Chapter 112 Neither Or Either

-I hope you visit my humble village once again my friend the divine fruits that you have provided us with are all being used for alchemy and we are all trying to make a very efficient medicine to trade with the outside world we are hoping to make our village prosper some more in the future so please take care of yourself

Vulgan said bowing his head to me as he walked me out his words were kind and also reasonable,we had discussed a lot of things mostly about the monsters really that were inhabiting the forest vulgan assured me that I didn’t need to worry about the great monsters since they never really walked out of their core zone getting there was also very hard since the opponents on the way are monsters that have close strength to the great monsters,not exactly as strong,but close enough.

Medusa in particular seemed to have her own kingdom inside the core zone of the forest so did the succubi while the dragons just slept day and night without a care in the world inside their caves,they seemed to be the most fewer in number,but also the most formidable ones in this tray and because of that no,one dared to actually oppose against them or disturb their sleep it seems like the lamia and the succubi had such a agreement with each other in a very silent level,these individuals were way too high league for me to challenge right now,not that I wanted to challenge them in the first place that is.

-Yes,goodbye I will trade with you every once in a while so stay well village chief

Saying our goodbyes both me and vulgan parted ways,I had already acquired my reward which was a massive amount of medicine that I could use,I memorized their use individually so I didn’t only need to rely on hoboku’s ability to read the description for me,my memory was a powerful thing I only now saw the good merit of it since I memorized the whole thing without an error in a matter of 5 minutes…maybe I should start learning the linguistic side of every language…hoboku could teach me.

I thought looking back at red hawk nightmarishly thinking about the ride back home,hobushi and habana who stood next to me smiled in a very seductive manner towards me their intentions over this ride was very impure,but telling them that wasn’t going to solve anything and I actually needed a place to hold onto or held to either way.

-huh…my lord you seem a bit cold ?

Habana said her hand was constantly rubbing on my own,because of that she noticed the slight change in my body temperature,her words confused me for a moment I touched my hands just to be sure and she was right…I was indeed very cold for some reason,I didn’t feel bad though since I had the <Cold Resistance> skill maxed out the reason I didn’t notice earlier was also because of this skill,it wouldn’t let me feel the actually cold,but it would indeed let me know if something was cold or not sort of like a temperature measurement and right now that measurement was telling me that was a bit colder then usually which still didn’t bother me because of the skill.

I wondered why it was the case ? From what I know I was inside the house the whole time a pretty warm place,I even drank some hot tea so why was my body so cold ?

The outside temperature was breezy,but not too much since the sun was still shining bright giving some warmth even if I walked around half naked I wouldn’t be all too cold,but I am wearing leather armor and I am still cold ? This is odd.

I was puzzled not sure what to think of this it worried me slightly,but since I couldn’t feel the cold it wasn’t bad I’l warm up eventually.

-uhh…lord sorron are you okay ?

Hobushi asked pretty worried from the way she looked at me her hand was gripping onto my own slightly cold hand cupping it tight between hers,rubbing it,but not for her own gain,but rather she tried to warm me up which may not work like this,but warmed my heart nonetheless towards her loving care.

-Don’t worry its nothing serious just a bit cold

I said my words sounded light and without care,but I still held small amount of doubt in them even hobushi frowned hearing these words,but she didn’t say anything further since it didn’t seem to be anything bad after all it was just a cold nothing else.

This time both of the girls decided to face me while riding on red hawk the reason for that was to warm me up some more they smiled and teased a bit,but I could still see the hidden worries they had under these smiles so I didn’t object this time and just let them do what they wanted finally all three of us mounting up on red hawks back and slowly raising towards the sky.

I really don’t like flying.

I thought as we slowly started to take our course towards the kobold village,the wind passed by violently while both hobushi and habana hugged me tight blowing a warm breath beside me.

The whole ride was very dreamy feeling these two up close made me happy inside almost making me forgot of the massive height we were in right now until we finally arrived to the kobolds village and descended down onto the ground.

Opening my eyes I could see the other girls standing not too far away waving at our arrival even rokuten was there smiling.

Hoboku,hobura and hobusaku were the most enthusiastic with their waving still remembering the things that had happened this morning and trying to get onto my good grace,I couldn’t help but grin at them seeing them act like this,but still I held onto my words and decided that I would continue ignoring them for today.

 

Crouching I quickly jumped down from red hawk and escaped both habana’s and hobushi’s embrace,they realized that I had broke free from them and looked at me sort of sour since I escaped from them.

My initial cold was already gone turning back to my original warm body temperature which didn’t really make a difference for me anyways I didn’t dwell on it anymore since I was convinced,it was only a one time thing nothing else the other two girls were also still a bit worried,but understood that I was alright right and also didn’t mention or talk about it anymore and just got down walking towards their friends in the group.

 

The sun was up bright today not much time had passed since I visited the dark elf village so I had an entire day time to do other things one of which I decided on right now.

Turning my head I looked at the wooden cage not too far off inside of that cage were a few ratmen sitting and waiting for their freedom patiently one of the ratman stared at me from afar both of us met eyes for a few moments and I decided to come closer.

Rokuten quickly came close to me and started informing me of the things that had happened while I was gone nothing really extraordinary he just started reporting me the results of the few tests they had done on my orders the cement was long since finished with success it seems making the people who work in the architecture department very happy since they understood the value to such building material the agriculture department evenly had big success with the way I laid out the farming field the village would soon try to expand a lot more to make a farm which was necessary for winter when the fruits and vegetables would go scarce.

I listened to all of his words and nodded giving him a few words of my opinion,we walked while we were talking rokuten knew where I was walking towards and finally stopped speaking when we reached the cage.

-I do it..

I said staring at the ratman that had a slightly surprised look on his face when he heard my answer,he quickly caught himself though and looked up at me somewhat emotional.

-You…your doing it ?

-Yes

I replied,hearing the confirmation the ratman couldn’t help,but shiver he didn’t seemed to have expected this outcome even though he had hope he still thought of the worst outcome which was my refusal to his offer.

Medusa the queen of snakes,currently I had no intend on fighting against her or any other great monster in this forest,We were way too weak for that,but at the same time I cannot let a opportunity such as the <Elemental Mine> go over my head defeating the lamia and taking over the mine with the ratmen was the most profitable thing I could get,my goal never changed,I wanted to get stronger and someday get out of the forest and see the world to do so I couldn’t afford being scared of everything and anything,the girls would someday grow better and stronger even I was going to be such individual,I was confident because like the ratman in front of me.

-I have hope,thats why do you swear on following me ?

I said kneeling down and giving him own hand to shake.The ratman looked at my hand for a moment not sure what to do slightly scared of what might come or what would happen if he shakes my hand.

Would the cycle repeat itself ?

Would he become a slave again and be used ?

These things even I couldn’t answer after all I wasn’t perfect and I never said I was or would be.I only ever promised that I would be the best person I could be not the perfect leader.

The ratman knew he couldn’t waver anymore.

-I do,I will follow you

He said shaking my hand and as he did a bright shine started to appear on the back of his hand engraving a tattoo a emblem,the ratman was surprised by the emblem and strangely enough he slowly understood the meaning of it and didn’t fight it anymore and just let it happen,rokuten who was standing next to me looked amazed and a bit nostalgic about the scene in front of him with a grin on his face.

Good people die young they say,they die young because they do stupid things like try stopping a robber with a gun or climbing a large tree to help a kitty come down only madmen and idiots do such things thats why they are called good people,bad people in return just keep to themselves not caring about anything if it doesn’t have to do with them if there is obvious conflict or a problem then they are going to ignore it…now doing this what kind of person does this make?

Neither.

I am a coward I am not helping because I want to,I am helping because I need to,helping people on the way didn’t sound bad having them on my side was good for me and them,we both profit from this neither side loses well figuratively speaking that is.