Chapter 520: The Village Chief’s Request

Guided by the first villager they had met, Tauro and the rest of Black-Gold Wings visited the home of the chief of Nor Village.

They had thought it was a small village, but the chief’s house, perched on a hill, was surprisingly large.

Apparently, it also served as the village assembly hall, which explained its size.

While Tauro and the others waited inside, a white-haired old man emerged from a room in the back.

This must be the village chief.

When Tauro bowed politely to him, the chief looked surprised to see that the person before him was only a child.

“You’re an adventurer at that age? How old are you? …Fifteen? So young… And that child over there’s fifteen too? Are you really all right?”

“We may look like this, but we’re B-minus adventurers, so we can fight well enough.”

Tauro responded with a smile, taking the reaction in stride.

“Well, I’ll be damned! They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but B-minus at that age is astonishing. …Still, are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“?”

Even after learning they were high-rank adventurers, the chief still looked worried, which left Tauro and the others puzzled.

“The request I’d like to make is for the subjugation of a monster… Recently, there have been frequent sightings of what appears to be a monster that came down from the Antas Mountain Range to the foothills here. According to the villagers who saw it, it was a large creature with a rooster-like comb on its head and the body of a lizard. If that’s true, I suspect it may be the basilisk from this village’s legends. About eighty years ago, this village nearly perished once. The stories passed down from my grandfather say every villager who was glared at by that monster was turned to stone. The description matches exactly. That’s why we were told to seek help from the Adventurers’ Guild immediately if the monster was ever sighted again. I sent a request to the nearest guild right away, but we still haven’t received a reply.”

The chief of Nor Village added quietly that he wanted them to keep the matter secret from the other villagers.

It seemed he feared that if word got out, the villagers might panic and abandon the village.

“I see…”

Tauro glanced at Aeris and the others with an expression that asked what they should do.

Seeing their reaction, the chief must have assumed they were hesitating because they knew how dangerous the monster was.

“I suppose it can’t be helped… We’ll have to leave it to the adventurers who should be coming officially from the guild. I hear you got lost and ended up here. Why don’t you stay the night, then evacuate to another village tomorrow?”

With a resigned tone, the chief said this and asked a servant to guide Tauro and the others.

“Ah, no, that’s not it, Village Chief. You misunderstand.”

Tauro realized he’d given the wrong impression and hurried to explain.

“?”

“Actually, on the way here, we encountered a monster matching the features you just described—”

“No, no, it’s fine! You did well just to encounter it and escape safely. As I said, its glare turns people to stone, so you’re fortunate simply to have gotten away. I’m sorry I even thought of asking you to fight something so terrifying after what you went through.”

Thinking he had embarrassed the young adventurers, the chief cut Tauro off and apologized.

“That’s not what I mean. We actually defeated that basilisk already. So you probably don’t need to worry anymore.”

Tauro corrected himself with a wry smile.

“Huh?”

The chief couldn’t quite process what Tauro had said and asked him to repeat himself.

“So there’s nothing to worry about. We have proof—would you like to see it? It was a rare monster, so I kept the corpse intact in [Magic Storage].”

As he said this, Tauro glanced at Aeris as if to ask, We can’t exactly bring it out in here, can we?

“Y-you really defeated that legendary monster?”

“Yes. Its appearance matches your description, so I believe so.”

“Th-then… would it be okay if I check it out in my garden?”

The chief wondered what on earth this child was saying. Was it really all right to tell such an obvious lie? Shouldn’t at least one of the others stop him? Even so, he led Tauro and the others outside.

“All right, I’ll take it out now. It’s rather large, so please keep your distance.”

With that warning, Tauro took the basilisk’s corpse out in the garden of the chief’s house.

The body was far larger than expected—thick and massive.

The corpse was so enormous that it nearly reached the roof, leaving the chief and his servants weak-kneed with shock.

“H-hii! Isn’t this even bigger than what the villagers described!?”

The chief sank to the ground, nearly fainting as he spoke.

“When I appraise it, it seems this one is called a King Basilisk. It was extremely strong and gave us quite a hard time. Fortunately, all of us have [Abnormal Status Resistance], so we were able to fight without being petrified. But it breathes fire too, so it really is a dangerous monster.”

Tauro used one of his abilities, [True Eye], to appraise the monster again as he explained.

“That’s true. If a monster like this came down to the foot of the mountain, everyone would be shocked.”

Aeris nodded, recalling the battle from just a few hours earlier.

“I was the one who dealt the final blow though!”

Ankh puffed out his chest proudly.

“It’s true that without the attack power of Ankh’s magic greatsword, we wouldn’t have reached its vital spot.”

Ragune added this while patting the King Basilisk’s corpse and praising her companion.

“My attacks didn’t work very well on this monster, which was frustrating.”

Zion said this regretfully, thrusting out one fist.

“Tauro and I were the ones who weakened it, though.”

Aeris replied as she took Tauro’s arm.

“Hahaha. In any case, the monster has been dealt with, so please rest easy. If you’re still worried, would you like us to stay a few days and patrol the area?”

Tauro proposed this to the village chief.

“P-please do!”

The chief nodded vigorously again and again, wholeheartedly agreeing to Tauro’s offer.