"This is delicious! Absolutely divine!"
"I just seasoned it with salt and grilled it."
Lion was raving about the taste of the frog they had just butchered earlier. The one who had brought over the freshly cooked dish was Reni.
"Sorry, but can you have Jeanne and Aura keep Reni busy for a while? Cain and I are going to take Lion to the back of the carriage. Also, Amour, I need your help."
Albert had noticed Lion making advances toward Reni and immediately set about separating them. In the process, Amour was entrusted with the task of delivering the cruel truth to Lion, who was completely oblivious.
"What about me?"
"Chris, could you keep an eye on Reni for us?"
Watching over Reni was assigned to Chris, since she and Amour got along well enough to handle it. Well, when it came to giving that kind of opposite-sex advice, it was probably better coming from a woman close in age. Of course, even if the task had fallen to Grandpa or me, we wouldn't have had the faintest idea what to say.
"What do you all want? I was having a great conversation!"
Lion had been dragged over by Albert and Cain and was visibly irritated. She probably assumed she had been making good progress with Reni.
"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, Lion."
Amour stood in front of the sulking Lion, arms crossed, feet planted firm. Then—
"Reni-tan has... a boyfriend! And they've already pledged their futures to each other and are getting married soon! ...That's the word going around from Nanao!"
"Se... riously...?"
Lion froze for a moment, stunned by the truth Amour had thrust at her. Then, the words were squeezed out of her as she collapsed to the ground on all fours.
"What was all that kindness toward me for, then...?"
"Well, she's like that with everyone regardless of gender."
"True enough."
In fact, Reni's attitude toward me, toward Grandpa, and toward Chris and the others was all the same. It was the same for Albert and the rest, so naturally it was the same for Lion too. The only person Reni treated differently was Amour. Reni could be sweet with Amour at times and strict at others. If Lion had been paying more attention, she might have noticed that Reni's treatment of her was completely normal—but apparently, Lion had been too caught up to notice at all.
"The Goddess of Love doesn't seem to smile on me..."
She was trying to sound suave, but before the Goddess of Love even had a chance to smile, Reni herself didn't meet the conditions—the odds had been virtually zero. Even if things had somehow played out like Lion's fantasy, it would have caused problems of its own.
"Well then... looks like they've finished over there too. Shall we resume the meal?"
"Sure."
Cain answered my suggestion, but Albert and Amour just looked at Lion with pitying expressions and didn't respond. And Lion remained on all fours on the ground, showing no sign of moving whatsoever.
"Let's go, everyone. Time will sort out that sort of thing."
Cain said that and strode off ahead of us, but I made sure to get a good look at his face as we passed—he was clearly fighting back laughter.
"I'm so sorry."
"No, as long as you're more careful going forward..."
Albert answered on Lion's behalf to Reni's apology, but it had all been caused by Lion's misunderstanding in the first place, so he couldn't bring himself to say anything more. Ultimately, it wasn't Reni's fault, and her apology was something she had no choice but to offer given that the other party was of noble birth. As a result, an awkward atmosphere hung between them.
"Well, let's just leave it at that! From now on, Reni will keep her distance from Lion as much as possible. And Lion, this time you need to learn from it and consult someone before getting carried away! Understood, Lion!"
Chris forced the matter to a close with considerable assertiveness. Reni nodded along with Chris's words, and Lion, still in her position on the ground, at least managed to raise one arm in response.
"Alright, let's hurry up and get back to lunch!"
After giving Lion only a passing glance, Chris quickly resumed the meal. The rest of us followed suit—but Lion didn't move. Seeing her like that, Jeanne and Aura debated bringing food over to her, but Chris's remark—"Do you want Reni to misunderstand again?"—made them sit right back down and eat.
Even after that, we checked on Lion several times during the meal, but she never changed her posture.
"Lunch is done, so let's get moving soon. Come on, Lion!"
When Cain called out, Lion finally stood up and came over to us. She was blatantly turning her face away, careful not to look in Reni's direction—but naturally, nobody gave her a hard time about it. Not even Cain, who was always teasing her. He had probably suggested they depart right after the meal so that Lion wouldn't be left sitting there like that.
"Then Lion, you're on driving duty again, okay?"
Keeping Lion at the reins once more was undoubtedly to keep her as far from Reni as possible.
"Everyone, the village is coming into view. How about we stay there for the night?"
It hadn't even been two hours since their last rest, but if they passed this point, they would have to camp in the open. When Cain made the suggestion, Grandpa said, "If we might end up camping anyway, we could take the opportunity to rest properly here and now," and that settled it before anyone else could object, with the majority on the carriage voting in favor. For reference, Chris was the first to agree, followed by Reni, Jeanne, and Aura.
"Traveling with the opposite sex can build up stress in all sorts of ways, you know. It's a leader's job to find places where people can rest easy."
Having received Grandpa's advice, I headed off to speak with the village gate guard, who was watching us warily from a distance. It was Lion and me who approached—the group's representative, yours truly, combined with the next lord of the territory. Honestly, though, I was worried that this village's guard might not recognize Lion at all.
"I'll go fetch the village chief. Please wait here a moment."
Sure enough, the guard couldn't identify Lion and had them wait until the village chief arrived. Well, it was a tiny village, so it was only natural that he didn't know Lion's face. In fact, if Lion hadn't gone on about being the next lord and I had simply shown my Guild Card instead, they might have been let through even more smoothly.
"Maybe they think we're some suspicious group claiming to be the next lord?"
"Ugh... that does sound likely. Incidentally, if that turns out to be the case, it's not my fault alone, right?"
It was one thing for Lion not to be recognized in a reasonably sized town like the one they'd encountered before, but in a tiny village like this, it was understandable that the villagers might not know who she was.
When I said that, Lion seemed to relax a little. She was starting to return to her usual self and was clearly recovering from the Reni shock.
The village chief who arrived, led by the guard, didn't recognize Lion's face but immediately let them into the village upon seeing the Border Earl family crest she displayed.
"That village chief definitely couldn't leave the village because of his age. Has to be."
They were successfully admitted into the village, but Lion kept making excuses the entire time. Albert, who had heard her excuses, said, "In a small village like this, it's not unusual for people not to know the lord's face," and Cain laughed, saying, "Yeah, but it's pretty funny, so let's keep Lion in the dark."
"So, we've found an inn, and from here it's free time for everyone... except Grandpa, you're coming with me to the village chief's place."
"Right."
Even with free time, this was roughly the same size as Kukuri Village or smaller, so there probably wasn't much to see. Still, the women planned to explore the village looking for anything unusual, while Albert and the others would split off and walk around both inside and outside the village. Ostensibly, this was partly for inspection purposes, but in reality, the plan was to keep Lion away from Reni and lift her spirits.
Grandpa and I, for our part, were going to visit the village chief to warn him about the frogs we had encountered on the road.
The Three Idiots' Side
"It's a small village, but their defenses are pretty solid. The walls aren't tall, but they're built from stone and reinforced with earth and timber to prevent easy collapse."
"That should buy them some time against an attack."
"Yeah, it should..."
Despite having been brought along, Lion had started moping again. She was still far from a full recovery, and her moods seemed to swing wildly.
"Honestly, seriously... If you were going to go after Reni, you should have at least gathered intel from Amour first! That way you would have known it was hopeless before getting hit with this shock!"
Cain, fed up with Lion's wallowing, suddenly lashed out at her. It was true that getting information from Amour would have greatly improved her chances of success, and she should have realized from the start that Reni was out of her league.
"Lion, Cain's right—this is your failing. It's not fair to make things awkward for Reni because of your own mistake. Even if it was a short time, is burdening someone you wanted to date what you consider the image of a 'man'?"
"Exactly! Think about it from the opposite angle—this is your chance to boost your stock, Lion!"
It was a rather forced line of reasoning, but Lion needed to pull herself together one way or another, since it could affect their future relationship with the Southern Autonomous Zone. No one knew exactly how much influence Reni had in the south, but the fact that the Marquis himself had personally requested her service suggested she was deeply trusted. At the very least, Amour clearly held her in high regard. Following that thread, their relationship with the south probably wouldn't sour immediately, but they wouldn't be viewed favorably either.
"That's right. The whole point of this trip is to show there's no bad blood between the Border Earl family and Tenma. If Lion goes and causes trouble for Tenma, the whole thing is pointless."
It was a somewhat underhanded way to put it, but invoking Tenma should push Lion to pull herself together even by sheer force of will.
"Right... that's true too."
Just as I'd expected, Lion told herself she absolutely could not trouble Tenma and started forcing herself to recover. At that moment—
"You guys over there! Get inside the village, now! A goblin swarm has appeared!"
Several villagers came sprinting from the grasslands, their faces pale with terror.
"How many?"
"A swarm of about thirty! I think they came looking for prey to prepare for winter. There are a lot, but if we fortify the village defenses and deal with them together, we should be fine!"
He said they should be fine, but his face was green—he clearly expected there would be casualties.
"Goblins are nothing! Leave them to me!"
Ignoring the villager entirely, Lion pulled her weapon from her Magic Bag and took off running toward the direction the villagers had fled from.
"You idiot... We're associates of the Border Earl's household. You, go alert the village immediately and prepare for the worst. And bring the people who came with us. Our representative should be with the village chief."
The villager, upon learning that they were connected to the Border Earl, almost dropped to his knees in a rush, but Lion sent him running to the village chief, telling him it was an emergency.
"Cain, we're going after Lion too. Thirty goblins shouldn't be enough to give Lion trouble, but still, better safe than sorry."
"Yeah. Besides, Lion's not in top condition right now... Let's move."
Whether it was because her mind was unstable or because she was just reckless, Lion kept making impulsive moves... I sighed, and Cain and I set off after her.
The Three Idiots' Side
"I take it things got quite eventful after that?"
Grandpa and I were at the village chief's house, where we had delivered our warning about the frogs and were now chatting. As it turned out, the village chief had visited Kukuri Village several times before and knew who I was. Well, we'd never actually met face-to-face—he had seen me from a distance during one of his visits. He remembered me because of the sudden increase in children he hadn't known about. He also knew of Grandpa, and being the famous figure he was, had always wanted to meet and talk—but unluckily, every time the village chief visited, Grandpa happened to be away from Kukuri Village.
"Mm. Well, life is full of surprises. Still, for a village this far from Kukuri Village, you're remarkably persistent about making the trip."
"Well, the medicine from Kukuri Village is remarkably effective... And now that I can speak freely, this village didn't have any particular specialty products, so I thought I might be able to replicate the method for making that medicine."
At first, he had apparently been visiting Kukuri Village with the intention of learning the recipe—though not by sneaking in, but by observing and figuring it out. When he couldn't manage to steal the process through observation alone, he had asked on a whim and been taught the recipe openly. The person who taught him was my mother, and since my father and I gathered the herbs from the Great Old Forest, the village chief hadn't even known what the raw ingredients were until she told him.
"Of course, even with the recipe, I don't have Celia's skill, and the quality of the raw materials is different, so I was never able to produce anything good enough to be a specialty product as I'd originally hoped. But the medicine made from local materials turned out to be plenty effective enough for everyday use, and the number of people dying from injuries and illnesses has dropped significantly."
Because they now had treatments for injuries and illnesses, the village had more healthy people, which ultimately led to increased food production. Separately from that, they also sought out my mother's particularly effective medicine and visited Kukuri Village as a way to maintain their relationship. Grandpa and I hadn't known about it, but it turned out that Uncle Mark had visited this village before as well, meaning there had been an existing connection between the two villages all along.
"Well, they're both in the Border Earl's domain, so it makes sense that there would be some ties..."
Because of my age and because Grandpa had always left the troublesome business to Father and Uncle Mark, we'd had no idea this village existed.
"That's also why the Dragon Zombie attack on Kukuri Village was such a shock. Kukuri Village was said to have the strongest fighting force among all the villages in the Border Earl's territory. If the attack had hit our village instead, we wouldn't have lasted even an hour."
The strength of Kukuri Village's forces came from the many former adventurers—including Grandpa, Father, and Mother—who were accustomed to hunting in the Great Old Forest. They didn't have Shellhide-level numbers, but it was said that in a straight fight of equal numbers, Kukuri Village would come out on top.
"After that incident, there were discussions in this village about what we would do if a massive swarm of monsters attacked. As a result, we strengthened the young men's patrols and built the wall around the village. I don't know how well it would hold up against monsters, but it's better than nothing, and if it can delay them even a little, that raises our chances of survival."
The Kukuri Village incident had, for better or worse, brought change to the small villages throughout the Border Earl's territory. Some villages, like this one, had focused on self-defense. Others had been emptied as residents moved to larger towns. Still others had strengthened their connections with neighboring villages and towns... And at the core of all these changes was a shared understanding: "In a crisis, you can't count on the Border Earl to come to your aid immediately."
"That incident led to all kinds of discussions with neighboring villages. But it's not easy to abandon your hometown. So in this village, the consensus was that we should prepare to stay as long as possible. Having sufficient medicine was part of the reason."
"So the incident raised the sense of crisis among the villages in the Border Earl's territory, did it?"
While Grandpa and the village chief were talking like this, a panicked villager came bursting into the chief's house. The chief scolded the man for his rudeness, but after hearing the report, he too began to panic.
"It's terrible! Lady Lion is fighting a goblin swarm!"
The report was, without question, about one of their own.
"Grandpa, I'll head over."
"Mm. I'll go check the opposite direction as a precaution. Ordinary goblins wouldn't be clever enough to set up an ambush, but if there are any higher-species ones, all bets are off."
With that, Grandpa and I immediately left the village chief's house and headed off in opposite directions.
"They said it wasn't far, so I should be able to see them any moment now... There—looks like she's fine."
Less than a minute after taking off, I spotted it: Lion, utterly demolishing the goblins single-handedly. They couldn't do a thing against her and were being cut down on one side. Half of them had already turned tail and fled. The other half had already been cut in two by Lion's blade.
"You okay? ...Never mind, that's a stupid question."
"Pretty much..."
"Yeah..."
Lion looked like she could handle things on her own, so I called out to Albert and Cain first. But for some reason, both of them looked less than cheerful. Just as I was about to ask them why, they silently pointed in Lion's direction. There—
"Why can't... I... get a girlfriend...! Damn it all!"
Lion was in tears, chasing down the fleeing goblins and hacking them in two.
"Hmm... well, if that's helping Lion feel even a little better, then the goblin swarm showing up wasn't for nothing, I suppose..."
I felt oddly ambivalent about it all, but I quietly stood watch alongside the other two. Come to think of it, I had assumed these were ordinary goblins, but nearly half of them were Hobgoblins, the higher-species variant. Hobgoblins were said to possess strength equal to or greater than an average adult male, so if this swarm had reached the village, there could have been fatal casualties.
"Acting unilaterally like that isn't great, but this time Lion played it well... Tactically, given the balance of forces, and emotionally, for Lion's sake..."
Lion would probably get an earful from Chris for going off on her own, but this time around, we had all decided to be firmly on her side.