Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 388: The Second Day in the Dyeing Village
Tauro and his companions spent two days in Zenyu before the bridal procession departed. During that time, they had several opportunities to interact with the villagers.
On the second day, a group of young men gathered in the garden of the village chief’s house.
Tauro had defeated Kossa—one of the village’s most confident fighters—without injuring him. After hearing about the match, the others began asking Tauro to teach them how to fight with a staff.
“I’m really not an expert with a staff…” Tauro said, trying to decline.
“Come on, give our leader a break,” Ankh said as he stepped between Tauro and the young men. “He can handle almost anything, but his specialties are the bow and one-handed swords.”
“You beat Kossa even though the staff isn’t your specialty? Then teach us martial arts instead!”
“Yeah! The way you dropped him was incredible!”
“I want to learn that too!”
Because Tauro was younger than they were, the village youths addressed him with an overly familiar attitude.
“You should mind your manners,” Ragune warned as she moved beside Ankh. “We’re adventurers in the D-rank band, and our leader is respected by adventurers far older than he is.”
“I won’t allow anyone to be rude to Tauro-sama!” Zion declared, stepping forward as well.
“Is that boy strong too?” one of the youths asked, pointing at Zion.
Zion was about the same height as Tauro. Her hood concealed most of her face, and she habitually suppressed her presence. To the villagers, she looked delicate and harmless.
“First you disrespect our leader, and now you’re insulting Zion?” Ankh said, fixing them with a sharp glare.
“S-sorry…”
The youths immediately apologized.
“Zion, why don’t you demonstrate?” Tauro suggested. “You’re much better at unarmed combat than I am. A light lesson might help them understand why they need to follow our instructions during the escort.”
“I’m as confident in my martial arts as Kossa is,” said a broad-shouldered young man as he stepped forward.
Compared with the smaller Tauro and Zion, he looked enormous.
The villagers had already accepted that Tauro was unusually strong, but Zion remained quiet at his side and appeared physically frail. That gave the inexperienced youths the mistaken impression that defeating a D-rank adventurer might still be possible.
“Are you sure, Tauro-sama?” Zion asked bluntly. “He looks rather weak.”
“Then try defeating me!” the large young man shouted.
Enraged by the small girl’s dismissal, he reached for her without warning.
Zion lightly slapped his hand aside.
Pain flashed across his face, but he immediately tried to seize her with both hands.
Zion slipped past his grasp, stepped inside his reach, and struck him before anyone understood what she had done.
The large young man’s body rose cleanly into the air. He crashed down several paces away and vomited from the impact.
Zion shifted aside to avoid the falling body, then caught him with one hand so that he wouldn’t collapse into the mess.
His eyes had rolled back, and he was unconscious.
Zion gently lowered him to the ground and immediately used recovery magic on his stomach.
The other young men, who had watched the entire exchange, crowded around her in excitement.
“That was amazing!”
“You can fight like that and use healing magic? Are you some kind of genius?”
“How did you throw someone that big?”
They tried to close in on Zion, but she slipped between them with quick footwork and retreated behind Tauro.
“Zion is a girl, so don’t touch her without permission,” Ragune warned.
She and Ankh both rested their hands on their weapons.
“We won’t overlook such behavior a second time,” Ankh added.
“W-we’re sorry! We honestly thought she was a boy. Someone that small lifted him so easily that we assumed she must have incredible muscles. We didn’t mean any harm.”
The youths apologized one after another.
Tauro understood their confusion. Zion’s natural physical strength was extraordinary.
Tauro’s own strength depended greatly on his equipment, but Zion had always possessed unusual power. Carrying luggage for Gray Vultures had strengthened her further, and the training she endured in the Dragon’s Den had pushed her body well beyond ordinary limits.
If that was Zion holding back, she’ll be terrifying when she fights seriously.
The thought reassured Tauro.
“During the escort, you’ll follow our instructions without argument,” he told the young men. “If danger appears and you ignore an order, you could lose your lives.”
The villagers nodded soberly.
At that moment, Sita called to them from a window of the house.
“Zion-san, you’re incredibly strong!”
She clapped delightedly, as though Zion’s victory were her own.
“And Tauro-kun is even stronger, isn’t he? All of you’re amazing!”
The young men gazed at Sita with obvious admiration.
She was apparently something of an idol among the village youths. Her marriage into another town would be painful for many of them.
Tauro suspected that some had volunteered for the escort simply because they wanted to accompany her until the very end.