Surviving in the Danger Zone (3)
"Oh my~ A cute little boy came along today?"
"Hey, kid, what's your name?"
"V-Vivaldi, ma'am……."
"How old are you?"
"Tw-Twenty……."
"Kyaaah! Weren't you just a baby the other day?! Have you ever worn a school uniform?!"
"You shameless married woman with a husband and kids at home……"
"Sh-Shut up! Boys raised in the city go to school and stuff, so I was just curious!"
A makeshift reception desk under a massive tree in the village square. They said if I sat here, the men doing housework would come by with their requests, but for some reason, it was the women from the fields who swarmed in.
Unlike noble ladies, these women had bodies honed by hard labor—plenty of healthy, robust figures. The thick, musky scent of sweat from married women who'd toiled since dawn clung to the air, making my head spin.
"Um, l-ladies…… If you could just tell me what you need……"
"Hee hee, jumping straight to business? City boys are so cold~"
"How about we talk about nighttime fun instead?"
"Ugh……."
The married women kept pressing close, filling my vision with breasts that had nursed many children. It was impossible to look straight at, so I bowed my head low.
"Honey! Hurry up and come eat!"
"I'm dying here! Does it take that long to ask someone to check on our cow?!"
"Other wives are out hunting boars in the woods to feed the family for a week, but mine's just flirting with other men……!"
In the distance, men shouted while brandishing ladles or brooms. For no reason I could fathom, they glared at me with intense hostility.
Unlike city men trained to be demure, these rural men seemed tough enough to wrestle women into submission. Aside from their role as homemakers, they felt a lot like the men from my past life.
"Aigoo, I'm so sick of my husband barking like that."
"Guess I better make this quick and go. You hear what that wife said? Our cow's been looking sickly—could you take a look?"
"Ah, yes! J-Just a moment, I'll note it down."
"Our crops are all wilting! We farm the same as everyone else—what are we missing?"
"Ah, got it……!"
I jotted down the villagers' requests for help, and Marie handled them with appropriate measures. A magic academy graduate, she used methods rare in the countryside to assist people.
For instance, right now by the roadside, her clones were sweeping away all the animal dung using water she'd fetched from the river.
"Ughhh…… So many complaints resolved at once…… As an administrator, this brings me such joy……! Did I ever mention my lord's been divorced three times?"
"N-No, but I don't want to hear it!"
The administrator Barnabas kept sniffling beside me, volunteering unwanted stories. I was terrified something useful might slip out.
As reception wound down, the married women started prying into personal matters again.
"Kid, you from the adventurer's guild too?"
"Ah, yes."
"So you hunt monsters and stuff?"
"N-No…… I'm just a receptionist……."
"Oh, good! Better to stay far away from killing monsters."
"Wh-Why?"
"Why? Monsters are living beings just like us—hunting them is too cruel."
It sounded like something from the Monster Protection Association. Hard to imagine such views arising naturally in a rural village. Marie must have pegged their influence from hearing this a lot.
"Um…… Don't you hunt animals here for meat?"
"……Well, yeah?"
"Aren't animals living beings too…… Same as monsters……?"
"……."
The married women's faces turned icy. Had I poked the hornet's nest too soon?
"Now that you mention it……"
"Huh? What?"
"Why are animals okay but not monsters?"
"Us aunties don't really get it!"
"We just go along with what the village head says~ Old folks have the wisdom of ages!"
What? It blew over that easily? For a Monster Protection Association thing, it felt way too casual.
"Um…… Do monsters ever attack the village?"
"Not really? The forest spirit protects us."
"Forest spirit……?"
"Lives deep in the woods. Huge as a mountain."
"Monsters fear it."
Forest spirit my ass—this was clearly a special-grade monster they deified.
"Um…… Aside from the lord's daughter, there've been quite a few disappearances, right? Have you ever thought of requesting help from the adventurer's guild……?"
"We did~ But the village head opposed it. Adventurers might attack the forest spirit."
"It's away right now, but it'll be furious when it returns."
The lord had hired us on her own authority. The village head would've blocked it if he'd known.
"That's just how it is living out here in the wilds~"
"The lord protects us now, but our mothers' generation had to fend for ourselves."
"Everyone loses one or two family members to the woods foraging for food."
The women spoke as if resigned, accustomed to it, but couldn't hide their underlying bitterness.
* * *
The sun dipped low, painting the sky red. Marie, done with her tasks, returned to the reception desk and sat beside me. She looked a bit weary.
"You worked hard."
"……Yeah. It's getting chilly."
Marie subtly spread her wings, wrapping around me. Sensing another weird mood brewing, I rushed to speak.
"H-How'd it go?! Any evidence of the Monster Protection Association active here?!"
"……No. I searched the village thoroughly, but nothing."
Marie sounded disappointed. Kali had tasked us with finding traces of the association, convinced it tied to the young lady's disappearance somehow.
I didn't see the connection between vanishings and monster protection, but Kali trusted her instincts absolutely.
"I checked hidden spots especially, but no secrets."
"I see……."
"Sorry."
"Huh? For what?"
"Kali didn't plan to bring me, but I volunteered to help you, Vivaldi. Yet I couldn't do much."
It wasn't useless, but if it were, it'd be great for me. Kali would lose faith in me, and I wouldn't get dragged out like this again. I never wanted to be dispatched to dangerous sites anymore. If I did, I'd have become an adventurer, not a receptionist.
"But I believe you can figure it out, Vivaldi."
Marie nodded with utter conviction. Where did this unshakable faith come from?! Even she, with dozens of clones and magic at her command, found nothing—how was I supposed to?!
No good. I'd be working with Marie long-term, so I needed to shatter her inflated view of me once and for all.
"Actually, I have a hunch about a spot."
"Really?!"
Pure bluff, of course. I planned to whiff spectacularly and erode their trust in me.
"If Marie checked all the hidden places and found nothing, maybe it's in plain sight instead."
"Plain sight……?"
"Like right here in the square. There's this big tree—and look, a knothole……"
"……Hands off."
"Kyaaak?!"
As I stood and reached for the massive tree in the square's center, something whooshed down from above and swatted my hand. Startled into a very unmanly scream, I toppled backward—only for Marie to catch me.
"……Sorry, Vivi. Didn't mean to scare you."
"N-Natalia?! Why were you up in the tree……?"
"……Good spot for a nap."
How long had she been sleeping there? I hadn't noticed at all!
Natalia drew her sword with a shing and plunged it into the knothole.
—Screeeech!
A repulsive screech echoed, then she withdrew the blade. At its tip writhed a fist-sized bug spewing green fluid.
"A b-bug?"
"……Not a bug—a lesser monster. Venomous. Dangerous. Bite paralyzes for a while."
"H-How'd you know? About the thing in the hole……?"
"……Didn't. But I get this twitch when you're in danger. That's why Kali brought me. To guard you."
Twitch? What even was that?
"……Wonder what they hid to post this guard. Let's see."
Natalia shoved her arm into the knothole, then pulled out something with a faint smile.
"……Good call, Vivi."
It was a rusty key. Just grabbing at random actually yielded something? No way. Wait—calm down. No guarantee it's important.
"What're you lot doing?"
Kali, Bella, and Haru approached from the forest, search complete. Natalia pressed the key into my hand and held it out toward Kali.
"……Vivi found this. No idea where."
"Uh, vice guild master. This……?"
Bella's eyes widened at my palm. Why the uneasy stare? Kali eyed the key irritably, then suddenly bulged her eyes, grabbed my shoulders, and shook me wildly.
"Vivi! Knew bringing you was right!"
"Eeeek?!"
"Found a suspicious iron door deep in the woods! This key's gotta fit—the lock matches!"
"Didn't wanna smash it and alert a special-grade monster, so we came back. Perfect."
"As expected of Vivaldi……!"
"I knew you could……!"
Why did everything always work out like this? I could only pray the key wouldn't fit the lock.