kscans

Chapter 68 - End Village (Part 3)

"Hmm, it seems the merchant caravan has arrived."

When he heard the word caravan, Yuri turned to look, needing to stand on his tiptoes a little. What he saw was indeed a line of wagons sufficient to be called a caravan. It might be rude to say, but for a visit to a remote village like this, wasn't four wagons a bit excessive?

"Not at all, one of the wagons is for the merchant and his guards. Excluding that, it's three, but normally it's not this many. The food shortage in town seems to be more serious than I thought."

Among the crops entrusted to the merchant was the portion for the tax payment to the magistrate in the next town, but even excluding that, it seemed they had come to buy a considerable amount. Yuri frowned slightly, wondering if he should have brought more.

"No, no, there's no need to give away food at the risk of starving yourself. We're the same in that regard."

Old Man Audel was kind enough to say so, but Yuri wondered what kind of face he would make if he heard that Yuri had enough food secured in his Storage to feed himself for several years. The thought was a little embarrassing. He decided he would increase the amount he provided next time, if there was a next time.


That evening, as was the annual tradition, though on a slightly larger scale this year, a modest banquet was held in End Village to entertain the visiting caravan and Yuri. Yuri tried to decline, but when he heard that the welcome was merely a pretext and that it was really just an excuse for the villagers to make merry, he decided to graciously accept. In any case, even if Yuri declined, the pretext would just change to a welcome party solely for the merchant.

And so, as the welcome banquet held under such circumstances reached its peak, Yuri was talking with a merchant named Adon. For Yuri, who considered himself a minor social recluse, conversation with someone he was meeting for the first time was normally a heavy burden. Even when the villagers had swarmed him, talking at him as if they were about to eat him alive, he had been inwardly recoiling. Fortunately, Old Man Audel had quickly sensed this and stepped in, so he had not made a fool of himself. However, this merchant named Adon was a natural at handling such situations, and even the reclusive Yuri was able to talk with him without feeling strained. So this is what merchants are like, Yuri thought, deeply impressed. Their talk had gone smoothly, and it was decided that Yuri would accompany this merchant, Adon, to town tomorrow. It was a relief that he was an easy person to talk to.

"Still, I can't believe you got your hands on something like this."

What Adon was examining with an astonished tone was a fur pelt that Yuri had brought. At Old Man Audel's suggestion, he had brought several to exchange for cash. The most enormous pelt among them was from a bear-type monster called a Gambit Grizzly. It was something he had been at a loss with due to its excessive size, and he had brought it along thinking this was a good opportunity.

"Sorry, was it Yuri? How did you take down a monster like this? This Gambit Grizzly in particular is a tough opponent even for a party of C-class adventurers like us."

An adventurer who had escorted Adon here ended up asking him how he had hunted it. Well, if you heard that a child not yet in his teens had taken down such a monster on his own, it would be strange not to feel suspicion and interest. Even for a child, it might be possible to hunt one using an ambush, traps, or poison. If so, he very much wanted to know the procedure, even if it was just a fraction of it. That was the thought behind his question, but...

"Oh, things like boars are easy to hunt since they just charge straight ahead. Bears too, well, they're not as simple as boars, but they're still straightforward opponents."

Well, other bear-type monsters aside, the Gambit Grizzly was by no means a "straightforward" opponent. It was not uncommon for it to do more than just ambush from cover. It would sic other beasts and monsters on its prey to distract them, or deliberately drive them into areas with poor footing, and then strike when an opening appeared. Due to its cunning and vicious nature, it was called the grizzly that employs gambits.

"Ah, when I'm up against something like that, I hide and wait for it to pass, or I catch it by surprise."

"Hey, it's not an opponent you can just easily hide from or catch by surprise, you know?"

"Well, I'm hiding for my life, after all."

He could understand what the boy, Yuri, was saying. A mere boar might be one thing, but a Gambit Grizzly was an opponent that even a seasoned adventurer would not want to encounter solo. For a child like him, if he was found, he would be eaten on the spot and that would be the end of it. Even so...

"Well, it's an adventurer's code not to pry unnecessarily. But you know, whatever your method, if it comes to light that you hunted a monster like this on your own, you won't be able to avoid standing out. Are you prepared for that?"

"Huh? No, the ones that appear around my village seem to be young, inexperienced individuals..."

"Who cares if it's young or old. A Gambit Grizzly is at least a Rank C+ threat, and depending on the individual, it can go up to Rank B."

For Yuri, who did not want to stand out, this was most unwelcome news. However, if the Gambit Grizzly was the source of the problem, then he just had to not release it...

As he was lost in thought, the merchant, Adon, who must have sensed his thoughts somehow, cut in anxiously. He shot a sideways glare at the adventurer, a man named Kudol who was the party's leader, for his thoughtless remark.

"No, that won't be a problem. It's not uncommon in our line of work to put things up for sale while concealing their origin. More importantly, Yuri-kun, if you hunted a Gambit Grizzly, then you must have collected various materials other than the pelt, haven't you?"

"Materials?"

He had already deliciously enjoyed the meat and organs. All that was left was the gallbladder, which he was keeping for medicinal use, another name for bear's bile, and the bones. He had kept the bones with the intention of turning them into bone meal.

"Hold on a minute!"

"You're going to turn them into fertilizer? Are you serious?"

"What a waste! The bones of a Gambit Grizzly can be used for all sorts of materials."

"What? Other than making broth?"

Upon hearing Yuri's dumbfounded remark, the merchant and adventurers were even more dumbfounded, and then let out a scream.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!!"

"D-don't tell me you made it into soup?"

"No, I haven't made broth from them yet..."

At Yuri's words, the group let out a sigh of relief, slumping in exhaustion. The skeleton of a Gambit Grizzly, which could fetch anywhere from several to over a dozen gold coins, had been on the verge of being turned into broth or bone meal. Just having been able to prevent such an atrocity felt like they had accomplished a great life's work.

The villagers watched the reaction of the adventurers and merchants from a slight distance, as if they were watching a show from the best seats in the house. To think they would get to see an unexpected one-act play. This year's banquet was quite something.