The Normal Farmer - Completed

Chapter 30 – Harpies Nest Quest

Everyone looked at Taly, and he just stood there, looking back at them. “What? I just asked… And I am also worried about Mister Ronald. Miss Duza is in silence over there, but I can tell she is worried. What about this idea? Considering that you three are so experienced in dealing with those things, you and Mister Ronald could be our front line of attack by entering that abandoned barn and killing all the Harpies you could. We will surround it and kill the ones that try to escape. I bet the Spiders can help a lot by catching the flying ones. I won’t even pretend I don’t know that Mister Ronald could go all alone and knock them all out with his bare hands, but it’s as Red Sonja said, he lacks experience as well. Harpies are only scary from the waist down. The top part is normally naked and very beautiful. Big and round breasts with pink n*****s looking at you, which belongs to a good-looking woman’s face. They normally use that beauty to distract a man before knocking them down with a loud ‘Magic Shout’. If Mister Ronald never faced one of them, he will have a lot of trouble with a full nest.”

Duza confirmed. “Yes, that’s what worries me. I don’t know how he will react to so many naked women surrounding him. He may get distracted and get killed. We all saw how strong Red Sonja and Conan are, and if Shigure is half as strong as they are…”

Shigure interrupted her. “I am not half of anyone. I am the one and only Shigure Kosaka. Sonja and Conan are my subordinates. I achieved my rank above them by fighting them and remaining undefeated. But I agree with Mister Taly’s plan. That is, indeed, the best course of action when dealing with a Harpies Nest. Well, right after torching the entire barn and roasting those ugly birds while they sleep, but many people don’t like to hear them scream when that happens because they scream like Human women.”

Ini gulped down his cup of wine and asked, “Shall we go? I don’t want to waste any more time here while someone is being eaten by a Harpy just because we were here for too long.”

Duza raised her hand to stop him. “I think it would be best if we found someone to guide us. If it weren’t for a certain person who is too secretive, we could ask for backup from the Adventurers here. But one of them could be too curious about why only four people were going inside the barn. If we do this, we do it without any outside help, agree?”

Ari opened her Card Box and took five Cards. She placed them over the table. They were the ‘Sabertooth Tiger’ and four ‘Giant Spider’. “For this situation, I can use these. I still have enough Mana for Spell Cards if needed. Mister Ronald has one Spider and the Baby Spiders, so…”

Ronald placed on the table his Cards as well: two ‘Cluster of Baby Spiders’ and five ‘Giant Spider’. “I join your game with this. And I raise with… three ‘Big Rat’. They are not as fast as the Tiger, but they can help.”

Ari covered her face and knocked her head against the table. She then spoke, with her head still laying on the table and with so much frustration in her voice that Ronald quickly picked up his Cards again. “Argh! Do you mind, at least, pretending to be a simple Farmer and not pointing out that you are indeed more powerful than me? You even have way more Cards than an Arc Mage Summoner! Sometimes, Mister Ronald, I hate you so much!”

Duza closed her mouth; she only noticed at that time that she had it wide open after seeing Ronald’s Cards so leisurely thrown to the table.

She went to the front desk and asked the receptionist for a guide to the barn where the Harpies were living and the Quest notice to apply for it with her group. After signing and delivering the notice, Duza returned to the table, accompanied by a servant no older than 12 years old. The little girl stood next to the table with a serious look and in complete silence.

Duza introduced her: “She will be our guide. Her mother was killed by a Harpy two months ago, and she wants to help us. She will only guide us to the barn, and she will stay behind a tree in hiding for her safety.”

She then looked at the little girl to see if she understood the warning. The girl confirmed in a low voice, “Yes, I will do as you say. I hope you can avenge my mother and everyone that was killed by those monsters.”

Reylom answered, smiling a lot and with a strange brightness in his eyes: “You can trust us, little girl. Please sit here next to me while we finish talking about our plan.”

Before the girl could move, Sonja got up, placed her hand over Reylom’s right shoulder, and squeezed it. “We already talked about everything. Let’s not waste any more time and let’s get going.”

While everyone was getting up and following Duza and the little girl outside, Sonja approached Reylom and whispered in his ear, “If you like so much about little girls, I can introduce to you one friend of mine, Akatsuki. She is very beautiful, innocent, and cute. She also likes older men, and if you survive this Quest, I will tell her to keep you company during this night. Don’t you dare to deny it; I am not stupid!”

Reylom closed his open mouth and just made a small nod with his head. Sonja pinched his arm and whispered again: “I hope you are in good shape because since she is so young and very fit, you will have a lot of trouble satisfying her!”

Reylom made a small smile and disguised the trembling of anticipation in his groins.

…

Outside the City, they travelled along a small, dusty road. The little girl was seated next to Ronald on the seat of the carriage. She was nervously biting her lower lip and fiddling with her fingers.

When an abandoned barn could be seen at some distance, she pointed at it and spoke with a trembling voice: “That’s the barn. Since nothing is flying in the sky, they must all be in there, sleeping… or… eating…”

Ronald looked at her and saw tears coming down her face. “I am sorry about your mother. Your father is still alive?”

“Yes, he is the Cook at the Guild. My older sister works at the Inn as a maid. Our mother, she… was also a maid at the Inn. On the weekends, we used to go to the forest and search for some plants, fruits, and flowers to sell in the market. Normally, it’s safe because Harpies sleep the entire morning. That day, one of them woke up with hunger, I think, and went on a hunt. When my mother was caught, she fought the Harpy and told me to run and never look back. I did… I should have stayed and helped her… but my mother yelled at me to run the fastest I could… Mom never yelled at me… I was always a good girl…”

Ronald tried to calm her because she started to cry nonstop. “You couldn’t do anything if you stayed with her. You would have died, and you wouldn’t be able to be here, guiding us.”

The girl continued to cry, trying not to make any noise. Riattus was hovering next to Ronald and spoke to him: “You know, I saw a Quest at the Inn, asking for feathers from Harpies. They can be used to stuff clothes and make them warmer or to make pillows and mattresses. One silver coin for each wing or one copper coin for five feathers. If the Harpies are indeed sleeping, you can talk with Shigure, Sonja, and Conan. If each one of you guys strikes the wings of a Harpy and her neck after, she will die, leaving behind a Mana Orb and two wings. It would be nice if you gave that money to this girl as compensation for her mother’s death. Be careful with one thing: if you strike the bottom half of a Harpy, she will not die. To kill them, you either cut off her head or hit the heart. Cutting the bottom half only matters if you want to eat that, understood?”

Ronald made a slight nod with his head. He saw Duza raising her arm and telling everyone to stop. She dismounted and guided the horse to some trees nearby. Everyone followed her, and Ronald stopped the carriage under a couple of trees. He tied the ‘Big Dark Bulls’ to the trees and helped the little girl get off the carriage, and they both joined Duza and the others.

Ari was summoning her Spiders and the Tiger, and Ronald followed her lead. The little girl was looking at the Spiders around her, and she grabbed Ronald’s arm. He squeezed her hand and reassured her: “Don’t worry, these are on our side, they are here to help. It’s better if you go inside the carriage and lock the doors. I will leave one little Spider on top of the carriage to protect you if needed, okay?”

The girl was looking at one small Spider that approached her when Ronald called. Ronald ordered the little Spider to protect the girl, and when she clacked the mouth pincer, the girl trembled in fear. But she looked at Ronald and nodded her head. “Okay, I will wait in there.”

Ronald waited for her to enter the carriage, and when the little Spider was on top of it, he spoke to the others: “I have one small request. Before we kill the Harpies, I want to get the maximum number of wings possible before they die. There was a Quest at the Guild asking for Harpy feathers, and I want to sell those and give the money to that girl.”

Duza shook her hands. “No, no! No way! This is already too dangerous without the need to make it even more…”

Shigure snorted. “Coward…”

Duza looked at her, surprised. “What… what did you call me?”

“You heard me, you ‘frilting’ coward! Lord Ronald’s request is an honourable one. If you are too coward to do as he asks, maybe you should join that little girl in there. For the others that want to help, you can use the Spiders. They can tie up any Harpy that tries to escape us. Like that, you just need to cut their wings and then take their heads or strike the heart. Don’t mind their tears or screams, because they will not hesitate to kill you if they get a chance. Lord Ronald, Sonja, and Conan, when we enter, we will try to approach any sleeping Harpy that we see. At my signal, we slice the wings and the neck next. If we do it swiftly, they will not make a sound, and we can go to the next target. But if one of them gives the alarm, and they wake up, we kill them all with no hesitation. If, as soon as we enter, no one is sleeping, or we are immediately detected, we kill them all immediately. Lord Ronald, can I count on your Magic Spells and Traps for that?”

Ronald made a slight bow and started to look over his Cards, grabbing the ones that Riattus pointed out. Duza was boiling in anger and mumbled, “No one chose her as the leader… annoying woman…”

Shigure approached her and poked her chest with her right index finger. “You are the leader of your Party, I know that. But I am the most experienced here in dealing with these things. You either do as I say or get out of my way. I can’t be bothered by the need to save you so that Lord Ronald won’t be sad because you died. I will ask for your forgiveness if we all survive this.”

Shigure made a gentle smile and caressed Duza’s face. Duza just looked at her in silence. Her heart started to pound really fast, without Duza understanding why. Maybe it was because of the danger they were about to face, or maybe it was because of the beautiful smile Shigure was making with those light blue eyes looking at her.

Sonja coughed to distract everyone from that awkward situation. “Do you two stop the annoying flirting or what? You girls can have all the fun you want when we finish this, but right now, we have work to do!”

Shigure turned away and went to the road that led to the barn and stood there, thinking, leaving behind a red-faced Duza. Ronald was a little dumbfounded, and Conan whispered to him: “You need to be careful with Shigure, or she will seduce you and Duza. I wouldn’t mind being seduced by her, but she always said I wasn’t her type. Neither Sonja. But we three had some good nights when she felt like it, and more than once, I thought I would die from the pleasure!”