I woke up today feeling refreshed. Maybe it was good that I went to bed a little early, but I feel like I'm in better shape. I quickly prepared myself and tucked the few things I had left in my bag.

　I walked downstairs to the garden and let Shiroumaru and his friends out. I always feed them on the street and wash their faces with water from the well. After that, I head to the dining room where it is crowded with other guests.

Good morning, Mrs. Smith. What's for breakfast today?

'Good morning Temma, you have a choice of bread or porridge today. Which one do you want?

　I asked. I'm glad to see that rice (but indica rice) is also grown in this area (but not indica rice) and can be eaten normally.

Porridge, please.

Okay, it's a dried fish on the side. Hold on a second.

　And the lady went to the kitchen. In the meantime, I pulled out a homemade dried plum from my magic bag. I had found a plant that resembled a plum tree before I came to town, so I made it from the seeds. The plant's name is 'komai' and, like the plum tree, the fruit is poisonous while it is blue.

Here we go. Oh, you're eating this again, aren't you, 'komai in salt'?

　He speaks to me as he places the porridge in front of me, "Yes, I like it and it's good for me.

'Yes, I like it and it's good for you.

　I replied that I wasn't very good at it. These dried plums were not popular around here.

'Speaking of which, I understand that Temma will be out of town for a few days from today on a commission.

Yes, I'm going to get rid of the dashboa.

Go for it. But don't you dare get hurt!

　I received words of encouragement. I've hunted many times, but this is my first professional hunt. Let's make sure we don't have any trivial injuries.

　We left the Manpuku-ji Temple and headed for the gate. There was a food stall on the way, so we bought some snacks and treats and put them in our magic bag, when we looked up and saw Shiroumaru drooling next to us. It seems that he is reacting to the smell of skewered food wafting from just ahead.

　Shiroumaru is staring at me with glazed eyes. It would be perfect if only he wasn't drooling...

　We have no choice but to buy three skewers and eat them on the spot, handing one to Slarin and me holding both of them in my hands. I take a bite of one of the skewers and chew it. The other skewer is taken off the heat, shaking it in small increments. Slarin takes his tentacles out and holds the skewer, digging the meat into his body little by little, which is always an interesting way to eat.

　Shiroumar's head is moving up and down as his eyes follow the swaying meat.

Yes, it's a little hard, but it's chewy and quite tasty.

　Shiroumaru bobbed his head up and down, waiting for the meat to cool.

'Muggy, muggy, muggy.'

　Shiroumaru's eyes watered as he shook his head and waited.

''Mogu, gokun. Ahhhh.
Swoon.

　When I opened my mouth to take another bite, Shiroumaru squealed sadly. I'm sorry, forgive me Shiroumaru, I did it on purpose.　

　Shiroumaru's reaction was so funny that I couldn't help but be mean to him. I apologize in my heart to Shiroumaru and offer him a skewer.

　Shiroumaru's face was filled with joy and he took the skewer all the way down. I gently pull out the skewer and all the meat remains in my mouth, which Shiroumaru swallows with a few chews. Then he begs me for 'another one'.

　I buy a few skewers instead of apologizing for my earlier, and share them with Shiroumar and Slarin. As usual, Shiroumaru swallowed them after a few chews.


　Almost as soon as Tenma arrived at the gate, Lily and the others showed up. The three of them run up to me like puppies (even though they're cats) when I wave and call to them.

Good morning Tenma. Did we make you wait?
I'm sorry, Temma.
I'm sorry I'm late for work.

"Good morning Lily, Nellie, Millie. I just got here too, so it's about time.

　I greet the three of them.

"'Thank goodness - actually, the other two got so excited last night that they went to bed late!'

　All three of them hum along and give me the same excuse.

'It was Nellie and Millie who were hustling!
No, it's Lily and Millie!
Yes, it's Lily and Nelly!

　All three of them start to say that the other two were flabbergasted. I sigh.

All three of you overslept in the morning because you were so excited.
""I'm sorry."

　When I pointed it out, all three of them immediately apologized.

'Anyway, now that we're all here, let's get going.
Well, if I leave now, I'll be at the village you asked for before evening.
'That would be great. We need to get there as soon as possible and get the word out!
Sanse~! Let's go, now!

　I went to the gatekeeper and greeted him. After a brief conversation with the gatekeeper, the cat girls, who were going to go to the road to the village

Oh, wait a minute, I'm coming up with something.

　I went and pulled a large box-shaped object out of my magic bag and onto the side of the road.

'A carriage?'
What about the horse, Tenma?
'Shiroumaru is pulling away?'

　And all three of them on their heads? The mark is floating in the air. I can feel a hint of surprise coming through my dimension bag.

'No, I'll let this guy pull it off.'

　And then he continued from the bag and produced a large black metal lump, I placed my hand on the lump and let the magic flow through it and said a few words....

Wake up.

　With those words, several red-black lines of light ran across the mass. And the thing that was a mass stood up on four legs.

　It's a horse-like thing, about two meters tall and three meters long.

''Whoa! Surprise!
You want me to pull this one?
They're so big!

'No, I haven't put the finishing touches on it yet. Slarin', go!

　I commanded, and Slarin clambered up to the horse's back. I opened the hatch around his neck and slipped into it. When Slarin closed the hatch, two bright red lights shone in the horse's eyes.

　When the lights lit up in his eyes, he started to walk like a real horse. I tethered the horse to the carriage.

　The three girls were amazed at the horse, and even more amazed by the fact that Slarin had entered, but then

Oh, it's working!
Oh, my God, he's a real horse.
Hey Temma, what happened to Slarin?

　He was very excited about it. 'As they used to say, a woman is fornicating when three people get together.

''This is a pseudo-life form horse-shaped golem, Tanikaze, that can be activated by Slarin assisting magic control inside!

　He explained. This Tanikaze uses a demon core, which can be considered an artificial demon. In the future, the goal is to launch it alone without Slarin.
　The magic nucleus used was that of a dragon zombie that had been defeated before, and was one that Slarin had carefully retrieved.
　The nucleus of the magic nucleus, which was formerly an ancient dragon's, was about a meter in diameter, but unfortunately it had countless cracks in it, two of which were about a third of the size, one slightly smaller, and a dozen smaller ones that were broken into dozens of pieces.
　The core of the Tanikazee was completed using the third of these cracks and about a third of the smaller ones. For the outer shell, a large amount of "magical iron," a high-purity steel that is infused with magic power, is used.
　By the way, the outer shell is replaceable, and I'm thinking of making it out of fantasy materials like Mithril and Orihalcon at some point.

''If it has Slarin in it, what should I call it?''
Tanilyn or Slakaze?
Which way?

'It's Tanikaze. The name of the pseudo-life nucleus is Tanikaze, and the body is Tanikaze's, and Slarin is just helping Tanikaze's body circulate magic.

　The three of them nodded their heads at Tenma's explanation, "So, we're going to take this carriage to get to the village?

''So we're going to take this carriage to the village?
We're going to be a lot ahead of schedule.
Lucky you.

　and the three of us got into the carriage. I climbed into the driver's seat, gave Tanikaze instructions, and began to move the carriage forward.

　The road to the village passes without incident. At first the three of us were excited to see the ride quality of the carriage's suspension and the front wheels that move in conjunction with the horse's movements, but after lunch we were probably exhausted from our horseshit and dozed off.

'Hey, all three of you, the village is in sight, get up already!

　I heard a voice behind me, and I heard the sound of rustling in response to the voice. And just before the village.

""Offayo~"

　At the same time, the three of them yawned and let out a voice.

　It would be about three o'clock now. It would have taken about three hours and a bit since we left, which was a good amount of time for us to have come a bit slowly. I stopped the Tanikaze at the entrance of the village and got off with the three of us.

'Let's go to the client's village chief.

　He said and released a towel wet with water to the three of them.

'Wipe your face with it first.

　I said, and I stowed Tanikaze and the carriage in my magic bag. Slarin was outside at the same time I got out of the carriage and ducked into the dimension bag. It looked like she was sleeping inside as I told Shiroumar not to go outside the bag so that Dashboa wouldn't be alerted.

　We entered the village and asked the first villagers we met where the chief's house was located and then headed out. He said about five minutes from here.
　The house looked more respectable than the surrounding houses to thank the villagers and walk away.

It looks like here, only this house is differently made. Is it because he is a village chief?
Yeah, maybe. But it's a strange village, with a dark and weird atmosphere.
Oh, I know what that is!
The guy from earlier seemed to be pricing us out, too.

　Nellie and Millie agree with what Lily said after she replied to me.

'Anyway, let's go talk to the village chief.

　I said, and I knocked on the door of the house.　

'Yes, yes, who is it?'

　The one who came out while opening the door was a small, fat man.

''I'm from the Adventurer's Guild in Gunjo City. I've received a request. Are you the village chief?''

　I replied on behalf of the four men. The man looked at me and the three men behind me.

Well, thank you for your help. Please, come in. I'll tell you more about it.

　He welcomed us with open arms. We were ushered into the living room and offered a chair, and as we sat down, a woman with a scarf around her neck brought us a cup of tea and placed it in front of us. When the man saw the woman leave the room, he opened his mouth.

''Thank you for accepting my request. My name is Banza, and I am the village chief of this village. However, there are only about 100 people in this village.''

　The village chief, who identified himself as Banza, goes on to give details of the request. In summary.

　For a week now, dashboas appear at night in herds of five or six to eat the pre-harvest crops. The men of the village tried to exterminate them, but it was impossible to do so, so they sent out a request.

　The men of the village tried to exterminate them, but it was impossible to do so, so they sent a request. The affected fields are located a short walk from the village. We decided to ask the village chief to guide us.

　When we left the house, we felt the gaze from the shadows of buildings and inside the house. At first I thought it was because the adventurers were unusual, but I soon sensed that the gaze was full of malice. The gazes were particularly focused on the three people behind me.
　Using a search to be sure, I found out that nearly half of the village was hidden near here.

　The three of them seemed unsettled by the stares, though they didn't seem to be able to sense the malice contained in the gaze.

　Within ten minutes of leaving the village, they arrived at the field.

'This is the field that was damaged. There are still some vegetables and other things that have not yet been harvested, so I expect them to show up around today.

I'll do some research.

'Please. I still have work to do and would like to go home, if you don't mind?

'Yes, that's fine. We're going to go straight into watch, so we'll spend the night here and report back to you once in the morning.

I understand. I look forward to working with you.

　He appraised Banza as he walked towards the village and was satisfied with the results.

'Hey Temma, shouldn't we have gone back to the village and gotten ready for once?

　I took one look at Hatake and asked, "What do you think?

'This request sounds pretty fishy. It's easier to deal with it here than back in the village.

　I assured them. The three of them were startled by this and tried to raise their voices, but I gestured for them to be quiet.

'What do you mean, Temma?'
Do you have any reason to be suspicious?
'It's a weird-looking village, but it's bad enough to doubt without evidence, Temma.

　The three of them drop their voices and ask me. In response, I tell them what has been bothering me since earlier.

　I've only seen three people in the village, but I felt several eyes on me as I left Banza's house, and I sensed malice in their eyes.
　That the dash boa has been out for a week now and there is little damage to the fields.
　And I pointed to a nearby boa trail.

If you look closely at these footprints, they're the same size and depth.

Oh, yeah.
But wouldn't it be strange if the footprints around here were made by the same boa?
Yeah, you're thinking too much, Temma.

　But I pointed to two footprints nearby.

But if so, it's too weird that these two footprints are the same depth.

　He pointed to the footprints on the ridges. The three of them looked at the footprints curiously, but then Lily said, "Oh," she said.

You're right, this is strange. This wouldn't normally happen.

　But I explain to Nellie and Millie, who still don't seem to get it.

'Rows are the soil that's raised to plant crops. That's why they're softer (...) than the normal ground, so they should be deeper than the rest of the flatland, and that's why they should be able to fill in the footprints.　
　And yet these footprints are only as deep as the rest of the place. When I looked for them, I found similar footprints strewn about.

　Nelly and Millie were twitching their heads in agreement with this.

　We explored the surrounding area and found five people lurking in several places that we couldn't see from us, they may be guards, they seem to take turns from time to time.

　What's even more extreme is the status of Banza when I appraised him earlier.

Name...Banza.
Age...46
Race... human race.
Title: Leader of the Thieves.

HP... 8,000.
MP...1100

Strength...B-
Defensive Power...C+
Velocity...
Magic...
Mental capacity...D
Growth Potential...D-
Luck...C

Skills....6 axe techniques, 6 martial arts, 6 night eyes, 5 sword techniques, 5 traps, 4 throwing techniques, 4 abnormal effect resistance, 3 concealment, and 2 sensory enhancements.

　It was. His title was "bandit leader. It's completely out. But I couldn't tell the three of them about the evaluation itself, so I decided to persuade them with some of my feelings and what I found in this field.
　Incidentally, the reason I immediately noticed the footprints in this field is because I was wary of the atmosphere and the malicious gaze of this village, so I was suspicious of everything.

''Then you would run away now?''
That might be a good idea.
Why don't we go back to the guild and talk about it, okay Temma?

　I'm saying.

I disagree.

　I disagreed once and for all.

'Why Temma!'
Why, Temma!
"It's not safe, Temma!

　I quietly admonished the three of them, "Look, even if you go back to the guild, there is no proof.

We have no proof, even if we return to the guild and sue them. Even with these footprints, if they were to be erased, that would be the end of it. Even if they don't erase them, if they're only footprints, they'll still be judged to have been a prank. The worst thing that could happen is that they would be stigmatized as the cowards who tried to hide the failure of their request.

So what should I do?

　The three of them pale at my words.

'Then what should we do?'

　Lily comes to visit on behalf of the three of us.

"It's a simple matter, we just have to get back at them.

　I assure them. The three of them widen their eyes at those words, but I continue to tell them my plan.

'First, we'll stand guard as if we don't suspect anything...and make it look like we don't suspect anything. It would be better to divide them into two places to spread out the opponents. But in reality, the one standing guard is a golem that we've made to mimic us. In the meantime, we were waiting in the welded carriage. I ordered the golems to fall down if they were attacked. When they fall, someone will probably go to check on them, so they will move to neutralize the opponent.

How does that work?
There's a hundred of them, you know?
There's a big difference in the numbers, okay?

''That's all right then. The mimetic golems will be able to neutralize any enemies that come close to them without dying, so the three of you will go to one place at a time to secure them together. At the same time, I'll send out five medium-sized golems to each of the three guards. Then I'll send Shiroumaru to neutralize them as they run and hide, while I'll go get Banza. I'm not going to be able to let the small fry escape, but I want you to focus on protecting yourself. Then we'll start getting ready.

　He instructed the three of them to do the same.