Seeker 186

Test

Chapter 186. Request From The Village

"The village chief has something for us?"

"Yeah. Could you guys come out for a moment?"

"Come out...? Wait, what!?"

Instructed by the lady at the front desk, we stepped outside of the mixed-gender bathhouse building, and there, several men who appeared to be villagers were lined up in a row.

"Oh, we've been waiting for you, adventurers. Please hear our request."

"Uh, sure..."

We were told by an elderly man who seemed to be the representative of the villagers, probably the village chief, and we were taken to the largest building in the village, which appeared to be the village chief's house.

Inside, we were ushered into a relatively spacious room that could be used as a meeting room.

After we took our seats, we were treated to tea and snacks, and we were warmly received.

In front of us were several men who seemed to be representatives of the village.

There were no snacks or tea in front of them, and it was clear that this was not just a casual conversation.

"So, what is it that you want from us?"

I asked the village chief.

"Yes. We have a request for you, adventurers. Maurice."

The village chief called out to one of the men standing behind him.

The man called Maurice had the appearance of a hunter, with a bow and arrow and a short sword, but he didn't seem to possess the strength of an adventurer.

The hunter-like man spoke up.

"A horde of Zombies."

"Zombies, you say?"

"Yes. If you leave the village and head about a half hour west into the forest, there's a building that appears to be the ruins of an unused temple. I passed by there today during my hunt, and there was a horde of zombies."

Zombies.

According to the Monster Encyclopedia, they are among the weakest class of undead monsters, alongside Skeletons.

I had encountered skeletons before during the incident in the dwarf village, but I had never encountered zombies.

However, given that they were the weakest class of monsters, they shouldn't pose much of a problem for us in our current state.

The hunter-like man continued.

"I passed by them without noticing their presence, and they almost attacked me. I panicked and ran away, but they didn't pursue me for long. It seems like they have the area around the temple ruins as their territory."

The village chief then took over the conversation. 

"But we can't be certain of that. After all, it's very close to the village. Those Zombies might eventually attack our village. So, before that happens, we would like to request that you defeat these zombies. We're offering a reward of 20 gold coins."

"I see..."

It was a distance we could quickly reach and return here.

So it wouldn't interfere with Eslyn-san and the others' escort mission. 

Considering it was a task similar in difficulty to Goblin hunting, the reward seemed appropriate.

Additionally, there might be some extra benefits for us. 

"Understood. By the way, Maurice, do you have an estimate of how many zombies there were?"

"I can't say for sure since I ran away in a hurry, but I think there were more than 10."

That's good enough. 

There was a mission I hadn't completed yet, which was to Defeat 10 zombies (earn 2,000 experience points).

It was a small earning, but it also involved minimal risk.

The only downside was that I didn't really want to work after relaxing in the hot springs. 

However, before I could voice my concerns, the village chief added something else.

"There's one more thing that's been bothering us. It happened yesterday, but after a girl who appeared to be a dark elf stopped by this village, she headed west. We saw her go in that direction."

"A dark elf...? West, as in the direction of the temple ruins, right?"

Dark elves were a term used for elves with a dusky complexion, and people could occasionally encounter them in towns. 

They weren't considered an evil race or anything, but...

In any case, we decided to accept the request to defeat the zombies and head west toward the temple ruins. 

It seemed like there was another special mission at play.

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Special Mission: Defeat the horde of zombies at the temple ruins in the west!

Experience Points Earned upon Mission Completion: 3,000 points

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Now, let's see what awaits us. 

It's almost certain that we'll encounter zombies, but since we've just enjoyed the hot springs and want to preserve our cleanliness, it would be best to use magic to deal with them as much as possible.