“What wish do you want me to grant? Hmm… I’ll tell you later!”
Friede, who barely won our bet, was grinning at my question about what wish she had in mind.
Her reply sent a chill down my spine. What on earth could she possibly want that she was dragging this out for so long?
Since she called it a ‘small wish,’ it might not be a grand request, but… from her perspective, it might be a tiny wish, while from my viewpoint, it could be something I absolutely can’t grant.
For someone who usually doesn’t drink, even a bottle of soju would be a lot, but for a severe alcoholic, it would just be a light snack.
…Well, anyway, we decided that since there was no sign of a new snow bear appearing no matter how long we waited, we concluded the quest and left the cave, heading back to the village.
“We’ve finished the hunt. We got all ten of them, including the little ones.”
I went to find the Village Chief, who had been anxiously waiting, to inform him that the entire snow bear family was wiped out without leaving any cubs behind.
“Goodness, there were ten of those damn white bears? What kind of food could they possibly have to have ten of them around here…”
The Village Chief was shocked and panicked at the news that there were ten snow bears gathered.
What food could they have? Well, there’s plenty to feed a whole village here. For bears, it’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet they can choose from whenever they feel like it.
Thank goodness we handled them before the cubs grew up. If the hunt had been delayed even a little, the village would probably have turned into a snow bear-exclusive gourmet restaurant.
Anyway, judging by the Village Chief’s reaction, it didn’t seem like they were lying about the bears being only four to save on the quest fee.
They probably never expected there would be that many bears around. The cubs likely rarely came out of their den.
“Anyway, thank you. Thanks to you, I can finally sleep with my legs stretched out.”
“Well, I’m just doing my job for money.”
The Village Chief took my hand and bowed his head in gratitude after checking the snow bear hide I provided as proof. He had been unable to sleep due to anxiety, but now that he’d seen the corpses, he felt a wave of relief.
“The cave was unexpectedly deep, so there’s a high chance this could happen again. I advise blocking the entrance if possible.”
I added a word of advice on my way out.
Since the cave was pretty deep, if neglected, it was likely to become a den for other beasts or wandering monsters, so they should seal off the entrance completely as a precaution.
“Oh, and the bodies of the residents who fell victim to the bears have been buried near the entrance of the cave. They were in a pretty mutilated state, so if you want to relocate them, you should find those with strong stomachs.”
I also mentioned that the resident who had become a bear’s meal had been buried by us, so if they wanted to move them to another graveyard, they should go check there.
Upon hearing this, the Village Chief honored us with a generous meal of five chickens as a reward.
Of course, it was a hearty feast for the three women, including me, but for Kikel, it was barely enough, so he had to gnaw on extra bear meat he had brought along to fill his belly.
◆◆
After finishing dinner, the sky had started to get dark, so we asked the Village Chief if it would be okay to stay for the night.
“Oh my goodness, of course, it’s fine! Let’s see, which house is empty…”
The Village Chief smiled as if he could easily accommodate our request and led us to a house that happened to be perfectly vacant.
We hadn’t expected such hospitality, thinking it would be an inn or shed.
An empty house in a rural village usually meant something unfortunate had happened to the homeowner…
Hmm, perhaps the body we buried had lived there in life or something like that.
The house we were shown, true to a rural home, was small and shabby, but at least it was enough for the four of us to escape the cold for a night.
With furnishings enough for two people, it seemed like originally a couple or lovers lived there, but it was a bit odd that all the clothes hanging were only for women.
Wait, had I seen any men in this village before?
Since I hadn’t looked around much, I couldn’t say for sure, but I vaguely remembered everyone I passed by being women…
Well, what did it matter? We’d be leaving this village tomorrow anyway.
“Ugh, look at all this dust. It’s almost dungeon level.”
“Uh, if it’s uncomfortable, couldn’t you sleep in the carriage? Alone.”
“…Sleeping in the dust is better than getting blasted by the cold winds outside.”
Amy grumbled about the dusty air, while Friede suggested if she was so dissatisfied, she could just sleep outside.
Since they weren’t arguing back and forth like usual, it seemed like their relationship had somewhat improved—but there was still a long way to go.
“Should we just sleep here? I guess we do need to lay out sleeping bags.”
Since there was no real bedroom in this open-plan house, we spread our sleeping bags on a straw mattress that was laid out in one corner and crawled inside.
Kikel lit the small stove placed in the middle of the room and curled up next to it, purring as he fell asleep.
It was an unusually comfortable night.
I was worried the previous homeowner would pop up in my dreams and yell at me to get out, but thankfully, I didn’t have any nightmares like that.
Though I did dream of a huge crow that stuck to me and rubbed its wings against me.
If that’s considered a nightmare, then perhaps it was.
◆◆
The next morning. We thanked the Village Chief for giving us a good place to rest, then drove our cart back to Vespians.
The luggage compartment was stacked high with ten snow bear hides piled neatly on each other.
It had been a decent haul.
The others had completely wrecked the snow bears in the fight, so the state of the hides was not great for selling.
…But if we couldn’t sell them for proper value, we could at least process them for our own use, right?
If we took the torn pieces and entrusted them to the leather shop, we could use them for capes, boots, and gloves.
◆◆
After several hours of cart travel.
After peacefully taking out some bandits we encountered along the way for extra cash, we finally returned to Vespians around five in the afternoon.
“Friede, I’m going to report back to the Guild, so in the meantime, can you and Kikel handle selling these? And Amy, you…”
Once we entered the city gates, I instructed Friede to take care of the snow bear hides and the goods from the bandits as I pointed to them.
If we postponed selling the loot until after confirming the quest completion, it would probably take at least two hours until we could eat dinner.
I was just too hungry.
“I’m going to stop by the Mage Tower and then come meet you at the inn. I think I need to preserve this heart before it starts rotting.”
Amy pointed to the heart of the snow bear she had neatly packed away in the corner of the cart.
I wondered what she planned to do with such a thing, but according to Amy, it’s used as a material for some kind of magical potion?
The quality of the potion diminishes the more it goes bad, so it had to be preserved quickly.
“Really? Got it. See you at the inn.”
I nodded readily as I saw Amy step down from the cart.
Since there was nothing in particular for me to ask her to do, it didn’t matter what she got up to as long as she didn’t come back late for dinner.
After sending Amy on her way, we drove the cart towards the Guild’s Request Office.
“I’ll need to walk from here. Don’t forget what I told you earlier, okay? One cloak, one pair of shoes, and two pairs of gloves for me. The rest, you handle.”
I stopped the cart at the fork between the guild building and the shopping district. As I got off, I reminded Friede not to forget my clothing order.
Kikel, with his manner of speaking, seemed utterly devoid of talent for custom orders.
“Yes, yes! Leave it to me…!”
Friede nodded energetically, waving her hands to send me off.
Come to think of it, I still hadn’t figured out what kind of wish she was planning to ask for. Should I casually ask her about it during a feast?
◆◆
“Yes. The quest has been confirmed completed. You’ve worked hard!”
The confirmation process ended more quickly than expected. There weren’t many people at the Request Office today.
I wondered if something happened and inquired, but the receptionist said there wasn’t anything special—everyone just went out to work.
Well, there are days like this too.
“Then, see you later.”
I picked up the rewards given by the receptionist and stepped out of the Request Office.
Honestly, the reward itself was just a bit of pocket change, but it should be enough for Friede to cover the inn bill decently.
Once we sold off the good bear hides for proper value, there would be plenty of money left.
‘Well, I guess it’s time to head back now….’
After tying the drawstring of the money pouch to my belt, I walked towards the inn.
Walking alone felt somewhat new; lately, Friede had been right next to me all the time.
Back then, I didn’t realize it. I thought we were just hanging out as companions or friends, but it turned out from Friede’s side, she saw it as something resembling a date.
“Sigh…”
A sigh escaped me.
Now that I knew Friede’s feelings, I wondered if I should keep some distance from her or act as usual—it was hard to figure out.
I couldn’t believe I was perplexed about how to treat a girl who likes me. I’ve really become spoiled by this dilemma, haven’t I? Is this what I get for being in Brunhilde’s body?
“…Huh?”
In that moment.
“This presence, this scent… who is this? I didn’t expect to run into anyone here.”
Someone brushed past me on the street, then suddenly turned around to address me.
“I can’t understand it. You went to such lengths to escape, and now what are you doing in a place like this? What’s with that look?”
The tone of her voice felt like an old friend meeting up again, but contained within it was a thick layer of mockery and derision aimed straight at me.
“An adventurer, really? You’re pulling all sorts of stunts, huh.”
“Who are you…?”
I stopped in my tracks, turning to face the person who spoke to me. My hand subtly rested on the hilt of my weapon, just in case.
Standing before me was a tall woman who seemed to know me well, her left hand casually resting against her weapon.
She had a quiver of arrows strapped to her back, and beside her stood another woman, looking back and forth between us, tilting her head in confusion.
Both of them were hooded, so I couldn’t tell what they looked like, but the slight glimpse of their jaws sparked a strange sense of familiarity in me.
No, wait—what did that woman just say?
Escaped, didn’t she?
Could it be she’s talking about recognizing me? Is it really possible?
“You don’t know who I am? How ridiculous! You’re really playing coy, huh?”
The tall woman scoffed and shook her head.
Who do you think you are, huh? I curled my fingers around the hilt of my weapon, feeling a trickle of sweat run down my spine.
Although it was unlikely, a flicker of anxiety surfaced that perhaps my identity had been discovered.
“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’ve never seen either of you before.”
“I can’t understand why you’re talking like that. Really? Are you trying to act? What do you think, Irina?”
The tall woman lightly nudged the other woman beside her on the shoulder, asking.
Irina.
I widened my eyes in horror, realizing the identity of that strange familiarity.
The name Irina was unmistakable.
“Are you really pretending not to know? It’s too much, isn’t it? You’re just as much a traitor as the rest of us.”
“Wait, is that really Brunhilde? No way, why’s she an adventurer…?”
Imelia Elsine Lawrence.
And Irina Winter.
They were former allies, just like Brunhilde, and once members of the Hero Friet’s party, but they had betrayed him and joined Gunther’s party instead.
The very women I had encountered the moment I took over this body, sprawled naked on Gunther’s bed, were standing right in front of me now.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.