Not Sure, Another World Reincarnation

So we met up with Arisa and Kuro as they were returning from the forest, and we decided to speak with the Village Chief…
“No, no, pardon me. I didn’t mean to cause you such trouble…”
“Aah, no no! Don’t worry about it!”
“I’ve already submitted a petition to the Lord through the Magistrate, and they said they’d be able to assist… Please forgive us for—”
“No no, it’s all okay! That is, Mina looked like she was about to cry, so we decided to at least listen to what she had to say! That is… if we take on requests directly like this… it often leads to arguments…”
“Ah… Well, that’s right… It would be troublesome for us as well if that were to happen…”
“Is, is that so? Haha…”
Yeah, it seems like this problem was already being addressed. Both Lily and the Village Chief both exchanged awkward glances with each other, the former not wanting to accept the requests in order to avoid trouble, and the latter not wanting us to accept the request. Now we just need to do something about this awkward atmosphere.
“Well, that’s that… Mina! Seriously, you’re doing something unnecessary!”
“No buts! There, move along!”
“Yes…”
“Haa… Honestly, this child is such trouble.”
“No no, that’s just how worried she is about her mother, so please don’t be angry.”
“I appreciate you saying that… But, that’s right… As I said before, the issue with the monster has already been dealt with, how about talking with the Magistrate? It may cause problems if we were to hire you, but perhaps the Magistrate may have an idea? I’m probably not the one to say this, but having more fighting power couldn’t hurt…”
“Eh? Ah, no… Can we huddle for a moment? … Yes, then… Ren, Arisa, what should we do?”
Perhaps she thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to make such a decision on her own, so Lily decided to consult with us first.
“I’m fine either way.”
“Ah~, do I want to go~? If we can go, it would be a good experience, and getting hired on as reservists could be a bonus~.”
Contrary to the usual, I was okay with either option and Arisa was positive to the idea. As for Kuro…
“Mui~.”
She was half asleep and didn’t seem to hear us. But, with Kuro’s personality, she would say it doesn’t matter either way. I suppose her opinion is the same as mine.
“Hmm… In that case, let’s go and listen to what he has to say.”
So that is how it happened. We went to speak with the Magistrate.
“Hmm, then I’ll hire them as reserve forces. It’s better to be prepared in case of an emergency.”
It turned out that we were easily hired.
That said, we were basically waiting in the back, just watching the battle. We’re only the reserves after all.
To defeat the magic beast this time, some troops from the territory’s Order of Knights will be coming, and it sounds like their strategy has already been drawn up, so us being poorly incorporated may disrupt their coordination. That being said, even if we don’t take part in the battle, we’ll still be compensated. Thanks for that.
Other than that, Lily was asked to use healing magic to treat the injured after the battle. Although they’ve prepared potions and other supplies, it would be better if use of military supplies was kept to a minimum. The Knights were expected to arrive the day after tomorrow, so the departure was scheduled for the next day.
And with the Magistrate strongly pushing, we ended up moving our accommodations to the Magistrate’s residence. He told us that he wanted to hear all kinds of adventurer stories.
This is only natural, according to the Village Chief, while the Magistrate is called a ‘Knight,’ it’s actually more accurate to call him a Vassal Knight. In other words, he’s a private soldier who serves his Lord and hasn’t been officially knighted, and apparently, he’s a former adventurer. So when he goes to the Royal Capital with his Lord, he’s treated as a Commoner Servant. However, while within the territory, he’s given the same treatment and authority as a real knight, or in some cases, greater treatment.
The Magistrate is a man in his 30’s, named Jan. When I used honorifics, he gave me a strange look, so I decided to talk casually. He was actually a very friendly person.
The Lord of this territory seems to be a very caring lord, and Jan said he wanted to help the Lord in the future, ever since he was a child. After growing up, he became an adventurer and worked hard. His efforts were eventually rewarded and he was successfully promoted.
By the way, the usual response when a village is attacked by monsters or magic beasts, they usually send people to nearby large cities to make subjugation requests to the Adventurer’s Guild. Basically, the reward for defeating them would be paid out by that village. However, responding to the damage caused by monsters is largely up to the Lord who governs that village, and most Lords would end up paying a portion, if not all, of the reward given after said subjugation.
There are, however, a few Lords who will send out extermination forces from their own territorial army or among their private soldiers, with the Lord of this territory being among that minority. It looks like each Lord has their own response and measures against damage caused by monster attacks, though it all depends on the individual Lord. Even Jan doesn’t seem to know the details about other territories.
As we were discussing this over dinner, an unexpected fact came to light.
“What?! Arisa is Gustav’s niece?! Is he well?”
“Ah~, well~, I haven’t seen him recently, but I think he’s probably doing well~.”
“I see, I see! A blood relative, and a daughter of the Hamilton school’s main family? We’ve got some truly reliable backup!”
Yeah, I don’t really get it, but it looks like Jan was acquainted with Arisa’s uncle. Rather, he taught him swordsmanship during his time as an adventurer, and they may have been in the same party together for a time?
By the way, this uncle of Arisa, Gustav, it sounds like he used to be an accomplished A-Rank adventurer. Moreover, his companions at the time were Lily’s aunt, along with someone who I was surprised to hear, Harula’s Guild Master! The name of the Guild Master is Warzel, and it looks like Lily and them were in Harula because of this connection. The world is small…
“Gabras will likely be upset when I tell him about this.”
For some reason, Jan said that with a smile on his face. Who’s Gabras? Haven’t I heard that name somewhere before…? But then, this mystery was solved immediately, thanks to Arisa. Actually, I heard about him too. He was the one who taught Rad swordsmanship.
This Gabras is apparently from a branch family of the Lord’s main household, and Jan taught him swordsmanship. According to Arisa, that teaching was later passed down to Rad, making him a distant relative within the same martial school. Yeah, it’s complicated! After hearing many stories from Jan, Gabras seems to have developed a deep admiration for Gustav. While he plans to serve the Lord in the future, he is currently working as an adventurer while also undergoing training.
Anyways, it wasn’t all just casual conversation, we also discussed details about the magic beast.
The beast in question was a large, snake monster, the type referred to as the ‘Black Viper’. Lily says that when it grows up, its head will be over five to six meters high when you look up at it, and girth so large that you can’t even reach around it with both hands. And as the name would suggest, it’s poisonous.
Luckily, our opponent wasn’t so big this time, with this one being about three to four meters tall and having a girth that’s small enough, an adult man could hug it with his arms. No no, that’s still pretty big!… Come to think of it, they were attacking a lot of goats… Swallowing them whole… Scary…
As for the strategy to subjugate the Black Viper, they intend to throw javelins tied to ropes, as well as ropes fitted with hooks in order to immobilize the target, then beat it down. An easy to follow plan.
When the Village Chief was around, Jan said we’d interfere with their strategy and coordination, but that was just a pretense. In reality, he intended for us to join the battle with full force if the extermination team looked like they were in danger.
After listening to the stories of our adventures, and of our victory against the Goblin Lord’s Legion, he was relieved to know that his expectations were correct, he smiled while saying he could now fight with all his might.
In Jan’s opinion, considering the training level of the extermination squad, there will probably be a few wounded, but nothing too serious, and likely no fatalities. So, I suppose it’ll end without us doing anything? Well, it would be best if we could get paid without doing anything, it’d be easy.
The next day, before breakfast, Jan and Arisa were engaged in a fierce mock battle.
…Yeah, they had mock battles after breakfast too, then took a short break for lunch, then more mock battles until the evening. They’ve been doing this for so long. Hmm, maybe these people are from the Land of Asura?
No no, aren’t these people too energetic?!
By the way, Jan’s win rate was overwhelmingly high. Arisa won maybe three times, but after that, she was completely defeated. All the matches she did win, she did so barely by using Feather. Yeah, Jan is incredibly strong…
Kuro jumped in for a bit too, but it was a one-sided fight, so she dropped out halfway and went for a walk with Norn instead. The level difference for Kuro was too large and didn’t feel like training. Discussing it among ourselves, we thought it best that Arisa focused on getting the combat experience instead.
Thanks to that, Arisa’s Hawk’s Eye skill, which she picked up during her matches with Rad, shot up to level 3 in one go. Also, she acquired the skill Herculean Strength at level 1! A sudden power up! Amazing!
By the way, Arisa had already acquired a skill that was higher level than Hawk’s Eye, called Precognition, but she couldn’t use it properly since her eyes couldn’t keep up. But thanks to Hawk’s Eye leveling up so quickly, she ended up finding it much easier to avoid attacks in their final mock battles.
“Well~, that was tough, but I’m glad we did it~. Thank you Jan~.”
“It’s been a while since I’ve fought such a worthy opponent, and it helped me regain my fighting instincts. You ended up helping me.”
Yeah, these battle junkies.
But, even though I wasted the entire day together with Jan and Arisa, it wasn’t really a problem. It looks like all their preparations were almost ready, most of the supplies have already arrived at the Magistrate’s residence, and the rest will be brought tomorrow by the extermination force.
Rather, he had too much time on his hands, but he was thrilled to kill that time by sharpening his combat instincts. As expected of the Magistrate, he’s very shrewd.
By the way, Norn and Bell are acting separately. She said staying here would just make her feel sluggish, so she took Bell out for some training. Apparently, they’re close enough to sense our presence, and plan to meet up with us once we leave here after the subjugation is over.
And so, we passed the time like that, until the extermination force arrived the next day.
The force that showed up consisted of ten Knights, ten Squires, and thirty additional soldiers, fifty people in total, quite a large group. Just a note: Jan isn’t included among the ten Knights. He’s considered the Supreme Commander, and since he’s their strongest combatant, he’ll be conserving his strength for now.
Ah, in addition to the fifty, one of Jan’s personal Squires and three of his direct subordinates came along. So the final headcount for the extermination force was fifty-five, plus the four of us, and two animals.
After wrapping up the remaining preparations, we decided to get some early rest and ready ourselves for tomorrow.
Then, the next day, we finally set out to subjugate the magic beast.