Chapter 84: CH 84

Gaiden: Do Your Best Enri-san Part 5

Translator: Frostfire10

Editor: Greenfish

The E-Rantel adventuring party the [Axe of Cyclone] walked silently in a line across the road concealed by the grass.

The reason why they were walking in formation despite being in a location in which they had a clear view their surroundings was probably a bad habit of their occupation. Other such bad habits included walking around in town in full plate armour and being equipped with their weapons even in inns.

While it was not exactly for defence, not letting their guard down even in an open space was the correct thing to do for adventurers. However, walking down a safe road without any obstructions in total silence as if it were natural was very mentally grating. They were not compelled to hold a conversation. However proceeding onwards while constantly being in such a state of caution somehow seemed wrong.

And the ranger of the Axe of Cyclone who was walking in front, Lukrut, was also thinking the same thing. Lukrut turned around and talked to his companions.

“Hey, why are we walking in a straight line?”

“….I wonder why?”

“….It’s strange.”

“….Because we might be attacked.”

Lukrut’s eyebrow twitched. However he maintained his composure—

“No, that’s impossible.”

—Saying that lightheartedly, Lukrut looked around. Spread out before him was grassland. Not even the shadow of a monster could be seen.

“I think this every time but is it not strange that we walk through the town in formation?”

“….Because we might be attacked.”

“No way in hell! By whom! If we were high ranked that might be true. But we are nothing!”

“Caution should be taken at all times….”

As the druid Dyne replied, his face had an expression of [No way] written all over it.

“There are times we should, and times we should not! Now is not the time to do it right?”

“No, a dragon might suddenly appear from afar and attack us.”

Ninya, who replied to Lukrut, was a spellcaster and was not physically strong. It was clear how she did not want to use any unnecessary effort.

“What sort of shit story is that. That’s normally impossible Ninya!”

“Impossible. I have not heard of any dragons near E-Rantel.”

“Right?”

“But…. What should we do while walking?”

The team leader, the fighter, Peter’s words caused Lukrut to fall silent. As he was simply not happy with silently walking, he did not consider any possible answer to his words.

“We should….”

“We should?”

“We should?”

“We should?”

While their timing was off, they all asked the same question.

“Talk about the surroundings would be nice….”

“Like how it’s sunny today?”

“Walking underneath the warm sun makes me feel sleepy. Something like that.”

“….Are you all teasing me?”

“That’s not true, Lukrut. You were a good friend.”

“Why past tense! Anyway, what did I do!”

Silence returned. Lukrut groaned as if pressurised by it.

“This guy….”

“….I personally do not think that it is a bad job.”

“The reward is quite low.”

At that Lukrut understood that his comrades were unhappy and he scrunched up his face.

“You accepted this job right?”

“Well, it’s not a bad job right? It’s just going over to Carne Village for a look….”

As Lukrut’s voice trailed off, his comrades sent cold gazes towards him.

“The reward is almost nothing.”

“Why did you accept this job?”

“There seems to be a beautiful busty woman amongst the priests of the Water God.”

Silence fell once again, and the gazes on Lukrut extended past the realm of “cold” and had reached “freezing”.

“But! While the reward is little, we can earn their gratitude so it is not bad right!”

“True.”

“Yes. But if we want to earn someone’s gratitude then a higher ranking priest would be better.”

“….Well, it is not bad to hear about Carne Village’s situation.”

“As expected of our leader!”

Ignoring Lukrut’s cries of joy, Ninya and Dyne nodded at Peter’s words.

The knights of the Empire attacked the villages near E-Rantel. Anyone living near E-Rantel with a bit of situational awareness would know this information.

However as adventurers they would act to gain even more information. There was a rumour that the ones who attacked were not actually knights of the Empire and another that someone killed all the knights who attacked.

And those fake knights of the Empire were said to have been killed in Carne Village. This information was credibility enough to have the label of truth stuck onto it.

“It’s our first job in a while, but it’s nothing much.”

“Right?”

“Oh, don’t forget. We also need to check on the recruitment that the village head is doing.”

Looking at Lukrut with cold gazes, Ninya and Dyen solemnly nodded.

The request that the priest made of Lukrut this time round was to see if the recruitment of new villagers in Carne Village was taking place properly.

When they were attacked by the fake knights of the Empire, some of the villagers made it out alive. More than half of those fortunate souls escaped to E-Rantel.

Villages are analogous to humans. It would be easier to understand to say that a human had organs like a village was comprised of certain groups of villagers. Should important organs be lost, humans would die, and in the case of villages it would result in the dispersal of the village.

If those villagers had relatives in the surrounding villages they would go there. If not they would rely on E-Rantel.

The priests were the ones to help. Children without relatives or villagers who had their livelihoods stolen from them. Those that were originally supposed to be taken in by the government were instead helped by the priests. Of course the priests could not prepare residences nor new jobs. They could only be taken in for a short period of time and help with the priests as the priests worked with the government to find new jobs for them.

The reason E-Rantel did this was because it was a city with an excellent mayor. Depending on the noble governing the city, some would not provide any sort of aid.

It was normal for villages that had lost a lot of people but still maintained the form of a village to recruit other villagers to repopulate it.

This was natural.

When the number of people decreased, several problems would pop up. Villages were a world of role allocation and mutual assistance. As the number of people decreased the ability of the whole village decreased as a whole, causing a hole to open up in the system.

Thus there was a need to rapidly increase their population. Marriage and having children took too long.

It was true that the fastest method was the merger of villages. However this would bring about many problems.

The largest problem would be factional disputes. Villages were a world onto themselves. Should they merge the chance that they would mix together peacefully was low. Normally, until they could trust each other, friction would occur. At worst the merged village would have two powers governing it.

In addition villages that had lower numbers had the possibility of being absorbed.

Thus recruitment. One would recruit families one by one.

The jobs of the members of the Axe of Cyclone was to check that such recruitment did not infringe on the law. While it was a job that was important to the lives of villagers, the reward was low as it was a secret job of intel collection.

However it was at most looking at the village and talking to the village chief. To put it simply, they were messengers. It was natural for his other comrades to sulk when heard that he had accepted a job suited for the lowest rank F-Class adventurers.

However adventurers were not that free to bear that dissatisfaction forever.

As they voiced their dissatisfaction, most of it was dispersed after teasing Lukrut. After their mood had improved, they walked towards Carne Village in a line.

“Hah….”

Despite that, Ninya made a tired sigh. Dyne was walking directly behind him and asked in worry.

“Shall we rest?”

“No, I am fine.”

“The less cautious we are, the faster we are. Lukrut. How far is it to Carne Village?”

“In terms of distance just a bit more. We should be able to see it after we get over that hill.”

Lukrut pointed at a small hill that was 100 metres in front of them. Being able to see his goal made him pull out an unbelievable amount of energy.

Ninya put energy into her footsteps now that they had purpose.

They climbed the hill. And then they stopped moving.

“What is that?”

Ninya gasped in surprise. No, even the other three showed expressions of surprised as they saw this scene.

“Is that….”

“A fortress….”

It was a wall firmly planted into the grasslands. This was an extremely unusual scene.

It was true that they had often seen villages surrounded by walls. However none had been as large or sturdy as this. It was a strong one made of stone.

“Oi oi, what now?”

Lukrut saw this extremely unusual situation and asked the others.

“They said it was a simple village…. Carne Village.”

“It is well known for its herbs but…. I heard nothing of them being able to make such a wall.”

What was this?

Everyone’s faces expressed these words.

It was a completely impossible feat for normal villages to build such a wall. However in front of their eyes was a sturdy wall. They looked at each other, praying that someone had a reasonable answer to the strange situation playing out before them. However after tens of seconds passed, no one spoke.

Thus Peter made his decision.

“We should hide and watch. When you have an idea say something.”

Following Peter’s orders, the members of the Axe of Cyclone returned to halfway up the hill to hide themselves. They were not that foolish to openly talk in a wide area like a grassland.

They looked at each other and spoke their thoughts.

“1! Carne Village is protected by a strong wall!”

“….2. Some military force came and built it.”

“3…. 3…. I got nothing.”

“….4. The villagers worked hard…. And there is only a wall on the side facing us.”

Everyone stopped moving and focused on Peter.

“That’s it!”

“That has the highest probability. If the village is completely covered then it will be difficult to recruit any new villagers.”

“True. It’s strength can be called into question.”

“Then, what.”

They all fell into deep thought.

Their surroundings were grassland. There was nowhere to hide. It was easy for them to be found, but also easy for them to search around. Thus there was the possibility that they could check if the wall was sturdy if they looked around it.

Seeing everyone’s hope-filled gazes, Ninya spoke.

“….I have no confidence in my knowledge in architecture you know?”

“If only we could fly over invisibly….”

“We could buy a scroll? It costs quite a lot.”

“Quite out of our budget….”

“We can’t ask for something we don’t have. Lukrut. How about sneakily scouting the surroundings?”

“Mostly impossible. Most of us can’t tell if the wall is weak or not you know?”

“With all of us?”

“….Maybe not. If 2 was the right answer then this place is dangerous.”

All of them fell into thought and looked at their leader Peter. Their eyes showed hope that he could lead them to a conclusion.

Peter thought seriously for about one minute and came up with an idea.

“….We should check if there are any villagers.”

All of them excluding Peter all raised cries of agreement. While this was passive, this was the safest option they had.

“So we check around?”

“Ah, Lukrut, take a look around. It’s not clear what type of situation this is.”

“Got it.”

The four members of the Axe of Cyclone moved around the surroundings of Carne Village to observe it.

Since the village stood completely above the grasslands there were few places to hide and while they could not completely hide themselves, they moved in a manner so as to not attract attention.

This was extremely nerve wracking but it could not be helped. This was an action born from the possibility that a hostile armed group was inside the village.

They went to the other side and confirmed the existence of several large fields.

They saw the figures of several working villagers.

The Axe of Cyclone all sighed in relief.

Anyhow they had confirmed the presence of the villagers.

They observed the village meticulously to confirm that the village was not controlled by parties like the Empire’s soldiers.

Through their examination of the area, they did not feel that the villagers were mistreated or tired. They saw them slowly doing fieldwork while singing farmwork songs.

“There is no problem….”

“True. There seems to be nothing going on…. However, this wall seems to be sturdy. It’s not weak.”

“Then, since it’s close to the Great Forest, wasn’t this here due to caution.”

“That seems proper, Ninya?”

“Hmm, this seems new but…. At this distance I can only tell so much.”

“What should we do, Peter?”

“….Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let’s go.” (ED Note: a Japanese/Chinese proverb was used here, which literally translates to if one does not enter the tiger’s den, one cannot get the tiger cub.)

“Got it. How cautious should we be?”

Peter thought about Dyne’s words and made a wry smile.

“It would be awkward to be so on guard. Let’s relax.”

“True. That seems good.”

Hearing Ninya’s agreement, Lukrut and Dyne nodded. They did have some worries, but it would be bad if the other party thought they were hostile.

The members of the Axe of Cyclone did not come for a fight, and wanted to do their job properly.

With Peter at the head, they made a formation and headed towards the village on a mostly unused road.

The wheat fields on the sides of the road were a lush green and shook as the wind blew by. They walked through in a line. If one looked from afar it would look as if they were walking through the sea.

“Hn?”

Lukrut was the second in line raised a strange sound and looked in the fields. The wheat was not ready to be harvested but was over seventy centimetres in length. Of course, it was impossible to see through the sea-like field.

“What’s wrong?”

Ninya was walking at the back and asked in a worried voice.

“Hn? No, might have been my imagination?”

Lukrut tilted his head slightly and rushed forward to close the gap with Peter. Ninya looked in the direction Lukrut looked in, checked that nothing moved, and rushed forward as well.

Peter was silent, but he made a friendly smile and moved closer to the village.

As he did so, he made eye contact with a girl who looked curiously at him. She was standing alone in a field that was the closest to Peter— The field furthest from the village.

The girl was cute but was just outside the region of being extremely beautiful. She looked bright, and by the standards of a village, she was quite the looker.

The dirty apron clad on her figure made it clear that she was in the midst of farmwork.

“Hello.”

Peter gently raised his hands and raised a warm voice. As he did so his grip left his weapons. This was to appeal that they had no hostility to them.

In response, the girl curiously turned her head and cupped a hand around her ear.

Peter frowned slightly and again— In a louder voice than earlier, shouted.

“Hello!”

The girl did not reply. Her face without makeup was strained as she kept her hand cupped around her ear.

“She probably is unable to hear us.”

“….Could it be that she is deaf?”

“It seems that she is doing fieldwork in the furthest and least convenient place. It might be that.”

“Life in a village is tough…. Tyranny over the weak….”

“I don’t want to go through that.”

Several of his friends spoke in lowered voices from behind him.

“Then would it be best to pass through?”

“Maybe.”

As they spoke, the girl gestured to Peter to come closer. The speed at which she beckoned him was like a dog wagging its tail.

“What should we do?”

“It would be bad to refuse. Hey, look.”

Pointed out by Dyne, Peter cautiously looked at the surroundings and saw that the villagers had stopped working at were gazing at Peter’s group. It was not rare for ostracism to occur in the frontiers, and Peter heard of such cases before.

That could be what is happening, they decided.

“I do not think that we should take any hostile actions towards them.”

“Agreed. Our side should be stronger but, why must we care so much about this stuff.”

“It can’t be helped. This is a chance to spread the name of the Axe of Cyclone. If we consider the consequences, we should be friendly to them.”

“True. It can’t be helped. I’ll go to the field.”

Leaving the three, Peter stepped foot in the field.

As he cut through the wheat field and moved closer to the girl, his foot felt a strange weight on it. Then a low voice spoke to him.

”Uh-uh, stop there, Nii-san.”

In a panic, Peter looked in the direction of the voice and saw a small creature completely wrapped in wheat as camouflage in the wheat field. Since it was hidden by wheat, he could not see its face but it was not human.

The blade that creature held was pierced through the joint in his leg armour. This caused his leg to freeze up.

“Wha-!”

Surprised, Peter raised a warning cry. Or at least he tried to—

“Sorry bout this, but could you please remove your weapons?

A small voice came from a different location. As he looked there, there was another one at the foot of the worried girl. No, not just there. Peter also felt a presence from behind him.

“Using a girl as bait…. Ah.”

“….You’re wrong. Nee-san became bait for us.”

Peter did not understand what was said and wanted to clarify when the creature spoke to him.

“Hey, remove your weapons. Could you tell this to the others behind you? I don’t want to fill them with arrows. It’s not clear who you guys are.”

Peter hesitated, and felt that he could negotiate with this creature.

It was painful to surrender without resisting to a demi-human, but doing so without understanding the situation would be a foolish action.

“Will you spare us?”

“Of course. If you surrender.”

While he did hesitate, Peter knew that he did not have time and made an immediate decision. Should they engage like this, Peter’s Axe of Cyclone would be in an extremely disadvantageous situation. Thus he needed to tell this to the other members.

“Everyone! Sorry. Surrender and take off your weapons!”

After Peter said that he raised his hands above his head. Seeing that, the members of the Axe of Cyclone were confused. They did not understand what happened for them to suddenly receive such instructions. However while their comrade told them to remove their weapons, there was no way they would immediately agree.

They probably felt confused. With a shuffling sound, two demi-humans stood up from the field.

“—Goblins.”

Ninya whispered.

The demi-humans stood up. They were goblins that they had often seen. They carried drawn bows and were gazing at them with sharp eyes.

Should they fight?

Ninya, Lukrut and Dyne looked at each other. Goblins as a race were shorter, lighter and less bulky than humans. While they did have night vision and attacking at night was dangerous, under the sunlight they were not opponents that the Axe of Cyclone could not handle.

With such opponents, they had the confidence to help even if Peter was taken hostage.

However there was a reason why they could not immediately decide.

These goblins felt different from the one the Axe of Cyclone always faced. If they had to put into words, the goblins before them felt trained.

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It was not rare for goblins to use ambushes by hiding in the surroundings. However the figure of the goblins readying their bows were extremely orderly. They were completely different from the time when they adventured with the now famous Momon.

If those were children with sticks, these were warriors used to their bows.

Like how humans could train to get stronger, so could monsters. Even for demi-humans like goblins, this was natural.

The goblins in front of them were far stronger than goblins the members of the Axe of Cyclone had faced before.

Their hesitation had brought them luck. Hearing a sound different from the wind rushing past the field, Lukrut frantically looked behind him.

“….Hehe, so we were found.”

A goblin showed its face from the field and stuck out its tongue. He was trying to close in on them from behind, but he was not stealthy enough to fool the ranger Lukrut.

If they looked around they would see some other things hiding in the wheat field.

“….We’re surrounded.”

“We’ll surrender. It is dangerous to do anything without knowing their numbers.”

“….How about forcing our way through.”

Because they could trust each other— The three could them together could not make a decision. This was as they would immediately follow their leader’s orders.

However what finally ended their hesitation was the opening of the gates and seeing what lay behind.

“That is…. What….?”

“Ogres!”

“Hey, what is that….!”

What they saw were the figures of ogres that they knew well. However they were wearing metal armour. In their hands were giant greatswords. The shine on their blades showed that they were well sharpened.

There were five ogres wearing first rate items. After the gate opened, they ran towards the three of them. Each of their steps was wide, and their fast speed felt abnormal.

Including the goblins, their chance of victory was low. Perhaps even non-existent. Panic created unrest, unrest becomes confusion. However, they could not always be confused.

The three of them completely understood this and raised their hands above their heads.

“—We’ll surrender.”

◆

“We are really sorry!”

[—Sorry!]

Those were the first words of the girl called Enri. What followed were the words of apology by the goblins.

Seeing their uniformly bowed heads made one feel a sense of discipline from them.

Since demi-humans like goblins and ogres often faced humans, they were often hunted by adventurers. Since they had often killed without hesitation, taking this attitude from these demi-humans now made them feel unpleasant.

It was a truth that Peter could not avoid.

Peter looked at the goblins in front of him.

A goblin that looked like a spellcaster and a buff goblin that held a magic greatsword. And the rest that were equipped with high quality equipment.

The image of goblins they had had up to now crumbled in their minds. Perhaps they should call the goblins the ones that pierced through their ignorance and made them widen their view of the world.

While Peter did not speak, all of them were thinking the same thing.

If they fought they would die. How could such strong goblins exist.

“….Ah it’s fine so please raise your heads.”

“How could I, I treated the ones who came to check on the village like this.”

“Well, it can’t be helped. Yes, lots of things happened, and it’s natural to be cautious.”

Peter laughed. However his face had some darkness in them. This was as they had lost. And they did so without being able to lift a finger in resistance.

Adventurers risked their lives to chase their dreams. Basically their journey was always dangerous.

Thus defeat always led to death. They had surrendered in this meeting with the goblins as they had felt that they could survive, but if they fought they would have won only in their dreams.

Yes. Peter felt his confidence in his strength shake.

To adventurers, the number one reason to retreat was the [Fear of Death]. While he had heard of this, he still did not understand their rationale, but at this instant, he felt it.

However he did not lose all his will that he would give up on this job. Peter forced a smile and asked Enri.

“Anyway what should we do?”

They were in the wheat field from earlier. After the questions and distrust had ended, there was no reason to stay here.

“Yes. So I shall inform the village chief.”

“Yes, please do.”

Seeing the retreating figure of Enri, Peter changed his tone and asked the boss-like goblin with a magic sword.

“Are you all usually this cautious?”

Knowing that he was referring to the goblins hiding in the field, the goblin made a thin smile.

“How could we. We saw you all checking around suspiciously, so we had the villagers assemble and wait. Should you choose to do anything, you would approach them right? Thus we made a trap.”

“So you turned the villagers into bait.”

It was true that if came to get hostages, they had to get close to the villagers. If they were not the type to do so, they would not move in the surroundings like that.

At Peter’s words, the goblins made uncomfortable faces.

“Thus you turned that girl into bait. You’re good. Inviting us closer using the excuse of her hearing. And the field. You knew that we would not send everyone.”

Lukrut spat out those words. Hearing this, the goblin leader bared his teeth and made a dissatisfied face.

“Hey hey, it seems you are misunderstanding something. We would never let Enri-no-Nee-san meet danger.”

Nee-san.

As those words made the members of the Axe of Cyclone feel some dissonance, the goblin leader continued.

“Please don’t misunderstand. Even if Nee-san wanted to  become bait, we only did it out of necessity.”

“True, if it is that girl then we would lower our guard….”

“Oi oi, you don’t believe it? It’s natural if you think about it. Who could use their master as bait.”

“Ha?”

“….What did you say? Just now….”

“Master?”

“Why are you so surprised? That person, Enri-sama, is the master of us goblins and ogres.”

An extremely small cry of surprise came from the members of the Axe of Cyclone.

“Impossible! That simple village girl?”

Her footsteps and body looked completely like a regular person. That girl who could not defeat the Axe of Cyclone commanded the goblin troop.

It was natural to think that it was impossible. There was no way they could accept this.

“Understood! She is the one in charge of negotiations due to her face right?”

At Ninya’s words, the goblin leader made a broad grin.

“No way right. If Nee-san seriously wished for us to die, we would. We all believe that you know?”

They felt no lies in the goblin leader’s words. They were different from his earlier words, with a certain gravity to them.

The members of the Axe of Cyclone were at a loss for words. The goblin leader continued further.

“Nee-san even strengthened our weapons. Look at the ogre’s armour and weapons. And our weapons. There is no way one can get it with their face right.”

The armour the goblins and ogres wore were all better than what the members of the Axe of Cyclone had. Then the girl Enri who was able to collect such items must have something to her.

The goblin leader gave them a further push.

“This magic greatsword was given to Enri-no-Nee-san by a person who saw her as important.”

“Impossible….”

“It does not have a lot of magic…. But a present….”

This was strange.

The Axe of Cyclone all thought this, but did not say it.

Magic swords were expensive. For the cheapest ones, low ranked adventurers like them could try to pawn all their items and use all their rewards but still be unable to purchase one.

Basically she had the worth that made it simple to give her such items or had connections. Who was that girl called Enri? As such thoughts filled their heads—

“I have made you all wait!”

“Hii!”

“Uo!”

“Uwa!”

“Oo!”

“….Is something wrong?”

Seeing Peter and the rest who looked like their hearts flew out of their mouths, Enri asked. All of them looked at her breathlessly.

“….Did something happen?”

“No, nothing of the sort!”

“Yes. So let’s go.”

“Yes. There is no reason to speak more than this.”

“That is the case.”

The tone of the four of them changed. The one who changed the most would be Lukrut.

The four of them gazed strangely at Enri and decided that it was impossible for them to find out who she was and recalled there was a job they had to do. The four of them were guided to the village.

■

The guard in the station looked out of the window in a daze.

Today at this time the number of people leaving and entering were low. Thus he had plenty of free time.

As he made small talk with the other guards, one of them recalled something and spoke.

“Yes yes, this is the recent hot topic…. Did you hear? There seems to be a mercenary group staying in Carne Village.”

“Carne Village?”

The guard heard this name and immediately recalled.

There was no way he could forget the name of the girl who left such a deep impression. Seeing him make a small sigh, the other guard interpreted it as him lacking interest and continued talking.

“Some adventurers went to Carne Village and said that there was a mercenary group made of demi-humans run by a young girl.”

“Demi-humans?”

“Ah, it seems that she commands the ogre and goblin mercenaries.”

“Ogres and goblins?”

The guard was shocked and looked at his comrade.

“You’re surprised too? Turning such things with low intelligence into subordinates.”

At his friend who did not take it seriously, another guard who was listening by the side spoke.

“How naive.”

“About what?”

“Goblins and ogres certainly are stupid. The basis of their decisions are if something is strong or weak. But they themselves are strong you know?”

“True?”

Ogres were existences that towered over humans. Their basic abilities were far different from humans. If one did not train extensively in the sword, a one on one victory would be ridiculous.

“Oi oi.” Hearing his comrade’s simple answer, the guard made a wry smile and explained further. “If we ourselves were that strong, we would become amazing guards. Even one ogre requires several of us to defeat.”

The guard who spoke first made a look of surprise.

“I see. Then that’s true. Ogres are stronger than regular humans. But for goblins it’s….”

“Naive….” Another guard shook his head. “The strengths are goblins have a large range. Some have the ability to use magic…. And did you hear? About the legend of the Goblin King?”

“Ah!”

As the guard recalled a ridiculous but popular story, he raised a voice of understanding.

In the story, the goblin king fought a dragon and easily earned victory everywhere it went. It challenged more powerful existences riding on the dragon, and made a child with a human princess.

As it was a story, his weapon was also fitting for one. It was a branch cut off from a giant japanese ash.

“….But isn’t it a story?”

“No, well yes. I heard this a long time ago. There are strong goblins. But they are nothing compared to the king. If you look down upon them you will regret it. Aren’t there also existences like hobgoblins?”

“I see. True. Not judging based on one’s appearance is part of our job.” The guard nodded and frowned. “Then if that woman is not an idiot, and being able to rule over goblins and ogres of unknown power…. She should be quite powerful.”

“Yes. Even thinking of it simply, she can control several ogres. It would be best to think that she is strong.”

From what was originally a foolish woman, she became someone who had the strength to command ogres and goblins, causing one of the guards to cry out in alarm.

“What is that woman. How strong is she?”

“Since she can control ogres and goblins, in terms of adventurers…. She should be A? Could a B do it? I’m not clear.”

Turning away from what his comrades were talking about, the guard retreated into his mind. What he recalled was the girl he met back then.

Enri.

She was probably the woman who commanded the ogres and goblins. No, there were others who could, but it was not wrong to think that the possibility was extremely low.

She had enough raw strength to command. Especially when controlling those with low intelligence, power was necessary.

There was also the proof that Enri had the raw power needed to command ogres and goblins.

“Blood-Stained Enri….”

Of course, this was nothing more than his imagination.

He simply recalled his delusion when he imagined her living a life drenched in blood.

Yes, this was nothing more than a silver of his imagination.

—Until now.

If there was not anyone to hear his words.

If there were not those who felt that his words held actual meaning and truth.

Then the following would not have happened.

—There was a mercenary group in Carne Village.

—Their boss was called Blood-Stained Enri.

She employed ogres and goblins.

E-Rantel was a city that is a fortress at the frontline. Thus their topic of conversations were completely different from what other cities would have. Especially when the authorities did not censor information of strong people or mercenary groups, it was easy for such information to flow around.

The topic of the mysterious mercenary leader appearing in Carne Village burned through like wildfire.

When this information reached certain ears—

“….Did you know? There seems to be a mercenary leader in Carne Village called [Blood-Stained] Enri.”

Making a loud forceful whistle with a “puhii”, the Mayor of E-Rantel Panasolei Gruze Vauner Rettermaier asked the Guildmaster Pluton who was sitting in front of him.

“Eeh, I did.”

[Blood-Stained] Enri.

She was the commander of a goblin and ogre mercenary troop and was currently staying in Carne Village. It was written that she was born in Carne Village, but there was no confirmation that they were the same person.

No, there was the record of a person called Enri, but nothing about someone like [Blood-Stained] Enri.

“So? Did we find her backstory?”

“No.”

Pluton shook his head. Ordered by Panasolei, he had ordered an investigation but nothing came up.

“Is that possible? If she commands mercenaries, she should be known by other mercenaries right?”

Panasolei made a high pitched whistle with his nose.

Yes. What Pluton order was the search of records of the person called [Blood-Stained] Enri. If there was a mercenary group that was comprised not of humans but of demi-humans like ogres and goblins with a human commanding was an extremely eye catching thing. Thus they had believed that gaining such information was easy, but the reality was the opposite.

It was as if [Blood-Stained] Enri and the mercenary troop she commanded had appeared from thin air. Since it was such an eye catching group, it was almost impossible for there to be no records of it.

“I do not know…. If she had hid, there should be an extremely powerful backer supporting her.”

“….Does the Empire and [Blood-Stained] have a relationship? No, rather than the Empire the Agrand Council? The Theocracy should have none, neither should Roble Kingdom.”

If it was a demi-human nation like the Council, Panasolei had heard about goblins and ogres in their ranks.

“….Lastly would be the possibility that they just formed. At this time, for unknown reasons, monsters are leaving the Great Forest. There has to be a relationship between this and her subordinate goblins and ogres.”

Panasolei silently listened to Pluton’s explanation and asked one question solemnly.

“Pluton…. Is it rare for magic casters to rule demi-humans?”

“I do not fully understand what you mean, so I have no confidence in my answer…. But evil magic casters would have subordinates to protect them. Also goblins and ogres do have a tendency to obey the strong.”

Panasolei made another whistle with his nose and nodded in understanding.

“Then this will be fast. Recall when the Empire…. No the Theocracy caused pandemonium in the villages.”

Reading between the lines of that short conversation, understanding dawned on Pluton.

The great magic caster, Ainz Ooal Gown. He was probably equal to the Head Magic Caster of the Empire. The reason why such a powerful magic caster had went to save Carne Village was unknown.

Panasolei and Pluton were not such naive humans to believe that the great magic caster Ainz would act due to his generosity. Thus they had investigated why he had did so. However Panasolei was saying that there might be a connection here.

“….Did the powerful magic caster give [Blood-Stained] ogres and goblins as subordinates?”

“The possibility is high. We know that he used knight-like monsters.”

“Gazef-sama’s testimony….”

Pluton nodded. He thought this was the most likely.

“Basically when the great magic caster saved Carne Village it was to save [Blood-Stained]…. No did he want to avoid activating [Blood-Stained]?”

“If she acted, he would bring her to E-Rantel for some reason. Then Ainz passed [Blood-Stained] the subordinate ogres and goblins.”

“….There is no contradiction. But then is [Blood-Stained] simply related to Ainz or does she have some special meaning to him…. Basically, it comes down to what she is….”

“….I had enough of this with Camila, but with [Blood-Stained] I get too many headaches.”

At Panasolei’s wrung out voice, Pluton keenly agreed

“Agreed. There is too little information.”

“This is really….Dangerous.”

With another whistle from his nose, he made a tired sigh.

“Shall we use adventurers to collect information?”

Panasolei’s eyes reflected Pluton as he shook his head. After some time passed, Panasolei spoke.

“….No let’s not. Anyway the possibility that the monster magic caster Ainz Ooal Gown is behind her is high. There is no need to bait a dragon.”

“Then should we leave her alone?”

“But then….”

Panasolei hugged his head.

It was natural. She had a relationship with Ainz Ooal Gown. They did not even know if that was his real name nor his goals. There was far too little information.

As the person in charge of a place like E-Rantel that could become a battlefield, it was not strange for him to have information of powerhouses. Since there was a relationship with the person called Ainz, it was reasonable to think that she had some level of ability.

“However…. [Blood-Stained] Enri…. It’s too sudden.”

“Yes.” Pluton nodded. “…..If we search for information, we will deploy a lot of people, so we should stop, and it seems that the other cities have not heard of this name.”

“Stopping the investigation is correct. However….Why is her name only known in E-Rantel? ….No matter how much I think of this I don’t understand. What is her goal? Is there a reason to spread the name of [Blood-Stained]? I believe she is not hostile…. But I cannot predict anything.”

Panasolei sighed.

Since this much information was lacking, they could not read the actions of any party.

“Shall we move Momon?”

“….That…. Might be good.”

What appeared in their minds was an adventurer whose power was equally unknown as [Blood-Stained]. No well compared to the completely unknown [Blood-Stained], they had some knowledge about it. That completely unbelievable power.

Destroying a Skeletal Dragon with Complete Magical Immunity with sword, and being able to use the 3rd Tier of magic, a magic swordsman. He was an adventurer that was more powerful than anyone in E-Rantel.

He also had Artifact-level items and could fight with the amazingly powerful vampire—Camila. Lowest estimates would put him at the level of the 13 Heros, and was the owner of extreme power.

He was someone they were trying to gain the support of, but it was not going well.

If one imagined that the powerful magic caster Ainz Ooal Gown was behind him, this was much better than acting rudely to such a person. Especially by requesting Momon, they could check on the movements on the one behind him.

“However how will we move him?”

“How about normally making a request?”

“True….”

Seeing Panasolei’s growing hesitation, Pluton nodded helplessly.

He was a man with no interest in money or women. They were considering how to not make him angry. Should there be a relationship between [Blood-Stained] and Momon via Ainz— This much was confirmed— It was unknown what an act of sniffing around would do.

Momon, and Ainz supporting him.

It was ridiculous that someone with authority and power like the Mayor Panasolei had to pay such close attention to just two humans, but they had that ability.

Now there was [Blood-Stained] added to the mix.

“Really, will they let me rest….”

Panasolei whispered.

If another person knew about the situation she was in, a certain girl in Carne Village would probably be screaming the same thing.

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