Chapter 216: Reconfirming Our Place, and Suspicion of a Monster

"By the way, Rosalier, why are you in this village?"

When I asked, Rosalier looked at me with a complicated expression.

Damn.

I only noticed after I said it.

Given how this village came to be, it was obvious I should not ask about the past.

"Ah, no, sorry. I asked something I shouldn’t have."

"No. It cannot be helped."

Rosalier smiled, a bitter laugh in it.

Yeah. That really was careless of me.

"Kyaa!"

Just then, a scream rang out.

I looked and saw Sara’s clothes soaked with water.

The girl who had been serving had apparently thrown water on Sara.

"Why must I serve the likes of a Dule!!"

She swept her beautiful golden hair back and shouted.

Mid-teens to about twenty, maybe.

Her face was as well-formed as a doll’s, but the sharp lift of her eyes gave a cold impression.

"Elmegart!"

One of the other women who had been serving grabbed the girl called Elmegart by the hand and pulled her outside.

"I am sorry. Are you all right?"

Rosalier rushed over to Sara in a fluster and wiped Sara’s wet chest with the apron she was wearing.

Another woman brought a cloth from the back room and moved to wipe Sara’s head and face.

"N-no, I am the one who grew careless..."

Sara held up a hand to stop Rosalier’s and the woman’s kindness, took the cloth from the woman, and wiped her own head and face.

As if that were a signal, every Dule stood.

Birga and Lilli were a little late, but they stood too.

Then they drew back to the wall.

Only Muriel and Cathy came to stand behind me.

"Please lend us those."

They moved to take the pitchers, pots, and the rest from the women who had been serving.

"E-everyone, what are you..."

The serving women were thrown off by the Dules moving all at once, and handed what they held to Muriel and Cathy.

I understood what Muriel and the others were thinking.

They meant to stay in their place as Dules.

"All of you are our guests, so it is quite all right for you to sit and eat. Come now, Lilli too..."

Rosalier tried to persuade the Dules to keep eating.

She seemed to have meant to start the persuasion with Lilli, the one who knew them best...

"But I am one of Master Hiroyuki’s Dules too..."

Lilli looked around and would not return to her seat.

Rosalier glanced over the Dules, at a loss.

I had meant to say nothing and let Muriel and the others do as they wished, but at this rate the hosts would lose face... probably.

"Master Hiroyuki, please tell the Dules to eat as well."

Rosalier looked to me for help.

"...Muriel, everyone... Rosalier and the others are in a difficult spot, aren’t they? Sit down, and let’s continue the meal."

I said that while looking at Muriel and Cathy behind me, and at the other Dules standing along the wall.

"But..."

Muriel came to my side, about to say something.

I cut her off.

"There’s a saying: when you enter a village, follow the village. This village has its own way of doing things. Let’s follow it. Besides, I like this. A place with no discrimination against Dules."

Until now I had often seen, and felt, how harshly the world treated Dules.

So hospitality like this struck me as something to welcome.

Muriel looked at the door the serving woman had used to lead the girl called Elmegart outside.

"She is the daughter of a certain noble, it seems, and she still holds prejudice against Dules..."

Rosalier said that with a troubled look.

Hearing it, I nearly asked why she was here, then swallowed the words at once.

I had almost repeated the same mistake.

"I truly am sorry. Come, everyone. Please take your seats, and enjoy the rest of the meal."

At Rosalier’s words, the Dules all wore the same bewildered look and turned to me.

When I nodded, they reluctantly returned to the seats they had been in.

Hah. I was glad they took pride in being my Dules, but troubling the people around us was another matter.

Well, the people of this village, and I myself, were probably the abnormal ones in this world.

...

The meal ended, and Rosalier and the others cleaned up and returned to their own houses.

The Dules gathered around Birga and Lilli, and the talk grew lively.

Teased and questioned by the other Dules, Birga went red to the tips of her long ears and looked lost, while Lilli answered happily.

They were getting along. That made me glad.

"They are all fine women."

I was drinking the black tea Cathy had poured for me a little apart from the rest when Gejia spoke to me.

"Yeah, truly. You included."

I answered without looking at Gejia.

"I-is that so. Me as well."

A faint laugh reached me. She did not seem displeased.

"So, is this about Rosalier?"

I could tell she had not come only to say that.

"Yes. As I thought, she smells of the demon realm."

"But she could be on humanity’s side, or neutral, like you. I don’t think she came to this village timing it for our arrival. Unless she has some other purpose."

In the end I never learned why she was in the village, or when she had come, but at the least she carried herself like a leader among the village women.

She was familiar with Nadja, the real leader of the whole village, so it was fair to think of her as someone who had been here a long time.

"And I didn’t sense any malice."

Not treating a Dule as a Dule. I still found that likable.

Well, it was not something for a man with this many Dules to say, but I wanted to treasure all of them.

"There is nothing I can do about what she is, and I don’t want to kill her on the spot as an enemy."

I let it imply Gejia’s own case.

"...Understood. Then I will at least stay on guard. Only, as I am now, I have no power."

"Yeah. If anything happens, tell me."

"Mm."

Then I looked around at the others.

At some point the Dules had stopped talking and were listening to Gejia and me.

"All of you, be careful too."

"Yes."

The Dules answered, but one of them was not convinced.

"Rosa-neechan is human! She isn’t a monster!"

She glared hard at me... no, at Gejia.

"Lilli, whether Rosalier is a monster or not doesn’t matter to me. There are bad humans, and there are monsters who side with humans. What matters is whether Rosalier does anything bad to us, or to the people of the village."

I went to Lilli, knelt so our eyes met, and explained it that way.

"...Rosa-neechan isn’t a bad person, and she isn’t a monster."

Lilli wore a lost look, as if she did not understand what I was saying, and still repeated it.

What was it she did not understand?

"...I’m saying Rosalier might be a good monster."

"Monsters aren’t good or bad. Rosa-neechan is a good person, so she isn’t a monster."

Ah. I see.

All monsters were bad. That was it.

That was common sense here.

That was why I had Gejia wear a loose robe and pull the hood low.

I looked at Gejia. She was wearing a bitter smile.

"My lord, may I remove this hood?"