episode_0084

Ruam, the Village at the End

“….Oh, my goodness….”

“Hehehe~ See? My eyes aren’t wrong, are they?”

“Well… I don’t really have anything to say now…”

What kind of magic had just happened? I had finished all the food Aria made for me. Of course, Aria ate with me too, but I ate most of that enormous quantity… It was such an unbelievable event that I couldn’t tell if it was still reality.

“How was it, Zeke-nim! Don’t you agree that I know you best?”

“…I… I’ll admit it.”

“Heheheh….”

I had no choice but to admit it. I hadn’t even realized how much I missed meat myself… Whether Aria knew it or not, the fact that she prepared such a quantity meant I had to admit she knew me better than I knew myself. By the way… how did all that food fit in my stomach? It was so delicious that I ate it mindlessly, and before I knew it, it was all gone…

“What kind of tea should I brew for you?”

“Lemon tea would be fine… but those monsters behind that bush… are they scared of you?”

I asked, pointing at the monsters hidden in the bushes behind Aria. Aria turned her head towards the bushes, and as she turned, the monsters shrieked in terror and started to run away.

“Screeeeeech!!!”

“Oh my. There was more meat. I should have taken more, just in case.”

“…Hold on…”

Watching the fleeing monsters, I realized something and started examining the pile of bones around me. Uh… these bones… and those monsters that just ran away… Those were all mid-grade monsters or close to high-grade ones!

“…? Zeke-nim? Is something wrong?”

“…It’s nothing… Is the tea ready?”

“Ah! I’ll bring it right away~”

Lately, I hadn’t seen strong monsters attacking, so I didn’t know how strong Aria was… Now, even mid-grade monsters were running away from her… Ah… unless we encountered a high-grade monster on our journey… no, wait… Aria would probably just eat even those high-grade monsters. Feeling Aria’s strength throughout my body once again, I decided not to think any further. Creatures strong enough to defeat Aria were probably monstrosities like Estur or Ricand.I.Ru… if such things existed in the world, it would be a real disaster…

“Here you go, Zeke-nim.”

“Oh… Uh-huh….”

I drank the lemon tea and thought. It was good to be prepared for any eventuality, but it was highly unlikely that I would die from an attack. I constantly repeated that thought in my head until I finished the tea. Instinctively…

“Well… I didn’t take out much, so cleaning up is quick.”

“Zeke-nim. I detected presences over a wide range, and I felt a village in the direction the monsters just fled. The bustling areas are a bit far from here, so you can enter safely and without worry.”

“Really? Good work, Aria.”

“Heheheh… Since Zeke-nim wished for it, of course, I should do it~”

“…No matter how many times I hear it… I feel strange, as if it’s too much for me… ‘Of course’…”

“There you go again…”

“No, that’s part of it, but… I’ve never received favors from anyone other than my parents and Kols-ajusshi. So… I’m not used to it.”

“…? Never?”

“Uh…? Y-Yeah…”

When I said I had never received favors from anyone other than my parents and Kols-ajusshi before, Aria’s face suddenly changed to a dark expression. Then she asked me again, and I said yes with a flustered voice. Hearing my answer, Aria suddenly picked up a kitchen knife, looked up at the sky, and muttered.

“To not bestow any favor upon such a wonderful and kind Zeke-nim… What despicable people… The sin of daring to not bestow any favor upon Zeke-nim… I’ll turn them into meat…”

“Please, either want people to show me favor or not want them to, just pick one!!!”

As Aria held the kitchen knife and muttered murderous words again, I shouted at her. Aria snapped out of it, put the kitchen knife back into its leather sheath, and scratched her head, muttering.

“Oh, right… Phew… I need to change, I can’t keep doing this… Restrain myself, restrain myself…”

“…Bad habits don’t heal quickly, but… still, just in case, you might need to fix your habit quickly…”

“B-But I’m trying my best to do everything Zeke-nim wants!”

“…Sigh… You already said that last time. Well… I see you’re gradually improving, so I have no choice but to believe you. Don’t I?”

“!”

When I smiled and said I would believe her, Aria’s face turned beet red, and steam rose from her head as she started to clear the dishes. Hmm… Normally, she would have fainted… Good. She’s gradually getting better! I felt proud that Aria was improving, and Aria was…

‘Zeke-nim believes in me… Zeke-nim believes in me… Zeke-nim believes in me… Zeke-nim believes in me… Zeke-nim believes in me… Heheheheh… Hihahahah…’

She was truly happy inside. After clearing all the dishes, Aria and I looked at the remaining pile of bones and scratched our heads. Then, seeing a gorge, I picked up one bone and threw it into the gorge.

“These shouldn’t be in the gorge. Someone coming to the gorge might see this and misunderstand that something scary appeared from the Kryton Region… th-that’s right, they might misunderstand.”

“Hmm?”

I looked at the pile of bones and imagined someone might see them and misunderstand that something terrifying had come from the Kryton Region to the Herlos Region. Then I turned to Aria and stammered in embarrassment, as it was true that a terrifying entity capable of sending even the World Tree to the afterlife had indeed appeared, at least for now. Aria tilted her head when I stammered.

“Let’s throw all these bones into the gorge. If we put them all in at once, it might get blocked, so throw them one by one…”

“Like this?”

“…..”

When I told her to throw them one by one, Aria did throw them one by one… but she started throwing the massive bones with one hand at almost five times my speed, shocking me so much that I almost dropped the bone I was holding. In less than a minute, all the bones fell down into the gorge. Watching them all carried downstream by the current, I let out a hollow laugh.

‘Yeah, well… let’s think simply… simply… Still, to lift those giant bones with one hand… If anyone even dares to bother me… then that ground might be stained with blood…’

“Zeke-nim? What’s wrong? Did you need those bones? I removed all the magic stones and crystal stones…”

“Ah… No. Let’s go to the village first. But how should we enter?”

“Heheheh… Trust me on that, Zeke-nim! I can sense presences from far away, so I know exactly how to get in safely and naturally!”

“Alright. Then I’ll trust you completely.”

“….!!!”

When I said I would trust her completely again, Aria’s face turned beet red once more. I thought Aria would faint again, and as if to confirm my thought, Aria began to sway. At that moment, Aria supported herself with both hands on her legs and let out a deep breath to regain her composure. When Aria didn’t faint, I was greatly surprised in a different way.

“Huuuaaaaah….”

‘….!! Why didn’t she faint for once?! I thought she would definitely faint again, and we’d only be able to go to the village around evening today?!’

“Phew… I apologize for almost losing my mind…”

“Oh… No, you don’t have to apologize… Why did you manage to endure it?”

“I… I endured it because I thought Zeke-nim would be troubled if I couldn’t… And now, if I were to faint, some despicable monster might dare to attack Zeke-nim, so I endured.”

“Alright, good job. You don’t have to go that far, I’m not weak anymore since I have Trahan, but… anyway, let’s go without holding hands for now.”

“Yes… Please come this way…”

Although she endured the shock that almost made her lose her mind, Aria swayed slightly as she guided me, as if she was still a little mentally strained… Seeing her walk like that, I felt unnecessarily apologetic. I shouldn’t use the phrase “I’ll trust you” so often next time… As I gained a great realization and followed Aria down the path, I heard something rustling in the bushes and turned my head in that direction.

‘Huh…? That’s a salamander. Its poison is weaker than an Asra Salamander, but its ferocity is almost similar, so it’s a mid-grade venomous lizard… Uh…’

The salamander seemed frightened, just staring at Aria and me with no intention of attacking. I remembered the bones Aria had stripped of meat earlier, and I straightened my expression, opened my monster encyclopedia, and asked Aria.

“Aria. About those three monsters you hunted earlier.”

“Hmm? What about those monsters?”

“Do you… remember what they looked like?”

“Hmm? Ah! You need my experience to record it, right! Of course, I remember! One monster was a creature similar to a violent wild boar. It wasn’t a Crimson Boar, but its tusks were quite long, and it had gray fur.”

“…What? A Crash Boar…? A high-grade monster was here…?”

A creature with gray fur and tus longer than a wild boar or a regular boar. Such a creature could only be a high-grade monster called a Crash Boar. She killed such a monster… without a single scratch? Well… even if a Crash Boar is considered one of the weaker high-grade monsters… it’s still stronger than mid-grade monsters, isn’t it? I thought Aria could easily handle Asra Salamanders and Crimson Boars, which are mid-grade monsters comparable to a salamander…

“Hmm… The other monster was… Oh! It was a lizard covered in scales. Its size was a little smaller than that Crash Boar. It had green scales and red eyes. And its tail was quite long… Oh! It had wings!”

“…..A Wyvern Alligator… A monster capable of exerting power like a wyvern, with the jaw strength of an alligator. It has wings and can fly, and any prey caught by its red eyes is as good as dead… This is a high-grade monster too!?”

I was astonished to learn that the second monster Aria dealt with was also a high-grade monster called a Wyvern Alligator. And the crystal stones from this monster… They could be sold expensively anywhere?! Was it a monster that was hard to even encounter?!

“And finally… that! We caught a lizard in the Lader Mountains before, remember? It had slippery skin like that one, and it was a purple lizard. And it flicked its tongue… Oh! It spit venom from its mouth.”

“…Purple… flicking its tongue… venom from its mouth… Tox… Toxin Salamander… A powerful salamander that even other salamanders fear… Methods to remove or detoxify its poison are… almost unknown…?”

Reading the information about the Toxin Salamander in the monster encyclopedia, I simply gave up on thinking. Then I put the encyclopedia back in my bag and looked closely at the salamander in the bushes. That guy… it’s trembling… So… it’s extremely scared of Aria, who sent a Toxin Salamander stronger than itself to the afterlife, no matter how she did it. Knowing the reason, I started to feel sorry for it. For a monster…

‘Yeah… I know how you feel…’

“Is this enough, Zeke-nim?”

“Yeah. It’s enough. A high-grade monster… Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No.”

“I see… But, you know… The methods to remove the Toxin Salamander’s poison are almost unknown, so how did you remove the poison?”

“Pardon? Oh… The organ containing the poison was visible to me. It seems I gained this ability after transforming into the Halo of the Sacred Ring or whatever it was.”

Knowing that Aria had gained another ability, I was very intrigued and thought that from now on, I would truly not die from poisoning while eating something. By the way… that taste… there was nothing particularly special about the taste of a high-grade monster. Perhaps the valuable parts are the magic stones or crystal stones… I still had 20 crystal stones containing mana left, so I had plenty of money. In other words… I had the financial means to experience things for sure!

“But when do we arrive at the village?”

“Ah, just a little more walking.”

“Whoaaah!!!”

“…?”

Just as Aria said that the village was a little more walking away, shouts suddenly began to be heard. Aria and I quickly ran towards where the shouts came from, crossed a fence, and entered the village. Then Aria and I noticed a stadium-like structure in the distance and realized.

“Those shouts seem to have come from there.”

“Hmm… Did we arrive during a festival? That’s even better… Good. Now let’s go inside and ask… By the way… The structure of this village is unique. Wooden houses… with stone roofs?”

The houses in the village we finally arrived at were unlike any I had seen before. The walls were all made of wood, and the roofs were covered with stone slabs. I sucked in a breath… It’s amazing that they don’t collapse… As I admired the structure of the village’s houses, I walked down the street and saw a building that looked like a general store. I pointed at the building with my finger and asked Aria.

“Aria, is there anyone in there?”

“Hmm… Yes. It seems to sell various items.”

“Oh, it is a general store! Perfect timing. I’ll ask all about this place!”

Knowing through Aria that there was an owner in the general store, I immediately entered. Inside the general store, various potions and tools were displayed, and from the back, an elderly male owner greeted us.

“Welcome~ Do you need anything?”

“Ah, hello. We’re travelers who are new to this village… and we don’t quite know what kind of village this is.”

“Hmm? You’re travelers from another region, aren’t you?”

Aria and I were greatly surprised when the general store owner immediately realized I was a traveler from another region. How did he know I was from another region with just that one sentence…?

“How did you know?”

“Because this is Ruam, one of the End Villages. Travelers in the Herlos Region all aim for the End Villages, so they usually know about them. In other words, if you don’t know it, it means you’re a traveler from another region… Where are you from?”

“Ah, we’re from the Tania Region. From the western part of the Tania Region.”

“Western Tania Region?!”

The general store owner was greatly surprised when Aria and I said we were from the western Tania Region. Then he let out a hollow laugh and spoke to us again.

“Wow… You two are travelers from a very distant place! You must have had a hard journey to get here! And what’s more, it’s a festival period now, so isn’t that great!?”

“What kind of festival is it?”

“Here, there’s a day when we pray that powerful monsters don’t emerge from the Kryton Region. We hold a festival for a week around that day, wishing for only good things to happen. Don’t you want to enjoy it?”

This is completely lucky! To arrive on a festival day like this! A festival is a very precious event where you can experience the culture of a village all at once. I shouldn’t miss this, should I?! As I wore a truly joyful expression, Aria smiled looking at my face, and the owner also smiled. Then the owner took something out of a drawer and handed it to me.

“Here. You’ll need a place to rest, right? This is a map of Ruam and a guide listing all the events during the festival period. The festival started yesterday, so you can enjoy it to your heart’s content.”

“Alright!! Let’s go right now, Ariaaaaaaaaa!!!”

“Huh? Kyaaaah?!”

After receiving the guide and map from the owner, I grabbed Aria’s arm and hastily exited the general store. The owner then let out a hollow laugh, turned around, and said.

“Isn’t it travelers like them that make owning a general store worthwhile? What do you think, Otherworlder?”

“…I haven’t seen an atmosphere like that much, so I’m not used to it yet.”

The owner began talking to a red-haired man who was choosing items deep inside the general store.