WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: Abood

Editor: Ryuu

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Saviour Embarks on a Nameless Journey

Chapter 21: The Relocated Monster's Whereabouts

I’d asked if they’d sell the boiled eggs alone, but the cook wouldn’t hear of it, full meals only. Not that I could stomach another bite after two plates and a half.

"Pya—"

"Quit your whining."

Was that egg really that good? I'd given mine to Pya, so now I was curious, annoyingly so!

Thought about tipping extra to get just the eggs, but the place was packed tight. Didn’t feel right bothering them.

"We’ll stop by again before we leave town. Be patient."

We were staying the night regardless. Had planned to eat elsewhere for dinner, but… eh, this’d do.

Leaving the tavern, I wandered through the village. Its liveliness surpassed even small towns. Walls might be useful in emergencies, sure safe, but they stifle growth and foot traffic. This wasn't a border village, and monsters rarely showed their faces here anymore.

Walls just get in the damn way.

Still, old habits die hard. If trouble came, it’d be from those mountains. The thought nagged at me.

I stopped by the bakery to order traveler’s bread. It’s twice-baked and hard as a rock, but lightweight and long-lasting.

"That famous dried fruit shop everyone talks about, still around?"

"For dried fruit, you’d better head west to the farmlands. They’ve got the good stuff.

I paid a little extra to keep him talking.

"Anything unusual happening lately?"

"Dunno. Things’ve been quiet here. Heard monsters showed up on the road near the next village over, but they vanished by the time the lord sent troops. Funny, back in my day monsters were everywhere. Now they’re scarce, yet this happens."

So the tavern gossip was true. Odd how the baker had fresher intel than the drinkers.

Best scout the perimeter.

I circled the village, wide roads to the north and south heavy with foot traffic. No sane monster would risk that. The east offered open pastureland that was easy to survey.

If trouble comes, it’ll be from the western mountains. The last stragglers had grown wary as wild animals, hiding from humans… yet something still drove them to attack.

The western part of the village had a few houses scattered among fields and farmland. Most households kept livestock here, so the homes sat farther apart than in other parts of the village.

"Pardon me, heard some folks round here sell dried fruit. Mind pointing me the right way?"

I called out to the first people I spotted, a man and woman working their field.

Their main crops were wheat, turnips, and beans. Only a few leafy greens,likely because they didn't keep well.

"Oh aye, we do some ourselves. Most houses on this side harvest from the mountain slopes. Lingonberries and wild apples sell best."

"I'll take some, then."

"Right, follow me to the house."

He signaled to the woman, probably his wife, and led me down a narrow path from the fields.

"How's the mountain been lately?"

"Ya talk funny, mister. Mountain's same as ever, though... fewer critters eatin' the berries this year. Got a fine haul of lingonberries, usually birds or rats get 'em first. Damn early risers."

Funny?

Ah, I suppose talking like a grandpa must sound odd with how I look now. If I recall right, it started after my first grandchild was born, picked up the habit talking to them. Guess I absorbed the speech patterns of all those grandpas in the territory.

"Don’t mind it, just picked up some old man’s quirks from the neighbors. So, the mountain animals have thinned out?"

"Dunno ’bout that, but for ’bout a week now they’ve been pillagin’ the fields. Nuisance."

"The fields? Spring cravings, maybe?"

"Didn’t happen like this last year. We hired hunters to bag some wild boars, but it’s the damn rats and squirrels causin’ real grief. Just set more traps earlier."

He kept talking, casual as could be. Meat was welcome, but between hunter fees and crop losses, he was probably in the red.

"Don’t mean to alarm you, but that sounds like monsters moved in and scared the wildlife downhill."

"Well, that’d be a problem,"

the farmer said, stopping to scratch his brow with exaggerated concern. His tone, though, stayed lazy as ever.

"Ah, go search the mountains later. The lord’s probably still antsy ’bout those monsters that fled to the next village over."

If they ran, they couldn’t be too strong. A proper village hunt would likely scare ’em off again.

"Monsters, you say?"

The farmer fell into step beside me as I walked.

"Aye, heard as much at the bakery. If they’re skirting the mountains, could happen here too."

"Right, I’ll get folks together after we sort your dried fruit."

"Won’t need the lord’s men if a mob of villagers does the trick anyway."

We kept chatting until we reached his place where a goddamn boar hung gutted from the eaves.

You idiot!! You’re luring monsters with this!!!

Footnotes:

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