Chapter 47 Kindness Benefits Heroes
"Kids going missing one after another?"
"Yeah..."
The sunset sky was a bright red, and you could already see stars twinkling behind the clouds.
But the woman who called herself the village head of Korghi Village had a face that looked sad and cold, even with the warm evening sun on her.
Still, she seemed a bit calmer now.
When we first met, she looked so pale it was scary. Ms. Hauchi, who was panicking, kept begging her, but somehow I managed to calm her down and we started to hear the story.
"It all started about a month ago. One of the villagers' daughters went to the nearby forest to gather wild vegetables and never came back. Her parents were really worried, so we gathered the men in the village to search for her, but we couldn't find her... Then, 2 weeks later, the third son of a local shop also went missing."
A series of disappearances.
Even though such things can happen today, it felt almost like something out of a story.
But the dark circles under Ms. Hauchi's eyes told me this was a real nightmare.
"A week later, another child went missing, and I banned the village kids from going outside. All the missing kids were outside the village when they disappeared. But... 5 days later..."
"Another one went missing?"
"Yes. But it's strange! The child who went missing didn't even leave the village. In fact, that child was so scared from the other disappearances that they were sleeping in their mother's arms that night. But when the mother woke up the next morning, the child was gone..."
It was such a strange story that I couldn't help but be shocked.
Before the ban on going outside, you could still call it a disappearance. But with the last case, it felt more like the child just vanished. This was clearly not normal.
Shura, who had been quietly listening, seemed to agree and looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Is it magic?"
"Who knows. But from what I hear, it's hard to say it's something man-made."
"Are you sure? Could still be some bandit gang, right?"
"That would be too inefficient. If it were kidnappers, they wouldn't bother taking one child at a time with breaks in between. Especially if they had to sneak around without the scared parents or kids noticing."
"So what are you saying?"
"It might be the work of something not human."
(...like a beast, maybe?)
I thought about Shura's suggestion in my mind.
A beast. I had heard about them many times, but I had never encountered one myself.
They were said to be creepy creatures whose goals and habits were mostly unknown, but could they really be involved in this mystery?
Also, I was worried about how quickly the kids were disappearing.
The time between the first disappearance and the last one was clearly getting shorter. That meant the number of victims could keep increasing.
At worst, it could threaten the village's survival. It was no wonder Ms. Hauchi was feeling desperate.
"We couldn't do anything anymore. At this point, we had no choice but to ask the Einherjar Knights for help, so I came to the city to make a request..."
"And they turned you down?"
"Y-yes. They said that if there's a chance it's a beast, the request fee goes up. For a poor village that just got through winter, it was way too much to pay."
"That's messed up. Taking advantage of desperate people like that?"
"I feel the same way. But this is the reality for knights. If it means getting money now, they'll ignore the future of someone far away."
I couldn't believe my ears.
I had a feeling some knights were corrupt, and I hadn't forgotten about the cheating examiners during the entrance tests.
But I didn't think it was this bad. They taught us in school that fighting beasts was part of a knight's job, but this was the reality?
Not all knights might be like this, but that didn't make me feel any better about it.
"Please. This village may be just a small, ordinary place compared to this city, but it's my beloved treasure. Please, save us. Please, please...!"
For her, this was probably her last hope.
Ms. Hauchi was kneeling in front of Shura, begging and crying.
It wasn't tears of anger towards the knight, but tears of sadness because she felt hopeless.
I understood the situation and had made up my mind.
So, when I reached out to help Ms. Hauchi stand up, it happened.
"Hey."
"What is it?"
Shura's voice was cold, like she was trying to hide her feelings.
"Are you going to take the request?"
"And if I am?"
"Do you even get it? We're not officially knights yet; we're just waiting to join the main group. If we take a request without permission, we'll definitely get punished, and worst case, we could lose our knight titles."
Shura made a good point.
Even though we were knights, we didn't have official assignments yet, so we were basically just pretending. I knew that if we ignored the rules and took a request, we would face serious consequences.
"Losing my title would suck."
"Then..."
"──But, Shura."
Worst case, all the hard work I put in could go to waste. That would be bad.
But even worse, I had already made up my mind.
"I'm not about to betray my gut. I've made up my mind."
"...How can you say that so confidently?"
"Because I'm the hero of this story."
"...Huh? What does that even mean?"
"Doesn't matter. It's my story, not yours."
"...That's confusing and kind of arrogant."
Arrogant. That's a good word for it. But to be a hero, you have to be a little arrogant.
If you're a hero, if you're someone I admire, then there's no way I can back down now.
So, there's only one path to take.
It's simple and clear.
"You might regret this."
"If I don't do something, I'll regret that even more."
"...Fine, whatever."
First of all, I'm not good at overthinking things.
So, I'll just confidently reach out to help someone in need.
Just like that evening before.
This time, with a face that's not bruised or hurt.
I told the silver-haired girl my unchanging determination.
"I told you before, you're really intense."
"Thanks. You're just as annoying, ice queen."
"Better than a hot-headed idiot."
Shura, who had been a bit hesitant because of my strong determination, probably realized it was pointless to give in.
With a sigh that sounded like she had given up, she dyed her long silver hair a reddish color and stepped closer to me.
"I'm going too."
"...Didn't ask you to."
"Shut up. You can't solve this problem by yourself anyway. You're just too dumb. Idiot."
"You said that twice!"
"You made me say it twice."
Shura turned her head away but still offered to join me, which surprised me a bit.
If I thought about it from a different angle, I figured I would be handling this alone.
After all, this is a team-up between the hero and the rival.
I didn't expect such a heated moment so early in the story; it felt like a big surprise.
Even if it was unexpected, it wasn't a bad thing. In fact, despite her delicate and pretty appearance, she could be a really strong ally.
There was no reason to refuse her help.
(Alright, let's go for hero time!)
So, the hand I reached out with turned into 2.
As the sky changed from sunset to night, Ms. Hauchi's eyes shifted from sadness to hope.
I felt a strange happiness from such a simple thing...
It wasn't just a dream I longed for anymore.
Maybe it was because I could really feel that reality in my skin.
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