Chapter 24
Erika, who t my gaze, quickly shook off a slight hesitation and stepped forward in front of the little girl with a relaxed movent.
Erika smiled softly and bent her knees to et the little girl's eyes.
"Yes, that's right. We are adventurers."
The little girl glanced at Erika's and my faces, showed a montary sign of thought, and then her eyes filled with serious determination.
"I want to make a request to the adventurers."
Erika didn't dismiss the little girl's words or her seriousness as re childishness.
"Can you tell us what kind of request it is?"
The little girl, as if rembering sothing, clenched her back teeth for a mont before speaking.
"Please defeat the monster that injured my papa."
"Understood."
It was an imdiate response.
Hmm, that's pretty cool.
"But I'm sorry, it's likely that the monster which injured your father has already been defeated. I may have overdone it, and there's no evidence left."
The little girl shook her head at Erika's apology.
"No, it's not the small monkey-like monster."
So Bonbo is being treated as a small monkey.
I didn't think the little girl's statent was just childish nonsense.
And the sense of unease I had been feeling suddenly cleared up.
I see, so the village chief is lying.
Could this be... one of those common patterns?
"Sorry, but I'd like to hear your father's story. Could you guide us to him?"
I tried to speak as gently as possible, but for so reason, the little girl trembled in fear, and even Erika glared at .
Why?
*
The little girl's father was one of the people tasked with transporting the village's crops to the town.
By the way, he's currently relieved of that duty because of his injury.
And he's soone the other people with the sa role didn't ntion was around.
In other words, the village as a whole was hiding him.
At first, the little girl's father tried to play dumb.
He lied that his injury was from farm work and even apologized for his daughter saying strange things.
But I told him I roughly understood the situation, and Erika, in a halting manner, reprimanded him, asking if he would disregard his daughter's feelings of worry and her desire to avenge him by making a request to us.
And finally, he gave in when the little girl started crying.
Stepping out of the little girl's house, I let out a sigh.
Well, if you think about it, this kind of thing is pretty common.
Especially in a farming village like this, near a town with a guild.
Now, what should we do next?
It was right as I was thinking about that.
I saw a covered wagon with a broken canopy racing toward the village at full speed.
The village isn't that large.
The commotion spread quickly, and by the ti the wagon reached the village entrance, a large crowd of villagers had gathered.
Erika and I also stood at a slight distance, wondering what was happening.
"Village chief, it's terrible! That thing has appeared!"
The driver, a man, stopped the wagon and shouted as soon as he spotted the village chief.
For a brief mont, the village chief glanced over at us, but the driver, either too panicked or not caring, shouted without hesitation.
"That thing is coming to this village! We need to escape now!"
"What!?"
The village chief shouted, almost involuntarily.
The words "that thing is coming" caused the surrounding villagers to start murmuring anxiously.
It's the kind of foolish hesitation typical of humans unaccustod to chaos, tripping over their own anxiety and delaying decisions.
That easily turned into panic with the distant roar of a monster.
The ti spent hesitating only fueled regret and triggered panic.
The villagers all fled from the scene at once.
The village chief raised his voice alone, trying sohow to restore order, but it was already impossible.
The driver was in the best position to escape among everyone, but perhaps because the villagers were in the way, he was still there.
He looked like he'd bolt the mont the path cleared, though.
I was a bit surprised when a woman erged from the wagon the driver was handling, breathing heavily in pain.
Rather than stepping down from the wagon bed, the woman slid down to the ground and, leaning against the wagon, spoke to the village chief.
"I'll hold off the monster, so please hurry and evacuate."
I couldn't help but grimace when I saw the blonde woman who said that.
A sister, soone from the Church, huh.
Our eyes t.
Pressing her bloodied side, the woman smiled and said this.
"You should evacuate quickly too."
I'd rather avoid getting involved with anyone from the Church if possible.
To , they're the ones who stole Erika's bright future.
Given my position in the middle of this farce, there's nothing good that can co from getting involved.
Ah——but you.
You're going to say it, aren't you?
"Are you joking?"
Because you're Erika Solnzari.
Looking at Erika's profile, I felt my heart race at how close we were.
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