86 Scammers!
Team leader Dains opened his mouth with a smooth tone.
“Actually, we were here to kill other monsters that live in the lake near this place, but got lost in the way.”
“Ah!”
“Really?”
Team leader Dains nodded his head with a lowered gaze.
‘What is going on...’
Kairen looked at the others’ faces after hearing that but their expressions were more confusing than the team leader’s words. They all suddenly seemed tired and out of energy.
‘....’
Team leader Dains sighed and continued to talk at that moment.
.....
“Then, we encountered a strong monster here. It was too strong that we thought we might really die before being able to kill it. It was a hard battle.”
“....”
“....”
The two men looked at the team members’ conditions. Their clothes were tattered and they seemed tired. There was a man hugging two daggers with a sad expression. The woman that they were scared of at first now seemed to be leaning against her sword because it was hard to stand up on her two legs. Then there was a man who was looking around blankly with his eyes barely open and a teenage girl hugging her knees.
They really looked like people who had fought a hard battle.
“But we still have to search around the area to see if there are any other monsters. It would be really bad if there are any more of those things. You know, this area is far away from any cities and is hard to travel to so before a hunters team could arrive here, the monster would kill everybody around.”
“Y-you are right.”
“You work really hard...”
Team leader Dains smiled slightly again with a lowered gaze. He looked like someone who didn’t want to say something but had no other choice.
“This is our duty after all. We will make sure to keep this area safe. We will keep your village safe.”
“Ah!”
“Thank you.”
The team leader then looked at his team members’ devastated state and smiled bitterly. He mumbled in a low voice as if he didn’t want anyone to hear his words, but his voice was loud enough for the two villagers to hear.
“But... Sigh.”
The two men that saw his sad expression asked hesitantly.
“I-Is there any problems?”
Team leader Dains looked at the two men. He bit his lower lip, scratched his cheek with a bitter smile, and lowered his head again.
“My team members are all exhausted and we have no place to rest...”
“Oh...”
Team leader Dains sighed again and continued in a low voice.
“I’m worried they won’t be able to win this time if we encounter another monster...”
“....”
“....”
The two men looked at the team leader and the team members once more. They looked at each other for a moment before the bearded man started talking again.
“If you... If you guys have no place to rest, then how about coming to our village?”
“Ah?”
Team leader Dains raised his head with a surprised expression. He blinked a few times and tilted his head.
“Come to your village?”
The two men nodded.
“Yes. You are trying to help us so we can at least give you a place to rest.”
The other team members raised their heads after hearing that and also looked at the man with shining eyes.
The only one who was still looking around with a stupefied expression was Kairen who didn’t really get what was going on.
“Will that be alright with the villagers?”
“Of course! We have seen a lot of hunters. You are here to help us so you are more than welcome.”
“I don’t know how to thank you, guys...”
“No no there is no need to thank. Just follow us. We are going back to the village.”
“But we have to check the area first...”
“Come on. There is still plenty of time. Let’s go to the village first.”
Everyone got up from the ground with bright and thankful expressions and followed the two men.
‘Huh? Huh?’
Kairen looked at his colleagues. He followed them while thinking about what happened just now. He could see team leader Dains smirking once the two men turned back and started walking towards their village.
‘They are scamming these people!’
Kairen looked at the others with a bewildered expression. They were still putting up the act, pretending to be exhausted and out of energy.
‘These people are... really... mean...’
Kairen knew why they wanted to visit the village. It was obvious that these people knew something about that ruin and their mission was to investigate these ruins so it was the best choice to visit that village. But he felt that tricking people like this wasn’t a good method.
In addition to that, weren’t they supposed to do something else now?
Kairen slowly walked closer to Rai and whispered what was in his mind in his ear.
“Hey, aren’t we supposed to search for other monsters?”
Rai answered him, his voice slightly confused.
“Didn’t you say that there were none?”
Kairen flinched and looked away.
“What do you mean? You aren’t going to search the area only because of what I said?.”
Rai turned to look at him and tilted his head lightly.
“Only because of your words? Yeah, it might be true. Your reasoning sounded logical to me. I agree with you more or less. The team leader didn’t disagree so he might have been convinced?”
“Huh?”
His reasoning sounded logical?
What reasoning? He only said anything that came to his mind.
The bullshit that he said only to avoid answering the team leader sounded logical?
How?
And, the team leader was convinced?
It was Kairen’s turn to tilt his head and blink his eyes.
“Convinced? It felt more like he wanted to headshot me!”
“PFFT- Ahem!”
Rai waved his hand in the air while forcefully surpassing his laughter.
“He’s just like that. That was most probably his convinced face?”
“...He looks like murderers when he is convinced?”
“A-Ahem! Yes. When he hears something convincing that he hadn’t thought about before his face looks kinda scary.”
“I-I see...”
Kairen nodded his head with a blank face and walked back to where he was.
He still couldn’t understand the team leader’s thought process. How could someone accept that bullshit that he had said?
‘Does that mean he accepted my words back in the underground room of the first ruin as well?’
How weird.
.....
The group followed the two people and walked to the village.
The village was an ordinary small village. There were small houses on two sides of the path. Some animals were seen here and there and a group of kids was playing on one side of the road. They could hear the sound of water, probably belonging to a river nearby, and could see tall trees in the distance.
People peeked out of their windows and stared at the group led by the two men with curious eyes. Kids stopped playing and all looked at the new people that were entering their village.
The bearded man started talking after they all entered the village.
“It has been a long time since the last time that any travelers have entered our village so these guys are quite surprised. Wait here, I’ll go call the others.”
“Oh no. There is no need to do such a-”
“It’s okay it’s okay. You can stay at my house for the time being. I have a small empty house near my own, you can use that.”
The bearded man then patted the other man’s shoulder while walking away.
“Take them to my house. I’ll talk to the old man and come back real quick.”
He said that and ran towards a house at the far end of the road.
“....”
“....”
The group could still feel the curious gaze of the villagers on them. The man who was entrusted to guide them smiled and started to walk.
“This way.”
They followed him and walked along the way towards the house that they would stay in for a while. The road was muggy and wet, probably due to rain. The two sides of the path were blocked with wooden fences. The wooden fences weren’t too high, so they could see the yards of the houses from outside. Each house had a small yard, covered in grass. Animals were going here and there in the yard and kids were playing.
A small and thin river passed through the road, blocking the way. They stepped on the small wooden bridge built on top of the river and continued to walk.
After walking a little bit more, they could see the end of the road. The road ended in front of a house. A few other houses were surrounding the small one and blocking the way completely.
“This way.”
The man turned to the right and walked into a small alley. They passed a few houses in their way and finally stopped in front of a blue door.
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