CH 27

I think this was around the beginning of last winter. As you all know, the Demon Lord was still alive at that time and the number of monsters kept increasing, so many people began gathering in Tortea while thinking, “I’m going to become the Hero that defeats the Demon Lord!”

That wouldn’t have been a problem if it were ordinary adventurers setting out to test their luck, but an annoying pattern developed where a young nobleman would try their hand at adventuring on impulse, dreaming of glory despite never having so much as held a sword in his life. There was also the occasional uptight brat with a big security detail, but it’s not like looking impressive helped them any.

“Aren’t nobles supposed to be strong?”

“They protect their lands, right?”

“Lots of them are in knight’s orders, aren’t they?”

Basically, yes, but Tarina once told me that some of them were spoiled by their foolish parents and grew up without ever leaving the capital.

Back then, I was receiving basic requests like any other new adventurer, and my first hunting job was with one of those young noblemen. Like today, Ludo-san was with us, and the nobleman brought four more guards with him while he dressed in flashy clothes and held a beautifully designed sword. Amazing, right?

“Lukitas had an escort, too.”

You should write him a letter~ And yes, Lukitas had a guard, but he was about your age, and when he worked, he did it alone, right? But this young noble was already 21 and he used his family’s power to get here, only then to have his escorts do all the work.

“21, that’s already a grown man! And that’s a request even we could do!”

“Mama says people who push others around are annoying~”

“In the world’s most peaceful town, he had the guards do everything…”

Right~? It was amazing. I was surprised, too.

We also had a meeting before we set out to work, but all he could say when he saw me was, “I feel sick being with commoners!” and “Who let you make a noise?!” I was left wondering, ‘What’s up with this guy?’

But it couldn’t be helped. Gartis-san wanted to let him collect enough achievements to be able to take the 1-star promotion test, so all we could do was get this over as fast as possible. Ludo-san, myself, the nobleman, and his four guards left without much preparation. And when they called praying to the Star Stone stupid, I really felt like there was nothing I could do about the situation.

Anyway. Around that time, I was coming to the forest every day to look for food. I was picking mushrooms and nuts around here, and I started seeing the same orbazard every day. One day, while I was crouched down, collecting mushrooms, it came up to me, tilted its head, and made a little “Pui?” noise. Isn’t that adorable?

“Ooh, so women like that sort of thing, huh.”

“Cuuuuuute~~!”

“… it’s so friendly…”

Mm, mm. When I pet it, it looked so relaxed, and when I shared some nuts with it, it squeaked “pui-pui~”s of delight. When it saw me, it would happily run towards me with its little legs, shaking its little tail! It was so cute, so I named it “Puipui-chan”1 and gave it all my love.

“You… Puipui-chan… isn’t that weird…?”

“Sumire-chan, you come up with weird names~”

“That’s a weird, cheap name…”

Huh? Is it that strange?

“I can’t really understand your naming sense either, Sumire.”

Even Ludo-san… W, well, it is what it is? 

On the day I was working with that nobleman, Puipui-chan came up to me as we were walking. Suddenly, one of the guards pulled out his sword and tried to kill Puipui-chan. I shouted something like “You can’t!” as Puipui-chan curled itself up into a ball. That defense meant only its hard shell was cut a little, but Puipui-chan was trembling pitifully when I picked it up. I looked at the guard angrily, but they still responded, “You’re supposed to kill it. Hand it over.”

“What the heck?!”

“Awful~”

“You have to do what the leader says…”

Mhm, and the request was limited to the area across the river. Of course, trying to kill Puipui-chan is unforgivable, but more than that, the guard wasn’t at the river, nor had he registered to take the request. Remember, you can only participate in a request if you’ve registered for it and you can only be rewarded if you do the work. Ludo-san warned him about this, but the guard was already worked up and said, “Then take it and kill it on the other side of the river.” After that, the other escorts started catching and killing more orbazards. Ludo-san tried to stop them, but he was outnumbered and the guards did whatever they wanted to.

“That’s terrible! What were those guys thinking?!”

“You shouldn’t take lives when you don’t need to, right?”

“We were taught in the classroom… wasteful killing isn’t allowed.”

That’s right. There are times when you have to take hunting or subjugation jobs, but only enough to prevent humans from being harmed. We’re all taught that the forest isn’t just for humans to use, but a place that everyone needs to survive.

However, protecting the forest and living with its creatures aren’t the only reasons to keep hunting and subjugation at a minimum. 

When a guard tried to kill another orbazard, it suddenly started to make a very high-pitched cry. Then, Puipui-chan, who I was holding, started to squeal as well. Puipui-chan was so small that I could easily hold it, but its voice was so loud that all the other orbazards around us heard it, taking it as a signal to make cries of their own.

It was so odd that everyone stopped moving, but Ludo-san hurriedly shouted at us to run away.

“Eh?! Suddenly, you had to run?”

“Scary~”

“… Why’s that, Ludo-san?”

“There’s a legend that if a group of orbazards sense danger, they call for the Orbazard King2.”

Mhm. We started running, but the nobleman and guards had trouble keeping up. Soon, though, I noticed a huge orbazard rushing up from behind us, knocking down all the trees in its path.