Chapter 4: Learning

Bell and Lefiya sat on the floor of their shared room at the inn with a map of the village's surrounding area, courtesy of one of the injured scout adventurers, and papers upon papers of the reports they received from the mayor.

The map was filled with marks they made according to each report and with each additional one, the frown of both adventurers deepens. Lefiya couldn't help commenting as she added yet another mark on the map,

"The situation report was accurate so far... though it seemed that they had missed on the detail that each attack wasn't only closing into the village... but also increasing in frequency..."

Bell nodded in agreement as he too added another mark on the map,

"There is also the fact that the monsters seem to be encircling the village... I don't really want to say this... but it's as if they are laying a siege on this place..."

"Normally I'd disagree... but this is clearly unusual... other than the Xenos, I never heard of any monster with this level of intelligence..."

"You mean..."

Lefiya noticed the boy's obvious reluctance on the idea but nodded anyway as she spoke,

"... I think it's best that we, you, prepare for it... We might have to face one of them..."

Bell grimaced as the elf said the one thing he had dreaded. However, he knew that she wasn't being unreasonable, a threat is a threat, no matter how he felt regarding it. The only thing he could do was prepare for the worst and hoped that the elf was wrong.

Seeing Bell's mood took a nosedive at the possibility of having to fight one of those intelligent monsters, not unlike ones which he had recently befriended, Lefiya couldn't help but feel guilty about it. Deciding that a change of topic might do him good for now, she decided to ask something which she had been wondering since they arrived at the village,

"By the way, I've been wondering... you seemed... experienced with the situation when we arrived at the village yesterday, from dealing with the guards to booking a room at the inn."

Bell looked up at the elf and nodded as he answered,

"Well... something like that, I guess. I did travel to Orario alone from my hometown... although I did have some money after selling the farm, it wasn't much, and riding wagons to Orario took a huge chunk of it since I had to switch to another one every few villages. I guess I kind of used to overtime in dealing with that kind of situation."

Lefiya raised her eyebrows as she listened to the boy before nodding,

"I see..."

As they once again poured through the reports, the elf stole a few more glances at the rabbit-like human. She will never admit it to him but secretly, she couldn't help being impressed by his tale. After all, compared to him, her own travel to Orario had been largely straightforward.

Her parents arranged everything and all she had to do was catch the wagon on time. Moreover, she was well into level 1 when she left, and killing the monsters along the way awarded her level 2 by the time she arrived.

Bell on the other hand had been a normal person when he left, a literal farmer boy: No status and barely any fighting skill. All he had was some physical strength from years of working in the field. His only drive was the heroic tales his grandfather told him, possibly even with no small amount of embellishment at that.

It was nearly an hour later when both of them finished perusing the reports and marking the maps accordingly. Looking down at the marks on the map, Lefiya pointed at one section of the map, north of the village, with the most number of marks,

"This is the area with the largest number of encounters so far. I think we should start investigating here."

Bell nodded in response, it seemed to be a reasonable starter plan as they really had no other lead at the moment. He raised his eyes toward the girl as he spoke,

"So... shall we go now?"

Lefiya shook her head as she replied,

"No, we need to make some preparation and contingency plan first. I think it's better if we walk around the village first, familiarize ourselves with what we can possibly find in this place. This village used to be a popular hub for merchants and adventurers so I wish to find out if there are apothecary or blacksmith workshops here."

"I understand, backup for potions and weapons, right?"

The elf nodded as she continued,

"That's right, this isn't Orario so I don't think we can expect high-level potions or equipment but since we don't know what we may face during this mission, knowing where and what kind of backup supplies we could find may be critical."

Bell nodded repeatedly before commenting,

"You're amazing, Lefiya-san... I never even thought that far..."

"Hmph, that means you haven't studied enough. What would you do if you got seriously injured and no potion is available? Instead of solving the mystery, you'll end up being another casualty."

"I guess you're right... sorry. It's just... usually Lili, she's my familia's supporter, is the one who took care of the supplies we bring to the dungeon."

"Having a supporter is good and all but you should learn to manage for yourself during extended missions. Seriously... how did you even survive in the deep level with this kind of mentality...? You know what, I don't care… Come on, we better get moving while the sun is up."

Bell nodded as both of them stood up and grabbed their basic gears: Bell's dagger, and Lefiya's wand though they decided to leave most of their armors behind. They agreed that while the chance of being attacked while in the village should be rather minimal, neither of them was willing to chance it. Especially since they were unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar place, trouble had the tendency to show up when they were unprepared.

It was nearly 2 hours later before both of them returned to their room with not so few items brought back. Bell was carrying nearly double of the items carried by Lefiya having volunteered for it by logic that he was the physically stronger of the two and something about a man's pride. Once they put the items on the floor, they tried to straighten their spines as Lefiya commented,

"Phew… there were more things that I expected we would find. That's a good thing, I guess… though they really hiked up the price… none of these things could be considered worth their asking price in Orario…."

Bell spun his arm to loosen his shoulder as he spoke,

"Well, with the village under siege by the monsters and how many adventurers and villagers were injured, I guess the supplies were high in demand but short on supply… that's why the price was raised that high. Besides… well… there might be some discrimination since we're clearly aren't locals…."

"That's ridiculous… we're here to help them… why would they purposely try to make it harder for us?"

Bell shrugged in response, there was really nothing he could say to answer that question. Discrimination wasn't exactly new but they were rarely reasonable, that's simply the fact of life. Besides, other than overcharging them, none of the shops really goes out of their way to chase them out, so there was really not much to complain about.

Once they were ready, they began sorting out the items accordingly and split them between themselves. Finally, they grabbed their gears before leaving once again, this time heading for the village gate to begin their investigation.