Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside - Volume 14 - Chapter 3.5

Interlude

Gem Beast, Reprise

In the west of Zoltan was a village in the mountains. It was situated in the most difficult-to-reach area in the entire Zoltan region, and in fact, it could barely even be called a village. It wasn’t the sort of place where anyone spent their entire life, and it was incredibly rare for a child to be born there. The village had a small-scale jewel mine and a population that mainly consisted of migrant workers and the merchants who sold to them, though they only stayed there temporarily.

Atop the wall surrounding the village to keep out monsters stood a man holding a bow. He was big, with a body forged in a violent world and a fierce visage from the long blade scar that ran across his lips.

He was a thug who had been sent here to serve time.

And right now, the man quivered in terror of what lay before him.

“There’s no way we can win against that monster…”

The ground shook and trees toppled as the giant monster approached. It had a shape that resembled a turtle, but its shell was embedded with countless jewels, and its cry was like gems crunching.

A gem beast. Nigh-invincible creatures that had once ravaged huge armies of wood elves.

Standing in terror, unable to do anything in the face of that monster…I could understand exactly how they must have felt.

“Haaaah!!”

I raised my voice, trying to drive away the cloud of despair, then drew my sword and leaped toward the gem beast before me.

“Gyah?!”

My sword shattered the gem beast’s giant head, and it raised an unpleasant cry, like jewels being shattered. It fell to its knees from the attack that had shattered its skull, then started regenerating right before my eyes. It was an impossible ability that absorbed magic and healed even lethal wounds.

When I’d fought it before, I’d had my brother, Rit, and everyone else, and it had still been a difficult battle.

“Ms. Ruti!” Harmon shouted with both shock and joy.

““Raaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!””

The people of the village, who had felt hopeless not so long ago, shouted energetically.

“I’ll stop it,” I called out. “But…”

Harmon fought, sword in hand, at the entrance to the village.

The gem beast wasn’t the only monster attacking.

“Gyagya…!!”

A band of goblins snarled and gnashed their teeth menacingly, attacking Harmon and the people of the village. The weapons they were using weren’t the goblin blades riddled with holes they usually preferred, but thin, sharp crystal knives and small round shields—gear well suited to the short and light yet sturdy goblins.

They had attacked the village this morning. The villagers were mostly people who had experienced violent lives, so looking down on mere goblins, they had faced the attack with crude weapons…but the monsters had been far stronger than expected.

Finding themselves in trouble, the villagers had sent a fleet-footed woman who had once been part of the Thieves Guild to ask for help from the guards and the Adventurers Guild. However, both were low on manpower with the sickness going around, so there had been no ready fighting force able to respond right away. It was a village full of ruffians up against goblins, so they likely hadn’t grasped how much danger the villagers were in.

Grasping at straws after her request for help had gone unanswered, the woman had asked her childhood friend who’d survived the war against the demon lord’s armies—Harmon—for help.

But by the time she had taken him back to the village, the situation had worsened.

“Y-you little shit!!”

A woman was swinging a spear at a goblin, but the monster was playing with her, swiftly darting in and out. It was a tactic of attacking and retreating in order to wear down the opponent.

These goblins had learned basic swordcraft theory…and the one that had taught it to them was undoubtedly the ogrekin in command. If I hadn’t come, Harmon and everyone here would have been wiped out.

An ogrekin and a gem beast. They must be remnants from the ancient human ruins—opponents even a veteran soldier like Harmon couldn’t handle. The ogrekin’s blessing level was high from fighting monsters in the mountains.

The ogrekin formed a seal and intoned a spell in a cracked voice.

“Power of Bear!”

Its strategy was to let the goblins attack while providing support magic from behind. That wasn’t an idea a normal ogrekin would ever come up with. I couldn’t do something as incredible as figuring out someone’s blessing just from their hand motions like Big Brother was able to, but I could tell the ogrekin and gem beast each had multiple blessings.

“Aaagh!”

The woman who’d been fighting fell, her lower leg cut by the goblin.

“Like hell you are!”

I threw the sword in my hands at the goblins rushing toward the woman, splitting them in two and leaving my sword sticking out of the ground.

“Are you all right?!”

Harmon immediately followed my lead.

The woman would be fine, but the battle on Harmon’s side was in a bad state.

I want to help…!

“Grrroooh!”

The gem beast charged, and I leaped into the air and punched it in the face. If I didn’t stop it, the entire village would be trampled beneath its feet.

I can’t move from here!

“Raaaahhh!!”

Harmon was doing well, but fighting alone while protecting your allies wasn’t how soldiers knew to fight. He needed help.

“Torahime!”

“Understood. However, I can only use weapons!”

Torahime grasped a naginata she had summoned by magic and leaped into the band of goblins, cutting them down one after the other. Right now, she couldn’t use her true powers granted to her as the heavenly king of water, but she disrupted the enemy formation and seemed to make it easier for Harmon to move.

“Graaaaah!!”

“So you are going to fight?”

The ogrekin pulled the goblins back, intent on fighting Torahime itself. Seeing her strength, it must have judged that they couldn’t win against her.

It was the calm judgment of a commander…

“It’ll be fine leaving that to Torahime.”

I’ll focus on the gem beast.

I could fight without worrying because I had comrades.

I picked up a steel sword from the ground and pointed it at the monster. My blessing hadn’t grown at all—but I had. Even without my brother here, I wouldn’t lose to anyone attempting to trample over our lives.

The strength of my New Truth reflected the strength in my heart.

I am Ruti Ragnason.

A simple person living a quiet life here in Zoltan!