Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)
Chapter 20
6-20. People of Baron Muno Territory (10) Satou"s here. I"ve heard that you can see fragments of your memories inside your dream.
Although, ever since I led a life of brief sleeps after I became a working adult, I never dream anymore.
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Pochi and the girls come to change place with us since the time is up. Arisa says, "I"ll be watching you so you don"t go out in the night." and takes up the position beside me to sleep together. Usually I would toss her, but since she"s done well during the negotiation with ossan today, I"ll let her off for once, though this is not a reward.
Of course I warn her that if she tries to s.e.xually hara.s.s me, I"ll tie and hang her on a tree.
Since even Lulu is taking the position on the opposite side while saying, "M, me too, I"ll watch too.", requesting while fumbling her words, we end up looking like character for river.
I hope 5 years pa.s.ses fast.
Contrary to my expectation, Arisa went asleep without trying to do anything funny.
If she"s always like this, I"ll let her sleep together anytime.
I check on the demon"s movement before I go to sleep.
It"s loitering around at the castle and the thieves in the forest like usual, but sometimes, it produces a level 1 split body (Splitter) and lets it wandering around in the city. I tried monitoring it for the whole night before, but since it didn"t seem that it killed anyone, it was probably a split body used for gathering information.
There is also another suspicious movement from elsewhere.
The thieves around Muno city are merging with the large thief group in the forest near the city. There are also quite a lot of serfs who have escaped from nearby villages mixed in, they"ve became a group of around 500 people. If the smaller groups who"re moving join with them, it would become 700 people. A revolution could probably takes place.
Furthermore, from northwest--about on the right from where we are now, a bit away from Muno city--armies of demi-goblin are entering the territory. There were only 50 of them in the evening yesterday, but they"re nearing 1000 now and are still increasing coming from outside the territory.
Still, I wonder if they have "demi" because they"re subspecies of goblin. Surprisingly, they"re not demi-humans but more or less monsters. I"d like to look at them since I"ve never seen one in person yet.
I"ve also never seen orcs, but since they"re written on this world"s tales, they surely exist somewhere.
The one that knight Eral was looking for during the noon was probably the second daughter of the baron. Why I would think so is because she"s currently at the base of the large thief group. She might have been kidnapped and became a hostage. I wonder if it"s because of her parents.
Looks like tomorrow, our journey is going to be peaceful, thanks to the movement of the thieves. Since the unnecessary troubles would be decreased, let"s strive to reach Muno city at the morning of the day after tomorrow.
I went asleep after I"ve finished the general investigation.
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I had an unusual dream.
I"m dreaming of me playing with the girl who"s my first love from the countryside on the grounds of a shrine during my childhood.
If it"s just that then it would just be a nostalgic dream, but the scene is different and her personality is also different even though I"m sure that she"s the same girl.
I cannot remember the girl"s name, but I wonder why do I have this dream during the time when I"m embraced by Lulu and Arisa.
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"Like I said, I can"t accept with only river."
Arisa gets up while shouting some strange words. She"s been grinding her teeth which let out a loud sound since a while ago. In addition, her fingernails on her hands which are grabbing my arms are painful. It"s recovered even before I take damage, and it only redden my skin so I leave it alone, but painful thing is painful.
"Good morning, Arisa."
"Good morning? I"m Arisa, your darling."
"Almost there, the last one was wrong."
She only answers by repeatedly pretend-hit me, but there are traces of tears on the area around her eyes. What kind of dream did she have.
Lulu is still sleeping, but she also has traces of tears on her face. When I lower my line of sight, Pochi and Tama are sleeping while curling up like b.a.l.l.s on my stomach, saying, "I hate cold~", "I hate hunger nano desu.". It looks like they"re having nightmares.
Since everyone seems to be having nightmares, I wake them up by pinching their noses in turns.
"Master? Thank goodness!"
"Morning~? Nyau, it"s warm nodesu."
"Good morning nano desu. It"s time to prepare for breakfast nano desu."
The three seem to be still half-asleep, they"re rubbing their faces on my chest and shoulders with sleepy eyes. It"s rare to see such state of Lulu. Usually Arisa would have took this chance to jump in, but she"s gone to wash her face.
I"m thinking that an incubus might have came but there"s nothing when I search for it. If it was really incubus, my crisis perception would have kicked in earlier.
Mia and Liza were also dreaming about their hometown. It seems that Nana didn"t have any particular dream. So she did not see something like electric sheep or magic sheep.
There is nothing attacking us that day as expected, it"s a truly a peaceful day.
It just that, Pochi and Tama become excessively clingy to me while rubbing their face on me today, I couldn"t make anything during the travel. Since they look really uneasy, I play card and s.h.i.+ritori with Pochi and Tama for the whole day today.
I invite Hayuna couple since they look bored, but it seems Ossan gets addicted to the games, he becomes really frolic. I wish Hayuna-san infuses him with her elegance.
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That night I have the continuation of the dream from yesterday. And sure enough, everyone also had strange dream when I asked them the next morning.
I thought that it was the work of the demon, but after seeing the demon"s skill and its tribe"s innate skill, it doesn"t seem so.
The demon is from a tribe called Short Horn, it seems they have short horn with bat wings, and look like gargoyles. Its skill are, [Ghost Magic], [Mind Magic], [Transform], [Bewitching], only those fours.
This demon has been staying in the neighboring forest since the noon yesterday.
The gathered thieves were peaking at more than 700, but the number is only in one digit now. I don"t understand how it could decrease so sharply during the time I wasn"t looking, but after seeing zombies which keep appearing with the demon at the center, I understand the situation.
The demi-goblin lot are also coming near the zombies. They"ve stopped increasing, but they"ve became 3000 strong in the end.
Sometimes the zombies" number decrease, in exchange skeletons appear, I don"t want to know what happen.
The baron"s daughter who seemingly was kidnapped by the thieves seemed to have successfully escaped. She"s running into the forest depth together with a man with conspicuously high level among the thieves, I don"t know if he"s charmed or if they"re acquaintance from the beginning.
Inside the baron"s area, the territorial army has gone toward the thieves" forest early in the morning, it looks like the rescue operation for the daughter has begun. They"re numbering in over 1000. Apparently, they"ve also employed local mercenaries and slaves.
The hero isn"t among those in the army. Looks like he"s inside the baron"s castle.
With these many flags standing, even without crisis perception skill, I get premonition for great tumult happening.
I must evacuate everyone to the safe place as soon as possible.
◇
We"ve finally arrived at Muno city, but the gate is sealed shut, we can"t get in.
Right now, we negotiate by showing Ossan"s dagger, but since none of the guards are familiar with the seal on the dagger, we"ve been invited to the castle.
"I will go with Toruma couple to meet the baron. I"d like everyone to go to the village up ahead with the wagon to do something."
Ossan invited us all, but if I"m careless here, the couple could die and I wouldn"t be able to visit the workshop.
Even though I"m going to meet face to face with the baron, I don"t really have the intention to tell him to do something to his territory. I feel sorry for the people like the children and the elders I"ve meet back then, but it"s not at the degree where I want to save them no matter what. Even regarding the fake hero, I only feel that I should help in some way or other.
Therefore, I want to ensure the safety of Liza and the girls.
"Master, what should we do?"
"Un, there"s a village up ahead. I want you to gather pebbles that look like this at the river beside the village. I want you to ask the village"s chief to request everyone to collect those pebbles."
"Tama will gather~"
"Pochi will work hard too nodesu."
I continue the talk while putting my hands on Pochi"s and Tama"s head who take firm poses with "Swoosh."
"Un, I"m happy for your eagerness, but we should give the works to the villagers."
I explain it to everyone in detail.
They have to gather 100 pebbles. I"ll buy the pebbles for 1 copper coin each.
I leave the judging of the gathered pebbles to Tama who has gathering skill.
I"m entrusting Arisa with calculating the money and negotiating with the village"s chief.
Liza will be beside the wagon so that the villagers won"t underestimate them.
Nana will be the master, while Lulu and Mia will be the servants.
"What should Pochi do nodesu?"
"Pochi will act as bodyguard for Arisa when the pebbles are exchanged for money."
"Roger~ nano desu."
Now then, the explanation is OK with this. I should join with Hayuna-san and Ossan.
Arisa catches my clothes before I can get off the wagon.
"No, absolutely no."
Tears acc.u.mulate on Arisa"s eyes, and she refuses wholeheartedly.
Huh, does she really not want to be the negotiator? I think she"s more suited for that than anyone else here.
"Then, would you swap with Lulu?"
"No, I don"t want to let y, master go alone."
It"s fine of her to call with anta, but she used the stiff goshujin-sama huh.
"It"s not like I"m going to a battlefield. I"m only accompanying Toruma couple to the baron"s castle, I"m only thinking of seizing the chance to meet with the baron face-to-face you know?"
I try to sound as carefree as possible with some jokes.
"I"ve thought of appealing to him about the people if he"s a person who"s easy to talk into, but I will prioritize my safety first, so it"s going to be alright."
However, sensitive Arisa doesn"t seem let this pa.s.s. She presses on me while raising her shoulders.
"That"s a lie, the fact that you don"t take us into the city is the proof."
You"re spot on.
Now then, what to do.