Chapter 21 – The End of the Request

The End of the Request

———

“Kieeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!”
‘What is that…?’

Even though it’s quite far away, it looks like it’s close.
A truly unrealistic size that ignores perspective. It’s so absurd that it feels like my sense of reality might run away.
“Ah…ah…..”
Airi seemed to be scared by the sudden situation, standing still as if her feet were tied to the spot.
The shadow of the giant goblin loomed over her in that state.

“Kieeeeeeek!!!!!!!”
The goblin swung its arm widely towards Airi after a loud roar.
“Airi!!!!!”
I shouted to warn her of the danger, but Airi still stood still in that spot, seemingly unable to move her legs.
If this continues, it’s clear as day that the goblin’s brutish arm will strike Airi.

‘No….!’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I reflexively started chanting.
The target was the goblin’s arm aiming for Airi.
“[Wind Cutter]”
Swoosh─!

The moment I finished the short chant and uttered the spell name, an extremely condensed blade of wind struck the goblin’s arm.
“Kieek?”
Thud. The goblin’s arm was cleanly cut off.
The goblin’s arm, which lost its purpose and fell in mid-air, dropped powerlessly to the ground.
“Kieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!”

Unable to accept the situation, the goblin that had been looking at its severed arm for a moment soon started screaming loud enough to make the air tremble.

“Airi. Are you okay?”
Leaving the giant goblin writhing in pain behind, I approached Airi and asked about her well-being.
“Yes. I’m okay.. Suddenly the goblin. Swallowed something…. and changed like that…”

Swallowed something?
Airi continued speaking slowly with a trembling voice.
The tears in Airi’s eyes clearly showed her fear.
It seems like the dying goblin just swallowed something and then became like that..

“For now, stay behind me. Airi.”
“Y-yes…”
Whatever the circumstances, dealing with the giant goblin in front of us was the priority.
“Kieeeeek!!!!!”

The giant goblin staring at me with eyes full of rage. Its right arm had already regenerated and looked intact.
“Si-sister… That thing.. its arm regenerated! A goblin with regenerative abilities… What in the…”
Airi was shocked seeing that sight.

…As she said, goblins don’t originally have regenerative abilities. Regenerative ability is a characteristic of monsters possessed by magical energy.
“Airi. Could you close your eyes for a moment?”
“Eh..?”

Airi answered with a voice mixed with confusion for a moment, then soon closed her eyes tightly as I said.
‘As long as she doesn’t see it directly, I can somehow explain it away.’
After confirming that, I immediately turned my attention to the giant goblin.

“Kieeeeeeek!!!!”
The impatient goblin in front of me immediately extended its smelly foot towards us to stomp on me and Airi.
But there’s no way I would just watch that.
I immediately finished a short chant and cast magic towards the goblin.

“Burn. [Inferno]”
The energy boiling inside my body concentrated at my fingertips, and soon turned into flames that embodied my will.
A fearsome fire that burns everything.
Starting lightly but expanding quickly, the flames engulfed the giant goblin.

“Kieeeeeeeeek!!!!!!”
The goblin’s fierce cry filled the surroundings, but it was just a meaningless sound scattered in a gust of wind.
The flames burned fiercely, continuing until they burned everything of the goblin.
‘Fire magic is a special remedy for regenerative abilities.’

When the flames disappeared, all that remained where the goblin had been was only ash.

“Airi. You can open your eyes now.”
After confirming that the goblin had completely turned to ash, I spoke to Airi who still had her eyes tightly closed.

Then Airi gently opened her eyes. She looked at the goblin that had turned to ash and asked me in astonishment.
“My…. goodness…. Did that goblin turn into this?”
“…Yes.”
“As expected… those from magic towers are different.. Huh? What’s that?”

She pointed to the ashes of the burned giant goblin.
On top of the ashes she pointed to, there was something black and hexagonal.
‘Surely it’s not a sarira… It’s a bit heavy… What is this?’

A black object about the size of a thumb. It feels quite heavy when I pick it up. About the weight of iron of the same size.
“Airi. Is this perhaps what the goblin swallowed?”
“Hmm… The size is similar, but the color is different. What the goblin swallowed was emitting a purple light.”

Airi slowly shook her head at my question. According to her, the size is similar but the color is different.
… But since there’s a possibility that its properties changed after being swallowed by the goblin, I’ll keep it for now.
If I tell the Adventurer’s Guild about what happened today and hand it over, they’ll investigate it themselves.

‘An object that can mutate a monster like a goblin to that extent…’

I have a feeling that something troublesome might happen.
But it’s not my concern. This is already overtime work.
“We’ll leave this to the Adventurer’s Guild…. Let’s go back to the village chief for now.”
“Okay! There don’t seem to be any goblins around either. In the end, I didn’t do anything… Hiiing…”
“Don’t worry about it.”

Comforting the dispirited Airi, we headed back to the village chief’s house.

———

“It burned down cleanly. Young lady, you seem to be a skilled magician unlike your appearance. Here, the promised reward.”
The village chief who had gone to check the place where the goblin settlement was.
He held out the promised reward to us with a satisfied expression. A quite heavy-looking pouch.

“Um… Chief? This seems more than the promised reward.”
“Hoho. It’s a token of appreciation for handling the job well.”
“Really? Thank you, Chief!”

Judging from Airi’s reaction, it seems he paid more than the originally promised reward.
Honestly, considering what we did, we wouldn’t have anything to say even if we received more, but isn’t it good to be good?
‘I should buy something delicious for Saya and Puel….’

I feel dizzy from not seeing those two for so long. I feel like I’m going to die…. Kids.. I miss you…
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.
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“Then, take care.”
“Farewell, young adventurers.”
We left the chief’s house, leaving behind the chief seeing us off.
When we arrived at the village, it had just passed noon, but now it was afternoon with the sun setting.
The sun that had been warmly shining on us was gradually descending to the edge of the sky.

“The sun is setting… We’re going back to Lonzville, right, sister?”
“That’s right. We need to find a carriage first… Let’s go to the place the chief told us about.”
‘Saya and Puel will worry if I’m late…’

Hoping that there would still be a stagecoach left, I hurried my steps towards where the stagecoaches were.
“Lonzville? I’ll take you there safely for just 1 silver!”
When we arrived there, fortunately, there was still one stagecoach left looking for passengers.

When I approached him and asked if we could go to Lonzville, the coachman nodded willingly.
“That’s a relief… I was wondering what we’d do if there were no carriages going to Lonzville because of those bandits..”

Airi let out a sigh of relief. Seeing her, the coachman laughed heartily and replied.
“Haha! You ladies are really lucky! Originally, there were no stagecoaches going to Lonzville since those guys appeared, but today those guys suddenly turned themselves in, they say.”
“Eh? Really? We encountered them once on our way to this village…”
“You ladies encountered those bandits?! I’m glad you’re safe. They were said to be very vicious guys.”

…Hearing that the bandits turned themselves in, it seems the suggestion magic I cast worked well.
“Get on the back then. The sun is about to set, you know!”
We ended up boarding the stagecoach going to Lonzville one way or another.

“It’s really fortunate, sister. I don’t know what wind blew for those guys to turn themselves in, but… Gasp. Could it be that they became new people after getting a scolding from Sister Ariel? As expected of you, sister!”
“…Haha. Maybe so.”
Clatter clatter.

The carriage carrying me and Airi started moving again along the road we had already traveled. The destination was Lonzville.
…It was the final act of the eventful goblin request.

———-

How much time had passed?
The sun had completely disappeared beyond the horizon, and a quiet darkness gently settled, bringing evening.
“Ladies! We’ve arrived!”
“Hmm…. We’ve already arrived.. Yawn..”

Airi, who had been sleeping leaning on my shoulder, seemed to wake up at the coachman’s voice and yawned.
‘This is bad….. It’s become evening.’
Saya and Puel must be very worried.

“Airi! Good job! See you next time!”
“You worked hard too, sister! See you next time!”
After getting off the carriage, I gave a light farewell to Airi and then entered a deserted alley.
I was planning to report today’s events to the Adventurer’s Guild, but now returning home was more urgent.
…I can stop by tomorrow briefly and explain what happened today.

Look around, look around.
After confirming that there was no one around, I cast teleportation magic to home.

.
.
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‘Idiot! You should have asked to have dinner together! Why did you sleep in the carriage…..’
Being drowsy from sleep, I forgot to invite sister for a meal.
Since I owed her a lot in many ways today, I was going to treat her to dinner at least….
‘Let me ask sister even now.’

I just saw Sister Ariel entering a secluded alley.
“Sister May! Won’t you have dinner toge… Huh? I’m sure she went in here…?”
I immediately followed into the alley sister had entered, but there was no one in the alley.
“Did I see wrong…?”

.
.
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When I teleported in front of the house, I saw Saya sitting in front of the entrance door waiting for me.
“Kuu…”
Saya sleeping sitting quietly with her eyes closed. She must have fallen asleep while waiting for me.
As I was watching Saya sleeping like an angel,

“A…riel…? Ariel!”
I met eyes with Saya who woke up from sleep.
As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened, and she immediately hugged me.
“Ariel. Late!”
“I’m sorry…. ”

Stroking Saya’s fluffy hair, there’s no heaven like this.
“Hehe. Good smell..”
How can you be so cute, Saya….

A delicious smell was carried on the wind from inside the house. It seems the dinner Puel said she would make is ready.
“It smells delicious. Right?”
“…Y-yeah!”

Somehow Saya’s expression seemed to darken… Must be my imagination?
“Sister Ariel! Welcome home!”
As I entered the house with Saya, opening the front door, Puel wearing an apron greeted me.
Can I finally eat Puel’s dinner?

When I sat at the table, Puel handed me a bowl full of delicious-looking stew.
The delicious smell wafting from the stew stimulates my stomach even before taking a bite.
“Puel. I’ll enjoy it!”

Nom. As I took a big spoonful of stew into my mouth, along with a sweet aroma, I felt… a spicy taste.
‘Wh…what…?’
Why is there a spicy taste in the stew…?

…There’s even a sweet taste. Moreover, it’s a bit bland, and there’s even a sour taste in the stew.
How can all those tastes be felt in one dish?
As I was marveling at the mysterious taste of the stew, Puel slowly approached me.

“How does it taste….? I tried hard to make it…”
To Puel who asked me with a trembling voice how it tasted, I couldn’t bring myself to say it tasted bad, so I barely managed a smile and answered.
“It’s delicious…”
“Really? That’s a relief… I was so worried..”

Puel happily beamed. Yes. That’s all that matters.
‘I finally finished it….’
My empty bowl. I finally conquered it.
…It might have been harder than today’s request.

“I’m so happy that you enjoyed it! I’ll give you more!”
To me who had finally finished it all, Puel handed me more stew with a pleased smile.
“……..Thank you.”

Looking at Saya next to me, she had a similar expression to mine.
You’ve grown up. Our Saya.
It was a happy dinner time with everyone smiling.