Ch.52Rewards (4)

“Ah, yes. That’s right. But who are you?”

“What a coincidence meeting you here. I’ve come from the Imperial Palace. I’d like to talk. No, stay right there.”

The woman teleported onto the boat. As expected, she was a mage.

But what would a precious mage, and an Imperial Palace mage at that, be doing here?

“You’re Jack, correct?”

When I took the mage’s outstretched hand, I felt a cool yet slightly tingling sensation. It was magical power.

She has a blessed constitution with magical power flowing naturally through her body.

Magic exists everywhere like air, and mages use it to cast spells.

However, this special constitution means she has magic inherently within her body, allowing her to use more powerful spells than others.

Some high-level mages artificially turn their bodies into vessels for magic, but this woman is too young for that.

She was born destined to become a mage. That’s why she’s at the Imperial Palace.

After quickly searching through my knowledge of the original work, I belatedly realized she was a mage you meet during the Imperial Palace quest.

She’s an incredibly powerful mage—what is she doing in this rural area? She’s giving off the impression that she was specifically looking for me.

“You’re as handsome as I heard.”

“As you heard?”

“That’s what the 213rd Special Unit Commander said.”

Ah, the 213rd Special Unit Commander. She means Major Nerion who visited our village regarding the central slave trader incident.

He left saying he would submit a report about our village’s achievements to the Imperial Palace, and this is what came of it.

“His Majesty the Emperor was very pleased with the report he submitted. He found it admirable that a village not even on the map is developing so well.”

“Thank you.”

“That’s why I’m here. His Majesty wanted the reward delivered immediately, and it’s quite far from the Imperial Palace to here. Oh, but the smell is terribly strong.”

The Imperial Palace mage frowned at the fishy smell of the siren corpses.

“Why are there so many sirens? What are these?”

The mage asked as she watched the knights throwing bodies overboard, yet the number didn’t seem to decrease.

“I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of sirens living in rivers. Especially not this many.”

“Something is suspicious. Above all, how did you kill all these sirens with only two women here?”

“If you drink my brother’s potion, you temporarily become immune to the sirens’ songs.”

When Mirella, who had been listening, chimed in, the mage frowned.

“Little girl. Don’t interrupt adults when they’re talking.”

Liberone quietly pulled back Mirella, who was about to retort angrily.

She knew well that there was nothing to gain from annoying a mage.

“Are you a Holy Knight? Your attire suggests so?”

“Yes, I am.”

“What’s a Holy Knight doing here? No, never mind. We don’t have time.”

The mage glanced around briefly and flicked her fingers.

Suddenly, an enormous dimensional gate appeared in the middle of the river.

Everyone gasped in amazement at the sight, and the mage, pleased with their reaction, smiled openly.

Mages take immense pride in their profession and love when people react like this.

They’re difficult people whose egos always need to be stroked.

“Shall we return to the village then?”

“Wait a moment! We came to find missing people. We would appreciate your help with the search.”

“Hmm, a search. I don’t think you understand what happens to those caught by sirens.”

“We need to find at least their bodies…”

Before I could finish speaking, several strange objects resembling human eyeballs floated up from the mage’s palm.

“Eek! What are those?!” Mirella was terrified.

It was a scouting spell that shares vision with the mage, which was quite useful in the game. But I never knew it could be used on so many at once.

The eyeballs quickly rose into the air and spread in all directions.

The Imperial Palace mage stood silently with her eyes half-closed, then soon smiled.

“They’re alive. They’re currently walking back to the village.”

“Really?!”

“Don’t believe me? Wait a moment.”

A dimensional gate opened above our heads, and people began falling through it.

“Ouch! That hurts!”

“Are you alright?!”

The people who fell through the dimensional gate were all villagers who had gone out for water trade. Everyone was safe.

“Jack?! What’s going on here?”

“This is the mage. But what happened to all of you?”

“We were coming down from Odelin City when we saw sirens swimming ahead, so we abandoned everything and jumped off the boat to escape. Damn it! Those are sirens?!”

The people were shocked when they belatedly noticed the siren corpses, so I explained everything to reassure them.

“Well then, shall we go?”

At the mage’s will, the river water began to surge, pushing the boat into the dimensional gate.

Amazing. In the game, she was always cooped up in the Imperial Palace giving out quest fragments, so I never realized how powerful she really was.

* * * * *

“C-Captain…! Look at that!”

Meanwhile, the Odelin City guards stood with their mouths agape at the scene before them.

They had just arrived at the scene after receiving an absurd report from passing travelers.

The report claimed that creatures presumed to be sirens had appeared by the river and were battling with a merchant ship—a preposterous claim.

At first, they tried to dismiss it as a false report, but when similar reports kept coming in, they immediately dispatched a team.

What they saw upon arrival were siren corpses being continuously thrown overboard.

And then the incomprehensible sight of a ship being sucked into a suddenly opened dimensional gate.

Nearly twenty siren corpses were floating in the river.

Sirens are considered very dangerous creatures because, although individually weak, their songs make it impossible for men to resist.

It was already incomprehensible that so many had been killed, but a dimensional gate large enough to swallow an entire ship?

“Captain. I believe those people were from that place called Starting Village.”

One of the guards said.

“You know, the ship that came upstream for water trade not long ago.”

“Hmm, yes. Since that village’s ship is the only one that travels through this river…”

“With rumors about angels or gods descending on that village, plus those dead goblins we found near the pig farm before, and now sirens too. What is that village really?”

“How would I know? I didn’t even know a place called Starting Village existed until now.”

“Anyway, it’s suspicious. We should report this to the mayor immediately. This doesn’t seem like something we can just ignore.”

“Alright. Let’s head back. Take one siren corpse with us. And send a patrol to Starting Village. Let’s find out what just happened.”

* * * * *

The exit of the dimensional gate led directly to our village’s makeshift dock, where villagers had already gathered in crowds.

“Jack…!”

As soon as we disembarked, the administrator rushed over and embraced me. She was so heavy I almost fell backward.

“You’re safe…!”

“I’m fine. Could you please move aside? You’re too heavy.”

“Never… I’ll never let go… If I let go, you’ll disappear somewhere again… I’ll never separate from you… Even if we die, we die together…”

The villagers ignored the administrator’s behavior and passed by us to help support the knights and clear away the siren corpses.

Everyone knows our administrator isn’t mentally stable and that she shows mild addiction symptoms to my potions.

Only one person, Mirella, refuses to accept this. But…

For some reason, Mirella, who should be rushing over to pull the administrator away from me, is nowhere to be seen.

Looking around, I see Mirella has already walked past us and is heading in the other direction. What’s going on…?

“What’s this? Who’s this woman clinging like seaweed?”

The Imperial Palace mage frowned at the administrator.

“Just looking at her, she seems like the village crazy woman. Tsk tsk. Such a shame with that pretty face.”

“She’s our village administrator.”

“Huh…? Really…? What kind of administrator acts like this?”

Regardless, the administrator frantically searched for potions around my waist, eventually slipping her hand under my shirt.

“Hey now, I don’t have any potions. I’ll give you some at the shop later.”

“Wow, this is truly ridiculous.”

The mage grimaced at the sight.

* * * * *

“So… this is the potion you make?”

At the village hall, the mage examined the potion with great suspicion.

Meanwhile, the administrator was drooling as she gulped down the potion.

“It looks like an ordinary potion. Do you have a secret formula?”

“No. I just put my heart into making them.”

“Hmm. Alright. First, the reward from His Majesty.”

A dimensional gate opened right above the table, and something fell through, smashing the table.

“Keck keck!”

Startled by the sound, the administrator choked and coughed violently.

What destroyed the table was a large, heavy sack big enough for a person to fit inside with room to spare.

“Open it.”

As I loosened the sack to look inside, the administrator beside me screamed.

It was filled to the brim with gold coins.