บท 21: Arriving at Carne Village with Nfirea
The events that followed were the same as those shown in the anime.
Brita, the red-haired woman, approached Nfirea, E-Rantel's gifted alchemist, with the first red healing potion she had encountered. Under subtle manipulation from his grandmother, Brita was eventually convinced by them to sell the potion.
Nfirea, who was aware of how rare the potion was, stories of which he had only heard in legends, became fascinated with it, and so he sought out Aurelius and Nabe in the hopes of hiring them and secretly learning the potion's secret.
However, at that time, Aurelius had already crossed paths with the silver-class adventurer group, Swords of Darkness, and had agreed to join them on their monster-hunting mission. Correspondingly, Nfirea ended up hiring the entire group.
From there, they set out on their mission to hunt monsters and gather materials for Nfirea while simultaneously protecting him.
"Carne Village is just ahead..."
After giving a reminder, Nfirea fixed his gaze on the village as it gradually came into view. But the changes before him left him visibly taken aback.
Before sunset, they reached Carne Village, which had changed a lot from the past, like how it did in the anime, with fences built all around it and a group of goblins summoned by Enri to act as guards and helpers.
The rest of the group also directed their attention towards the village that had begun to appear in front of them. It was a simple village spread right next to the forest.
But noticing Nfirea's furrowed brow, one of the members of Swords of Darkness couldn't resist inquiring.
"What's wrong, Nfirea-san? Is something the matter?"
"Ah, no, it's fine. Just... I don't recall seeing a sturdy fence like the one in front of us..."
"Really? But it looks like an ordinary fence. Actually, it's kind of shabby for a frontier village fence, right? It wouldn't be a surprise that a village at the edge of the forest would have a sturdy fence to protect against monsters, right?"
"Hm, you might be right... but Carne has the Wise King of the Forest, so they've never put up a fence before..."
Everyone looked toward the village. As far as they could see, a fence surrounded the village, constructed from logs resistant to cutting.
Observing the scene from the side, Aurelius wasn't at all surprised; instead, he nodded in acknowledgement.
'It looks like Enri summoned the goblins.'
Of course, on the outside, he appeared to be serious, said nothing to Nfirea, and just laughed inwardly.
'Your favorite Enri is already pregnant with my child. I'm really looking forward to seeing if that small heart of yours will work for Enri. It wouldn't hurt to have sex with Enri while you're sleeping.'
Thinking so, Aurelius led Narberal and went forward.
To Nfirea's concern, Ninya, the female spellcaster disguised as a young boy, cut in with a serious expression on her face:
"Maybe we are worrying too much... but I grew up in a village, and I still remember life there, so there's two things I find suspicious. The first is that the fields haven't been tilled yet even at this time, and the other is that they've already harvested some of the wheat."
They looked in the direction Ninya was pointing, and indeed, part of the wheat had already been taken in.
"I see. Looks like... perhaps something happened?"
But then Aurelius turned to the group, all of whom had uneasy faces, and said:
"I'll take a look with my own eyes."
Immediately, he activated his skill [Dragon Eyes]. His eyes flashed brightly, and in his vision, several figures appeared immediately.
"...The villagers seem to be moving normally around the village, and I do not think that they are being controlled or ordered. The villagers are working on the fields on the other side of the village."
"Ah, then I was oversensitive. But more than that, Mr. Lucifer, can you see that distance with your eyes?"
"Yes... If your eyesight is good, It's a piece of cake."
Aurelius just shrugged his shoulders at Ninya and walked off with Narberal.
Upon arriving a little closer to the village, Lukrut, the ranger of Swords of Darkness, felt something strange.
"Hm?"
The wagon advanced with a clattering noise. Behind it, Lukrut made a noise of suspicion and studied the wheat fields closely. It was not yet time for the harvest, but the stalks were over seventy centimeters high, and they were as impenetrable as the ocean's depths.
"What's wrong?" Nfirea asked from his place at the back.
"Hm? Oh, nothing; maybe I was thinking too much."
Lukrut tilted his head in bafflement, then quickened his pace, drawing closer to Peter, the group's leader. Ninya looked in the same direction and then opened up his steps once he made sure there were no other movements.
The wheat fields spilled over onto the road that led to the village, like the sea swallowing up the land. They wanted to cut down the stalks to ensure stable footing, but if they did that, problems would result in the future.
"I hope the villagers can tend their fields properly. This seems terribly wasteful."
Peter walked at the head of the group, and because his armor touched the wheat stalks, they were soon covered in wheat grains. He felt that something was wrong.
This was a warning born from his instincts, which had been honed through countless brushes with death. Would the green grains fall off so easily?
Driven by instinct, he looked back into the wheat fields and saw a pair of eyes staring at them. It was a small creature, its body even smaller as it hunkered down in the wheat. Although its face was obscured by the wheat stalks, it was clearly not human in nature.
"What!?"
The shocked Peter wanted to shout a warning to his colleagues, but the creature—a goblin—spoke first, "Could you put down your weapons, please?"
Slowly after that, one by one, goblins came out of hiding, surrounded the wagons, and asked the Swords of Darkness to surrender. As the atmosphere grew tense, Nabe, standing beside Aurelius, instinctively pulled out her sheathed sword, ready to strike down anyone who dared to show hostility and disrespect to her lord. However, Aurelius's hand intervened, simply gesturing with his eyes to calm down for a moment.
Noticing his gesture that stopped Narberal's movement, the goblin, who seemed to be the leader of the goblins, spoke to Aurelius.
"You wearing a full plate over there? If possible, don't move. Because I want to avoid combat as much as possible with you."
The voice had a hard tone full of wariness.
"Don't worry. Unless you attack, I won't move. Well, even if you attack, you all will surely die."
"Kheeuk... Those are some cruel words. These brothers are strong, but they aren't scary. You, however, are a different matter, and so is that sister beside you. When I think about the two of you as enemies, my hairs stand on end."
Aurelius didn't answer that; he just kept his poker face up, ignoring the goblin, who sighed in relief and spoke.
"Then please wait until our sister comes out."
"Who is your sister? Did she take over Carne Village?!"
Nfirea's tough demeanor brought a distinct look of puzzlement to the goblin's face.
"Nfirea, calm down a little. It should be pretty obvious who has the advantage here. In addition, there are a few more oddities about the village based on Aurelius-San's words. I'm hoping we can avoid pointless fighting before the truth comes out."
Even at Ninya's words, Nfirea still couldn't hide his anger.
But his expression, which looked like he was about to jump, turned into resentment, and the strength in his fists loosened slightly.
The goblins seemed to have sensed Nfirea's anger, and they looked at each other in confusion.
"Hm, this seems different from before..."
"Our sister's village was recently attacked by people dressed up as Imperial knights; we're just staying on guard."
"The village was attacked...! Is she all right!?"
As though in response to Nfirea's shouts, a girl appeared at the entrance to the village, escorted by more goblins. As he saw the girl, Nfirea's eyes went wide, and he shouted her name with all his strength:
"Enri!"
Enri Emmot, the village girl with chestnut hair, appeared, escorted by the goblins.
"Nfirea!"
She was wearing the white dress Aurelius had given her, gently caressing her abdomen.
Her smile widened at the sight of Nfirea, but then a curious expression flickered across her face as she caught a whiff of a familiar scent.
Her gaze shifted towards Aurelius, and in a hushed tone, she murmured words unheard by anyone but Aurelius:
"This... Aurelius-sama's scent?"
Upon hearing this with extraordinary senses, Aurelius couldn't help but be surprised, though he maintained his poker face to avoid detection.
Sensing Aurelius's composure, Enri, who realized his intentions, quickly redirected her attention to Nfirea, offering him a warm welcome.
"Nfirea!"
With Enri's greeting, the conflict between Aurelius's party and the goblins dissolved, and they mingled freely.
However, Nfirea's peculiar sight left the goblins puzzled, their brows furrowed in confusion.
Among them, the goblin who seemed to be the leader muttered.
"Huh? Wasn't our sister's mate... a white-haired man?"
His words were almost overheard by Nfirea.
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