After such an incident, Darwin's mind was no longer on his "Novice Mission" at all.
At this moment, his heart was full of questions like, "Who turned these people into wild boars?" and "Why did they do this?"
Fortunately, Precht noticed his internal distraction immediately and spoke up to snap him out of it.
"Don't get distracted by other things!"
"While this matter certainly warrants a deep investigation, before that, as a wizard of 'Fairy Tail', you need to complete your primary duty!"
Darwin looked at him blankly: "My... primary duty?"
"Your mission this time is to deal with the culprits destroying the farmland!"
"Although most of the culprits have been 'dealt with' by us now, there is still one wild boar lying in the cave!"
"You need to bring that wild boar back to the village at the foot of the mountain to hand over the job!"
Oh, right!
Almost forgot, there's still one wild boar!
Darwin realized: "Is it enough to just hand that wild boar over to the village chief? What will happen to its fate afterward?"
In any case, because Precht had stepped in, this mission could no longer be counted as one Darwin completed alone. Their pact was void, so Darwin decided to just "lie flat" (slack off) to the end and ask everything clearly at once to avoid making any mistakes.
Precht looked up at Darwin and said: "The requirements on the mission request only stated 'deal with the culprits destroying the farmland.' Generally, in this situation, you have two ways to handle it."
"The simplest way is to hand the wild boar directly over to the client to deal with."
"In that case, the wild boar might be eaten by the villagers, or it might be domesticated and raised by them for plowing the fields."
"But if you don't want to hand the wild boar over and want to take it away, that is also possible."
"However, you still have to bring the wild boar back to the village first to prove to the chief that you have completed the work, and you must guarantee that this wild boar will not appear here again afterward."
Darwin was stunned again: "How did you know I wanted to take it away?"
Precht glared at Darwin and said crossly: "You asked like that just now; how could I not hear it?"
"Hehehe..."
Darwin laughed sheepishly: "I didn't mean anything else; I just simply wanted to try raising a wild boar..."
"Stop lying!"
Precht sneered: "I bet you just don't trust my eyesight and want to take it back to let your father see if the real identity of that last wild boar is actually a human, right?"
"Eh... I didn't think that at all!"
You were totally thinking that!!
Precht's breathing hitched, and he couldn't help but raise his hand and give Darwin a "thud" on the head.
"That hurts!!"
"It's right that it hurts; let's see if you dare to harbor wild thoughts in the future!"
"Blehh—how petty!"
Precht was about to continue saying something, but a voice coming from the side interrupted his speech.
"Ugh... my head is so dizzy... I'm so hungry..."
The two stopped speaking and looked over. They saw those who had been turned into wild boars slowly waking up, catalyzed by the noise and the aroma of food.
The first to wake up was that Wild Boar King kid.
The boy sat up from the ground and looked at Darwin and Precht with a face full of confusion: "Who... who are you? Why am I here?"
Immediately afterward, he noticed the people lying beside him, and his expression grew tense.
"Everyone... what's wrong with everyone? What on earth happened...??"
Precht was not a person skilled in communication. Seeing the boy's abnormal expression—his face pale with a headache and covered in sweat—he knew this was a side effect of the curse magic. He neither spoke nor moved, let alone stepped forward to comfort him; he just sat quietly to the side, waiting for the other party to recover on his own.
His approach made Darwin, who was watching from the side, feel extremely anxious. Left with no choice, Darwin had to personally step forward to show concern.
"Are you okay?"
"Whew... whew... hah... I... I'm okay... it's just... my head is a bit dizzy and hurts a bit..."
Dizzy?
Darwin turned to look at Precht, asking with a subtle gaze: "Is this dizziness normal? Is it a side effect of the curse magic, or is it because of the medicine I administered just now?"
Precht gave a gaze back: "Not sure."
How can it be like this?!
Darwin had to turn back around, walk to the boy's side, and squat down. Then, he gently patted the other's back, forcing a bright and warm smile onto his face: "Dizziness is normal! Take a deep breath; you'll be fine in a moment!"
The boy did as he was told.
After a few large gulps of breath, his emotions indeed stabilized a lot.
Seeing this, Darwin stood up again, walked over to the iron pot rack set up earlier, ladled out a bowl of hot, fragrant soup, and brought it to the boy: "Eat something; it should make you feel better."
The boy didn't suspect anything, took the hot soup, and drank it all in one go. Only then did his spirits lift significantly.
Immediately after, he raised his head and looked at Darwin warily: "Who... are you people? Why are everyone and I appearing here?"
"Don't be nervous; we aren't bad people!"
Darwin quickly spoke to comfort him: "You and your friends were turned into wild boars before. We helped you break the magic."
"Turned... turned into... wild boars?"
The boy thought carefully for several seconds and suddenly screamed: "Ah! I remember now! Before I lost my memory, the people in the village indeed were all turned into wild boars! Now..."
He looked around and saw that those familiar faces had all returned to their original state. Only then did he feel at ease: "So we have been saved? Whew... that's wonderful!! Thank you so much!"
The boy spoke while casting a grateful gaze at Darwin.
Darwin accepted it with a grin: "You're welcome!"
Precht: "..."
This kid...
Were you the one who saved them? Just saying 'you're welcome' like that?
Forget it, forget it. In any case, he wasn't the type of person to demand a reward for a favor. Stepping in to save these people just now wasn't for their thanks!
Just a mere thank you was insignificant; he didn't care at all!
Not at all!
Seeing that the boy had stabilized, Darwin finally couldn't suppress his internal curiosity and asked a series of questions.
"Do you still have your previous memories?"
"Are these people next to you all people you know?"
"Do you still remember why you and these people were turned into wild boars?"
Yes, yes, yes!
Just ask him that!
Precht pricked up his ears and listened intently.
The boy was silent for a few seconds, organized his memories, nodded, and spoke of his experience.
"These people... are all villagers from the same village as me."
"I don't have memories of the time I was a wild boar, but I remember how everyone and I were turned into wild boars."
"That day, a group of wizards attacked our village..."