Chapter 15: CH 15

New Family

Richmond’s shocking words made me stumble for words.

“W, why!? And why are they doing something like that in the Demon Forest!?”

“Criminals are often dumped in the Demon Forest. They don’t have to dispose of the bodies, and they can also fake it and make it look like they didn’t kill them.”

“Fake it… do you mean to say that they discard people into the forest in the form of banishment, even though their crimes are not punishable by death?”

“That’s right. The preliminary arrangements are to investigate what kind of monsters currently exist in the designated area and to see how far they have to take the criminals by themselves.”

“That’s ridiculous… what kind of crime did the criminal commit?”

“Hmm… most likely, they either disobeyed the King or did something that was inconvenient for the country.”

Richmond drank the egg-white Chinese soup and exhaled in relief with an enraptured expression on his face.

“They appear once in a while. Those who try to change a rotten country.”

I see…

“Umm.”

Lui, who had been listening to our conversation in silence, suddenly spoke up.

“What is it, Lui?”

“… Umm, that person who is about to be put to death, can’t you help them? I think it’s a bit brazen of me to ask this, but…”

“No one, in the village. Saved person, can be a villager.”

“Lui, Arthur…”

I was moved by the kind hearts of these children, despite their captivity and violence committed against them.

“Richmond…”

Richmond, who had finished his bibimbap with regret, looked at us and lowered his eyebrows.

“All right, all right. If the person has no malicious intent, I will save them as soon as they are dumped in the forest. So don’t look at me like that.”

“””Thank you (very much)!!”””

“Oh dear. My grandchildren are too soft-hearted.”

He smiled like a fool and muttered that he would patrol the entrance of the forest for a while.

A few days later,

The children have adapted quickly, and since their haircuts, they were more active, helping with weeding, harvesting vegetables, cooking, and so on.

Thanks to our food, their thin bodies were becoming those of average children, and they were starting to grow taller and more energetic as they ran around the village.

Today, they helped me with weeding in the morning and then went to the village to explore.

I felt like they have more stamina than I, an adult, do.

I was washing the dishes while thinking about that.

“Mother Kanade! There’s a situation!!”

Lui came rushing into the kitchen.

“What is it, Lui?”

“Grandpa came back with the person we were talking about the other day!”

The other day…

“The criminal abandoned in the forest?”

“Yes, that’s right! Come out quickly.”

Lui urged me to hurry, so I hurriedly took off my apron and ran out to see Richmond, who had turned into a dragon, landing in the village, and Arthur moving busily.

“Richmond! Bring that person to……… ehh!?”

There were five people by Richmond’s side after he had undragonized himself.

It wasn’t only one persoooon!?

“U, umm… Lord Dragon, are you really sure you want to welcome us here?”

“Umu, you may live in this village.”

A man in his thirties with animal ears on his head spoke to Richmond with trepidation, and Richmond told him they can stay in the village as we had originally planned, but I was still surprised.

I had thought it was one person.

The others were a pretty woman about the same age as the man, with ears like a Shiba Inu, a girl about 12 to 13 years old with droopy ears, and a man of the Human race in his 50s and a man in his 20s with cat ears.

All of them were in tatters, especially the cat-eared man, who looked like he was about to fall over.

“Richmond, let’s get them into a nearby house for now!”

“Oh, Kanade. This is Kanade, my family, and the village chief. You will do as Kanade says.”

The five were surprised by Richmond’s words, but since they were all worn out, I left the introductions for later and asked them to enter a nearby village house.

The houses in the village had the appearances of a newly built houses in Japan. The five of them were puzzled because it was different from the houses of this world. Anyway, I asked them to take off their shoes and enter. Richmond performed a cleaning and healing spells on them. In the meantime, I looked into the refrigerator.

The contents of the refrigerator seemed to be almost the same as those in the “Village Chief’s house,” and there were also sports drinks, so I decided to have them drink it first.

Lui and Arthur also felt better after drinking it, so I was sure they would regain their strength.

“Mother Kanade, help you.”

Arthur came over and laid out the cups on a tray, so I poured sports water into them and asked him to take them away.

“Thank you, Arthur.”

“Of course, doing what I can.”

I couldn’t help but smile at how sweet he was.

“Alright! I’ll cook dinner for the five! Something as hearty as possible……… Yeah. I’ll make omelette rice!”