Chapter 16: Two Years Later 1When it rained, the ground hardened, or so I judged.
Since I have confessed that I am a human, I feel that the trust of the wolf tribe towards me has strengthened steadily.
Before long, the hot summer season has come along. The heat wave’s temperature exceeded 40 degrees Celsius. The wolfmen were drinking water frequently. In addition, I have told them to take a rest immediately when their bodies start to feel uncomfortable.
For Catherine to avoid the sunlight, I have at least built a hut with a roof for her. However, she plopped herself down under the sunlight without entering the hut. It looks like the lump of fat on the back of the camel isn’t only to store the energy, it seems have a role of blocking sunlight as well. That is why, Catherine was still calm even though she was under the blazing hot sun.
I can’t help but say ‘As expected of her’.
As for me, I spent my days leisurely in my room that was installed with an air conditioner. My daily life was going smoothly. It feels like I am back in my previous world recently.
When summer pa.s.sed, the town was going to be at a turning point again.
When the temperature during daytime fell to 30 degrees, it became much easier to spend time outside, and my time going outside increased as well. On that day, I got onto Catherine’s back, and made my rounds around the town. The walk was for Catherine who lacks exercise.
Catherine parades around the town with comfortable steps. Before long, I have reached the vacant land at district 13, and I heard the happy voices of the children. When I looked, I saw the children of the wolf tribe playing noisily with the soccer ball which I gave them.
“Ah! It’s Fujiwara-sama!” One of the children noticed me.
Then, everyone stopped playing and called my name as they came over to me.
Fu fu, good boys, good boys.
[TL: It was talking about how they are good kids, not because they are only boys, since the author didn’t put specific gender on it]
Still, it feels strange now. Everyone has ears at the top of their heads, and there are some children’s faces that completely look like a wolf. When I think about how they evolved seriously, I stopped because I don’t think that I will be able to sleep at night.
“Are you guys doing well?” I asked.
I got down from Catherine, and take the bag of konpeito from my breast pocket. The children, with delighted faces, thrust both of their hands toward me.
“Get in line.” I stated.
I drop the konpeito one by one onto their palms. When the children get it, they immediately throw it inside their mouths, and rolled with their tongues. The figures of children eating the the konpeito with great relish filled me with a warm and fluffy feeling.
“Fujiwara-sama, do you want to play football together?” The boy was using honorifics that doesn’t seem suitable in the children.
He has the face of a wolf, and he was the smartest among the children. It looks like he’s the leader of the group.
When it was midsummer, the children can’t go out and play, so I handed over a board game and cards. The other boys had lost against this boy since the board game was a game using one’s mind. The other boys had fallen behind him. It was an unforgettable memory.
“Then, I will also partic.i.p.ate.” I smiled.
I rubbed Catherine back and said ‘I will play a little bit’. As if she understood my words, she went to the roadside, folded her legs, and laid on her stomach while yawning. She is very smart.
I removed my heavy bulletproof vest, and spent my time with the children until 1 pm. But, I was cut off half way.
“Fujiwara-sama! Something happened!”
A female beastman appeared with a stern appearance. This state clearly looks unordinary. In fact, the next words that come out from her mouth suprise me.
“A large number of shadows appeared northeast of the town!”
“..! Is the other side human!?” I asked urgently.
“No. Because it was too far, we can’t be sure!” She replied.
“I understand! Stop all the people that are working on the farm and call them back to the town quickly! Children should break up and go back to your houses!” I ordered.
I put on my bullet proof vest again, and returned to my home with Catherine. And then, I wore the mask and goggles. Furthermore, I had my rifle in my hand as I boarded the truck.
Will they come to North gate, or will they come from East gate? I was at a loss for a moment. If I go around from the East gate to the North gate, there will be a lot of time lost.
First, I go towards the East gate. After a while, I arrived at the east gate. There were no people from the wolf tribe here. That means the opposite party came from the north gate.
I stepped on the accelerator.
After a while, I arrived at North gate, and the people of the wolf tribe had already arrived. Some of the men on the stone walls were nervous.
“Fujiwara-sama!” Chief Jiharu ran towards me when I got off from the truck.
“Is the opposite party coming to the North Gate?” I questioned.
“Yes, there is still some considerable distance, but they are heading here.” He replied.
“Do you know of their race?” I asked.
“I can see some people with a cat’s face. However, because they are some distance away, I can’t be sure.” The chief answered.
It looks like they are not humans. I feel relieved. But, it is not a trivial thing. If they come to this wasteland intentionally, then they are following the wolf tribe’s pattern.
At the east side is a field. So, it will not be a problem if they come from the north. I need to be careful since the town’s stone wall doesn’t have turrets, and I need to pay attention to long distance attacks from bows.
I also feel nervous as I waited for the visitors.
When the opposite party approached this place, I could see their faces clearly. Among the people that look like humans, there are certainly some people that look like cats mixed in.
Before long, they had reached 200 meters from here.
“Stop there!” I shouted loudly.
Then, the people of cat tribe stopped. They have more people than the people from the wolf tribe. I think there is around 300 people there.
“If you have a request, I will hear it!” I shouted again.
Then one of the people, who called himself the chief of the cat tribe, answered.
“Can you share some food with us!?” The thing they said was as expected, it was the same as the people of wolf tribe.
Only after a dialogue did I treat them to the meal. And when their meal was over, I discussed together with the chief of the cat tribe together with Chief Jiharu, and it was decided that they will become residents of this town.
That was the beginning of people of different races coming to this town one after the other from autumn to winter. They were the Leopard tribe, Bird tribe, Deer tribe, Pig tribe, Racc.o.o.n tribe, Goblin tribe, and Kobold tribe.
It wasn’t necessary to explain about the beastman, although I was a little bit interested in how the creatures which have hooves can turn into having five fingers and toes on their hands and feets.
But, explanation will be needed for the Goblins and the Kobolds. Both of them were creatures that I’ve only heard of in games, fantasy novels and movies. Both of them had sharp ears and big noses. They gave an impression of humans with green skin.
The height was different for Goblins and the Kobold tribe. The Goblins were short like children, and the Kobolds had heights that doesn’t seem much different from the humans’.
The clothes they wore were more elaborate than the beastmen, showing their intelligence level. When I focused on their hand, I saw that they have big hands and long fingers that doesn’t match their thin bodies. They told me that they are proud of their skillful hands.
And then, the Cat and the Goblin tribes, as well as the other tribes that were chased by humans, said that they went south alongside the river, and arrived here.
I would like to accept them as residents of this town. However, there is a problem with the division of housing.
At first, when I made this town, I didn’t think about the difference in race. I a.s.sumed that all the residents will be from the same race, so I thought that I should divide the people that will live here in two afterwards. As a result, the 16 districts were divided equally.
In one district, there are 47 houses. 4 to 5 people can fit in one house, so one district can fit 188 to 235 people. For example, the cat tribe has nearly 300 people, so it will be a problem since a fraction of their people will not be able to fit inside one district.
I thought about mixing them up with the others, but the peace and order of this town would deteriorated. For example, the Goblin and the Kobold tribe, even though they are from the same tribe, they are on bad terms with each other as if they are cats and dogs.
[TL: which I can’t explain what happen between wolf tribe and cat tribe]
Well, it’s because the Kobolds were proud of their height, and this made the goblins envy them, so it can’t be helped if a story like that happened.
[ED: Seriously? That is one of the weirdest (stupidest) reasons ever, but to each his or her own.]
Anyway, if I mix the races now, it will certainly become the root of quarrels. Then, is it alright if I seperated every tribe?
[ED: Bad idea!]
As expected, fights will break out easily as the group grows bigger in this case. But, I should begin to mediate the issues.
In short, it will be hard to judge small fights in places where I can’t see. So, I gathered every tribe, and their chief will take command of their own tribe, such is the method I chose.
When it comes to this issue, eventually, I coped by dividing the districts into ovals using fences. The people from other tribes were told not to enter inside the fence without their permission. Of course, I can enter without their permission, but…
There is still a number of houses inside the town that can afford to house more people. However, if they have children, and their families increased, the town will be full immediately. I have to think about making new houses outside of the town.
The agriculture was doing ok. There was some deficit at first, however, it gradually improved, and it already shifted back to black. If the number of people increase, the black ink will increase too.
As the calm time pa.s.sed, it has already been 2 years since I arrived in this different world. That year, I was able to see a human at last.