【The Story of the Red-Haired Hero】The Hero Troubling the Town!?

The town of Nebo.

Located right in the middle of the Saikanan Highway leading to their next destination, the Ashgo Kingdom, this town is a historic place that has continued to develop as a post town, despite its small size.

Its specialty is the rare Ahate River Shrimp caught from the nearby Ahate River, and dishes using them are famous for being so delicious that even the famous gourmet Mochakki praised them.

The town is always bustling with travelers who come seeking that taste.

A small but lively town.

That was the town of Nebo.

“......Or so it should be, eh?”

Zydeo, the lean former thief, said it with his arms folded and his head cocked.

Because the town of Nebo they were currently walking through didn't look lively at all, no matter how you looked at it.

First of all, there were no people.

They were supposed to be walking down the main street at the center of town, and yet they hardly passed anyone.

And the few townsfolk of Nebo they did spot would smile at Zydeo and the others, travelers from outside staying the night, but there was something tired about them.

“Just what is going on here?”

Torch the hero frowned anxiously.

Nenezane, the wandering mage, was also lost in thought, hand to chin.

“Torch-kun! At times like this, there's no use worrying! Asking the townspeople is best! Your big sister will show you what an adult's information-gathering skills look like!”

Dashing off full of energy as she said it was Chiron, a blonde woman even smaller than Torch, wrapped in the white vestments of the Church of the Holy Goddess.

“Excuse meee! 13 servings of grilled shrimp, pleeease!”

The place Chiron charged toward was a shop selling Nebo's specialty grilled shrimp, facing the main street.

“Ahh......? Pipe down, will ya. Shrimp? ......Ain't got any.”

“Huh? Sold out? Ah, you know what! I don't mind if they're misshapen! Rejects are fine too! 13 servings of grilled shrimp, pleeease!”

“I, I told ya, I ain't got any!”

But the man who seemed to be the shopkeeper, polishing the grill, wore a sour look, and he flatly turned Chiron down.

Sure enough, on the shrimp grills the shop had set out facing the main street, there wasn't a single shrimp.

The charcoal hadn't even been lit.

(Something's definitely wrong.)

So Torch thought.

“Shishishi, sorry about that, pops, my companion's being unreasonable. Here, brat, you apologize too! Don't go bothering the shopkeeper! And what's all this about information gathering! You just want to eat shrimp, don't you!”

“I do not! Th, this is what you call a conversation opener! What is that, talking like I'm some glutton!”

“But you are.”

“How dare you speak so to a delicate maiden! Repent! Repent!”

“Ow!”

A sharp body blow cut the air and sank into his gut, and Zydeo dropped to his knees in spite of himself.

“I'm sorry, we're so noisy.”

“N, no...... I was in the wrong too; getting irritated and taking it out on customers, that's as shameful as it gets.”

Seeing Torch bow apologetically, the grilled shrimp shopkeeper also apologized, looking awkward.

“Still, what do you mean, no shrimp? I heard it's this town's specialty? Does it have something to do with the town seeming so down?”

“Ahh...... yeah, well...... how do I put it, uh......”

The shopkeeper scratched his head, made sure nobody was around, then sat down in a chair and began to mumble, polishing the grill as he spoke.

“Over in the Ahate River, a huge monster nobody'd ever seen showed up......”

“What!?”

Hearing those words, Torch's sense of justice was ignited, and his eyes flashed sharply!

Torch was a hero.

He couldn't leave people tormented by monsters alone!

“What kind of monster is it!? Do you know its name!? Its exact size!? What kind of attacks does it use!?”

“C, calm down! Calm down, kid! You're too loud! Pipe down!”

“S, sorry, but......”

“Besides, relax, that monster's already been taken care of. Just recently. So there's nothin' to worry about with the monster......”

“Wh, what a relief~......! Good, then there's no problem at all! The customers will come back soon, and this town will be back to normal!”

Torch said this and breathed a sigh of relief.

“............”

But the grilled shrimp shopkeeper's face stayed sour.

Seeing this, Zydeo, having recovered from the pain, cut into the conversation.

“......But it probably won't. Some other trouble's hitting this town, that's it, ain't it? Pops.”

“Eh!?”

“............”

Torch was surprised.

The grilled shrimp shopkeeper remained silent.

In other words, he was confirming what Zydeo had said.

“Wh, what do you mean?”

“Shishishi, listen, Torch, pops said there's nothing to worry about ‘with the monster’. Meaning there's something to worry about besides the monster. Besides, if killing the monster settled everything, it'd be weird for there to be no shrimp out front of this stall right now, wouldn't it?”

Zydeo calmly broke down the situation and explained it to Torch.

Then, he glanced at the grilled shrimp shopkeeper's face.

Their eyes met, and the grilled shrimp shopkeeper sighed, leaned in toward Torch and the others, and began to explain in an even lower voice.

“Listen, this stays between us......? It was good the monster got killed, but the ones who killed it, they were the problem.”

“......What do you mean?”

“Those guys, they've been shaking us down, lording that favor over us...... and they've settled in this town. Shrimp, liquor, anything good, it all goes to them now, that's how it is.”

“What did you say!?”

The one most outraged at hearing that was Chiron.

“Taking shrimp away from me, unforgivable! Why not just throw people like that out! Why are you doing what they tell you!?”

“To us ordinary townsfolk, they're awful strong...... and on top of that, those guys have a title we can't exactly brush off......”

“A title?”

Chiron tilted her head, and the grilled shrimp shopkeeper went on, heaving a huge sigh—who knew how many he'd heaved today.

“Those guys...... traveling on to defeat the Demon Lord...... they say they're the honorable hero's party.”

“““Huh!!?”””

At those unexpected words, Torch, Chiron, and Zydeo all let out cries of surprise together.

‘Nenezane, the wandering mage, was also lost in thought, hand to chin.’

......No, who?

Who is Nenezane............?

Probably a new member who joined when nobody was looking.

They have their own adventures......