The Story of a Middle-Aged Knight Who Tried to Live a Relaxed Slow Life in the Countryside, Only for a Duke's Daughter Whose Engagement Was Broken Off to Move in With Him

The Lost Dwarf

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*****

「~~~~~~!」

The dwarf screamed.

Looking at her, she was covered in mud from head to toe.

She kept glancing anxiously behind her over and over again.

The hunter readied his bow, and I grabbed the spear that was propped against the watchtower.

A massive wild boar burst out from right behind the dwarf.

No, wait.

That wasn't a normal beast—it was a monster.

It was a Boarfang, a monster that looked like an oversized, far more violent boar.

「Run to the side!」

shouted the hunter as he nocked an arrow.

Whether those words got through to her or not, the dwarf shifted her direction.

A clear line of sight opened up between the hunter and the Boarfang.

The hunter released his arrow.

The arrow grazed the Boarfang's shoulder.

Though the damage was minimal, the Boarfang let out a roar of rage.

A second arrow flew with a sharp whiz.

This time, it planted itself right between the Boarfang's eyes.

—Gugyaooo!

The Boarfang bellowed in agony.

Even so, it wasn't a lethal blow.

The hunter loosed a third arrow.

It pierced straight through the Boarfang's cheek.

「Tch, it's thrashing around so much I can't get a proper aim...」

「Sure it's not because you drank too much?」

「I hit my targets better when I've got a bit of liquor in me!」

The hunter snapped back while firing yet another arrow as I heckled him.

In the meantime, the Boarfang started charging straight at us.

Swatting away incoming arrows with its protruding tusks, it accelerated rapidly, closing the distance in an instant.

The hunted dwarf had already reached the gate.

Cistilia called out something to her, causing the dwarf to jump in surprise.

The dwarf obediently slipped inside the gate.

The hunter loosed a volley of arrows with remarkable skill.

However, the wounded Boarfang refused to stop.

(Guess it's finally my turn.)

Just as I thought that and readied my spear—

「This is... the end of you!」

An arrow loosed at close range by the hunter pierced straight through the Boarfang's brow.

With arrows bristling all over its face and one eye destroyed, the Boarfang lost its balance.

Carried by its own momentum, it tumbled and skidded along the ground.

The Boarfang drew its final breath right at the hunter's feet.

「Phew... That was one tough Boarfang.」

The hunter wiped the sweat from his forehead with one arm.

「Good work. That was quite a large Boarfang.」

「Yeah. One this huge usually stays deep in the mountains.」

Saying so, the hunter looked toward the dwarf.

The dwarf flinched and hid behind Cistilia.

「I believe this child is still young,」 Cistilia remarked.

「Come to think of it, you were talking earlier. Can you understand the dwarf language?」 I asked Cistilia.

「To some extent... My specialization is Elvish, but since both stem from Ancient Fae, we can manage to communicate.」

「Hmm. Impressive. I heard you'd need to be a scholar to speak those.」

「I simply had a personal interest in it,」 Cistilia replied, looking slightly embarrassed.

「So, you're saying this dwarf is a child?」

I took another look at the dwarf.

Covered in mud, she was a stocky little person who didn't even reach my chest.

It was hard to tell a dwarf's age from appearance alone.

She looked both old and young at the same time.

Judging by how frightened she was, it did feel plausible that she was young.

Though obscured by mud, her face was somewhat slender for a dwarf, so she was likely female.

「She says she went out to play, got chased by that monster, and fled all the way here.」

「To play? But getting to the dwarven settlements from here means crossing the mountains, right?」

「She came this way because she wanted to see a human settlement.」

「I see...」

As the hunter and I stared at the dwarf girl, a loud rumble echoed from her stomach.

The dwarf turned bright red and clutched her tummy.

「Looks like we'd better get her something to eat first.」

I asked Granny to prepare a meal since we had the chance.

I could have cooked something with what we had at the manor, but it would be a shame if it didn't suit her palate.

In the dining room of the magistrate's manor, Cistilia, the dwarf girl, and I took our seats to eat the food Granny prepared for us.

While the food was being prepared, we had her wash off the mud in the stream and change into borrowed children's clothes from the village.

As the dwarf girl stuffed her cheeks with food, she shouted something out.

「~~~~~~!」

「She says, 『It's delicious!』」

「Well, I can tell that much just by looking at her... Glad it suits her taste, though.」

I'd heard that meat, alcohol, and nuts were staples of the dwarven diet.

Uncertain whether our village cooking would suit her, I had asked Granny to make a wide variety of dishes.

「Now that your stomach's full, I'd like to hear what happened.」

「Of course. I will interpret.」

「Thanks. First off, she was being chased by that Boarfang, but were Boarfangs spawning anywhere nearby?」

The forest near the village was maintained by human hands.

Lumberjacks thinned out trees so the forest wouldn't become too dark, keeping monsters from spawning as easily.

Of course, the forest was vast, so there were places beyond the lumberjacks' reach.

As the magistrate, if monsters were spawning nearby, I had to figure out a plan to deal with them.

After listening to Cistilia's interpretation, the dwarf girl shook her head.

「She says it wasn't nearby. It spotted her past the mountain ridge.」

「The ridge? That's pretty far. She ran all the way from there to here?」

Cistilia translated once again.

「Indeed. She says dwarves are mountain dwellers, so navigating mountain terrain is second nature to them.」

「Even if you're used to it, that distance should leave anyone utterly exhausted.」

There was a brief pause for translation.

The dwarf girl puffed out her chest.

「She says, 『Our training is on a completely different level from humans.』」

「Can training really cover that much ground? So it's true that dwarves have incredible stamina.」

Just then, the dwarf girl said something.

「She says, 『Human settlements are fascinating.』」

「Oh right, she did say she came because she wanted to see a human settlement.」

I guess every race has its curious busybodies.

「If there was a Boarfang around, sending her back alone is too dangerous. But as for someone who can escort her beyond the mountains...」

The hunter had a peg leg.

As seen in the earlier fight, he was a skilled warrior, but forcing him to hike across the mountain on a peg leg would be cruel.

In that case, the next candidates were the lumberjacks. Working in forests where monsters occasionally appeared, they knew the paths and could handle themselves if they ran into trouble.

Or, taking her myself wasn't entirely off the table... though having the magistrate personally abandon his post to go might be questionable.

「By the way, what's your name? I'm Leonardo. Le-o-nar-do.」

I pointed to myself as I spoke to the girl.

Evidently, that got across.

「Watta. ~~~~ Wattalucia.」

The girl pointed to herself and replied.

「Watta, huh? Are Boarfangs common around there?」

Through Cistilia's interpretation, Watta shook her head.

「She says they're rare. The dwarves maintain those mountains as well, so monsters don't spawn often. Even when they do, they're much smaller.」

Watta added something more.

「She's asking if she can stay here for a while.」

「Huh?」

「She says she's interested in humans. In exchange, she offers to help butcher the Boarfang.」

「Butchering it... but since it's a monster, can we really harvest anything from it besides its horns?」

「She says dwarves know how to detoxify monster meat so it becomes edible. They can also repurpose its hide and bones.」

「Seriously?」

I'd never heard of such a thing among humans.

「She says it's also to express her gratitude for saving her.」

「Still, Watta's just a child, right? If she stays here without notifying her people, the dwarves might misunderstand the situation.」

「She says it's fine because she frequently goes out to play across the mountains and doesn't return for days.」

「Is that really alright...?」

「She says dwarves familiarize themselves with the mountains that way, discovering ore veins and hot springs.」

「Hot springs... What are those?」

「I only heard about them from my tutor, but apparently they're springs of warm water gushing up from underground. They're said to have remarkable medicinal properties.」

「Huh. To think such a thing exists.」

I reflected on what we had gathered so far.

(That's an ideal offer. Luckily, Cistilia can communicate with her.)

Though Cistilia herself was only staying here temporarily, so I couldn't rely on her indefinitely.

「Hey, would it be alright if you or Watta write a letter to the dwarves and have the lumberjacks leave it deep in the mountains? Taking in a child without contacting her family might spark trouble later.」

「That makes sense. Watta, ~~~~~~?」

「~~~~~!」

「She agrees.」

「Alright, in that case, we'll host her for a while. As for lodging... let's see. There's an unused guest room in the manor, so we'll just have to clean that up.」

And so, a new resident joined our village.

*****

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