Making the Rounds of the Villages

"No matter how far we go..."

The wasteland stretches on and on. There are patches of grass now and then, but there aren't many woods or forests.

Perhaps because they have no irrigation technology, farming becomes difficult once you get away from the rivers. On top of that, it hardly rains, so no wonder the land is dry.

They say there's more greenery north of the forest where I live, but apparently more greenery also means more monsters.

When I ask people which is better, all they can say is that they're both as bad as each other.

Anemone and Primula-san are riding in the passenger seat beside me, and they look like they're enjoying the horseless vehicle.

Everyone else is riding in the cargo bed, but we're traveling along the highway, so the road is reasonably good. The ride shouldn't be too bad even in the cargo bed.

I can hear laughter coming from the cargo bed, so everyone seems to be getting along.

Before we left, I sent one of the beastfolk running to the city with food and water to report our successful subjugation.

With beastfolk legs, they should be able to reach the city in a few hours even at a leisurely pace.

I grew bored of the unchanging scenery while gripping the truck's steering wheel. Even though it had a car radio, there was no way it could receive any broadcasts.

So I began humming a song.

――It was "Suzhou Serenade."

"What is that song called?"

Primula-san, who had been listening to me sing in the passenger seat, asked what the song was called.

"It's called \"Suzhou Serenade.\""

"It's a beautiful song. Please teach it to me sometime."

"Sure."

So just because Japanese was understood here, songs were understood too.

After that, I drove the truck along the highway for a while, making the rounds of the villages.

We combined what the people who knew the villages' locations had told us and plotted a route we could cover in one continuous circuit, avoiding wasted travel as much as possible.

The people we passed were surprised by the truck too, but when I told them it was a summoned beast that moved by magic I had summoned, they seemed satisfied.

The word "magic" was far too powerful as an excuse.

For the time being, people would believe anything I couldn't explain if I called it magic, though I still wondered whether they truly believed me.

Even so, this world apparently had lights that shone with magic and small objects that moved by magic, so my explanation wasn't entirely off the mark.

Well, it seemed obvious to the old man who used magic, but he refrained from asking too many questions, which was a great help.

As we neared a village, one woman after another got out. They were wearing the white blouses and navy skirts I'd given them and carrying linen bags containing their blankets and personal belongings.

None of the women wanted us to drive the truck into their village, so they got out quite a distance away and walked the rest of the way.

They probably wanted to return quietly and live quietly.

As a parting gift, I gave each woman one gold coin.

I'd heard that a person could live in the city on just two silver coins a month—100,000 yen—so this was about two months' worth of money.

"Thank you very much."

"Oh, it's nothing. Once I get back to the city, I'll be receiving the reward for the successful subjugation. Let me do at least this much for you."

One woman quietly bowed her head, then walked back toward the village.

"Honestly, Boss, you're too kind."

"The bandits treated them terribly. I think they have at least some right to receive money."

"I've never heard of such a thing."

According to Amana, this world had nothing like a victim's claim for compensation.

After visiting about three villages, four women got out and the sun went down. There were five women left, but we should be able to visit all the remaining villages by tomorrow.

It grew dark, so we decided to camp near a stream.

I took vegetables grown in the bandits' hideout out of my Item Box, and the women carried them to the stream to wash them.

Apparently, they made scrub brushes themselves by bundling and tying together dried grass from nearby.

They were certainly quite practiced at it.

Now then, what kind of soup should I make? I could serve something else, but anything too labor-intensive was out of the question.

Soy sauce didn't seem popular, so Japanese food was probably out too. Noodles were out as well—hmm, this was difficult.

And so, as usual, we ended up with soup and bread.

But apparently people in the cities ate soup and bread for their everyday meals too, so no one complained.

If anything, everyone praised it as delicious.

"Boss! Make that thick, creamy soup we had before!"

The beastfolk requested soup, but thick, creamy soup? They probably meant potage.

I searched Shangri-La. One box contained eight packets and cost 300 yen. Let's see... there were sixteen adventurers—and with four women gone, sixteen women remained, making thirty-two people in all.

Normally, one packet would be one serving, but I wanted to make generous portions, so I'd use three packets per person. That meant I needed 109 packets, so I bought fourteen boxes.

I bought another ten kilograms of meat and simmered it with the vegetables the women had washed and cut.

Once it was cooked, I just had to add the 109 packets of potage mix.

It was easy to say, but more than a hundred packets was a lot of work. I had everyone help me.

"Do I tear open these packets and put the powder into the hot water?"

"Primula-san, please."

"Hmm, is this soup mix? How do you prepare it?"

The old man seemed interested in the instant soup.

"You dry the finished soup until all the moisture is gone. Then you crush it into powder, which is what this is. Since it has no moisture, it doesn't spoil and keeps for a long time."

"Oh, how practical."

"Can't you dry things with magic?"

"Of course I can."

The old man stroked his white beard and spoke with a proud look on his face.

"Then couldn't you make it with your magic? You make that crunchy preserved food the same way, don't you?"

It was preserved food based on the granola I'd given him. The old man sold it wholesale through the Marlow Trading Company.

"Ho ho, you've found me out."

While we were talking, the potage was finished, and we all ate it together.

Everyone liked today's food too, but Myaree stood up and began rubbing herself against me.

"Today's soup is delicious too, nya, but we want that other stuff, nya..."

That "other stuff" was probably cat food. They really did love it. Well, this much should be fine.

"Hey, Boss. Is there any alcohol?"

As I handed out cat food to the beastfolk, the muscular man brought it up.

"Hey! You lot!"

Amana looked ready to start scolding them, so I held up a hand to stop her and bought alcohol from Shangri-La.

It was that four-liter shochu in a plastic bottle.

Some of the women seemed to want a drink too, so I bought ceramic cups for everyone.

Still, searching for 【4L Shochu】 on Shangri-La brought up all sorts of brands from different manufacturers.

I thought they all looked exactly the same, but—

When I asked an acquaintance who enjoyed this kind of drink, I learned that they apparently had surprisingly distinct characteristics, and that some suited people's tastes while others didn't.

"This is all I've got, but will it do? The beastfolk liked it when I gave them some before."

"Woohoo! There's actually booze!"

"Oh, Boss..."

Amana looked exasperated, but this was a victory celebration. A little alcohol should be fine. Besides, the starting money had come from Marlow-san.

"Well, why not? He's going to receive a large sum of money and be able to live well with his wife. Of course he'd want a drink."

"Heh heh! It's all thanks to you, Boss."

We'd raised all sorts of strange flags before setting out, so I was glad nothing had happened to us.

"Oh! This is good!" "Yeah, I thought it'd be ordinary booze, but it's better than what they serve in the city's taverns."

The adventurers who drank the shochu from the plastic bottle were in high spirits.

"I—may I ask for the same thing you gave me before?"

"Yes, yes, this is the one."

I bought a bottle of single-malt whisky for Sir Northpole. Before, I'd replaced the screw cap and removed the label, but now I left it exactly as it was.

"Yes, this is it."

Sir Northpole poured the whisky into his cup and drank it with satisfaction, without diluting it with water.

Then again, perhaps that was partly because the untreated water in this world couldn't really be trusted.

They could make it safe by purifying it with a water stone, but perhaps they simply had no custom of doing that.

"Sir Northpole, I'm sorry to make you take such a roundabout route."

"Not at all. This is for the people. I cannot abandon women and children in need."

Everyone gathered around to eat, and several couples had already formed.

Apparently, they'd hit it off in the cargo bed. After all, they'd be rich once they returned to the city. From a woman's perspective, perhaps they were good prospects.

Despite having been horribly mistreated by men, the women had few options for making a living without relying on men. The circumstances of this world were complicated.

"Would you ladies and Anemone like some fruit juice?"

I bought mandarin juice from Shangri-La and poured it into cups for them.

"Delicious!"

Anemone spoke up, which was unusual for her.

"It's sweet and tart, and delicious. It's just like something a noble would drink. Well, if the men are drinking alcohol, we can drink too, can't we?"

Amana, who was sitting beside Anemone, was also drinking the mandarin juice with relish.

After that, the men started making a drunken racket in the darkness, so the women and I lit a fire a short distance away and went to sleep.

I wasn't putting up with this.

Before bed, I had Amana wash Anemone's hair with lice-removal shampoo.

If we kept doing that for about a month, she should be fine.

------◇◇◇------

――The next day.

When I woke up, the women were already up and cleaning up after everyone.

The plastic bottles of shochu I'd brought out were all completely empty. Not only the shochu, but the bottle of whisky Sir Northpole had been drinking was empty too.

The women were full of energy, while the men were completely slumped over. They were probably hungover.

"I'm appalled! These idiots drink everything in sight when you give them alcohol! And even you, Sir Northpole, joined in!"

"I-I have no excuse..."

Sir Northpole's face as he answered Amana's scolding was pretty awful too.

Ignoring the useless men, the women began making soup for breakfast.

I'd make Chinese soup this morning. Industrial chicken breast was sold for 1,200 yen per two kilograms, so I decided to use that.

The women seemed to understand how to use the pressure cooker now, so they could make the soup themselves as long as I prepared the ingredients.

"This pot is so convenient."

"The Marlow Trading Company might start selling them eventually. But they'd probably be expensive there."

All you really needed to do was trap the steam, so you could put on a lid and place a weight on top of it.

The problem was the gasket. There was no rubber in this world, and that was why I couldn't sell pressure cookers here.

Still, if we found some alternative material—something unique to another world—we might be able to make pressure cookers.

Once the soup was ready, I handed some out to the men too.

"Phew... Soup. Thank goodness."

"Even beastfolk get hungover?"

"Of course we do."

"But normally, we run out of money before things get this bad, nya."

Myaree was probably right. At this rate, they couldn't possibly have any savings.

I wondered what they would do if they got sick. Perhaps that was just the sort of thing a Japanese person worried about.

Once we'd finished eating, we loaded everyone into the truck's cargo bed again and set out to make the rounds of the villages.

But the hungover men being jolted around in the cargo bed looked miserable.

"This is entirely your own fault."

The women looked coldly at the men making such spectacles of themselves. Had even those who were about to become couples lost their lifelong infatuation?

"Listen! When you're young, you worry about things like whether a man looks good or has a little money, but a man's honesty is what matters most! Even if a good-for-nothing has a little money, he'll be broke in no time!"

It seemed Amana's lecture had begun in the cargo bed.

"As expected of you, ma'am. That's useful advice."

"I've lived long enough to know what I'm talking about."

Amana and the women were probably about twenty years apart in age, so her words were backed by a fair amount of life experience.

"Then what about someone like Kenichi, Boss?"

"Oh, no, no. Men like him don't care about women at all."

"Gulp!"

"If he has something he wants to do, he'll abandon any woman and go off somewhere by himself."

"Gulp, gulp!"

Damn, she really had the insight that came with age. She'd seen right through me.

"Nyaa! Then being his mistress is fine with me, nya!"

"If it's just for fun, I suppose that's fine too. But don't cry if he throws you away right away, all right?"

"Nya-ha-ha."

Myaree laughed merrily, but I couldn't tell whether she was joking or serious.

"Kenichi-san... Is what Amana-san is saying true?"

"Well, she's not entirely wrong... I'm the kind of person who lives for his hobbies."

"..."

The wasteland continued on and on, a peaceful landscape without even a single utility pole. There were no tall buildings anywhere, so the sky seemed vast, and we could see all the way to the horizon.

We continued visiting the peaceful villages and returning the women to their hometowns. If we took them all the way into the villages, who knew what sort of tearful scenes awaited them.

Perhaps the women returning home also wanted to avoid dragging everyone else into such scenes.

We handed out bread after noon and had a light meal.

Farmers and the like in this world all ate twice a day. Merchants in the cities were probably the only ones who ate three meals a day. Normally, people gorged themselves in the morning and evening.

But if they were poor, they couldn't even afford to gorge themselves.

Around three in the afternoon, we reached the farthest and final village and dropped off one woman.

I watched her bow her head and walk toward the village, then turned the truck toward Dalia.

"It's already going to be evening. Can we really reach Dalia before the gates close from a village this far away?"

Well, Amana's concern was reasonable.

Dalia was probably about a hundred kilometers from here. Even at fifty kilometers per hour, we'd get there in two hours.

The gates closed around six, so we had plenty of time. If we didn't make it, we could simply spend one more night on the road.

With everyone in the cargo bed and the setting sun behind us, the truck sped along.

Still, I had to make sure we didn't have an accident—a second of caution prevents a lifetime of injury.

"Good fortune and bad fortune are intertwined like the strands of a rope."

"What does that mean?"

Primula-san was holding Anemone in the passenger seat. Anemone had apparently fallen asleep from exhaustion.

"You hold two strands of rope and twist them together, don't you? It's a metaphor for how good fortune and bad fortune are intertwined side by side."

"That certainly is true... I was traveling with my father to buy supplies, and then this happened..."

"Well, no one on our side was killed, so I'd say the outcome was quite good."

"Once you return to Dalia, Kenichi-san, you'll be treated as a hero."

"Ha-ha, please don't. That's not my kind of thing."

"If we'd formally visited the villages, I think they would have welcomed us too. Apparently, that bandit Shaga attacked them repeatedly."

"But the women who were captured would draw everyone's attention and have trouble living there afterward. I think this was for the best."

"That sounds just like you, Kenichi-san. You have absolutely no desire for fame or glory, do you?"

"None at all. I just want to earn enough not to starve and live a quiet life."

How had things ended up like this?

But when there was a chance I could save her, I couldn't abandon Primula-san.

As the sky turned red and our shadows stretched long, Dalia's walls finally came into view.

"Hey! We're here!"

I stuck my head out the window and called back to everyone in the cargo bed.

"Nyaa! We're here already!"

"This makes us as fast as the beastfolk!"

"Awesome! We really made it!"

The adventurers were celebrating in the cargo bed, but don't get so excited that you fall out.

Since the gates were about to close, the entrance was somewhat congested with carriages. Everyone was hurrying to get inside before closing time.

"Coming through! Excuse us, coming through!"

Once we reached the main street, we overtook the carriages and headed for the Adventurers' Guild.

A Marlow Trading Company carriage was parked in front of the guild.

Pacing anxiously in front of it was Marlow-san, a man wearing green clothes.

I honked the truck's horn to get Marlow-san's attention. He noticed us right away and came running.

I stopped the truck just short of the guild, opened the left door, and Primula-san leaped out.

Then father and daughter embraced in the middle of the street.

"Father!"

"Primula! Ohhh! Primula! Thank goodness you're safe!"

They clung to each other and wept openly, but then—

"Primula—this is quite a fine blouse."

"Yes, Father. Kenichi-san gave it to me."

"The company could sell this."

They had turned to talking business halfway through. As expected of a born merchant—he never forgot about business, no matter what happened. He was a model merchant.

As I watched the embracing father and daughter, I pulled the truck up beside the guild.

Nyakero climbed onto the roof of the truck and shouted.

"We killed Shaga, the bandit! Anyone who laughed at us, step forward! Ha-ha-ha!"

But some people wouldn't believe us based on words alone.

"Boss! Shaga's head!"

"What?! You're showing it here?! Well, there's no helping it. As unpleasant as it is, I'll have to take Shaga's severed head out of my Item Box..."

What had I done to deserve this...? Still, if this wasn't exactly what you'd expect in another world, I didn't know what was.

Nyakero held up the blood-soaked head of Shaga that I'd handed him.

"How about that! This is Shaga's head!"

"Ohhh!" "Sure enough, he's got that huge scar on his left cheek, just like on the wanted poster."

The spectators who had gathered at the commotion looked at one another and discussed it among themselves.

The reaction was exactly what the residents had expected, and Nyakero looked extremely pleased with himself.

Now then, this isn't over yet. We still have the aftermath to deal with.