CH 48

A New Hope?

“That’s why I told you going solo was reckless!”

Bam!

The sound of the chief hitting his desk echoed through the room.

After using my crutch to return to the village, I was led to the chief’s house and surrounded by villagers.

“I’m sorry, but with this leg, the quest is a failure. I will pay the penalty at the guild, which you can accept.”

“It may be over for you once you’ve paid the money, but it is not the case for this village! What if we are attacked in the meantime!”

“Judging by the size of the settlement, they will not be attacking anytime soon. Though, you should still avoid going into the forest for now.”

I had checked the forest the day before the night attack, obviously.

“But you abandoned Biledo and ran from the orcs!”

Bam!

The desk was hit again.

So that’s what he was told. I think that was the name of Fosite’s friend.

Was he an Adventurer that was born in this village then?

“They aren’t so slow as to let their prey escape when it’s moving on one leg. This leg was torn off by a Giant Spider we encountered on the way.”

I took out a wrapped up Giant Spider fang from my bag and dropped it heavily onto the table. The people in the room gasped.

“What!? That is not what Fosite said! Are you lying to me?!”

“But chief, it’s true that he wouldn’t be able to escape from the orcs with that leg. Now, tell us mister. What happened to Biledo?”

Said a tall villager.

So Fosite was from this village too. Perhaps all three were.

“When I was on my way to the orc settlement, I encountered two people running away from it. They were being chased by orcs. While I defeated the orcs, I did not see this Biledo. Because of this incident, I had to cancel my plan to ambush the orcs. And then on our way back to this village, a Giant Spider did this to me.”

“Hmm… Hey, bring Fosite and Nebby.”

Two people left the room. They were probably going to go and look for them.

“Hey, chief.”

“What?”

“They’ve been through a lot. With losing a friend and all. So…don’t be too harsh on them.”

“Hmm…”

The chief did not reply.

There was silence for quite some time after that, and then the door cracked open. However, the only person who came was Nebby. And she was in tears.

It was only her voice that echoed through the room repeatedly, ‘I’m sorry…’

Ah. They made her cry.

“Nebby. Crying does not tell us anything. Will you explain once again, what happened?”

“Sniff… The truth is…sniff…Biledo was killed by the orcs. That man…helped…us…and…then…a spider attacked. Sniff…he lost…his leg…trying to save…us…”

That was all she was able to say. She then collapsed into a puddle of tears and had to be taken away.

While Nebby was gone, there was no sign of Fosite coming. As I wondered what had happened to him, the door opened again and one of the villagers entered.

“What is it? Where is Fosite?”

“He ran away.”

“What?!”

And so the interrogation came to a close. As there was unlikely to be an orc attack, some guards were posted and the state of alert was lifted.

In the end, Fosite was not found, and I decided to return to the royal capital the following morning.

As I had failed to exterminate the orcs, I had to contact the guild immediately so they could send someone else.

Neigh!

I led Hyuga from the stables and petted his neck. It was as if he noticed there was something different with me as I walked with a crutch. And his eyes looked almost worried.

“You’re the only one I can rely on.”

Neigh!

Oh, how comforting.

But when I tried to mount him, I could not get my foot in the stirrup with just one leg. This was a problem. As I had no choice, I held the saddle and used all of my strength to pull and climb my way up.

Hyuga seemed startled by this at first, but stayed still. Yes, thank you.

Once I was in the saddle, the chief handed me my crutch and spear.

He had given me a simple spear so that I could protect myself on the road. My shield was strapped to my other belongings.

“Nebby and Fosite were born in this village. And so I can’t accept any money for breach of contract when you saved their lives.”

“With Adventurers, it is a matter of trust. Please don’t worry about me.”

I bowed my head and headed towards the gate.

Right in front of the village gate, Nebby stood. She was looking at the ground and her shoulders were shaking.

“Nebby.”

I stopped and called her. She slowly raised her face.

Ahh. Her eyes were swollen and she looked terrible.

“You don’t have to worry about my leg. I just used my body during a desperate moment. That is all.”

“Bu-but!”

“It’s fine. Also, if you ever do see Fosite again, tell him this. ‘From where you are, rise up again.’’

Maybe he is listening right now? I said it in a loud voice.

“I will.”

Oh!? Some strength seemed to return to Nebby’s eyes?

“Good bye then.”

And with that, I rode on from the village, without looking back.

—

“You heard that, didn’t you?”

I could hear Fosite crying quietly in the shadows of the shed. He must be feeling so hopelessly pitiful and full of regret.

But it’s not just him! I feel the same.

That man… Mr. Ajifu. He was riding away on his horse. He did not even look back.

Adventurers of higher rank have a different kind of resolve.

I spoke to the whimpering voice I could still hear from the shadows.

“I will continue to be an Adventurer, even if I have to do it alone. If I give up here, it will be an insult to Biledo.”

“Nebby!”

Upon hearing this, Fosite came out of the shadows and raised his voice.

“I’ll go too. I will do what Mr. Ajifu said and rise up again!”

While he was still crying, he held his hands in tight, shaking fists.

“Then I will go too. Now, will you go and apologize?”

I said as I took his hands in my own.

Fosite raised his eyes to look at me. Yes, he seemed fine now.

We looked at each other and both nodded.

“Watch me, Mr. Ajifu. I will catch up with you one day!”

He promised. And then we both stared at Mr. Ajifu’s back as he faded away into the distance.

—

Hmm. I would not look very cool if I turned back to wave at her now. But that just made me want to do it even more.

I mused about such things while rocking back and forth on Hyuga’s back.

There were so many things that were inconvenient when you only had one leg on the road.

However, the worst was definitely getting off and on my horse.

If you traveled away from the main roads of the capital, then you would occasionally encounter monsters. However, I could not get off every time that happened.

And so if they were weak monsters, I would scare them away with arrows. And if they still wouldn’t leave me alone…

“Hyah!”

“Kyain!”

It was mounted combat.

This was against forest wolves. I skewered one with my spear. Now there were two left.

But as I only had one foot in my stirrups, I was not well-balanced on my horse. I would have to make adjustments.

With so little stability, I dare not let go of the reins.

And if I had to wield my spear with just one hand, then I was limited to thrust attacks.

“Ha!”

“Kyau!”

There was a wolf on both sides, and I stabbed one of them. The other then realized it was on its own, and so it ran away. Phew.

While I had managed to defend myself against three forest wolves, both Hyuga and I were not used to this kind of thing, and our movements were scattered. Had they been goblins, it would have been better to run away.

A D-Rank Adventurer who is training in the art of the sword in the royal capital…running from goblins on the road. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.

How was I going to be able to live with this leg?

How was I going to survive?

I could not help but feel anxious about it. However, I was wrong to do so.

Because what I really should be thinking about was…

How am I going to grow a new leg?

That.

This was another world. It was possible to regrow a limb.

Of course, it would not be easy. In order to do this, one would need the high ranking healing magic, Regenerate.

However, in order to receive this blessing from the church, you had to make an enormous donation.

I didn’t know the actual price, but it was said to be very high. And as someone who wasn’t even sure how he was going to make money as an Adventurer now, it would be difficult to pay such a sum. Who knew how long it would take.

Perhaps there was another option. Use my knowledge from earth to make a profit.

However, there was yet another option as well.

I could learn Regenerate myself.

Of course, I knew that it would not be easy to learn such a high-ranking spell.

But, there was something inside of me that was shouting.

‘How powerful would a warrior be if he could heal himself?’

‘Like a holy warrior?’

‘I don’t care. I just want to use magic.’

Such desires welled up in me!

Making a profit? That could always be a plan B!

Thankfully, my charity work made me friends in the church.

And I had fulfilled one of the requirements to acquire light magic, which was the baptism.

First, I would try and ask the priest directly.

It was with this renewed sense of purpose that I approached the royal capital.