[Ah, I have arrived!] I think to myself as I crest a hill and see the village at the heart of a large valley below. The trees have been cleared out from the entire valley, leaving the village as the heart of an open field. Like the first village that I had encountered in the empire, this one also has a tall wooden wall around it. Unlike that village, this wall is both tall and deep, with several guards walking along the ramparts. Still, the village is rather basic, consisting of wooden buildings with thatch roofs, an architectural choice that to me seems somewhat dangerous considering the use of open flames in the form of torches to illuminate the place.
Also unlike the first village I had encountered, this one has opted for the much more standard decision to place its farms outside the city walls, a choice that, while crucial in saving resources when building the wall, is now likely something that the villagers have come to regret.
The fields surrounding the village are filled with the monsters that the job request had warned me of, primarily slimes with some other creatures. However, it seems to me that the job request undersold the number of slimes to a great deal. It had mentioned thousands of weak monsters, which is technically correct if we interpret 'thousands' as being anything between a thousand and a million. However, by more normal interpretations of language, it would have been more accurate to say that there are tens of thousands of monsters here.
The valley is by no means small, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it jam-packed with monsters. There is not a square meter in this valley without a monster in it, with the rather notable exception of the village. As for why the village has not yet been wiped out, I can only assume that it is because slimes are incredibly opportunistic hunters, they generally won't target strong creatures like humans, especially when those humans have the advantage of fortifications.
However, that does not mean that they are not an issue. Other than eating through the crop fields, they also make moving in and out of the village virtually impossible for regular people. And, one must remember that slimes are not the only creatures here. There are a considerably large number of deer-like beasts as well, and judging by looks alone, they are far more of a threat than a measly slime.
Besides, one need not judge on naught but looks; the deer are so kind as to provide us with their behavior to analyze in addition to their mere appearance. Unlike the slimes, which stay a good five meters from the village wall at all locations, even from my position at the lip of the valley I can observe three separate deer attacking the walls, slashing with their unique antlers as watchmen on the walls desperately fire arrows at them.
And that leads into what makes these deers immediately discernible from more generic beasts of rather similar appearance. Their antlers flicker and shine with one of the four simplest elements each, with there being deer of fire, water, wind, and earth varieties present.
As for other elements, I only see one present, in a deer a good bit larger than the rest. Based on appearance, he seems to be utilizing the metal element, certainly a creature capable of doing quite severe damage to some basic wooden walls.
Thankfully for the village, the big deer is not currently among those attacking; rather, he sits on the outskirts of the valley, similar to myself, on the southwest side, a hundred or so yards from me.
[Hmm… what to do, what to do? I wasn't prepared for such a number of creatures; I didn't sign up for this. How to fix this, then, this injustice, this travesty, this example of evil villagers trying to take advantage of a poor adventurer such as myself, telling such bald-faced lies about such consequential subjects?]
The answer comes to me after only a moment of thought. [Ah! I know! Extortion! This village already put in a guild request, I have obtained it, if they put out another they risk multiple adventurers collecting the reward or being punished for issuing a request for the same job twice without the first request having ever been attempted. Point being, it would certainly be a pain for them to make another request, therefore, this price is open to negotiation, especially considering that I was lied to! Lying to the guild, maybe the entire village would be permanently banned from putting in guild requests, they certainly wouldn't want that… yes, I don't think that we should have any issues re-negotiating prices here.]
Deciding to enter the village in a manner that shows I am not someone to mess with, I wreathe myself in lightning and propel myself forward through the distance separating me from the village with wind elemental manipulation. Slimes and within my path are all destroyed by my electrical aura, while the deer suffer heavy injuries that force them out of my way.
My enhanced vision catches the guards' terrified expressions as they look at me, an expression that lets me know how great a job I'm doing at accomplishing my goal with this whole flashy display.
Deactivating my lightning aura as I get near the wall, so as to avoid killing the guards if they are too weak, I leap up onto it. The guards have the good sense not to attack me immediately, and one of them comes up to me.
"Who are you? Are you here to assist us?"
I hold up the job request, saying "Well, that [was] my intention."
"Was?"
"Well, I see that there are significantly more monsters here than this led me to believe, I think that that is something that warrants a talk between myself and whoever wrote this up, don't you think?"
"Wait, so you're not going to assist us?"
"Are you an idiot?" I ask him bluntly, not caring to extend this pointless exchange.
"Huh? Excuse me? A strange man comes running through a field of monsters towards the village I am tasked with defending, surrounded by lightning that eviscerates every creature he passes by. I ask if he has come to help us, and he gives some answer about having a talk with whoever wrote the job request he's holding about apparent discrepancies. When I ask him to clearly state whether he is going to provide the help we desperately need to fend off the current attack, he questions my mental fortitude. So, I must ask, how am I an idiot?"
"Hmph. I have clearly stated that I must look into this major discrepancy before I shall act, an intelligent man would immediately offer to lead me to whoever was behind this request. Now, who is it, and can you take me to him?"
He opens his mouth to speak before clenching his jaw and again closing it. A moment later, he goes to speak again, this time providing an intelligent response.
"The request was written up by the village's governor, who is currently in town. If you will just show me your guild identification, I can take you to him."
"Show you my guild identification? Why should I do such a thing? Is it not obvious that the man holding this request sent to the guild would be a member of the guild?"
At my apparent refusal, the guard's eyes narrow. "Provide identification, or I will have to ask you to leave. This village is currently closed to civilians, after all."
"Hmph. I'll remember you, mark my words," I say, as I pull out my identification. [Heh heh. Life is so much more fun when one makes unnecessary difficulties for others.]
Seeing my identification, he nods. "Very well, I shall indeed take you to the governor. Please forgive my insolence, dear B-rank adventurer, I came to foolishly suspect that you may not be of the guild as you say when you initially resisted showing your identification, again, I apologize." [His tone became quite different after I gave him a veiled threat, eh?]
"I'm feeling lenient today, all will be forgiven if you can get me to the governor with as much haste as you can muster. Treat getting to him as a race, I will be right behind you."
Not even a moment passes before the guard jumps from the wall into the village, sprinting with impressive speed through it, with me following closely behind.
We come to a rather nice building. Though it is still made of wood, it seems to be of much higher quality than the surrounding houses, with a roof of wooden shingles and several glass-paned windows.
"This is the governor's house, please wait here a minute." Without even knocking the guard opens the door and enters.