Trouble descended

1 Entertainment and Lamia

My efforts to make outdoor playground equipment had been barely satisfactory, but fortunately, the indoor offerings turned out quite well.

First, I made a kendama.

Although it was strictly a single-player toy, people could play it without going anywhere, which made it very popular.

I also tried making a yo-yo, but gave up because balancing the two sides was too difficult. I tried making a top spun with a string, too, but I couldn't even get it to work myself, let alone teach anyone else. Everyone on television had made it look so easy.

...Oh, someone managed to spin it without my teaching them. Everyone seemed happy, so I supposed that was fine.

Almost everything I had made was for the Beastmen boys, which made me feel bad for everyone else, so I also tried thinking of playthings for girls...but couldn't come up with anything.

For girls...how about juggling beanbags?

I asked Zabuton to make little cloth bags and filled them with soybeans. Apparently, I should have used adzuki beans, but I didn't have any on hand. I would plant some next time. I wanted to eat sweets like adzuki bean soup with rice cakes, too.

Back to the subject, once I tied the little bags shut, the beanbags were finished. I made about ten to start with.

"What are these for?"

When someone asked me that, I picked up three beanbags and tried juggling them.

...I couldn't manage it at all, so I tried again with two. Although I could only make three throws at most without a mistake, they should have understood how to play with them.

The Beastmen women, the Oni Race, and the High Elves were all interested.

Before long, they had mastered it and could juggle five beanbags at once. Oh, some had even started doing tricks where two people tossed them back and forth. Yes, it seemed I had nothing left to teach them. I would stick to working hard to make more beanbags.

Gradually, I started seeing villagers playing with beanbags in their spare time, such as after meals.

For board games other than chess, I also tried making a shogi set.

Everyone accepted it as another version of chess, but it didn't catch on the way chess had at first. Even Kuro and the others could play chess, but the flat shogi pieces were difficult for them to move.

In that case, I would try go. A manga about go had been all the rage in my previous world, and that was when I learned the rules. Still, a nineteen-line board might be too much for everyone to accept right away, so I tested the waters with a nine-line board.

Yes, it seemed pretty good. Excellent. I would prepare thirteen-line and nineteen-line boards for future use.

Now, back to making toys for the Beastmen boys, as I had originally intended. Next was...sugoroku? It would also help them practice reading, so it should work well.

I prepared a large wooden board and drew spaces on it. Keeping things simple at first would probably be best. Then I made dice and gave it a trial run.

It was a huge hit. Was it because of the dice? Hmm...

Games that didn't require much thought and relied solely on rolling dice...would something like "eighteen" work, too? But that would make it gambling.

As the village stood, with no system of personal property, gambling between villagers couldn't work. If we actually gambled, I always acted as the house whenever gambling or competitive elements were involved, since I was the only one who could provide prizes.

Although there was no harm in keeping things that way, wouldn't it be better to learn to use money for the sake of future development? If we were going to trade with other villages, never using money at all didn't seem feasible. But that was all for the future.

I redirected the Beastmen boys' interest from the dice to sugoroku, finally getting them to enjoy the game.

As an aside, this world already had something resembling dice.

However, rather than perfect cubes, they were somewhat lopsided polyhedrons. They had symbols rather than numbers on them, and were apparently used mainly for divination and magic. Ordinary people rarely saw them.

Despite all my experiments, making toys was quite difficult. I also learned that greater intricacy didn't necessarily make something better.

For instance, the Beastmen boys' favorite toys were actually building blocks.

Yes, that made sense. They were children, after all.

"Village chief, you've made lots of things that look the same. Are these building blocks, too?"

"No, this is called mahjong."

I had originally wanted to try making playing cards as toys, but abandoned paper cards because paper was too precious.

Instead, I tried making wooden cards, but even facedown, the grain on their backs gave away which cards they were.

I then covered their backs with clay, but the clay separated from the wood when it dried, so that failed, too.

Finally, I worked hard at making cards entirely out of clay, but making them both thin and durable enough to play with was too difficult. At that point, I finally gave up altogether.

After giving up on playing cards, mahjong tiles were the only thing I could think of that suited the sizes I could make with clay, so I immediately tried making some. Thanks to the Almighty Farming Tool, every tile was the same size, none were ruined during firing, and their strength was ideal.

Only after finishing a mahjong set did I realize that I was the only one who knew the rules and how to calculate scoring doubles, leaving it nothing more than a decoration.

"Are the rules that difficult?"

"It's less that they're difficult and more that there are lots of details to remember."

For now, I gathered everyone who was free for a trial game.

...Huh? That was strange. Everyone should have been less familiar with it than I was. They hadn't even fully memorized things like calculating scoring doubles yet. But weren't their choices of discarded tiles far too shrewd...?

Mahjong was fun, but I wouldn't mention the results.

The thirty descendants of Kuro and Zabuton's children who had gone to conquer the dungeon returned.

They had also brought back five creatures...no, five people. They were Lamia, with human upper bodies and snake lower bodies.

All five were women...intellectual beauties who looked as though long hair and glasses would suit them.

However, although only their upper bodies were bare, their breasts were in plain sight. Couldn't they cover up a little? I didn't know where to look. Their long hair also left their nipples peeking in and out of view. How provocative...all right, sorry. The villagers' glares were far too frightening. I would do my best not to peek.

...Not peeking was too difficult.

I asked Zabuton and the others to weave something like bandeau tops for them to wear over their breasts. It was a shame, but there was no helping it.

"Are you the leader of these wolves?"

"Yes."

When I answered, the Lamia representative bowed her head, and the others followed suit.

"We have surrendered to these wolves. Please spare our lives."

Even if she said that, I had no intention of killing anyone...this race was called Lamia, right? The Lamia I knew were magic creatures that used their human upper bodies to seduce people, then strangled them with their snake lower bodies.

"Are you magic creatures that prey on humans?"

"W-we don't eat people."

"We aren't magic creatures, either. We're a kind of demihuman."

The Lamia representative and the others behind her hastily answered my question.

I turned to Frau, who was nearby, for her opinion.

"Although Lamia look unusual, they are indeed a kind of demihuman, not magic creatures. Also, I've never heard of them having a habit of preying on humans."

Frau also told me that although magic creatures could communicate, they couldn't speak human language. I understood.

"I'm sorry. That was rude of me."

I apologized to them. Saying that they preyed on humans had been terribly rude. I needed to think before speaking from now on. Yes, I needed to reflect on that.

"Now, back to the subject...you said you surrendered. Was that because you fought Kuro and the others?"

"They attacked us first."

"?"

After hearing the details, I understood that the Lamia had originally lived in the depths of that dungeon, or rather, they were its rulers.

But Kuro and the others had attacked them. The Lamia had initially intended to fight a prolonged battle...but their forces were ultimately no match, leaving them no choice but to surrender.

"Ugh, those wolves were too strong, and they dodged magic, too. They even climbed into places they shouldn't have been able to enter with the spiders' help. What was going on?!"

I felt terribly sorry for them. Yet Kuro's descendants looked as though they had successfully caught their prey and were waiting for my praise. Zabuton's children were no different.

Although I felt very bad for the Lamia, I still praised Kuro's thirty descendants and Zabuton's children.

"There, good boys and girls. You did very well!"

After rewarding them all, I discussed with the Lamia what to do about them.

"Is everything all right inside the dungeon? Can you go back and live there?"

"Huh? Yes, that's no problem. Our fighting strength has decreased, but in the end, the wolves waited for us to surrender."

When I asked for details, it sounded as though those killed had been livestock rather than their villagers.

If our chickens, cows, goats, or horses were killed, I would surely go mad with anger. I felt truly sorry for them.

"Will you be hostile toward our village?"

"Not at all. We have surrendered completely."

After all, when they saw several times as many of Kuro's descendants welcome back the thirty who had gone to conquer the dungeon, even if they had originally harbored any hos-

tile intentions, they would probably have abandoned them at once.

"I understand. Then go home."

"Huh?"

"Er, I mean, you can go back."

"Is that all right?"

"Yes. Or would you rather stay?"

"N-no, we're more accustomed to living in caves."

"Then go home."

In any case, I decided to give them gifts to take home so they wouldn't bear a grudge over this incident.

As for the gifts...how about crops? I gave them quantities that could be carried in wooden barrels, but their snake bodies were stronger than I had imagined, and they could carry about three times as much.

Could they still move like that? Apparently, it wasn't a problem.

"Thank you very much."

I believed we had established friendly relations with the Lamia.

We even occasionally saw them bring things they had gathered in the dungeon to trade for our crops.

2 A troublesome dragon

Doraim, the Gate Dragon.

"Why is Doraim called the Gate Dragon?"

"Because he built his nest on a mountain between the Forest of Death and the Forest of Iron."

That was Frau's answer to my question. Although Lu, Tia, Ria, Ann, and Rasuti were all very knowledgeable, Frau was the best person to ask about general common knowledge.

"He has long been called the Gate Dragon because he prevents monsters from the Forest of Death from heading south."

"I see. Does anyone guard the other directions, then?"

A Gate Chimera or a Gate Giant, for instance.

"No, only the south. The routes in the other directions are all very treacherous, so people generally enter this forest from the south."

"Really?"

"Yes. Though very few people enter this forest to begin with."

I see. Apparently, this place was harder to survive in than I had imagined.

Incidentally, it was also possible to enter the forest from Good Forest Village in the east, but that wasn't considered an entrance, since simply reaching Good Forest Village was extremely difficult. Well, it was deep in the mountains, after all.

As always, trouble arrived without warning.

A dragon attacked. After flying over the village, it circled above the forest and provoked us.

I had thought we might be able to negotiate, but the dragon suddenly breathed fire on the forest, making it unmistakably an enemy. Gran Maria and the others tried to intercept it, only to be knocked away in an instant. I really wished they wouldn't be so reckless.

As for Rasuti, who might have been able to match it...unfortunately, she had gone home.

This dragon was enormous. Its color told me it wasn't Doraim, his wife, or Rasuti, so I threw the Almighty Farming Tool in spear form.

It dodged.

Unlike my encounter with Madam Doraim, the way it dodged showed that it had been prepared to evade from the outset.

Was that dragon laughing at me?

I threw a second time...and it dodged again. But I hurled a third spear at its position. If I couldn't hit it, I would keep throwing until I did.

Throwing the Almighty Farming Tool didn't tire me. Also, whenever I wished it, the Almighty Farming Tool automatically returned to my hand, so I would never run out of spears to throw.

I was prepared for a prolonged battle. Before that, though, I wanted to try a trick.

Before the spear reached the dragon, I ordered it to disappear and return to my hand, then quickly threw it again. It was a very simple feint.

Had it fallen for it? I felt a little uneasy, but fortunately, it worked.

The spear tore through the dragon's wing. Excellent! In my excitement, I was a moment late retrieving it, and it flew into the mountain behind the dragon, raising a cloud of dust large enough to see from where I stood. Oops, oops.

I recalled the spear again, but the dragon was nowhere to be seen. Had it landed in the forest to hide? I couldn't let it escape.

Since Gran Maria, Kuudel, and Corone had been injured earlier, I had to ask Lu to carry me into the air.

With a high enough vantage point, I could find where the dragon had landed. Sure enough, I could see it clearly, so I threw the spear again. The dragon tried to dodge, but the forest's trees blocked its way, leaving it nowhere to go. The spear pinned its other, uninjured wing to the ground.

I took the opportunity to deliver a finishing blow, raising the spear to aim again. Although the spear pinning its wing had disappeared, it probably couldn't dodge. I hurled the spear at its enormous body.

A hit-just as I became certain of that, the dragon shrank its body and evaded the spear. The missed spear plunged into the ground, snapping the surrounding trees with a violent tremor.

Was it an illusion? No, I recognized this. The same thing happened when Doraim and Rasuti turned human.

"I surrender, I surrender. I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

Then I heard a woman's voice.

"Heh heh, I'm really sorry."

The woman sitting formally at the village entrance and apologizing in a flippant tone was the dragon from earlier.

Her name was Hakuren, and she was a large-breasted woman who seemed rather scatterbrained.

She was also Doraim's older sister. I was truly startled when she was introduced that way. Beside Hakuren sat Doraim, Madam Doraim, Rasuti, and about seven people I didn't recognize, all in a row.

Judging by the situation, they were probably all dragons.

"Allow me to introduce them. Starting from the right are my grandfather and grandmother, Father's second-oldest sister and her husband, their daughter, and then Father's younger sister and younger brother."

Rasuti bowed her head as she introduced the seven strangers.

The seven were a stylish-looking middle-aged man, a gentle-looking middle-aged woman, a woman with a somewhat fierce gaze, a muscular man with a stern expression who looked like an ancient general, a girl younger than Rasuti who likewise had horns and a tail, a woman with lavish curls, and finally, a handsome young man.

Their names had actually been mentioned, too, but they were too complicated for me to remember all at once. I would ask Rasuti to tell me again later.

"So...you're Doraim's parents, his second-oldest sister and her husband, his niece, and his younger sister and brother. And Hakuren is Doraim's oldest sister, correct?"

"Yes."

Before sitting down here, the seven people Doraim and Rasuti had introduced had extinguished the fires Hakuren set in the forest, so I could take it that they weren't hostile.

"Then what brings you here this time?"

At my question, everyone turned away, even the girl younger than Rasuti. Though, since she was a dragon, that young-looking girl might actually have been older than me.

No one wanted to give the reason themselves, so I had to start with whoever would be easiest to get talking.

"Madam Doraim, please explain."

From what I had observed, Doraim surely couldn't defy his older sister. I had met younger brothers who obeyed their older sisters' every word in my previous world, too.

Likewise, there was no point trying the woman who was supposedly the second sister. After all, the eldest sister was Hakuren.

Was the second daughter the type to obey her older sister, or the type to defy her? That was my subjective classification, anyway.

If she were the defiant type, she would have started chattering away the moment she heard my question. Since she had said nothing, she was presumably the obedient type.

As for her husband, he was a muscular man with a stern expression, but I had felt for a while now that he was trying hard to hide his presence. Somehow, I understood how he felt, so I crossed him off the list of candidates. I didn't want to drag their daughter into this, either.

Doraim's younger sister was probably the youngest daughter.

Basically, youngest sisters were good at reading the room. That was my subjective judgment.

Volunteering information and getting glared at by an older sister-that wasn't something a youngest sister would do. She might talk if prompted, but I didn't want to take that risk before getting a grasp of her personality. A quarrel between sisters in a situation like this could endanger the village, after all.

And Doraim's younger brother... though he was a handsome young man, he gave off the same air as his older brother of not daring to defy his sisters. Well, I couldn't blame him.

Younger brothers who dared defy their older sisters simply didn't exist, nor could they. That was my subjective judgment.

By process of elimination, only Doraim's parents, his wife, and Rasuti remained. If the parents wanted to expose their eldest daughter's behavior, they would have done so already. It seemed more likely that they would cover for her.

That left his wife and Rasuti... of the two, I judged his wife more likely to talk.

Hakuren was Madam Doraim's older sister-in-law... but judging from how she treated Doraim, I probably didn't need to worry. She seemed the type who would speak her mind even to her older sister-in-law.

"I'll explain what happened."

Just as I had predicted, Doraim's wife began explaining.

It had started when Rasuti went home. I had assumed she had gone back to Doraim's nest, but she had actually visited her grandparents' home on the northern continent. All the people present had gathered there, and she had told those relatives how she was doing.

Let me digress for a moment here and talk about my recent nightlife.

After Lu gave birth and Tia became pregnant, the desire to get pregnant (?) suddenly surged throughout the village. Thanks to that, I couldn't sleep alone at night. Even saying I wanted some time to myself did no good.

Even though I

stressed that only those who volunteered could come, their numbers kept growing. They climbed into my bed without asking, and I had no power to resist. By the time I realized it, I had become intimate with all the High Elves and Oni Race women, as well as Gran Maria, Kuudel, Corone, and Flora.

Among the Beastmen, there was only Sena. I had turned down the other Beastmen women on the grounds that their bodies weren't fully developed yet. There were still young Beastmen boys around, after all. This was the result of teaching the women to wait patiently. I had put every effort into that.

Anyway, in this village, only talking with the men, such as the dwarves and lizardmen, occasionally gave me some peace of mind. But Rasuti and Frau were still working hard to make advances on me.

Though I exercised strict self-restraint and desperately held out... I was ignored anyway, as though I weren't even there. Everyone around us worked together to get them into bed with me, too. I ought to reflect on my own lack of effort.

The last bastion consisted of Rasuti's two servants, Bulga and Stifano. I had to hold out! Even if they sometimes gave me sultry looks, I had to control myself.

That ended the digression.

"So you went mad with anger because your niece found a partner before you did, and attacked our village?"

"Nooo, I just wanted to test my niece's partner's strength!"

Hakuren puffed out her cheeks in protest.

The utterly ridiculous reason left me drained of strength. At the same time, I understood why everyone else had kept quiet. Their daughter was jealous of their granddaughter, or their sister was jealous of their niece... how could they bring themselves to say that?

"Um... as long as you promise not to cause any more trouble, everyone can get up."

"Are you sure?"

Doraim's father answered on their behalf.

"Yes. Sitting formally like that all this time must be tiring. I'll have someone prepare a feast."

They were Doraim's relatives, and Dragons, too. Considering Rasuti's position as well, sending them straight home seemed too cold.

"Yay! The alcohol here is delicious, right?"

Hakuren was the first to stand. Just as she was about to dash into the village, I grabbed her cheek.

"Huh?"

Hakuren, you're the exception.

"Are your wings all right?"

"Huh? Oh, yes. I won't be able to fly for a while, though... um, why are you grabbing my cheek?"

"Don't worry about it. Now that you've had your fun rampaging around, shouldn't you take responsibility for cleaning up?"

"Th-that hurts..."

We needed to do something about both the burned forest and the vegetation torn up by my thrown spear.

I could fix it simply by tilling with the Almighty Farming Tool, but the thought of Hakuren attending a feast while I worked wouldn't let me rest easy.

"Work hard on that cleanup."

It was three days before Hakuren could join the feast.

Chapter 3: The dragon family

Doraim's father-Death. Doraim's mother-Raimeiren.

After checking with Rasuti again, I finally remembered them.

Doraim's eldest sister was Hakuren. No matter how much I wished otherwise, I couldn't forget that name. His second sister was Seiren. It resembled Hakuren, but not enough to confuse them. Doraim's younger sister, Seki Ren, was easier to mix up.

Hakuren, Seiren, Seki Ren. They had given them such similar names.

The youngest brother was called Dors.

Were these names a test of other people's memories? I would do my best to memorize them.

Seiren's husband, the muscular man with the stern expression, was named Maxbergak, but he wanted us to call him Max. Contrary to his appearance, he seemed like someone fated to work himself ragged. I thought we could become good friends.

Max and Seiren's daughter was named Hiserunak. She agreed to let everyone call her Hise for short.

...It looked like memorizing these really would take some effort.

"Miss Rasuti, Lord... Death is the Emperor Dragon of the northern continent, correct? They say he even forced the Demon King before the previous one to abdicate?"

Frau asked Rasuti.

"I don't know about that Demon King, but Grandfather does live on the northern continent. So they call him the Emperor Dragon?"

"That's what everyone in the Demon King Kingdom calls him... also, doesn't Lady Raimeiren live on the southern continent...?"

"Usually, yes."

"Th-they're married, aren't they? And I never imagined you were related to Lady Hiserunak, Miss Rasuti..."

"Ahaha, we fight all the time... come to think of it, why do you call Hise 'Lady,' but me 'Miss'?"

"My deepest apologies, Lady Rasuti."

"You've got it backward. Just address her the same way you address me."

"Miss Rasuti and Miss Hise?"

"Exactly, exactly. Go greet her like that."

"Please don't tease me..."

Before we knew it, the feast welcoming Doraim's family had lasted about five days. It was the longest feast we had ever held.

Still, I had only joined in from the third day onward. Perhaps my arrival had reorganized things and ushered in a second phase.

The most active villagers at this feast were probably the dwarves. They discussed their knowledge of alcohol with the Dragons, constantly going back and forth offering them drinks.

"This really is good."

"I prefer that slightly sharp-tasting one from earlier... yes, yes, that's the one."

"Adding fruit changes the flavor? Hmm, that makes it go down smoothly. I feel like I could drink any number of these without getting drunk."

Distilled liquor was the most popular, followed by cocktails. Those had originated because some of the dwarves' alcohol was too strong and tasted too harsh for me, so I had added fruit.

The dwarves, whose greatest passion was anything to do with alcohol, had acquired the skills of seasoned bartenders and could mix all kinds of cocktails. Lately, they had also started researching dishes to accompany drinks, talking about pairings and such. Seeing how happily Doraim and the others ate, their research was probably on the right track.

If the dwarves were the most active villagers, the Oni Race were the busiest.

The Dragons ate a tremendous amount, finishing every dish brought out. And they weren't the only ones eating; food had to be prepared for the villagers, too.

Everyone except those caring for the children went into the kitchen, while the High Elves worked hard carrying food.

Even so, the dishes couldn't reach the tables fast enough, so we filled the gaps with apples, pears, oranges, bananas, pineapples, watermelons, strawberries, and other fruit.

Hise seemed to prefer fruit to alcohol and kept taking great bites. Though she looked like a little girl, she ate more food than the size of her own body.

Of course, eating alone couldn't fill five days. There were plenty of performances and games in between.

The entertainment included singing, dancing, and various performances, but the quality was about that of friends improvising something at a wedding. Nothing particularly outstanding.

Still, the juggling acts using beanbags and kendama were quite popular.

Though I only saw the latter half, I thought the funniest act was the comedy double act performed by Rasuti's servants, Bulga and Stifano.

Unfortunately, they had worked under the Dragons before, so the Dragons were used to their material and weren't particularly enthusiastic.

"Damn it, should we come up with new material after all?"

With no other choice, I went onstage to fill in.

Standing on something resembling a stage, I wondered what to do. Still, before illness struck me down in my previous world, I had been a working adult.

And the greatest weapon I had gained from that experience was a special move that always got roaring laughter at drinks and business gatherings-impressions!

...Impressions?

That won't work! Impressions aren't entertaining at all to an audience unfamiliar with the subject! This is another world, a faraway land. In other words, I can think of it as being overseas. Overseas... heh heh heh, I've entertained foreign clients, too!

Take this! Magic tricks for fooling children!

As it turned out, the Dragons already had very demanding tastes in entertainment. Besides, in this world, even people who couldn't use magic performed magic tricks, so they were nothing unusual.

As for games, golf, chess, and go were well received.

Golf was popular because they could compete at a leisurely pace, while chess and go exercised their minds.

Drinking wasn't suitable for these games, so I served green tea, black tea, coffee, juice, and other beverages. The amount of alcohol being consumed was already frightening. At this rate, they might even drink everything still waiting to ferment.

Fortunately, the nonalcoholic drinks were also well received, and the guests liked them.

Though nothing that could be called an unexpected mishap occurred, the problem was how seriously they took chess and go. Of course, I had explained hospitality beforehand to the villagers who were good at those games, so there was no need to worry about them.

Even Kuro and the others didn't immediately crush their opponents. When playing guests who had only just learned the rules, enjoying the game mattered more than winning.

The main problem was competition among the Dragons, who neither understood nor needed to concern themselves with hospitality. Matches between Doraim's parents and between his sisters were especially heated. They were beginners, yet the atmosphere was no different from a championship match.

The fallout from their matches made several cows and goats faint. Calling

that a problem probably wasn't wrong.

Since chess and go could only be played one-on-one, I had intended to bring out backgammon so more people could play together, but they took an interest in the mahjong set displayed as a decoration.

Was this only to be expected of Dragons? They immediately memorized all the rules and even made clever calls to claim discarded tiles.

I had hoped for a friendly family game of mahjong, but that was completely out of the question. Dragons really did seem to be a combative race.

The winner was Lize, a High Elf.

Even faced with Dragons openly displaying undisguised killing intent, Lize refused to yield a single step and gave it everything she had.

Incidentally, the fallout from that killing intent left the village chickens unable to lay eggs for several days. That was a serious problem.

I worried whether the pregnant Tia might also be affected, but comparing her to the chickens only made her angry. Alfred remained perfectly unruffled, and Lu and I, his doting parents, agreed that he would surely become someone great.

And so the days passed before we knew it, until the day Doraim and the others had decided to leave.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

Death expressed their thanks on behalf of the Dragons.

"Not at all."

They had eaten half our food reserves. Though it wouldn't affect our ability to get through winter, it was still a considerable expense.

Oh well. As long as everyone had enjoyed themselves.

More pressing than that were the various souvenirs they indirectly requested.

Though I had been prepared to give them alcohol and crops, I hadn't expected them to want games and such as well. Especially chess, go, and mahjong sets. I learned firsthand that people of high status didn't make things themselves. They always commissioned someone who knew how.

Since I felt awkward giving them old, used sets, I promised to make some new ones and deliver them.

In the end, Rasuti and Hakuren stayed, while everyone else went home.

"Hakuren?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you stay, too?"

"Whaaat? Do I have to say it...? Please don't grab my head. That hurts."

"Why are you staying?"

"Father told me to stay here and help."

I looked at Rasuti, who nodded helplessly, indicating that Hakuren wasn't lying.

"Rasuti, I know she's your aunt, but are you all right with this? If she gets in your way, you can still throw her out."

"Ahaha, it's fine. Hakuren and I get along pretty well."

"Heh heh, I was the one who raised Rasuti... ow, ow, ow!"

It seemed she would probably fall back into her old ways, attacking villages and the like. But if Rasuti didn't mind, that was fine.

"You're staying to help, right? Understood. I'll work you until you collapse. Brace yourself."

"Um, Village Chief? I've felt this from the start, but aren't you treating me completely differently from everyone else? Rather horribly, I'd say... ow, ow, ow!"

The village had gained another resident.

In a certain research room in the Demon King's Castle.

"You've established the Dragons' family relationships? Apart from the Gate Dragon and Lastismun being parent and child, haven't those been a mystery for years?"

"Yes. According to the report, Emperor Dragon Death and the southern Hurricane Dragon Raimeiren are married, and Gate Dragon Doraim is apparently one of their children. The Gate Dragon's wife is the northern White Dragon Princess Grafaloon, and their daughter is the famous Crazy Dragon Lastismun. Furthermore, Evil Dragon Maxbergak, whose territory lies in the western human nations, married the Gate Dragon's older sister, Spell Dragon Seiren. Their daughter appears to be Wrath Dragon Hiserunak. Also, Ancient Dragon Hakuren, who rampaged through the west about a century ago, and Fire Dragon Seki Ren, who caused trouble in the south about thirty years ago, are apparently also children of the Emperor Dragon and Hurricane Dragon."

"All those famous Dragons are one family? And every name has been revealed? Are you certain this is correct? This is a historic discovery. Is your source truly reliable?"

"It was all heard from the individuals themselves, so it should be correct."

"From the individuals themselves...?"

"Yes. Apparently, they said it themselves."

"...Is there someone in the Demon King's Army who can question Dragons directly?"

"Probably only His Majesty the Demon King?"

"So this report came from His Majesty?"

"Apparently not."

"I see... we must hold on to whoever provided this intelligence. With luck, we may even be able to obtain dragon scales through this connection."

"A single scale can make extremely powerful weapons and armor. I'll do my best to win them over."

Big Tree Village.

"Village Chief, what are you holding?"

Frau, who happened to be passing by me, asked that.

"They were left behind by Death and the others... scales, I think."

Each one was about the size of a tatami mat.

"They're different from Miss Rasuti's. These are thicker, like flat rocks."

"Yeah. But they're very light. Want to try holding one?"

"All right... oh, it really is light. I see."

"The one you're holding is Death's, and those over there are Raimeiren's. As for that one across from us... Seiren's, I think? No, maybe Seki Ren's? Apparently, these sell for a lot, and the dragons said we could do whatever we wanted with them... just how much are they worth, anyway?"

"Um... that one over there is Miss Hiserunak's scale, isn't it? A small scale like that... just one could pay for a mansion in the Demon King Kingdom's royal capital."

"So they're pretty valuable."

"Yes."

"And we have quite a lot of them right here?"

Piled together, the scales could fill a small house.

"Indeed. I feel as though some of my sense of value has collapsed."

"I see. Then, what do you think about selling them to Mr. Michael and Beezel?"

"That would probably be a source of trouble. We should put them in the basement and pretend we never saw them... no, I mean keep them in storage."

"I see. We wouldn't want them causing trouble."

We weren't short on money anyway, so we decided to store them away.

"So make sure you put any scales you shed in the house in the designated place, too."

"What? That's such a pain~~ Ow, ow, ow!"

"Understood. Please leave it to me."

Unlike Hakuren, Rasuti really was a good girl.

4 Dragons' gifts and Hakuren

I asked Rasuti to deliver the playground equipment Doraim's relatives wanted, and she returned with another load of gifts.

They seemed to have investigated my preferences while visiting the village. Most of the gifts were rare trees, plants, and crops, along with large amounts of precious metals and ornaments, presumably to cover the expense of the previous banquet. It felt like far too much, but turning them down wouldn't have been very nice either, so I gratefully accepted.

...Could these also have included an apology for foisting Hakuren on us?

The things she brought back included paper. Since it was suitably stiff, I tried making playing cards with it.

I was very pleased with the results.

I thought I'd try making a set of Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, too... but unfortunately, I only remembered a few of the poems, so I gave up and settled for making karuta.

Once I got started, it occurred to me that paper karuta would surely get torn up with repeated play. Wooden tiles would be better.

So I made karuta out of wooden tiles.

For certain card games that were likely to damage the paper cards, I made wooden versions too. However, wooden playing cards were very difficult to shuffle, which was their biggest drawback and the reason I'd abandoned them before. Fortunately, I developed a method of putting them in a box and shaking it, which more or less solved the problem.

The beastmen liked karuta, while the high elves, oni race, and dwarves thought very highly of playing cards.

I also made a paper theater for the beastman boys. Honestly, though, it was mostly practice for telling stories to Alfred.

The stories included... Momotaro, Urashima Taro, Kintaro, The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom, The Old Man Who Lost His Lump, The Straw Millionaire, and Princess Kaguya. But was it all right to copy them exactly? Would it be better to adapt them to this world?

For now, I listed a bunch of candidates and drew lots to decide.

The memorable first production was Kachi-Kachi Mountain!

Naturally, it was the bloody version where the old woman was murdered and the tanuki was killed in the end, too. In the all-ages version, the rabbit's motivation for revenge would be weak, making him nothing more than an unpleasant character.

Before performing it publicly, I practiced in front of Lu, Tia, and the high elves, only for them to raise the big question: "Why was the rabbit closer to humans than to the tanuki?"

"The tanuki trusted the rabbit so much, only to be betrayed... what a vicious rabbit."

Tia's opinion also gave me pause.

It was true. For such a cunning tanuki, he believed the rabbit far too easily.

Why did the tanuki trust the rabbit so much?

"Village chief, how did the old man get the rabbit on his side?"

Ria, that was what bothered you? Maybe they'd known each other for a long time, or the old man had helped the rabbit before... couldn't we just use some reason like that?

"Then why didn't the old man and old woman eat both the rabbit and the tanuki? They could have caught and eaten them both right at the start."

...I decided to shelve Kachi-Kachi Mountain.

The second production was The Crab and the Monkey.

What was going on? I'd made the lots and drawn them myself, so why did I keep getting stories like these?

Sure enough, the expected questions came up.

"Why do the chestnut, cow dung, and mortar have personalities, but the persimmon tree and its fruit don't?"

Lu, I found that strange too, but you'd have to ask the original author of the fairy tale to get an answer.

Sorry, I was only retelling stories I'd heard before.

"The monkey used his own wits to get the rice ball and persimmons. Wasn't the one who got tricked simply too stupid? Besides, the monkey threw the persimmons down as requested. Shouldn't the crab blame itself for failing to catch them?"

"I think the crab was at fault for not specifying ripe persimmons rather than unripe ones."

"It's strange that the others helped take revenge after hearing only one side of the story. Maybe the bee and chestnut had been planning to kill the monkey for a while?"

"Besides, the old crab threatened the persimmon tree into growing faster at the start. Are we just ignoring that part?"

As I listened to the high elves discuss all the unreasonable points in the plot, I sent The Crab and the Monkey to join Kachi-Kachi Mountain on the shelf.

What was going on? Everyone seemed to have started seriously examining and debating fairy tales.

If I'd drawn Momotaro, they probably would have said that making three animals fight to the death for a single millet dumpling was clearly an unfair employment arrangement...

It wasn't just a different era, but a different world. Perhaps it couldn't be helped.

I should just use stories from this world for my paper theater.

"I really like your stories, village chief."

Although I'd still attracted some fans, those stories weren't my originals. What a headache. For now, I wrote down the fairy tales I knew and used those as a basis for adaptations.

On a whim, I mixed in scenes from famous manga, too. They apparently looked very exciting, and some people asked me to perform the rest of the story. Famous as those manga were, I couldn't possibly remember everything, so I had to fill in the parts I only vaguely remembered myself. Sorry, manga artists.

What's more, narration alone wasn't clear enough, and the audience asked me to act out the movements, too. How embarrassing.

...Fine, but just once.

The pose for the finishing move went like this, and the beam fired from here.

"Village chief, please say the lines, too."

Blushing, I had no choice but to put everything into imitating the lines and movements of the famous manga's finishing move.

What on earth was I doing?

Hakuren tried all sorts of work in the village. As expected of a dragon much older than Rasuti, she knew how to control her strength and seemed to handle everything easily.

She was intelligent and well versed in etiquette. Although she was a little lacking in everyday common sense, Frau was the only noble living in the village with plenty of that anyway, so it hardly counted as a flaw.

The problem was her complete lack of initiative. Whatever I asked her to do, she would complain once or twice first. Still, she didn't slack off afterward and obediently finished her work, which showed that the complaints were just for show. I still wished she'd stop, though.

As for her lack of initiative... well, she was a dragon, so I could understand. Rasuti actually had a similar tendency. The more capable someone was, the less inclined they often were to exert themselves. A highly proactive dragon would be troublesome anyway, so perhaps her attitude was better... but without instructions from me, she would just hole up in her room eating and sleeping, becoming a NEET. Did she really have to do that?

Since she complained every time I gave her instructions, I gradually started assigning her only work that nobody else could do. If this continued...

...Wait.

Was this Hakuren's scheme? Making the person giving her instructions feel it was too much trouble...

I'd go ask her.

"Ow, ow, ow! Don't just barge into my room and pinch my cheeks! Ow, ow, ow!"

She confessed. Just as I'd suspected, it was a strategy to make giving instructions feel like a hassle. She really was patient.

Since she was so patient, I punished her by making her dig holes and fill them back in.

"I've reflected on my actions."

She gave up after just one day. Apparently, Hakuren had patience, but little perseverance.

"This has nothing to do with perseverance! Don't make me do pointless things, all right? I'll go mad."

"Isn't it better than shutting yourself in your room to eat and sleep?"

"Shutting myself in my room to eat and sleep is a million times better than digging holes."

"And I'm telling you, that's not acceptable."

"I-I get it."

"Good. Try to complain less from now on, too."

"You're not banning complaints completely?"

"I can accept a little complaining."

"...Hee-hee."

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

Incidentally, Hakuren had stayed at Rasuti's house when she first came to the village, but now she'd moved into a spare room in mine.

Well, that was how things stood.

After trying various jobs, Hakuren ended up becoming the villagers' teacher.

Her current students were the beastman boys and girls, the lizardmen's children, Kuro's descendants, and Zabuton's children.

Besides teaching her students basic reading and writing, she worked hard to teach them simple arithmetic.

"If I make the villagers smarter, that'll save me plenty of effort, too~"

Whatever her motives, at least it wasn't a bad thing.

5 Distribution

Although I discussed it with the villagers, all of Death's gifts still belonged to me.

I would then distribute them to the villagers. It was a little troublesome, but Lu, Tia, Frau, and Rasuti all said it had to be handled this way.

I was grateful to receive paper, but I still hoped the village could produce its own. Next year, I'd plant something that was easy to make paper from.

I also wanted to properly cultivate the other rare trees, plants, and crops we'd received. There seemed to be some trees among them that delighted Lu, Tia, and Flora.

Among Death's gifts were things that would be difficult to put to use in the village.

"What's this?"

"It's called a 'Labyrinth Stone,' a tool for managing labyrinths."

Rasuti answered my question.

"For managing labyrinths?"

"Yes. When we dragons make our nests in labyrinths, we have to remodel them before we can live there."

"Of course. You're so big, after all."

...So they normally lived in dragon form? Well, yes, that made sense. Since I mostly saw them in human form, I'd assumed that was how they lived.

Wait, they did live in human form, didn't they? When Frau and Mr. Michael had stayed overnight at Doraim's nest, I'd heard they'd stayed in rooms meant for humans.

"We can't transform until we grow up, after all..."

Looking at Rasuti's horns and tail, I understood. The adults, like Death, looked completely human. Only Rasuti and Hise couldn't get rid of their horns and tails. I see. I'd leave that topic there.

On another note, what exactly was a labyrinth?

"A labyrinth is a naturally occurring place where magic power gathers. That naturally attracts monsters, and I've heard the monsters drawn there also remodel the labyrinth to make it more comfortable to live in."

"I see."

"Also, once a labyrinth grows large, the magic power gathered there automatically expands it. A 'Labyrinth Stone' is actually a stone that lets you harness that automatic expansion."

"Is it a very valuable stone?"

"Yes. Though Grandfather has quite a lot of them."

"I thought as much."

If he didn't have plenty, he surely wouldn't have included one among the gifts. Still, giving me a tool for managing labyrinths was pointless. I wasn't going to wander into one for no reason.

"Can anyone use this stone?"

"As long as they can use magic to a certain degree, it should be fine."

Unfortunately, I couldn't use any magic at all. This thing was feeling more useless by the minute.

"Speaking of labyrinths, what about the lamia? Could they use this?"

"The lamia are good at magic, so I think they should be able to."

"Really? Then I'll lend it to them."

The lamia were a race that ruled a labyrinth south of the village. There were currently about fifty creatures... sorry, fifty people living deep inside, and they apparently also had the various monsters within the labyrinth under their command.

The labyrinth was enormous. Part of it even extended into the southern mountain range where Doraim's nest was. Given its size, it was understandable that Kuro's descendants would need over a year to conquer it.

I was currently negotiating with the lamia, planning to ask them to help transport goods to Doraim's place.

The last time I brought them

souvenirs, I saw that they could carry a surprising amount, which gave me the idea.

We could still ask Doraim, Rasuti, or Hakuren to make deliveries as before, but having dragons run errands always felt a little strange. Beezel and Mr. Michael hadn't said anything, but I suspected they felt rather bewildered by it, too.

Besides, leaving Doraim and Rasuti aside, Hakuren didn't seem very willing to turn into a dragon. I worried that the wing injury I'd caused her before hadn't healed, but it turned out she simply wanted to remain in human form in front of me. How cute of her.

Oops, I'd gotten sidetracked.

If the Labyrinth Stone could remodel the labyrinth, perhaps we could open a path from inside it straight to Doraim's nest.

"Oh, even if you use the Labyrinth Stone now, the labyrinth won't change immediately."

"Really?"

"Yes. The changes happen very slowly... if you want major alterations, it could take around a hundred years."

...Dragons really were patient.

In the end, I asked the lamia to take the normal route through the forest and help transport goods to Doraim's nest.

The lamia we hired subcontracted the work to the monsters under their control. Those creatures apparently transported goods even faster than the lamia could.

Transporting goods from our village to Doraim's nest took about five to seven days. The variation was mainly due to the weather. Even so, I was very grateful.

The lamia were paid in crops from the village. I also reminded them to share some with the monsters doing the actual hauling.

...It looked like we might need to expand the fields further.

With the lamia delivery service, trading with Mr. Michael became easier, too.

Flying with Doraim and the others, the trip from his nest to Shashaato Town, where Michael lived, took less than half a day, but on foot it took around twenty days.

The reason walking took so long was that the route passed through the Forest of Iron.

Though it wasn't as bad as the Forest of Death, it still contained plenty of dangerous monsters. Only top-class adventurers could make it through to Doraim's nest.

It took even those top-class adventurers twenty days on foot, while ordinary merchants couldn't get there at all. Then what about the Forest of Death, which was more dangerous than the Forest of Iron? I couldn't help feeling there was something strange about how these two places were rated.

Putting that aside, with Doraim's subordinates providing transport through the Forest of Iron, the most time-consuming stretch, the twenty-day journey was shortened to five days.

In other words, combining Lamia freight transport with Doraim's subordinates meant a one-way trip took around ten to twelve days. Considering that even a dragon needed two days to fly the route, that was already an incredible speed.

This way, Shashaato Town could regularly send seafood to our village, and we could send our crops to Shashaato.

Life had become even more convenient.

Flora finally made miso and soy sauce.

"Oooh!"

I guessed I was probably the happiest of all. Strictly speaking, the flavor was still a little off, but they were unmistakably miso and soy sauce.

To help everyone understand my joy, I made a whole heap of dishes that used miso and soy sauce.

Miso pickles, miso-grilled meat, soy sauce-marinated meat, corn grilled with soy sauce, miso soup, miso-pickled cucumbers, and hot pots with miso broth and soy sauce broth.

By the villagers' collective will, we decided to establish steady mass production of miso and soy sauce. Next year, I would have to expand the soybean fields.

Side story: Flora

My name was Flora, or Flora Sakuto in full. Though I couldn't compare to my elder sister, I was a somewhat famous vampire.

Why only somewhat famous? Because I basically never left home. Even if I rarely went out, I could take care of most things at home.

Of course, staying at home didn't mean I did nothing but eat and sleep. Boredom was a great enemy in life, and I still had a hobby I was passionate about.

That was pharmacology. Researching medicines was fascinating. It felt as though I was peeking into the world of the gods.

The medicines I made were highly effective, and people even came from far away specifically to seek them out.

I couldn't make medicine that brought the dead back to life, but my medicines should have been able to handle most ordinary illnesses.

Yet lately, I had become absorbed in producing miso and soy sauce.

Since their production processes were very similar, the village chief said we could essentially make them together.

The village chief was amazing. His mind held so much knowledge I didn't have. When he told me about the concept of "microbes," I was truly shocked, and that concept could also be applied to pharmaceutical research. Or rather, it completely overturned all previous pharmaceutical research. I looked forward to the progress we could make once the miso and soy sauce were finished.

As for how to make miso and soy sauce... put simply, it was a matter of cultivating the koji that would become miso and soy sauce-in other words, letting microbes carry out fermentation.

I hadn't known about this before, but now I thought it was very similar to making cheese.

Anyway, I took over the village chief's original miso and soy sauce production project and kept working at it. He even had a dedicated building constructed for me.

Unfortunately, I kept failing to achieve any major results.

Cultivating koji took time. All I could do was change the production methods and divide the batches among different barrels to find the best approach. I didn't dare think about how many soybeans and how much wheat had rotted in the process so far.

Fortunately, my hard work wasn't wasted. Yes, the miso and soy sauce were finally complete!

The village chief was delighted too. Then the villagers ate dishes made with miso and soy sauce, and they were delighted as well. These seasonings were delicious-so delicious they were moving. Thinking that my hard work had finally paid off, I couldn't help shedding a few tears.

But then the village chief said to me:

"Next, we'll need to improve the flavor further."

I didn't quite understand what he was saying.

Huh? The flavor? But they're already so delicious! So I timidly tried asking the village chief:

"What score would you give my miso and soy sauce?"

"You worked very hard, Flora."

"Yes, and because I worked so hard, I'd like to know my score. I'd be happy if you could tell me the result directly."

"Huh? Let me think... maybe five out of ten?"

"Please be honest."

"...Only two out of ten. These are still just the most basic miso and soy sauce."

Though it was a job I had casually agreed to take on, I now felt as though I was climbing a mountain whose summit I couldn't see.

All right. Since the village chief has such high hopes for me, I'll show him some results. Just watch. I'll definitely make miso and soy sauce that satisfy him!

I also needed to reflect on my behavior and treat those Oni Race maids a little better. I was sorry for all the selfish things I had said to them.

In the distant future, people might call me Flora, Queen of Fermented Foods.

Side story: Fraurem's smile

One night, Father came to see me.

"What happened that you needed to see me on such short notice?"

"We have a problem."

A problem... Those words were unpleasant to hear. Besides, judging by Father's appearance, the situation seemed quite serious.

"The princess is gathering military forces."

By the princess, he meant the Demon King's daughter. Strictly speaking, the proper title should have been royal princess, but in the Demon King Kingdom, the Demon King's daughters were traditionally called princesses.

"The princess is gathering an army? Where does she intend to attack?"

"Here."

"Here... you mean our village?"

"That's right."

"Is the princess... really that stupid?"

No, as far as I knew, she was supposed to be very clever.

"When you were still there, you were the one who kept her in check. Now your replacements do nothing but spout nonsense to please her."

"My replacements?"

"Earl Glitch's second daughter and Earl Pugyaru's fourth daughter."

"Those two brainless aristocrats?! Why are they the ones serving at the princess's side now?!"

"It happened while I was in the west. By the time I noticed, I discovered that most of the people I'd sent had already been driven away. Those who remained were all accomplices of those two."

My head began to hurt.

"...Then what's her reason for attacking this village?"

"Those I sent who still remain at the princess's side proposed having you return. The princess agreed, but she didn't seem very happy about it."

"Then how did that turn into attacking the village where I live? What on earth is the princess thinking?"

"She probably thinks that if she razes this village, you'll have no choice but to return. As for those two earls' daughters, they seem to be planning to destroy the village where you serve as local administrator, then eliminate you too before things escalate if you dare make a move."

All I could do was sigh.

This was like touching a dragon's reverse scale, and there were actual dragons in this village. To think they dared talk about sending troops against such a place...

"What idiots."

"Indeed. The very idea of proceeding on the assumption that they can destroy this village is completely wrong."

"Besides, honestly, if they march east from the royal capital toward this place, how do they intend to cross the mountains? Even reaching the forest by an ordinary route would be difficult, wouldn't it? Even if they did make

it through, they'd first encounter Gran Maria and the others' aerial surveillance network and Kuro and the others' defenses. Could they really break through both and approach the village? Teleportation might work... or have they found someone even more powerful than you to back them, Father?"

"I haven't heard any rumors like that... but, how should I put this? The princess ordered me to help with their march."

"Uh..."

They were planning to eliminate me, yet they had gone to my father to ask for help...

"For now, I've informed the Demon King and asked him to stop her, but something about the atmosphere feels strange."

"I know the Demon King dotes on the princess, but he also knows the situation in this village, doesn't he? If they really attack, whatever happens won't be easy to settle."

"Many people still don't understand the threat this village poses. Even if the Demon King himself knows, he can't openly tell everyone that this place is dangerous and they shouldn't approach it lightly."

"True. If he said that, people would question his authority as a ruler. Then what would you like me to do, Father?"

"I'd like you to teach those who don't understand this village's threat a proper lesson."

"Specifically?"

"Lead this village's fighting forces back to our country and crush the troops the princess has gathered before she gives the order to march."

"Then how about asking Miss Rasuti to run amok in the royal capital?"

"Asking a dragon to go would be rather troublesome, and an angel or vampire would be much the same. I want you to crush them, not annihilate them. Damage to the royal capital must be kept to an absolute minimum. Besides, would those you just mentioned really act on your orders?"

"But those are the sorts of people who live in this village. Also, I believe they'd obey if we paid them an appropriate reward."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Anyway, we need someone with offensive power who can also control their strength, so Kuro and Zabuton are out... the Beastmen are all still too green, so our choices would be the High Elves, the Oni Race, the lizardmen, and the Elder Dwarves. Father, may I ask a question?"

"What is it?"

"May I report this matter to the village chief first?"

"It's not something we can treat as confidential anyway. I was planning to go explain it to him."

"But if we tell the village chief... Miss Hakuren is bound to hear about it. In that case, it's entirely possible the royal capital could be flattened."

"The royal capital could be flattened? Who is Hakuren?"

"The Gate Dragon's elder sister. She's also a dragon. She's currently living in the village... didn't you read my reports?"

"Ah... I've been working in the west all this time, and as soon as I returned, the matter with the princess came up. I'm sorry. But if that's the case, this is troublesome. Can you think of anything?"

"That's asking rather a lot... we can't simply take the village's fighting forces out in secret without telling the village chief."

"Hmm."

As we, father and daughter, were fretting over it, a voice addressed us.

"You two seem troubled."

I knew from the voice that it was Miss Lu.

As for where she was... she was behind Father.

Had she followed him all the way here?

It was nighttime, after all, so she had included Father among those she was watching.

"I've heard most of what you two were saying. I have a good idea. Would you like to hear it?"

"Please."

Miss Lu nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer.

"If you gather fighting forces from outside the village, there's no need to notify the village chief beforehand, is there?"

"What do you mean by outside the village?"

"The Lamia. Though I don't know their fighting strength, ten Lamia should be enough to crush the enemy army."

"What do you think, Father?"

"The enemy's main force comes from Earl Glitch's and Earl Pugyaru's territories."

"What about their strength and numbers?"

"Around three hundred Demon Race soldiers assigned to territorial defense."

"In that case, three would be enough."

"If we're using Lamia, I rather feel even one would be more than enough..."

"Better safe than sorry. Frau, take those Lamia back home with you. Oh, I'll inform the village chief. Also, please bring back some souvenirs."

"Understood. Then am I... responsible for negotiating with the Lamia?"

"Don't forget to tell them to keep it secret. Also, I'm sure you already know, but anyone who dares oppose the village must not be forgiven lightly."

"Of course. Then I'll get started right away. Sorry for the trouble, Father, but the Lamia are in the labyrinth to the south. Could you take me there?"

"I can, but... why did you just smile so frighteningly?"

"Did I? I don't think I did... it's just that I'm working so hard in this village, so I do feel a little envious of those fools in the royal capital."

Yes, that was how I truly felt.

The girls who wanted to move in

"Frau, um... who are those rather out-of-place-looking girls?"

The ten girls behind Frau had elaborate hairstyles and smooth, beautiful skin, yet they were dressed in plain clothes that didn't suit them at all.

Plain clothes... actually, weren't they just pieces of cloth with a hole cut in them for their heads? Were those called ponchos?

It was a rather incongruous combination. Though it was a little rude to say so, they looked like noble young ladies who had fallen into slavery.

As for their race, they seemed to be members of the Demon Race like Frau, though they looked almost identical to humans.

"They're girls who wish to move to the village. They're all willing to work until they die. May we accept them?"

"I don't mind, but..."

I called Frau aside.

"Did you need something?"

"Those girls all have eyes like dead fish. Are they going to be all right?"

"Please don't worry. They're all people I've known before, so they can work under me for the time being. Oh, and if they show any disrespect toward the village, feel free to dispose of them at any time."

"Dispose of them? That's a little frightening. Well, they're bound to make all sorts of mistakes when they first start working, so make sure you're patient with them."

"Understood."

"By the way, who's that girl over there?"

One of the girls seemed to be receiving special treatment. Judging by her appearance, she was around Frau's age, or a little younger. Her soft, snow-white hair reached her neck, and she had the air of a noble young lady. She was also wearing what looked like expensive clothes and sitting on an equally expensive-looking chair.

"She's here for a visit. As the village's local administrator, I'll entertain her... she wants to see what the village is normally like, so you can just act as though she isn't here."

"How could I possibly act as though she isn't here? Um... I'm Hiraku, the village chief. Welcome to Big Tree Village."

"Eek!"

She was frightened. Why was that?

"Could it be that she dislikes men?"

"I've never heard anything like that. Your Highness Yuri, please introduce yourself."

"I-I'm very sorry. My name is Yuri. I'll be imposing on your hospitality for a while. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Of course. If you need anything, please just ask. Also..."

I gathered Kuro's descendants and Zabuton's children and introduced the girls to them. Without a proper introduction at the start, the girls might end up being chased all over the place by Kuro's descendants or tied up with thread by Zabuton's children.

"Oh?"

All the newly arrived women, including Yuri, had fainted.

"Well, it can't be helped. I expected this outcome, so I had them change clothes first. Please don't worry."

After seeing Frau's radiant smile, I went to gather people who could look after the girls.

"Miss Frau, we had such fun last time. Please invite us again if you get another chance."

"Shall we attack a certain labyrinth to the north next time? Apparently, there are giants inside."

"Shh, don't discuss that here. By the way, there's a labyrinth in the north too? Do you know exactly where it is?"

Later, I witnessed Frau getting along splendidly with the lamias.

It was a good thing... but how had they gotten acquainted?

Side story: Gran Maria

My name was Gran Maria, and I was a somewhat well-known Angel warrior.

Under Lady Tia's orders, I had to carry out all sorts of missions.

Before I knew it, my colleagues Kuudel and Corone and I had become collectively known as the "Bludgeoning Angels." I had never intended to slaughter people indiscriminately, so I found it baffling that we had been given such a title.

Could it have been because of that battle against the ogres about a hundred years ago? I had ended up defeating around a hundred ogres without realizing it, but a few had escaped, so I certainly hadn't killed them all.

Or was it because of that kingdom that no longer existed? That had been an unfortunate accident. The enemy army had attacked with everything they had, and if they had broken through us, our allies would have been in danger...

Yes, it had indeed been an unfortunate accident. Still, as for that battle... it should have been a far cry from killing every last enemy soldier. To begin with, both sides, friend and foe alike, had been half

destroyed. Besides, I had been the only one fighting alongside Lady Tia that time. Kuudel and Corone had been operating elsewhere, so calling all three of us the "Bludgeoning Angels" because of that was far too strange.

Hmm, well, I would set that aside for now. What mattered was that I was Lady Tia's loyal subordinate. Whatever other people called me, as long as they didn't get that wrong, it was enough.

Now then, Lady Tia was currently pursuing her enemy Rurushi alone.

I didn't know what had happened between them in the past, but whenever Lady Tia met Rurushi, the two would start fighting. It had been going on for a long time, yet neither had ever won.

That was because the two of them always let things fizzle out just as the fighting heated up. Perhaps they actually got along quite well.

I asked Lady Tia about that guess, and she got angry. Apparently, the real reason was that Rurushi had the powerful vampire race backing her, and killing her carelessly would cause even more trouble afterward.

Conversely, the same went for us Angels. If one of us were killed, our entire race would devote its strength to avenging them, so no one dared strike carelessly. I see.

Until then, I had never thought about the reasons behind it. I, Gran Maria, had grown a little wiser. I supposed I could say that.

Having grown wiser, of course I couldn't say something like, "If you can't kill her, why not stop fighting?" All I could do was smile at Lady Tia and say, "Please do your best."

In any case, I guessed that Lady Tia had deliberately gone to tease Rurushi because a bounty had been placed on her.

Meanwhile, Kuudel, Corone, and I went to a certain mountain to drive off some bandits. We had actually wanted to ignore them, but since we had accepted the commission, there was no helping it. Even Angels couldn't live without money.

Those bandits had apparently originally been a mercenary company, but with the three of us attacking together, it was over in just a few minutes.

I couldn't hide my smile at earning a decent sum for so little work. If only there could have been more bandits. Unfortunately, whenever we defeated a group, we had to wait several years for another to appear. It was rather troubling.

Now then, it seemed everything was fine on Kuudel's and Corone's end too, so we would collect our reward and relax in bed. Ah, although I said relax, we still trained properly. A battle could break out at any time, whatever state we were in. We must never forget that. Without staying alert, we could lose our lives when a powerful enemy suddenly appeared before us.

To avoid dying easily, to survive, and to win, we had to train our combat abilities tirelessly.

As we spent our days like that, Lady Tia returned after several years away. Had she thoroughly toyed with that Rurushi on this trip?... Huh? She wanted us to prepare for a journey? And hurry? Yes, understood.

Um... excuse me, where were we going? The "Forest of Death"? Th-that was quite a dangerous destination this time.

Understood. We would set out with our best equipment.

How strange. We were taking the lizardmen too? I had no objection... We were also buying chickens along the way? What was the purpose of that...?

No, I had absolutely no complaints. I would do my utmost.

The "Forest of Death" was a harsh place, not somewhere one could enter on a whim. If I really had to go inside, I would rather go alone.

That was because it was easier to escape alone.

Sentries while we slept at night? Wasn't camping in the "Forest of Death" the same as asking to die?

Well, I had heard that the peculiar elves living in the forest, the Beastmen in the surrounding area, and others apparently knew where the safe areas were, but we didn't.

Therefore, the best way to enter the "Forest of Death" was to travel without sleeping and fly at an extremely high altitude.

If we didn't fly high enough, the Demon Spiders living in the "Forest of Death" might entangle us in their threads and drag us down.

Demon Spiders.

They were truly troublesome opponents. They were terrifying monsters, to the point that seeing one practically meant certain death.

For us Angels, even in terms of affinities, they could be called our natural enemies.

There were other troublesome monsters and beasts in the forest too. For instance, Infernal Wolves-agile beasts that could also use magic. We might barely manage against one, but if we encountered several at once, we could only resign ourselves to certain death. Fortunately, the chances of encountering many at once were very low.

Then there were the enormous snake monsters, Bloody Vipers. They nullified most magic and rampaged using their gigantic bodies as weapons. What made them especially difficult to deal with was their regenerative ability and vitality. No matter how much damage one dealt, they could recover. Their vitality, which allowed them to regenerate even after being torn in half, robbed their opponents of the will to fight. Still, supposedly there were other vicious monsters that took advantage of the Bloody Vipers' regeneration and used them as food...

Ahh, the more I thought about this forest, the more terrifying it became.

So moving as a group through a forest teeming with such monsters was an extremely risky undertaking.

Lady Tia, myself, Kuudel, Corone, and fifteen lizardmen.

The lizardmen were quite capable fighters too, but they were carrying a great deal of luggage now, so we couldn't ask too much of them.

We could only do our best ourselves.

Although I had considered marching through the night, Lady Tia instructed everyone to take proper turns sleeping.

I didn't know where our destination was, but it was probably still a long way away.

Heh heh heh, understood. In any case, please let me sleep first.

To be honest, I had been so tense ever since entering the forest that I was exhausted in both body and mind.

Kuudel, Corone, were you in the same state? Understood. Then we would use the fairest method and go by age... No, we would draw lots to decide our resting order.

There was no helping it. Considering our current condition, I also thought taking turns resting was necessary. Though it would slow our journey, we mustn't let our guard down along the way.

On the way, I spotted a grappler bear in the distance. We deliberately took a detour to avoid it, which delayed our arrival at Lady Tia's designated destination even further.

Grappler bears were enormous bears capable of killing Bloody Vipers.

We already found killing a Bloody Viper extremely difficult, which showed just how much offensive power a grappler bear possessed.

The four of us together might barely have managed, but no one could guarantee what would happen to the lizardmen during the battle, so we ultimately judged that a detour was best.

Lady Tia's destination was a dwelling right in the middle of the "Forest of Death."

At first, I had been rather skeptical that anyone could live in a place like this, but I was startled when we arrived.

There were actually fields right in the middle of the "Forest of Death." I was astonished.

Moreover, that wasn't the only surprise. That Rurushi was here too.

I had initially guessed that Lady Tia would start fighting her again, but instead, the two were delighted to see each other. What was going on?

Many other things happened afterward. It was one surprise after another.

What surprised me most wasn't that Infernal Wolves and Demon Spiders also lived in the village, but that Lady Tia already had a husband.

He was the owner of this dwelling.

Perhaps saying I was surprised was a little rude. But... um... still...

I would put those complicated feelings aside for now and properly congratulate her.

Come now, Kuudel, Corone, you shouldn't stand there in a daze either. Shouldn't you offer a few words of congratulations?

After hearing the details, I learned that her husband had actually married Rurushi too. What a formidable man. Yes, he certainly was no ordinary person. I had better not defy him either.

Calling this place a village might have understated it a little, but that man's position was similar to a village chief's, so I decided to call him the village chief.

Everyone else called him that too, so I thought it should be fine.

On Lady Tia's orders, we settled here as well. The same went for the lizardmen who had accompanied us.

My duty was to protect these dwellings and fields alongside Kuudel and Corone... No, the village. To protect the village.

Our mission was to repel enemies if we could, and call for reinforcements if we couldn't.

The part about us being unable to handle them hurt my pride, but considering the dangers of the "Forest of Death" and the village's fighting strength, it couldn't be helped.

I didn't want to throw my life away either, so I could only comply.

As it turned out, I had underestimated the village.

The village's defenses relied mainly on Kuro and the other Infernal Wolves, along with Zabuton and the other Demon Spiders.

So all we needed to do was patrol around the village.

Although we could fly while patrolling, we wouldn't be able to see the ground clearly if we flew too high, so I could only circle a little above the forest...

I came under more attacks than expected. The beasts called death honey badgers were particularly annoying. Individually, they weren't very strong, but when they gathered in groups, they tried to jump onto me as I flew low and drag me down. They put me in danger several times.

Perhaps because they saw us struggling, several Infernal Wolves helped protect us from below. While I felt very embarrassed, I was also extremely grateful for their help in keeping us safe from the death honey badgers' attacks.

I would play fetch with them again during my next break. Heh heh.

I had never imagined that the Infernal Wolves I had always found so terrifying would become my playmates.

The days passed before I knew it. If anything changed in our lives, it was only that we guided unexpected visitors several times. It was simply too peaceful.

Although it was peaceful, it wasn't boring. Patrolling was life-threatening work too, and several times we had to join

forces with the Infernal Wolves to repel monsters charging toward the village. I could feel firsthand how much stronger I had become compared to before I came here.

In the end, that solid sense of progress crumbled easily too.

A battle between a grappler bear and a Bloody Viper sent tremendous tremors all the way to the village.

Although they were quite far away, the towering clouds of dust still conveyed the intensity of their battle. Moreover, those two monsters seemed to be getting closer to the village as they fought.

This was bad. It was already a disaster on a scale that warranted considering relocating the village. I was about to advise the village chief when he said something strange.

"Do grappler bears and Bloody Vipers taste good?"

Huh? What had he said? Village chief, had fear addled your wits? No, I had never eaten them either, so I didn't know how they tasted.

The village chief asked around, and Ria the High Elf told him they were edible.

"I see, so they're edible. Then let's go hunt them. It would be troublesome if they came to the village and caused damage."

Um... hunt them? Ah, he meant mobilizing the whole village to deal with them. I understood.

With the Infernal Wolves, Demon Spiders, Lady Tia, the three of us, the High Elves, and the lizardmen, we would surely manage if everyone worked together.

Heh heh, it was time for a big fight.

"Gran Maria, could you take me to where those two are fighting?"

"I could, yes..."

That request was bizarre. First, I needed to resolve my doubts.

"...Just the two of us?"

"That's right... Is there a problem?"

"No, no. Understood. I'll give everything I have and fight to the death."

Apparently, my resolve was still lacking. Of course. Heh heh heh. It was my duty to fight with my life on the line at times like this. How could I have forgotten?

The village chief was giving the people around him some instructions, but as I renewed my resolve, I didn't hear a word.

In the end, the village chief killed the grappler bear and Bloody Viper in an instant.

Was I dreaming? No, I wasn't. The village chief was truly incredible. As expected of Lady Tia's and that Rurushi's husband.

If possible, I would have liked to marry someone like that too. Ah, no, no. I was starting to escape reality. Right now, I needed to concentrate on guarding the prey.

Trouble descended again.

This time, it was a dragon. A dragon attacked. My entire body stiffened, and I trembled with fear. I wasn't so conceited as to think I had any chance of winning against a dragon.

However, I couldn't forget my duty. I had to find some way to hold my post.

In the end, the attacking dragon ignored my panic and began fighting another dragon instead. Then a third dragon suddenly approached the village from a completely different direction. The situation threw me into a panic.

Shamefully, I could do absolutely nothing. While I was still at a loss, it was all over.

Lastismun.

She was a famously ferocious dragon whom even the Angels had heard of. I had never imagined she was the daughter of that gentle man who often visited the village-Mr. Doraim.

But after hearing the details, I discovered that Doraim was actually that Gate Dragon? I had never known. Wasn't he an incredibly famous dragon? I was terribly sorry. I had always thought he was just some third-rate dragon. I would reflect on my mistake.

Still, whenever Mr. Doraim visited, he only drank and enjoyed the food, which was why I had mistakenly... Um, sorry. I shouldn't have been prejudiced.

For some reason, Lastismun decided to stay and live in the village. With that, the village's ferocity... correction, its defensive capabilities increased again.

I was part of the village's defenses too, so I needed to work hard.

Miss Lu, as we now called her, gave birth, and Lady Tia became pregnant too. It was truly a cause for celebration.

Well, since they had been doing that sort of thing, it was only a natural result. To be honest, I too had become someone who received the village chief's favor, so perhaps I would become pregnant one day. My dreams were growing ever grander.

As I was imagining such things, another dragon arrived. This one was much larger than Miss Rasuti. Unfortunately, Rasuti happened to be visiting her family at the time.

After circling above the village, the dragon began breathing fire on the nearby forest. It was an enemy. That much was certain. Kuudel, Corone, and I charged fiercely toward the dragon side by side. At that moment, I had already lost my composure.

Had I been a little calmer, I would have noticed something odd about this dragon's hostility. Breathing fire at the village would have been one thing, but why was it only burning the nearby forest? The village chief noticed this too and tried to stop me, but he couldn't stop us.

Wanting to make up for my disgraceful panic when Miss Rasuti first attacked, I single-mindedly decided that this time, I had to charge with everything I had.

A three-in-one attack. If the three of us worked together flawlessly, that move could defeat even Lady Tia. Yet the result of our all-out attack was that the dragon knocked us away with a smack. It truly was only a light swat. The dragon casually swept its tail and scattered us. I was utterly shocked. To think the difference in our strength was so great.

Afterward, I felt profound regret at being unable to properly protect the village. As I fell, I thought about the miserable future ahead. However, my fall stopped before I hit the ground. It was Miss Rasuti.

Miss Rasuti, in human form, caught me just before I struck the ground. Kuudel and Corone had been caught too, but who had helped them?

Since Mr. Doraim was here too, perhaps it was someone he knew? As I wondered, a battle between the dragon and the village chief unfolded above me.

It might have been dangerous to stay there, so I hurried elsewhere.

The dragon that had knocked me down then fought the village chief, and the battle ended in the village chief's victory. Truly, just what I would expect of him.

Still, I somehow felt that the dragon hadn't seriously used its full strength. If it had gotten serious, perhaps it could have destroyed both the village chief and the village and won, but it hadn't done so. From their conversation, I learned that the dragon had mainly wanted to test the village chief's strength. That was probably why it had breathed fire on the forest rather than the village.

In any case, the village chief seemed to have gained the dragon's approval. That lofty attitude of dragons irritated me a little. Still, showing hostility toward a dragon wasn't a good idea.

There were other Dragons who had come with Mr. Doraim and Miss Rasuti too. Setting aside our hostility was the best course now.

The village chief must have judged the same, as he entertained them lavishly.

Since the three of us had been injured, we were asked just in case whether we wanted revenge, but I had no such thoughts whatsoever. Setting aside the matter of the dragon's strange behavior, we had lost simply because we weren't strong enough.

Our injuries could be healed with magic too. Daring to demand anything would only embarrass us further. Although making a request at a time like this was embarrassing...

If possible, though, I wanted a dragon scale. Then my new equipment could... No, I wouldn't overstep. Yes, just getting to see dragons perform at the banquet was already an exceedingly rare experience.

The dragon that had knocked me down-I believed her name was Hakuren-went onstage to perform and had me clutching my sides with laughter. Even remembering it now made me want to laugh, but I would leave out the details of the performance for the moment.

After the Dragons went home, I returned to my everyday life.

But unlike before, I slightly increased my usual training.

I was still weak, so I would have to keep working at it.

I also prayed that no more powerful people who threatened the very meaning of our existence would settle in the village.

7 Yuri's reflection

When word spread that there was a dungeon north of the forest, it caused a stir among the High Elves. They seemed eager to venture inside and explore.

I thought about it for a moment.

"Is there any benefit to entering a dungeon?"

"You can obtain hides, meat, bones, and so on from the monsters inside."

"Are there any treasures?"

"If the monsters living there have a habit of collecting gold, silver, and jewels, you might find some... but monsters like that aren't common."

"I see."

"Although entering a dungeon doesn't offer much benefit, it still serves a purpose. In dungeons no one manages, monsters may come out and wreak havoc unless someone goes in to thin them out occasionally."

Come to think of it, I seemed to remember someone saying something similar before.

But if a race already ruled the place, as with the Southern Dungeon, surely the monsters would have trouble getting out.

"Even in a managed dungeon, the competence of its managers affects how often monsters emerge, so investigating it is worthwhile."

If the race managing it was warlike and ambitious, they might even deliberately let monsters out frequently. Apparently, we couldn't leave a dungeon alone under any circumstances.

When I reluctantly gave permission, the High Elves, along with the lizardmen and members of the Oni Race mixed in among them, grew excited.

Never mind those people-even Kuro's descendants, who were holding their own selection tournament, were brimming with determination to go along. Wait, were they trying to claim all the credit?

If it would take over a year like last time, I hoped everyone would avoid pushing themselves too hard and return to the village regularly.

Although the newly arrived Demon Race girls had initially been quite bewildered by everything in the village, they were now diligently doing their respective jobs.

I reconsidered what I knew about the Demon Race.

The Demon Race.

Apparently, those given that name fell into two categories. The first looked somewhat human but weren't human, making their definition the same as demihumans.

Among those I knew, vampires, Angels, High Elves, the Oni Race, lizardmen, Beastmen, Elder Dwarves, and lamias all counted.

Of

those listed above, I could more or less understand vampires, the Oni Race, lizardmen, and lamias, but classifying Angels, High Elves, Beastmen, and Elder Dwarves as the Demon Race felt strange.

If the definition was the same as demihumans, why not just call them demihumans?

The other category consisted of beings who looked almost identical to humans but possessed far more magic power.

Frau and the newly arrived girls belonged to this category.

Since they merely possessed more magic power, I had assumed they were much like mages, but there was a slight difference. Apparently, the more magic power they possessed, the more their bodies changed under its influence.

For example, their bodies might become as hard as rock, their limbs might stretch and contract freely, their eyes might see farther, or their hearing might become extraordinarily keen...

As I listened to these explanations, I remembered a segment about extraordinary people around the world from a television show in my previous world, and silently apologized for that rude thought.

In short, the second category consisted of rather unusual humans. Since the origins of the Demon Race were unknown, perhaps ordinary humans were actually members of the Demon Race whose abilities had deteriorated.

Although Frau and the other girls who had come to this village possessed more magic power, I couldn't sense any difference between them and humans.

Physical changes occurred because they couldn't fully control their magic power, so proper control could apparently minimize those changes or even eliminate them entirely.

By that standard, perhaps the girls who had moved here were all exceptionally capable. No, they actually were exceptionally capable. When I asked, I learned that most were daughters of high-ranking officials and influential nobles in the Demon King Kingdom.

They weren't capable because of their distinguished backgrounds. Rather, they apparently trained hard because they couldn't hold high positions without being capable. But was it really all right for girls like them to move here?

"If they want to go home, shouldn't we help them prepare?"

I asked Frau, but apparently no one had made such a request so far. They were still staying at the inn for the time being, but houses for them were already under construction.

Since they were all daughters of high-ranking officials, perhaps living in this village would be difficult for them.

"The village's food is delicious."

"Ah... having a bathhouse is wonderful!"

"And there aren't any tense court struggles. We can take life easy."

Apparently, there wasn't a problem.

Frau showed Yuri around the village.

"Does Your Highness now understand what you were originally planning to do?"

"Yes. To think I wanted to attack this place... I definitely would have been in danger... no, I'd probably have ended up dead."

"Once you gather your forces, making excuses becomes difficult. Please be sure to act cautiously in the future, Your Highness."

"I understand. But the theory I learned said that the side that mobilizes first has the advantage. Was that wrong?"

"That point alone isn't wrong, but the mistake this time was showing hostility toward an opponent you couldn't defeat."

"So merely gathering troops counts as a display of hostility."

"If you raise a weapon at a dragon, you can't blame it for breathing fire at you. And this village actually has dragons."

"I never imagined there really were dragons here. I thought it was false information meant to frighten foreign enemies or something."

"I had the same misconception before coming here, so I can't fault Your Highness for thinking that... but didn't His Majesty the Demon King warn you to be careful of this forest?"

"I was wrong to ignore Father's warning. But you're at fault too, Fraurem. You suddenly left my side..."

"I truly am very sorry about that."

"I understand why now, so you don't need to apologize. More importantly, is it really all right for me to do this?"

"Yes, just throw it."

At Frau's urging, Yuri threw the ball in her hand, and several of Kuro's descendants immediately rushed after it.

The winner who secured the ball ran back to Yuri, looking as though it wanted praise.

"Y-you brought the ball back. Well done."

Yuri managed to praise it, but still didn't dare pat its head. Instead, Frau patted the descendant of Kuro who had retrieved the ball.

"Although a single Infernal Wolf entering a town would cause a major disaster, they're quite cute like this."

"That may be true, but I'm still rather afraid."

"Of course. It took me a while before I dared pet them, too."

"What made you able to do it?"

"Well... perhaps because we became opponents after they thrashed me at chess."

"Chess? That board game we played at the inn? Infernal Wolves can play that too?"

"The village chess champion is Kuro Four... the Infernal Wolf lying under that tree. He's very strong. I've never beaten him."

"...This place really is full of surprises."

"It certainly is. Now then, it's nearly lunchtime. Let's head back, Your Highness."

"Yes. The food here is delicious, so I look forward to every meal."

"I'm glad you're pleased, Your Highness... but if you grow too accustomed to the food here, you might find yourself unable to go home."

"...Do I have to go home?"

"You can't stay here, Your Highness."

"Then how about taking the cook home with me? I am a princess."

"I believe Your Highness understands that such reasoning won't work in this village?"

"Ugh..."

An aside.

"Frau, may I bother you for a moment?"

"Miss Ria? What is it?"

"Why is she called a 'princess' rather than a 'king's daughter,' even though she's the Demon King's daughter?"

"Because the position of Demon King is appointed rather than hereditary. Calling her a king's daughter would cause various difficulties when the Demon King changed, so she's customarily called a princess."

"I see. Does the same apply to princes?"

"A prince is simply called a prince. When the Demon King changes, that title automatically ceases to apply to him."

"I see."

"However, although it's nominally an appointed position, the candidates basically all come from the Demon King's clan, so there's hardly any difference from a hereditary system."

"Really?"

"Yes. I've heard that the Demon King's clan is the most capable, but..."

"But everyone simply pushes the troublesome work onto the clan willing to take it on?"

"Whether having so few ambitious people in the country is good or bad, that's how things ended up..."

"I also know that Yuri is a princess."

"W-when did you find out?"

"I could tell from the start. There's no hiding it, either for her or for the people around her."

"Ugh... what about the village chief?"

"I don't think he knows yet."

"Please keep it a secret."

"We don't mind, but if you want to keep it secret, you should ask her to be more careful. She brings up her father's name to boast from time to time."

"I-I'll remind her."

Side story: Fraurem's troubles

My head hurt.

"Miss Fraurem, did you need something?"

The girl who approached with an innocent expression was Royaju, Viscount Mammonros's second daughter.

Yes, I wanted you. Who else?

Royaju was one of the girls I had brought to this village, so any trouble she caused was also my responsibility.

That meant I had to say things to her even when I didn't want to.

"Royaju, tell me what scene we often see at public gatherings every year."

"A scene? Huh? Do you mean His Majesty the Demon King's address?"

She tilted her head and answered cutely. Why are you trying to charm me?

"Not that. The other scene that plays out several times every year."

Royaju thought for a moment before finally remembering the scene I meant.

"I know. The one where a lowborn girl pursues a highborn man, only to earn his dislike."

"Exactly. What do you think when you see that?"

"Obviously, that she should know her place."

"Precisely. Now, I'm going to repeat what I told you when you first arrived here, so listen carefully."

"Huh?"

"I'm at the very bottom here, and you're the subordinate of someone at the very bottom. Meanwhile, the village chief is at the very top of this village. Do you understand what I'm saying now?"

"...Could this be about last night? When I sneaked into the village chief's room."

"Exactly! What you did was like a commoner suddenly sneaking into His Majesty the Demon King's bed. It wouldn't be surprising if you were beheaded on the spot."

"Surely it wasn't that bad."

"You don't think so? Hey, do you really think that?"

If only I were simply overreacting...

"Um, all right... I-I'm sorry."

"For now, I've made an excuse for you, saying you weren't familiar with the layout and entered the wrong room... but that won't fool anyone besides the village chief."

"Isn't

fooling the village chief enough?"

"...To continue that earlier example, do you think a highborn man would get angry at a lowborn woman for approaching him and declaring her love?"

A highborn person wouldn't get angry, nor would he need to.

"You know he wouldn't. Then tell me, who would get angry about it?"

"Th-the other highborn women who want to pursue him."

"Correct. So, do you understand your current situation?"

"I-I understand."

"Good. Then whatever happens from now on, I'll make it clear that I have nothing to do with it. I won't tolerate you dragging me into this."

"Wait, Miss Fraurem, you're joking, aren't you? Please, don't go. Help me."

Of course I was joking. Although her fate had nothing to do with me, if I truly intended to abandon her, I wouldn't have gone out of my way to warn her.

Ah, my head was killing me.

8 Yuri returns home

After watching the girls Frau had brought work hard at various jobs, I finally understood that they were civil officials.

In a company, they would be administrators, secretaries, and receptionists. Although they couldn't handle the main business, they excelled at providing logistical support within an organization. There were ten girls in total.

I thought that was too many for the village's current size... but what about having them do business? They were all familiar with diplomatic etiquette and seemed skilled at negotiating.

For now, though, I would have them work with Frau.

Still, although I thought they were meticulous, there was a scatterbrain among them. She actually mistook my room for the toilet, and something dangerous nearly happened.

Fortunately, someone else led her out. But to think she habitually used the toilet completely naked. Were there people like that in this world too?

Perhaps I should install a powder room inside the toilet... no, a changing room would be better. I would ask everyone what they thought next time.

Although I practiced horseback riding, my riding skills never improved.

With a saddle and stirrups, I no longer fell off, but rather than riding a horse, it felt more like I was being carried around at random.

The horse wouldn't go in the direction I wanted, and I was close to giving up. Fortunately, a glimmer of hope for a solution appeared.

"Go straight ahead!"

Kuro's descendants followed my instructions and helped guide the horse.

Great! It was finally moving the way I wanted!

No, this wasn't the horseback riding I'd imagined. Besides, this method would frighten the horse. It was too cruel. I needed to communicate more with the horse and build a basic relationship of trust first...

I'd start by feeding it and take things slowly.

I put together an investigation team for the Northern Dungeon and sent them out.

I called them an investigation team rather than a conquest team because I didn't want them rushing ahead recklessly.

The members were ten High Elves, three lizardmen, two members of the Oni Race, and thirty Infernal Wolves. Each Infernal Wolf also carried one to three of Zabuton's children on its back. Three Lamia joined them from the Southern Dungeon, bringing about twenty large snake monsters under their control.

According to the plan, they were to return before winter no matter what happened. I hoped they would all come home safely.

I discussed the village's weights and measures with everyone. The reason for doing this in the first place was to measure quantities of alcohol.

I asked how places outside the village established their measurements, but apparently there were no unified standards. So I decided to adopt standards unique to our village.

I had the Almighty Farming Tool on hand. By turning it into a ruler, I could establish meters, centimeters, and millimeters from my previous world.

I'd initially worried about possible discrepancies, but the results were the same no matter how many times I measured, so it should be fine.

Likewise, I turned the Almighty Farming Tool into a measuring cup to establish the liter.

But what should I do about weight...? If I remembered correctly, one liter of water weighed exactly one kilogram. That changed with the water temperature, though, and I'd forgotten the reference temperature.

Eventually, I remembered that it should be around four degrees, but I had no way to measure temperature. Well, there was no need to match my previous world precisely. I just needed a standard unit.

And so, we established the village's standards for length, volume, and weight.

I immediately made ropes one meter, ten meters, fifty meters, and one hundred meters long.

Then we measured various places around the village.

"Amazing. Almost every side of the fields the village chief cleared is fifty meters long."

I'd only eyeballed roughly fifty meters at the time. I was pretty impressive. No, perhaps the impressive one was the Almighty Farming Tool?

"The distance from the big tree to the river is fifty-two hundred meters."

Hmm, I'd originally thought it was around five kilometers, so that wasn't much of a discrepancy... Did two hundred meters count as a large discrepancy?

No, this was fine. I'd just consider myself genuinely impressive.

As it was almost time to begin the autumn harvest, Frau's guest Yuri decided to go home.

She had stayed for about three months.

She had grown used to village life and sometimes joined the Beastmen in pressing sugar or oil, so they were the most disappointed to hear she was leaving.

The girls who had come with her also regretted Yuri's return home, but refused the suggestion that they go back together.

"I'm terribly sorry. I'd like to start over here to make up for my disgraceful behavior in the royal capital."

"This village has trained my immature self. I have yet to repay that kindness, and I've resolved not to return until I can!"

"I can't abandon the fields I've been tending... so I'm very sorry."

All the girls who had originally come with her decided to stay in the village.

"You girls... put down those plates, cups, and other tableware you're holding, then try saying that again."

They were all staying of their own free will, presumably, so that should be fine.

As for Yuri being the Demon King's daughter, I'd only learned that recently. I'd thought she was simply a young lady from some respectable family, but she turned out to be a princess. Was it really all right for her to stay in this village?

Beezel had visited several times during her stay. Had he originally intended to pick her up? I wasn't sure.

Anyway, as long as she hadn't formed a bad impression of the place, that was enough. We held a farewell feast, invited Beezel, who had come to collect her, and gave them quite a lot of local gifts to take home.

Some time later, Beezel sent a message through the small wyvern communication service. Along with the usual contents, it included various requests from Yuri.

At the Demon King's Castle-

"Beezel, since my daughter returned from the village, she's been strangely motivated, you might say... She seems more dependable than before."

"Yes, perhaps she is... But why are you telling me this?"

"You've been getting along well with my daughter lately, haven't you?"

"Rather than getting along well, I've simply been asking the princess to pass messages to my daughter."

"I see... Speaking of which, when you communicate with my daughter, does she mention me?"

"Is something wrong?"

"My daughter has been cold toward me lately."

"...Perhaps you're imagining it?"

"No, I'm certain of it. Yesterday, for instance, she only greeted me once in the morning and once in the evening."

"Wasn't that because you were busy, Your Majesty?"

"No, no, nothing of the sort. Several times, I made a show of having nothing to do, and she ignored me."

"Ah... As someone with a daughter myself... perhaps she's reached a rebellious age?"

"My daughter wouldn't do that."

"...Your Majesty, this may sound cruel, but daughters grow into adults without their parents realizing it."

"An adult? A man?! Does she already have a man?! Who is he?! I'll kill him!"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, if you take that attitude, she might not introduce him until she suddenly turns up heavily pregnant."

"Eeeeeek! N-no, no, no! I will never allow that!"

"That hasn't happened yet, so please calm down. Also, the meeting will begin shortly. Have you looked over the materials on the western front?"

"This is no time for a meeting!"

"If you don't put the meeting first, the princess may dislike you."

"That would be a problem!"

"There, there. I'll convey your feelings to the princess later, Your Majesty, so please do your best at the meeting."

"Really? You're not lying to me? Then sorry for the trouble."

"Leave it to me. Now, please head to the meeting room."

"Y-yes. Ah, wait a moment. I need to switch gears... There. Hahahahaha! It's time we decided how to deal with those fools who dared attack the Demon King Kingdom!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Chapter 9: The autumn harvest, Mountain Elves, and pottery

Autumn, the season for harvesting crops, had arrived.

Well, my fields could yield several harvests in other seasons too, but the autumn harvest was still the autumn harvest. I quietly worked hard.

The High Elves, lizardmen, and Beastmen handled most of the harvesting.

Harvesting was the main task at this time of year, and Zabuton's children were especially active in picking fruit. Kuro and the others weren't much help with harvesting, but since the High Elves were all busy with it, we relied on them to work hard at hunting.

The girls under Frau-that was a bit of a mouthful, so I wanted to improve their name. Simply calling them the Demon Race was too broad, though. After discussing it with the girls themselves, we settled on the Civil Servant Girls.

The Civil Servant Girls joined in the harvest work too, mainly tallying the yields.

Even before the harvest began, they had gone to the storehouses to count the existing crop supplies. They were very attentive to inventory management.

Frau was in charge overall.

Tia was almost due, so I had her rest instead of pushing herself to work. Lu, who had experience giving birth, stayed by her side.

Gran Maria and the others kept watch as usual. The dwarves also continued their usual brewing, but...

"Move everything from here to here into the alcohol storehouse."

They also got involved in the harvest to secure ingredients for brewing.

Rasuti and Hakuren helped with the harvest too, but unfortunately, neither was very dexterous. They were only about as useful as odd-job workers.

So their main task was transporting the harvested crops.

With a harvest this large, it was better to move whatever we could as soon as possible.

Rasuti delivered goods to Doraim's nest and Mr. Michael in Shashaato Town.

The Lamia could transport them too, but they couldn't possibly match dragon delivery in either capacity or speed.

Hakuren delivered goods to Death and Raimeiren. These deliveries also served as seasonal greetings.

"Father and Mother live in completely opposite directions from here."

"Then could you just visit one of them?"

"I feel like the consequences would be terrifying."

"I thought so too. Sorry for the trouble."

"I'll do my best."

Hakuren first headed to the southern continent where Raimeiren lived, then returned to the village before setting out again for the northern continent where Death lived.

She apparently flew much faster than Rasuti, but the deliveries still took about two weeks altogether.

Rasuti's route was shorter, so she finished in about a week.

Both of them brought back gifts.

Rasuti brought seafood from Shashaato Town. During her visit, a huge, whale-like sea monster happened to approach Shashaato. At Mr. Michael's request, Rasuti defeated it, and received the seafood as payment. The entire town was mobilized to butcher the huge, whale-like sea monster, and once all its meat had been cut away, the plan was to have the Lamia freight service deliver it.

Hakuren's gifts were a little more troublesome.

"Dark Elves?"

Twenty brown-skinned elves stood gathered together, fully armed.

"Our race is called the Mountain Elves."

"Oh, I see. Sorry. You look very much like a race I knew of before, so I misspoke."

"Not at all. That might be another name for our race... If you really wish to call us that, we don't mind."

"Hahaha. Well, I'll give that careful thought. Anyway, is this all of you?"

All twenty Mountain Elves before me were women.

"Yes, everyone is here."

I see. So this was all of them.

They had originally lived on a mountain, but apparently obtaining food there had become difficult.

Forced to move elsewhere, they first paid their respects to the local guardian beast, who turned out to be a subordinate of a subordinate of a subordinate of Raimeiren.

Somehow, word reached Raimeiren, and they ended up deciding to come to our village.

They had expected the journey to take several years, but Hakuren happened to visit Raimeiren then, so they hitched a ride back with her.

"Did Raimeiren say anything?"

"She said that if we were looking for a new home, she had a place to recommend, and that we should do our best there."

I guessed Mountain Elves couldn't say no to dragons. Neither could I, really.

"Understood. Since Raimeiren referred you, the village will welcome you. We already have High Elves here, though. Are there any problems between your races? Any hostility, for instance?"

"No, nothing like that."

The Mountain Elves readily assured me, but I still went to ask Ria, the High Elves' representative.

"Ria, are you and the others willing to accept them?"

"Yes. Because of the shape of our ears, we're often considered the same race as Mountain Elves, but our abilities differ so greatly that we're like separate races. Neither is above the other; we simply live separately."

"That's good to hear."

I could relax for now.

"I hope you'll adapt to the village's customs and way of life, but we won't force you. If there's anything you can't accept, please say so."

"Understood."

For now, I took the Mountain Elves to the inn where they would spend the night. I wasn't sure who to put in charge of looking after them, but ultimately assigned two High Elves.

If they were going to settle in the village, we'd build houses for them next spring. Still, since they were called Mountain Elves, perhaps Good Forest Village would suit them better than living here.

I mulled these things over, planning to discuss them with the women later.

Tia went into labor.

Unlike with Lu, it took quite a long time. Long though it was, there was nothing I could do to help.

I wanted to do something, but was told I was getting in the way. I was very sorry.

The High Elves and Oni Race women worked hard in my place.

If I didn't do something, my thoughts would wander, so I went outside and kneaded clay. It was for making pottery.

The clay had been gathered from certain parts of the Lamia's dungeon, and I'd asked them to bring it along when making deliveries.

I'd make the containers for alcohol that the dwarves had wanted for so long.

Basically, wooden barrels were sufficient, but wooden containers allowed the alcohol inside to evaporate slowly.

That was fine for wine and distilled spirits, which needed to sit for some time before drinking, but some kinds of alcohol weren't suited to wooden barrels, especially those brewed from rice.

Glass bottles would work for rice wine too, but glass bottles were valuable.

We had obtained quite a few through trade with Good Forest Village, but lately they had all been used for alcohol.

I'd considered buying glass bottles from Mr. Michael too, but gave up when I heard the price.

So I thought of pottery as an alternative to glass bottles. My goal was to make jars.

First, I rolled the clay into coils, then stacked those coils into the shape of a jar... It turned out to be quite difficult.

Perhaps I should start with hand-shaped bowls instead? By the time I'd practiced hard enough to produce a shape I could finally accept, the baby had been born before I knew it.

She was a healthy baby girl.

Tia seemed to be doing well too. What a relief.

I'd wanted to visit mother and daughter immediately, but someone pointed out that I was covered in mud and pushed me into the bath.

Chapter 10: The investigation team's return and winter's arrival

Tia's and my child was named Tiselle. She was a girl, and I hoped she would grow up healthy.

Once Tia's condition had stabilized, we held a feast to celebrate the birth.

I seemed to have drunk too much. Alfred now had a little sister... though he probably didn't understand what that meant.

The Mountain Elves' representative was Mea.

They seemed bewildered by life in the village, but that was much the same as everyone else when they first arrived.

They gradually grew accustomed to it, and after ten days, they were no longer nervous.

From what I observed, they mainly hunted with traps, but targeting animals in an unfamiliar forest didn't yield much success. In contrast, they worked hard at mining and excavation, and were immediately useful in processing materials too. Another exceptional ability that exceeded my expectations was making pottery.

Perhaps seeing me playing with clay had interested them. They tried their hands at it and proved far more skillful than I was. Although there were a few failures while experimenting with firing, they eventually managed to produce consistent results in the kiln.

Even the wine jars I had requested turned out wonderfully, without any leaks at all. It looked like I would have to ask them to focus all their efforts on making pottery during the coming winter.

Just as winter was about to arrive, the investigation team sent to the Northern Dungeon returned.

They brought back a large quantity of materials from monsters, their expressions boasting of their achievements.

"Friendly Giants live in the dungeon, so we conducted our investigation with their help. The dungeon extends northward, and it is so vast that we still have no idea of its full extent."

"Are there any dangerous creatures inside?"

"Yes. We confirmed the presence of several Bloody Vipers. Defeating them would have been too much for us, so we fled. If we intend to conquer the dungeon in the future, we will have to defeat them sooner or later."

"Bloody Vipers... Oh, those huge snakes from before."

They were the creatures that had caused a commotion in the forest while fighting that huge bear.

"So, is it my turn to head out?"

When I made that suggestion, from

behind us, Rasuti and Hakuren chimed in.

"There's no need for you to go, village chief."

"Exactly, exactly. Just leave it to us."

"I'd certainly appreciate you going, but your eagerness just now seems a little suspicious."

"Huh? Th-there's nothing suspicious about it at all."

"Yes, exactly. Isn't this a perfectly normal response?"

When I pressed them further, they confessed.

Apparently, eating Bloody Viper meat gave you vigor.

Uh... Did they mean nutrition? No, probably some sort of stimulating effect?

When I asked, I learned that Bloody Viper meat was apparently prized by women hoping to conceive. Last time we got some, we had just casually grilled it and eaten it...

"Did anyone else know about this?"

I looked around, and everyone shook their heads in puzzlement.

"Opportunities to eat Bloody Viper meat are rare to begin with."

At most, people had vaguely noticed that sort of effect. But I had felt absolutely nothing when I ate it last time.

"Well, if that's the reason, you can go... But in any case, wait until spring."

With that, I dismissed everyone. We sorted the things the investigation team had brought back and put them in the storehouse.

...Wait. Vigor... Once spring came...

I decided not to think about the future yet. At least I should be grateful it would not be winter, when there was nowhere to escape.

Winter arrived. It was cold.

"I'd like to discuss the shortage of men and the introduction of currency."

I made that proposal at a meeting of the village's key figures.

"I understand the shortage of men, but currency?"

Ria, the High Elf, questioned whether currency was necessary. Those around her agreed, all believing there was nothing wrong with the way things were.

"Keeping things as they are will cause problems sooner or later."

"Is it inconvenient for you, village chief?"

At present, everything in the village belonged to the village chief-in other words, me. Even game brought back from hunts had to become my property before it could be distributed. Whenever someone wanted something, they had to obtain my permission first.

That had been fine at the beginning, but now there were too many people in the village.

"Having to ask me about every little thing interrupts my work, and if you can't get in touch with me, the entire village comes to a standstill. That would be a problem."

Honestly, I thought everyone could handle trivial matters themselves. If they had to report everything to me before taking action, as they did now, I could easily imagine a day when I would be completely overwhelmed.

Perhaps I was being lazy, but personally, I just wanted to focus on farming. It was about time I handed the management of the village over to Frau and Rasuti.

However, I could not do that right away, so I could only try to make the current situation a little easier on myself first.

"So introducing currency is your solution?"

Ria seemed to understand for the moment.

"I think that if we put prices on things, everyone will be able to handle small transactions themselves. However, introducing currency all at once is bound to take some getting used to, and I can foresee the villagers suffering from drastic fluctuations in prices."

The economy was like a giant beast. I did not believe a novice could properly control it right from the start.

"Then what do you intend to do?"

"We need to implement it in stages. This is the first stage."

I showed everyone a slightly oversized coin fashioned from stone.

One side of the coin was engraved with a large tree, and the other with the God of Agriculture enshrined at the shrine.

"Village chief, what is this?"

Ria picked up the coin and examined it closely, then passed it to the person beside her.

"I want to use this as a precursor to currency... I call it a Reward Medal."

"So it isn't a coin?"

"That's right. I made it myself. Every year, I'll give each villager a few of them."

"Oh, I understand. These Reward Medals can be exchanged for goods or some sort of service, correct?"

"Exactly."

Rather than currency, they were closer to vouchers.

"I'll award these to people who contribute to the village. People who win competitions or games can get them too."

The people attending the meeting let out cries of surprise at my words.

"I think we can get used to something like this first, then gradually move on to currency. Though that's still a long way off, and who knows how it will turn out?"

After everyone discussed it,

"For now, let's try it for a year."

Ria's suggestion won the approval of the majority. In my mind, I secretly struck a victory pose.

"Still... If every villager is going to get a few of these Reward Medals, we'll need quite a lot..."

I did not think there were any bad people in the village, but counterfeiting would still be troublesome. That meant these things had to be made with extremely fine detail.

Fortunately, I was the only person who could work stone like this, thanks to the Almighty Farming Tool, so I had no choice but to make them all myself.

It would only be hard at the beginning. Yes, getting started was always the hardest part. I told myself that as I quietly worked away at producing Reward Medals.

Heh heh. If you dare try counterfeiting these, bring it on. In addition to numbering the edges of the Reward Medals, I also added a hidden design. That made them even more work.

Lu brought tea to me as I worked desperately to produce Reward Medals and asked,

"Um, the meeting never got around to discussing the shortage of men. Is that really all right?"

"Ah."

I had completely forgotten.

Side story: The Lamia's battle

My name was Junia, and I was the chief of the Lamia.

My job was to ensure our people's survival and preserve the territory we had held for generations.

Though I called it our territory, it was actually an underground dungeon.

No one knew when the dungeon had appeared or for what purpose it had been created.

However, the Lamia had coexisted with the dungeon since long before I was born.

Many beasts of varying sizes and kinds lived in this dungeon.

Among these creatures, our people were invincible. Perhaps thinking that way had made us too arrogant.

A report that intruders had entered our dungeon interrupted my meal.

At the time, however, I was not alarmed.

Intruders were rare, but this was not unprecedented. Besides, those intruders had always been eliminated by the monsters and beasts living in the dungeon before they could affect us.

I had assumed this time would be the same.

My fellow Lamia all thought the same way. Normally, there would have been no need even to mention such a report.

Nevertheless, I received one.

The person reporting to me was our warrior chief, Sunhea.

The moment I saw her smile, I knew what she was thinking.

"Boss, want to have a little fun with those intruders?"

I knew it.

There was nothing wrong with being eager for battle, but I wished she would be a little more composed. Otherwise, how could I feel comfortable passing the position of chief to her a few decades down the line?

If she had intended to do something dangerous, I would have stopped her immediately. Instead, I sighed and gave her permission. Even if I forbade it, she would probably act on her own anyway.

"Defeat the intruders quickly, then come back and report to me."

"Yes, ma'am."

Looking back now, that might have been my mistake.

We should have hidden quietly in a corner of the dungeon and waited for the storm to pass.

When I received the second report, I could hardly believe my ears.

"Excuse me, could you repeat that?"

"Yes. The warrior chief was wounded and is currently receiving treatment."

Sunhea was a mighty warrior who had earned her position as warrior chief through sheer ability.

In other words, she was the bravest and most capable fighter among our people. Even I would probably struggle to beat her in a serious fight.

And she had been wounded? I was worried. Would she be all right? No, there was something else I needed to worry about more.

Had she been wounded while winning, or while losing?

"What about the enemy?"

I forced down my unease as I asked.

"They remain completely unharmed. They are currently advancing southwest from the vicinity of the dungeon entrance."

So she had been wounded in defeat...

The report made me dizzy. Intruders capable of beating Sunhea had appeared in the dungeon...

"Did she not inflict even a little damage on them?"

"No. It was completely one-sided."

I wanted to turn tail and run. But I could not do that. Besides, there was nowhere to run inside the dungeon.

"I'm sorry. I should have asked this first. Just who are these intruders?"

"Infernal Wolves."

"...Sunhea lost to Infernal Wolves?"

We were unlucky to have Infernal Wolves wander into our dungeon, but the ones that wandered into dungeons were usually not particularly strong.

Though victory was not guaranteed, Sunhea should not have been beaten so one-sidedly...

"We don't know the exact number, but it is a pack made up of more than twenty

wolves."

This was bad. A pack of Infernal Wolves was a natural disaster.

"Notify everyone. Take shelter in the deepest part of the dungeon."

In the deepest part of the dungeon stood defensive positions our people had spent many years building.

They had never been of any use before, and I had thought little of them. Now I could only apologize in my heart. I was truly sorry, and grateful.

If we held our ground there, we should be able to withstand attacks from the pack of Infernal Wolves.

Another month passed.

We were still desperately holding our ground. Though many had been injured, fortunately, no one had died.

The Infernal Wolves also seemed to have trouble attacking defensive positions built to take advantage of differences in elevation.

All that remained was to pray they would give up and leave before our food ran out. Though it was only a prayer, I thought the Infernal Wolves ought to be giving up soon.

Infernal Wolves were intelligent. If they decided we were too tough to take down, they should know enough to leave.

The worst-case scenario was that the Infernal Wolves would settle in the dungeon. However, one or two would be one thing, but surely there were more resources outside the dungeon to sustain a pack of over twenty.

Just as I predicted, the Infernal Wolves withdrew.

Not a single one stayed. They all left.

We had finally won. Though the damage was terrible... it was not fatal.

My companions all rejoiced. We had finally survived that hell.

Then hell descended upon us again immediately.

At first, I thought the pack of Infernal Wolves had merely returned, but this time, they could fly. No, more precisely, they were moving through the air.

They had never done that before. How were they doing it? They could even climb the walls with ease.

Ignoring our bewilderment, the Infernal Wolves began breaking through our defensive positions.

This was bad, bad, bad.

Our range of movement began shrinking rapidly. At this rate, we would fall into the despair of annihilation.

However, I felt that something was strange.

Despite the attack having progressed this far, none of us had died.

I wanted to flatter ourselves by saying it was because we Lamia were strong, but considering how one-sidedly Sunhea had been beaten, it certainly could not have been due to our strength.

Were we lucky? No, our opponents were deliberately holding back. Infernal Wolves were actually sparing us? Why? Even as those questions filled my mind, they kept hounding us until we lost the will to fight.

Yes, we had no fighting spirit left. We could not keep fighting.

After all, the Infernal Wolves were clearly toying with us this time.

Their aim was to wait for us to surrender of our own accord.

What was more, Demon Spiders rode on the Infernal Wolves' backs. Though I called them Demon Spiders, they were still juveniles... but even so, they were troublesome monsters on par with Infernal Wolves.

Those monsters used silk threads to suspend the Infernal Wolves' bodies, helping them move through the air or climb walls.

I really admired them.

Besides, helping each other when they were already so strong was practically cheating.

Ah... could I trade my life for the survival of the rest of my people?

After we surrendered, the Infernal Wolves took us out of the labyrinth.

I had thought we wouldn't go far, but we traveled quite a long distance.

Where on earth were we going? I was deeply worried about that, but our destination turned out to be a village.

Where was this?

Wait, there were other Infernal Wolves here too?

And other Demon Spider children...

My already dispirited heart felt shattered.

We met the master of the Infernal Wolves and Demon Spiders, who was perhaps the village's representative.

He was a human who was very friendly toward the Demon Race, which was a real relief.

At worst, perhaps he would take only my life.

Although I had prepared myself for all sorts of things, we were released in the end.

They even gave us local specialties to take home.

O-of course, they did ask something of us.

That was to wear clothes to cover our breasts.

Had they attacked us because we had always lived with our breasts bare?

It seemed ridiculous, but perhaps there were factors behind the scenes that we knew nothing about.

I would pass this rule down to my clan-no, to every generation of our descendants: we must wear clothes to cover our breasts.

Speaking of which, the local specialties they gave us were so delicious, they were downright addictive.

Although we had brought back quite a lot, everything was eaten up in the blink of an eye.

I wanted more.

It might seem greedy, but I would try asking that village chief anyway.

Of course, giving and receiving was the way of the world.

We wouldn't forget to bring things to trade, either.

If they needed labor, I was willing to work hard to help.

So please give us crops. Yes, eggplants were my favorite.

Grilled eggplant was truly the most delicious thing in the world.

We Lamia decided to submit to the leadership of "Big Tree Village."