"What?"
"What did you say?"
"You said you're going to deal with the monsters?"
The villagers started in surprise, then burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, don't push yourself, young man. We hired a fairly famous party of adventurers to deal with those monsters before. Seven or eight experienced, fully equipped adventurers went together, and didn't they still run away scared shitless? How old are you, anyway? How many teammates did you bring?"
The villagers noticed Bruce and Raphtalia sitting at the same table as Chuan Wenwu. Although they were somewhat surprised that the two were Demi-Humans, they showed little sign of treating them differently. Instead, they gave Raphtalia a couple of extra glances.
"Monsters aren't that easy to deal with, young man. Don't go making grand claims. You're trying to look cool in front of this little girl, aren't you? I understand that young people like you can be a little vain, but don't actually go looking for trouble with the monsters in the mine. People really could die!"
The villagers seemed to have taken Chuan Wenwu and his companions for rookie adventurers, fresh out in the world and unaware of their limits, and offered them well-meaning advice. Despite having been born and raised in this Kingdom of human supremacism, these villagers possessed a surprisingly simple kindness.
In a sense, though, the villagers weren't wrong. Chuan Wenwu really was a rookie adventurer, an "Apprentice" Shield Hero who hadn't been in this world for long. His hero's party even included Raphtalia, a little girl with hardly any combat ability. Asking others to believe they were powerful was indeed a bit much.
Chuan Wenwu thought for a moment, then said, "Judging people by their appearance isn't a good habit, everyone. I may look young, but I'm not weak! I'm Lv.42, and my companion