Chapter 6 – Seris and the Village (4)

Goblins are women for a while! After shouting copulation!, They left the village. I memorized the direction they were heading and overheard the conversation between the village chief and the villagers.

“Chief, what are those guys doing?”

“3 days. They told me to prepare meat and alcohol within three days.”

“Three, three days?! No, how can that be done in three days… The situation in the village is not right these days…”

“I’ll have to rob the granary… I’ll be able to buy a cow from the city with that.”

“Chief! Isn’t that a tax to be raised when the manager comes this time?! If you use it to buy cows…”

“Yeah, man! It looks like I’m going to die right away, but taxes are a problem!”

The conversation continued after that, but the woman the goblins requested was not mentioned.

I eavesdropped on the conversation a bit more and then moved to the mountain where the goblins were heading.

* * *

-Kirik! It’s bothering! Why should we do this!

-This is what the chief ordered. If you don’t, you’ll get scolded.

– Kik…

Three goblins walked through the woods. These are the guys who came to the village earlier. I followed the three goblins.

Originally, I was planning to follow him around a little bit, but they were duller than I thought. So I changed my mind to follow him for as long as possible.

-Kirik?

The three goblins wandering through the mountains encountered other goblins. The number of goblins he encountered was also three.

-Kirik? Are you here too?

– You too?

-Kirik! Still, we’re not far off. In a little while, it’s time to take turns with the next guys!

The goblins chatted and giggled among themselves. Eavesdropping on their conversation, I frowned.

‘Rotation?’

Wasn’t this the way back to their lair? Somehow, I wanted to go round and round the mountain. Are you going back to the nest or are you patrolling?

It seems that the goblins here are more systematic than I thought.

-Kirik! We still have a lot left. So you have to go.

-Cheer up.

-Kirik!

The goblin patrol was torn apart. I followed the guys I was originally chasing.

A little more carefully.

* * *

After hours of trailing, I was able to find the goblins’ lair.

Their lair was surrounded by wooden fences, but it was not large enough for hundreds of people to live in.

That means there are several more goblin dens like this one.

I thought about tailing the next goblin ranger, but gave up. It was because I almost got caught several times just coming here.

I descended the mountain to avoid the eyes of the goblins and headed straight for the village.

The tree didn’t. Because I spent too much energy on following.

“Huh?”

Returning to the tavern, I tilted my head.

“Ceris, what are you doing without going in?”

“Ah, Yoosung.”

Seris, who had been standing outside her shop, turned to me.

“That’s because the shop door is locked…”

“Is the shop door locked? No way.”

I grabbed the doorknob and gave it strength. However, the door rattled and did not open.

“Uh? It’s real. Why did you leave the store?”

“Probably because of the town meeting.”

“A town meeting?”

“Yes. I heard that goblins came and went during the day? Every time that happened, the adults gathered at the village chief’s house and had a meeting, so it probably is.”

“Okay?”

I thought about it for a while and then turned around.

“Yoosung? Where are you going?”

“To the village chief’s house.”

“Are you at the village chief’s house? Why is Yoosung there?”

“Why, it’s dinnertime soon. It’s almost time to close the business… Wait, since when did you wait here?”

“Me? I came right back after helping Uncle Ron with the field.”

“What? It’s been a while since Uncle Ron’s field work is over. Did you wait until now?”

“Haha…”

Seris smiled awkwardly.

Yes, it must have been because I would have to skip a meal if I didn’t receive my afternoon wages.

I sighed.

“Hang in there. I’ll bring you right away.”

“Ah! I’m coming too!”

Uh, that’s a little tricky.

I was about to refuse, but I nodded at the thought that suddenly came to my mind.

I headed to the village chief’s house with Seris.

“These days, Kara says it’s been a long time since she hasn’t seen Yoosung, and she’s feeling sad about not coming. Come over for dinner sometime.”

“I saw it the other day to be sad. You’re just doing it because I’m paying for the meal.”

“It’s not like that!”

Seris shook her head.

“No. I wouldn’t be able to say that if I saw your expression when you received the money.”

“What about my expression?!”

“Looking at the coins, how much the corners of your mouth go up, I thought your mouth was tearing..”

“Ah! We’ve already arrived at the chief’s house!”

Seris, her ears red, interrupted me with another topic. She was about to knock on the door of the chief’s house. She restrained her by grabbing her wrist.

“Mr. Yooseong?”

“Shh.”

I stuck my index finger to my mouth. After confirming that Seris nodded, she went back to the back of the village chief’s house. She found what she was looking for and she grinned.

“As expected.”

There was a wooden window at the back of the village chief’s house. This is the reason I came to the village chief’s house.

I’ve only been to the village chief’s house twice. First to get permission to settle in the village. The second is to say thank you.

The first time I didn’t look around properly because I was in a hurry, but not the second time.

The village chief’s house is large. However, not all rooms are large.

‘There was only one room large enough for the village elders to enter.’

And the room had wooden windows.

I put my ear close to the wooden window. The voices of village elders could be heard through the cracks.

“Yoosung, what are you doing?! If you get caught, you’ll be scolded!”

Celis couldn’t bear to speak out loud, so she whispered softly.

“The wall is behind you, and the windows are closed, so if you keep quiet, you won’t find out.”

“Even though…”

“You’re not going to tell me, are you? I put up with Rian being mean.”

“Ugh… Is that so?”

I shrugged.

“And aren’t you curious too? What are the adults talking about?”

Seris is an adult over 20 years old. She is unable to attend the village meeting, however, because the average age of adults who attend her meetings is in their 40s.

So Seris was always curious about her situation back in her village. So I aroused her curiosity.

“I didn’t have to wonder. Just don’t interrupt.”

“…I don’t know if I get caught.”

Saying that, Ceris put her ear to her window like I did. When I looked at her with a puzzled look, she turned her head away and avoided her gaze.

“I was just wondering…”

“Who said what?”

“…”

I ignored her Seris’s gaze. She focused on the sound coming through the gap.

* * *

The village chief’s house, inside the village meeting room.

There, the village elders who were quite old were gathering and having a meeting.

The subject was the request of the goblins.

“Chief, are you really okay? What if the officials hold you accountable?”

The mill owner asked the village chief. The village chief responded angrily.

“I already sent Rick to the city, so why is he saying that? Does that mean that if things go wrong, you should hold me accountable?”

“No, I don’t mean that.”

“Or shut up!”

“Yes…”

The mill owner couldn’t even sigh at the village headman’s screams. The owner of the mill was also quite influential in the village, but he was no match for the village chief.

“It doesn’t matter now. The goblins demanded a sacrifice!”

The sacrifice refers to the woman the goblins requested.

The noisy meeting hall froze at once at the words of the village chief.

“My, sacrificing… It’s not our village’s turn yet.”

“No. But it looks like the guys from the lower town hired an adventurer and failed. They said they killed them all. Dumb bastards…”

“That…”

The adults in the conference hall looked at each other with their eyes wide open. Then, a middle-aged man carefully opened his mouth.

“That, Den’s second daughter-in-law hasn’t found a marriage yet…?”

Den jumped up, exclaiming.

“Shut up! Why did you suddenly trip over our house? It’s because my daughter has high eyesight, but there’s no problem with marriage! Isn’t your third daughter a problem rather than our daughter?”

“What?”

“You said no guy approached you until you were twenty-three? I was curious about it, so the last time I saw your face, it was shattered.”

“What, what are you bastard?!”

The conference hall was fussed with each other trying to protect their daughters. The village chief sighed. In this case, the village chief had to intervene, but he just stood by. Here he could mention his granddaughter who intervened.

As the voice rose and the heat in the meeting room heated up, someone spoke.

“No, but why do we have to fight each other over something like this?”

“What? Would you like to send your daughter?”

“It’s not like that. Are you all right in town? A child without a family.”

“Hmm? Ah… Kara!”

“Yes, that boy! The girl said that she would be an adventurer on a fictitious day, so why not send her away?”

“That… Not bad. But will Seris stay still?”

“Ceris is also going to be sent to her baron at this point. Hasn’t she said that the child has been an adult for a long time?”

He then looked at Gedrick. Gedrick was from a baron family. I couldn’t help but notice him when it came to matters related to Seris.

Gedrick nodded his head.

“It will be fine. I heard that the disturbance of the baron family is almost over.”

“Oh, really? Thank god. Things will be easy…”

Bang!

Suddenly, Gedrick jumped to his feet. He walked over to the window and slammed it open. His sudden action made everyone in the conference room nervous.

“Crab, Gedrick, why but..?”

The village chief asked cautiously. Gedrick stared out the window for a moment, then shook his head.

“No, it is my mistake.”

Gedrick closed the window.

* * *

“No, it is my mistake.”

I heard the sound of the window closing along with Uncle Gedrick’s voice. I didn’t do anything to breathe a sigh of relief.

He just slowly moved his feet away from the village chief’s house.

I sighed only when I couldn’t see the village chief’s house.

The reason I took Celis was that if she overheard the circumstances of her elders, she might have even the slightest resentment towards her village.

However, the contents of the meeting were not at the level of adults.

At the mention of offering Kara as her sacrifice, Celis let out a gasping sound in fright.

She would have been caught if it hadn’t been for her madness because I took her and jumped right over her fence.

‘Still, the results are better than I thought.’

Seris now has a reason to leave her village. It’s as if the quest was a success.

If there’s just one problem…

I gently turned her head to look at Cerris. She shuddered at her betrayal in her pale complexion.

“…Are you okay?”

I asked Celis in a worried tone.

“Yoo, Yoosung, Ji, Ji, I have to go home. We have to go quickly, quickly!”

Celis grabbed my sleeve and said in a desperate voice. I could feel her hands tremble through her sleeves.

“Okay. Let’s go, home.”

Seris and I hurriedly ran to her house. But Seris couldn’t run properly because her legs were shaking. I had no choice but to squat in her pressure.

“Yooseong…?”

“Get up.”

“Oh, no. Are you okay. I can go alone.”

“He said he wanted to go home soon.”

“I’m sorry…”

She thought for a moment and then put her arm around my neck.

I ran with her on my back. She looked around with puzzled eyes, but especially Rian’s eyes were on fire, but she ignored them and ran.

“Hey! Han Yuseong, you fucking!!!”

Of course, the swear words were also ignored.

Arriving at the house, Cersei opened her door and entered.

“Kara!”

“Sister? What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?!”

As Cerys hugged her, Kara said in embarrassment. Seris tightened her hand as it cradled her collar.

“Kara is fine. My sister… She will be watched over by my sister.”

“My sister is choking… Huh? Brother? When did you come… Or more than that, why is your sister like this?!”

I replied scratching my ear.

“Okay…”