Dear readers, Refulgent here, if you're reading this on an aggregator site, this chapter may contain errors or broken reference links. Please visit FourSlimes dot com to read the properly edited version and show the translator your support.

… … Next chapter

Chapter 2 – 2 (part 2)

The First Job

The ride to the village went mostly uneventfully.

The three catgirls were surprised at first at how smooth the ride in the carriage felt. They were amazed by how easily the horse could turn the carriage's wheels and became excited again for a while, but shortly after they ate lunch, they slowly lost their energy and started dozing off in their seats.

 “Hey~, I can see the village you guys~, wake up already~”

I called out to them. I heard them rustling about as they woke up. Just before we reached the village, they tried to greet me but,

” ” ” Guu mornin~ ” ” ” was the sound that came out, as all three were yawning as they spoke.

―~――~―――~―――~――~― This chapter was translated by Refulgent for [ FourSlimes . com ―~――~―――~―――~――~―

It should be around 3 o'clock. It took just under three hours to arrive, and although we went a bit slowly, we made decent time. I stopped Tanikaze at the entrance to the village and we stepped out of the carriage.

“Let's try and find the village chief.” I said.

I wet a towel and turned towards the catgirls.

“But first, use this to wash your faces.”

I put Tanikaze and the carriage away into the Magic Bag. Slalin had already gotten out while we were stepping out of the carriage, so he slipped into the Dimensional Bag. s.h.i.+romaru, on the other hand seemed to be fast sleep, already inside the bag. It was almost like he was saying ‘I don't wanna go outside~'. He wasn't exactly on guard against any sudden Dash Boar attacks.

We headed into the village and asked the first villager we came across where the village chief's house was. It was about a 5-minute walk away.

I thanked the villager. We walked for a bit until we saw a house considerably nicer than the others.

“This looks like the place, this is the only house that's built differently. Must be the village chief's house?” I said.

“Seems like it. But… this village is kinda weird, isn't it? It has a dark or maybe a creepy feel to it?”

“Yeah, I kinda know what you mean!”

“It seemed like the people we saw earlier were trying to size us up, right?”

Nelly and Milly agreed on the weird feeling that Lilly had mentioned.

“In any case, let's hear what the village chief has to say.” I said, and knocked on the chief's door.

“I'll be right there… who is it?”

A voice said while opening the door, and then a plump man appeared in the doorway.

“We're from the Gunjo City Adventurer's Guild. We've accepted your quest. You're the village chief, I presume?”

I answered as the group's representative. He looked first at me and then the three girls behind me, and said

“Ah, I see, thank you for the trouble of coming out here. Please, come in. I'll explain the details inside.”

He welcomed us inside. We went into his living room and he guided us to some seats. We sat down and a lady wearing a scarf around her neck brought out some tea and set it down before us. After making sure that she had left the room, the chief started to speak.

“Thank you very much for accepting our quest. I am Banza, and I serve as the chief for this village. Although, we only have maybe 100 people at the most here.”

The village chief, Banza, started telling us all the details of the quest. To summarize,

Ever since a week ago, a group of 5 or 6 Dash Boars kept showing up at night to eat crops that had yet to be harvested. The men of the village had already tried to get rid of them, but realized it was impossible for them to do, so he put up the quest.

That was basically it. The damaged fields seemed to be a short walk away from the village. We decided to have the village chief guide us there.

When we left the house, I felt like I was being watched, like there were eyes staring at me from the shadows and from within the other houses. At first, I had thought it was due to adventurers being rare around here, but shortly after, I picked up a feeling of malicious intent behind it. It seemed particularly focused toward the three girls behind me.

Just to be sure, I tried using Investigation and found that nearly half the village had hidden themselves nearby.

The girls felt the stares too and looked uncomfortable, but they didn't seem to also sense the malicious intent like I did.

We reached the field about 10 minutes after having left the village.

“This is the damaged field here. There are still some vegetables too immature to harvest left here, so I think they'll probably show up again today.”

“I'd like to take a look around this area.”

“Please do. I still have some work to do so I'd prefer to return to the house, that is, if you don't mind?”

“Yeah, that's fine. We'll keep watch here now, all through the night until morning. After sunrise we'll go back to your house and give our report."

“I see. Thank you, I'll leave you to it.”

―~――~―――~―――~――~― This chapter was translated by Refulgent for [ FourSlimes . com ―~――~―――~―――~――~―

As Banza walked back to the village I tried using Appraisal on him, and was firmly convinced by the results I saw.

“Hey Tenma, shouldn't we have gone back to the village for a bit to prepare?”

Lilly asked. I responded by glancing at the fields.

“This quest feels awfully suspicious. I think it's easier to deal with it by staying here, than by going back.”

I said decisively. The three seemed surprised by this, as if they were going argue back and raise their voices, but I gestured for them to keep it down.

“What do you mean, Tenma?”

“What makes you think it's suspicious?”

“The village did feel weird but, it's bad to suspect things without any proof, Tenma.”

The three of them asked, keeping their voices soft. In response I told them what I had worried me before.

Even though we had only seen 3 people in the village directly, after leaving Banza's house I had felt a lot of eyes watching us, with gazes full of ill will.

The Dash Boars had supposedly been coming for a week already now, yet there was only minimal damage to the field.

I pointed to the nearby Dash Boar footprints in the soil,

“All the footprints we can see from here are all the same size and more importantly they're all exactly the same depth.”

“Yeah, that's true."

"But if it's the same boars here all the time, it's not that strange, right?”

“Yeah, you're looking into this too much, Tenma.”

The three replied, but I pointed to two nearby tracks.

“Even still, the fact that these two footprints are exactly the same depth is way too strange.”

I then pointed at the footprints located in a ridge of soil. They looked at the footprints with a perplexed expression, then suddenly Lilly exclaimed ‘Oh!'

“That really is strange, actually. I wouldn't normally expect that.”

Nelly and Milly still looked confused, so I explained.

―~――~―――~―――~――~― This chapter was translated by Refulgent for [ FourSlimes . com ―~――~―――~―――~――~―

“See this ridge here, the soil was piled up like this so they can plant new crops easier. It's normally softer than regular soil. Therefore, the tracks should be deeper here, or there should be some tracks that have been partially refilled."

The tracks there were exactly the same depth as the ones in all the other areas. Searching further away, all the footprints scattered about seemed to be same. Nelly and Milly finally understood and tilted their heads to the side.

I used Investigation on our surroundings and sensed 5 people hidden away in multiple locations that we couldn't see. They were likely watching us, working in s.h.i.+fts.

Also, seeing Banza's status from before had convinced me.

Name: Banza

Age: 46

Race: Human

t.i.tle: Leader of the Thieves

HP: 8,000

MP: 1,100

Strength: B-

Defense: C+

Speed: C-

Magic: D-

Mind: D

Growth: D-

Luck: C

Skills: Axe Handling 6 ・ Unarmed Combat 6 ・ Swordsmans.h.i.+p 5 ・ Throwing Technique 4 ・ Abnormal Status Resistance 4 ・ Concealment 3 ・ Sensory Enhancement 2

His t.i.tle was Leader of the Thieves, and it completely gave him away. But since I couldn't tell those three that I had learned this from my Appraisal skill, I decided to convince them with the unsettling feelings of malice from before and what I found strange in the fields.

I had noticed the strange footprints in the fields right away too, as I was already on guard from the strange atmosphere in the town, so I was scrutinizing everything very carefully.

“So, should we run?”

“That might be a good idea.”

“We should go back to the guild and explain what happened, right Tenma?”

They started saying, but

“I don't think we should.” I wholeheartedly disagreed.

“But why, Tenma!?”

“Tenma, why not!?”

“This is dangerous, Tenma!”

The three exclaimed, but I warned them to keep their voices down.

“Fine, say we go back to the guild and complain when we don't have any proof. We tell them about these footprints, but if they somehow disappear, it's all for nothing. Even if they haven't disappeared, it could be written off as a prank if it's only footprints as proof. If that happens then at worst, it'll look like we tried to hide our failure on a quest, and a bad reputation will loom over us.”

“Well, what should we do then?”

They looked anxious after listening to me.

“Yeah, what should we do?”

Lilly asked, acting as their representative.

“It's simple, we just have to beat them at their own game.”

I said decisively. They opened their eyes widely upon hearing me, but I continued to explain my strategy.

“First, we'll act as if we don't suspect anything, and keep watch overnight. In order to divide the enemy, we should split into two groups. The ones actually keeping watch will be my golems, we'll disguise them to look like us. In the meantime, we'll be waiting behind a barrier inside our carriage. I'll order the golems to collapse when they're attacked. After one collapses, they'll probably send someone out to figure out what happened, and that will be our signal to move in and take them down.”

“Move in? Like how?”

“There's roughly 100 of them, right?”

“We're completely outnumbered, aren't we?”

“Even if that's the case, it's fine. Because I'm only going to let the disguised golems get incapacitated, not kill the guys that approach, they'll go out one by one and then wait together. I'm also going send out 5 medium sized golems to escort you. I'll send s.h.i.+romaru out to incapacitate any that try to run away or hide, and I'll go capture Banza myself. Even if some of the small fry get away it's fine, as we should prioritize keeping ourselves safe. Now, let's start preparing.”

Hi, Refulgent, your translator here, if you like my translations, you can show your support by leaving a comment or constructive feedback at Four slimes . com I'd love to hear from you directly~

… … Next chapter