Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: 16. It's Burning. (7)
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It had been a pleasant day.
I'd set out expecting ambushes on the way to the neighboring village.
It was a journey prepared for everything from petty bandits to an assault by the princess herself.
I'd paid extra to ensure we avoided trouble and got the delivery as fast as possible.
Thanks to that, I'd bought everything before lunch.
On top of that, I'd gotten revenge on the Egg Seller for selling a dragon egg to that lovely girl.
I couldn't exactly say a dragon had hatched from it, so I claimed a bug-type monster came out and badly injured his daughter, then gave him a good whack with the bat in righteous fury.
He apologized profusely while on the verge of death and offered a whole crate of eggs as penance, but I refused.
I could just picture thirty dragons hatching from thirty eggs.
The bat called it nonsense, but the Egg Seller insisted,
"Th-that egg? I found it in the mountains while traveling... Gahk!"
Since he said it while getting battered, it was probably true.
The truth was, the Egg Seller had stumbled upon a dragon egg by sheer luck while traveling.
And apparently, there's a chance that an entire crate of eggs could all be dragon eggs!
Thirty-one dragons total.
Even if dragons held a conference, you'd never get thirty-one together at once.
After beating the Egg Seller for about thirty minutes and grabbing all our stuff, I headed back to the village thinking, *Now, where might I get ambushed once or twice...*
But I didn't face a single attack until I reached the village.
Maybe Goblin Slayer was working overtime—there wasn't even a goblin raid, which happened occasionally.
I was starting to think we'd make it through the year unscathed when we neared the village...
"Master, isn't that smoke?"
The bat, riding shotgun and ready for any ambush, pointed toward the village.
Black smoke was billowing up from the village's direction.
"Is someone burning the fields?"
It's common after harvest to burn the stubble.
They do it to remove bundled stalks, bugs, pests, and pest eggs.
"But Master, they only do that after the harvest's fully done. And they call in a mage for it."
"...You're right."
I'd heard even in modern times that field burning isn't effective, but I didn't know the details.
So I'd just watched them burn fields, thinking, *Oh, that's how it is.*
Whenever it happened, the lord would send one or two mages to prevent field fires from turning into forest fires.
This kingdom is innately freezing cold.
Come winter, firewood is an absolute necessity.
They even have a national tree-planting day every year—it's a vital resource without which you'd die.
They wouldn't just let a massive forest fire wipe out timber.
So by law, when burning fields, the lord dispatches mages proportional to the village's size.
Violate it, and you face astronomical fines. Cause a forest fire, and it's the death penalty.
Thus, a week before any burning, the village head surveys who plans to do it.
I'd left the village at dawn today.
If there was burning planned, I would've known.
"So that means... the most hopeful scenario is some house accidentally caught fire?"
"Right! But that's Master's village! So?"
"Is it just my imagination, or is our house burning down?!"
"No, Master! I think there's a huge chance our house is on fire too!"
I cracked the whip hard on the horse pulling the cart.
The startled horse bolted forward, reins in my grip.
The village drew closer. So did the source of the smoke.
And as expected.
"Guess the old man started a fire trying to cook for the first time in ages?"
"Master, no need to say things you don't mean."
"Damn it."
Yup, it was coming from our house.
The few soldiers guarding the village entrance looked panicked when they saw me.
"Melrn! There was a massive explosion from your place!"
"What about everyone else?"
"Sorry, but it was too dangerous, so no one approached your house. Actually, the whole village evacuated."
"It's fine. With old man Steon right next door, there shouldn't be any big issues."
"Thanks."
I nodded to the genuinely apologetic soldier.
"I'll head over."
"It's dangerous, but I can't stop you. Still, why not leave Ar with me?"
Classic village hospitality.
But taking the bat would mean surrendering my biggest weapon.
"I'm going to see my little sister too, so it's fine, mister!"
"Ar, it's dangerous."
Dangerous? This thing nearly triggered world-ending doom and might even beat an evil god in a slugfest.
If she's in danger, I'm already dead.
"I'm fiiiine!"
"Melrn..."
"It's okay."
The soldier tried a few more times to take the bat, but I shook my head.
"No helping it... Stay safe."
As soon as the soldier cleared the path, I whipped the cart into high gear.
No one lied about the evacuation—the streets, usually bustling, were deserted.
"Means I can go faster."
"Master, go!"
Neiiigh!
The horse whinnied in pain from the fierce whipping and charged ahead.
"Huh? Wasn't there a hill over there, Master? Feels too real to be my imagination."
"There was. A pretty big one, too."
I glanced where the bat pointed and could only shake my head.
"Let's just grab Ellis and bolt."
Not a mountain, but a decent-sized hill vanishing wasn't good.
"Master, Master! Your fields are coming into view!"
"..."
I turned my head and went speechless.
The sight was too shocking.
"My fields..."
My fields were engulfed in roaring flames.
Until dawn, they'd shimmered golden with wheat.
Now they were gone.
"We worked so hard growing those for my girl..."
I'd run around trampling wheat despite the cold.
In the scorching summer, I'd yanked weeds without a single break.
And now... all that effort, gone!
"Aaah..."
A bit further, and the potato patch was obliterated too, without a trace.
My daughter had been so excited to roast them in the fireplace come winter...
"Corn... too..."
The long cornfield was a sea of fire.
I'd hoped for seeds good for popcorn this year.
"Damn it..."
Rage welled up, tears nearly spilling.
"Master, crying?"
"Why won't you leave me alone, world?!"
What did I do wrong?!
"Estimating the damage might break us?"
"It's all this world's fault! I just wanted to farm in peace!"
So unfair.
I only joined the Evil Organization because that idiot lord turned our village to ash.
If I'd lived in a normal territory, I'd have tilled fields, married a simple village girl, and lived happily ever after.
"Hard to picture at all, so I can't buy it..."
"No, if no one messed with me, I'd be living the happy farmer life!"
"Master's words right now have zero credibility... you know that, right?"
Utter disbelief poured from the bat.
How does she see me?!
"Don't need me to say it?"
"I'm innocent!"
Neiiigh!
The furious whipping sped the horse up more.
"Master, at this rate, the horse might charge right into the fire?"
"Then I'll burn bright with my kids—the crops!"
"M-Master's lost it!"
Ignoring the bat's yell, I spotted someone sitting on the ground ahead.
"Who's that?"
"Obvious enemy. Hyah!"
Neiiigh!
"No innocent would chill in a burning house!"
"Uh? Or maybe?"
"No sorries! Whatever!"
"No plan!"
But common sense: no one sits in the middle of someone else's burning house.
No firefighters here—definitely an enemy.
"Charge, hit-and-run!"
"Eeeeeek!"
I lashed wildly.
Can't overdo it or the horse panics.
As the cart barreled straight, I leaped out with the bat, abandoning it.
"Damn it!"
"Neiiiiigh!"
The instant the rampaging horse hit the suspicious figure, a flash erupted, and the cart shattered.
- Poor horse!
- Don't forget we almost ended up like that!
"Gaaah! Damn humans keep bothering me!"
A rage-filled voice roared right beside us.
"Where's this mutt from?"
"What?!"
The head-on cart blinded the dog-head, who whipped around in panic.
"Gaaargh!"
Too late—I was already pounding it.
"Horns? Demon, huh? Why's a demon punk torching my house?!"
"Guh? Gah? St-stop! The fire... guh, we..."
"Gonna pay? I know!"
"Wait... gaaargh!"
"Wait my ass."
I'd wondered beastkin or demon at first glance, but after a few hits, the horns stood out.
Confirms it: not targeting the cat girl, but my daughter.
"Spill it! Your purpose here!"
"Kahahaha! L-let me talk first, you damn humaaaan!"
"Obvious you'd counter if I stopped—who's dumb enough?"
"Guh! Ack! Then don't... tell me to... gaaah!"
Voice weakening, I upped the bat's tempo.
"Tough guy. Let's see how long you last!"
"Gaaargh! I-I won't..."
I smashed the yap trying excuses.
Kept hitting, but rage only grew.
Yeah, like my crops burning brighter!
"Getting madder by the second."
"Gaaah!"
I loomed over the screaming fallen demon, bat unrelenting.
"Four years ago, I settled here to farm and live quietly... You had to do this? Had to torch my precious fields to feel better!"
So much to say, but rage left no room for words.
Out popped an old movie line I'd heard tons.
"N-N..."
No mercy like that cop drama here.
So, whack away.
"No excuses. Spill what you know, and I'll end it quick."
"Gaaargh!"
Lackluster reaction—I nailed the groin once.
"Hoh, lively now!"
"Y-you demon! Cough! Y-you'll die cursed by demons, gruesooome..."
"Yeah, tried that once—no effect."
Once, imperial mages cursed me with weak-but-annoying bombs for overworking them.
Zero effect, of course.
"Y-you spawn of the evil god!"
"Yeah, heard that too much. Got anything new?"
Demon rants are all the same.
Filthy demon.
God won't forgive.
Demon curse! Personal swears, then evil god spawn.
And always ends the same.
"P-please... kill me..."
"Yeah, you're dying anyway—spill it!"
The plea comes.
"Come on, tell all and go peacefully. Where's my cute girl? What happened to the old man? Your buddies' weaknesses."
White-eyed, I switched to interrogation mode.
"Been a while since a good thrashin'."
"Yap yap!"
While the thrilled bat mounted and thrashed, I pulled tools and essentials from the wrecked cart, set them by the dog-head, and got to work.
"Take this, God Hoe!"
"Gaaargh!"
The hoe stabbed its side amid screams.
Not the hoe's damage—the bat's face-smashing fists.
"Won't stick good."
Pulled the shallow-embedded hoe from tough muscle and hammered again.
Hoe damage irrelevant.
Key is bat damage flowing in to "heal" the wound!
"Gaaargh! I-I'll talk!"
"Good, spill!"
"Gaaaah! Stop when I talk!"
"What nonsense."
Dog head, dog words.
Ten minutes of rage-hoeing and bat-thrashing later.
I'd gotten everything it knew.