Chapter 41: Traveling to Selene - Banquet

Chapter 41: Traveling to Selene - Banquet

Tess leads me to the dismantling shed.

"Battle Axe of Destruction" tried to follow us, but there seemed to be no danger in the village, and Roland and I could handle most situations. And since most of the dismantling would have finished, it shouldn't take too long. That's why Roland was the only one to offer his services.

Tess was walking a little fast because Miranda had told her to hurry.

But I think she wanted her to run, but she didn't feel comfortable rushing the child.

Tess is strangely happy and her golden hair tied back in a bun, is swinging lightly. If there were a cat, I would jump on it.

But she is a stunning resemblance to her mother. The only thing she inherited from her father was the color of her hair. She will probably have a hard time when she grows up.

I didn't want to walk around in silence, so I talked to Tess.

"When we came into the village, there was a moo – a sheep. Is that one Ronnie's?"

"No, it's Neil's. I often have free time to work at the inn, so I'm helping him."

Compared to the population, there are many sheep. I guess people help to herd the sheep to maintain the village.

"So I am happy. We haven't had this many visitors in a long time."

"I see. Those sheep are noisy, but please take care of them for the night."

"I'll take care of them!"

Tess spun around and cheerfully responded.

I see that's why she's so happy. She seems to be proud of and attached to the family business. It is indeed a good inn. It's clean, and the food is good. However, since it is on the southern road, the only customers are probably the peddlers who visit regularly and adventurers on rare occasions. Although it could be a transit point to Weld, there is a well-maintained road a little to the east, so there is no need to force one's way through. The location was too bad. It is a valuable bar in the village, though, so it will not go out of business.

After that, as we engaged in idle chit-chat, I learned that Tess was eight years old, two years younger than me.

She is firm for her age, but children in this world, especially in villages, often work from an early age, so the time they can act like children is short. Even in the villages along the way, I rarely saw kids playing.

While I was thinking about this, I saw a dozen or so villagers building a bonfire and setting up tables and chairs in the central square. Are they going to have a feast outside? I think they don't have a building big enough for everyone to gather.

Even there, a few children were running around under the direction of adults, but everyone had a smile. The kids also seemed more ready to play than to work.

We left the lively square and approached the outskirts of the village.

"Wait!"

We stopped at an unexpected halt.

Looking to see what was going on, we saw a boy emerge from a side street.

He was dressed neatly for a village kid. His manner was somewhat pompous, so I guessed he was the son of an influential person.

Tess muttered in a whisper.

"......, here comes the nasty one."

The boy comes up to me, glaring at me.

I don't remember him being hostile toward me.

"He's ...... always mean to me."

Tess backed away a bit as she said this.

Oh, I see what you mean. That's what you mean when you're mean to a girl you like. He is around the same age as her, so he must have looked like a pest to her. I had never had friends like this in my previous life, but I wondered what she does when she called her out. Is he going to say something sarcastic? I'd like to get on with it, wouldn't I?N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

The boy moved his gaze to Tess and chuckled.

"Be my wife!"

"No!"

It was a direct confession.

It's not mean-spirited, is it? He rejected her immediately.

"Why? She'll be the village chief's wife!"

Undeterred by Tess's rejection, the boy persists.

Is he the son of the village chief? He doesn't look anything like him. Is it better that he's not a twisted little boy?

Well, whatever. I don't know, but I'm going to ask you to leave early.

"I'm sorry, but Tess and I are both busy. We'll talk another time."

"What the hell are you?

"I'm a guest at the inn."

The same goes for dismantling, Nerios and the hunters here have not learned dismantling skills either. I don't know exactly why, but one thing is clear.

Those skills are outside the scope of my "Increased Growth Potential".

If it's not in the skills, I don't get the skills. I realize that through my senses. To learn such skills as they should be, I had to gain experience. That is also the reason why I insisted on dismantling Gowthus.

"What's wrong?"

Ronnie asked as I stared at him.

"No, it's nothing serious. Perhaps Ronnie is a former adventurer?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I was for a little while when I was younger. I didn't have the talent and soon gave up and go back to my parents' house."

Ronnie had mastered "One-Handed Sword 1". Of all the skills, combat skills are the hardest to learn. Besides, villagers don't have opportunities to swing a sword, so they had to either have served in the military or be an adventurer.

"From how he carried himself, I thought, ‘What if...?' He's not that different in build from Markant."

"I see."

Markant stood up and lined up with Ronnie.

He was trying to cover it up, I thought so. Yeah, they still look alike.

Seeing the two of them, Danil is also impressed.

"It's true, I didn't notice. Not only do they have similar physiques, but they also have similar atmospheres. They are like brothers."

At these words, Markant and Ronnie observed each other intently.

As soon as they looked at each other, they said.

"Brother!"

"Brother!"

They hugged each other tightly.

What the hell are they doing? And Ronnie, you're older than him, right?

They separate themselves from others, and suddenly the farce began. The others were cheering and eating up the rapid-fire developments while enjoying Miranda's cooking and drinks with them. The village chief who sat next to us was staring at the improvised drama. Oh, there's his son. Okay, let's pretend we didn't see it.

Nevertheless, the presence of his son reminds me of Tess.

If you look for him, you will find that he is still running around all over the square, adding drinks for the villagers and distributing grilled skewers.

Isn't he working too hard?

Perhaps it's in his nature, but he seems to be enjoying himself, while the other children are chomping on the skewers or playing with them. None of them are working.

"Tess!"

I called out, and he turned and rushed over.

"You wanted to see me, Alter-sama!"

"You've been working hard, haven't you? You've probably been taking care of the sheep since this morning. Take the rest of the day off."

"But I'm working, sir."

"The other children aren't working. In times like this, the adults should be left to their own devices, and the children should stretch their wings."

Valerie, who was listening nearby, nodded.

"You're right, Alter-sama. It's one thing for village kids to be busy. But festivals and celebrations are different. Children need to have fun."

"But we don't want to be short-handed. ......"

"No problem then. Go on, Markant, give us a piece of your skin!"

"Heh–?"

Markant, who had been on the farce, turned to me with a dumbfounded look.

Then, as soon as he sees Tess, he assesses the situation at an uncharacteristic speed.

"Leave the rest to your uncle!"

And he ran off toward the inn.

Ronnie was the one who panicked.

"Hey, brother! That's not good! I'm your brother, but you're still a guest!"

He's not your brother, though.

I sent Ronnie off in hot pursuit, and let Tess sit in the empty seat. I felt a hint of fidgeting from the village chief's side, but it was bothersome, so I did my best to let it slide.