I'm a farmer, not a hero : Chapter 27

Meanwhile, back at the farm.

As soon as he arrived, the farmer went to look for the orc chieftain.

"Yes my lord?" The chieftain asked.

"I need some supplies, can you gather them for me?" The farmer said.

"No problem my lord…" The chieftain replied before calling one of the orc grunts to gather the supplies for the farmer.

"Also, you have a blacksmith here, right? I need something done." The farmer asked.

"Yes lord! I will call for him–" The chieftain said but was quickly interrupted by the farmer.

"No, it's much faster if you can just lead me to him." The farmer said.

"Very well, it's this way."

The orc chieftain brought the farmer to the far corner of the orcish stronghold, where the kiln was placed.

"Warchief, what brings you to–, ah! My lord!" The blacksmith greeted as soon as he saw the two enter his workshop.

"Had I known you were coming, I would've cleaned a bit." He added.

"Our lord needs something, maybe you could help him." The orc chieftain said.

"Yes, certainly… How may I be of service to you my lord?" The orc blacksmith asked.

"Do you mind if I take a look at your armaments for a bit?" The farmer asked politely.

"Ah, yes! Certainly! Right this way…" The blacksmith led the farmer to the storage room where he keeps different armors and weaponries they created for the orc warriors.

"Is there something specific you're looking for, my lord?" The orc blacksmith asked.

"I need an armor that's light and sturdy, something that can stop blade attacks, not necessarily completely but can at least save us from being sliced in two." The farmer explained.

"Ah, then I would suggest to you this…" The orc blacksmith took something from one of the boxes inside the room.

"A chain mail huh? Didn't think that you guys would use this." The farmer uttered.

Most orc warriors prefer leather and hide as they pride themselves on the toughness of their body rather than wear an armor that protects it, hence the surprised look on the farmer's face when the blacksmith created one.

"No, my lord. We don't…" The orc chief said.

"But, after the recent demon attacks, we thought that we needed to upgrade our defenses." He explained.

"I see…" The farmer uttered.

"Then I need you to make another one but smaller…" He said to the orc blacksmith.

"I also need some things as well…" While waiting for the supplies, the farmer made some more requests to the orc blacksmith.

*****

Back at the wasteland territory.

"N-No! It can't be real!" The young cleric shouted as she continued to stare at the ghost of her dead comrades.

"What is? Us standing here when we're supposed to be already dead?" The young mage commented in a mocking tone.

"That's enough…" The young hero intervened. His voice was calm, neither angry nor the laid-back personality he had when he was still alive.

The young hero then turned his gaze towards the young cleric, staring directly into her eyes.

"Why are you still here?" Although it was the same question asked by the young mage, the young hero's tone is that of a concerned inquiry rather than interrogatory.

"What do you mean?" The young cleric looked puzzled, wondering why he's asking the same thing as well.

"I mean we, the majority of the hero party, died. Why not just return back to the capital and report the subjugation quest as a failure? Why continue to risk your life? Why bother enduring this hardship when you can just quit?" The young hero explained with a concerned tone.

"No one will judge you if you decide to quit… I mean, we were still youngsters, just barely making it to adulthood. How do they even expect us to finish this quest when even the full-fledged adults couldn't?" He added.

"Why would you tell this to me?" The young cleric cried, confused as to why the righteous hero(dead) would encourage her to quit rather than to fight.

"Weren't you the one who's all about justice and righteousness?! The one who's always thinking about others first before yourself?!" She continued.

"And look what that got us?" The young hero replied.

"We're dead, you're in a mess… All for what? We couldn't even beat one demon king general." He continued.

"That's why I'm training to become stronger!" The young cleric tried to reason but was stopped by an ominous presence who came out from nowhere.

"You think that silly training will make you strong?" A terrifying voice came from the large shadow behind the two.

The young cleric didn't even notice the large shadow until it started speaking, as if it just appeared out of nowhere.

"You're pretty much just wasting your time." It continued.

"No…" The young cleric can't believe what she's seeing; the boar general the farmer killed was standing behind the two.

"Get away you two!" She cried out but her dead comrades weren't budging, they stared at her completely.

"Were dead, remember? What can he do to us?" The young hero responded to the young cleric, who was staring daggers at the monster.

"What? You think us demons don't have souls?" The boar general mocked her.

"You, a person of faith, should know full well that every living thing in this world has a soul." He continued.

"Sss-Doesss it sssurprisssse you?" The young cleric darted away as soon as she heard the creepy voice whispering in her ear.

"Hahahaha!" The serpent general emerged from the darkness and crept stealthily behind the young cleric.

"Sss-With the farmer nowhere near to save you, you'd be dead by now had I been alive." She taunted.

"This is what I meant…" The boar general uttered.

"Becoming strong is not an overnight success, you need years of extensive training and battle experience to become strong. It's not something that can be achieved by carrying something heavy!" He explained.

"And why should I believe you?! Aren't you the enemy?!" The young cleric cried out.

"But he does have a point…" The young hero commented, with the young cleric looking at him in bewilderment.

"What are you saying?!" She asked, with a puzzled look on her face.

"Don't you see? Even I, the hero and someone who spent years in the swordsmanship academy, couldn't even put a dent in his body…" The young hero explained.

"But a farmer who had been training for years, and is constantly fighting to defend his farm, was able to kill him easily…"

"You can argue that because he had the Sacred cudgel… But what about the other times when he fought using only his bare hands? Like that high orc? That undead swordsman? The enormous naga warrior?"

"Are you saying that I should just quit?" The young cleric, with a troubled look on her face, asked.

"I'm saying that even without us, someone stronger will take our place…" The young hero answered calmly.

"And that even without the demon king, humans will do atrocities to one another. You've seen it, right?" He continued.

The young cleric's face starts to contort, horrified knowing full well what the young hero meant.

"Under that cabin in the woods? The bodies?" He said.

"Demon king or no demon king, there will be chaos in this world…"

"So why sacrifice yourself for it?"

And with that, the young cleric fell to her knees, starting to lose her will to complete the mission. But a sudden flash of light dissipated the devils around her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" It was the farmer, returning back from the farm with a sack of supplies in his back.

"Are you okay?" He asked while extending his hand towards the young cleric.

The young cleric touches his hand slowly, like a wary kitten. Her eyes widened upon realizing the person in front of her is a real person and, in a moment of vulnerability, she lunges forward to wrap her arms around him before sobbing uncontrollably.

It took a while before the young cleric could calm down with the farmer comforting her patiently. The farmer then quickly sets up camp just as soon as the young cleric settles.

Aside from the sound of wood burning from their campfire, the night was silent, and despite being worried about her actions earlier, the farmer quietly ate his meal while waiting for the young cleric to open up to her problems.

"Am I still necessary for this quest?" With a slight nervousness in her voice, the young cleric asked the farmer, with the latter looking at her with a confused look on his face.

"Of course you are, why wouldn't you be?" He replied.

"I mean, do you even need me? You seem to be strong enough to beat the Demon king by yourself… I feel like I'm just a burden to you, a weakness that the enemy may exploit." The young cleric replied with a depressed tone.

"Isn't that why you want to undergo physical training?"

"Yes but… Is that enough? I mean, you said so yourself that we're probably just a few weeks from beating the demon king, right?"

"So, do you want to quit?"

"I… I don't know… I feel like I should so I wouldn't be a burden to you…"

The young cleric curled up, burying her face on her arms and knees.

"Look… First of all, this is your quest, not mine. I'm just accompanying you, if you decide to quit then I'm not gonna proceed as well… Just because I can, doesn't mean I'll do it." The farmer explained.

"Wait, what?!" The young cleric, surprised, raised her head and looked at the farmer with confusion.

"You do remember why I'm doing this in the first place, right?" The farmer asked, trying to remind her that his goal is not the same as hers.

Just then, the young cleric remembers that the farmer is only helping her for the reward, which is the demon king's assets.

"But, you'll get the reward if you defeat the demon king right?"

"Not exactly?" The farmer retorted.

"What do you mean?" The young cleric responded. She couldn't understand what the farmer meant.

"The quest was given to you, the hero party, right?" The farmer asked.

"Correct." The young cleric responded.

"The king did not put any bounty on the demon king's head, right?" The farmer continued.

"As far as I know, he didn't. Why?"

"Then the reward is exclusive to the hero's party after completing the quest. Meaning, any third party involved will not be rewarded unless the hero party vouches for them…" The farmer explained.

"Which brings to my second point, I need you as a witness to my fight with the demon king. Without you acting as a witness, then me subjugating the demon king will be pointless." He continued.

"Like I said, I'm pretty much useless! My protection miracles… I don't think you even need them!" The young cleric cried out in frustration. Her emotions are all over, from her sense of worthlessness to her frustrations about how the farmer would still only think about the reward for the quest.

"Look… Being a witness to this quest is not just something anyone can do. Even though you're not fighting, you're still risking your life. So don't think of yourself as useless…" The farmer explained.

"And about you being a burden to me? Then, aren't you already doing something about that?" He continued.

"Yes but like I said, it's not like I can become strong in just a few weeks." She replied.

"Becoming strong is not just about brute strength…" The farmer said.

"Sometimes you just need to use whatever you have at your disposal." He continued.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I can't really tell you what you should do since I don't know the extent of your capabilities but…" The farmer said before touching the ground with his left hand.

All of a sudden, rocks and sand start to envelop the farmer's left arm, creating a stone gauntlet.

"Like this… By using Earth magicka to create a gauntlet, I can either use this as a means to attack my enemies or defend from their attacks." The farmer explained before it crumbled, returning to the ground.

"But since it can't withstand the impact of my punch, attacking with it is pretty much useless… Though I'm sure I can use it in a different way." He continued.

"Anyway, what I'm telling you is that you need to understand your capabilities and find a way to maximize your skills to its potential. How long it will take will be up to you…"

"But in the meantime, do what you can do. Training your physical body will be helpful regardless whether you'll need to fight or not." The farmer explained.

The young cleric fell silent, staring at the campfire while pondering upon the farmer's words. Seeing this, the farmer left her alone until she fell asleep, keeping watch for any possible threats.

Morning soon came.

The young cleric, now filled with her newfound determination, is leading the march. Even though she's carrying the heavy sword and shield behind her back, she's walking normally as if she had magically gained the strength to carry it overnight.