Following Yarg, we arrived at their village gate within minutes.
When we arrived, Yarg gave a hand signal to the two archers, then they separated themselves from us and went off somewhere.
They were probably sent to report me to the shrine maiden or to someone else.

This village seems to be considerably smaller than the other Lithuvar Tribe village.
They don’t have that many houses, and there aren’t a lot of people seen outside either.
Not to mention, many of their houses have the doors open, an unweeded patch of grass, and wrecked walls and windows too.

They even have a few farm fields that looked like they were left unattended for a very long time.
There’s a wooden rod stuck on the field, and it looks really old, I think they haven’t touched their field in months.

I saw some villagers looking at me here and there but they didn’t bother to approach me.
Some looked troubled, and others looked gleeful.
It’s kinda hard to tell how the people here will treat me.
Though, I’m sure it won’t be as good as I think.

Still, I’m seeing nothing but men here.
Don’t women prefer to go out more often?
And, I just saw their shrine maiden not too long ago……

Something’s really bothering me about this village.

“You’re not injured, are you? I remember you say you specialize in healing magic”

“Graa-, I mean, yes……”

Partner, no growling.

“……”

H-Hey, at least say something in reply.
Aside from growling, you can still speak.

“Looks like you’re still confused. Take a good rest and calm yourself down”

Yarg suggests us to rest, and Partner silently nods.
Ever since we’ve entered this village, Partner is behaving like a pet cat.

At least we won’t cause any unnecessary trouble.
There’s already a lot of disturbance in this messy village.
Sorry, but this actually makes me feel relieved.

Even so, keep a sharp eye out, Partner.
If this is the anti-Ryujin village, then once they find out what we really are, we’ll cause a huge uproar, plus, there’s something oddly fishy about this entire village.
That’s why, before we drag ourselves into a really troublesome situation, we better finish this up quick.

When Yarg led us to the end of the village, we arrive at a really big house compared to the other houses we passed through on our way here.

“First, I want you to meet our village chief. Is that alright?”

Partner silently nods in agreement.

Their so-called “chief” has really cooped himself up in the furthest back of the room.
Sitting beside the mat, two young Lithuvar Tribe women await.
On the center, their village chief looks to be about 50 yrs. old or so, or it might just be the wrinkles all over his face, but his body physique looks good.
He was a creepy old man with his constantly moving eyeball.

“Nagrom-sama, we have a guest”

Nagrom seems to be their village chief’s name.

“Hoho hoho! Is that right? That is very good! Very good!”

Nagrom gets up while pushing aside a young woman and approaches me.
He smiled wide at me with his wrinkly face, it was creepy.

This old geezer has an incredibly nasty breath.
Even Partner looks like she’s about to cry.
You sure he’s the head of the village?
I know I shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but……

Thinking about our time limit, this should be the part where we start collecting information.
About the Manticore, about this village, and about the relationship between this village and the other one.
At the very least, this village seems to be the one getting pushed down upon.

I might get more information from this old man.
I’ll have to think of something to get us out of a sudden unexpected situation just in case.

Partner lowered her eyebrows. She’s distorting her face.
Hey, I know how you feel, but your face is showing your disgust.
Try to not leak your thoughts out from your expressions.

Nagrom walks back and sits down again, then Yarg begins to speak.

“This young girl tried to escape the forest, but her friend was killed and got eaten by the Abyss……”

“Hoho hoho! Well, that must’ve been unfortunate for you!”

Nagrom nods his head, interrupting Yarg’s explanation.

What the-, this old man doesn’t even let others finish their story.
He just went and shut Yarg’s mouth up.

The now shut-up Yarg doesn’t even bat an eye.
Huh, guess he was trained really well to not mind it.

…… But now, it’ll be difficult to make this guy listen to me.
Mainly when trying to have a conversation with him, that is.
Listen to Yarg already, you old crook.
Though, it doesn’t really mean that I’m not okay with long stories.

“Uh, urhm, uhh……”

Partner tries to talk, but the words aren’t coming out, so she closed her mouth back.
Seriously, what happened to your fluency……?

“Is your throat dry? You must be thirsty! Well, my bad for not knowing sooner! Koren, go fetch us some water!”

The young woman who was under Nagrom’s right arm gets his arm off her and stands up.
That girl’s good.
Even though he shouted so close to her ear, she looks unfazed.

【”…… Hee~ey, I can’t take dis anymore”】

Partner just talked to me in my mind.
Y-You’re so weak-willed.

It’ll be fine!
After a drink, let’s get out of here!
Then, we can let Yarg finish his talk!
You’ll eat a bunch later!

【”…… Fine”】

Yarg continues to answer all of Nagrom’s questions, and Partner just sits quietly at the side…… wait, is there even any meaning for Partner to be here? And, their long talk continues.

Nagrom stares at the revealed skin from Partner’s worn up clothes and licks his lip.
What the heck, old man……

“Umm, Nagrom-sama……”

“Yes, yes! No, wait, what happened to your clothes? They look like our old Lithuvar clothes!”

Yarg tried to say something, but was put aside by Nagrom.
He may be old, but he’s surprisingly strong.

“……”

“Perhaps, because she was near the river. She was most likely bathing in the water when the Abyss attacked her and she was forced to leave her belongings behind. Because she was separated from her friend, she couldn’t fare well against the Abyss.”

After Yarg’s brief explanation, Partner just awkwardly nods.
So, how will he ask the person in question now?
We were just lucky to find something to wear, even though it’s really tattered up.
If he didn’t get all that, then we’ll just have to mislead him.

“Very well, then! We’ll ask Koren to let you wear some other clothes when she gets back!”

Nagrom then laughs lively afterwards.
Well, at least he believed that.
I want to replenish our MP first before we fully run out of MP.
We’ve been losing MP ever since we humanized, after all.

Partner, say your thanks to them and let’s go.

“…… Uh, Tha-”

“Oh, Koren, you’re back! That took longer than we thought, young lad, you’re not feeling tired of waiting, are you?”

Partner was completely cut from saying her thanks.
…… Will this old man ever let anyone finish?
Something needs to be done to this bad habit of his.

“Gra ~a……”

Partner, I said no growling.