Chapter 78

　After the adventurers arrived and the public training session was held, it seemed they had been following the knight order’s instructions without causing any trouble. Apparently, they were somehow getting along with Miriya without any particular clashes, either. ……Or so I had heard from Ellie.

「I always make sweets with Miriya-chan, and then we go give them to Daon-ojisan together. ……Noel, will you teach us another new sweet?」

「Well, sure. ……I owe Miriya-san a lot too.」

　I had heard that Ellie liked Noel, but I had no reason to interfere with such heartwarming interactions between children.

　Still, although they had been about the same height when Noel first came to the village, quite a difference had appeared between them now, which made me feel the difference between their races after all. ……Though the two of them, whose eye levels were rapidly growing farther apart, probably understood that even better than I did.

(Noel really will grow up in no time too, won’t he……)

　Perhaps because they were both beastfolk and got along well, Noel had begun receiving instruction from Miriya. Apparently, he did not have very long before reaching adulthood. However, he had also made the extremely reassuring declaration, 「I’ll become strong enough to protect Witch-sama before I’m an adult!」 so I was cheering him on. I sincerely hoped he would grow into a fine young man and protect me.

「Witch-sama, are you going out soon?」

(Yeah. It’s quiet right now, since neither the knight order nor the adventurers are here.)

「Then let’s go back to the village together!」

　The adventurers and the knight order had gone outside the village. First, they would lightly patrol the area around the village, and once they were used to that, they would enter the miasma infected lands and cull the monster population. Since monster activity apparently decreased during winter, making them easier to subjugate, this was practical training in preparation for that period.

　And while all the frightening humans were outside and things were quiet, I would make my rounds through the village.

(Nikolaus-san still hasn’t come back either, so it’s nice and peaceful. I wish it could stay like this forever……)

　I wanted this matter to be resolved quickly so peace could return. Once monsters were no longer an issue, neither the knight order nor the court mages would have any reason to remain in this land, and my plan was to live a carefree, peaceful, and safe life. Holding that modest wish that it would happen soon, I quietly went about my days.

　I headed toward the village with the children and was making my rounds when the area near the village entrance on the opposite side from my house seemed unusually noisy.

　

「Witch-san! Looking radiant as ever today! Young Master Noel and young Miss Ellie look well too.」

　As we watched to see what was happening, Ilai came running over. Whenever he saw me, he always hurried over like this to greet me.

「Hello, Ilai-san!」

「……Hello. What is going on here?」

「Yes, sir. It seems a group of merchants heard rumors about this village and came flooding in. ……They’ve got nothing to do with me.」

　Originally, Ilai had been the only eccentric merchant willing to come all the way to Bit Village to do business. Recently, however, various merchants, including Queri, had begun holding a market in Bit Village. They were all trustworthy business partners whom Ilai had personally contacted and gathered, while the people currently being stopped by Daon from entering the village seemed to belong to a different group.

「They’re free to do business, of course. Bit Village isn’t a place where you need any special trading rights. ……But this village is a little unusual, you see.」

「Is this village really that strange?」

「Well, I think it is. ……There are lots of Witch-sama’s plants here.」

「Oh, right! That’s true. You normally wouldn’t find a fairy candy tree growing inside a village!」

　Apparently, before allowing them into the village, someone needed to explain rules such as not gathering the village’s plants without permission and not exterminating the running mandragoras.

　Those certainly were rules unique to this village, so I understood. The part about not attacking the mandragoras was especially important. Even though they were plant monsters, they were recognized as extremely friendly beings that posed no harm to humans, so the villagers also wanted to protect the young sprouts.

(There are good monsters too, you know……with me at the forefront.)

　Well, every monster besides me might be an enemy of humanity. Still, somewhere out there, there might also be monsters like me who were harmless and kind toward humans. Since I existed, it was impossible to deny that other possibilities might exist as well.

(There are all kinds of humans too. I don’t like the idea of more trouble starting whenever new people arrive, but hopefully they’ll behave themselves……)

　Still, it was a good thing for the village to become livelier. The countryside needed people in order to develop. Goods gathered wherever people gathered, and transportation should improve as well. ……Although the only means of transportation I knew of in this world were carriages and teleportation magic.

「It feels so strange when the village is full of people! Until now, the number of people only ever went down.」

「That’s true. Normally, if there’s a territory infected with miasma nearby, more people would flee in search of safety. ……But Witch-sama is here in this village. That’s why everyone feels safe enough to gather here even though such dangerous lands lie right next to them.」

「I see! As expected of Witch-sama!」

　The children were praising me. All I had done was act out of my single-minded desire to live in a human village, doing various things to protect my own way of life. But since that also protected the humans, they viewed my actions favorably like this.

(Yes, yes, don’t worry. I want to protect my home too. I’ll do my best if it means preserving my peaceful life. ……Though I still hate scary things and surprises……I am a timid mandragora at heart, after all……)

—And an incident that threatened me like that occurred before the day was over.