Episode 36
“…Where does the dog bark?”
“Why do you keep digging your ears, master?”
“It’s itchy.”
Damian cleared his ears as he came down the hillside. It was because my ears were itchy.
As if someone is swearing at you, your ears are itching and you can’t stand it.
However, there was only one young ant around, and Damian felt that he had completely escaped Sellars Valley as soon as the dazzling sunlight shone.
[Notice: New location information has been updated!]
[Current location: Conneil Village]
[Notice: World map information has been updated!]
A mountain village located at the edge of Terra, and the first request he received from the adventurer’s guild.
It was < Coneil Village >.
“The air is nice.”
“Where is this again, master?”
“Where? It will work.”
Damian put the wad that was fluttering above his head into his bosom and moved on.
It was narrowly safe.
Originally, Damien had planned to spend two days on Sellars Valley and Fabre Forest, but he wasted quite a bit of time due to an unexpected collision with Jeungsan Industries.
In addition, after the enraged Mingchen ordered to track down Damian, Damian had to spend half a day more than expected to PK.
It was like anti-coercion.
Of course, the enormous experience points and various goods he could gain in the process could not be ignored, but since the first request from the guild was the first one, there was nothing good about being late.
“Are you there?”
Cleverly—
Damien knocked on the door of a log cabin located at the highest point while climbing the village of Conneil, which reminded him of Machu Picchu in Peru.
If his guess was correct, the house with the highest status here in Conneil Village must have been that house.
“Nush?”
“I came from the adventurer’s guild.”
“Adventurer… Guild?”
“yes. I heard you filed an appeal with the government office.”
“Ohhhhh…!! You’re finally here!!”
As Damian said, the owner of the log cabin widened his eyes.
It was < Albert >, the chief of Conneil Village.
As Damian said, Albert had sent an appeal to the authorities, which, according to common sense, was not such a big deal.
In the mountain village of Conneil, it was a very important matter as it could decide the fate of the village.
Usually, the countryside was bound to show vigilance towards outsiders, but the matter was serious enough to immediately release its vigilance towards Damian.
“Please sit down! The fixer came from far away, so I’ll treat you with something!”
“Ah yes. thank you.”
Albert offered a seat, and Damian stepped inside.
It was a small village house.
From the outside, there is nothing particularly noteworthy about it, but if I had to pick one, it would be a carpet made of sheep’s wool and hairs piled up in one corner.
And while Damian took his eyes off the carpet at Albert’s continued words, he was able to recall the name of the quest once again.
“At some point, the sheep in the village keep disappearing. Although the mountains around here are rough… the number is decreasing day by day.”
“How many sheep are missing?”
“It seems like twenty less every week. It’s to the point where he’s dried up. Where did all those sheep go…”
< The village where the sheep disappeared >.
The crisis in Conneil Village was literally ongoing.
“When did it start to decline specifically?”
“I think it was about a month ago. In our village, we tend sheep collectively.”
Damian asked, and Albert wiped his forehead pensively.
It was the same thing to know why he had appealed to the authorities.
The number of sheep managed by the village was about 400 to 500, which was not a lot, but most of the villagers were elderly adults.
Not to mention, the only person tending the sheep was a boy who was only nineteen years old, so in reality there was almost no management.
“…for a moment. Who herded the 400 sheep?”
“My name is Joseph. Go A-Rao was picked up and raised by a village woodcutter decades ago. I don’t know if he’s tending sheep or going out to play because he’s so rude.”
If Albert’s words were true, it was an issue that could threaten the village’s existence in the long run.
“Since a month ago, 20 sheep have disappeared every week.
“exactly. He must have said the same thing. By the way…”
Albert clicked his tongue at Damian’s words.
Something seemed distasteful.
According to him, Joseph had an overly active personality and liked to play pranks, so he often lied about wolves from before.
So, Albert and the villagers said that they would no longer believe Joseph’s words because of all the fools they had been deceived.
It was natural.
There is nothing more foolish than believing the words of Joseph, who makes you walk in vain every day, and Joseph’s reputation has been called a sheep thief or an ungrateful ungrateful.
“Then where is that boy named Joseph?”
“Don’t worry. Because Joseph is well guarded by the villagers now. If you have an idea, you won’t be able to think of acting hastily.”
“aha?”
“Joseph is also Joseph, but… Seeing that the sheep disappear even though he is not tending, something terrible must be happening! Please do something with our village!”
snap!
While Damian was lost in thought, Albert held Damian’s hands.
It was an act of desperation.
I didn’t know what was going on at the time, but whether it was just a sheep thief or a group of wild beasts, the fate of the town must have depended.
So Albert, the village headman, was hoping that this terrible thing would end as soon as possible.
It was something that the village might starve to death like this.
“Could I see that friend by any chance?”
“That… friend?”
“A boy named Joseph.”
smile!
Before long, Damian drew an arc under the boar’s helmet.
* * *
“Did you say this way?”
“Where is this again, master!”
Damian looked up as he moved towards the place Albert had pointed out.
It was far from town.
After going down for some time toward the peak, and turning around the entrance with a large rock, a simple log cabin the size of a pyeong comes into view.
And Damian could see a door blocked by a board with a few middle-aged men in the village in front of the log house in the distance.
“Right.”
As Albert said, the place where Joseph currently lives was restrained so that no one could enter or leave.
– Please open this, man!!! Because I’m not real?!
“Be quiet, Inum! Didn’t Chief Albert tell you to keep quiet until he solved it?”
As Damian headed towards the log cabin, a middle-aged man and a young voice rang out.
It was a booming voice.
Judging from the general appearance, the young, high-pitched voice seemed to be Joseph the shepherd whom Albert had mentioned.
The middle-aged man sitting outside the door with a blood clot around his neck must be a villager in charge of monitoring and feeding Joseph.
“Why are those humans doing that, master?”
“It looks like he wants to go out.”
Poof!
And Damian decided to listen to the conversation between the two, who had been scrambling for a while while answering Mungchi’s words.
He didn’t know what happened to Joseph who wanted to go out and the villagers who stopped him, but sometimes he could get an unexpected harvest from a trivial place.
“But why did you block the door like that? Do humans here talk like that!”
“That’s not it… Maybe because they thought a boy named Joseph was the culprit.”
When Munchchi asked overhead, Damian looked at the log cabin and rubbed his chin.
It was nothing unusual.
A boy who grew up without an old woodcutter who took him in as blood, and no other relatives.
According to Albert, the old woodcutter had recently died of a chronic disease, and Joseph had been going from house to house doing some work and getting food.
It was like a kind of housemaid’s meal.
Joseph’s tending sheep was also an effort to blend into the village, and his personality, no matter how bright he was, was not enough to feed him.
But…
“In a situation where you almost manage the village common property by yourself. bad reputation. Even material damage that could threaten the existence of the village. Even if you didn’t go on a witch hunt, it’s okay.”
“Is that so, master?”
“huh.”
While Damian reviewed the situation of the village, he realized that the village of Conneil was more rational and common sense than he thought.
It was because it was nothing short of a miracle that the boy, on whom everyone’s suspicions were focused, was alive in a remote mountainous area where fists were usually closer than the law.
“hello?”
“No… Huh?”
As Damian approached the log cabin, the middle-aged man turned his head.
It was the man who was wrestling with Joseph.
A face that looked like it would lie down at any moment, perhaps because a blood band had been erected on its neck just a moment ago.
And when Damian seemed interested in the log cabin, the middle-aged man clicked his tongue and turned his head to look at him.
It seemed that all 50,000 affections had already been lost.
“What is the adventurer mercenary doing here? I thought you were talking to old Albert.”
“It’s because we’re on our way to talk. How is Joseph?”
“Joseph? What’s that guy…”
Poof!
As Damian chinned, the middle-aged man covered his ears.
It was because of the booming voice that rang through the door.
– Please open this, please!! Now is not the time to be like this!!
Bang bang bang!
It is natural for the middle-aged man to cover his ears when he is knocking on the door as if to break it.
“…as you see. After all, he’s a good guy. I wonder if I ate the firebox of the train.”
“aha.”
And at the same time as the middle-aged man wrinkled his forehead, Damian wondered if it might be outside the door that was rather humiliating.
It’s been about four days since the boy was locked up, but Joseph has been saying the same thing all along.
Albert and the villagers were so neurotic at Joseph’s words.
“It hurts so much that I am going to die. This is how I got to lie down first before the village sheep disappear.”
Whoa!
Eventually, the moment when the middle-aged man sighed and shook his head as if he was fed up…
“Let’s meet again.”
“…Hmm?”
Kududeuk!
Suddenly, leaving the middle-aged man behind, Damian began to put his fists on the door, trying to break down the nailed gate at any moment.
“Joseph? You’d better stay away from the door.”
– What? who are you?
Wedge love!
And Damian’s fist pierced the log cabin’s gate.
