Chapter 899: Mysterious House?

    Shirukine-san had returned.

    「......」

    She looked like she had something to say.

    What could it be?

    「Ehto... first of all, that beast?」

    Shirukine-san glanced at the young beast, curled up in the corner of the Mereo enclosure.

    That was a cub from the local territorial beasts.

    Since it would be a problem if the Mereo enclosure got attacked again like this, I planned to have it work as a guard. For now, it was on standby.

    If this were the Big Tree Village, I could make the decision on my own, but since Shirukine-san was managing this place, I had to defer to her.

    Even Beezel couldn’t grant permission on his own.

    「Is it going to live here?」

    No, I’ll have it stay a little farther away, so it won’t be in plain sight most of the time.

    It also said there was no need to worry about food.

    Apparently, it would manage that on its own.

    「What about compensation?」

    Well, its main reason for doing this is as an apology, so I’m fine with it being free...

    But making it work for nothing doesn’t sit right with me.

    I’ll figure out some form of payment.

    「And what about us?」

    When danger comes, I’ll have it fight alongside you.

    Also, if someone tries to hunt the beast, I’d like you to stop them.

    Of course, if the beast causes trouble, I’ll take responsibility for dealing with it.

    「...Understood. Bee-kun... My husband told me that a male Mereo would be staying here. So this beast will serve as its guard, then.」

    That helps a lot.

    「Next... well, it seems like the facilities have changed a bit?」

    I just reinforced the defensive walls around the Mereo enclosure and repaired some of the damaged structures.

    The materials were leftovers from when I made Hakuren’s pack saddle, so it wasn’t much trouble.

    Oh, and I dug two new wells.

    Water supply will come from them.

    That’s the power of the AFT.

    Also, over there, I set up a small field for the Mereo and Net Turtles’ food.

    「I wouldn’t call that ‘small’...」

    I don’t think it’s that big.

    About the size of two of my mansions in the Big Tree Village.@@@@

    ...

    Is that big?

    Well, it couldn’t be helped.

    Since the Mereo and Net Turtles need space to move around and tend to the field themselves, I left wide gaps between the trees, which made the field larger.

    It would be difficult to ask the caretakers to maintain it on top of everything else.

    Since the Mereo and Net Turtles will be the ones eating the crops, they should take care of them too.

    It won’t be ready this year, but by next year or the year after, they should be able to harvest.

    Of course, before I built the wells and fields, I got permission from the caretakers.

    In fact, the wells were their request.

    「Ehto... Can the Mereo and Net Turtles really take care of a field?」

    Got it.

    -0-

    Hnn?

    As I was leveling the small hill, something emerged.

    It looked like a man-made stone structure.

    「Could it be an old house?」

    Possibly.

    Digging further, I uncovered a well-built house—not exactly new, but still intact.

    It wasn’t large.

    It seemed like the kind of home where an elderly couple might have lived.

    The wooden roof showed no signs of rot.

    It was clearly enchanted with magic.

    Did something happen that caused it to be buried?

    「Aren’t you going in?」

    W-Well... even if the house itself is protected by magic, the people inside... you know...

    Looking at the trees growing around the hill, it’s obvious that this house didn’t just get buried yesterday or the day before.

    At least a hundred, maybe two hundred years must have passed.

    I don’t mind seeing the remains of hunted animals, but I have no desire to see human remains.

    「Hmm... then should I just burn the house down with my breath?」

    Wait, wait.

    There might be valuable items inside.

    「A normal house wouldn’t have anything like that.」

    ...right.

    It didn’t look like the kind of place where treasures would be hidden.

    But if we burned it from the outside, we’d at least be able to see what was inside....

    「My breath wouldn’t leave anything behind, you know... Ah! How about I breathe fire through the chimney? That way, it’ll burn from the inside, and we won’t have to see anything.」

    There was indeed a chimney... and surprisingly, it wasn’t blocked by dirt.

    Another sign of magic at work.

    「So, what’s the plan?」

    ...Alright, let’s do it.

    「Okay」

    Just as Hakuren replied, the house’s door suddenly swung open from the inside—

    「You will do no such thing!」

    A short elderly woman stormed out, gripping a broom in one hand, shouting in fury.

    Alive....no, I mean, someone’s living here after all.

    Sorry.

    -0-

    Shirukine: 「I had heard the rumors, but this defies common sense...」

    Beezel: 「Welcome to our world. There’s no turning back now.」

    -0-

    Village Chief: 「I really don’t want to see a corpse.」

    Young Beast: 「Then maybe you just shouldn’t look when she breathes fire?」

    Village Chief: 「If I don’t watch, Hakuren will sulk.」

    Hakuren: 「Ehehe.」