(Helium) 4th Chapter | The Hero of the Village
Currently, Shin was inside a straw-thatched roof house which was slightly larger than other houses in the village.
Earlier, the gathered villagers, who had made their way out through the narrow path in the woods, hugged the girl and voiced their relief. Upon the girl’s extolling words for Shin, everyone exalted him as a hero for saving the village and invited him to the village chief’s house.
“First of all, I would like to thank you once again. For rescuing this village from the Blue Ogres and protecting Luna……no matter how much I express grat.i.tude, it won’t suffice……thank you very much. I’m Chief Jeek.”
“Please allow me to….for coming……save Luna……uuu”
“M-Mother……”
The girl’s name seemed to be Luna.
Unable to hold her tears back, her mother broke down into tears then and there.
For the village to be in such a state, even Shin clearly understood as to how much of a crisis it was in.
“……Still, to think someone would receive this quest.”
From what he was given to understand, this village had been getting attacked by the monsters called Blue Ogres for G.o.d knows how many years.
However, when they were offered one of the village girls, they would placidly return.
Nevertheless, the village chief wouldn’t leave such a situation be; hence, he posted a Blue Ogre subjugation quest at the Capital Guild.
Although the funds the village raised were limited, not a single Guild member had received the quest thus far.
Upon the mention of such a word as ‘monster’, shin was convinced that he had relocated to an otherworld. However, it wasn’t enough to make him lose composure.
To begin with, his was a cast away life. He felt guilty toward rest of the Force Hacker members. Since he apparently wouldn’t be able to alter the history, he apologized to the members in his mind and leant his ears to the village chief’s story.
“This quest was posted quite long ago. Being such a village as this, we have barely been able to raise fifty silver coins in respect of the reward……the quest has just been withdrawn, too……please accept this.”
Saying so, the village chief fetched a tawny pouch and tendered it to Shin.
Under such an abrupt development, his reflexive response was to take it.
It would be unwise of him to have too much of his information leak out in this mysterious world; therefore, he pretended to be a Guild member and decided to leave the rest to the flow; however, he wondered whether he should have done that.
Shin, who thought that free information, even if little, was necessary, peeked inside the pouch.
There were ten odd silver coins inside.
When he heard ‘silver’, he expected it to be shiny, but what entered his sight was stained gray.
Silver? Bronze? Whatever it was made of, he would be able to know once he used the Device to a.n.a.lyze it; however, he couldn’t do that out in the open.
“……As for the reward, this one silver coin would do.”
Shin took one coin out and courteously returned the clinking pouch of coins to the village chief.
Although he felt guilty for taking that one coin out, he planned on using appraisal afterward. Based on appraisal, he might understand more about the financial state and the level of civilization of this world.
“Th-That……but.”
Besides……he didn’t know as to how much was this silver coin worth. He couldn’t readily accept the funds which they raised amidst the degree of poverty that forced them to offer sacrifice.
“……By the way, which town is the closest from here, and where is it?”
What he wanted more than that was information.
Even if little, he wanted to know about this world.
Most likely, he would never be able to return to the Earth; nevertheless, he was hesitant of sulking and dying as he was.
If he were given a choice, he would do as much as he could before he died. That was what Shin thought.
Here, however, he was treated as a hero. If possible, he would like to spend time leisurely as an anonymous.
He would be able to obtain more information in flourishing towns. For example, that Capital where the Guild was.
“……Did you come from the Capital?”
“Aah, well, yeah, but……”
“……Ah! I see. You must not have stopped by the towns en route……you must have taken great trouble to come here……however, thanks to that, you were able to resolve the earlier matter. We are truly indebted to you, sir……speaking of which, we haven’t even asked your name yet.”
“Eh, aah, Shin……”
The village chief seemed to have interpreted the circ.u.mstances from the manner of speech.
Shin immediately considered an alias; however, there was no particular need to hide his name; therefore, he gave just the first name without revealing his surname.
“Shin-sama……” (TN: 真 – ‘Shin’ used by Shin – means truth/reality. シン – ‘Shin’ used by Luna – means thin/shin)
Next to the village chief was one more person, Luna. She repeatedly recited the name so as to commit it to her memory.
“Shin-sama, is that right? You shall be handed down as a role model to posterity.”
“No……that’s modest of you.”
“……As for the town, there is one, but it has been several years since I last left this village……let me see – after crossing the forest ahead, there was a river running along to the north. If my memory serves me right, there was a small town after going upriver.”
For the time being, he played along. As if he was getting it all, he listened to the village chief’s story.
“However, the sun is about to set. When the night falls, that forest gets infested by beasts……well, if it’s Shin-sama, it won’t be an issue. Still, if possible, would you like to stay the night in this village? Being a remote village, we are unable to offer much hospitality, but……”
“I-In that case, my house by all means……”
As if she were waiting for the village chief to say those words, Luna jumped into the conversation.
Both the village chief and Luna’s mother were slightly taken aback. Because she was rescued, is that why she was contriving to invite Shin to her house?
“Ah, no…thank you, but……I have to report this to the Guild.”
Saying so, Shin kept the words of the village chief waiting. After bowing to everyone, he excitedly left the place behind.
By the time he reached the entrance to the village, he had bowed G.o.d knows how many times. Expressing grat.i.tude had become quite a ch.o.r.e for Shin.
“Excuse me!”
Upon getting called out all of a sudden, Shin immediately turned around. What he found was the figure of the blue-haired girl, Luna.
“Umm……Shin-sama……thank you very much……I……will become even stronger and……one day, I will visit the Capital!”
Shin wasn’t able to understand the meaning of those words. With his mind fixated on leaving the village as early as possible, he didn’t pay Luna due attention. After briefly saying a few words, he left the village.