About a week later, discussions regarding the repairs of Vito’s inn finally began.
“It’s no good, the wood around here is rotten.”
Well, it was to be expected. A house left abandoned for nearly 50 years wouldn’t be in good condition. Nevertheless, according to what I’d heard, the wood serving as pillars seemed to be of good quality, so the foundation should have been fine. It seemed like the repairs involved fixing things like walls that had collapsed. Camlog, who was in charge this time, was grumbling and checking the building.
“We’re fine with the current layout. We’d be happy if we could secure four single rooms.”
“Is that okay? Not sharing a room with your wife?”
“Huh? Well, uh, we’re not officially…”
“Jeez. If you’re so laid-back, she might just run away. Right, Nee-chan?”
“I’ll be fine. I won’t run away.”
“Oh, you’re quite the hot one, Sensei!”
With a bash, Camlog laughed and slapped me on the back. Oh boy…
The town of Dudur Valley itself seemed to function more as a post town, as it was originally situated along the highway connecting the major cities of Galal Blue and the Hodgkin Federation. While there were buildings in the town that resembled inns, they had been left uninhabited for years, and currently, there were no operational inns.
Compared to other inns, this one wasn’t particularly large. It seemed to have several private rooms and one large room for communal sleeping. Besides us, there were no plans to operate it as an inn, but according to Yazzak, we’d been asked to repair all the rooms just in case any federal officials or the like visited, as they did this time.
In that case, it seemed we’d get our rooms without any issue.
After the discussion had more or less concluded, Camlog suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, by the way, Sensei.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“I don’t know who it is, but it seems like an adventurer came into town yesterday.”
“An adventurer???”
“Huh, this town doesn’t have an inn, a guild, or a place to stay, so it’s not a place for adventurers to come to.”
“Ah, ah…maybe.”
“Hmm. That’s right. It seems like they might be after Sensei, so you might want to be careful.”
“I-I understand…”
As I glanced sideways, Kimishima also listened to the conversation with a stern expression. Although I’d been carrying a kodachi since the incident with Sid the other day, I wondered… if I were asked to fight… would I be able to?
“Um… excuse me…”
“Hmm? What is it?”
Vito, who had been listening to the conversation, timidly spoke up.
“…That person might have been the one who visited yesterday.”
“Yesterday? Here?”
“Asked if the inn was open? We said it wasn’t.”
“Hmm… what was he like?”
“I don’t know. He seemed cheerful. Didn’t seem dangerous, maybe.”
“Oh. Doesn’t seem like a bad person…”
Just as I started to feel a bit relieved, Camlog shot us a sharp look.
“There are people who smile all the time and suddenly attack, you know.”
“…Ugh…”
…I shouldn’t let my guard down.
However, hearing such stories made it difficult to focus on the relaxed conversation about repairing Vito’s house, and I started to feel uneasy.
Since the discussion was mostly over, we decided to head to the state army’s post to try to gather information about the adventurer.
When we arrived at the post, Stroman-san was just coming out of Yazzak-san’s room.
“Oh, Sensei. Good timing.”
“Good timing? Is it about the adventurer who’s come to this town?”
“Oh, you already heard about it? Yes, that’s the topic.”
“What happened? Is he after… me?”
Well, I’m not quite sure.”
“Not sure?”
He apparently arrived in town yesterday evening, and after learning that he wasn’t looking for me or a place to stay, he wandered around the town square and then spent the night. In the morning, he asked to accompany the state army on road repairs and went along with them.
“I allowed him to come along since I wanted to know more about him. So, I still don’t know the situation.”
“Why did he go with the state army?”
“He said he wanted to gather food, and he had a rare mount with him that I’d never heard of being used as a mount before. It was also a big eater.”
“Huh, he has his own mount.”
Hmm. I had no idea what kind of person he was.
“Well, in any case, until he returns, it might be best for you all to stay in the dormitory.”
“I see.”
“I’ll stay in the dormitory today as well.”
“Sorry about this.”
Yazzak and Stroman, among others, had homes in this village. Even after a year, if there were houses without any signs of returning, they’d been gradually repairing those with minimal damage and letting state soldiers with families live in them. The situation with the twins, Chiron and Panon, using the vacant blacksmith’s workshop.
There is a commonality among the people who have returned to reclaim this town.
They are those who struggled to survive. Among those who sought refuge in neighboring states during the Monster Parade, those who managed to establish a stable life in those places and did not choose to return to their homeland, preferring the life they have now.
Even the Jungle Leafs find it difficult to live here, where there is no guild branch or support for adventurers, especially in the early stages of reconstruction.
In such circumstances, there are those who come with a certain hope, without anyone to rely on like Vito, or those who lack prospects such as land inherited from their parents. It seems that such individuals somehow gather in the town.
As for the state army, there is a need for vegetables and other food for the soldiers on the ground.
Therefore, from an early stage, they recruited those who would engage in agriculture alongside their households, and these positions were filled relatively quickly. Some who had been barely making ends meet as hired hands on large farms have moved with their families.
Then there’s the issue of regular business owners. Unfortunately, there are none in this town.
The town is neither populous nor wealthy. There are no places to sell goods, nor are there any reasons for businesses to come to such a remote place. It costs money to establish transportation routes for acquiring inventory. Daily necessities are occasionally provided by traveling merchants.
By the way, the residents living in this town can receive the meat of monsters caught by us and the state soldiers for free. It seems to be a measure to secure residents, but the current situation is that there are only scattered individuals who can consider themselves lucky enough to not worry about meals.
In such a town, if a wandering adventurer were to come by, they would stand out inevitably.
From my perspective, wanting to keep a distance from those who challenge battles in pursuit of Celestial status exchange, it might surprisingly be a comfortable environment.
