Chapter 70.5 – Miriya Part 1

Back when Miriya was still a young girl, her village came under attack by monsters..They were called Komoribihi, creatures that liked to kidnap and eat children. The cunning thing about them was their ability to alter the markings on their faces to imitate familiar people and lure humans out.

Adults might be cautious, but inexperienced children could easily make mistakes. A few days after one of Miriya’s friends disappeared, that same friend suddenly peeked out from behind a tree, and worried, Miriya ran over.

What stood there was not her friend, but a giant hairy ape-like monster wearing her friend’s face,

(I wonder if that person who saved me back then is still waiting for me.)

The steel-like fur of a Komoribihi nullified most physical attacks, so beastmen without magical aptitude had no way to defeat one. The one who slew it was a Holy Knight, and the one who rescued Miriya was the man serving as vice-captain at the time.

She had heard humans discriminated against beastmen, yet that man had gently held Miriya’s hand and spoken reassuring words to her until she stopped trembling and crying from fear. He had been so kind.

Miriya had promised she would marry him once she grew up, and this year she had finally come of age.

He had apparently retired from the Holy Knights and returned to his hometown of Bit Village, and since the village was recruiting adventurers due to the crisis surrounding the demon realm, Miriya decided to volunteer.

(I trained properly so I wouldn’t embarrass myself standing beside him, and I built up accomplishments too. …I wonder if he’ll praise me and say I’ve grown up well?)

Her heart swelling with anticipation for their reunion, she registered for the job through the guild that assigned work to adventurers and headed for the gathering place of the members selected for this mission.

The new demon realm was the Dragon’s Deadlands. It was highly dangerous, but the reward was correspondingly high. Apparently there had been many volunteers, but from among them, they selected only skilled individuals with no disciplinary problems.

(…There are a lot of humans who won’t let beastmen work… so it’s unusual that they care more about problem behavior.)

Many adventurers were careless and violent roughnecks. But apparently anyone with a history of rough conduct had been excluded, and according to the guild staff, the remaining adventurers were relatively decent people by adventurer standards. For this mission, discipline mattered more than combat strength.

(Since we’ll be working with Holy Knights too, they probably don’t want people who won’t follow orders. It is a government request, after all.)

The one guiding the adventurers to Bit Village was a merchant named Irai, someone familiar with the village from visiting it regularly.

When Miriya reached the designated meeting place, a very eye-catching carriage caught her attention, and she couldn’t help approaching it. A giant four-leaf clover she had never seen before grew from the roof, and countless tiny three-leaf, no, four-leaf clovers surrounded it. It looked like a carriage overflowing with absurd amounts of luck.

「Whoa, it’s covered in four-leaf clovers… Cute…」

「Indeed it is. The ‘Flower Witch’ decorated it for me, you see.」

A human man peeked out from behind the carriage and smiled warmly at her. Though his clothes appeared simple, they were made from high-quality fabric and impeccably clean. He spoke to her with a smile and not a hint of displeasure despite her being a beastman, so at the very least he didn’t seem to be the obvious discriminatory type.

「…There’s a beastman here.」

The muttered comment from behind her, likely from another adventurer, was far more typical.

Even if they didn’t openly show it, most humans at least looked slightly displeased around beastmen.

Which made it all the stranger that Miriya hadn’t been excluded from this mission. If they valued discipline and cooperation, leaving beastmen out entirely should have made things run more smoothly.

「You’re Miss Miriya, correct?」

「Yeah. Here, this is my identification.」

「Yes, yes, everything checks out. You’re the last member for this mission. Now then, everyone, let me go over the precautions for this assignment.」

Registered adventurers were issued identification cards, so she handed hers over, but Irai merely glanced at it instead of inspecting it carefully. Either he had a skill that let him instantly tell if it was genuine, or he was very sloppy at his job. …Since he didn’t look incompetent, perhaps it was the former.

「In Bit Village resides a person known as the Flower Witch. She is a kind person, so as long as you don’t do anything foolish, you won’t anger her. But if you see the mandragoras that serve her walking around, please do not harm them.」

「Huh? Mandragoras walking around…?」

「Yes. Ah, though their voices have been disabled, so there’s no need to worry. There are many rare plants throughout the village as well, but please refrain from damaging them carelessly. They all belong to the Flower Witch, you see. …That person has lost her voice, but her plant-manipulating magic is extraordinary.」

At the mention of a witch, Miriya’s ears perked up.

Historically, witches were a legendary race that had never discriminated against beastmen and had once driven back the Calamity Dragon. It was said only one survivor remained, serving as a court magician, but recently rumors had spread that another had appeared.

And not only that, this one was supposedly the very hero who had confronted the Calamity Dragon.

As both an adventurer and a beastman, Miriya admired her deeply, and she looked forward to meeting her.

「She’s someone who loves peace and plants and dislikes conflict. …So I’d appreciate it if you all refrained from causing trouble among yourselves too.」

(…I see. That’s a warning not to start racial conflicts.)

The fact he felt the need to warn them at all made it obvious he fully expected tension between humans and beastmen. Which only made it stranger that Miriya had been selected for the mission in the first place.

After hearing several more explanations, the group finally prepared to depart together in the carriage. Yet for some reason, Miriya alone was instructed to ride separately from the adventurers, in the four-leaf clover carriage.

「A lone woman would naturally feel uneasy, after all.」

「It’s because I’m a beastman, right? You don’t have to sugarcoat it. I know.」

「Well, I can’t deny that’s part of it.」

「…Still, if that’s the case, why was I chosen for this mission? Normally I’d expect to be rejected. I mean, I’m grateful, but…」

Even if she’d been excluded from the selection, she’d intended to push her way in and prove she could still be useful on-site. But being an official member left a better impression.

Still, she couldn’t understand why they would deliberately include a beastman likely to become a source of tension.

When she asked honestly, Irai smiled with the polished smile of a merchant.

「The Witch dotes on a beastman boy, you see. That child lost his family, and he must feel lonely sometimes. I thought he’d be happy to meet someone of his own kind. Besides you, there weren’t any beastman applicants, so I’m grateful you came.」

「Hm… So you’re just trying to score points with the Witch.」

「Hahaha. I suppose you could see it that way… Well, I’m personally grateful to that person. So I’d like to repay her kindness whenever I can.」

So it wasn’t that they hadn’t excluded beastmen, they had deliberately chosen one. This merchant simply wanted to improve his standing with the Witch.

…Even though everything else about his tone felt carefully crafted, his gratitude toward the Witch alone sounded genuine.

(Just what kind of person is the Flower Witch…?)

To beastmen, demonfolk were figures of admiration. But what if, that witch was an incredibly wonderful person, and the man Miriya loved had forgotten all about her and become completely captivated by the Witch instead?

The excitement she’d felt for their reunion turned halfway into anxiety.

With those conflicted emotions swirling inside her, Miriya arrived at Bit Village, and there, she was finally reunited with the person she longed for.