The combined efforts of Heiring and Aerin repelled the Chimera.
“We did it! The monster finally fled. It won’t come down to the village anymore. Phew, I’m exhausted, but I gained something. I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of this shield the White Witch gave me.”
“Now I just need to treat Heiring’s injuries and escort the members of the Protection Organization to safety.”
“What is… this?!”
The voice that suddenly echoed made the companions, who had just begun to relax, turn around all at once. “Bad, someone else saw this commotion. Well, it’s not a problem since we drove off the Chimera… but I don’t want them to see the fallen goat and snake heads with blood splattered everywhere. Though it’s too late now. The people who arrived are frozen, staring at the gruesome sight.”
Aerin hastily stepped forward to handle the situation.
“Uh, everyone, please step back, it’s dangerous here.”
“What happened? Ah, Edgar, it *is* you! Explain what’s going on.”
The man at the front pushed Aerin aside and grabbed one of the Protection Organization members. “Huh? Is this person an acquaintance?”
“Uh, no, well…”
“What’s your objective in doing this?! You know how dangerous this is!”
The man shoved Edgar away and turned to face them.
“Ah, apologies for the disturbance. We are an Animal Protection Organization called Animal Peace. I am Oliver, the head of this organization. Edgar’s brother.”
He must be referring to Edgar, who has fallen on his rear. So, these two are brothers and belong to the same organization. And the younger brother caused trouble.
“We are an organization that primarily protects abandoned animals like dogs, cats, horses, and goats who have nowhere else to go.”
“So, you don’t protect wild animals?”
“We do not. Ah, what is going on here? Could it really be… with a Chimera…”
Aerin nodded at Oliver’s words. Seeing this, he collapsed to his knees. His companions patted his shoulder as if to comfort him.
“What have we done, I’m so sorry. Please, don’t press charges?”
“Uh, well, I don’t have the authority. And even if charges were pressed, it wouldn’t be you.”
“If this gets out, donations to the organization will be cut off. Then we won’t be able to maintain the animals we currently have.”
I see, that’s a sad situation. It seems the entire Protection Organization isn’t bad. Oliver glared at his brother, Edgar.
“Why, why did you do this?! All our past efforts are wasted because of you! How will you take responsibility?”
“I, I was just sick of it! Taking care of pets that people abandoned! No matter how much we do, it never ends, it’s a waste of time! I thought if I did something big, our name would get out there!”
“Do you even realize how much trouble you’ve caused for so many people?”
This particular problem seems difficult to solve. I can understand Edgar’s point of view. There’s demand from those who sell, and there are buyers because they sell. And not all those who buy are good people. Sometimes they are abandoned for selfish reasons.
“We will clean this up. You should take your companions and return to the village.”
Heiring told him, and Oliver dragged his brother away with the remaining organizational members. The members who witnessed the battle firsthand were trembling and pale-faced. They probably never imagined something like this would happen. They only followed Edgar’s words because they were swayed by them.
“Phew, what a mess. Now, what should we do?”
“Well, first, I’ll use my magic to recover.”
“Ah, that would be helpful.”
As expected, Heiring sat down under a tree, looking exhausted. Right, first, I need to deal with this blood. I ended up covering the bloodstains on the ground with sand. Even so, it’s fortunate that there was no fire despite all the fire magic being used.
Next are the two heads. I’ll dig a hole and bury them.
“Don’t touch the fallen heads. They’re dangerous.”
“Hey, look! A beautiful gem came out!”
Piyo, with blood all over its wings, pulled something out of the goat’s head.
“I told you not to touch it.”
“Hehehe, but this gem is broken.”
Is she even listening to me? A shattered gem from the goat’s head, could this be a magic stone? Elana peered at it from behind.
“Oh, too bad. If it were intact, it would have sold for quite a lot. Will you be collecting this too?”
“No, you can take it. We should probably collect it, but you helped us out. Please accept this as a token of our gratitude.”
Piyo was delighted to receive the magic stone from Heiring. Although it’s broken, it’s still larger than the one on the choker Elana gave Piyo. Perhaps it could be made into a powerful weapon if processed in the next town. And then, Lauren was secretly carrying the snake’s head, but I decided not to mention it.
