Master and Slaves

"Yes. As I mentioned earlier, I came to this village to continue last month’s ruins investigation."

"Hm? I heard the survey was already finished."

Marc, the village chief, questioned Helene’s explanation.

"Yes. Last time, there were unreadable characters inside the ruins, but we couldn’t finish examining them by the deadline, so we had to suspend it for now. Since Sir Hiroyuki here can read those characters, I have come back this time to investigate the ruins again."

"I see. So you’ll be staying in this village just like before?"

"Yes. I’ve come to request that."

Helene answered Kurt, the elder.

At that, Kurt and Marc exchanged glances with Tony and nodded to one another.

"You may stay here, but there is one request."

"What is it?"

Helene asked Marc.

"Before arriving here, did you see how the village has changed?"

"Yes. It feels much more tense than before."

Helene had noticed the same thing.

I didn’t know the previous state, but I felt the same uneasy atmosphere in this rural village.

"Actually, several women in this village have gone missing. What was seen during that time was a two-legged monster with a pig’s head."

""Orc!""

Both I and Helene voiced the same word in unison at Marc’s explanation.

Damn!

We had just defeated all the orcs.

If they had gone missing, it meant some might still be alive.

But even if I wanted to search...

"...The orcs I defeated earlier on the way here."

"Really!"

When Helene explained, Marc shouted in surprise.

Kurt and Tony looked surprised too, though they didn’t voice it.

"I see. That’s good. Now we won’t have to be afraid of monsters anymore. Hahaha. Thank you."

Tony recovered from his shock and thanked us while laughing.

"The previous matter was that I wanted you to defeat those monsters. Thank you from me too."

Kurt also expressed his gratitude next.

"What will you do with the missing people?"

"We’ll search for them, but they probably won’t be found. Even if they are, I don’t know what will happen..."

I spoke up without thinking, and Marc answered as if it were someone else’s problem.

"What do you mean, ’what will happen’?"

"Now is the time of year when animals are in heat. Probably the same for monsters. When only women are taken... that means..."

Kurt answered my question.

"Um..."

I looked up at Helene with a troubled expression.

Helene nodded at me.

Sigh.

So... they’re being violated by monsters...

Come to think of it, Mateus mentioned that too.

There were monsters that bred by impregnating human women.

Was an orc one of them?

I had to be careful since the people around me were all women.

"Well then, let’s get back to the main topic. May we stay in this village?"

Helene brought the conversation back to the village chief, Marc.

"Of course. Tony, there’s an empty house in the back of your place. Tell the women to clean it."

"Okay. Then I’ll take my leave."

Tony answered Marc, bowed to us, and hurried out of the house.

"It was quite sudden. Can we have a little more time?"

"Of course."

Helene answered.

Just then, there was a loud slam of the door.

"Oh my, are these customers?"

A woman’s voice rang out.

It was light and high-pitched.

"Ah, Jill, could you bring five drinks?"

"Yes yes, I’ll be right there."

Marc ordered drinks from the woman named Jill.

After a while, the woman entered the room where we were sitting.

"I am Jill, the elder’s wife."

Marc introduced the woman.

"Nice to meet you."

Jill greeted us with a smile.

She looked to be in her mid-40s.

A plump woman, she placed five wooden cups on a wooden tray and set them in front of us.

"Thank you."

"...No, no. You’re welcome."

Jill was surprised by my thanks and blinked rapidly, but she quickly returned to a smile.

Why was she surprised?

I wondered to myself, but I brought the cup in front of me to my lips.

What was this...

"It’s cherry juice I squeezed for you."

The question must have shown on my face.

Jill explained the drink in the cup.

"It tastes good."

Since I had never tasted cherry juice before, it felt fresh.

"Thank you. I’m glad."

Jill expressed her gratitude.

After that, Marc and Jill began chatting.

"Jill. I just told Tony to have the women clean the house where these people will stay. You can go too."

"Okay. But what about the monsters?"

"Then these people defeated them."

"Really? Thank you. Now we won’t have to fear monsters anymore."

Jill bowed to us again.

"So, where is the house?"

"The empty one in the back of Tony’s place."

"Over there, huh? I’ll go. Everyone, please take your time."

Jill took her leave from Marc and left the house.

She seemed like a cute aunt.

"I’m sorry for showing you such an embarrassing sight."

Marc scratched his head and said to us.

"No, no. We’re the ones who have just returned, so I’m sorry."

I felt a little awkward apologizing to the newly returned wife for sending her outside again.

"My wife is the one who gathers the village women, so this happens often. You don’t have to worry about it."

"Thank you. By the way, if you have time, could I ask you one thing?"

"Yes, go ahead. What is it?"

Marc answered.

Since arriving in this village, I had a few things on my mind.

One of them was that the rural village felt tense.

And...

"Most of the men here have been injured. Why do you think that is?"

It was a naive question.

Everyone except the elder Kurt and village chief Marc had some kind of injury.

They were all severe injuries that didn’t seem to be healing.

"..."

The atmosphere suddenly felt awkward.

It seemed to be coming from Helene behind me too.

...Was I wrong?

"Sir Hiroyuki is... a traveler, right? So you already know that this country is in the middle of a war."

"Yes. The Gezeril Demon Kingdom army... Ah, I see."

In other words, men had been drafted from this village to fight.

And the people here were either those who had been injured in the war and returned, or those who couldn’t go to war.

"If you’re captured by the Demon King army, you won’t know what they’ll do to you. War is unpleasant, but it’s unavoidable."

Kurt shrugged as he spoke.

"Well, most of the injured have experienced battle before. They’re reliable during times like this."

Marc narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

Just then, Tony opened the door and entered the house.

"I’m preparing now, so please wait a little longer."

We drank the cherry juice and chatted while waiting for the preparations to finish.

...

"Hoh, I see. But I can’t believe it. You’re stronger than Helene."

"I only helped a little. Sir Hiroyuki defeated the monsters."

"""Amazing!"""

The girls were making a big fuss around Helene at the other table.

Tiria and Cathy were among them.

However, I didn’t fit in.

At a slightly separate table, Tony and I were sitting alone, sipping cherry juice in silence.

"It seems like you’re talking about Sir Hiroyuki."

"Yeah. Helene seems to be exaggerating."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Helene also defeated monsters."

"But Sir Hiroyuki defeated more monsters, didn’t he?"

"No, well, that’s true..."

I had complained a lot after that.

It might have been a jab at me again.

"Then it’s fine if it’s a little exaggerated. The girls will feel relieved too. Their friend went missing and they’ve been staying inside the house until now. They were scared they’d be taken away. That’s much better than feeling down."

"...That’s true."

Since it’s such a small village, everyone knows each other.

The missing person is probably a friend.

"How many people are missing?"

"One 14-year-old and two 16-year-olds. Three in total."

"I see."

"But are they really monsters?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, after being taken, there were no signs of struggle."

"The missing girls, you mean?"

"Yes."

"So there were no signs of fighting?"

"Yeah. That’s what I mean. She was taken while she was alone at home, but the house was neat. Normally, if a monster like that entered the house, people would throw things at it and try to drive it out."

"It was a surprise attack... I guess. The orcs I defeated today didn’t look like they could have been surprised."

"What kind of monster was it?"

"Pig-faced, two legs, holding a thick wooden club, wearing dirty metal armor, and it made a clanking sound... I didn’t see it. Millie saw it. Ah, over there... the girl sitting."

Tony pointed to the girl sitting beside Helene and listening to the conversation.

A lively, bright country girl with red hair tied in two pigtails at the back.

She wasn’t beautiful, but she was cute.

A pure country girl.

"Ah, did you like her? But you can’t. That girl has a boyfriend."

When I stared at her without realizing, Tony added a comment.

"Hahaha, don’t worry. I wouldn’t take her."

"No, but maybe taking her would be better for Millie."

Jill joined the conversation from the side.

"Eh? Ah, Jill. What do you mean?"

"The boyfriend she’s with is not very kind. He’s a stranger and not well-known. Everyone is against it."

"Come to think of it, he arrived in the village right after the first Karen was taken."

"Yeah... It’s suspicious."

"Um... I don’t think it’s good to suspect too much..."

I tried to stop the wild speculation.

"Oh dear. Sorry."

Jill apologized to me, then went over to the girls.

"It’s almost time. These people have been traveling a long time, so they must be tired."

"""Yes!"""

It was like a teacher leading high school girls.

"By the way, there are only young girls here."

"It’s already dinner time. Their mothers are cooking in the house."

"I see."

"Then I’ll take my leave too."

"Ah, thank you."

Tony stood up and bowed.

I did the same.

"Well, let’s make dinner. Cathy, Tiria, help me."

"Yes, of course."

"Understood."

At Helene’s call, Cathy and Tiria answered.

"Please relax, Sir Hiroyuki."

"I’ll help too."

"No. Men are supposed to stand tall."

Helene told us, then took Cathy and Tiria to the kitchen.

I had nothing to do and stood idly by while they cooked.

...

The next day, we began the ruins investigation.