CH 562

11-14 minutes

「……I don’t know how this ended up happening. Well, it’s not like I mind.」

Rei muttered to himself as he looked over at Apika, who was playing with Set in the grass.

As there was grass growing everywhere, it naturally wasn’t in the village, but outside.

That said, it wasn’t that far from the village.

They were somewhere where they could see the village as well as the villagers harvesting wheat in the nearby fields.

「Ahahahaha, here Set, this way, this way!」

「Gurururu~!」

Seeing Apika running around while laughing, Set chased after him with a cry.

If someone who didn’t know what was going on saw this, they would probably think the child was being attacked by a Griffon.

Fortunately, it had already been a few days since the villagers had seen such a scene. At first, they had watched Apika worriedly, but now, they all smiled as they watched Apika run around with Set chasing after him.

「Seriously, how did this end up happening?」

Rei sat down on the grass as he muttered to himself again.

The thick scent of summer grass tickled his note.

The reason for the current situation, wasn’t hard to explain.

When Apika’s parents heard what had happened on the day Rei came to Goto, that Rei and Apika had sneaked out of the village to play, they lightly smacked Apika’s head.

However, the fact that there weren’t any children of Apika’s age in the village probably played a large role.

The children who were close in age to Apika were already over 10 years old and had been sent out to help with the farm work. Because of that, the only people left in the village during the day were Apika and the older people who had lost the ability to do farm work.

Because of that, it was only natural that Apika would gain an interest in Rei.

As a result, Apika’s parents suggested through Ruchard that Rei stay with Apika while they worked in the field.

As for Rei, he was going to stay in the village for a while……which resulted in the current situation.

At first, the villagers, including Apika’s parents, were reluctant for them to go outside the village, but Rei and Apika were successful in obtaining permission to play outside the village with Set being the biggest force of persuasion.

That said, Rei didn’t want the villagers to worry too much, so they didn’t go too far and stayed within sight of the fields.

「Wow, Set. I knew you were fast……huh? Wait, Set!?」

「Gurururu~!」

Set picked Apika up by his collar in his beak and placed him on his back.

The next moment, Set ran across the grassland with Apika on his back.

Set would struggle to fly with anyone other than Rei on his back, but it seemed it was no issue for him to run along the ground with just a child.

「Wow, amazing, fast, amazing, fast-!」

Apika continued to cheer as he repeated the same words.

His voice must have reached the people working in the fields. Some of them stood up to look over at where they were.

Among them were several children above the age of 10 helping out with farm work, all looking at Set and Apika enviously.

(After today’s work, it might be better to let those children play with Set. It shouldn’t take too much time.)

With that thought in mind, Rei lay down on the grass where he had been sitting.

Probably because he was now closer to the ground, the scent of grass was even stronger than before.

In a state like this, the summer breeze felt good……

「Gururururu~!」

Suddenly Rei heard such a cry.

It wasn’t Set’s usual friendly cry, but one with a hint of caution.

The moment he heard that cry, Rei, who had been about to drift off into the dream world, instantly got ready to fight as he stood up.

As he stood up, he saw a wild boar, slightly smaller than Set, but still gigantic for a boar.

It wasn’t a monster, but an ordinary wild boar.

Even so, as it was only just smaller than set, there was no doubt it would still be more ferocious than some weaker monsters.

In fact, the boar seemed to have gone through many fights and there were scars all over its face and body……it seemed ready to charge at Set, or more precisely, Apika, who was riding on his back.

However, unfortunately for the boar, Apika was riding on Set.

It would be a big problem if Apika had been alone, but Set was an A rank monster.

As for the result……

「BURURURURURU-!」

The giant boar dashed forward with its tusks jutting out from the tip of its nose as it thrust towards Apika and Set. However, Set just countered with a single strike.

「Gururu~!」

A single attack from Set’s claws easily smashed through the boar’s head with his physical strength.

He didn’t even need to use Power Crush to exert that much strength.

The giant boar was blown away, bouncing and rolling across the ground several times after losing its head.

「……Eh? Eh?」

Apika didn’t seem to realise what had happened as he sat on Set’s back.

He hadn’t suffered any injuries as Set had been careful when killing the boar in a single hit.

Eventually, Apika’s face began to cramp as he realised what had just happened.

「UWAAAAAAAAH-!」

He started to cry loudly.

「Guru~? ……Guru~」

Set turned to look at Apika as he gave a troubled cry.

He then looked over towards Rei, who was walking over, as if asking for help.

「Don’t worry, it’s not your fault Set. He’s just scared that such a large boar suddenly appeared. ……See, Apika’s stopped crying. You’re a man aren’t you?」

「Hic, hic……nii-chan……」

Apika turned to Rei, who spoke while stroking Set’s troubled head, and hugged him tightly.

(This really isn’t in my character.)

Although Rei thought that in his mind, he couldn’t let go of the 5 year old Apika and just continued to stroke Set with his right hand while holding Apika’s head with his left.

After a few minutes, the people who had been working in the fields finally got to Rei.

Although they had started running when the giant board had first appeared, it still took them a while because it was some distance to where Rei and Apika had been.

「Apika, are you okay!?」

「Apika!」

The first to speak were, of course, Apika’s parents.

Both of them were only in their late 20’s, but it wasn’t uncommon for people to get married in their teens in this world.

「Dad, mum……」

Leaving Rei, he got off Set’s back and hugged his beloved parents as they came over to him.

Ruchard went over to Rei, who was watching on, and gave him a small smile.

「Thank you very much.」

At first, Rei didn’t understand why Ruchard was thanking him.

Having put Apika in danger, he thought he would surely be blamed.

However, Ruchard didn’t seem to notice Rei’s thoughts as he turned to look at the giant boar lying on the ground without its head.

「That boar……if Rei-san hadn’t been here, he would have probably gone all the way to the village and the fields. If that had happened, we would only be able to drive it away, we wouldn’t have been able to kill it. Many people would have been injured as well.」

「……I definitely thought you would blame me.」

Looking ahead, Rei could see Apika hugging his mother with all his strength while his father smiled and stroked his head.

「It’s true that Apika might be a little shocked, but without Set, his life would have been in danger, let along be injured.」

「But, if I hadn’t brought him here in the first place, wouldn’t he not have come across the boar?」

「In that case, Apika might have left the village alone and run into the boar. Rather than leave him by himself, I would definitely feel more at ease leaving him with Rei-san.」

「Yes, thank you very much.」

「Thank you very much.」

Following on from Ruchard’s words, Apika’s parents gave a deep bow.

Rei, let out a small sigh and shook his head as he saw that.

「Okay, that’s enough for now. I’m glad that Apika is safe. ……More importantly, the huge boar is dead. Why don’t we all have it for dinner tonight?」

Ruchard, Apika’s parents, and even the other villagers turned to look at Rei in surprise.

「Are you sure? Well, we would like to join you.」

「Well, it’s fine, right?」

「Guru~!」

When Rei looked over at Set, who had been the one to kill the board, Set a happy cry.

Even though Set was greedy for food, he knew that food tasted better when shared with everyone.

『UOOOOOOOOH!』

Even though they couldn’t understand Set’s thoughts, they could still tell what Set response was when he nodded at Rei’s question. All the villagers shouted out with joy.

「Look at this boar. Can we finish it all by ourselves?」

「It’s fine. Even if we can’t eat it all, there’s still Set.」

「There are things its fur can be used for, but it will be difficult to tan something of this size.」

「Hmm, okay. But, since we’re sharing the boar meat, we have to do that ourselves, right?」

「……Eating boar meat to refresh the body after harvesting the wheat.」

「Heh, in your case, it’s to refresh you vigour for the night.」

「Guh, t-that’s……」

「I still prefer it grilled.」

「Ehh……it’s hard to give up slow stewed boar meat though, you know?」

The villagers were making a fuss as they looked at the wild board……when one of them suddenly spoke up after realising something.

「Wait a minute. A boar this big……how do we take it back to the village?」

At their words, the villagers, who had been making a lot of noise a few seconds ago, all fell silent.

The boar in front of them probably weighed over 200kg……maybe 300kg even without its head.

It wasn’t impossible for them to pull it back to the village, but it would require a lot of effort.

The villagers honestly didn’t want to have to do that after having worked in the fields of for the whole day already.

However……at that point in time, Rei’s voice echoed out.

「Don’t worry, I’ll bring the boar back to the village.」

「No, even if you say you’ll bring it back, how will you carry something this big? Are you going to let Set pull it?」

「Well, that’s certainly possible, but there’s a quicker way……like this.」

Saying that, Rei touched the boar corpse and the next moment it disappeared.

「……Eh?」

The man who had been talking to Rei suddenly was at a loss for words.

「I have a magic item. So it’s not that difficult. Rather than that, could you tell me where to take it to?」

Rei’s words filled the villagers with surprise, but they then remembered how Rei had taken out his huge scythe when he first arrived at the village and were convinced. After a quick discussion, Ruchard spoke up on behalf of everyone present.

「You know where the village square is, right? please put it over there. If it’s a boar of this size, it will take a lot of people to dismantle it……and above all, that is the only place where all the villagers can gather to eat, so we don’t have much of a choice.」

「Understood. ……What about Set?」

More recently, the villagers were no longer afraid of Set, but until now, Set had only approached the village at most.

However, when Rei asked if it would be okay for Set to come in for this, Ruchard nodded hesitantly.

「I know. I will talk to the village chief about it. He has heard about the recent events, so I don’t think there will be a problem.」

「……Really? Is it okay for Set to enter the village as well?」

Apika asked as he hugged his mother and Ruchard nodded with a soft smile that didn’t suit his build.

「Yes, of course. He saved Apika. Everyone in the village won’t complain.」

Hearing those words, the villagers around them murmured their agreements.

「Well then, it’s a little early, but let’s stop the wheat harvest for now and start dismantling the wild boar.」

After saying that, Ruchard headed back towards the village square along with Rei, Set, and the rest of the villagers.

That evening, after the boar was dismantled, the villagers ate it.

The softer parts were grilled over a bonfire with the bones still in them or grilled as a steak with the frying pan that was inside Rei’s Misty Ring. Other parts were stewed and simmered, although the stewing time was a bit on the shorter side. After cooking everything, everyone started to eat.

Even though it was a small village, there were still nearly 50 residents. Still, there was enough boar meat for everyone to be satisfied.

During that time……

「Oh, I thought I smelled something good. Is there a celebration today or something?」

A voice that Rei hadn’t heard in a long time reached his ears.