Chapter 520: The Village Chief’s Request

Guided by the first villager, Tauro and the rest of Black-Golden  Wings visited the home of the village 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 he was just a child.

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

“We may look like this, but we’re B-rank 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 it’s cover, but B-rank 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 thing I would like to request is the subjugation of a monster … You see, recently there have been frequent sightings of what seems to be a monster that is thought to have come down from the Antas Mountains to the foothills here. According to the villagers who saw it, it’s a large creature with a rooster-like comb on its head and the body of a lizard. If that’s true, I suspect it might be the basilisk of our village legends. About eighty years ago, this village was on the verge of destruction —any villager who was glared at by that monster was turned to stone, or so the stories from my grandfather say. The description matches exactly. That’s why we were told to immediately seek help from the Adventurers’ Guild if it was ever sighted. I’ve already sent a request to the nearest guild, but there’s been no reply yet.”

The village chief added quietly that he was asking them to keep this a 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 a what should we do? look.

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 just have to leave it to the adventurers who come officially from the guild. I hear you got lost and ended up here—why don’t you stay the night and then take refuge in 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 described—”

“No, no, it’s fine! You did well just to encounter it and escape safely. As I said, if it glares at you you’ll turn to stone, so you’re lucky just to have gotten away. I’m sorry for even thinking 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 it. We actually defeated the 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 is saying and asks 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’ve kept it in my magic storage.”

As he said this, Tauro glanced at Aeris as if to ask, We can’t really bring it out 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 thought, What is this child saying? Is it really okay to tell such an obvious lie? Shouldn’t the others stop him?—but he still led Tauro and the group outside.

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

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

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

So enormous that it nearly reached the roof, it left the chief and the servants collapsing in shock.

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

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

“After appraising it, it seems this was an individual called a King Basilisk. It was extremely strong and gave us quite a hard time. Fortunately, we all have resistance to status ailments, so we were able to fight it without being turned to stone, but it can also breathe fire—it really is a dangerous monster.”

Tauro used one of his abilities, 『True Eye』, to appraise the monster once more and then said:

“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 power of Ankh’s great magic sword, we wouldn’t have reached its vital spot,”

Ragune added, patting the basilisk’s body as she praised her comrade.

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

Zion said regretfully, thrusting her fist out once.

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

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.