Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 9 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: The Village at Night

“We truly are indebted to you for handling this, Takahiro.”

After dinner, I remained in the chief’s residence.

“Thanks to you, the village has escaped disaster,” Melvin continued, sitting across the table from me as both he and Leah lowered their heads.

“It’s nothing. I’ve already received plenty in return.”

“About that, I’ve heard Shiran has negotiated with the army to take on the financial burden for the village.”

“We need to help each other out in times of need.”

In this world, people had to hire friendly foreign powers and noble houses to deal with the threat of monsters. The reward I would receive for dealing with the azure hares was based on this system. Nevertheless, it was too much of a burden on a poor village’s coffers, so the army was to handle a large portion of it.

In exchange, the villagers were to transport the blue stones that we’d gotten from the azure hares and offer them to the army. By selling them for use in dyes, the army could recover a portion of the expenses they were to pay me, and the village would be spared from having to spend over a week liquidating the goods in town.

The village was handling a remaining portion, but after informing them that I didn’t need to stockpile money I wouldn’t have many chances to use, it was decided that they would provide us with supplies instead.

I was planning to spend a good while in Shiran’s hometown, the neighboring village to this one, so we figured that whatever they could prepare for us without being a burden on them would be plenty. The village was taking the large amount of azure hare meat we’d gotten, so even deducting what they were to pay me, it shouldn’t affect them.

“In any case, Takahiro and Shiran were really impressive,” Leah said earnestly. “Even their orders given in the moment were masterful. It seems I’m not suited to taking command in such situations. I ended up losing my presence of mind and caused the other villagers to panic. I am so ashamed.”

After Leah let out a sigh, her beautiful smile returned.

“It’s a relief that things ended without a single casualty,” she added. “We cannot thank you enough.”

She then exchanged looks with Melvin. He nodded to her, then turned to me.

“By the way, sir,” he started.

“What is it?”

“I’ve heard that you hope to live your life out in a village.”

“Did Shiran tell you?”

I was surprised by the sudden change of topic, but it wasn’t all that unexpected. I’d spoken about this with Shiran beforehand, consulting her about whether there was anyone we could trust.

“So it’s true?” Melvin asked.

“Yes.” I nodded, finding his attitude curious. “You won’t ask why?”

“I’ve heard from Shiran that there are extenuating circumstances.”

“I see.”

I’d told Shiran that I didn’t mind if she revealed what she believed was necessary to mention. It turned out that she’d told Melvin and Leah that I was burdened with circumstances that couldn’t be brought to light. The fact that she’d told them that much indicated how much she trusted them.

“Your situation could be very difficult to accept. That was how she described it to us,” Melvin continued gravely.

“Yes... That’s right.”

I gulped. If they rejected me now, we wouldn’t be able to build up any trust. Maybe it would’ve been better to hide that we had extenuating circumstances. I couldn’t help but worry about such things.

However, I’d never told Shiran to keep that hidden. On the contrary, I’d told her to go ahead and bring it up herself if it seemed appropriate. After spending the last few days with the elves here, I’d felt it would be better that way. Nonetheless, I still didn’t know whether my decision was right.

And so, after Melvin and Leah exchanged glances once more, he turned to me and said in a relaxed tone, “If you truly wish for that, sir, then we have the space to accept you.”

“Really?!”

My voice naturally got louder. I’d thought they were going to reject me. Seeing me bend forward over the table, Melvin nodded.

“Akerian royalty invited you to our nation to begin with. The royal family is always protecting us. We owe them so much. We wouldn’t reject their decision, no matter what kind of circumstances plague you. Furthermore, we are personally indebted to you, Takahiro. We are not such ingrates that we would leave such a debt unpaid. Besides...”

Melvin paused, a smile forming on his scarred face.

“I also happened to witness today’s training. If it was known that I rejected you after that, the villagers would all be furious with me,” he added jokingly.

“Thank you very much,” I said, bowing my head deeply.

“Th-There’s no need for that, sir,” Melvin said, rising from his seat in a fluster. “We should be the ones thanking you.”

I raised my head as Melvin continued.

“Shiran said that she owes you a tremendous debt. She asked us to hear you out.”

“Shiran did that...?”

“Yes. We weren’t informed of the specifics, but we heard that you and your companions saved Shiran and Kei during the calamity at Fort Tilia. Those two are our family. We couldn’t possibly treat somebody who saved our family with disdain.”

I could sense his true feelings in his words. They were homely, dutiful, and driven by emotion. Such were the elves of reclamation villages.

“I don’t know where you’ll choose to settle down, but if need be, please come by our village. We will always welcome you with open arms.”

◆ ◆ ◆

“Thank goodness, right, Master?”

After we left the chief’s house, Lily sidled up against me. She pulled on my arm with both of hers. I could feel the warmth and softness of her body.

“From the way Melvin and Leah spoke, things are going better than expected, huh?” she said, looking up at my face with a sweet smile that came from the bottom of her heart.

“Yeah.”

I nodded back to her, dazzled by her smile shining under the moonlight. Things had gone smoothly because it’d been the commander’s request, but I was still happy to have been so readily accepted. Shiran’s efforts to convince them also played a large role. She’d gone out of her way to vouch for us. I couldn’t thank her enough.

“I’m grateful. I really need to thank Shiran for this...” Just then, something came to mind. “Right. Let’s go see how she is.”

During our stay in the village, Shiran and Kei were using a separate house from us. It wasn’t all that large a village, so taking a detour and stretching our legs on the way back was nothing.

Lily looked a little confused by my statement, though. “Right now? Isn’t it a little late?”

We’d ended up talking with Melvin and Leah for quite a while, so it was already dark out.

“We can drop by tomorrow morning, can’t we?” Lily added.

“Well, that’s true, but...”

She had a point, so my reply came out half-baked. I wanted to thank Shiran, but doing so at this hour was largely an excuse. In the end, I couldn’t stop thinking about Shiran’s behavior.

I wanted to check on her. Maybe I was just being a worrywart, but that urge spurred me on. Something told me that I had to. Looking back on this later...it had been some kind of ill portent.

“I’ve got a little business with her,” I said.

“Hmmm.”

Lily looked like she didn’t understand, but she didn’t object. The two of us headed toward Shiran’s lodging. Several minutes later, Lily spotted something.

“Huh? Isn’t that Helena over there?”

I could see a black shadow hiding in the shade of a tree a small distance away, but I could only make out a small figure in the darkness. Having heard us, the shadow turned our way. We got closer, and only then could I tell that it was Helena.

“Did something happen?” I asked, seeing how clearly uneasy she was, even under the dim moonlight.

“Mister Takahiro...”

After saying my name, Helena lowered her gaze. It was obvious something had happened.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. At times like this, it did no good to rush things. I kept my voice as relaxed as possible. “We might be able to help.”

Helena glanced up and bit her lip. Either she was hesitating to tell me or she was unsure how to put it. After a few seconds, she finally spoke.

“It’s...about Shiran.”

“Shiran? What about her?”

Helena opened and shut her mouth a few times, then said, “Could you follow me? It’s this way. Please keep quiet.”

She started moving without even waiting for my reaction. She was restless. I exchanged glances with Lily, then followed her. The village was very quiet at night. There were no other villagers walking around outside. There was a night watch, but they were on the lookout for monsters on the outside, so they were gathered in watchtowers on the walls. They weren’t keeping an eye on the village itself.

The only sounds that reached my ears were the slight rustling of the trees and our footsteps. Helena came to a sudden stop under the shade of another tree, turned our way, and beckoned us over. Once we were closer, she wordlessly pointed at something.

It was a sturdy-looking building. The wooden door was open, perhaps because someone had forgotten to shut it. It was pitch-black inside, so I couldn’t see beyond the door. A sticky darkness hung over everything.

“It’s that building over there,” Helena said, her voice trembling slightly.

“What about—”

Just as I was about to ask for clarification, someone stumbled out of the open door. It was Shiran. She was a little far away, but I wouldn’t mistake her for anyone else. It was definitely her. Yet...for some reason, once I saw her, my spine felt like it had frozen over.

Bathed with moonlight, she stumbled about left and right as her blonde hair swayed behind her. She circled around the building, or more like tottered around it, and we could no longer see her. That was when I realized that I’d been holding my breath. Helena seemed to have been doing the same.

“I-I had something I wanted to talk about with Shiran, so I went to see her,” she whispered, her breathing somewhat uneven. “And then I saw her heading out to go somewhere. I tried to call out to her...but something chilled me.”

Helena trembled as she recalled the experience.

“I-It’s weird, right? But I couldn’t call out to her,” she continued. “I just knew something was wrong, so I couldn’t leave her be. That’s why I secretly followed her. And then she went in there...”

“What’s that building?” I asked.

“The storehouse. It’s used for the village’s food stockpiles.”

“Food...”

What was this? What was going on? I had a horrible premonition.

“She shouldn’t have anything to do in there at this time...” Helena said, her voice hoarse as it vanished into the heavy silence.

I took a breath of the lead-like air, then said, “Let’s go look.”

Lily and Helena silently nodded back to me. We snuck out from behind the tree and quickly made our way to the storehouse. I took a look around, just in case, but couldn’t spot Shiran. I then started to enter the open door to look inside.

“Master, wait,” Lily said, holding her arm in front of me. “I’ll go first.”

A small red glyph took shape in her hand, creating a magic flame as she stepped inside. I followed right behind her. Lily’s light illuminated the darkness, where we saw azure hare meat scattered all over the ground.