by Hiro Ainana
Apparently, they were collecting fruit from the branches of the Mountain-Tree.
The fruits were large enough that the little giants were picking them in pairs, so they must have been six or seven feet around in diameter.
Outside the trench, I could see an earthen wall about ten feet high.
According to the map, there were several of these walls forming concentric circles around the Mountain-Tree, at intervals of about six hundred and fifty feet. They were too low to be defensive barriers, and there were periodic gaps in them.
When we had nearly arrived at the village, we heard the sound of alarm bells.
“What could that be?”
“A fruit must have fallen from the Mountain-Tree, daho,” explained the leader of the little giants.
Indeed, if a fruit fell from a higher branch in the nearly mile-high Mountain-Tree, it certainly could cause a disaster.
So the earth walls weren’t to keep out enemies but to defend against falling fruit.
Overhead, I saw something shaking the leaves and branches of the tree as it descended. It was about seven hundred feet away from here.
“The defense lid will cover us soon enough, so please do not worry, daho.”
Placing our palanquin on the ground, the leader addressed us in a calm voice.
Even as he spoke, an arched, transparent barrier appeared over the walls of the passage. It was probably a Shelter wall made with Foundation Magic.
Then a vermilion fruit appeared from the branches.
Because of its unusual size, it seemed to be falling slowly, but in truth it was probably descending at a considerable speed.
As if to prove this, the earth rumbled and trembled as the fruit hit the ground.
Arisa and Mia (who were sitting on my knees), Tama and Pochi (to my left and right), and even Lulu and Miss Karina (behind me) all latched on to my arms.
I felt a wonderful softness of various sizes press into my back.
However, Miss Karina must have unconsciously invoked her Strength Enhancement or something. Her grip on my arm kinda hurt.
Liza and Nana didn’t miss a beat, keenly watching where the fruit had fallen.
A few more tremors followed shortly after.
“Uh-oh, daho. Must be a bouncer, daho.”
Since we couldn’t see what was going on very well from the trench, he had probably drawn his conclusion from the repeated quakes.
The fruit crashed into the soil wall in front of the village and reached a halt.
But, the next moment, we saw the wall crack apart, and the fruit rolled on into the village.
“Oh dear. That’s the spriggan general’s house, daho. We’ll all have to help with repairs tomorrow, daho.”
It sounded less like a major disaster and more like a frequently occurring inconvenience.
The magic defense ceiling above us was canceled out, and our palanquin was lifted up again, giving us a view of the aftermath.
Three had fallen altogether, two of them stopping in the trough they’d dug in the earth.
I could see plenty of other places where holes had been filled in, too.
“Does fruit fall like that very often?”
“Oh, no. Aside from during harvest season, there’s usually no more than one a month, daho.”
Then I guess a bunch of them must’ve fallen at once at one point…
“Normally, the elder sparrows eat the fruit at the top of the tree, daho. But in the last month or so, there haven’t been as many, so lots of the ripe fruit has been falling, daho.”
…or not.
Elder sparrows were giant, round birds like the one the witch of the Forest of Illusions had ridden.
What could’ve caused their numbers to decrease?
“I seem to recall those birds being quite large. Is there a dangerous predator around or something?”
“Not anymore, so don’t worry, daho. But during the most recent new moon, a flock of hydra came through the barrier, daho. Many of the sparrows were eaten, daho,” the little giants’ leader answered sorrowfully.
Hydra again, huh? Powerful and mobile. Those pests must be hard to manage.
“The great forest giants drove them away by throwing hard-shelled fruit at them, but several were hit by the hydras’ poison breath, daho.”
“That sounds terrible.”
I would be fine as long as I killed the thing instantly from a distance so it couldn’t counterattack, but if I did end up on the receiving end of that poison breath, I bet washing my clothes would be a huge pain afterward. It might even damage the fibers and make them unwearable.
“It was, daho. That was the first time in the three hundred years I’ve been alive that we were attacked by monsters, so I really panicked, daho.”
Maybe I was just being paranoid, but I wondered if the hell demon had provoked the hydra flock to attack the village.
“The adult forest giants were healed by a gnomish antidote, at least, but there are still three forest giant children who’re bedridden from the poison, daho.”
The poison was still in their systems a month later?
I tried searching for forest giants on the map.
Sure enough, three forest giant children had the status condition Poison/Hydra [Chronic]. Their HP gauges were down to a third or fourth of their original number, and their magic and stamina gauges were on the verge of depletion, too.
“Does the antidote not work on children?”
“Well… I heard that they only had enough materials for snake venom antidote, so it wasn’t very effective, daho. So now one forest giant, Lord Braidbeard, is off hunting the hydra so we can make the real antidote, daho.”
Ah! That must be the one forest giant I found when I searched the map of the barony before.
At the moment, he was near the barrier.
A search of his possessions revealed that he had a severed hydra head, so he must have been able to safely secure the antidote materials.
I had a hydra corpse in my Storage, too, but it would be uncouth to render his efforts moot just before his triumphant return, so I decided to keep that to myself.
The palanquin carrying our group stopped in front of the biggest house in the village.
“Welcome home, dear. So these are the great forest giants’ guests?”
“Yes, daho. There is an elf among them as well, so please treat them with courtesy, daho.”
“Oh my. I think it’s been near a hundred years since we last welcomed an elf into our home.”
The two were husband and wife, both over three hundred years old.
“I am Whitefinger, wife of the village chief, Lank. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
So the leader of our little giant entourage was the village chief.
The names she gave were apparently shortened versions of their lengthy names, like the forest giants’. They were most likely direct translations from giant language into Shigan.
Since Mia was hiding behind me and making no attempt to introduce herself, I greeted them instead.
“I beg your pardon—Mia is quite shy. I am a humanfolk peddler by the name of Satou.”
“I see. So her name is Lady Mia? Worry not—we are well aware that elves are often silent. The only words Lord Yusaratoya ever spoke to us in his visit were Yuya, thanks, and farewell.”
She said this jokingly, so I doubted she was trying to be sarcastic.
After everyone else had been introduced and we’d been shown to our rooms, Mia finally mumbled her name to Whitefinger.
“Mia.”
“My, elves have such wonderful voices! I’ll make you a meal with the fruit of the Mountain-Tree tonight. Are there any foods that you don’t like?”
The pitch of Whitefinger’s voice rose when Mia spoke, and she leaned in toward the elf.
“Meat,” Mia replied, forming an X over her mouth with her fingers and pulling back slightly.
“I’ll be sure not to make any dishes with meat, then,” Whitefinger answered with zeal.
> Despair appeared on the beastfolk girls’ faces, so I discreetly requested that she include meat in everyone’s dishes but Mia’s.
On our way to the chief’s house, I’d seen a cowherd with a herd of animals that looked like longhaired cattle, so meat wasn’t too scarce here.
Shortly thereafter, Lank stated that he was going to get some of the fruit from the Mountain-Tree, so I asked him to take Liza and me along.
I was a little worried about Miss Karina. She’d immediately shut herself away in her room, claiming she was tired, so I went to see how she was doing while the village chief got prepared.
Armed with baked goods and freshly brewed blue-green tea from Storage, I visited Miss Karina’s room.
“Please eat a little something. Lulu says an empty stomach only worsens a bad mood.”
“I have no appetite at all…”
As if in protest, her stomach immediately let out a growl.
I offered again, and after reluctantly accepting it, she started eating right away.
The way she held the pastry in both hands as she munched on it reminded me of a cute little squirrel.
“Why…?” Miss Karina murmured quietly. “Why must I be hated so by people I’ve never even met?” The fear and anger in her trembling voice clearly expressed the complexity of her heart.
“Perhaps since Marquis Muno did such terrible things—”
“But why?! I have no ties or blood relation to such a person!”
Miss Karina passionately stood, grabbing my collar and putting her face close to mine. Her eyes were full of anger and sadness at this unreasonable world.
“To them, all they see is that you’re a human with the name of ‘Muno,’ I imagine.”
Even in a parallel world, one thing can be all it takes to hate someone.
At my words, Miss Karina simply repeated, “Why…?” and pressed her forehead into my chest.
Faintly, I could hear her starting to weep.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her quivering eyelashes and glossy lips.
How can a woman in a moment of weakness be so lovely…?
I hugged her lightly to comfort her, and she leaned into me like a child.
With her soft chest against me, I desperately fought the terrible urge to fall back onto the bed with her.
At that moment, Liza opened the door.
“Master, Lord Lank says he is just about ready to— Oh, pardon me. I shall come back later.”
“Wait! That won’t be necessary.”
Liza took in the situation and made to leave tactfully, but I quickly stopped her.
Thanks to her arrival, the battle between the angel and demon in my soul ended in a narrow victory for the side of good.
That was close. If I were to lay a hand on a noble’s daughter, I’d either end up on the wanted list or the fast track to marriage.
I relaxed my arm around Miss Karina and instead patted her lightly on the back to soothe her.
Then I made another attempt to cheer her up after asking Liza to wait a moment.
“Lady Karina, it’s too soon to give up. It’s just as a famous leader of my kingdom once said: When you give up, it’s all over.”
I paused for a moment, waiting for her reaction.
She didn’t seem thrilled, but at least she was listening to me.
“Lady Karina, even if they don’t show you a smidgen of kindness, you can’t retreat yet. You’ll just have to take action to win their favor.”
“…Favor?” Miss Karina looked up at me hopefully, so I nodded.
If I said this to one of my non-nerd friends, they’d probably make fun of me for treating everything like a game.
Miss Karina didn’t seem to understand completely, so I tried to explain.
“That’s right. There aren’t many people who will do something nice for someone they hate. So you just have to start by befriending them.”
“Befriending them…? However would I go about such a thing?”
“We’ll just have to try to find a way. At least we have permission to stay, for starters.”
The life was returning to Miss Karina’s eyes, but she still seemed anxious.
“Don’t worry. It’ll work out somehow.”
I took her hand reassuringly, smiling as lightly as possible.
“Thank you…Satou.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill ensured Miss Karina’s mumbled thanks reached me.
My rash promise seemed to have worked, as the shadows were finally disappearing from her expression. Her cheeks were turning pink, too. Her eyes were still faintly clouded from crying—she looked just like a maiden in love.
She’d be all right now.
“Liza and I are going with Lord Lank to gather information, all right?”
“Let me co—”
“Wait, Lady Karina. If we accompany them, we will only hinder their attempts to collect information. We must be prudent.”
“Mr. Raka…”
Miss Karina wanted to come along, but Raka stopped her.
Oh yeah, Raka’s here, too, huh?
“Leave the investigating to us. I’ll get some good tidbits and come back.”
I smiled again to put her worries at ease, then left the room.
Before we set out, I visited Arisa and asked her to go talk with Miss Karina.
Liza and I marched along with Lank on the main street of Mountain-Tree Village.
The little community consisted of about a hundred and eighty houses, but unlike a human village, the buildings here came in vastly different sizes. Not only that, but apparently, each race had its own style of architecture, so it was fascinating to see the variety of roofs, windows, and so on.
“This is a nice village.”
“That’s kind of you to say, daho. We’re all very proud of our village, daho.”
Lank considerately matched his pace with ours, and we took in the sights of the street as we proceeded toward the fruit-processing plant.
Along the way, we saw some children racing down the street; the young fairies were smaller than Pochi and Tama, but the little giants were taller than me.
Now, you’d never find a fantastical scene like this on Earth. I wouldn’t forget the sight of a spriggan boy riding proudly on a little giant child’s back anytime soon.
I decided to explore the village with everyone tomorrow. Arisa in particular would probably be overjoyed.
Soon enough, we arrived at the fruit-processing plant, which looked like a workshop with no outer walls.
Enormous colorful fruits waited in rows for the little giants to cut them open with large axes and saws.
I rapped experimentally on a dark-gray fruit lying nearby, and it felt almost like steel. Next to it was a yellow fruit about as firm as a coconut. Clearly, there were large differences among each of the varieties.
“This one’s too hard. Lank, take over for me.”
“Duty calls, daho. I’ll be right back, daho.”
One of the little giants pleaded with Lank for help after failing to cleave the fruit with an ax.
The sturdy rind also gave Lank trouble, as his ax bounced off it harmlessly.
“Could I maybe give it a try, too?”
I generally don’t like to draw attention, but I really wanted to experience this for myself.
With abilities like Body Strengthening in this world, it shouldn’t be too strange for a human to be able to wield a giant ax.
Besides, this village didn’t seem to have a lot of contact with the outside world, so they probably wouldn’t spread any strange rumors. If anything, the authority of Mia and the Silent Bell of Bolenan should protect me here.
“Are you sure you can hold it, daho?”
“I’ll be all right. I have a Body Strengthening magic tool.”
As usual, my “Fabrication” skill was working to great effect here.
I borrowed the giant ax and tested out its weight. Since my own body was so light, I couldn’t do much about the inertia of the ax.
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Near the wall, there was a large, thin-bladed sword that looked a little lighter, so I borrowed that instead and gave it a swing.
“Ooh, amazing, daho. I’ve never seen anyone cut one of those on their first swing, daho.”
“What an arm! Do you think he might even be able to break an ironshell?”
“It’s worth a try, daho. If it works, we’ll be able to drink ironshell wine at tonight’s banquet, daho.”
This “ironshell” was probably the dark-gray fruit I’d seen near the entrance. It was as hard as steel, so only the forest giants’ shell-breaking tools could crack it.
Ironshell wine, they explained, tasted sweet and strong, and it had a high alcohol content.
Perhaps this was the key ingredient of the Giant’s Tears wine I’d drank in Sedum City back in Kuhanou County?
With an intense glare at the fruit towering over me, I made a swing at it with the sword.
The thin blade broke with a resounding crack.
“I’m sorry…”
“Well, an ironshell was probably too much to hope for.”
“Yeah, it’s only to be expected…”
I apologized, and the plant workers responded with disappointment.
“…H-hey, look there!”
One of the workers shouted and pointed at the ironshell.
A fissure had appeared high on the fruit, and as if encouraged by the cry of surprise, the crack was growing.
“H-he cut it!”
“Whoa!!”
“A-amazing, daho. Satou, you are a master swordsman, daho.”
A chorus of surprise and adulation rose from the crowd of workers.
Picking up the remains of the blade from the floor, I finished my apology.
“…I broke the sword.”
“It’s no problem, daho. Axes and swords break all the time while we’re splitting fruit, daho. If we bring some wine to the blacksmith later, he’ll be happy to fix it, daho. Just leave that to the guys at the plant, daho.”
Lank’s casual reply encouraged me.
Just in case, I apologized to the other workers, but far from being angry, they insisted that I could break as many as I liked as long as I cut open more ironshells for them.
As I split three more, the number of onlookers steadily increased.
> Title Acquired: Street Performer
Just as I acquired the title, a woman with the head of a dog appeared in the workshop.
