Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S Rank ni Natteta prologue 1

Occasionally, the now missing leg would start hurting again. It’s the symptom known as phantom pain.
A burning pain of the time it was eaten by that black magic beast. Even though almost eight years had passed since then, it would still annoyingly hurt sometimes.Belgriff once again woke up before the sun rose. The nonexistent right leg felt like it was burning.
Pressing down on the thigh muscle that still remained, Belgriff stayed in that position covered in greasy sweat for several minutes, enduring the pain. However to the person in question it felt like it had finally subsided after many hours.

“Fuck…”

Sighing, he began to get up, not the least bit tired now.
Out the window, the sky was slowly starting to light up. However as the stars still shined in the sky, the more the sky would light up conversely the darker the surroundings would seem.
Carefully attaching the prosthetic leg that lay next to the bed, Belgriff stood up. After years of practice he was now able to walk using it without any difficulties. After the long rehabilitation period even fighting using a sword would be possible. But mentally it seemed a bit too soon for him to return to being an adventurer.

It was around seven years ago that Belgriff had returned to his home town of Tornela Village. Now he is twenty-five.
His parents passed away when he was young, and when he became fifteen he had decided to go out to make a name for himself and return famous. For that purpose he left for the Capital of Orphen, however a bit over two years after becoming an adventurer his right leg was bitten off by a magic beast.
He still tried to do jobs such as gathering medicinal herbs as his rehabilitation progressed, but eventually he gave up and decided to leave all of it behind, returning to his home town.

Belgriff walked outside. The cool, clear air cleansed his lungs.
The cries of roosters could be heard from all over. The early-rising farmers were already preparing to start working. The surroundings slowly got brighter, and the ridges of the mountains in the distance were becoming clearly lit up. It’s morning.

As Belgriff walked, he ran into one of the farmers, Kerry, seemingly heading out to their farm. They are of the same age and used to play together as children. Grinning, Kerry raised his hand.

“Hey, Bell. G’morning.”

Although Belgriff was slightly bothered by that nickname sounding feminine, he had already given up on changing it.

“Morning, Kerry. You’re sure working hard.”
“Yeah, since I’m gonna go to plant the onions now. Would you mind helping me with them?”
“Although I would love to help right away, would tomorrow still be fine? I already promised Granny Kaiyah to gather some medicinal herbs for her today.”
“That’s fine, It’d be a great help with you around. But still, you’re always really busy. You don’t need to push yourself so much.”
“Nah, it isn’t that much to worry about. If you have any work that still needs doing tomorrow, call me.”
“Hahaha, I’ll be relying on you then. See ya.”
“Later.”

Kerry continued on his way to the fields.
When Belgriff had first come back to the village he was initially made out to be the laughingstock of the town, but now he is someone relied upon by the entire village. Ever since returning he would take the initiative and do jobs that nobody else wanted to do, use the knowledge he had gained as an adventurer to gather medicinal herbs, and exterminate any magic beasts that appeared. He would help out working the fields, and often went out hunting to treat the villagers to meat. Now all the villagers completely trust him.

Once Belgriff had confirmed there were no signs of magic beasts while patrolling around town as his morning stroll, he returned home and practiced swinging his sword, had breakfast, prepared his lunch, and headed off into the mountains.

“Right, it’s autumn…”

The sun rose, making the sky feel even more distant and blue. The trees’ leaves were gradually tinted red and yellow, the atmosphere making it feel as if the summer heat from a month ago could never have really happened.

Looking at the ground, Belgriff wandered around searching for the fruits of the vines that cling onto the trees, stacking more and more herbs in his basket.

“Almea grass, tor fruit, harvest moon grass… Hm, the mountain grapes are already growing.”

Belgriff took a single small grape and put it in his mouth. A sweet and sour taste flowed out of it.

“Delicious. The kids’ll probably like these.”

Although he wasn’t requested to do it, Belgriff gathered mountain grapes and akebi fruit together with the herbs in his basket.
Traversing the mountains is a dangerous job. Of course magic beasts appearing is a possibility, but even regular wild animals are enough to be a threat to humans. Although the woodcutters would work on the forest near the village, all of the villagers would hesitate to enter the mountainous area in the depths of the forest.
However Belgriff the former adventurer was able to fight against both magical and non-magical beasts. Although not at best form due to the loss of his right leg, he would still not fall behind the kinds of magic beasts that appear in that area.

Having gathered a large amount of herbs throughout the morning, Belgriff sat down in a sunlit area and took out his lunch.
Although it was nothing more than some goat cheese sandwiched between hard bread, adding the mountain grapes and akebi he had gathered to it made it quite delectable.

“Great, at this rate I’ll be able to go help Kerry later in the afternoon.”

As he had found enough of the herbs he needed sooner than expected, he would be able to go back to the village earlier in the afternoon.
As he stretched and stood up, suddenly he faintly heard the sound of something cry out. Belgriff immediately moved his hand to the sword strapped to his waist, squinted his eyes, and surveyed the area. There was no sign of a magic beast. However when he concentrated he could definitely hear the sound of something crying. Like that of a baby.

“…In the middle of the mountains?”

There exist magic beasts that make sounds like that of human babies. Specifically, a magic beast known as the pixie. Although they are not good at combat they are mean-spirited magic beasts that do things such as imitating the sounds of crying babies or using magic to confuse a person’s sense of direction.
Although Belgriff had never encountered any pixies in these mountains, he decided there was no harm in being cautious. Leaving his hand on his sword’s handle, he slowly headed in the direction of the crying voice.

“What…”

After making his way through the thickets and seeing what was there, Belgriff let out a voice somewhere between that of surprise and bewilderment. After all, what lay there was not a pixie but an actual human baby.
The baby laid in a basket woven from wisteria vines. Whether due to hunger or something else, the baby cried out loudly. It felt almost like a miracle that it wasn’t found by some wild beast first.

Belgriff approached the baby and stared at it for a long time. It had black hair. As Belgriff held it up in the air, the baby stopped crying and stared back at him with its large, black eyes.
Belgriff furrowed his eyebrows.
He had not heard of any newborn, or about to be born babies in Tornela Village. It is a small village. If there was anything of the sort then Belgriff would have heard of it.
It must be from a village on the other side of the mountains, Belgriff concluded.

“Now, what to do…”

He hesitated slightly, but seeing the baby he was cradling go silent as if in satisfaction he felt that he could not just leave it there.
Belgriff tenderly stroked the baby’s head. It started to fall asleep, now feeling in peace.
What a quiet child.
Multiple sheets of old cloth remained in the basket on the ground, and herbs said to fight off evil lay scattered around. It didn’t seem like the baby was abandoned out of animosity or neglect.

“…No choice then.”

Together with the basket Belgriff carried the baby down the mountain.

Chapter end