The Golem Adventurer - Chapter 16 The Village

The Guildmaster wanted me to check in with the village for information first. Before heading out for my assignment however, I made my usual resupply at the market. I decided to forgo pork and went for a bit of roasted chicken today. Wanting to mix things up a bit more, I also bought what appears to be some mix of an apple and a pomegranate called a Yufel fruit. Not like it matters. I just wanted a change in diet. And it also gave me the realization that I don’t have a knife for utility use. I stopped by Grigor’s smithy and made my purchase there. Three gold per knife. I bought two just for the sake of having a spare around.

Unlike most starting adventurers, I had money to spare for proper gearing. I’ve dropped nearly two hundred gold just for everything I have so far but I doubt this is the normal for regular folks.

Curious, I asked Grigor about it, “You’re quite lucky, Arlan. You had Dmitri’s head fall on your lap. Most of the guild’s recruits come from the countryside or the slums. Usually from some family that doesn’t have enough coin to feed them or a bad harvest. They come pouring right into town, geared with whatever rusted scraps they could cobble together or ill fitting equipment passed down from their parent’s days. Most of the barely know how to hold their weapons.”

“I know the Guild isn’t responsible for us but that’s a bit absurd to send them out to the forest for herbs if they’re just going to be killed by wolves or monsters,” I replied.

“Aye, that’s why the Region Lord is giving us smiths a bit of relief in our taxes if we donate a few of our less substantial pieces to the guild,” he says, “Of course, it could be just because he wants to give those things in the forest less food so they don’t thrive. Less work for his soldiers patrolling the roads, if they were here that is.”

I’d rather believe it’s because they don’t like the idea of dead kids. This country’s government is similar to a feudal society. I’d hate to think their morals regressed back to those days as well. Maybe it’s better I stay ignorant on this. I’m not going to ignore someone who’s in need in front of me, at least. Even if some noble or king doesn’t. I’d rather just keep my distance from them.

Heading out the south gate, I continued along the highway until I found a fork in the road that bordered the farmlands around the city. The path to the village was a mere wagon track compared to the highway’s unpaved dirt road. It looks like the only people that visit were merchants and caravans looking to pick up a shipment of crops. The southern forest drew closer however as I followed the trail towards the north west. After Grigor’s depressing explanation, having wheat fields on my right and an expanse of wild grass to my left did wonders to lift my mood. I watched them sway like waves in the late spring breeze.

My leisurely pace took me almost two hours until I arrived at the village. Over a dozen small houses surrounded the village square, with all of it’s inhabitants either working the fields or doing some kind of vocation like weaving or smithing. The only people who weren’t were several tiny children playing in the square.

Of course, everyone stopped what they were doing the moment they noticed my presence. A golem with a sword just showed up at their doorstep after all. Once I waved my hand in the air as a greeting, the tension seemed to disappear a bit. There was something else in the air though. Like I was being watched intently.

Ignoring it, I walked over to the basket weaver who was babysitting the children in the square. She didn’t seem to know how to respond to the sight of me.

I decided to break the ice first, “Good morning, miss. I’m here for the request sent to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

She was still staring slack jawed at me even after I said my introductions. When she noticed her actions, she jumped a bit in her seat, “O-Oh, I haven’t heard anything about that! But if you’re here on official city business, our chief can help you. He works from his home over there,” she points over towards the biggest house bordering the square. Of course, it’s only slightly larger compared to the rest of the houses.

I thanked her for her help and headed over to the village chief’s residence. I walked past the children who seemed joyfully curious at my appearance. I waved at them while hearing their shouts.

“It’s a golem!”

“It look’s funny. It’s got a square head!”

“Blockhead, blockhead!”

“Stop it guys! Nan says it’s not polite to make fun of strangers!”

Ignoring their comments, I approached the door and gave a knock. I still have that feeling of being watched though. Oracle’s not saying anything at least so whoever it is doesn’t have ill intent. I just can’t help sticking out like this.

I hear a shout from inside, “Come in!”

Pushing the door open, I stepped into the cabin. Despite being larger, the interior was cluttered with books and paperwork. An older gentleman sat in a desk nearby, looking up from writing in his book to notice me. He, too, appears to be taken aback at my appearance.

” A golem!? What did you need?” he says to me.

“You’re the Village Chief, right? I’m Arlan, an adventurer. The Guildmaster sent me to fix your goblin problem,” I replied. This kinda makes me feel like a hitman.

“O-oh, are you now?” he relaxed back in his chair, “You must be that combat golem that peddler was talking about the other day. Said you defeated the Guildmaster and could fire magic beams of light from your eyes!” he said excitingly.

“I… don’t quite recall doing anything like that. The Guildmaster was just taking it easy on me. And I, uh, don’t shoot beams from my eyes.” Was this some weird telephone game nonsense? Though I wish I actually had lasers to be honest…

“Hohhh, well. That’s ok, I suppose. It’s only goblins after all! You just need a good weapon for their kind,” he replies. He seemed disappointed at the news as well. Must have wanted to see those lasers.

“Getting back on track, where were they last seen?”

Thinking for a moment, he replies, “The other night to tell you the truth. At least that’s what the young man on watch duty told me. He spotted one of the goblins peering out from the forest south of us. Said when they noticed him, it ran off.”

“The Guildmaster said they don’t usually try to raid villages. What’s making them so bold?”

The chief just shrugs, “I can’t answer you. We don’t have anything stored from the previous harvest right now, unless they want the food from our pantries. If they decided to attack, we have enough able people to fight back a small group but…”

“Bringing the fight to them is a no-go. That forest is a death trap right now for the average villager.”

“Yes. Even our loggers can’t work with them roaming around, which is why I sent the request over to the city. All this talk about some goblin horde ready to march on the town has got the village on edge. Some of the field workers barely sleep at night cause too worried for their family’s safety. I already had to stop some folks trying to form up and deal with it themselves.”

“They’ll just die from an ambush if they did,” Oracle said goblins aren’t very smart but you don’t need half a brain to figure out how to catch someone by surprise in a dense forest like that, “I’ll go check out the forest now. I’ll find out where they’re camped and end all this.”

The Chief give me a big grin, “I hope to hear some good news from you soon, young man. That’s correct, right? You don’t sound any different than the other young men we have here in the village.”

I gave him a nod and exit his home. Looking towards the south, the forest seemed to reach out towards the village. It was only a few hundred feet away from the entrance after all. I wondered why they couldn’t just spend some time clearing it out a bit to give the village more breathing space. Would it be too much of a hassle to deal with that much vegetation or is the forest just naturally creeping closer?

My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shout, “Hey, you! You’re an adventurer aren’t you!?”

I looked over at the voice to find a young boy, barely a teen running towards me from around the Chief’s home.

“My name’s Arlan. Did you need something, kid?” I asked.

” Arlan, huh? You’re an adventurer… from the city right?” I could hear anticipation from his voice, “I… I was wondering if you could talk to my mom for me.”

I was a bit suspicious at his request, “Why’s that?”

“I told her I wanted to become an adventurer but she said no. She said there was plenty of work for me here already and I don’t need to be one!” his voice started trembling with anger, “I don’t want to be a farmer like Dad! And I don’t want to stay here all my life!”

“You know this job isn’t all fun and games, kid. You could get hurt or worse, ” I replied back.

“That’s what my mom said too but I don’t care about that! Anything’s better than being stuck here!”

Huh, he really wants to live that life. Grigor told me this morning that kids like him move to the city to join. But this village is probably needing for people. There’s quite a lot of farmland and not enough people to cultivate it all. There probably won’t be a surplus of bodies until the numerous children in the village grow up to be adults. If there was too many new adults, there’s a chance they would have to move elsewhere for work. This kid in front of me, however, wouldn’t get the option. He’s probably got seniority due to his age and would be kept here as a farmer regardless.

Another tiny voice cried out, “Niklas! Don’t yell at Mr. Golem!”

A little girl looking no older than six came over now. The older boy, Niklas apparently, had a worried look on his face.

“I-I’m not yelling at him, Lily! I wanted him to talk to mom so I could be an adventurer!”, he said.

The little girl, Lily, puffed up her cheeks and pouted, “Mom and Nan said no! Besides, you’re suppose to help Dad in the field today!” That voice… she was the one who told those kids to stop making fun of me.

“H-Hey, don’t tell Mom I talked with Arlan about the guild!”, she’s got him backed into a corner, all right. He sighs, “I’ll go back to the field. Alright…?”

He’s quite discouraged now. I know I shouldn’t butt in like this, however… “Hey, Niklas, right? I got a job to do right now. Tell you what. When I get back, I’ll talk to you about being an adventurer.”

He brightened up at my offer, “You will!? Yeah!! My cousin Kleid is an adventurer too but my mom told him not to talk to me about it. I wanted go over to his village and do some sword training with him.”

I heard a familiar name there, “Wait, you know Kleid? Tall guy? Wears a lot of armor? Really likes swords?”

He nods, “Uh huh. He gets really excited when he gets a new sword.”

So he’s related to Kleid, huh? Since Niklas’ mom doesn’t want him to leave, she asked Kleid not to talk to him about his job and give him any more ideas. She’s just trying to protect her son after all. Even if I didn’t find those orcs the other day, Grigor’s talk would have convinced me otherwise that this is a dangerous profession.

Lily starts to pull on my cloak, “Are you here to fight those goblins, Mr. Golem?”

I nod at her, “Yep.”

She seemed delighted at my response, “Me and Mom can’t go out into the forest to gather plants. But if you kick out those goblins, we can go find herbs again!”

“So you help your mom with gathering stuff, huh?” I asked.

“Yeah! Once we can go back in, she says she going to show me how to make baskets too!”

I remember spending time training in pediatrics at a hospital for a month. Talking with these kids wasn’t too difficult for me. At least I wasn’t giving them vaccinations. Shots always required me to pull out all my tricks to get them not to notice what I was going to do. Most of the time, they didn’t even realize I had already injected them with the vaccine by the time I was done talking. That was a point of pride for me back then.

Unfortunately the day was starting to get long. It was past midday and I needed to get a move on. After telling them I needed to go, they wished me luck and waved goodbye.

“That’s a promise, right!?” Niklas yelled, “When you get back, you better tell me about the Adventurer’s Guild!”

Lily shouted out to me as well, “Be safe Mr. Golem!”

It should be fine. I’ll just give Niklas the same talk I gave my younger cousins when they asked me about joining the service. Hopefully, it’ll give him something to think on. I know his mother wants what’s best for him but when he grows up, he should decide how he wants to live his life. Even if isn’t the “right” choice. It took me a long time to figure that out myself. I hope that isn’t too selfish of me.

I entered the forest once more. The two sibling’s voices faded away in the distance.
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