Mission in another world with my transformed best friend

"Well, Martha, if I may ask, will those Imperial soldiers investigate what happened in Tara Village? After the investigation is complete, will they make the results public? And what will they do next...?"

“They don’t know, they can only guess… I’m the only villager left in Tara Village, and they probably wouldn’t rebuild the village with just me by themselves. So most likely, they’ll abandon ‘Tara Village.’ I had considered this beforehand, which is why I decided to become adventurers with you two benefactors… If, if I achieve something in the future, I will do my best to rebuild this place, to rebuild a new ‘Tara Village.’ After all, this is my hometown where I grew up!”

Faced with such a resolute statement from a young girl, Wang Kai was deeply moved. After all, most people would never have the courage to "rebuild their hometown alone," especially when it came from this slightly immature girl before him. Having experienced tragic events that shouldn't be felt at her age, she spoke of her new life goals with a courage that was both unwavering and confident beyond her years.

However, the old trope of 'the protagonist's hometown is destroyed by villains, driven by hatred, they strive to defeat the villains, gain fame, return home in glory, and rebuild their home' is still quite appealing in RPG games. Compared to having no chance to become a hero and defeat the demon king, using a seemingly distant goal as a new main quest is perfectly acceptable.

If a person lives in this world without dreams or goals, what's the difference between them and a salted fish? Wang Kai had just personally experienced the helplessness in this situation.

As the seemingly relaxed conversation unfolded, the setting sun slowly dipped behind the ridgeline. Martha built a fire near the tent, and the three of them sat around it. Soon, they looked at each other and realized a rather serious problem.

That is, after a day or two of cleaning up, everyone was covered in soot and dirt, and the heat from the fire was drying their sweat-soaked clothes, so the smell of sweat began to permeate the surroundings...

Of course, Masha, being a girl (except for Zhang Lan for the time being), was the first to react, standing up and blushing as she spoke.

“I remember there’s a small lake nearby, formed by mountain spring water. Some villagers who don’t like well water also like to fetch water from there to drink, and if they’re lucky, they can even catch a few fresh fish. Of course, they can also sneak a bath there. Sister Lan, let me go find some clean clothes first, then we’ll go together. Hurry up and follow me…”

Zhang Lan sniffed her sleeves and collar. The odor was almost unbearable for someone like her who hadn't showered for days while doing surveying in the mountains. Just as she was getting up to follow him, Wang Kai grabbed her hand.

"What? Ladies first. Do you think you, a grown man, want to shower first?"

“It is indeed ‘ladies first,’ you big man, why don’t you wait? Martha may still be young, but she’s a little adult after all. Do you understand?”

"Please explain clearly."

"You don't understand tactful advice, so I'll be blunt: I'm afraid you'll... commit a crime!"

Zhang Lan was stunned. Then her big eyes rolled around a few times, a strange smile flashed across her lips, and she glared at Wang Kaila, shaking off her hand and speaking in a slightly contemptuous tone.

"You're quite perceptive in some ways. Although you're a 'blonde-blue-eyed fetishist,' you're also interested in 'young girls.' Based on that, Martha falls within your 'range of preference,' which is why you asked me such a question..."

"Oh? I'm just a little worried..."

"Screw you! Can't you think about anything serious with that pig brain of yours? Even if I had your 'fetish,' what could I possibly do with all my 'tools of the trade' confiscated? You'd be better off using your pig brain to think about the future. I need to have a serious talk with you about that sometime. Your only purpose right now is to keep this fire burning... Oh, and let me tell you, if you dare to spy on me later, I might just give you a sex reassignment surgery without anesthesia."

Upon hearing this, Wang Kai immediately covered his lower body, nodded pitifully, and watched Zhang Lan's departing figure. He thought to himself, "Why has this guy become so strange? He's using a man's tone and a woman's body to deliver the harshest warning to a man, and his temper is unpredictable. A well-intentioned reminder has resulted in a warning about 'infertility'..."

Never mind, a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea.

Soon, Martha, carrying two changes of clothes, skipped and hopped ahead, leading the way with the excitement of sharing her newly discovered "secret base" with a friend. Seeing this, Zhang Lan couldn't keep a straight face and continue thinking about certain things, so they chatted about unrelated topics from time to time along the way.

But between two girls (?), the conversation inevitably veers towards women's topics, and soon Martha unexpectedly asked a question.

"Sister Lan, you and Brother Kai aren't... a couple, are you?"

"Huh!?" Zhang Lan was taken aback, realizing that the other person wasn't joking for no reason. She stopped and replied, "I can't imagine... Wait, how did you come to this conclusion?"

"Well... I've mentioned it before. Actually, you and Brother Kai arrived in Tara Village a few days ago. Although you went to the village's Adventurers' Guild to register as 'adventurers,' you two just wandered around the village for the next few days without venturing out to explore or accepting quests from the Adventurers' Guild. It's strange that you came all this way as adventurers without doing any adventure quests. So you must have come for something else, and I'm guessing it's mainly about you, Sister Lan..."

At this point, Zhang Lan seemed to find a breakthrough in the series of questions in his mind. Martha had indeed mentioned it unintentionally before. How could such important information have been overlooked? Perhaps he had forgotten it in the past day or two, preoccupied with burying the villagers and other miscellaneous matters.

“Um, Martha, wait a minute. You said Wang… Kyle and I settled in Tara Village a few days ago, and although we're adventurers, we haven't accepted any quests. Has anything strange happened to us during this time…”

Martha had a look on her face that said, "Why are you asking me this question?" But she still squinted her eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "..."

“They said before that they’d only met you a few times, and every time they saw you, Kyle was always following behind you, but you looked impatient, as if Kyle was the one stopping you from doing something…”

"Obstruction? What was I doing at that time?"

"Nobody knows, the only thing they remember is that you often looked at the bulletin board in Tara village and always went towards the church..."

"Notice boards and churches..."

Martha shrugged: "The bulletin board is just some usual village notices, including lost and found notices, event announcements, and messages, which have nothing to do with adventurers. The church, on the other hand, is a public church. Apart from the pastor's daily prayers, villagers go to worship on their own initiative. It is only temporarily closed for special use when there are 'specific events'."

"Special event!?"

"Yes, let me think... Oh right, yesterday was the monthly 'Heroic Prayer Event'. The so-called 'Heroic Prayer Event' is an event where a high priest is selected from each region to conduct prayers for heroes at an altar set up in a church for about a whole day."

"How did we end up talking about heroes again? One or two things would be understandable, but this is the third. There's definitely something fishy going on here. It's just that there are too many things and it's too complicated to find a starting point. But I believe we're not far from the truth..."

After a long deduction flashed through his mind, Zhang Lan widened his eyes and continued to ask.

"Martha, where is the church in the village?"

"It's right next to the cemetery. No wonder you didn't notice it; the church was almost completely destroyed, leaving only a pile of rubble..."

Zhang Lan looked in the direction of her memory, then glanced around and seemed to discover some important blind spot, muttering to herself.

"Strange, very strange!"

"strangeness!"

Martha thought about it again.

“Oh right, I just remembered. These past few days, you've been running around everywhere, and I've always seen you carrying a notebook that doesn't look like a book or a manual, but rather like a notebook covered with a pink cloth, and there's a little pendant hanging from it... Yes, yes, you even bumped into a few pedestrians while you were walking and looking at the notebook, and it was Kyle who apologized for you and helped you out.”