THE TRADER HAS ARRIVED! ③

“Alright? I’ll run a perimeter around the village. Lilifa and Zeal, you guys will guard Sieg in the meantime.”
“Got it.”
“Oka-y.”
“I’m counting on you.”

The Margravine supposedly came here a while ago meaning we shouldn’t be in any danger, but it’s better to remain cautious.

I walked near the moat.
The moat went deeper than I expected. It would be pretty difficult to crawl up if one fell down in it.

There was a drawbridge at what seemed like the entrance to the village, but it was generally difficult to enter it from outside.
I mean, what would you do if a visitor came visiting?

The walls and moat stretched on endlessly.
I had roughly covered half of the village’s boundary, but so far there were no cut-ins, nor any gaps in the walls.

I couldn’t imagine just how much hard labor had gone into making such elaborate structures.

“Mm?”

At around the half-way mark, I started feeling eyes on me.

As I looked towards the Demon Forest, there were two people headed towards the village.
As if weary of me, they approached me at a gradual pace.

(Ally or enemy, huh…. I guess they’re villagers from this village. I should wave my hand for now)

If they’re just villagers, I won’t have any reason to act like their enemy.
They already seemed aware of me, so it might be better to do something and gauge their reaction.

As I wave my hand, they waved back.
They didn’t seem to have any malicious intent, and neither did I, so I suppose it’s alright to go talk to them.

I walked up to the pair.

They were a boy and girl, barely of age.
Out of wariness, the boy hid the girl behind him and took one step forward.

“Hey. Are you guys from the village?”
“…That’s right. Who are you mister?”
“I’m no one suspicious. I’m an adventurer who’s on a bodyguard duty for the trader who wanted to visit this village.”
“? Trader? What business would a trader have with us in this season?”

“I’d prefer if you heard that from the trader themself. If I let slip something that disrupts trade negotiations, it would affect my trade as an adventurer in the future.”
“…Is that so.”

I’ve heard some things, but how much I am allowed to hear depends on the trader who hired me.
In case discussion broke down because of what I said here, I might run out of traders who would hire me later on.

“So, where is this trader of yours?”
“Aah, they’re at your front gate.”
“Alright. I’ll let down the drawbridge, so please let them know. That’s fine right? Aria.”
“Yes, that’s alright.”

I’d heard the name Aria before.
She was the Margravine’s niece, and the one in-charge of this village.

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In other words, she’s the head of this village.

Most likely, the head will handle all correspondences themselves.
I should let Sieg-san know about this.

I ran towards the gate where Sieg-san and the rest were waiting.

***

“Welcome back, Racquel-san. You look like you rushed back, is anything wrong?”
“I met the village-head behind the village. They’ll let down the drawbridge.”
“Ooh! How fortunate. If all goes well, we might be able to get into negotiations straight away.”

Sieg-san was elated at my announcement.
Well, I’m sure anyone would hate it if they didn’t get to negotiate after coming all the way here.

Remote villages had a reputation for not letting outsiders inside of them.

“Oh, and Lilifa!”
“Eh? What?”
“You’re forbidden from raising your voice inside the village.”
“Eh~!? But why~!”
“If you start talking, it would hinder business discussions. We’re fortunate to be able to complete such a request, so bear with it!”
“Boo–. Fine.”

Though dissatisfied, Lilifa quietly nods.
She’s also an adventurer after all.

She possesses a minimum level of sensibility.

“Trader-sama. We apologize for making you wait so long.”

While doing this and that, the drawbridge descended. From behind it came the girl named Aria, and another girl whom I hadn’t seen before.
I don’t see the boy from before, where did he go?

“It’ll get very cold out, so please step inside.”
“Thank you very much. Please excuse us.”

After bowing deeply, Sieg-san followed after the two girls.

The insides of the village were quite disorderly.
There were a number of hut like shacks erected that if it weren’t for the wall and moat, it would be just another pioneering village.

“This way please.”

Saying so, they guided us to the stone house lying in the center of the village.

It is said that pioneering villages had something like an evacuation house in their center in case of a monster attack, so this must be that.
Despite these villages being small in size, it was said that everyone in the village could live in these houses, so this must be where these girls lived.

We followed the two inside the house.

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