Oni Village

S-so amazing!

Subaru thought, but immediately calmed himself down. This was another world, so wasn't it normal for powerful magic to exist? He shouldn't make a fuss like some country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

But... a child that small was actually that strong.

"Um... are the stronger people in your tribe all that powerful?"

"Of course not. My sister is one of a kind. Everyone in the village calls her 'Oni God Reborn.'"

"Seriously...? Can a different color really make that much difference in strength?"

"Yes. My sister is the strongest person in the whole village. Unlike Rem, who is so useless..."

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant! Your sister might be as strong as if she were using cheats, but Rem-chan was the one who pulled me out of the oil pool."

"...If it had been my sister, she would have done a better job."

Subaru could tell.

Rem's feelings toward her sister contained something heavier than simple admiration and trust. An inferiority complex.

"Oh, right, there's something else I've really been wondering about. Could you clear it up for me? You two are pretty big... but no matter how I look at it, we don't seem to be the same age, do we?"

"There's a limit to pretending to be mature. Joking about being seventeen only makes Rem feel like you're treating her as an idiot."

They weren't joking?

Before Subaru could ask any more questions, Ram spoke up.

"Ram will discuss it with Rem."

"Discuss it."

Then the twins actually huddled together right in front of him and began talking in low voices. They spoke so quietly that he could only occasionally catch snippets like "human," "village," and "trouble." They were deciding what to do with him. Subaru stood obediently where he was, a thin layer of sweat forming on his palms.

After their brief discussion, the two turned around.

Their conclusion was to take Subaru back to the village to see the village chief first. Whether the chief decided he should stay or go was no concern of theirs.

Subaru felt a little relieved, but at the same time, a sense of disappointment welled up in him. His two little guides did have kind hearts, but not especially kind.

It was probably about the level of "finding a soaking-wet stray cat by the roadside and taking it somewhere someone could look after it for now."

Still, that was enough. It beat being abandoned in the forest.

He followed the sisters along a firmly packed dirt path. To his surprise, after only about five minutes, Rem reached out and parted the last dense curtain of branches and leaves, and the view suddenly opened up before him.

A small village.

Wooden houses and low stone buildings stood in a pleasing arrangement, thin wisps of white smoke rising from their chimneys. The faint smell of burning wood and the aroma of some kind of food simmering drifted through the air.

The other world's starter village had appeared without warning. Subaru couldn't help thinking, So I really was just wandering around the edge of the village this whole time? I was only a few hundred meters away from human civilization?

After entering the village, Subaru finally saw the inhabitants of the other world with his own eyes.

Men and women wore either medieval-style casual clothes or plain kimonos. The two completely mismatched styles somehow looked harmonious together.

And aren't these people a little too good-looking on average? Nearly every young man and woman is handsome or beautiful. Is the other world's gene pool really that much better?

That wasn't all. Their hair colors were absurdly varied. Besides the blue and pink he had already seen, Subaru spotted brown, purple, and green hair at a glance. Those were colors that would have gotten a teacher on Earth pulling a student by the ear and asking, "Did you dye your hair?" Yet here they sat on the heads of ordinary villagers without looking out of place in the slightest.

And while Subaru was observing them, they were observing him too.

Looks came at him from all directions. Some were curious, some wary, and some looked as if they were staring at a rare species.

All the attention made Subaru uncomfortable, and his steps grew a little stiff.

"Looks like your village really doesn't get many outsiders. Am I really that much of a curiosity?"

"No. Although this is a secluded village, outside merchants still come here to do business. Rem thinks everyone is probably looking at your hair and clothes."

"I can understand the clothes... but what's wrong with my hair?"

"This is Rem's first time seeing black hair in person too. According to books, that hair color only appears in the northern country of Gusteko. Are you from there?"

"...Is black hair rare around here? Unfortunately, I don't have any recollection of that Gusteko place you mentioned."

Subaru touched his hair. Black hair and black eyes were as ordinary as could be on the streets of his old world, but here in another world, they had become rare features, and people took him for a foreigner.

As he answered, Subaru continued looking at the villagers around him. Every one of them looked entirely human. None had horns, strange skin colors, or extra limbs.

...Are all these people oni?

After a while, they stopped in front of a somewhat grander-looking building. It was a wooden house with a courtyard, a few more steps leading up to its entrance than the average home, and a plaque above the doorway bearing writing Subaru couldn't read.

"Go in. Explain everything to the stinky old man yourself." Ram took a step back. "Ram and Rem aren't going in."

"Huh?! I'm going in alone? I don't know him at all, that's so intimidating... Please, can you stay with me a little longer? Just a little?"

"No. Why would Ram waste time she could spend with Rem keeping you company?"

"That's way too harsh... Can't you be just a tiny bit nicer to someone you just rescued?!"

While Subaru was still making his last-ditch appeal, the wooden door suddenly swung open from within.

"This is unusual. Coming to see me after your commission is over... what happened?"

An elderly man appeared behind the door. He had gray-white hair and a face lined with the wrinkles of age. His back was ramrod straight, and when his eyes swept over them, he carried an air of authority without being angry. Without a doubt, this was the village-chief character of the other world.

The old man's gaze fell on Subaru, and he raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Hmm? Who is this child?"

"Apparently, Rem picked him up in the forest," Ram said before anyone else could speak. "He would definitely have been eaten by a mabeast if we'd left him there, so Ram and Rem brought him back while we were at it. We'll leave him to you. Ram is going now."

"Wait, wait." The old man raised a hand to stop her, looking helpless as his brow furrowed. "This is all very sudden. How did a human child get lost and end up here? I need you to explain exactly what happened."

"No. Ram has seen enough of your wrinkly face, ready for the coffin, for one day. If Ram looks at it any longer, she's afraid she won't have an appetite for a week."

That's too much!

Subaru thought. He had assumed Ram was harsh with him because she didn't much like a stranger who had suddenly appeared, but now he realized that assumption was pure self-importance. Was this how she talked to everyone except her own sister?

The old man, however, merely sighed. Clearly, he was already used to the way Ram spoke.

"Come now, it won't take much of your time. Just a rough account will do."