Popcorn's Defeat
Pi... I lost to Pudding.
The new house smelled pleasantly of wood.
Ah, this is heaven.
I flopped down onto the floor.
Apparently, something like a mattress exists in this world too.
They say it's made by bundling straw into squares and sold in the city.
Of course, even with money, we can't buy one in this village right now.
The city is too far away, so who knows when we'll get a straw mattress.
I've heard that farming households usually gather leftover straw after harvest, pile it on a wooden bed, and cover it with cloth to sleep.
Since we need to harvest first to get straw, we don't have any yet.
We'll have to wait until autumn.
At least the blankets we received at the start are decent enough. That's a relief.
'I should buy a few more blankets the next time a merchant comes by.'
Beer and wine would be good too.
In a village with no entertainment, that's the only pleasure to be had.
When we first arrived, I thought it was unnecessary, but seeing how things have gone, it's clearly an essential expense.
If I sell some of the fur and meat we've gathered, we should be able to afford that much.
Meat itself can be found in any village, but thanks to Popcorn, the taste is far superior.
The way the merchant got greedy over the wild boar meat last time makes me think we could sell it for a good price.
'Ah, maybe I should let Popcorn roll around on the hides.'
Popcorn tends to play where people gather, so it has no interest in hides.
That's why I've never seen the effect, but it might improve the quality of the leather.
Just then, Popcorn flew in through the window.
The children followed, grunting and climbing in after it.
Why struggle through the window when the door is wide open?
The kids lay down in a row beside me.
"Teacher, the spirit is shining so brightly today."
"Something good must have happened."
"It's because we got a house."
"That's right, the spirit got a house today too."
"Teacher, is the spirit happy when it has a house too?"
Popcorn really had been scattering light in every direction today.
Maybe something good happened.
Or maybe it really was happy about the house.
While I answered the children's questions one by one, Popcorn flew right up to my nose.
"Ah! Its color changed!"
"It's so pretty."
"The light is different from usual today."
"It looks like a rainbow."
"Does that mean something really good happened?"
The children shouted while still lying down, staring at Popcorn.
To my eyes it was just Popcorn, but the colors of the light it scattered were definitely more varied than usual.
"Pi-pi-pi! Pi-pi-pi-pi!"
Popcorn grabbed my nose and started chirping.
It seemed to be bragging that it could produce more colors now.
"Yeah, your colors got prettier. Really pretty. Congratulations."
"...Pi... Pii...."
Popcorn's shoulders drooped.
That wasn't it, apparently.
"Pii pii pii...."
Popcorn raised both hands high and lowered them like waves, repeating the motion several times, but I still had no idea what it meant.
Popcorn clearly had no talent for acting.
Ji-geu rolled over, trampling the other children, and came right up beside me.
The kids screamed that they were dying, being crushed, but Ji-geu paid no attention.
Pressing close to me, Ji-geu said,
"Teacher, did you see that just now? The spirit's light stretched out long like hair. I thought it actually grew hair and got startled."
Listening to Ji-geu, Popcorn's gesture did seem like it might mean hair.
"Did you want longer hair?"
The moment I muttered that, Popcorn let out a loud, despairing "Pii!" and collapsed onto my nose.
That wasn't it either.
If only my words could actually reach it.
"Kku... kku...."
Hearing the familiar sound, I sat up to see Pudding coming inside.
But its appearance was different from usual.
Its body was swollen tight like a balloon about to burst.
"Moles!"
"There are so many!"
"Amazing!"
"There are bugs too!"
"Incredible."
The children jumped up and shouted noisily.
At first I couldn't tell because they were piled so thickly, but it was definitely moles inside Pudding's body.
A lot of them.
Usually it eats one or two and catches more again.
The children who had been beside me moments ago darted over like squirrels and surrounded Pudding.
Having instantly lost the children's attention, Popcorn looked at Pudding in disbelief.
It really was puffed up to the limit.
It must have eaten way too much.
"You're not going to get an upset stomach, are you?"
The moment I asked Pudding, its body trembled and moles and bugs began pouring out.
They had all still been alive.
Pudding's body shrank in an instant, and moles and unidentifiable bugs flew in every direction.
"Wh-what?"
While I stood there startled, the children chased after the bugs and moles, shouting.
"It must be a congratulatory gift!"
"Pudding is so nice."
"Good job, Pudding!"
"Teacher must be happy."
Not happy at all.
Pudding must have packed them in tightly. Our brand-new house was instantly covered in bugs.
A sigh escaped me without thinking.
Anyway, I threw the door wide open and swung cloth and branches to drive the bugs and moles out.
The children excitedly caught bugs and stuffed them into reed baskets tied at their waists.
They always carried those baskets for bug-catching.
"...Kku... kkuru... kkuru...."
Pudding seemed to think we were celebrating.
It trembled and started dancing.
The children were right—the moles and bugs had been congratulatory gifts.
While the children were happy, I, the homeowner, was not pleased at all.
Popcorn knelt in front of Pudding with its face planted on the floor.
It probably hadn't meant it that way, but it looked like it was surrendering in defeat.
After staying like that for a moment, Popcorn drooped its shoulders and trudged out into the air.
The sad "Pii... pii..." echoed, but sorry—I'm busy catching bugs right now. I don't have time to comfort you.
Pii... I lost to Pudding.
Popcorn had worked hard to bring Dad a bride too, but Pudding brought something amazing and won.
Pii... pii....
Popcorn grew very sad.
Dad and the children looked so happy.
But when it remembered the villagers' faces when the bride arrived, its mood improved a little.
Back then, everyone had been incredibly happy.
Popcorn knew that both Dad and the villagers had only looked at the bride.
"Pit!"
If it brought Dad a bride, everyone would be much happier than they were with Pudding's moles and bugs.
Definitely.
Because Sprout had said so.
Dad would be happy.
"Pit!"
Alright! I'll do my best to bring Dad a bride!
They said it was a village, but when they arrived, there was nothing.
No houses, not even tents.
The land, still little more than wilderness, had spots that looked like someone had started clearing stones. Further in, a place where supplies were stacked came into view.
The bride beside her whispered that those were the supplies they had been given.
She seemed so frightened that she had to say something.
The bride who had been clinging to Marguerite like she was hiding trembled violently.
The merchants had given them rough information in advance about which village they would be going to, how many brides were already there, and roughly how many people lived there.
Only one bride was getting off at this village.
That was her.
Marguerite tightly held the trembling girl's hand.
When their eyes met, the bride smiled as if she were about to cry.
As the merchant's carriage and cart moved inside, people began gathering.
Not a hundred, but easily over fifty.
No women were visible.
Only men.
'They said there were two brides in this village too.'
Where could they be?
From the way those women looked, she could roughly guess what would happen to them.
But still, there wasn't a single woman in sight.
Anne, who had been acting unpleasant the entire journey here, whispered,
"Over there, in that corner—isn't that a woman?"
Following her words, Marguerite looked toward the stacked supplies and saw someone who appeared to be a woman sitting there.
From the small frame, it seemed like a woman, but her face and body were hard to make out.
She was wearing something like a long sack that covered her from head to toe and was leaning against the supplies.
'Don't tell me... that person is really the bride of this place?'
There were no other women.
Only one.
At the feet hidden by the sack, something like a rope lay on the ground.
Maybe her feet were tied.
Looking again with that thought, it really did seem like the person was a woman.
Even from a distance, with only her silhouette barely visible behind the supplies, Marguerite could roughly understand how women were treated here.
"I-I don't like it. I don't want to stay here."
The bride shook her head while crying softly.
But none of the women in the cart had the luxury to say anything.
The remaining brides would be going to the same kind of place.
Maybe even worse villages.
Marguerite couldn't say anything either and only gripped the girl's hand tightly.
The bride squeezed back.
The strength that had grown painful felt like her scream.
When the merchant stopped the carriage, Kenson came over to the brides' cart.
People had already gathered, making the area noisy.
"Keep your heads down and don't show your faces if possible. I'll finish a few things and leave right away, so don't get off."
Kenson spoke quietly while looking around.
"Yes, I understand."
When Marguerite nodded, Kenson glanced around with a slightly uneasy expression.
The merchants came over and unfastened the cart's latch.
The cart had four walls, and when the latch was undone, the back wall was designed to open outward.
The merchant's brother spoke to the bride beside Marguerite.
"I'm sorry, but please get off."
"...."
The bride couldn't move and only cried.
When the merchant reluctantly reached out his hand, a large, hairy man stepped forward.
"Welcome. Are those women our village's brides?"
This man seemed to be the village chief.
The man looked over the brides in the cart one by one, as if licking them with his eyes.
Marguerite lowered her head as if hiding among the women.
The cloth wrapped around her head had already been pulled down deeply before arriving here.
Only her eyes were visible.
Still, she was too anxious to lift her face.
The bride beside her sniffled quietly.
Her breathing was irregular, as if she was terrified.
Kenson's voice rang out loudly.
"What nonsense is that? This village only gets one bride."
At Kenson's words, the hairy chief's face twisted.
"What, with this many men, only one woman? Are you joking?"
Other men crowded closer and protested.
"That's really too much."
"Who are you giving just one to?"
"At least give us three."
"That's right. There are nine of them, so three should be fine."
The men began surrounding the cart.
The atmosphere grew hostile.
At this rate, maybe more than one really would be left here.
The brides pressed close to each other and began trembling.
"Shut up! If you keep complaining, I won't leave even one and just go."
When Kenson shouted, the men grumbled.
"We came here and worked so hard clearing the land, but there's no reward."
"Damn it. We can't go anywhere else, so you're telling us to bury ourselves here and live with our right hands forever?"
"This is really too much."
The chief spoke with deep wrinkles on his forehead.
"There's a contract. You can't do whatever you want. No matter if you're the administrator, if we report you to the central government, you're finished."
"Haah, listen here, Chief. You seem to think becoming chief made you some kind of educated person, but the contract doesn't mention anything about women."
At Kenson's words, the chief's face grew even darker.
"What? Are you saying we're ignorant?"
While the chief was shouting, a man beside him hurriedly whispered something.
After hearing the whisper, the chief laughed heartily at Kenson.
"Well, I was mistaken about that. But Administrator, with this many men, one woman is still too little."
At the chief's words, Kenson spat on the ground. He had never done anything so crude until now.
"Too little or not, if it were up to me, I wouldn't leave even one. We paid money, gave supplies, and brought brides so you could make fields, but what happened? Are the fields being made? Are houses being built? The village isn't forming at all."
"Th-that's..."
"Besides, where's the bride we sent last time? I told you, didn't I? Treat the brides with care. Do you think brides are crops that grow from digging the ground?"
"So that's... women have weak bodies, after all...."
"That's exactly why I'm telling you to treat them with care."
The chief's momentum weakened, and some men quietly stepped back.
"Well, you know we didn't do it on purpose."
The chief said this while looking up at the cart.
"If that's the case, at least give us a pretty one."
At that moment, someone from behind suddenly pushed Marguerite.
It must have been Anne, who had been behind her.
Marguerite tumbled out of the open cart.
In the process, her headcloth came off, and her platinum hair spilled over her shoulders.
She hurriedly picked up the cloth and put it back on, but it was too late.
The area that had been noisy just moments ago had gone so quiet that not even a breath could be heard.
"Wh-what is this woman?"
"Is she a bride too?"
"If we're only getting one anyway...."
She could feel the men's atmosphere change completely.