Not a barbarian warrior.

The village rumors spread much faster than Eugene had thought.

The news about Eugene turning over the village hall was no exception.

The villagers learned why Eugene had done such a thing in less than a day.

The next morning, Eugene came out with a calm face and walked for a while. He had completely removed the bandages from his body.

As he breathed in the fresh air and was lost in thought about what to do next, villagers addressed him one by one.

“Good morning.”

“Ah… Good morning.”

These were people who used to avoid eye contact or be wary if they happened to meet Eugene’s gaze.

But today was a little, no, quite a lot different.

The people looking at Eugene had a kind look in their eyes from the start. They spoke to him familiarly, and some even gave him small gifts.

“Take this. These are vegetables I just pulled from my garden, put them in a stew. They’re delicious.”

“…Thank you. I’ll enjoy them.”

Eugene received what people gave him one by one with a bewildered face. By the time he arrived at Daisy’s house, he had an armful of goods. Dried meat, carrots, potatoes, herb stems… all of them were food.

Daisy greeted Eugene in an awkward posture. It seemed her bottom was still sore even after a day had passed.

“Wow… What’s all this? Did you buy all this? Didn’t you leave empty-handed earlier?”

Eugene said with an embarrassed face:

“I didn’t buy it, I received it. People gave me something one by one while I was walking. The villagers are all very generous. Is it because I caught the monster for them…”

“Hmm… Well, that’s ‘one’ of the reasons.”

Eugene didn’t particularly notice anything strange in Daisy’s words.

The corners of her mouth slightly turned up.

“You haven’t made the stew yet, right? Let’s make it with these ingredients.”

“Okay!”

Daisy smiled brightly as she helped carry some of the load Eugene was holding.

Not long after the two went to the kitchen, a delicious smell began to waft out.

“It’s done. Now let’s take it out and eat!”

She ladled the steaming stew into plates and moved the food items one by one onto the table.

It was just brown bread, stew, and pickles made with turnips and cabbage, but even this much was an excellent meal.

Eugene, Daisy, and her father, the three of them ate their meals in different postures.

Her father, with his broken leg, ate the stew lying in bed, while Daisy, whose bottom was still sore, ate standing up unable to sit on a chair. Only Eugene was sitting at the table to eat.

As Daisy, standing opposite Eugene, kept spilling the pickles while trying to scoop them with a spoon, Eugene chuckled and teased her.

“There’s a chair, why can’t you sit?”

“…Don’t laugh…!”

After the meal ended with some commotion, Eugene headed to the shed outside Daisy’s house.

It was to check if the salted wolf meat hadn’t rotted, and if the hide hadn’t spoiled and dried well. Fortunately, there was nothing wrong.

‘It would be too heavy to carry all of this. Since a merchant will be visiting the village soon, should I dispose of the meat and just take the hide? I should find out exactly when the merchant is coming.’

When the villagers started to grow fond of Eugene, conversely, he decided that he should leave the village soon.

After examining the goods and coming out of the shed, Daisy was standing there in an awkward posture.

“Why did you come out? Go lie down for a bit.”

“Well, I suddenly thought of something while eating earlier.”

“What is it?”

Daisy hesitated for a moment, then parted her lips and said:

“Um… You know, last time when I came to you at night, and, uh… I cried a lot.”

Daisy’s face started to turn red.

Eugene was taken aback when she suddenly brought up that incident again, but he didn’t show it and replied:

“Oh, um. That’s right?”

“I’m saying this in case you misunderstand… It wasn’t because I disliked you or anything… It’s just, how should I put it… um…”

Daisy lost her train of thought, unable to find the right words.

Meanwhile, her face had turned so red that it reminded one of a ripe tomato.

Eugene lightly flicked his finger against her forehead, no, the tomato.

Thwack!

“Ouch!”

As she rubbed her forehead with her hand and tried to say something, Eugene beat her to it.

“I disliked it. I don’t have any strange preferences for embracing little kids.”

At those words, Daisy made an expression as if she was upset.

“What did you say? Tsk… You’ll regret those words later! Exactly three years from now, you’ll regret saying that!”

“Will three years be enough?”

“It’s enough! It’s more than enough!”

Daisy glared at him and slapped Eugene’s arm repeatedly.

She regretted bringing up the unnecessary topic.

It was the day when a merchant visited the village pulling a cart.

As the cart loaded with goods entered, the villagers eagerly traded for the items they needed through barter.

They handed over dried grains, cheese made from sheep’s milk, eggs, smoked meat, thread made from linen and wool, and received goods that the merchant had brought from the city.

These were things like medicines refined from herbs by alchemists, crafts or weapons made by guild blacksmiths, fabrics woven from thread, candles, and salt.

People bustled around the merchant to exchange or purchase the items they needed. Among them was Eugene. When it was his turn, Eugene held out a barrel containing salted wolf meat.

The merchant who received the goods was startled at Eugene’s face for a moment, then averted his gaze and examined the goods Eugene had offered.

Eugene disposed of all the meat and received coins instead of goods.

He wanted to find something to replace his tattered gambeson, but there was nothing he liked. Everything was so shoddy that he decided to get it in the city instead.

Daisy asked Eugene when he returned home:

“How did it go?”

“There weren’t any good items, so I received money instead.”

“Come to think of it, why didn’t you sell the hides?”

“They’re not that heavy now that the moisture has evaporated, and I can sell them for a higher price if I take them to the city, so I’ll keep them.”

Daisy asked Eugene as if she had forgotten:

“Ah… When are you leaving the village?”

“Tomorrow. Thank you for letting me stay all this time.”

“You don’t need to thank me. No, wait! You’re leaving tomorrow? Stay a bit longer! What’s the rush?”

“I’ve stayed long enough. I’ve caught the monster, and my body has fully healed. Now I need to go find other work.”

“…Monster hunting work?”

Daisy looked at Eugene with worried eyes. Eugene raised the corners of his mouth and said:

“Who knows, I might meet a girl like you and end up hunting wolves again.”

It was a light-hearted comment meant to change the mood, but it made Daisy recall the memories of that day again.

Complicated emotions arose as she thought about him leaving tomorrow without having fully repaid his kindness.

Gratitude, disappointment, regret, feelings of being let down. Then suddenly, she felt angry. It felt almost like betrayal.

Thinking about it, there was no harm in telling her in advance, and she wondered how he could notify her so suddenly.

“Fine. You’re leaving tomorrow morning, right? Have a good trip.”

Daisy ended the conversation curtly and went straight into her room.

Eugene didn’t understand why she suddenly acted like that.

It was this difficult to perceive the capricious heart of an adolescent girl.

Eugene was in his room, thoroughly checking all his luggage before departing tomorrow.

There seemed to be visitors outside the house, as murmuring voices could be heard from outside.

In place of the homeowner who had difficulty moving, Eugene opened the door and came out to find a village elder standing with three unfamiliar faces.

Eugene quickly scanned the three men with his eyes.

They were well-armed from head to toe and each carried different weapons. They had a spear, a two-handed axe, and a sword respectively.

They made an expression of disbelief as soon as they saw Eugene’s face.

“Huh…! Why is a barbarian warrior who should be in the North here?”

“Not a barbarian warrior, I’m Eugene.”

They ignored Eugene’s words and spoke sarcastically:

“Alright, barbarian, are you the one who caught the monster that appeared in this village?”

“If you’ve come to catch that thing, you’re too late. I caught it over a week ago.”

“Hard to believe. Are you sure you didn’t mistake some other creature for that monster? Do you know what that monster was?”

“It was a lurehorn.”

“…You caught that thing? All by yourself?”

“Yes.”

“Even harder to believe. We heard you brought back its head. Where is it?”

“The head rotted so I threw it away, I only have the horns.”

“That’ll do. Can you show us?”

With an annoyed expression, Eugene went inside the house and came back with the lurehorn’s horns. Seeing them, the three men realized they were indeed the horns of an adult lurehorn.

“It’s real…”

For a moment, greed flashed in their eyes. They knew very well how much those horns could sell for.

Realizing they had missed an opportunity to make a lot of money right in front of them, they grabbed the innocent village elder and got angry.

“Damn it… Hey old man, you made us come all this way for nothing. How are you going to take responsibility for this, huh?”

“H-how can you blame me for your late arrival?”

“Shut up and compensate us for the time we wasted coming here. If not…”

As they grabbed the village elder by the collar and threatened him, Eugene intervened.

“Don’t talk nonsense. What responsibility does the elder have when you didn’t even receive a request from the guild?”

“Shut up! You barbarian bastard…!”

Before he could finish speaking, Eugene grabbed and twisted the wrist of the man holding the elder’s collar.

“Argh! You son of a bitch!”

As the man screamed in pain and struggled, his companion tried to throw a punch at Eugene.

Eugene nimbly tried to twist his body to avoid it, but soon found it unnecessary.

Thanks to another companion wearing a sword on his belt who stepped forward and stopped everyone.

He pushed back his excited companions and came forward alone, speaking politely.

“We got a bit excited thinking we had come for nothing. You’re right that we were late and these old men don’t have any responsibility to compensate us.”

“…”

As Eugene looked at him with wary eyes, he showed his empty hands and said:

“Relax your expression. What’s the point of fighting when no one’s paying us? We’re already annoyed at wasting time so far, we don’t want to do any more useless things.”

“Right. You understand well. Then will you quietly get out of here now?”

“Sure, we’ll do that. But before that, I have one thing to ask, do you have any plans for those lurehorn horns?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“If you’re going to sell them somewhere, go to a fortress city called Carlisle. There’s a master craftsman named Malika, if you show them to him, he’ll buy them for a very high price. I guarantee you can get at least sixty silver coins.”

“…I’ll think about it.”

Eugene found it hard to believe his words. There was no such thing as kindness given suddenly without reason.

He thought there must be some ulterior motive. For example, what if he went all the way to Carlisle only to find that there was no craftsman named Malika to begin with.

Seeing Eugene still showing a wary attitude, the man who had given the information about going to Carlisle said:

“This isn’t a lie. Originally, if we had caught the monster, we were supposed to take those horns to Malika. Since things have turned out this way, I’m telling you this. It’s good for you because you’ll find someone who’ll buy your goods at a high price, and it’s good for us because we’ve still completed the request somehow and gained credibility. It’s good for both of us, right?”

“Hmm…”

As he gave a plausible reason, Eugene pondered for a moment. He thought that maybe there really was a craftsman named Malika in the fortress city of Carlisle.

“Ah, if I could make one request, I’d like you to mention my name when you show the goods to that craftsman.”

“That’s not difficult.”

“I’m Marlon. Don’t forget and make sure to tell him. By the way, when do you plan to leave? That old man Malika said he wanted them as soon as possible.”

“I was planning to leave tomorrow anyway. I haven’t decided if I’ll go to Carlisle yet, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“Alright. Still, I hope you’ll sell them to that old man. We have no more business here, so we’ll be going now.”

After finishing his conversation with Eugene, he led his complaining companions away quietly. They left the village altogether.

Although everything was resolved well without anyone getting hurt and without much commotion, Eugene couldn’t shake off an ominous feeling for some reason.