Life as an Adventurer with the Banished Marquis' Daughter - Chapter 24: The Exiled Marquis's Daughter Takes Responsibility, Part 4

Chapter 24: The Exiled Marquis’s Daughter Takes Responsibility, Part 4

Erika, who had briefly exchanged a glance with me, quickly dispelled her slight confusion and moved gracefully in front of the little girl. 

Erika knelt down, meeting the girl’s gaze with a gentle smile.

“Yes, we are adventurers.”

The little girl glanced at both Erika and me, then showed a moment of consideration before her eyes filled with serious determination.

“I have a request for you, adventurers.”

Erika didn’t dismiss the seriousness in the girl’s words as childish.

“Can you tell me what the request is?”

The girl seemed to recall something, bit her lip for a moment, then spoke.

“Please defeat the monster that injured my dad.”

“I understand.”

Erika answered immediately. 

Wow, she’s impressive.

“But I’m sorry, we might have already taken care of the monster that hurt your father. I might have overdone it, so there’s no proof left.”

The girl shook her head at Erika’s apology.

“No, it’s not the little monkey monster.”

So, Bonbos are being referred to as small monkeys.

I didn’t think of the girl’s statement as just a child’s perception. 

Instead, I felt a sense of clarity about the unease I’d been feeling.

I see, so, the village chief was lying?

This must be… a common scenario, perhaps?

“Sorry, but could you tell us about your father? Can you take us to him?”

I tried to say it as gently as possible, but the little girl started trembling in fear, and even Erika glared at me. 

Why?

＊

The little girl’s father was one of the people responsible for transporting the village’s crops to the town. 

However, he had been relieved of this duty due to his injury.

Interestingly, none of the other workers had mentioned his existence. In other words, the entire village had been hiding him.

At first, the little girl’s father tried to play dumb. 

He lied, saying his injury was from farm work and even apologized for his daughter’s strange story.

But when I shared what I roughly understood, and Erika earnestly explained how his daughter was worried about him and wanted to avenge him by asking us for help, he finally relented when the little girl started crying.

Leaving the girl’s house, I sighed. 

This was a common scenario, especially in villages near towns with guilds.

What should we do next? 

Just as I was pondering this, I saw a broken cart speeding toward the village.

In a small village like this, news spread quickly, and by the time the cart reached the village entrance, a large crowd had gathered.

Erika and I stood a little distance away, curious about what was happening.

“Chief, it’s terrible! It’s coming!”

The coachman shouted as he stopped the cart and spotted the village chief. 

The chief glanced at us for a moment, but the panicked coachman kept yelling.

“It’s coming to this village! We need to escape now!”

“What did you say!?”

The chief shouted in surprise. 

The villagers around us started to stir at the words “It’s coming.”

The fear of those unaccustomed to such crises led to hesitation and delayed decisions. 

This anxiety quickly turned into panic with the distant roar of a monster.

The longer the villagers hesitated, the more their regret turned into panic.

They all began to flee at once.

The village chief tried to restore order by shouting, but it was too late. 

The coachman, although in the best position to escape, was still there, hindered by the fleeing villagers.

He looked ready to bolt as soon as a path cleared. I was a bit surprised when a woman emerged from the cart, breathing heavily.

Rather than climbing down, she almost fell to the ground and leaned against the cart as she spoke to the village chief.

“I will hold off the monster, so please evacuate quickly.”

I frowned instinctively at the sight of the blonde woman who spoke. 

A sister, someone from the church.

Our eyes met. 

Despite holding her bleeding side, she smiled and said,

“You all should evacuate quickly too.”

I wanted to avoid getting involved with the church. 

To me, they were the ones who had taken away Erika’s bright future.

In the midst of this farce, there was nothing good that could come from getting involved with them.

Ah— but you.

Only you would say this.

“You must be joking.”

Because you are, after all, the Erika Solnzari.

I glanced at Erika’s profile, and the closeness of her presence made my heart skip a beat.