The First Trouble
“W-What happened!?”
Sensing an emergency, I rushed toward the man in a panic.
“J-Just come to my ranch, quickly!”
So he was a rancher. I still hadn't matched all the villagers' names to their faces yet… I needed to learn them soon to make my work go more smoothly.
The man who had come to get me was named Santos, and he tended to dairy cows. It seemed that, as usual, he had taken them out to graze, but after a while, he realized some were missing. While looking around—
“The fence here got broken again.”
“This is bad…”
The fence meant to keep the cows from escaping had been severely damaged.
“I patched it up for now, but like this, some of them might get out again soon. I’d like to reinforce it properly, but…”
“I understand.—Wait, again?”
So this wasn’t the first time.
“It’s happened a few times over the past few days.”
“Any idea who did it?”
“Not at all. But I can tell you this—it wasn’t done by human hands. Look at these marks here. Something with sharp claws scratched it up.”
“You’re right…”
Could the culprit be a monster? I couldn’t say for sure with just this information, so for now, I needed to focus on the immediate task.
“I’ll go look for the missing cows.”
“Y-You will!?”
“It’s part of my job. And if the thing that left these marks isn’t human, it’s better for a knight like me to handle the situation in case something happens.”
Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure if I could call this part of my official duties, but I couldn’t just ignore someone in trouble. Besides, searching for lost dairy cows shouldn’t be particularly dangerous. The problem was, I had no idea where they had run off to.
“In that case, take this one with you. He’ll be useful in finding the cows, and he can also act as your bodyguard.”
Santos then brought out a dog with a beautiful red coat.
“A red coat? That’s rare.”
“We actually found him collapsed near the forest about a month before you arrived. He turned out to be quite smart—he learned ranch work in no time and now helps take care of the cows.”
“Does he have a name?”
“We call him Lindel.”
Lindel, huh? That was a strong-sounding name.
It didn’t quite match his adorable face and fluffy fur that looked like blazing flames, but once he grew a bit more, he would likely become a dignified dog worthy of his name.
“All right, Lindel. Show me where the cows went.”
“Woof!”
Answering my call with a bark, Lindel took off energetically.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Take care.”
With Santos seeing me off, I followed Lindel.
—Several minutes later.
Using his nose, Lindel had been tracking the cows when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“They’re close by?”
“Woof!”
He barked, as if saying, “That’s right.”
However…
“We’re right next to the forest…”
Near Curtis Village was a vast forest, and Lindel had led me to its very edge.
As I walked along the perimeter to investigate—
“There they are!”
Lindel’s tracking had been spot on.
I carefully approached the cows so as not to startle them.
“The adventure’s over. Santos is worried, so let’s go home to the ranch.”
I knew they wouldn’t understand my words, but I spoke to them gently as I closed the distance—
“!?”
Suddenly, I felt an eerie presence and stopped in my tracks.
What was that…?
Something was in the forest.
“Grrr…”
Lindel sensed it too, growling in warning.
What was going on here?
What do you think about this chapter?
