By the goddess, Lorena, I cant believe that you had to go through that sorta hell, Colwyn uttered with disgust, massaging the bridge of his nose as his face slowly contorted from anger. Damn, those were good people. I know being a rc is a risky job and I had a feeling sothing happened to them but hearing that most of them are dead is fucked up. Those poor wonmay the goddess protect their souls.
We need to save them, chief Colwyn. My parents, the others, and all the other captives, Lorena announced with red eyes, puffy from having cried.
After giving my introduction, the village chief of Carine village, Colwyn, brought us to his ho where he wanted to hear what happened to Lorena. As you would expect from a hastily made ho, it was sparsely decorated and only had the essentials which included a eting room, as the chief had to expect to receive the lord of the village, even if it barely ever happens.
Guess I shouldnt have expected a comfy couch. Sitting on a hard bench with a tail is pretty cumberso.
We will, Lorena, but we need to sort so things out firstoh! Colwyn suddenly flinched back, realizing that he had more than just Lorena as a guest. My apologies, Miss Priestess. We really shouldnt be talking about this stuff right in front of you.
Oh, there is no problems, no worries. Also, please dont call Miss Priestess anymore. As I have explained, Lorena lied about that part, I replied while shaking my hand.
But, Hestia, you must have been one, right? Only people from the church can learn the white grace! Lorena called out in protest, trying to excuse herself.
"Hey, Lorena, knock it off. I apologize, my Lady, shes is not used to dealing with, uh, fine ladies. We are devoted followers of our Goddess here, so I apologize in advance if I sound, uhm, stiff, Colwyn remarked. "Anyway, that isn't really important. Uhm, how are the ale and the dried fruits? Its not much, I know, so I hope I havent offended you.
After we entered his house, Colwyns wife quickly ca out of the kitchen and began serving us so dried fruits as snacks, showing their hospitality despite the predicant that they were in. We were also served so of their finest ale, which Saori told was alright to drink.
["From the sll alone, I think it should be small beer. I heard that it was quite nutritious without containing much alcohol, a staple beverage for dieval tis as people considered it cleaner than drinking well or river water.] Saori explained [You are still a minor, but I heard that children would drink this, so you can give it a taste if you wish, Hestia.]
I dont know why she would ntion being a minor when she was biologically younger than . Still, I was curious about the taste, though. I never tried anything alcoholic in my previous life and I always wanted to know why people even drank this stuff to begin with.
As I was about to drink it, Tasianna asked telepathically, Should I brew you so tea? which I had to decline as I thought it would be rude to deny their kindness. Tasianna was also worried that the drink would have impurities in it, but I quickly shot that argunt down by reminding her that I had [Abnormal Status Nullification] and my tendency to drink my own toxic concoctions.
Colwyn even showed us that it was safe to drink after it he tried it himself. As the one who offered the drink, it was his duty as the host to drink first, as it was courtesy to show his guest that it wasnt poisoned. How intriguing that a farming villager would know this, even making a show of it.
With nothing to stop , I pumped myself up as I was fully ready to learn why people liked drinking alcoholic stuff. I was expecting it to either have a pleasant taste like tea or that it would give a rush-like feeling like energy drinks.
As I took my first sip, the first thing that touched the tip of my tongue was a sweet and fruity taste, which made initially quite interested in it as I kept pouring in more into my mouth. It wasnt the most delicious beverage I've ever drunk but it wasn't terrible. It would go well with so bread, I think.
However, as the liquid moved down my throat, a horrible bitter aftertaste assaulted my taste buds. I quickly stopped drinking more of it and covered my mouth with a hand, as my body didn't want to drink it. Whether it was 'cause I got used to drinking bitter liquids through ingesting venom, or 'cause I overca my body's order, I swallowed the rest of it while keeping myself composed.
Having rehydrated myself, I put the quarter-filled ale mug back on the table and heaved a small breath. For so reason, I was feeling a bit dizzy when Colwyn finished talking with Lorena and asked for my opinion on the ale and fruits.
Bitter, I answered in a ek tone while scratching my cheeks. The fruits are nice, though.
"Ahahaha, I'm sorry, it isnt the low alcoholic ale as this is ant for important guests. Its only a bottle but I can guarantee the quality of it, Colwyn said with a wry smile, scratching his neck in unease.
Mhmmh, how I missed that bitter taste! as if it was perfectly tid, Saori let out a satisfied moan, having chugged her ale down as if she hadnt had anything to drink in a week, before blushing. Ah, I apologize for drinking too fast. Also, Lady Hestia is still young and had not had any experience with drinking yet. If I am not terribly rude, may I ask for more, please?
Oh, of course, my pleasure, Miss Saori! responded Colwyns wife, Harriet, with a big smile.
Compared to Saori who downed her whole drink in one go and who took a mouthful of it, Tasianna didnt touch it at all. According to our telepathic conversation, Tasianna admitted that she wasnt too much of a fan of alcohol, from her experience with sake.
I thought she didnt try it cause it was made from humans, but she just didnt like it.
"Ahhh, that is good to hear, although, now I feel bad that I can't treat you to the good stuff that our village makes. The harvest was extrely good this year, you know, Colwyn said with pride, although his eyes showed a hint of sadness.
Saori looked at the chief for a mont before uttering one word, Sake?
Ahh, I see you know your liquor, Miss Saori! We usually serve that stuff at the end of the year to celebrate it in Aurenas and Krunals na, for blessing us with a wonderful year. Colwyn said with a big smile, stroking his beard as he reminisced past mories.
As the chief and Saori were happily talking about sake, I quickly took this chance to telepathically ask Tasianna about sothing, [Hey, Tasianna, if Im not rembering it incorrectly, Krunal was a subordinate god of Zephira, correct? Why are mbers of the Aurena faith praying to a wind elental god?]
Tasianna gave a small clap from her lap, inaudible in the midst of Colwyns energetic explanation of his villages tradition and Saoris wondernt, [Brilliant, Lady Hestia, you rembered his na but you seem to have forgotten who he was. Krunal is indeed one of Zephiras gods but he is also her husband and the father of all wind elves. Beside from that, Krunal also rules over us as the God of Weathers and Harvests.]
[Oh, the God of Harvests, and this is a farming village. Makes sense now,] I responded, prompting Tasianna to give a smile filled with warmness and joyfulness, completely different to her cold and distant attitude towards the villages plight.
FUCK! suddenly slamming the table with his fist, Colwyn then let out a tired sigh. What good is talking about our villages specialties when everything is goneAfter those bandits raided nearly everything, I think Carine village has to skip this years festivities. I dont even know if all of us will even survive this winter with how we needed a whole month to rebuild three houses-yeowch! What da heck, Harriet?!
Interrupting Colwyns rather depressive speech was his wife, Harriet. She hit him on the head from behind with a wooden box, which looked pretty painful, as Colwyn was massaging his head with a pained face, having reverted back to his villager accent.
Harriet looked pretty peeved and chastised her husband for his mood, Honestly, Colwyn! We have guests and are you seriously trying to worsen the mood after what Lorena had to say?! Stop complaining and act like a man already. Carine village will get through this like we always do, otherwise, well sha our parents and the gods blessing. Here, give the young mistress her money, whether she is a priestess or not, she still deserves it for granting the white grace.
Colwyn uttered a short, Oh yeah before accepting the wooden box from his wife. Harriet then went over to Saori and refilled her cup with cold ale.
I would like to apologize if we dont have enough to repay you, but, please, na your price. We can also give you products if we must, Colwyn stated as he opening the wooden box before him, inspecting the contents.
Saori and I looked at each other for a mont without saying a single word and then turned back to Colwyn, where Saori took charge of the discussion, As we have inford Lorena, we do not require any monetary paynt or physical recompense of any kind. We simply helped because we could.
"I understand that, but if we don't do this, we will look ungrateful in the eyes of the Goddess, right?" Colwyn replied with a conflicted expression. "It happens randomly, but priests would co on RestDay to our village to give sermons and they sotis use their miracles to heal any sick villagers. We are used to this and we have no problems with paying, especially when the priests exert themselves so much to grant us humble worshippers one of the goddess miracles.
Exert? What does he an by 'exert themselves'? Besides using [Mana Eyes] on Lorena, the healing itself didnt even make break a sweat.
Well, I already heard from Tasianna that elven priests would heal people if they required healing. However, they would never heal sobody if it wasn't absolutely needed, as they considered Aurena's magic to be holy and a miracle. Any self-inflicted wounds, due to training, for example, were seen as unworthy of her spells.
However, Tasianna never ntioned having to pay for healing. Even through [Telepathy], Tasianna couldnt confirm any of it. She wasnt sure if elven priests demanded a paynt.
Saoris eyes sharpened once she heard it, slightly tilting her head for a second before continuing speaking, Oh, really? Then, I believe we should respect your customs; however, do you not require the money yourselves? We cannot take it in good conscience, now.
Colwyn groaned in exasperation as he held his head, contemplating on Saoris question before responding, I will speak with Lord Count Helvas about paying it. He probably will be annoyed as we are asking for more money, but he will relent once he sees your IDs.
We dont have our IDs, anymore, I said. Thats why the guards didnt allow us entry into the village until you ca.
Colwyn jumped up in surprise, looking at all three of us with panic, Huh? How can you lose your IDs? Wait, now that I think about it, why do you three ladies not have anything on you? Did sothing happen when you were on the road?!
Noticing that my lie was causing Colwyn distress, I quickly held my hands in front of and waved them around, Wait, please calm down. Nothing really happened to us. We just lost them when we traveled through the Belzac forest.
As if he just heard sothing outrageous, he froze in place, standing still like a statue.
Dear? Harriet asked, worried.
Chief Colwyn? Lorena asked, tilting her head to the side from confusion.
Well, I guess this is why Mama always warned of lying. I have no idea what I just caused! What did my words do?!
The Belzac forestunbelievable, it took about a minute of standing around until he finally thawed, sitting back down as if he lost all strength in his legs. Never was there, but I heard stories about it from hunters I t in town. If it isn't rude to ask, how strong are you three if you can survive in a monster-infested zone classified as C rank by the hunter guild?
You arent doubting ? I asked cautiously.
NO! I would sin if I doubted sobody who helped one of our villagers, especially a fine young lady like you. Honestly, compared to the people I saw in town, you ladies dont look like fightersuhm, I apologize if I offended, Colwyn stated. "No weapons, no staves, no armor, no gear. You have to admit that anybody would find it far-fetched butI also don't know how this would benefit you. IDs are incredibly important to accept job requests and they are needed to enter towns and cities, after all.
Oh, that might be a problem.
Tasianna did ntion how important IDs were for day-to-day life. You needed them to accept Quests to earn money while they also acted as your only identification tool in a world without proper official personal records. I knew Saori and I had to get ones issued to us, as we technically werent citizens of any state or country, but it might actually be harder than I thought.
Colwyn stared at us, scrutinizing us three before reaching behind him and placing a piece of paper on the table, Can you take a look at this?
As Tasianna was the only one among us who was literate, she took it from the table and read it aloud for us, Quest: Bandit Subjugation in House Helvas Territory. Rank: D. Reward: Experience, 4 D Rank Points, A full amount of 21500 Davi paid in copper and silvite coins. Description: A group of bandits has recently raided Carine village, stealing winter rations and belongings while also kidnapping a few of the villagers. Lord Count Andre Helvas, in the na of Lord Duke Isaac Albreaus Greenveil, will reward any party that can subjugate the designated bandits and bring back the villagers of Carine Village. For further information, speak with Chief Colwyn from Carine village.
[Davi?] I asked Tasianna through [Telepathy].
[Oh right, I havent explained this to you nor Miss Saori, right, Lady Hestia?] Tasianna realized. [Davi is the official common currency for all countries and races of our continent, Altrust. It is a dwarven made currency system that spread around the continent over centuries. Unfortunately, that is all that I am able to tell you, as I personally never had experience with money before. Fairies have no use for coin.]
["In other words, you do not know how much '21500 Davi' are and what those coins an, correct?"] Saori questioned Tasianna.
[Yes, I apologize for my ignorance, Miss Saori,] Tasianna replied, ending our telepathic communication.
Once we finished talking amongst ourselves, Saori took the quest paper from Tasianna, stared at it with suspicion before handing it back to Colwyn, May I ask why you are showing us this request? I do not believe you are doing this just to satiate our curiosity.
Colwyn went silent for a second as he inspected the contents of the paper, heaving a sigh to signal he was ready to speak, You know, those bandits caused so irreplaceable damage to Carine village. Sure, they took our winter rations but what was more important was the people. While I was lucky that my children and wife werent hard that night, so werent as they were taken away from us through cages and swords. Lord Count Helvas was generous enough to spend his winter savings to send us food and new guards, while also putting a bounty on those bandits. However, none of that will help those that we have already lost.
Colwyn then wrapped the quest paper up and placed it back from where he got it, Maybe Im overstepping my boundaries here, my Lady, but I honestly believe that you three eting Lorena on that day was part of our Goddess will. You need either numbers or real power if you want to survive in a monster infested area, and I dont think three is enough to be considered nurous.
I am sorry, but that is unacceptable for us, interrupting Colwyns speech with a slam on the table, Saori expressed her displeasure against his request. We are not professional problem solvers, especially not when violence is included. I can confidently say that we are able to defend ourselves, but I also do not wish to endanger myself nor my companions.
There is a problem concerning information here. If the quest is marked as Rank D, then our party should be good enough to deal with it, as we have two C rank monsters in Saori and , while Tasianna can deal so serious damage with her magic against D rank beasts. However, that is assuming the ranks are identical in power.
I had no idea how strong a D rank human would be nor how well I would fare against one. There is also the fact that we have no idea how many bandits were there in the first place. We can't just wander in and expect to bulldoze through everything without a plan. That is reckless.
I have to agree with Saori, Chief Colwyn, I sided with my companion. We are only three people and you also cannot tell us how strong those bandits truly are, it would just be like plunging into the dark without a light. I do sympathize with your plea but we need to be realistic here.
Am I being too cautious? Not at all, especially after I learned that lesson from eting one of the snake heads of the leviathan. Sure, I was able to overwhelm the Panguanas during the lizardn rescue mission, but I honestly could have died on that day. That snake head was not a joke. My spells did barely anything against it.
The sa thing could happen with the bandits here. The majority of them can be fodder for all I care, but if even one of them can match in stats and skills, then I need to know that so I can form a plan.
If I can assess their strength and plan accordingly by preparing tools and traps, then I would accept it without question. My party was able to take down a B rank wyvern without much planning, after all, albeit she wasnt trying with her full strength.
If you need more people to help then you dont have to worry about, Colwyn said to reassure us. There is actually a rcenary party camping in the woods, waiting for more people to co until they can depart. They are beastn like you and Ive seen their ranks, theyre a C rank party consisting of four people. Your party should be around that rank, or even higher, so if you two work together then it should be alright, right?
Colwyn, in a panic, quickly picked up the wooden box and opened it, revealing the contents to us, The 21500 Davi was deposited at the rcenary guild, however I do have 5000 reserved for ergencies in addition to a budget for our winter rations given to us by our Lord. I havent forgotten your paynt for your white grace, my Lady. If your party accepts our request, then I will pay an additional amount for directly requesting it to you, I promise in the na of my faith. May our fair goddess judge harshly if I sin against one of her priestesses!
Colwyn then took out a pendant from beneath his shirt, clutching it with both hands. It hung around his neck and had an emblem that looked like a praying winged woman, If my word isnt enough, then let swear it. I, Colwyn, hereby swear in the na of the Goddess of Light to uphold my promise to Lady Hestia, Miss Saori, and Miss Tasianna. Once the Quest is fulfilled, I shall do anything in my ability to pay them back.
[I think we should accept it, Hestia,] Saori suddenly suggested causing to question her reasons. [If you havent noticed it yet, I think your little stunt in front of the village seed to have left an impression on Colwyn. I do not know what he considers you for but this might be the opportunity that we needed.]
[Miss Saori, you must understand that this Quest is dangerous, right? We will be endangering our lives for thesehumans,] Tasianna stated with disgust as she looked at Colwyn.
[Have we not endangered our lives plenty enough while we were in the Belzac forest? Hestia, tell , what do we currently need to fully integrate ourselves into society?] Saori asked .
I gave it so thoughts before giving my answer, [Money, identification, and a job. Even if I consider being an Idol a profession, Im currently unknown and I cant expect people to just give their money just because I sang or danced well. Im pretty much like a street perforr right now, sobody who has to hope for donations from kind-hearted people.]
[Exactly, we need money. This is our chance to get so of it before we hand in all our spoils from Belzac forest,] Saori stated, reminding that my storage magic was filled to the brim with monster parts and alchemical herbs and plants. [There is also the issue with our lack of IDs. You heard it from Colwyn, we cant enter a town or city without them, however, what if we had sobody that could vouch for us?]
[Ahh, I get it. Even if Colwyns recomndation isnt enough, he could ask his lord to help us. Colwyn owes us a favor if we help him with this request and having the support of a nobleman should be useful,] I finished Saoris thought process. [Stillan aristocrat? Urgh, all those Netflix shows usually display nobles as cunning assholes. Then again, this one was willing to support Carine village after they got raided.]
[Regardless, as a party, we would benefit trendously from it. It will be dangerous, yes, but we will not go into this alone,] Saori announced. [Let us take a look at that C rank rcenary party, first. Then after, we may agree or decline, alright?]
[Mhmm, I personally do not wish to trust this human but I cant disagree with your argunts, Miss Saori,] Tasianna said reluctantly. [If fulfilling Lady Hestias dream requires to do so, then I will dedicate my soul and body into it.]
[Its settled, then.]
Chief Colwyn, I uttered.
Yes, my Lady? Have you co to a choice? he asked anxiously.
Yeah, could you tell us where that rcenary party is? We would like to speak with them before we make our decision, I stated.
Colwyns eyes widened, slowly forming his lips into a smile, Yes, of course! Ill lead you to them, this instant. Harriet, tell everybody that Ill be gone for a bit, and that the kids should behave while Im awayoh! Here, I have to give your paynt for the-
Please, hold onto it for us, Saori interrupted the overly excited man, completely going against his lumberjack-looking appearance. As you can see, we do not have anywhere to store it properly. Until we co back, please hold onto it, or even use the money if you need to.
Shocked by Saoris generous attitude, Colwyn couldnt help but stumble on his words, B-But I need to repay-no. I must have faith, faith that you will co back safely with everybody. This money will serve as my reminder to keep my promise to you three.
With this eting having concluded, Colwyn and my party went outside his house and exited the village towards the woods.
After a bit of walking, we eventually arrived at what seed to be camp. There, I was able to recognize the figures of four individuals. As Colwyn said, they were undoubtedly beastn, but what he forgot to ntion was that they had scales covering from the tip of their tails to the front of their jaws.
If Caszcur looked like a crocodile and Apsala looked like a gecko, then these guys were dinosaurs. They were divided into three body types, each recognizable by the size and head differences.
One of them was small and had the looks of a velociraptor with the iconic sickle-like claws on his feet, while two of them were bulky and tall like a bodybuilder, possessing two crests above their eyes like a carnotaurus.
The last of the four was a humongous giant with the head of a nacing crocodile, who could tower over a house, I believe. He was like a hulk compared to everybody involved.
Oh, Chief Colwyn? Ashlakleel sagot toth zacotl, pressing both his hand together, the robed velociraptor-looking scale-kin greeted us with a bow, speaking unknown words to us. We welco you in Xohulotels na and may the Goddess of the Depths bless your every step with power. How may we Saurians aid you today?
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