By the time we got back to the village it was totally dark outside. …It might be tough to go to the slime village today. As I thought so, I looked over the goblins and werewolves Livia and Orphe gathered for me.

“We defeated the werewolves that appeared earlier.” Hearing me say this, the goblins and werewolves let out sighs of relief. I quickly added more. “However, I suspect the enemy will likely be moving out this way. We need to stay on alert for whenever the enemy makes their move.”

“…” My words frightened about half of them. The other half were full of spirit. …Most of the werewolves wanted to face them.

“There’s something else I’d like you to hear. If you know anything regarding this, please let us know. Livia, please.”

“Yes.” I turned their attention to Livia. She took out a single stone. It wasn’t just a regular rock, rather it was about the size of the magic stones the werewolves ate before.

“When we were battling the werewolves earlier, they ate magic stones about this size, resulting in their bodies getting stronger. Does anyone know of anything regarding this?”

“…” Everyone exchanged looks with each other. I guess it’s no good. As I thought so, a single werewolf hesitantly raised their hand.

“U, um… When a monster from the vampire race came to the village awhile ago, I saw them give a magic stone like that to a werewolf.”

“…What!? Really!?”

“Y, yes! I only thought of it as a simple jewelry exchange at the time though.”

“The vampire tribe, huh. I’ve never seen them before though?” Questioned Orphe.

“I believe you had gone off to bed already at the time, lord Orphe.”

“I see… Oh yeah, I guess I’ve heard about there being a vampire tribe further north from the northern werewolf village.” Orphe seemed surprised. “So that happened while I was asleep…”

“…Could I hear more about that? What kind of race is the vampire tribe? Am I correct to assume they drink blood?” A vampire… I’ve heard that they are monsters who drink blood. They were treated as dangerous monsters even in the upper world. They rarely appear in the upper world, leaving traces of dread wherever they go.

I’d heard about them from children’s tales. ‘Bad kids who go out at night will be attacked by the vampires.’ …They surprisingly have quite a number of weaknesses though. They don’t handle gaarlic well, and they’re weak to sun rays.

Orphe folded his arms and furrowed his brows in thought.

“Do you know anything Livia?”

“Right. You aren’t wrong that they’re blood suckers. But it would be best not to call them that rather than ‘vampire’.”

“…Is that right?”

“Yes. Us goblins are also called ‘little ogres.’ ‘Ogre’ is a word to describe beings like us who are more savage, so I expect vampires feel the same way about it.”

“Is that right. You’re pretty knowledgeable, Livia.” I best watch what I say if I ever come to meet some vampires.

“My mother taught me about them. Anyway, the vampire tribe is, like the youko1 tribe, specialized in their magical abilities. I’ve heard that they’ve made various magic tools… so that apply may to those magic stones.”

“…I see.” In any case, now we know that the magic stones are related to the vampire tribe. …Now it’s just a question of how much the vampire tribe is involved in this. Glancing around, I could see that the goblins and werewolves had worried expressions.

I called out to get their attention. “Listen everyone!” Hearing me raise my voice, Orphe turned towards me. After giving a nod, he raised up one of the swords for everyone to see. The onlookers tilted their heads.

“What is that?”

“That sword is really beat up…”

“This is the sort of weapon the northern werewolves are using!” They were surprised by my words. Then, a small sneer appeared on their faces. Picking up on that, I continued, “Yeah, let me say what you’re all thinking. ‘Are those guys seriously using such seedy weapons?’ The answer is yes. Certainly, the werewolves can use magic stones to strengthen their bodies. That’s certainly impressive, however, I doubt they can even cook with those weapons.”

Everyone grinned at that.

“If they come to invade us, we also heave plenty of weapons. The number of us who can use a bow is increasing. Those guys just have some cheep swords. We should be able to drop those guys before they can even bust through our gate!”

Since I was speaking superfluously to raise moral, I gave everyone a smile. They all regained their spirit. Seeing this, I let out a small sigh of relief such that no one would notice.

“Alright, let’s end this here. Stay vigilant if you’re on night watch.” Everyone nodded to me and went off for dinner. As I separated from everyone, Livia followed behind me.

“…I didn’t think you could use that beat up sword like that. As expected of you, lord Crest.”

“No, I didn’t think it would go that well either. Well, I’m just glad they calmed down.”

“Right. …Orphe is a bit worried, however.”

“I guess so. He’s a bit worked up after all. …It’s not like Orphe is the cause of this so he doesn’t need to worry about it though.”

“Yes, I think so too.” As Livia was looking to me with a smile, Orphe came over to us. Behind him were several other werewolves. …With a stern expression on his face, he bowed his head to me.

“Crest… could you give me permission to attack them?” …He opened up with some very violent words.

1. Youko is a Japanese folklore yokai that basically is the humanoid fox girl. Honestly, I’m not sure if there’s an English name for them, but if you want to read the Japanese Wikipedia page for it, here: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/妖狐 Let me know if you can find the English page for this.