Chapter 67: Tale of the Chuunibyou hero ( 6 )

Rudeus’s POV

…

A week had passed.

The deluge of rain had yet to cease, and we were staying at one of the empty houses. The village was in dire straits after the damage from the fire. The flooding engulfed the land, and chaos erupted as a child fell into the water.

People were quite shocked but grateful when I used my magic to save them. I thought of blowing away the rain clouds but quickly gave up on the idea since it might damage the environment instead.

When I learned that the Doldia had their own secret magic, I asked Gyes if he could teach me, and he heartily agreed. Unfortunately, I couldn’t imitate it. Laurel happened to witness it and told me I was doing it wrong.

“You’re supposed to play with your voice.”

“... Play?”

“... It’s a little difficult to explain, but the basic idea is to augment your vocals using mana.”

Laurel used howling, though he himself called it roaring. True to his words, the sound he made was similar to that of a tiger’s roar. But no matter how I did it, the results are only subpar.

Laurel admitted he wasn’t adept with it either since he didn’t have the ears nor the vocal cords of a Doldia tribe, rendering all sub-types of vocal magic useless. He could, however, mimic voices, which he said he learned when telling children stories.

… Speaking of…

“Hey, Laurel. Why are you here?”

“Huh?… Because I am here?”

“No, I mean… Why are you HERE? Aren’t you supposed to be home?”

For the first time during our stay, Laurel’s smile froze. He then turned his face away and turned in another direction.

“Oi, Geese! You never told him?”

“... I thought you would, boss.”

What the? When did those two get so close? And what was it I was supposed to know? Contrary to my worries, however, Laurel merely shrugged.

“Right… My bad.”

“What is it?”

“Ah, nothing much. A lot of crazy things had happened, but it’s all settled now. As for why I’m here… Well, I ended up crashing into a teleport circle and got sent to Zant port. Been staying there ever since.”

After that, I couldn’t get much from him, though I heard that Ghislaine was doing well, so there’s that.

…

A month had passed.

Monsters had been showing up lately. One was a water strider, surfing swiftly across the water below only to leap up suddenly and attack. Another was like a water snake, which slid its way up along the trees.

The village was guarded by its band of warrior beastfolk, but their impressive noses and sonar-like voices were no use in the rain, so often monsters would slip by their watchful gaze and infest the village.

Seeing the situation, Laurel suggested helping with the village’s defense.

“The warriors here take pride in their role in the village.”

Ruijerd said. But he was countered by Laurel in waves.

“With how dire the village’s situation is, they’ll need all the help they can get.”

“As long as they didn’t request aid, it wasn’t our business to intrude.”

“What if they’re just shy? Even I would feel embarrassed to ask a guest to lend a hand, you know?”

“...”

“Plus… Look at this.”

Laurel grabbed a child nearby.

“Look at this cute, adorable little face. What happens if a monster caught him?”

“...”

“You don’t want to accidentally let a child get swiped by a scary monster either, right?”

“...”

The cute, innocent baby faces of the children gathering around Laurel all stared at Ruijerd with their big round eyes, which was the trigger. Ruijerd sighed and went to ask Gyes for his input. The results?

“Oh, Master Ruijerd, you’re going to lend us your assistance? That would be a big help!”

Pride? What pride? Gyes didn’t even attempt to resist, leaving Ruijerd utterly speechless. That was how all the monsters in the village were exterminated. Ruijerd was right about one thing, though.

The village’s warriors disapproved of us at first. It wasn’t until we mercilessly annihilated any monster that entered the village and they realized the rainy season would pass without any casualties that they finally broke into smiles.

“I thought their tribe had more pride than this. It’s disgraceful, entrusting the protection of their village to another race.”

Ruijerd was the only one bothered by this. It seemed the beastfolk of several hundred years ago were quite different from their modern counterparts.

…

A month and a half had passed.

Ruijerd and Gustav got along like a house on fire. Ruijerd paid frequent visits to the Dedoldia house, and the two drank together and swapped tales of their pasts. The stories were packed with gore, but they were actually pretty interesting to listen to.

Gustav regaled us with stories of how the beastfolk’s strongest band of warriors mowed down a group of human soldiers that had wandered into the forest. To counter this, Ruijerd whipped out his trump card, the story about the Superd Clan during Laplace’s War.

The two traded banter as if they were competing, but given that they were both old men, it more or less turned into a sermon about the good old days.

“Warriors these days are a complete disgrace.”

“I understand what you mean completely, Master Ruijerd. Many of them are feeble and weak.  Well, I suppose this one is an exception.”

“I agree.”

“... Who? Me?”

Laurel stared at the two old men incredulously. Somehow the conversation turned towards him as they both started to praise Laurel at every single line.

"Gyes may lead the warriors now, but unlike Master Laurel, he lacks judgment. If he had, Master Rudeus wouldn't have gone through all that."

"Nonsense. Rudeus is a warrior. If he’d taken things seriously, he would have been able to best someone like Gyes. That was his own failure. He should have at least taken a page from Laurel here."

"???"

“Speaking of which, Master Laurel, care to share with us some of your past deeds?”

“That, uh…”

“Surely, someone of your caliber has a few feats to tell?”

“Well… I DO in fact have one, though, compared to yours, it seems insufficient.”

“My, you’re making me curious. Laurel, please do tell.”

Yeah, you’re making me curious too. What kind of story are you pulling out, buddy?

“It’s not something I’m exactly proud of since we ganged up on it… But… Uhm… It’s about your granddaughter, Mister Gustav.”

“My granddaughter?”

“Yes. This was the story of how I, Linia, and Pursena hunted a Red Dragon.”

… What?