Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 115

Sara is born in a farming village near the forest north of the city. The land near the forest is rich in natural bounty, but taxes are heavy and life is harsh. Her family consists of her parents, a younger brother, a younger sister, and herself—five in total.

Her father is a part-time farmer and part-time hunter. He supports the family by cultivating a small field on the edge of the forest and hunting animals that come out of the forest with a bow. Hunting within the forest is reserved for the lord who holds the hunting rights, so they are not allowed into the forest. However, protecting the field is permitted, as sometimes monsters like goblins wander out of the forest.

The farmers living near the forest are granted permission by the lord to possess and use longbows. It is customary to hunt animals like deer and boar that threaten the crops.

Sara, the eldest daughter, is particularly close to her father. She tries to imitate everything he does, and her father, in turn, dotes on her. He makes a small bow for her, and Sara becomes engrossed in practicing with it until the bowstring breaks.

Sara has a natural talent for handling a bow. Her innate sense and motivation, knowing that the game she shoots will end up on the dinner table, combine to make her an exceptional archer by the time she is over ten years old. She surpasses her father in shooting small animals like birds that threaten the crops.

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Sara is 14 when her poor but peaceful life is lost. One day, the forest overflows. Monsters occasionally go into a frenzy as groups. The reasons for these frenzies remain unexplained in this world. It is unclear whether the frenzies are caused by a high density of monsters trying to expand their territory, the intrusion of a powerful new group into their territory causing them to panic, or if the region’s magical energy increases and heightens their aggressiveness, making them more ferocious and causing them to go on a rampage. There have been many theories since ancient times, and it is not clear which theory is correct.

For Sara, a mere farmer’s daughter, the cause of the forest’s overflow is irrelevant. What matters is that the forest behind the village overflows, and hundreds of goblins go into a frenzy and attack Sara’s village.

In remote rural villages, the village chief’s house or the church, built of stone, serves as a makeshift fortress in emergencies. However, Sara’s home is too close to the forest overrun by rampaging goblins, and they have no time to escape to the village church.

Sara’s family barricades themselves inside their house with furniture and wooden planks, while Sara uses her archery skills to shoot goblins through the gaps. The rampaging goblins, having lost their wits and unable to set fires or stick to a single target, quickly run off in search of easier prey. Thus, the family’s siege lasts only half a day.

When things quiet down outside and they venture out, they find their house walls covered with countless claw marks, which terrify them. The surrounding area is littered with the bodies of goblins shot with arrows, some of which show signs of cannibalism. As Sara retrieves her smaller arrows and counts the goblin corpses, she discovers she has killed seven. All the goblins she has taken down have arrows in their eyes, and Sara feels a modest pride in her skill, honed by hunting small birds.

However, the time for Sara’s family to rejoice in their safety is short-lived. Their field, which was due for harvest, has been completely ravaged by the goblins. The wheat stalks, which should have grown tall towards the sky, are trampled and knocked over, covered in mud from recent rainwater puddles.

The main force of goblins has attacked the village church for several hours before moving on, resulting in the deaths of seven villagers, including the village chief.

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Harvest season arrives. Even with the goblin attacks and the death of the village chief, the villagers must till the fields and harvest to survive. And no matter what happens, taxes will be collected.

In the end, Sara’s family’s harvest amounts to only 60% of what it should have been. Despite their best efforts to restore the crops after the attack, many of the stalks have withered and rotted. Taxes are deducted as a percentage of the harvest. While it is a relief that it is not a fixed amount, for Sara’s family, who cannot make it through to next year’s harvest, it provides no comfort.

Nevertheless, the harvest festival takes place, and a bard comes to sing: “Young ones, go on an adventure.”

Sara makes a decision: she will leave home and become an adventurer. She will go to the city to earn money to feed her younger brother and sister.

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“So… that’s my story. It’s a common situation, right?” Sara explains that her constant lack of money is due to sending money back to her family. In this world, commoners lack reliable methods of remitting money, so she has to return to her village twice a year to personally deliver the money she earns from adventuring.

To be honest, I thought all the money she had was spent on food. Sara’s occasional comments about ‘going back to the countryside and doing farming’ might stem from the fact that rural life symbolizes her happy life and family.

“I’m not dissatisfied with my current life. It’s incredibly busy and incredibly fun,” she says, concluding her monologue.