Chapter 24: The Exiled Marquise Takes Responsibility 4
Erika, who met my gaze, quickly dispelled her slight confusion and, with unhurried movements, stepped forward in front of the Little Girl.
Erika smiled softly, bent her knees, and met the Little Girl’s eyes.
“Yes, that’s right. We are adventurers.”
The Little Girl glanced at my face and Erika’s, seemed to think for a moment, and then a serious determination filled her eyes.
“Adventurer-san, I want to make a request, please.”
Erika didn’t dismiss the Little Girl’s words or her earnestness as mere childish things.
“What kind of request is it? May we hear it?”
The Little Girl seemed to remember something, clenched her jaw tightly for a moment, and said this:
“Please defeat the Monsters that hurt Papa.”
“Understood.”
It was an immediate answer.
Hmm, so cool.
“But I apologize, perhaps the Monsters that injured your father—we’ve already defeated them. I might have overdone it, so there’s no proof left, however.”
At Erika’s apology, the Little Girl shook her head.
“No, that’s not it. It wasn’t the little monkey Monsters.”
So the Bonbos are being treated like little monkeys, huh?
I didn’t think the Little Girl’s statement was just something a child would say.
And the sense of unease I’d been feeling seemed to neatly fall into place.
I see, so the village chief was lying.
This is… one of those common patterns, isn’t it?
“Excuse me, but I’d like to hear your father’s story. Could you guide us?”
I intended to say it as gently as possible, but for some reason, the Little Girl trembled with fear, and even Erika glared at me.
Why?
*
The Little Girl’s father was one of the people responsible for transporting the village’s crops to the town.
Incidentally, he’s currently removed from that duty because he’s injured.
And he was someone the other people with the same duty didn’t tell us about.
In other words, the entire village was hiding him.
The Little Girl’s father tried to feign ignorance at first.
He lied, saying the 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 haltingly reproached him, asking if he would disregard the feelings of his daughter, who was so worried about him that she had even requested us to avenge him.
And finally, when the Little Girl started crying, he broke.
Leaving the Little Girl’s house, I sighed.
Well, if you say it’s a common occurrence, it is a common occurrence.
Especially in villages like this farming village, located near a town with a Guild.
Now then, what should we do?
It was just as I was thinking that.
Rushing towards the village at full speed, I saw a Freight Wagon with a broken canopy.
It wasn’t a particularly large village.
The commotion spread quickly, and by the time the Freight Wagon reached the village entrance, a large crowd of Villagers had gathered.
Erika and I also wondered what was happening and stood a short distance away.
“Chief, this is terrible! He’s appeared!”
The Coachman stopped the wagon, spotted the village chief, and shouted.
For a moment, the village chief glanced our way, but whether the Coachman was panicked or just thought it wasn’t the time for that, he yelled regardless.
“He’s heading for this village! We have to escape quickly!”
“What did you say!?”
As if involuntarily, the village chief shouted.
He’s coming—at those words, the surrounding Villagers began to stir restlessly.
The folly peculiar to those unaccustomed to scenes of carnage—being paralyzed by anxiety and delaying decisions.
That easily turned into panic with the roar of Monsters heard from afar.
The time spent hesitating on a decision breeds regret, leading to panic.
The Villagers all at once fled the scene.
The village chief alone raised his voice, trying somehow to restore order, but it was already too difficult.
The Coachman was in the best position to escape, but perhaps because the Villagers were in the way, he was still there.
He looked like he would flee as soon as the way was clear.
From the Freight Wagon driven by such a Coachman, a woman emerged, breathing painfully, which surprised me a little.
The woman didn’t so much climb down from the wagon bed as slide off onto the ground. Leaning against the wagon bed, she spoke to the village chief.
“I will Delay the Monsters. So please, evacuate quickly