Chapter 28: A Faint Swishing and Rustling

A faint swishing and rustling could be heard as someone ran. It was almost as though they were gliding, just barely grazing the ground.

It was a woman, or at least so it seemed; perhaps the term “girl” would be more appropriate. Her soft, silky, silver hair was crudely bundled behind her head. She had a slender sword at her waist, and the shawl over her shoulders flapped in the wind. While her face was comely and her eyes full of spirit, what stood out most were her sharp ears, which extended outwards from the top and gradually narrowed to a point.

It was dark in this forest of withered trees. There was not a single leaf on any of the branches, and shriveled-up thorn bushes blocked the path in dense clusters. The sky was dark and cloudy, but there was no hint of rain; the heavy ashen hues simply loomed overhead to create a terrible dreariness.

Several bizarre fiends were hot on the girl’s trail. They were lizards, each the size of a human child, though instead of running on all fours, they kicked off the ground with their muscular rear legs. Their eyes had no eyelids, and their blue, scaly skin glistened with some strange, slimy substance.

A side glance at one of the creatures about to flank her made the girl click her tongue.

“How persistent...”

She drew the slender sword at her waist and leaped sideways, maintaining her speed all the while. In the blink of an eye, one fiend had been skewered. With a nimble turn, she pounced in another direction, beheading another fiend that had come at her from behind. Her skills were quite remarkable.

After easily taking out several of the fiends chasing her, the girl sent a sharp look behind her; there were still a good deal more of them farther back. After thinking for a moment, she quickly sheathed her blade and took off.

“I don’t have time to deal with these small fries...”

She sensed out the fiends behind as she ran. Despite her waifish build, she carried herself as if she did not know the meaning of fatigue as she nimbly dodged past trees and leaped over thickets

She did not know how long she had run, but gradually she could feel a thin miasma wafting in the air and a peculiar mana prickling her skin.

The girl stopped. A questionable grin crossed her face.

“Finally found you.”

She drew her blade and began walking towards the source of the mana.

A black, shadowy figure in the form of a four-legged beast cowered there. The tip of its long tail squirmed like a snake while its leopard-like head swayed left and right, a black liquid trickling from what was supposedly its mouth.

The shadow muttered something under its breath, as though it were pleading, or perhaps lamenting. “W-Want to...re...turn...m-master...”

“Oh, I’ll return you—to nothing, that is.”

With a ferocious smile on her face, the girl took her stance and sprung upon her foe.

○

The air of early summer was gradually taking over. The plants and leaves that had sprouted and grown out in spring had slowly changed from their youthful bright greens to darker, seasoned shades, and Turnera’s forests were now a deep emerald color through and through. The plains outside the village were covered in a verdant carpet, which the sheep were devouring obsessively.

After the first big job of early summer, which was harvesting the wheat, came the shearing of the sheep. They would round up the sheep that had eaten their fill of soft sprouts all spring long and shave off their abundant coats. Once they were stripped of their wool, the refreshed sheep would get back to their grazing.

Even during the summer, Turnera’s nights were pleasantly cool, but in spite of the daytime temperature not being that bad, the sun blasting down without mercy made it feel so much worse. On one such day for shearing, Belgrieve sat in the yard at Kerry’s house, looking after the small children. He held a baby in his arms while he watched toddlers draw on the ground, taking occasional glances at the shearing work being carried out over yonder.

There were plenty of houses that kept sheep, but none had nearly as many as Kerry. He hired several villagers around this time of year, and the shearing would always become a lively event. Once that was over, next came the carding, the yarn spinning, and then the knitting.

With specialized shearing scissors, even the experienced shearers took forty to fifty minutes per head, and the inexperienced ones could take twice that. The seasoned hands would teach by example before putting the younger ones up to it, but there was always a ruckus every year about how one of the sheep escaped, or how another was hurt by mistake. By the time these young ones could pull it off without error, it would be time for the next generation of kids to learn shearing.

Belgrieve had participated up to a few years ago, but lately, he found himself looking after the children. The village youths were hard at work, while their mothers were busy helping with making lunch and washing the sheared wool. Belgrieve was strangely well-liked by children, and a majority of the villagers felt at ease leaving the job to him; thus, this duty naturally fell to him.

When the baby began crying, Belgrieve slipped a hand under his shirt, sticking his thumb out in a gap between the buttons. The child giggled and gleefully suckled on it. Belgrieve was well used to this.

As he was watching over the children, a stocky man came up to him. The man was dressed like an adventurer and carried a battle-axe in his hands. His brown hair was beginning to thin, but his beard was growing thick as though to compensate.

The man narrowed his sociable eyes, smiling as he spoke to Belgrieve. “Ha ha ha, that’s the Bell I know. Even a baby is no match for you!”

“Glad to see you back, Duncan. How was it today?”

“Same as usual, but I must say, I was shocked by the skill of this village’s youths. They must have quite the master! Ha ha ha ha!”

“What are you saying, good grief...” Belgrieve stood with a wry smile and handed the baby off to Duncan. “Can you take over for a bit? I’m thirsty.”

“Hmm?”

The baby burst into tears the moment it was in Duncan’s hands. Duncan frantically tried to soothe the child, but this only made it cry harder, creating even more of a mess.

“Wait, Bell! What do I do about this?!”

“Just wait a second.”

Belgrieve rushed into the kitchen, slipping between the women busily preparing lunch, and gulped down a ladleful of water. When he returned, the children were crowded around Duncan, clambering up his shoulders and back. His stocky build was, evidently, quite easy to scale.

“Ha ha, look who’s popular?”

“I-I’m not used to this...” Duncan looked utterly confused as they played tug-of-war with his beard.

Belgrieve chuckled and took the crying baby from his arms. It immediately calmed down the moment it was in his embrace.

Around two months had gone by since Belgrieve had returned from Bordeaux. The snow in Turnera had completely melted while he was away, and the fresh green wheat was golden before he knew it.

Shockingly, Duncan had been the first to welcome him back. Duncan was an adventurer who traveled the lands searching for strong foes to spar with. After hearing a rumor about a certain Red Ogre, he made the trek all the way to Turnera, only to fail to recognize Belgrieve in the town of Rodina along the way.

Upon arriving in Turnera and learning Belgrieve was absent, Duncan decided to await his return instead of leaving. During that time, he helped with some of the jobs around the village and taught the youths some of the basics of combat. With his open personality, he had blended into Turnera in no time at all.

Belgrieve had apologized for playing dumb in Rodina, but Duncan did not seem to mind. He insisted that, had they fought in Rodina, he would never have come to Turnera. He even thanked Belgrieve for it, as he had taken quite a liking to the village.

Duncan’s visit during Belgrieve’s absence had actually been quite beneficial. The maintenance of the roads was put off, so naturally, the villagers were disappointed. But a more pressing matter had emerged, preventing the delay from causing too much of an uproar.

This issue took the form of an outbreak of weak fiends ranging from E- to D-Rank. Although low ranking, these fiends were still a threat to civilians. The village youths could handle swords and had sturdy bodies to match, but they lacked real combat experience—casualties would have been unavoidable for as long as they remained greenhorns.

That was when the wandering adventurer showed his stuff. He did not simply exterminate them on his own—he gathered volunteers that Belgrieve had trained in the sword and directed them against the fiendish foes.

In hardly any time at all, the young men and women figured out how to apply their master’s teachings, and by now, they had formed small parties (similarly to adventurers) to take care of fiends on their own. There had yet to be any deaths or heavy injuries.

Looks like there’s no place left for me, Belgrieve thought.

Duncan sat down beside him. “It all happens so fast,” he said. “It’s like I’ve already laid down my roots here.”

“We’re glad to have you. Why not settle down and find a wife while you’re at it?” Belgrieve said it as a joke, but Duncan replied with a hearty laugh.

“Ha ha ha! Not a bad idea!”

There was a shout from the shearers. One of the sheep had broken free and flipped over the young man holding it down. The air was filled with the yells of the experienced shearer who was teaching him and a chorus of laughter around them.

Belgrieve watched with a smile before turning to Duncan.

“So how was it? Any leads on what’s causing it?”

Duncan folded his arms. “I tried following the mana to its source, but I lost it. I’m ashamed to say searching isn’t my specialty. I’m more of a fighter.”

“Hmm...”

Maybe I should go out then, thought Belgrieve.

Although adventurers often ended up fighting, their work could be largely classified into three categories: hunting, gathering, and searching.

Hunting jobs could be completed just by defeating the designated fiends or bandits, so an adventurer’s combat strength was everything. Adventurers taking these jobs needed to be knowledgeable about fiends, but their predecessors had left plenty of data, so oftentimes some light research before a job was enough.

Gathering requests involved finding materials. When the request was for the hides, fangs, claws, or shells of fiends, their duties overlapped with the hunters, but most times, the target would be some plant or mineral. Based on where these materials were harvested, some jobs could be done without any combat abilities at all. The herb gathering done by newbie adventurers fell under this category, and it was a job everyone did at least once in their adventuring career.

Searching jobs sent adventurers off to dungeons, deep forests, and mountains. These requests could entail hunting down high-ranking fiends in the depths of a dungeon, gathering materials from it, or perhaps finding a hidden treasure—these jobs came in all forms. However, what tied them together was the cycle of combat and investigation that would span several days, and they required not only combat skills, but careful preparation and shrewd attentiveness. They were several times more difficult than simple hunting and gathering requests.

Adventurers also fell into different types, and Duncan was just as he appeared—an adventurer who specialized in hunting. His strength put him at AA-Rank, but it was purely the strength of his arms that got him there; he wasn’t well-suited for jobs that required more finesse. His love for combat had taken him all across the land.

In his adventuring days, Belgrieve would take on any job that came to him. He hunted, he gathered, and he entered dungeons as well. He’d only done proper work for around two years, but he had no memories of ever having a day off during that time. Taking request after request, there were times he nearly died. However, everything was an experience, and these experiences honed his senses for the next job.

In any case, an increase in fiends either meant there were mana pools forming around Turnera’s mountains, or that a powerful fiend had perhaps wandered in. As long as there was no barrier put up, fiends would gather where there was mana in abundance. There was also a tendency for low-ranking fiends to gather beneath a stronger one. If the mana continued storing up, the land itself could potentially shift and change into a dungeon. The fiends would likely continue popping up without end until the cause was tracked down.

It had only been low-ranking fiends thus far. However, there was no telling if or when a stronger one would come. Perhaps this would be fine in a larger settlement with permanently stationed adventurers, but Turnera had nothing like a guild.

Perhaps it was fine for now. If Belgrieve ever died, however, someone else would have to take up the defenses. The fiends would appear whether he was there or not. With that in mind, this was the perfect training.

It was, of course, quite ominous for these fiends to keep appearing for reasons unknown. Whether he took care of it or left it be, he needed to at least identify the cause.

An irksome fly had been circling Belgrieve’s face for a while now; he frowned as he waved it off with a hand. The escaped sheep was still running around, with yells and laughter abounding.

○

“Not enough fatherium...”

In downtown Elvgren, a town by the sea, Angeline wearily slumped down at a table outside a food stall. She rested her chin on the table, letting the energy drain from her limbs.

Anessa wiped away some sweat, a strained smile on her face. “Too soon, ain’t it...”

“Not too soon. Two months already...” Angeline turned her head so her cheek was pressed flat against the surface.

Meanwhile, Miriam was in a daze. Her fluffy ears were strong against the cold but did not hold up very well against the summer heat.

After returning to Orphen, they were back to the laid-back adventurer life they had been blessed with so long ago. They could take jobs whenever they wanted to and do whatever they wanted otherwise. This was the life of a high-rank adventurer that the lower ranks envied. Their daily life could not even be compared to what it was like during the mass outbreak of fiends caused by the demon.

Hearing that iron-coral was fetching a good price, they had set out for Elvgren and searched the nearby dungeon. Cutting down the fishy-smelling sea fiends in their wake, they gathered an ample amount of the resource. They had already arranged to transport it to Orphen, so there was nothing left to do. Their work was over, but they were there anyway. Why not enjoy some of Elvgren’s delicious seafood and wine before leaving?

As Angeline sipped her nicely chilled wine, she thought back to many things. She remembered how lonely she felt as she watched her father’s back disappear from sight in Bordeaux, and how she nearly rushed off to Turnera after him. She knew it wasn’t right and was glad Anessa and Miriam had stopped her. After returning to Orphen, she had done work in Benares and Asterinos, but nearly everything would remind her of the joy she felt at her reunion with Belgrieve and the dreariness of parting again. She felt strangely unsettled; the fact she could still do her work just fine came down to her being an S-Rank adventurer.

She refilled her empty glass from the earthen jug on the table.

“I’m sure dad is feeling lonely...”

“Mr. Bell, eh... He had plenty of work to do. Maybe he doesn’t have the time to feel lonely.”

“Grr...”

“Turnera was so nice and cool...” Miriam muttered, shaking her head and wiping away her sweat.

Anessa shoved a glass of ice water into her hands. “Here, water. That’s why I said we should eat inside.”

“The wind suddenly stopped...” Miriam savored the water before letting out a long breath. The sunshade, which had been flapping in the sea breeze only moments before, was now as stiff as a corpse.

Elvgren was a town west of Orphen. It had flourished on its maritime and seafood industries, and while not as vast as Orphen, it was still large and populous. There was a sea dungeon nearby, so there were a good number of adventurers as well.

The climate should not have been so different from Orphen, but it was by the sea, and at a lower altitude. The air was a bit lazier, there was a fishy smell about, and when the wind wasn’t blowing, it felt hotter than the big city. Of course, the heat was only natural in summer.

“I want to come to the beach with dad...” Angeline muttered, staring at the sun’s reflection in the sea. Belgrieve was not a good swimmer, but surely he would enjoy a seaside stroll.

The ice in Miriam’s cup jangled as she asked, “Ever think about finding a boyfriend, Ange?”

“Why?”

“I mean, you won’t feel so lonely here if you have someone like that around.”

“What I seek from dad is not the same thing I would seek from a boyfriend... In the first place, the men in Orphen are no good...pathetic. What about you, Merry?”

“No way, I can’t trust boys my age. I don’t want them to know I’m a beast-man either. More importantly, there aren’t any cool guys around us.”

“Aren’t your standards a bit too high?”

Seeing Anessa’s fed-up face, the two exchanged meaningful smiles.

“Trying to play it cool, I see.”

“Then do you know anyone nice, Anne...or are your standards too high...?”

“Shut it. I’m fine. I wasn’t looking for one to begin with...”

“Hmm.”

“Fine, we’ll leave it at that...”

“Ah, what’s with that tone?! You’ve got it wrong! Right now, I’m just having fun working... Hey, listen to me!”

Ignoring Anessa’s frantic defense, Angeline and Miriam returned to their wine. The alcohol filled their empty stomachs.

Angeline continued staring absentmindedly into the distance. There were cumulonimbus clouds settling into the blue sky she could see beyond the sunshade. The wine sloshed around uncomfortably against the sides of her stomach.

“I’m hungry... How long is this food going to take...?”

“Hey, you know?”

“Hmm...?”

“You think Mr. Bell ever plans on finding a wife?”

“What’s this all of a sudden?” Angeline asked sullenly.

Miriam propped up her head with her hand. “I mean, he wouldn’t be lonely in Turnera if he had a wife. But he didn’t seem to take it seriously when Helvetica kissed him, so maybe he’s not interested.”

“He was a bit embarrassed though.”

“Hmph... Like hell that little girl is marrying my dad.”

“You’re the little girl here...”

“What do you think, Ange? What sort of person would you want to be your mom?” Miriam asked.

Angeline’s eyes wandered as she thought. “She’d need to have that motherly thing going for her, I guess.”

“Motherly, eh...”

“So...breasts?”

“No, if it was that simple, it would mean Merry has motherliness.”

And with that, Angeline and Anessa looked at Miriam.

“Yeah... That’s not it.”

“Nope.”

“What’s your problem?” Miriam pouted.

Anessa bitterly took a sip of wine. “Anyways, everyone sees Mr. Bell as a father, so it would have to be someone who can overcome his fatherliness.”

“Right, that’s the thing. There are different types of affection... Not parent and child, but man and woman... Yes, like a beast... No, I take that back, dad is a gentleman.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about... But you’re right, I don’t feel any of that sort of love towards Mr. Bell. I’ve never had a father so I’m not quite sure, but this feels like what it would be like if I did have one.”

“Right? I like Mr. Bell and all, and I want him to pamper me, but I don’t really see him as boyfriend material.”

“Just what I was thinking. Sure, I feel at ease with him around, but if you asked me if I wanted to marry him, you know...”

“I would never even allow it to get to that point. Anne, Merry, you both lack what it takes to be my mom.”

Miriam stuck out her tongue. “I don’t want a daughter like you either.”

“Hmm... So we agree on that.”

“That we do.”

They exchanged a high five.

Anessa sighed. “What are you people doing...?”

“Yes...” Angeline swigged what was left of her wine. “We’ll have to search for a proper bride then.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It’s my potential mother we’re talking about, so we need to be careful...”

“No... Come on now. Shouldn’t Mr. Bell be the one deciding?”

“We’ll never find anyone if we leave it to dad... He’s a late bloomer.”

“Ah, but maybe he’ll find someone nice in Turnera.”

“Not possible. He’d already be married by now.”

“Urk... That...may be true.”

“Of course, dad will make the final decision. But if there’s no one in Turnera, we’ll have to search for candidates on our end. Heh heh heh, this is starting to get fun...”

“Mr. Bell’s wife, huh... But if we do find him a wife, and he falls in love with her, won’t he have less time for you, Ange?”

“What?!”

Miriam’s joking words hit Angeline like a bolt of lightning. She held her head, collapsing to the table.

“Ah... Ahh... Wh-What do I do? What should I do?!”

“You...hadn’t even thought about that?”

“Oh dear, looks like bride hunting will have to wait.”

The wind began picking up again as the food was brought to their table: Elvgren-style paella, shucked oysters, and fried hake, all letting off an ever-enticing steam.