Kujonin

Kujonin
Author: Hanabokuro
—

When I looked out the window that night, the lights were on at the church and it seems that people were coming and going.
Velsa and Seth were already asleep.

["Naoki, are you sleeping?"]
I heard Ayl"s voice from the communication bag.
"Aa, I"m awake. How"s it going over there?"
["I understand the situation, but I don"t know if I can explain it well to Riddle. I think it"s better if Naoki directly talks with him."
"That"s true."
Because I haven"t told Ayl all the fine details, so that"s natural.
I have to explain things to Riddle, and I also have to report to G.o.d.
I also have to talk to Riddle about the after, that is, business after the plantation is crushed.
It"s also possible that I might need an audience with the king that"s involved about the neighboring country; that is, I might have to speak with the king of the land that the Hero"s plantation is on.
At any rate, it"s necessary to have multiple strategies thought out.
I already have a number of plans, but this time it will change depending on what Garcia"s going to do. For example, there are things that have to be done even if he doesn"t understand them.
It"s also necessary to talk to G.o.d about when the Earth Spirit should be fired and cut off.
And also, right now it"s necessary to hurry to make a counterplan and cure for Ghoul Disease.
["My bad. Looks like there are limits to the things I can do. I"ve realized my insufficiencies once again."]
"No, that"s not true. I"ve been helped greatly because Ayl is there. It"s thanks to all my employees. It"s Ayl"s job to raise the newbies."
["It saves me for you to say so. See you tomorrow at Seth"s house."]
"Un, then, see you tomorrow."
Seems like Ayl also has times when she"s nervous.

The next morning, I taught the peddlers in the inn"s dining hall how to make masks.
They asked why I was teaching them this, and when I said Paster Romeo would definitely be able to tell them, they obediently listened.
It might have also been thanks to Velsa"s "service smile" and Seth"s politeness.

"Oi oi! Pastor, are you alright?"

When I turned, the inn"s employees were at the entrance, holding up Pastor Romeo.
"Aa, sorry. I"m lacking a bit in sleep, so I"m just dizzy. … Aa, good."
Pastor Romeo lifted his face and looked over here.
His expression was dark, and there were bags under his eyes.
"Naoki-san… um…"
"Were you able to prove your hypothesis?"
"Yes, but … to think the cause was…"
"There"s nothing we can do but what we"re able to do. First would be to save the villagers. I"ve just been teaching all of theses merchants how to make the masks. It"s just a precaution, but it"s better to have it than not, right?"
Pastor Romeo looked at the hands of the peddlers in the dining hall.
They"ve just learned how to make them, but the masks are of considerably good quality.
"Sorry, everyone! Please deliver as many of those masks to the villagers as you can. The church will cover the costs! Please."
Pastor Romeo bowed his head towards the peddlers.
"W,we don"t mind, but … just what happened?"
"That"s … I can"t really say."
The timing on what to tell the villagers and when is important.
We can"t have it turn into chaos.
If all the villagers side with the Hero"s family, what will happen to the children?
If we can"t get the Hero to understand, it seems like it will be chaos.
At the least, it seems like I failed.
"I"ll leave the timing to Pastor Romeo. I suppose it would be better for someone from the village to tell Garcisan. A, and also, I"ll give you this."
I handed Pastor Romeo the smoke mana drain pesticide and taught him how to use it.
"The smoke that comes out of this can suck up magic power. The degree of its effect is that, when breathed in, it will destroy small monsters" magic stones, and decently good adventurers will develop magic power insufficiency. It would be better if things could end without having to use it. If you absolutely have to use it, please use it inside. So the smoke won"t disperse. And also, I"ll give you as many recovery potions as I can. If there are patients that seem like they"re coughing up blood, heat up the bottle and let the patient breathe in the fumes."
"Um… Naoki-san. Why are…?"
"This is my job."
I took recovery potions out of my item bag and lined them up on the table.
The peddlers seem surprised at the amount of the recovery potions.
"From now on, we"ll go to collect the ingredients for the mana drain potion. Before that, it"s all you, Pastor Romeo. We"re relying on you. We also don"t want the villagers to become ghouls."
"I understand! Thank you very much."
"Please sleep a little. I think we"ll return in 2, 3 days. At the very least, I think my employees will come bringing the mana drain potion. At that time, we would like things to be ready so we can begin the treatment."
"That"s right. Before then I"ll have explained things to the villagers. To Garcia as well."
Pastor Romeo met my eyes and nodded.
I"m sure he can do it if it"s him.

The church bells rang.
It seems that Sister Clarence"s funeral was beginning.
It seems she was a person without relatives, so only the church"s people and her acquaintances among the villagers are attending.
"I must be there, so I"m off. Everyone, please spread that mask and how to make those masks."
Pastor Romeo said tot he peddlers.
The peddlers said things like, "Got it," and "Once the funeral is over, we"ll go teaching about these masks."
Pastor Romeo"s normal conduct must be good. Even though the peddlers don"t understand the reason, they"ve understood that the masks prevent Ghoul Disease somehow.

"Then, we"re returning to Seth"s house for now. Because we have to think about our covert actions and post-treatment."
""OK!""
We left the village of Gnomefield.
Seth said, "President! Let"s hurry-ssu!" and the like, so we ran.
After reaching the end of the forest"s road, the road in the wasteland that we entered was so bad that it made running difficult.
From time to time Velsa and Seth would get caught up with the wasteland"s monsters, but most of them were confused by the confusion bell, so we pa.s.sed them by.

It was around noon when we reached the lake.
Seth led us to where he hid the boat, but the boat had disappeared.
"Why isn"t it here! Geez-!"
While calming Velsa, who was irritated from hunger, we first had lunch.
I had the desert eagle meat I had hunted from when we were coming in the item bag, so we"re going to grill it.
Seth, who went to gather firewood, said, "I found the boat," and he returned.
"Where is it?"
"In the Newt Tribe"s village."
and Seth pointed.
What a pain.
I"m p.i.s.sed, but first it"s food.
"After we eat, let"s go crush that village."
Velsa said that incomprehensible thing.
"Huh? What about the firewood?"
"A, sorry."
"A, it"s fine. I"ll draw a magic circle."
I stopped Seth, who was going to gather firewood again.
I drew the usual IH magic circle, placed an iron plate on top, and grilled the meat.
Velsa took bread out of her own luggage and cut it up.
I cut off a small portion of the grilled part of the meat with the knife I borrowed from Seth and put it on top of the bread.
"Ah, shoot. It would have been good if I brought a pot along."
I wanted tea at least, but I don"t have a pot in my item bag.
"I"m pretty sure I have empty bottles."
Velsa brought out an empty recovery potion bottle and put fresh water in it.
"Thank you."
I received the bottle and moved the iron plate out of the way, setting the bottle with water in it on top of the magic circle.
Today"s tea is an herb tea from an herb that Velsa found in the forest near Floura.
"Is the President and Velsa always like this?"
Seth asked.
"Eh? Like what?"
"Ah, no, somehow. Like, eating proper things…"
"Is it different with Ayl?"
Velsa asked.
The newbies were raising their levels with Ayl in the forest, so thinking about it that way, it might be a little different.
"Yes, she said we should get used to eating raw things."
Looks like it was hard-mode survival.

For a brief moment, we had a satisfying lunch time.

After lunch, while rubbing my sleepy eyes and yawning, we headed to the Newt Tribe village near the lake.
When we neared the village, the Newt Tribe seemed to be in caution, and there were muscular men armed with weapons standing in the entrance.
"Who are you?!"
"Leave!"
"Don"t come any closer!"
We stopped, and Seth stepped out one pace ahead.
"Excuse me-, please return the boat."
"We don"t know anything about your boat!"
"Anyone can tell the difference between a Newt boat and a Cat boat!"
Seth and the Newt Tribe man began to argue.
Both of them are super muscular.
The Newt Tribe seems to have scales around their heads.
"They look similar to the Gecko Tribe."
Remembering Sera, I casually said so.
"Have you met someone of the Gecko Tribe?"
Velsa asked.
"Huh? Did I not tell you? Previously I had a survivor of the Gecko Tribe as a slave."

"W,what-!"
One of the Newt men yelled.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Just now, you said you have a Gecko Tribe slave, didn"t you!?"
"Eh? Un, I did. Although I"ve already released her."
The Newt man Seth was arguing with also went silent, and the attention gathered on me.
One of the Newt men ran into the village.
"What? Did I say something wrong?"
While I was bewildered, the Newt man who had run off came leading a middle-aged woman.
This woman looked like one of the Newt Tribe, but she didn"t have sharp talons.
"…Um! Someone said he had a Gekko Tribe slave!?"
"Aah, it"s me. Are you one of the Gekko Tribe?"
To be honest, I can"t really tell the difference.
"That"s right. Was that slave female? Her name? Can you tell me that slave"s name?"
"It was Sera. Right now she"s going to the magic academy in the Kingdom of Arisfey."
"Sera…! She"s alive."
The woman fell to her knees, her face in her hands, as she began to cry.
The Newt men also seem to be bewildered and look like they don"t know what to do.
I approached the woman.
"Did you know Sera?"
"Yes, I"m her mother."
"A! I see!"
"Um, is my daughter well?"
"Ee. She"s most likely doing well now. Would you like to talk to her?"
"Eh!?"
I put magic into the communication bag and called out to Sera.
"Sera. Can you hear me? Seraa!"
["W,what is it? Naoki-san! At this time!"]
"I"m not sure what time you mean by this time. Right now, Sera"s mother is front of me. Do you want to talk?"
["Eh!? W,where are you right now?"]
"Uh, a village near a lake called Adel Lake in the Ruginia Alliance. Ah, you"d have to talk through the communication bag."
I faced Sera"s mother, who was so surprised she wasn"t breathing, and presented the communication bag.
Since it"s the distance where you have to cross the entire continent it uses quite a bit of magic power, so I continued to hold the communication bag.
"…Um, Sera? It"s Seline. Your mother."
Sera"s mother"s voice trembled.
["Mom!"]
"Seraaaaa! You"re alright? You"re really alright?"
Women from the Newt Tribe village gathered around Sera"s mother, who seemed like she was going to break down crying.
The men carrying weapons explained it to the women.
["I"m fine. I"m fine. I"m doing well. It"s thanks to the man who"s probably in front of Mom right now, my sickness is cured, and I"m even going to magic school."]
"Is that true!?"
Her eyes opened wide, and Mother looked at me like her gaze was piercing through me.
I was a little scared, so I nodded.
"Thank you so much! Thank you so much!"
Sera"s mother thanked me, as if she"d rub her head against my legs.
After that, they talked about Sera"s time as a slave from one owner to the next and how she was released from slavery.
["Ah, and also, Mom. I intend to give have Naoki-san"s child! He"s my future groom, so treat him well."]
And Sera dropped a huge bomb.
"Ah, is that so!?"
No, I don"t remember that being talked about.
"No, I haven"t heard that at all."
["After two years, I"ll be by your side!"]
"Oh my, mymymy. I understand! Mother has no intentions of getting in the way of my daughter"s romance!"
"Uh, my arm"s getting tired, so is this enough?"
["Um, Naoki-san! I…"
"A, Sera. I won"t be calling you for a while."
So saying, I cut off power to the communication bag.

I met an unexpected person in an unexpected place.
It made me think that, even though the world is wide, society is narrow.

Sera"s mother, Seline, is the Newt Tribe village"s shaman, in other words, she does work as a priestess, medicine woman, and fortune teller, and has a strong voice within the village, so the boat was quickly returned.
They said that the Newt Tribe village will welcome people if they"re reptilian beastkin.
When they asked for us to eat with them, I refused with, "I"ll come again another time," and I was given a choker to ward off unhappiness and a large fish wrapped in a leaf and steamed.
We quickly boarded the boat and set off for the opposite sh.o.r.e.
The Newt Tribe villagers watched our boat sail off with the sails furled, traveling ahead with the magic circle, and their eyes were round as they were dumbfounded.
"Do all the people around the lake have the same reactions?"
And when I asked Seth,
"No matter where we go, President"s weird, so won"t everyone have the same reaction everywhere?"
He said, manning the rudder.
Velsa laughed, saying, "It"s just like Seth boy says."

It was around the time when the lake was glittering red in the sunset when we reached the opposite sh.o.r.e,