Attack

Golen Village was peaceful today as well.

The adventurer-cum-farmer villagers were devoting their all to tending their fields.

"Aah, what a great field today too. Grow big, my beloved cucumbers."

"Oh, your leaves are sparkling so fresh today! Those teasing glimpses of your skin are irresistible, Daikon-chan!"

"Hmph, full exposure or teasing glimpses, whatever. I love both, but you should learn from my potatoes' modesty."

Having obtained the knowledge that "talking to plants helps them grow better" from a book at the Beddhism Church, talking to their beloved crops, doubling as a chance to brag about them, had become part of their daily routine.

They had been skeptical at first, but plants are alive too.

There were even man-eating plants that moved around like monsters, so this seemed perfectly reasonable. Once they realized that pouring love into their plants would naturally make them grow better, any hesitation or doubt vanished.

And indeed, they had become more delicious.

Thus, there was no longer any reason not to talk to them.

"It's almost harvest time, huh～"

"Kukuku, I'll have Kinue-san cook them up delicious and have the Sister-sans munch on them… how envi… no, how proud I am of my prized children."

"Hm? What's that?"

One of the villagers noticed something in the sky.

It started as a small dot, but gradually grew larger as it approached.

A large body covered in red scales. Bat-like wings without feathers, a reptilian head with large horns growing from it.

It was a red dragon.

"! A dragon!? We need to evacuate!"

"What!? You're after my field!? You bastard, I'll drive you off with my holy sword daikon I raised! Just wait while I pull it out!"

"You want my cucumbers!? Three of them!? You greedy thing!"

"Damn, am I the only sane one!? I'm telling you this is bad, let's run!"

A fire-attribute red dragon… no, flames were blazing around its body. A flame dragon, even more specialized in fire than red dragons.

Once they could tell that much from how close it had gotten, the dragon flapped its wings and came to a stop mid-air. Then, with a gaping mouth, it inhaled—

"Crap! First time seeing one but that's definitely a breath attack! It's coming!"

"H-Hey, you want me to leave my daikon behind!? Just a little more and I'll have it out, wait—"

"You're seriously going to die!? You can grow more daikon! … Ah, u-uwaaah!?"

The next instant, flames ravaged the ground.

*

"… And so, part of the village was burned by a dragon."

"Casualties?"

"None. A small blessing."

I nodded after hearing Deputy Village Chief Wozuma's report. Well, I already knew since I saw it on the map.

By the way, I wondered if this dragon was going to be another unreasonable threat like Rin, but it flew toward the summit of Tsuia Mountain.

It was probably a wild dragon, so Ittetsu's dungeon should be able to handle it… actually, maybe it'll be difficult since they both specialize in fire? I'll ask him about it later. Oh, maybe it's related to Redra?

"What shall we do?"

"Hm? Well, let me check the actual damage first… As for the dragon, well, I'll look into a few leads I have in mind."

So I came to see the burned fields, but the ground wasn't particularly vitrified or anything.

It just looked like it had been lightly scorched. If I dispatch golems to till it, we can plant new seeds by evening.

"So it was a flame dragon, an upgrade from red dragons? If it were serious about breathing fire, this wouldn't be all it did. Looks like it was just playing around."

"Oh? Village Chief Kehma, you're familiar with dragons? You're like a top-class adventurer."

"… Rokuko happens to know about them. I just learned from listening to her."

Let's keep quiet about actually knowing a red dragon personally.

"By the way, who's that person over there crying as if his daughter was murdered?"

"The owner of this field. He says all the daikon he raised with such care are gone."

"The cucumbers have it nice, at least you managed to salvage a few! And the potatoes ended up getting perfectly roasted underground, so you dug them up and got a delicious meal out of it!"

Oh, so that's why today became a butter potato festival. I ate some too.

The two friends of the daikon farmer, who were similarly affected, patted the shoulders of the downcast daikon farmer.

"Hahaha, this is the modesty of potatoes. Total potato victory!"

"By the way, my cucumbers were mixed into the potato salad and were delicious, you know?"

"You bastards, are you demons!?"

Unexpectedly, they seem to be doing fine, so that's good.

"Rather, couldn't you eat some of the daikon? They're root vegetables, right?"

"My plan to put knee socks on the fresh white daikon is ruined, dammiiiit…!"

"You… I see. So that's why you've been diving into the dungeon so enthusiastically lately. The collection you'd been stocking at home burned up too, right? Alright, you can cry."

… Unexpectedly, they seem to be doing fine, so that's good.

Well, their main job is adventuring, so losing their crops won't kill them. They can borrow equipment from the guild too…

Rather, taking their behavior from before the dragon attack at face value, I can't tell if they're idiots, gutsy, panicking, idiots, had some secret survival technique, or idiots.

"Well, it's good that no one died."

"Indeed, Village Chief Kehma. By the way, they're just idiots. Normal adventurers would have either frozen in fear or immediately fled. They were saved by the dragon's whim."

"… I see. Oh, their houses burned down too. Let's let them stay at the inn at a discount while repairs are done."

"Ah, you won't let them stay for free?"

"If it's free, they won't work."

Wozuma looked at me and sighed.

Yeah, I'm being hypocritical, so what?

"I'm fine not working. I'm just a figurehead after all."

"… I think you work plenty enough though, Village Chief Kehma?"

Hahaha, what nonsense.

Even if I'm working, it's just signing a few documents a day, an easy job. The troublesome village management is all handled by the executives.

My job is just to show my face when something happens, like coming to see the fields now.

Yeah, being a figurehead village chief is a great position!

"Well, cheer up. With golems helping, you'll be farmers again soon."

"Village Chief…! I'll do my best to grow daikon again! This time, I'll definitely put knee socks on them…!"

"I see. By the way, do you have seeds left?"

"Ah, come to think of it, they burned along with my house… I'll have to leave the field empty for a while…"

"Hm? You're going to leave your field empty? That's a waste. Want to try growing these?"

I pretended to rummage through the bag at my waist while pulling out sugarbeet seeds from my [Storage]. The ones I got frustrated with when trying to make money from sugar way back when.

"Oooh… thank you, Village Chief! By the way, what kind of crop seeds are these?"

"They're sugarbeets, the raw material for sugar. There should be a book on how to make sugar in the church bookshelf, so look for it."

I think I had Ichika translate the recipe and it ended up gathering dust on the bookshelf.

"… Village Chief, where did you get seeds like these?"

"It's a Beddhism secret."

"Seriously? Beddhism is the best… thank you! Good Night!"

"Wow, I'm jealous… Village Chief, please give me some too!"

"Me too, me too!"

"Sure, but return what you use, okay? You can pay in crops."

The cucumber farmer and potato farmer came asking too, so I gave them additional seeds. They're leftover seeds anyway, take as much as you want.

Oh, but if all three become sugarbeet farmers, how should I tell them apart… well, whatever.

"As expected of Village Chief Kehma. When did you arrange all this?"

"Who knows, it's been so long I've forgotten."

"Good grief," Wozuma said with a wry smile and a shrug.

… Did I say something strange?