episode_0028

Unlike the imposing Wolfgang, one of the other party members seemed rather ordinary.

“I’m Routte. Nice to meet you.”

She was a woman with short, dark gray hair cut like a man’s. Despite her somewhat gruff appearance, the small earring hanging from her right ear was quite striking.

She wore a brown leather breastplate over a worn-out gray armor. Her gloves and boots were also made of hardened leather, and at her waist hung a Northern-style one-handed sword and a mace.

In her left hand, she held a round shield made of wood.

Judging by her armored appearance, she seemed like a typical Northern-style sword and shield warrior…

“A bit ambiguous.”

A close-range tank armed with both a shield and a one-handed weapon. In other words, a perfect complement to Kikel.

It’s hard to say whether a steel-ranked female warrior would be as strong as a lizardman.

If she has good tactics, it might be another story, but judging from her shield, it seemed unlikely that we could expect any clever swordsmanship; she probably preferred straightforward blocking and thrusting techniques.

“Nice to meet you. Mr. Wolfgang, Ms. Routte. I’m Hilde. And this lizardman here is Kikel.”

Of course, as an adventurer, one must maintain proper etiquette even if the party members are not particularly pleasant. I nodded to them and introduced myself and Kikel.

“I’m Kikel Grek! Good to help!”

“…Pardon?”

The two… no, Routte and the octopus chimpanzee, seemed taken aback by Kikel’s manner of speaking.

Well, when I first heard it, it was damn near impossible to understand what he was saying, so why should they be any different?

“It means ‘I look forward to working with you.’ Kikel struggles a bit with our language.”

“Oh, I see.”

As I roughly interpreted Kikel’s meaning as a lizardman specialist interpreter, Wolfgang and Routte seemed to nod and smile as if they finally understood what he was saying.

◆◆

After completing brief introductions, we immediately rented a carriage to head towards the mining village specified in the commission. It was a bit too far to walk.

While rattling along in the carriage, we discussed each other’s combat styles. As expected, Wolfgang was a brawler, and Routte was a sword and shield warrior.

I had hoped for a different outcome, so the result was truly disheartening.

Honestly, is this party combination for real? Three warriors and one octopus?

When four adventurers gathered, it turned out that every one of them specialized in close combat, with not a single member capable of long-range attacks.

Thankfully, Kikel somewhat served as a radar, and since our enemies were nothing more than spiders, we managed. Otherwise, we would have had no choice but to cancel the quest, even at a disadvantage.

Adventurer parties typically strive for versatility through diverse combinations, complementing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Filling the group solely with warriors, especially without any ranged support, was something to be avoided whenever possible.

In situations where we couldn’t engage in close combat or faced foes like undead ghosts immune to ordinary swords, we would have easily met our end, just like a joke.

After concluding our tactical discussion, casual chatter ensued. Wolfgang, despite being transformed into an octopus, still managed to banter with Kikel and crack jokes without losing his ability to communicate.

“―The moment I faced the sun! Endless courage filled my heart, and I charged at them with a resolute shout! They seemed overwhelmed by my momentum, unable to open their eyes, stumbling back! So, I…”

“Crunch! Crunch!”

It wasn’t that they were overwhelmed by my momentum; it felt more like the reflected sunlight dazzled them, causing them to stagger… Thinking about it, being bald does have its advantages. Not only when fighting with the sun at your back, but also when facing it head-on, you can inflict damage on your opponent’s vision.

Well, if you’re going to give up being human, there should be some advantages, shouldn’t there?

Unlike vampires who turn to ashes in the sunlight despite their great strength, these octopus-human hybrids, on the contrary, turn to ash in unity with the sun…!

…Anyway, he was quite the talkative man. It almost seems like as payment for taking away his intelligence and turning him into an octopus, the goddess gifted him with a sociable nature and eloquence.

On the other hand, Route seemed rather reserved, seldom speaking first.

“Are you well acquainted with Mr. Volfgang?”

“No, today is our first meeting.”

Though not entirely tight-lipped, she responded to the question, at least to some extent.

***

An hour later, we finally arrived at a small mining village. While it was a mining town, it didn’t seem to yield anything particularly valuable; the size of the village itself was just slightly larger than Hwajeon Village.

“Welcome! You must be the adventurers who have come to help organize the mine, right?”

The village chief was surprisingly young for his position. He seemed to be in his mid-thirties, looking more like someone who would wield a pen rather than a pickaxe.

“Yes, we are adventurers sent by the guild on this mission. Here, please take a look at the request letter.”

After showing the chief our request letter to prove our identities, he led us to his house and treated us to a meal while explaining the details of the request. The meal consisted of cooked chicken, potato stew, and baked bread-like items.

After expressing their gratitude to the chief, Volfgang and Lauta spooned stew onto their bread and ate, while Kikel opened his mouth wide and swallowed a whole piece of chicken.

As for me? I declined, claiming not to be hungry.

Perhaps the chief had simply offered us a meal out of pure kindness, but if not, there might have been something suspicious about the food.

Since the other three party members had recklessly dug in, I had to remain cautious on their behalf.

Moreover, in a world where people joked that they’d get robbed if they closed their eyes, how chaotic would a world with poor security be?

Ethics and morality were nothing more than crude jokes in this world.

In my experience, this world was an inferno where one could easily lose their life or suffer greatly if they let their guard down for even a moment.

Thus, I spent time conversing with the chief without touching the food.

As it turned out, the man before us had only taken up the position of chief less than a month ago.

Originally, he was just an ordinary clerk, not even a miner, but due to being the only child of the former chief, he ended up inheriting the position.

The position of village chief being hereditary was personally amusing to me.

If they were going to appoint the village chief based solely on being the child of the former village chief, rather than choosing the most capable elder among the miners and giving them the position, wouldn’t it be better to just choose the most competent elder and confer the title upon them?

It’s not some kind of formality; it’s just a representative position in the village.

“Then, has the former village chief passed away?”

“Yes. He went deep into the mine and encountered a giant spider…”

He became spider food, it seems.

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear that. It must still be troubling for you.”

I expressed sincere condolences. It was a matter of respect for the deceased and their family.

Considering that my own father had been killed by a spider not long ago, it was natural for him to be deeply distressed.

“Oh, it’s fine. Although the people in the village don’t know, he wasn’t such a great father, you see.”

The village chief chuckled.

“He even tried to chop off my head with a pickaxe when I said I wanted to pursue scholarly studies instead of mining. I used to hate spiders, but now I’ve come to like them quite a bit.”

Oh, really…?

I was at a loss for words, not knowing how to respond to such an unexpected statement.

“In that case, why did you request the extermination…?”

Rautte, who was looking at the village chief with a somewhat bewildered expression, asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

What was the reason for requesting the extermination of the spiders by someone who seemed grateful to the spider that devoured his father?

“Haha. No matter how friendly they may seem, should we let those vermin, who are nothing more than harmful pests, live? They’ve taken over the mine, so we can’t extract ore, and our income has plummeted.”

So, it was about money.

While inheriting the mine due to the death of the former village chief was a good thing, the fact that the mine was infested with spiders meant that they couldn’t extract any profits from it.

That’s why he had submitted a request to the guild. This village chief.

◆◆

And so, we concluded our conversation with the client over lunch.

It was an informative conversation where we could clearly understand the reasons for requesting the spider extermination, the detailed request itself, and the circumstances leading to the young village chief taking on his role at such a young age.

Well, it was certainly an informative conversation… but after hearing everything, new questions have arisen within me.

Questions that I can’t even ask the village chief.

Was the death of his father, the former village chief, truly the work of a giant spider?

As someone who is not a detective, it was something I couldn’t know.

“What do you think?”

So, I laid out my conjecture to Kikel and asked him what he thought.

“I don’t know. It’s not our business.”

Kikel’s response was, as always, brief. Yet it hit the nail on the head.

That’s right. Our job is to sweep away all the spiders in the mine and leave. Whether the former village chief was killed by a spider, or by a son aiming for the mine, that was none of our concern.

Unless a request comes down to investigate the truth of the incident.

Thank you!