Seeker 201

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Chapter 201. Dwarf Hero

The news that the town chief, dwarf hero Bargamund, had returned reached the town in the evening of that day.

"Did you hear? The chief is back!"

"Yeah, now we can finally relax!"

Dwarves of the town let out sighs of relief and joy.

As the news spread throughout the village, it turned into something akin to a celebration.

Even we, who had been relaxing at the inn, headed towards the crowd that had gathered near the entrance to the residential area to catch a glimpse of this person.

In the center of the crowd was the unfamiliar figure of a dwarf man.

He must be Bargamund.

For a dwarf, he was quite tall. While the average height for a dwarf man was only around 130-140 cm, Bargamund was close to 160 cm—almost the same height as Kazane-san.

Of course, in terms of physique, he was in a league of his own compared to Kazane-san. He gave off the impression of a muscular sumo wrestler.

His hair and beard were the fiery crimson color of burning flames.

While such colors were not uncommon for a dwarf, for some reason, they had a striking intensity that drew the eye.

He wore the Flame Armor and Flame Helm I had seen at the armor shop, as well as a gigantic battle axe.

The dwarf hero was now in the middle of the crowd, seemingly in conversation with the acting chief, Grunba-san.

"I see. So, while I was away, something important like this happened. Grunba, in my absence, you did a great job leading the village warriors in battle."

"Yes, Bargamund. If you weren't here to protect the village, Dagmahar would have suffered greatly. But to be honest, this time, I was quite worried. Without the help of the young warriors of the human tribe, I don't know what would have happened."

"Young warriors of the human tribe? Who are they?"

"They are strong, brave, and virtuous warriors. Oh, speaking of which, they are right here. Hey!"

Grunba-san waved his hand towards us.

Due to dwarves' generally shorter stature, we stood out even in the crowd.

The attention of the dwarves who had formed the crowd now focused on us.

I nodded politely in Grunba-san's direction.

Then, Hero Bargamund, seemingly decided on something, headed towards us, parting the way through the crowd.

He approached me, and with open arms, he offered a handshake.

"You are the human tribe warriors who saved the town? I'm Bargamund, the chief of Dagmahar. I am truly grateful for your assistance. Thank you!"

"Uh, yeah. I'm Daichi, and this is Kazane and Hotaru. We are adventurers working together."

Bargamund-san, while slightly shorter than me in height but incredibly broad, had an imposing presence.

The figure of this dwarf-like creature standing before me made me wonder if he was actually a tank or something.

I shook hands with him, feeling slightly overwhelmed. His handshake was incredibly powerful.

After shaking hands, Kazane-san and Yuzuki took their turns, and Bargamund-san expressed his gratitude and welcome to each of us.

After the handshakes, Kazane-san and Yuzuki left with hands that trembled and looked somewhat painful.

And then, at that moment...

"It seems you've finally returned, Bargamund. But what terrible timing you have. Fortunately, we happened to pass by, but it could have been a disaster if we hadn't, you know?"

A voice came from outside the crowd.

When I turned to look, as expected, Yusefia-san was there.

Upon seeing her, Barzamunt's eyes widened.

Then, he spread his arms and rushed towards Yusefia.

"Ohhhhh! Yusefia, it's been a while! What are you doing here?"

"Ugh...!? Hey, don't just suddenly hug me! If you hug me with your brute strength—Agh, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"

"Well, well, it's been a while! How many years has it been? Hahaha!"

The dwarf hero who charged at Yusefia-san, a petite dark elf girl in appearance, embraced her with his strong arms.

Hmm, isn't that almost like a bear hug...? Oh, Yusefia-san, foam is coming out of your mouth.

Afterward, we received the rewards for our two days of mercenary work from Grunba-san.

Furthermore, a notification for mission completion had already been sent a while ago.

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Special Mission: Successfully defended the Dwarf Town Dagmahar until Chief Bargamund's return!

All party members gain 20,000 experience points!

Kodachi Kazane leveled up to 38!

Current experience points:

Musou Daichi... 413,034/441,573 (Next level: 28,539)

Kodachi Kazane... 403,126/441,573 (Next level: 38,447)

Yuzuki Hotaru... 423,801/441,573 (Next level: 17,772)

───────────────────────

With this, everything was settled.

And if that's the case, there's no need to stay any longer.

We planned to leave Dagmahar tomorrow and embark on a new journey—so I thought.

However, it seemed that things wouldn't be so straightforward this time.

Bargamund approached us again and said, "Warriors of the human tribe who saved the village, would you be willing to lend us your aid once more, along with Yusefia? The rewards will be generous."

"Well... yes. Whether we accept depends on the details, so we'd like to hear the story first."

I replied almost reflexively.

The words "the rewards will be generous" from Bargamund were echoing in my head, and my mental image, I got surrounded by a golden suit of armor.

Well, it seems like another special mission might be on the horizon.

Let's at least hear what they have to say, I thought.

As for Yusefia-san, she was still in Bargamuns's arms, foaming at the mouth and looking completely drained.

Kazane-san and Yuzuki, on the other hand, made a formal gesture of respect toward the dark elf girl and then wiped away their tears with handkerchiefs.

Ding.