"This is the client's village..."
The day after receiving the request, the Crimson Vow immediately got to work.
They left early in the morning and arrived at their destination just before noon.
"Yes. The request was made in the name of the village, and the fee will come from the village budget, so we can assume that all the villagers are making the request. …Of course, the representative will be the village chief…"
"...But if it's a five to six hour walk to the port town, wouldn't it have been better for the villagers to go directly to the request rather than relying on the traveling merchant? It would have been one thing if they'd only provided a request form, but they must have also deposited three gold coins as a deposit with the traveling merchant... For a small farming village, three gold coins is a considerable amount of money, right?" (Pauline)
For the current Crimson Vow, three gold coins, equivalent to 300,000 yen in Japan, was not a large amount of money.
However, for a farming village that was self-sufficient in food and consumables, that amount of cash would not be a small amount. To Pauline, who was already a merchant herself, entrusting such a thing to a stranger so easily seemed strange.
Besides, was it really the right thing to leave a request that was so important to the village to someone else?
Pauline had reason to be skeptical.
However, Reina, who was also the daughter of a merchant... a traveling merchant... denied it.
"Five to six hours one way means ten to twelve hours round trip. Taking into account the time for meals and rest, we should not push ourselves too hard and spend a night in town to be safe. In that case, you would need two days' worth of labor for one adult, one night's rent for lodging, food, and other expenses. Besides, if you trust the merchant and entrust them with three gold coins, they must be a trustworthy merchant, an honest merchant who has been coming for years, or someone from the village... Besides, it's not strange or anything." (Reina)
"Is it like that?" (Pauline)
Pauline wasn't involved in business when she was living at home.
On the other hand, Reina traveled with her father as a peddler, and was always there when her father had business negotiations, so she saw and heard a lot of things. Therefore, knowing this, Pauline did not deny what Reina said in these kinds of conversations, but readily accepts Reina's knowledge and judgment.
Hmmm... (Mile's mind)
However, unlike Pauline and Mavis, who seemed convinced by Reina's explanation, Mile was deep in thought.
It's a 5-6 hour walk from the port town. At that distance, I'm sure they've made requests a few times before... It's not the first request since the village was founded, after all.
… I guess they make a request about once every few years.
And since it's going to use the village's precious budget, I think the village chief or someone like that would stop by the guild when they go to the port town to find out how to make a request, the going rate for the request, and so on.
It's not that far away, so the village chief will probably go to the port town from time to time. To transport wheat as tax, or to make a petition to the lord... (Mile's mind)
They felt like something wasn't quite right, but they didn't have any proof.
On the surface, it was merely a request from a farming village plagued by pests, and if it wasn't done with any deliberate malice, it was a normal job for a novice C-rank hunter.
So, Mile also didn't argue with Reina's explanation.
"…………Welcome, thank you for coming……" (Chief)
Crimson Vow was in the village chief's house talking with the village leaders, but...
The village chief was in low spirits and made no attempt to hide his obvious disappointment.
The village officials who were also present looked the same.
Well, that's not surprising.
The request fee was three gold coins, which the village somehow managed to scrape together from their meager budget.
As a result, it was no wonder they were disappointed when the people who showed up were four young girls who were not much different from their own granddaughters.
However, the request did not include any age restrictions or the condition that it be a male party only, so since the guild had accepted the request assuming that there would be no problem with this party, it was too late for them to complain now.
If this was an escort request, the conditions for accepting the order might state something like "Acceptance or rejection of the order will depend on the results of the interview," but...
As expected, merchants wouldn't want to hire someone who would abandon the client and run away if attacked by monsters, or someone with a villainous face who would make people think, "No, you're definitely a spy for a band of thieves!"...
"...Well, I understand how you feel, but we are still a proper C-rank party, so there's no need to worry. Besides, in the unlikely event that we fail to complete the requested task, we will not be paid, and the request will be passed on to the next contractor as a 'request not completed'..." (Mavis)
The village chiefs seemed relieved after hearing Mavis's explanation.
Since everyone was used to being insulted by people they meet for the first time because of their appearance, no one got particularly angry.
"...So, I'd like to confirm the details of your request..." (Mavis)
The details of the request that the guild confirmed were too vague.
Yes, it's so unlikely that anyone other than Crimson Vow would accept the order...
And according to the village chiefs' explanation...
A little distance from this village there is an 'Forbidden forest'[1].
Monsters live there, so the villagers do not enter the forest.
However, recently monsters have started coming to the village and attacking livestock.
That alone is a major problem, but if things continue like this, there is no telling when a human might be attacked.
Therefore, we want to defeat the monsters and ensure the safety of the village.
The targets would exclude the Horned Rabbits and Orcs. Make sure all the wolf-type creatures to be completely annihilated.
That was the case.
The reason why horned rabbits and orcs were excluded was probably because they were necessary prey for the village for meat and materials.
Orcs were a little dangerous, but not as dangerous as ogres or wolves. If you could hunt one every once in a while, it would make a big contribution to the village's food situation.
...And perhaps the orcs would never come to this village.
"Ahhh..." (All CV)
This was a situation they were worried about.
However, it only said that "Such a case is not impossible," and they were surprised that it was actually that type of request.
It might be understandable if this was a request from a malicious individual trying to trick the hunters into working for free, or to get them to do unreasonable things by using breach of contract as an excuse.
However, at the village's official request this was not an official request, this was not...
"...Does that mean we have to exterminate all the monsters in the forest? For three gold coins?" (Mile)
"Are you underestimating the world?" (Pauline)
"Ask the local lord!" (Reina)
Harsh words from Mile, Pauline, and Reina.
And…….
"I wonder how many years it will take..." (Mavis)
Mavis gave a wry smile...
"Well, since you received the request properly, you have to get it done! That would be a breach of contract!" (Chief)
"No no, the guild has instructed us to just return home without doing our job if the detailed explanation is too out of the ordinary..." (Mavis)
No matter how kind-hearted Mavis was, she couldn't accept this.
It would be bad if they were the only ones who suffered, but if rumors spread that "If we trick stupid hunters well, we can make them work for free" or that "The previous hunter we asked accepted the job under these conditions!" it would cause trouble for the other hunters. This was something that must not be compromised.
"...Well, we're going home then!" (Reina)
"Yeah!" (Other 3)
Then, at Reina's command, everyone stood up from their seats...
"...It can't be helped. Well then, let's lower the conditions a bit." (Chief)
The village chief said that, but everyone completely ignored him and left the room.
"...Eh? No, wait! I said I would lower the conditions!!" (Chief)
But the Crimson Vow showed no signs of stopping.
"Wait, let us talk..." (Chief)
Then Reina stopped and turned around, expressionless.
"When the other party asks for reasonable terms, you offer ten times the terms, and when they refuse, you say, 'In that case, let's take the middle ground between our terms. That way it will be fair,' and force them to accept five and a half times the terms. I'm not stupid enough to listen to some scoundrel. I will inform the guild and the hunters of the request we have been instructed to perform for the three gold coins, so don't worry. From now on, only hunters who understand what this village needs will come. ...That's assuming that such an idiot or good-natured hunter really exists, though. Even when we accepted, we were just volunteering because we felt sorry for the fact that no one had accepted it for a long time, and it had been sitting idle. I wonder when the next time we'll see a Hunter like that..." (Reina)
"......" (All CV)
And the village chief was shaking, his face paled.
Author's Note
Announcement!
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Thank you very much! (^^)/
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Translation Note
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