Ch.30The Homeless Test Subject (1)

Liberone began training the Potion Knights at my request.

Holy Knights know how to handle almost all cold weapons and are human weapons themselves.

If our knights learn from Liberone, they’ll surely become a force comparable to Odelin City’s guards.

Liberone first focused on improving the knights’ physical strength.

Every morning and evening, the knights followed Liberone, running large laps around the village.

Roughly estimated, the distance was about 10km, meaning they ran 20km daily.

Unlike Liberone, whose breathing never faltered, most knights gave up midway.

On the first day, only Mirella managed to keep up with Liberone and barely completed the course.

She threw up immediately upon reaching the finish line, but it was still quite impressive.

I never thought that little kid had such stamina.

She even left her opener at the shop, saying it would interfere with running despite its buff effects.

Liberone’s suggestion that she become a warrior now makes more sense.

After training, when Liberone returns to the shop, she places a chair in the corner and offers holy healing services.

Holy healing, specialized for external wounds, is essential in our village where most people work in physically demanding primary industries.

Healing Potions can be applied directly to wounds, but for dramatic effects, holy healing is best.

Of course, Liberone isn’t a full-fledged priest, so her holy healing skills aren’t exceptional.

Nevertheless, in our village without proper doctors, potions and Liberone’s holy healing are the most advanced medical treatments available.

Village people were initially afraid of Liberone, the tall, taciturn outsider, but after seeing plow cuts heal instantly, they all started coming to our shop when injured.

Indeed, the Holy Knights of this world are noble beings.

In some novels or games, they might appear as pawns of corrupt religious orders, but definitely not here.

Having Liberone in our village has truly been fortunate.

* * * * *

I stopped by the village hall in the morning to deliver potions.

I don’t usually do deliveries, but the administrator has been too busy to visit the shop lately.

As the village gradually grows, there’s more work to be done.

Before that, she was just a freeloader living off government salary.

“Administrator. Take one bottle of this daily. What’s that?”

“One bottle daily…”

“If you drink multiple bottles, you’ll lose your judgment, so strictly one bottle. Got it?”

“I understand… But, Jack…”

The administrator hesitated as she looked up at me.

One eye, visible through her seaweed-like hair, looked very gloomy and hollow.

“W-would you… tonight… tonight, um…”

“Tonight?”

“Yes… I mean… tonight… Haaa…”

“Go ahead.”

“You… have done so much… for the village’s development… I, Bellamy, as the village administrator… Urgh…”

So the administrator’s name is Bellamy.

Bellamy.

Somehow unexpected yet fitting.

But what is she trying to say?

“Jack… I mean… if you’re free tonight… I’ve received so much help from you… I think it’s not right for me to just sit by… Um, dinner… Huuurgh!”

Unable to continue, Administrator Bellamy burst into tears.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… Please forget everything… What I said… my crying now… even my name… Please erase it all from your memory… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have brought it up…”

“No, no. It’s okay. I didn’t say anything, why are you suddenly crying?”

“Sob! I’m a woman who doesn’t deserve happiness!”

When Administrator Bellamy knelt down and wailed, people passing by the hall turned in surprise.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…!”

A gloomy black-haired, well-endowed, mentally unstable, depressed civil servant.

What an incredibly rare combination.

* * * * *

“Oh my, I’m dying here.”

Mirella complains while stirring a large pot.

Right now, Mirella and I are doing additional research on pig aphrodisiacs.

The one we made when kidnapped by the mercenaries proved ineffective.

If it had worked properly, Adelheid would have been caught by Liberone instead of escaping.

So this time, we’re trying a different manufacturing method.

“Oh my, forcing child labor on a minor you brought in.”

“Shut up, kid. I’m feeding you for free.”

“Do you know how harshly the knight trains us? My arms feel like they’re about to fall off.”

“One drop of sweat in training saves one drop of blood on the battlefield, Mirella.”

Liberone said bluntly while treating a villager with a sprained ankle.

“Huh? Then I could just go to a sauna and sweat a lot, hehehe.”

Mirella giggled at her nonsensical remark, but Liberone didn’t even raise an eyebrow.

“Or maybe if I exercise hard all night with Brother Jack, doing this and that…”

“Are you saying you want to marry the Guardian Angel? From what I see, you seem far too young to be discussing marriage.”

“Is age really important?”

“It might not be important to you, but it’s extremely important to the Guardian Angel and the judge.”

This era has a medieval fantasy setting, but it still strictly prohibits certain immoral acts by law, one being marriage to minors.

If I did anything with Mirella now, I’d be handcuffed immediately.

“Hmph, you’re actually trying to eliminate competition early, right? Using my age as an excuse while you go after brother?”

“That’s absurd. I’m a Holy Knight. I don’t do such things.”

“Hmm, really? Then don’t interfere with what I do.”

“I must interfere. Sexual relations with a minor is illegal, and I, Holy Knight Liberone, cannot overlook it.”

The villager who was receiving treatment fled hurriedly without even saying goodbye.

Why are they acting like this? I, the actual person involved, haven’t said anything.

“Did you finish stirring?”

“Yeah. Isn’t the color pretty?”

“Hey, hey, hey!”

I quickly stopped Mirella as she habitually tried to taste the potion with her finger.

“Oh right, this is an aphrodisiac.”

Mirella wiped her finger on her clothes with an embarrassed smile.

We transferred it to bottles and headed to the pig farm.

The pigs were lazily lying around doing nothing. These guys never do what they’re supposed to.

“Come here. Delicious food.”

I sprinkled the aphrodisiac on leftover food and gave it to the pigs.

I hope this works…

But it doesn’t. The pigs eagerly eat the food soaked in aphrodisiac, then just lie down again, grunting.

Sigh, this isn’t easy. Not easy at all.

“Brother, brother. Let’s use this on people instead.”

Mirella poked my side repeatedly.

“Tell everyone to use this and have two or three kids each. That would increase the population, right?”

“If it doesn’t work on pigs, why would it work on people? Besides, that would be a crime.”

“Seriously.”

“Anyway, let’s go back. We have a lot to do.”

As we were returning to the shop, we saw knights with swords running urgently somewhere.

“Where are you going?”

“A monster has appeared!”

“What? A monster?”

The knights had already run far ahead.

Mirella and I hurried after them toward the northern entrance of the village.

Several people had already gathered there.

Everyone was standing in a circle with weapons and farming tools, as if blocking something.

“Excuse me.”

Pushing through the crowd, I saw something green standing at the village entrance.

Lush brown hair in twin braids and mischievous eyes.

She was an extremely beautiful woman with a very large chest despite her small stature.

Isn’t she just a human?

Looking closely, I noticed special physical characteristics.

Shark-like teeth, green skin, and pointed ears.

Physical traits typically seen in goblins or orcs.

These traits shouldn’t exist together in one body.

What is that?

Is it a monster or a human?

Besides, there are five pigs grunting and wandering around next to her.

What kind of combination is this?

For a moment, I felt like I’d seen this somewhere before.

Where had I seen it?

Ah! Odelin City! Pigs!

When I went to Odelin City to buy pigs, I saw something similar a few times.

I remember seeing it two or three times, like when we destroyed the Mad Doctor’s villa in Reangso Village and when we were eating in Odelin City.

I thought I was seeing things then, but now I realize it was this.

So what exactly is it?

“It’s a half-goblin.”

Liberone, who had approached without notice, said while looking at it.

A half-goblin is a being born from breeding between a goblin and another species.

Depending on which species it bred with, it would be different, but at the very least, this one could be seen as a hybrid with humans.

“Why is it here?”

“I suspect it belongs to the goblin group we defeated earlier. Goblins are monsters that don’t forget grudges. I think it came for revenge.”

Liberone stepped forward with her greatsword.

“I will kill it.”

As Liberone stepped forward, the creature shouted.

“Wait!”

What? It can speak?