Kujonin

Kujonin
Author: Hanakuroko
—

"What do you think?"
Ayl asked the question with an unthinkable stern face.
"What do I think… it"s a village, right?"
"N~… this is totally a village, naa."

By chasing after the elf-mimicked superior ghost terror, we discovered a village at the bottom of a cliff.
There are several rows of houses with straw-thatched roofs and mud walls. Fields are spread out around the houses.
All the villagers have taken on the forms of elves, working in the fields, selling monster meat, and spreading nuts out on mats and de-sh.e.l.ling them.
When I look with Search Skill, all of them are monsters.
Even though they"re monsters, they"ve made a [village].
There are species of monsters that are social, but to make a village rather than living in a nest; just what is going on?

"A, those guys."
In the direction Ayl was pointing her finger were the fake elves who had released the arrows on us.
It looks the those guys, shouldering their bows, are conveying that danger is drawing near to the villagers.
Danger would be us, I guess.
The villagers who heard the story scattered like frenzied spiderlings into their houses, shutting the windows and doors tightly.

"We"re completely the bad guys, ne."
Are we some mountain raiders from somewhere?1
"What should we do?"
While watching the village that has fallen completely silent, Ayl asked.
"The can speak words, so it looks like we can have conversation; let"s try interacting?"
"Njyaa, let"s get on with it before the seven samurai are gathered around."
The other two had a look like, "What"s a samurai?" but they properly followed me.

""Scuse me-! We don"t intend to fight! Please, listen to us-!"
""""……………""""
"No response, ne."
There"s no response even with both hands up to show we don"t intend to fight.
I can tell that the villagers are cl.u.s.tered against the walls, peeking on our situation when I use the Search Skill.
It seems that the largest, most conspicuous house in the village had a large amount of the fake elves there.

""Scuse me-! Is it fine if we intrude~?"
I let out a yell in front of the large house.
""" … mas….ter…"""
From within the house you can her muttered voices.
"What are they say?"
"Dunno."
Did she get bored of it already? Ayl sat down on the edge of a nearby well, yawning.
Velsa got interested in something and peered inside the well, tossing small stones down it.

"O-i! I"m opening it-! If you don"t attack us, we won"t attack you either! Ok? I"m opening it-!"
So saying, when I opened the door to the house, countless arrows were fired at me.
In order to show off the difference in ability, I didn"t use a defensive barrier.
All of the arrows struck my coverall, and without piercing the arrows fell to the ground with a clattering sound.
The fake elves stare at me, dumbfounded.
Behind the bow-carrying fighters, the fake elf women and children are screaming, "Master!" towards the floor.

N~ have we done something bad?
Although they"re monsters, we defeated one, and also attacked them.
If they"re saying "Master", they could be monsters being employed as familiars.
This, isn"t this kind of bad?
"Um, "master" would be…?"

"! Oi! Stop! What are you doing to that well!"
One of the fighters stepped forward one step and stopped Velsa, who was throwing stones.
""""Master!!""""
The fake elves, with their eyes wide, stretched out their hands towards the well and yelled.

"E? What?"
For the time being, Velsa stopped her movements.

"What"s up? It"s noisy, ya know~"
I can hear a man"s voice from inside the well.
"Master! There"s invaders!"
The elves yelled from inside the house.
It feels like we"re in the way, so we moved away from the well to wait.

One of the fake elves, while being wary of us, rushed to the well.
"Master! Please save us! The invaders…"
"You guys deal with that kind of people yourself."
"That"s, there"s a terrifyingly strong person, so Sebas was done in instantly!"
"E? Who"s that!?"
"Ah, no… the person who had the most Skills in the village!"
"A~ that so, seems tough…"
"No, master! Save us!
"Those invaders, are they still there?"
"They are! Looking over here!"
"N~ Got it. Then, for now, pull me up~"
When that was said, the fake elf pulled on the rope for the bucket.
Along the way, a number of fake elves helped, and that man called Master crawled up out of the well.

"Upsy daisy!"
When I saw the man that came out, I felt like I had met him somewhere before.
A large nose and moustache. Thick eyebrows. Large eyes and curly sideburns.
He"s not wearing a red hat and coveralls, but he looks very much like a world famous plumber with the same first and last name.2
"A, are those the invaders?"
"That"s right! It"s them!"
The fake elves pointed at us.

"Aa, what a nice coverall. Are you like a plumber? Me too, a long time ago-."
"No, I"m an exterminator…"
"Aa, that so? Did anyone request for pest extermination?"
Master asked the fake elves.
"No."
The fake elves shook their heads with all their might.
"A, I see. We seem to be fine. So if you would please leave."
Looks like he completely thinks I"m here for pest extermination business.
"Ah, no, um…"
"Are? Over there is a swordswoman, and the one over there is …"
"Monster researcher!"
Velsa responded

"Monster researcher? What kind of person is that? No, wait a second! Person with the coveralls, can you be a person transported from a different world?"
"Yeah, that"s right… we came here to study monsters."
"A! Is that how it is? Sorry, I completely… misunderstood. Man, I"ve been isolated in this dungeon for around 300 years so I"m ignorant about the ways of the world. I do beg your pardon."
"Let"s do it over. I am also a transported person."
"About 300 years ago I was summoned to this world as a Hero."
"The Demon King was defeated by another Hero, so, maa, my time as the Hero crumbled."
"Now I"m this dungeon"s Dungeon Master."
"Ha!?"
My stupid-sounding voice echoed throughout the village.

I"m rather pleased with where I left off last time, because I can control the amount of "cliff" easier in THIS update. Because there are a lot of would-be cliff hangers…>