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Chapter 73: The Village’s Savior

When they reached the village, they found a battlefield.

The villagers fought the attacking Killer Ants with hoes, sticks, and sickles, but the overwhelming difference in numbers left them barely able to protect their families.

Then the carriage arrived.

“Adventurers have come to save us!” the driver shouted.

Everyone turned toward his voice.

Four adventurers leaped gallantly from the carriage. Three of them, including a child, began scattering white powder into the air.

The adventurer who appeared to be their leader caught the powder with wind magic and drove it into the swarm.

The Killer Ants began writhing and dying one after another.

The sight was as vivid as a miracle.

Whenever the man manipulated the wind, more ants died.

In the gaps between attacks, a child ran around doing something, but the villagers scarcely noticed him.

Tauro used magic storage to recover the white powder and return it to the bag stored with it. He then took the bag out and passed it to Shin and Rumeya, who scattered the powder again for Bob to control with wind magic.

They repeated the process while Bob occasionally restored his mana with magic potions supplied by Tauro.

The Killer Ants were wiped out before the villagers’ eyes.

It looked like pure magic.

Even the knight entrusted with the village had struggled terribly against the monsters, yet a single adventurer’s miraculous spell eradicated them.

He was truly their savior.

The villagers crowded around the adventurer and poured out their thanks.

When they asked the child accompanying him, they learned that the man was Bob, the dogfolk adventurer rumored to have saved Dansas.

Bob modestly insisted, “All I did was create the wind.”

What magnificent character!

He showed no pride at all.

The villagers were certain they were witnessing a hero and thanked their savior from the bottom of their hearts.

“When I saw how many Killer Ants were attacking the village, I nearly despaired,” Rumeya admitted.

“So did I,” Shin replied. “Bob and Tauro were the only ones who stayed calm. Besides, all we did was scatter powder.”

The swarm had been eliminated with astonishing ease.

Only the preparations had kept Shin and Rumeya busy. During the battle, the real work had fallen to Bob, who used wind magic, and Tauro, who repeatedly recovered the powder.

“We really did nothing but scatter it.”

“Tauro told us every role matters.”

“True. I’m happy they’re grateful, but I wouldn’t want to be mobbed by the villagers like Bob.”

They looked toward Bob, who was surrounded and utterly at a loss.

A swarm this large might well have a Killer Ant Queen.

Tauro began examining the ants’ bodies.

His suspicion proved correct. He found the queen near the edge of the village.

She was unusually large, perhaps nearly a meter long, and held a staff in her forelegs.

She might be capable of magic.

Although greatly weakened, she couldn’t be allowed to escape.

Otherwise, she might reproduce and attack again in the future.

Tauro immediately immobilized the queen with the dark spell [Paralysis] and quietly finished her off.

He collected one antenna and her magic stone as proof of extermination.

The village was safe. All that remained was to return and report the quest complete.

However, they might not be able to leave that day.

The villagers and the knight responsible for the settlement had begun preparing a feast to thank them.

Bob protested that he had only done his duty as an adventurer, but preparations continued at a furious pace.

They could hardly leave without Bob, so it seemed they would spend the night.

Bob was celebrated at the feast as well.

He and the knight apparently hit it off and talked animatedly.

Bob really was no ordinary man.

One way or another, he had accepted the situation and begun enjoying himself.

Shin and Rumeya drank until they were tipsy, though even they couldn’t match the villagers’ excitement.

Tauro, still a child, drank no alcohol and remained perfectly sober, but he enjoyed watching the villagers rejoice.

They had helped these people.

Moments like this made Tauro feel that being an adventurer was truly worthwhile.

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