! This can’t be!”
Oort and Louis were having fun looking around them, but Eliza, the magician, was in denial. The six adventurers were flying to the Avian village in the same luminescent bubble.
“She did it without a spell, and for this many people… I- I can’t believe this.”
“What’s wrong, Eliza? This girl is awesome! She’s probably even better than you, right?”
“It’s on a completely different level!”
Oort called out to Eliza with a carefree voice.
“Do you understand how much this defies the common sense of magic!? It’s unbelievably difficult to be able to fly in the air. And she did just that, without a chant! ‘It just felt like I could,’ she says. Even a royal magician would be stunned!”
“Umm, Eliza, is this really that amazing?”
Eliza was agitated by the unbelievable situation. Paul timidly asked her a question.
“Visualisation is crucial to casting magic. Think of it as drawing a mental picture of what you want to happen. It can’t be a vague idea, it has to be a clear picture. A chant allows you to make that image clearer in order to manifest the change, but this girl just let out her magic power without a chant and forced it to her will.”
Eliza eyed Leti, the one who had cast the flight spell.
“Put simply, this defies all the laws of magic! To other magicians, this is completely impossible!”
Leti was an innate genius in manipulating magic power. It seemed like somebody had taught her the fundamentals of magic. But it seemed like she didn’t know any more than the basics. From what Eliza felt, if Leti only needed a cup’s worth of magic power to allow them to fly, Leti was pouring a whole bucket’s worth of water into the cup. And yet it seemed like they could continue to fly without end. The girl had an inexhaustible amount of magic power, that was sure. If she gained more knowledge about magic…
“So, in short, this young lady here is an amazing person. Got it.”
“Who in the world is she?”
The four older adventurers focused their gazes on Leti. Oblivious to their awestruck gazes, Wynn and Leti happily laughed as they flew through the sky.