Chapter 74: Meeting with Carine Village’s Chief.

“By the goddess, Lorena, I can’t 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 merc is a risky job and I had a feeling something happened to them but hearing that most of them are dead is fucked up. Those poor women…may 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 home where he wanted to hear what happened to Lorena. As you would expect from a hastily made home, it was sparsely decorated and only had the essentials which included a meeting room, as the chief had to expect to receive the lord of the village, even if it barely ever happens.

Guess I shouldn’t have expected a comfy couch. Sitting on a hard bench with a tail is pretty cumbersome.

“We will, Lorena, but we need to sort some things out first…oh!” Colwyn suddenly flinched back, realizing that he had more than just Lorena as a guest. “My apologies, Miss Priestess. We really shouldn’t be talking about this stuff right in front of you.”

“Oh, there is no problems, no worries. Also, please don’t call me ‘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, she’s 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? It’s not much, I know, so I hope I haven’t offended you.”

After we entered his house, Colwyn’s wife quickly came out of the kitchen and began serving us some dried fruits as snacks, showing their hospitality despite the predicament that they were in. We were also served some of their finest ale, which Saori told me was alright to drink.

["From the smell alone, I think it should be ‘small beer’. I heard that it was quite nutritious without containing much alcohol, a staple beverage for medieval times 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 don’t know why she would mention me being a minor when she was biologically younger than me. 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 me telepathically, “Should I brew you some 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 argument 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 wasn’t poisoned. How intriguing that a farming villager would know this, even making a show of it.

With nothing to stop me, 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 me initially quite interested in it as I kept pouring in more into my mouth. It wasn’t the most delicious beverage I've ever drunk but it wasn't terrible. It would go well with some 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 overcame 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 some reason, I was feeling a bit dizzy when Colwyn finished talking with Lorena and asked me for my opinion on the ale and fruits.

“…Bitter,” I answered in a meek tone while scratching my cheeks. “The fruits are nice, though.”

"Ahahaha, I'm sorry, it isn’t the low alcoholic ale as this is meant for important guests. It’s 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 timed, Saori let out a satisfied moan, having chugged her ale down as if she hadn’t 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 Colwyn’s wife, Harriet, with a big smile.

Compared to Saori who downed her whole drink in one go and me who took a mouthful of it, Tasianna didn’t touch it at all. According to our telepathic conversation, Tasianna admitted that she wasn’t too much of a fan of alcohol, from her experience with sake.

I thought she didn’t try it ‘cause it was made from humans, but she just didn’t 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 extremely good this year, you know,” Colwyn said with pride, although his eyes showed a hint of sadness.

Saori looked at the chief for a moment 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 Aurena’s and Krunal’s name, for blessing us with a wonderful year.” Colwyn said with a big smile, stroking his beard as he reminisced past memories.

As the chief and Saori were happily talking about sake, I quickly took this chance to telepathically ask Tasianna about something, [“Hey, Tasianna, if I’m not remembering it incorrectly, Krunal was a subordinate god of Zephira, correct? Why are members of the Aurena faith praying to a wind elemental god?”]

Tasianna gave me a small clap from her lap, inaudible in the midst of Colwyn’s energetic explanation of his village’s tradition and Saori’s wonderment, [“Brilliant, Lady Hestia, you remembered his name but you seem to have forgotten who he was. Krunal is indeed one of Zephira’s 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 me a smile filled with warmness and joyfulness, completely different to her cold and distant attitude towards the village’s plight.

“FUCK!” suddenly slamming the table with his fist, Colwyn then let out a tired sigh. “What good is talking about our village’s specialties when everything is gone…After those bandits raided nearly everything, I think Carine village has to skip this year’s festivities. I don’t 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 Colwyn’s 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, we’ll shame our parents and the god’s 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 don’t have enough to repay you, but, please, name 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 moment without saying a single word and then turned back to Colwyn, where Saori took charge of the discussion, “As we have informed Lorena, we do not require any monetary payment 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 come on RestDay to our village to give sermons and they sometimes 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 mean by 'exert themselves'? Besides using [Mana Eyes] on Lorena, the healing itself didn’t even make me break a sweat.

Well, I already heard from Tasianna that elven priests would heal people if they required healing. However, they would never heal somebody 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 mentioned having to pay for healing. Even through [Telepathy], Tasianna couldn’t confirm any of it. She wasn’t sure if elven priests demanded a payment.

Saori’s 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 Saori’s 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 don’t have our IDs, anymore,” I said. “That’s why the guards didn’t allow us entry into the village until you came.”

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 something happen when you were on the road?!”

Noticing that my lie was causing Colwyn distress, I quickly held my hands in front of me 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 something 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.

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Well, I guess this is why Mama always warned me of lying. I have no idea what I just caused! What did my words do?!

“The Belzac forest…unbelievable,” 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 met 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 aren’t doubting me?” I asked cautiously.

“NO! I would sin if I doubted somebody who helped one of our villagers, especially a fine young lady like you. Honestly, compared to the people I saw in town, you ladies don’t look like fighters…uhm, 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 but…I 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 mention 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 weren’t 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 name 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 haven’t 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 mean, 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 some 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 weren’t harmed that night, some weren’t 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 I’m overstepping my boundaries here, my Lady, but I honestly believe that you three meeting 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 don’t think three is enough to be considered ‘numerous’.”

“I am sorry, but that is unacceptable for us,” interrupting Colwyn’s 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 me, while Tasianna can deal some 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 meeting one of the snake heads of the leviathan. Sure, I was able to overwhelm the Panguanas during the lizardmen 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 same 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 me 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 wasn’t trying with her full strength.

“If you need more people to help then you don’t have to worry about,” Colwyn said to reassure us. “There is actually a mercenary party camping in the woods, waiting for more people to come until they can depart. They are beastmen like you and I’ve seen their ranks, they’re 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 mercenary guild, however I do have 5000 reserved for emergencies in addition to a budget for our winter rations given to us by our Lord. I haven’t forgotten your payment 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 name of my faith. May our fair goddess judge me 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 isn’t enough, then let me swear it. I, Colwyn, hereby swear in the name 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 me to question her reasons. [“If you haven’t noticed it yet, I think your little stunt in front of the village seemed 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 these…humans,”] 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 me, what do we currently need to fully integrate ourselves into society?”] Saori asked me.

I gave it some thoughts before giving my answer, [“Money, identification, and a job. Even if I consider being an Idol a profession, I’m currently unknown and I can’t expect people to just give their money just because I sang or danced well. I’m pretty much like a street performer right now, somebody who has to hope for donations from kind-hearted people.”]

[“Exactly, we need money. This is our chance to get some of it before we hand in all our spoils from Belzac forest,”] Saori stated, reminding me 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 can’t enter a town or city without them, however, what if we had somebody that could vouch for us?”]

[“Ahh, I get it. Even if Colwyn’s recommendation isn’t 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 Saori’s thought process. [“Still…an 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 tremendously 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 mercenary party, first. Then after, we may agree or decline, alright?”]

[“Mhmm, I personally do not wish to trust this human but I can’t disagree with your arguments, Miss Saori,”] Tasianna said reluctantly. [“If fulfilling Lady Hestia’s dream requires me to do so, then I will dedicate my soul and body into it.”]

[“It’s settled, then.”]

“Chief Colwyn,” I uttered.

“Yes, my Lady? Have you come to a choice?” he asked anxiously.

“Yeah, could you tell us where that mercenary party is? We would like to speak with them before we make our decision,” I stated.

Colwyn’s eyes widened, slowly forming his lips into a smile, “Yes, of course! I’ll lead you to them, this instant. Harriet, tell everybody that I’ll be gone for a bit, and that the kids should behave while I’m away…oh! Here, I have to give your payment 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 come back, please hold onto it, or even use the money if you need to.”

Shocked by Saori’s generous attitude, Colwyn couldn’t help but stumble on his words, “B-But I need to repay-no. I must have faith, faith that you will come back safely with everybody. This money will serve as my reminder to keep my promise to you three.”

With this meeting 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 seemed to be camp. There, I was able to recognize the figures of four individuals. As Colwyn said, they were undoubtedly beastmen, but what he forgot to mention 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 menacing crocodile, who could tower over a house, I believe. He was like a hulk compared to everybody involved.

“Oh, Chief Colwyn? Ashlak’leel sa’got toth zacotl,” pressing both his hand together, the robed velociraptor-looking scale-kin greeted us with a bow, speaking unknown words to us. “We welcome you in Xohulotel’s name and may the Goddess of the Depths bless your every step with power. How may we Saurians aid you today?”

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