At first, I thought the ‘serious problem’ Hanon pointed out was that the disease was difficult to treat.
….But it seemed like it was something else entirely.
「T-This is…」
The dragon tree sword was reacting.
It was pulsing like it was trying to tell me something.
「No way…」
「Did you figure something out, Bale?」
Gregory-san noticed that something was off with me and asked.
I hesitated, wondering if I should say anything… but I decided to tell him the truth.
「There’s a possibility that the abnormality affecting the trees in this area might not be a natural phenomenon, but rather something that was artificially induced.」
「What!?」
Gregory-san’s already fierce expression became even more severe.
Artificially induced.
That meant… a situation that shouldn’t have happened was forcibly created by someone. And that would imply that there was someone trying to destroy the desirable relationship between the two countries, Krentz and Foster.
「If that’s true, it’s a serious matter… Do you have any evidence?」
「Well, this disease….. is thought to be caused by a certain pest.」
「A pest?」
「Yes. The problem is that this pest… is not one that is supposed to be found in this area.」
To destroy a large number of trees in a short amount of time.
That kind of power – or rather, a highly potent toxin – wasn’t something that could be produced by just any insect. Given how much the scope is, there must be someone intentionally spreading it.
I tried to remember the content of Fantasy Farm Story. Although it was limited to crops, vegetables, and such, there was an event where sudden damage was caused by pests. According to that, the only way to eradicate these kinds of diseases was to fight and triumph against the pests. There wouldn’t be any pesticides or such, and it would be inevitable to use physical means… but these pests were also quite large.
Furthermore, there was no enemy in the game that possessed toxins to weaken the strength of wood. In other words, this was a completely original enemy that they would have to fight against.
It seemed that my knowledge of games wouldn’t be of much help in this situation.
However, there were several renowned adventurers that Gregory-san had brought along with him, and Martina, Kiara, Hanon, and Simone were all capable of fighting.
……areh?
Am I basically telling myself that I’m a liability in combat?
—No, I’m not.
I confirmed it before.
I can fight too.
「Gregory-san, let’s investigate the forest.」
「Hmm… You’re right. We don’t want any more damage to occur.」
「Village chief, when is the deadline for the delivery?」
「I-It’s in a week… but if we start shipping the wood from the depths of the forest right away, we might make it in time.」
「Alright. Send a messenger to Felix and ask them to send reinforcements. He’ll be happy to help since the construction of the bridge will bring more customers and profit.」
Gregory-san instructed two young men standing nearby saying ‘I’ll write a letter and deliver it to Felix at the guild.’.
-0-
Meanwhile, we
「There might be monsters in the forest.」
「Let’s show them the results of our daily training!」
「I think it’s good to exercise once in a while.」
「I-I’ll do our best!」
It seemed that all four of them were motivated to do their best.
For now, let’s put the culprit aside and focus on eradicating the pests that caused the problem.
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