Chapter 27 – Hang In There, Muriel!

“Are you Miss Muriel, the Mage?”

A few days later, a Knight arrived at the village’s entrance and inquired about the incident.

“Yes, Sir Knight, I am the Mage, Muriel. Pleased to meet you.”

“I would like to thank you for extending your assistance in subjugating the bandits. And who might this young lady be?”

The Knight shifted his gaze to the person beside me.

“I am the village chief’s daughter, Maril.”

“And where is the Village Chief Sergio?”

“I am sorry, but my father is bedridden due to illness.”

“Is that so… understood. And the bandits?”

“They’re over here.”

I followed behind Maril as she led the soldiers from the village entrance and into the village plaza.

There, the bandits’ hands were tied behind their backs and the ends of their bindings were tied together and tied to a stake that was driven right into the ground to prevent them from escaping. Beside them were the corpses of the other six bandits that were placed in burlap bags and placed side by side.

“Go and check it out.”

“Yes. Sir.”

At the Knight’s order, the bodies were inspected first.

“There are three bodies with abdominal wounds, caused by a sword, there are 2 who have been pierced from the back, and one who had been stabbed to death with a spear. This seems to have been done with great skill.”

“…This was the work of the ragtag group of village vigilantes’ ?”

Of course, they were going to ask who did it, the red-haired mage thought as she secretly released a sigh.

“Hah, as if we’d let this village’s vigilantes kill us!!”

“We won’t lose to such amateurs!”

Despite Muriel’s dejected expression, the bandits continued to kick up a fuss.

“Then whose work was it? Out with it.”

“…Tsk, it was the Kobolds.”

*sob* Looks like I have to do my best to explain this to them. *sniffle*

“…Miss Mage, do you have an idea what these bandits are saying?”

“Yes, it’s true. I was in the vicinity when it happened too.”

In response to my answer, the soldier in charge of the inspection interrupted with a puzzled look on his face.

“But Captain, if this were the work of Kobolds, then some things don’t add up.”

“Explain yourself.”

“Yes, it’s about the wounds on the corpses, but these are not the types of wounds that could be inflicted by the obsidian stone weapons they use. And there are no signs of any claw or fang marks either…”

Sir Knight’s expression became stiffer and stiffer… I wonder if he thinks I am lying?

“Well, that’s what my subordinate says, but…”

“The reason is simple — the Kobolds were armed. There are rare instances where Kobolds or Goblins would take a weakened adventurer’s or a defeated enemy’s gear, you see.”

It’s a rare case, so there was no way that I was lying about this.

“…So the Kobolds had weapons in their possession. That’s dangerous. And where are they now?”

“I don’t know where they are exactly, but… they probably headed to “Balberra Forest” in the northeast.”

“Balberra, huh…that’s quite worrisome.”

Despite the low probability, “Balberra Forest” is notorious for the appearance of threat levels C to A monsters. An ordinary soldier, at best, has power equal to or more than an “iron” adventurer but is lower than a “black iron” adventurer, which is the minimum rank required to take down a threat level C monster.

If a threat level A monster appears, then the power required would be that of a “platinum” adventurer, which is practically the highest rank, but there are only about a handful of those quasi-heroes in this country.

Incidentally, to reach the highest possible rank, which is the “Scarlet Gold” adventurer, it is necessary to produce results that are equivalent to the achievements of past heroes and great sages. Well, that was almost close to impossible.

Specifically, one has to defeat a threat level S monster and above that had the capability to destroy a whole country, but if such a monster appeared often, then the human race would already be destroyed.

As a result, there are only a handful of “Scarlet Gold” adventurers on this continent.

Therefore, a threat level A Tyrant Lizard, who was reportedly spotted in “Balberra Forest” would be impossible for the soldiers of the Ferias territory to handle. Realistically speaking, it would also be impossible for them to subjugate a threat level B monster, which is a rank lower, either, so…I hope they give up on attempting an investigative exploration.

“Sir Knight, those Kobolds themselves were mutative variants, so if their combat power is that good, then you could be facing off against a threat level B. Going on such an unreasonable hunt might be difficult too…”

“… I will be reporting this to the higher-ups but it looks like exploring “Balberra Forest” is too much for us to handle alone after all…”

Alright! Looks like I was able to persuade them!

“But why would that High Kobold help a village like this?”

Nnngh, there’s that too… It would have been easy if he had not noticed it at all.

“One of those Kobolds was a High Kobold, so it possesses a high level of intelligence.”

“A High Kobold, huh. Balberra Forest sure has all sorts of things.”

Since we did not know anything about the High Kobold’s way of life as there was only a handful of them ever discovered, then it was alright to just say anything I want, right?

“I understand most of what you are trying to say. I’m concerned about those Kobolds, but it would be too risky to send my soldiers out to “Balberra Forest”… I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Yes, please do so.”

Afterward, they asked me where the bandits’ weapons and armor went, so I matter-of-factly told them that the Kobolds have taken it away.

“Miss Mage, Miss Maril, thank you very much. However, I would like you to accompany me to the judicial court in the town of Zelgra to file your testimonies as well…”

“I apologize, Sir Knight… but I have to take care of my sick father, so…”

“Then I shall accompany you instead, Sir Knight.”

Just as Maril and I have discussed from the start, I offered to accompany the soldiers.

“Then I shall take you up on your offer, Miss Mage.”

And so, I went to the town of Zelgra together with the soldiers who came to take the bandits away. I expected to also be questioned by the court officials about the bandit attacks, but they mysteriously let me go so easily that it seemed like a trap had been set up.

This is something that Muriel did not know about, but……

When the Court Office contacted the Adventurer’s Guild to gather information about the “young, red-haired mage” beforehand, the document sent to them said in red, block letters: “BEWARE OF ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE TEMPEST WITCH”