Chapter 07 - Millet’s Sister
Chapter 07 – Millet’s Sister
Translator: Ranzan
I leisurely walked back to the village.
The sun rose as I was returning.
「Damn, that’s bright!」
When I got back to Mulg, Millet was waiting for me at the gate.
「Ah, Mr. Al!」
「You’re pretty lively waking up this early, Millet.」
I was tired from fighting a magical wolf late at night. I used to be able to stay up three days while fighting when I was a youngster.
I thought again that I didn’t want to get any older, when Millet said,
「I was going to invite you to breakfast, but you weren’t in your house. I was worried.」
「Yeah, sorry about that.」
Millet grabbed hold of my shirt and pulled me to her house harder than I expected.
As I entered the house Millet brought me to, I saw a little elf girl laying in a bed.
「This is my sister Collette. She still has a little fever, but she’ll be fine since I got the medicine back to her in time.」
The sickness that Collette was afflicted with was dangerously fatal. However, if treated in time with the right medicine it wasn’t such a fearsome disease.
Because of the type of sickness, Millet was willing to risk danger to find the magical herbs that cured her sister.
「That was more important than anything.」
At times like those, I’m glad I chose to become an adventurer.
It was pleasant seeing yourself able to help others with the quests you undertake.
「Thank you very much, Mr. Al.」
Millet bowed deeply to me.
Collette was lying down, but also said,
「Thanksth, sthoooo much.」
The little girl lisped her appreciation. It was cute.
「Get well quickly, okay?」
I patted Collette on the head. She still had the soft hair of a young child.
「Neh heh heh.」
Her ears, quite large for her head, moved cutely.
We ate the breakfast that Millet had prepared, and as I went home the village chief was waiting for me.
「Something wrong?」
「Oh, Alfred. Did you hear those wolves howling last night?」
「Yes, it was something!」
「It was a miracle that our village wasn’t attacked last night…could you join us in some wolf hunting in the mountains?」
The chief didn’t know about the magic wolves or how large and powerful Femm was.
Anyway, I didn’t want to have to go on a pointless hunting trip.
「Chief, to be honest, I went to take a look around the forest last night…」
「What? ALONE?! No matter how veteran of a fighter you are, that’s too dangerous!」
The chief got a little too angry.
I had only been a guard one day. This chief was thinking I was some idiot without any idea about consequences…it wasn’t a good feeling.
I hurried to make an excuse.
「No! It’s okay. I’m very good at handling wolves.」
「No matter how good you are, that’s reckless!」
「To be honest, I encountered a group of wolves, and after battle, they decided to withdraw. The also promised never to touch Mulg Village…」
The chief looked at me with an obviously suspicious glance.
「There aren’t any wolves here that can talk to humans. There’s no wolf king that could speak to you around here either.」
This guy totally thought I was lying.
「No, no! Really!」
I remembered that Femm had given me that huge fang.
「Here! They gave me this. I asked it if there was any way that I could put the village at ease…and they gave me this.」
「Whaaa?!」
The chief almost collapsed from surprise.
「Eeeeeeeeeek!」
He then screamed out and all the villagers quickly gathered around.
「What? What is it?!」
「Here, this fang!」
「Whaaa?」
The villagers looked at the fang with shocked, wide-open eyes.
Then they all turned to me, wanting an explanation.
「I can’t believe it!」
Millet came bouncing along happily and appeared out of nowhere among the villagers.
All the villagers inquired where I had gotten it, and I explained what happened last night from beginning to end. Then,
「That’s…」
「No, but this is…」
「Is it fake?」
「No, it’s real.」
The villagers all talked among themselves.
Millet turned me from the still gabbing villagers and said gleefully,
「Mr. Al, that’s really something! But, not unexpected from someone like you!」
After a bit, the chief turned to me with a bowed head.
「Alfred, sorry for doubting you. I know by the smell. That’s from a wolf king, and it was just freshly removed.」
He knows by the smell? That fact surprised me.
The chief must be part beast. A beast-human can distinguish a lot by smell.
「No, don’t worry about it.」
「The wolf king saw you as master and gave you its fang.」
「Hm?」
Master? I never heard it call me that.
「300 years ago, there was retired adventurer that came here. At that time, the adventurer fought the wolf king and won, and the wolf king gave over its fang.」
「Hm…really…」
Now the story was different. And it was starting to bug me.
「S…so, what happened to the wolf king?」
「After the death of the adventurer, I heard that it went off somewhere. Oh, wait one second.」
And just after, the chief took from his house a fang that looked just like Femm’s.
「This is our village’s treasure…from 300 years ago.」
Then,
「Right?」
He said and nodded…then all the other villagers nodded.
「Oh…okay.」
I still didn’t get what this meant.
Millet bounced up to me and took my hand.
「It means that the wolves won’t attack Mulg Village again! You did it again, Mr. Al!」
The villagers were all smiles.
「Alfred…BANZAI!」
While the adults were all cheering, the kids were running around me grabbing my clothes.
「Wow, good job ol-man!」
「Yeah! Hez tuff!」
Anyway, I was pleased.
That day, we all had a party at the chief’s house.
For an old man, staying up all night and THEN having to go to a party is rough. But since it was a celebration, I went along with it.
Going along with things is important. Especially when you’re in the country – you can’t just say you’re tired and avoid things like this.
I got back to my house after the sun went down.
Drinking after a late night put me at my limit. As soon as I got home, I collapsed in bed.
And slept.
And…in the middle of the night…
I woke up after feeling a strange sensation.