Saving The Village of Melte
Three days have passed since I arrived at the village of Melte. The situation surrounding the village was quickly improving.
The Jiraiaooks tree’s fruits cured their sickness of course, but a big part of it probably had to do with the fact that the villagers’ unease disappeared after the cause of the epidemic became clear.
Sickness starts in the mind. Once they understood what attacked the village was not some mysterious disease and their symptoms were caused by the river’s water being poisoned, they were no longer needlessly anxious.
Drink from a well. Don’t eat the fish from the river. Don’t let the children swim in there. If they follow those measures, there won’t be any more new patients.
However, even if there aren’t any more new patients, the people who were already poisoned would still need some time to recover. On top of that, the poison did not affect only humans.
The soil, for example…
You can’t just tell the people to not use the river’s water when it comes to farming. The crops will die if you stop giving them water. The people have no choice but to keep on using the water from there.
With that said, since the water contains poison, there’s a high chance that the crops have been poisoned as well. Will they be edible after harvest? Even if they are, can you use those potentially poisoned foods to pay taxes or sell them in the markets?
It’s also possible that the crops might just die because of the poison before they could even be harvested. The poison that remained in the soil is very likely to have a lasting effect on next year’s crops.
In that sense, the basilisk’s appearance this time has brought a wide range of effects. The serious impacts will start to show from now on.
That’s where I came in.
What I had just mentioned were problems that are foreseeable.
And if they are foreseeable, then it’s human nature to prepare for them.
I knew something like this would happen, so other than the fruits from the Jiraiaooks tree, I had also brought tons of stamina potions for the ill and tons of holy waters to purify the earth with me.
Both of which were things that I got from the temple of the great earth mother.
As for how I linked up with them, it was from one of the preserved quests I cleared before. The one that was like “Screams can be heard every night coming from the cemetery near the orphanage. I want you to do something about it”.
In that fateful encounter, I got rid of the banshee that was the culprit of the cries and gained the connection to the temple of the great earth mother which was the orphanage’s parent organization. I used that contact this time to procure a large amount of potions and holy water.
Well, to be honest, nevermind the stamina potions, I don’t even know if the holy water is going to be effective against the blight’s poison.
But as the name “Great Earth Mother” implies, she’s the goddess of the earth. If the holy water was from that temple, the villagers would probably believe in its effectiveness. Using them will keep their minds stable…I think, most likely.
At the very least, I’m sure that they won’t abandon all hope and fall into banditry after losing their field of crops.
「Really, thank you for everything you’ve done for us…」
Priest Sarah bowed her head to me as if she felt indebted to me.
There weren’t any inns in this village by the countryside, so I borrowed a room from the church and I’m currently staying there. Inevitably, since I’m living under the same roof as the priest who runs the church, we have been eating the morning and evening meals together these last three days.
However, it wasn’t just us two. In this church, there were multiple others living here other than me and the priest.
As for who those people are-
「Soraaa, hurryyy, let’s go feed the dragon!」
「Let’s gooo!」
「Come onnnn!」
A trio of children came up to me and the priest and raised their voices in unison.
All of them were kids who are living at the church after they lost their parents since they had no other relatives.
Due to these three constantly sticking to me after I came to the village, I haven’t made any preparations to take Iria down. I’d like to talk to priest Sarah a little more…Come on, darn little brats!
As a payback for getting in my way, I went with Clau Soras to hunt the deer and boars in the mountains nearby and brought back mountains of food for every meal in these past three days.
Muhaha, You’ll all become fat before you know it. You kids are way too skinny in the first place anyway.
…I kept wicked thoughts such as that hidden nicely inside my mind and responded to the children with a smile.
「Okay okay, I got it. But do you guys really like wyver- I mean, dragons that much?」
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「Yeah! They are soo cool! I’m going to become a dragon rider in the future as well!」
「Me too!」
「Same here!」
「Then me as well!」
「Oi you priest there, stop fooling around」
When I looked at Sarah, who mixed herself in with the children, with an unamused look, she tilted her neck in an adorable manner at me.
Heyy, a woman who has an 18-year-old daughter shouldn’t imitate children!
If it doesn’t look good then whatever, but since that was cute, it makes me not know how to react!
Priest Sarah’s facial complexion was much better compared to 3 days ago. Since all the patients who had flooded the church had gone home, she’s probably getting some proper rest now. The stamina potions I gave her seem to be effective too.
So, after her stamina recovered, her eye bags and sullen cheeks disappeared along with her worries. Glimpses of her real personality have started to show.
The initial impression she gave me was that she was kind and humble, but now I know that this priest of the god of law sect also has a playful side to her from what she showed just now. Well, she could just be adjusting herself when she deals with kids.
After that, we went outside the village.
Needless to say, we were going to Clau Soras, the ‘dragon’ that the kids wanted to see.
Wyverns are popular in Ishka, but that is the case in the village of Melte as well. People in countryside villages seem to really admire dragon riders.
I did not receive permission to enter the village with him as expected, but since I was allowed to use the empty area behind the village, I had Clau Soras wait there.
Clau Soras was the same as always and didn’t let people other than me get close to him. Even if they were children, he would intimidate them without holding back.
Since the trio of kids knew that too, they came along with me together like this. I guess Clau Soras becomes somewhat more sociable if I’m around?
After Clau Soras recognized that it was me, it started flapping its wings happily, and the eyes of the trio of kids lit up in excitement.
When I tried to feed him the anzu apricots that I usually give him, something suddenly came to my mind. I beckoned those three kids over with my hand and gave them the apricots. Then, I gestured Clau Soras to come over with my hand next, and looked at him like “You know what to do, right?”
…I feel like I’m doing these kids a bit too much of a favor, but these three were running around helping priest Sarah out with the patients when the church became a hospital.
I saw it with my own eyes. Now that things have settled down, it won’t do any harm to let them have a little fun.
I can earn points with priest Sarah by protecting the smiles of these kids too!
Clau Soras was complaining with squeals when I transferred the feeding duty over to the children, but I looked at him like “I’ll go hunting with you later so listen to me for now”.
I didn’t really mean hunting for food, but there is something I wanted to hunt. From what I heard in the village, the sightings of orcs around here has increased.
They seemed to have flowed in from the Southern holy kingdom’s territory, and there’s a high chance that they have made an establishment somewhere.
I would be able to locate their base easily if I searched from the sky. They should be suitable prey for me.
Goblins and orcs have a keen sense of smell, and they mostly go after weak villages. If I leave them alone, the villages around here could end up becoming targets for them.
There are still two or three days left until Iria gets here. I should take them out to win the villagers over as well- As I thought about things like that, I was surprised by the fact that she’s already here at noon.
It seems that instead of using a horse carriage, she had bought her own horse and rushed here. If I think about it calmly, Iria was a sixth-tier adventurer just like Larz. Of course she would have enough savings to buy a horse, I thought as I came to a late realization.
Her eyes and mouth were all wide open after she saw me chopping firewood together with the children at her old home (the church).
In about 3 seconds, she’ll probably ask me, “What are you doing here?” with an angry voice.
Now then, how am I going to deceive her?
I began to assemble words that I could use to appease her inside my mind.
TLN: He’s a tsundere