In Gnomefield, there’s a river flowing right through the middle of the village and a single, sturdy looking bridge crossing it.
Buildings line both sides of the river, and a church with a triangular roof stands out.
The Hero’s plantation and house are to the south, a little bit removed from the village.
It seems there’s nowhere to stay but a single inn, and I was taught where it was.
The peddling Ossan is going to stay at an acquaintance’s house, he said.
Saying, “Let’s have a drink at the inn’s dining hall tonight!” we parted ways.
Because it was for gathering information, it can’t be helped if I have to lift my prohibition.
“It can’t be helped, naa; good grief.”
As such, while I said that, I entered the inn he had told me about and got a room.
Next I confirmed the recipient’s name on the letter and asked an inn employee about it.
“Do know a person named Romeo?”
The employee who was staring fixedly at my coverall responded with, “Heh?”
“No, like I said, about the person named Romeo-san.”
“Aa, Pastor Romeo, is it? He’s at the church.”
So saying, the employee seems to be absolutely fixated on my coverall.
“What, is it weird?”
He’s staring so much that I tried asking.
“Your clothes are strange. Is it sleepwear?”
How rude!
“It’s work clothes!”
I left the inn.
“A, dinner is in the dining hall!”
I heard the employee’s voice say from behind me.
When I went to the triangular-roofed church, at just that timing, a boy was leaving.
“Thank you! I’ll bring you dinner later!”
Seems like you can pay for medical services even without money. It’s fine to only take money from those who can pay, huh? I’ll also do so.
The boy turned around in my direction, then made a dumbfounded face.
Even while staring fixedly at my face, the boy’s running legs didn’t stop.
He turned around many times as he ran.
Are strangers that rare? Or is the coverall that weird?
When I opened the door to the church, there were many people on the benches lined up in the hall.
Sick and injured people, probably. There are many elderly and children.
There didn’t seem to be anyone who was seriously sick, and it felt like everyone was gathered for a town meeting.
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
An elderly woman wearing clothes like a white robe came over to talk to me.
“A, I have a delivery. For Pastor Romeo.”
I took the letter and magic power recovery syrup out from my item bag.
“Who could it be from?”
“A girl called Cynthia.”
“Cynthia! He will definitely be pleased about it. Please come this way. He isn’t feeling well today so he’s in his room, but he will surely receive a letter from Cynthia directly.”
The elderly lady guided me in.
It seems that medical examinations are conducted in the church’s hall.
I silently followed after the elderly woman through a side door and down a passage continuing towards the annex.
When we passed through the passage, I saw gravestones of various sizes in the garden.
The history of this village isn’t all that long, and yet there are so many dead, naa; I had that thought.
Pastor Romeo’s room is in the innermost part of the annex.
The elderly lady knocked, called out to Pastor Romeo, and opened the door.
A man with messy hair and wearing round glasses, and with a sickly looking face, looked over at us.
“Are you sleeping at your desk again?”
The elderly woman said sarcastically at Pastor Romeo.
“Sister Clarence, what can I do for you.”
“This person here was entrusted with a letter from Cynthia.”
“From Cynthia!”
I handed Pastor Romeo the letter and the magic power recovery syrup.
“This is! Medicine for magic power recovery! How does it have such high purity?”
“It’s something I made. This is something that requires a fee, but…”
I’ll take it if he pays it. Later on, Velsa will come to investigate the soil, and if she finds out I gave it up for free she’ll be upset. I haven’t eaten breakfast so my stomachs also empty, so I’ll take goods as payment as well.
“Sister Clarence, please pay this man.”
‘It’s coming out of the research funds!”
Lucky-!
Sister Clarence went off somewhere in a huff.
Pastor Romeo was engrossed in reading Cynthia’s letter at the entrance of the room, and when he realized it,
“Ah, sorry. Please come in, although it’s messy.”
and I entered the room, sitting on a round chair.
I can’t say Pastor Romeo’s room is clean even as lip service.
What is he researching? The top of the desk has a number of small magic stones lined up on it, and bad quality paper with who knows what written on it is scattered all over. There are also papers with the human figure drawn on them.
There are large pots lined up on the floor, making the room even narrower.
“What are you researching?”
I tried asking Pastor Romeo, who was putting away the letter preciously.
“A disease. Normally it’s a sickness that only court painters seem to catch, but it seems that it’s relatively easy to contract it in this village.”
“If you catch this disease, do you turn into a ‘ghoul’ in the final stages?”
At my words, Pastor Romeo looked at me in surprise.
“You heard it from Cynthia, didn’t you … Well, that’s right. There’s been no explanation that can be made about why a human will become a monster.”
“And that is what you are researching?”
“Yes. I have something like a tentative hypothesis, but in this line of business, there isn’t any way I can test it.”
You can’t test it as a pastor?
“Aah, dissection, is it?”
“The church prohibits blasphemies against the dead.”
This world has very few doctors. Since you can cure wounds with recovery magic.
If you’re talking about the development of medical care, then it would be to the degree of midwives, I suppose.
“This disease has nothing like a poisonous toxin. And so there is no antidote. Even so, there are parts about it that are like a disease.”
“The magic power insufficiency, is it?”
“That’s correct. One day, all of a sudden, the magic power would be gone from a body that otherwise has nothing wrong. And that occurs every day. When Cynthia found out she had the disease, she sold herself into slavery the next day.”
“Is this something particular to this region?”
“Yes; there are people who are afflicted here, and there are also people who aren’t inflicted. Children seem to catch it relatively easily, so Hero-sama’s wife told me to hurry and identify the reason. Since they have a lot of children over there.”
Because the Hero’s house have child slaves, na.
“Then, even the child slaves at Hero-sama’s place?”
“Yes, I heard Cynthia first came to this area as Hero-sama’s slave. Once she grew up, she was released and worked in this village.
Pastor Romeo looked at me as if to say, were you not aware?
“Is that when the two of you fell in love?”
“Haha, oh no, it’s not like that. Actually, Cynthia saw me as a little brother. I also thought of her as an older sister. She took care of me, one way or another. There are a lot of children at Hero-sama’s house, right? The older ones naturally ended up caring for the others, surely”
And so, when Pastor Romeo came to the village he couldn’t quite get used to the village, but as he was telling me about it, Sister Clarence appeared with money, interrupting me.
“Then, I will be off.”
I took the money, stood up, and went to leave.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t ask for your name.”
‘Aah, it’s Naoki. Naoki Komuro. I manage a cleaning and extermination company.”
“A cleaning and extermination company?”
‘Yes, we clean rooms and exterminate things like bug-type monsters and masmascarls.”
“Is that so?”
“If you’d like, should I clean this room for you?”
“Ah, no, wait a minute, please! I won’t be able to find anything, so”
In a fluster, Pastor Romeo stopped me.
Sister Clarence said, “It would be better if you do it.”
Pastor Romeo got up unsteadily and guided me all the way to the entrance of the annex.
“How long will you be in this village?”
“I’m intending to stay for one night. I think I’ll probably come again, though.”
“I see. When you come next time, I would like to hear about Naoki-san.”
“Sure.”
The sun had already risen to its peak around when I left the church’s annex.
Gnomefield is a small village, but there are a lot of traveling merchants, and they’ve put out a lot of stall.
“Where’d yer come from?”
The merchant of the stall I dropped by for lunch asked as he set out vegetable soup and a sandwich of forabbit meat.
“From Floura.”
“Floura? The Eastern Continent?”
I answered the question I was asked without thinking, but from here you’d have to cross the entire country, so it’s quite far.
“Aah, despite how I look, I’m an adventurer. I’ve come from quite far away.”
I try to cover it up with a suitable excuse.
“They say you can’t rely on a person’s appearance, but to cross the mountains and the desert, you, sir, seem to be quite strong, na.”
“Oh no, I’m still F Rank. I just followed along after strong adventurers.”
“Whaat, you were a luggage carrier, huh?”
So saying, the merchant seemed to lose interest in me and began to talk to other customers.
I’m just glad he didn’t ask me about what I came here to do.
There’s no way I can answer that.
The customers who came to the stall are also merchants. All of the merchants here are probably people involved in some way with the raw cotton you can get from the Hero’s fields.
It’s not just the merchants who are directly transporting the cotton, there are also people who do business directed towards those merchants.
There’s maintenance done on the road around the village so it’s easy to come to the village.
People naturally gathered.
There’s also the possibility that this village will become even bigger.
Merchants with keen business senses have their eyes on it.
It’s just, if I destroy the cotton fields, those possibilities are also destroyed.
“What should be done?”
I headed over to the Hero’s house as I muttered things like that.
The cotton buds in the cotton fields are swaying in the wind.
I can see children working in the cotton fields.
They seem to be weeding the weeds that grew in the space between the cotton plants.
When I called loudly and asked the children where the Hero was, they pointed up the road.
Near the cotton fields were two warehouses, and I could see a large house behind them.
Seems like he’s making quite a profit.
“Hello~!”
When I called out towards the house,
“Oh, hello.”
The Earth Hero called out from behind me.
The Hero came out of the warehouse and saw me, giving his usual, pleasant smile.
“The guy from then! You really came, huh? To come this far, welcome, welcome.”
In Gnomefield, there’s a river flowing right through the middle of the village and a single, sturdy looking bridge crossing it.
Buildings line both sides of the river, and a church with a triangular roof stands out.
The Hero’s plantation and house are to the south, a little bit removed from the village.
It seems there’s nowhere to stay but a single inn, and I was taught where it was.
The peddling Ossan is going to stay at an acquaintance’s house, he said.
Saying, “Let’s have a drink at the inn’s dining hall tonight!” we parted ways.
Because it was for gathering information, it can’t be helped if I have to lift my prohibition.
“It can’t be helped, naa; good grief.”
As such, while I said that, I entered the inn he had told me about and got a room.
Next I confirmed the recipient’s name on the letter and asked an inn employee about it.
“Do know a person named Romeo?”
The employee who was staring fixedly at my coverall responded with, “Heh?”
“No, like I said, about the person named Romeo-san.”
“Aa, Pastor Romeo, is it? He’s at the church.”
So saying, the employee seems to be absolutely fixated on my coverall.
“What, is it weird?”
He’s staring so much that I tried asking.
“Your clothes are strange. Is it sleepwear?”
How rude!
“It’s work clothes!”
I left the inn.
“A, dinner is in the dining hall!”
I heard the employee’s voice say from behind me.
When I went to the triangular-roofed church, at just that timing, a boy was leaving.
“Thank you! I’ll bring you dinner later!”
Seems like you can pay for medical services even without money. It’s fine to only take money from those who can pay, huh? I’ll also do so.
The boy turned around in my direction, then made a dumbfounded face.
Even while staring fixedly at my face, the boy’s running legs didn’t stop.
He turned around many times as he ran.
Are strangers that rare? Or is the coverall that weird?
When I opened the door to the church, there were many people on the benches lined up in the hall.
Sick and injured people, probably. There are many elderly and children.
There didn’t seem to be anyone who was seriously sick, and it felt like everyone was gathered for a town meeting.
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
An elderly woman wearing clothes like a white robe came over to talk to me.
“A, I have a delivery. For Pastor Romeo.”
I took the letter and magic power recovery syrup out from my item bag.
“Who could it be from?”
“A girl called Cynthia.”
“Cynthia! He will definitely be pleased about it. Please come this way. He isn’t feeling well today so he’s in his room, but he will surely receive a letter from Cynthia directly.”
The elderly lady guided me in.
It seems that medical examinations are conducted in the church’s hall.
I silently followed after the elderly woman through a side door and down a passage continuing towards the annex.
When we passed through the passage, I saw gravestones of various sizes in the garden.
The history of this village isn’t all that long, and yet there are so many dead, naa; I had that thought.
Pastor Romeo’s room is in the innermost part of the annex.
The elderly lady knocked, called out to Pastor Romeo, and opened the door.
A man with messy hair and wearing round glasses, and with a sickly looking face, looked over at us.
“Are you sleeping at your desk again?”
The elderly woman said sarcastically at Pastor Romeo.
“Sister Clarence, what can I do for you.”
“This person here was entrusted with a letter from Cynthia.”
“From Cynthia!”
I handed Pastor Romeo the letter and the magic power recovery syrup.
“This is! Medicine for magic power recovery! How does it have such high purity?”
“It’s something I made. This is something that requires a fee, but…”
I’ll take it if he pays it. Later on, Velsa will come to investigate the soil, and if she finds out I gave it up for free she’ll be upset. I haven’t eaten breakfast so my stomachs also empty, so I’ll take goods as payment as well.
“Sister Clarence, please pay this man.”
‘It’s coming out of the research funds!”
Lucky-!
Sister Clarence went off somewhere in a huff.
Pastor Romeo was engrossed in reading Cynthia’s letter at the entrance of the room, and when he realized it,
“Ah, sorry. Please come in, although it’s messy.”
and I entered the room, sitting on a round chair.
I can’t say Pastor Romeo’s room is clean even as lip service.
What is he researching? The top of the desk has a number of small magic stones lined up on it, and bad quality paper with who knows what written on it is scattered all over. There are also papers with the human figure drawn on them.
There are large pots lined up on the floor, making the room even narrower.
“What are you researching?”
I tried asking Pastor Romeo, who was putting away the letter preciously.
“A disease. Normally it’s a sickness that only court painters seem to catch, but it seems that it’s relatively easy to contract it in this village.”
“If you catch this disease, do you turn into a ‘ghoul’ in the final stages?”
At my words, Pastor Romeo looked at me in surprise.
“You heard it from Cynthia, didn’t you … Well, that’s right. There’s been no explanation that can be made about why a human will become a monster.”
“And that is what you are researching?”
“Yes. I have something like a tentative hypothesis, but in this line of business, there isn’t any way I can test it.”
You can’t test it as a pastor?
“Aah, dissection, is it?”
“The church prohibits blasphemies against the dead.”
This world has very few doctors. Since you can cure wounds with recovery magic.
If you’re talking about the development of medical care, then it would be to the degree of midwives, I suppose.
“This disease has nothing like a poisonous toxin. And so there is no antidote. Even so, there are parts about it that are like a disease.”
“The magic power insufficiency, is it?”
“That’s correct. One day, all of a sudden, the magic power would be gone from a body that otherwise has nothing wrong. And that occurs every day. When Cynthia found out she had the disease, she sold herself into slavery the next day.”
“Is this something particular to this region?”
“Yes; there are people who are afflicted here, and there are also people who aren’t inflicted. Children seem to catch it relatively easily, so Hero-sama’s wife told me to hurry and identify the reason. Since they have a lot of children over there.”
Because the Hero’s house have child slaves, na.
“Then, even the child slaves at Hero-sama’s place?”
“Yes, I heard Cynthia first came to this area as Hero-sama’s slave. Once she grew up, she was released and worked in this village.
Pastor Romeo looked at me as if to say, were you not aware?
“Is that when the two of you fell in love?”
“Haha, oh no, it’s not like that. Actually, Cynthia saw me as a little brother. I also thought of her as an older sister. She took care of me, one way or another. There are a lot of children at Hero-sama’s house, right? The older ones naturally ended up caring for the others, surely”
And so, when Pastor Romeo came to the village he couldn’t quite get used to the village, but as he was telling me about it, Sister Clarence appeared with money, interrupting me.
“Then, I will be off.”
I took the money, stood up, and went to leave.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t ask for your name.”
‘Aah, it’s Naoki. Naoki Komuro. I manage a cleaning and extermination company.”
“A cleaning and extermination company?”
‘Yes, we clean rooms and exterminate things like bug-type monsters and masmascarls.”
“Is that so?”
“If you’d like, should I clean this room for you?”
“Ah, no, wait a minute, please! I won’t be able to find anything, so”
In a fluster, Pastor Romeo stopped me.
Sister Clarence said, “It would be better if you do it.”
Pastor Romeo got up unsteadily and guided me all the way to the entrance of the annex.
“How long will you be in this village?”
“I’m intending to stay for one night. I think I’ll probably come again, though.”
“I see. When you come next time, I would like to hear about Naoki-san.”
“Sure.”
The sun had already risen to its peak around when I left the church’s annex.
Gnomefield is a small village, but there are a lot of traveling merchants, and they’ve put out a lot of stall.
“Where’d yer come from?”
The merchant of the stall I dropped by for lunch asked as he set out vegetable soup and a sandwich of forabbit meat.
“From Floura.”
“Floura? The Eastern Continent?”
I answered the question I was asked without thinking, but from here you’d have to cross the entire country, so it’s quite far.
“Aah, despite how I look, I’m an adventurer. I’ve come from quite far away.”
I try to cover it up with a suitable excuse.
“They say you can’t rely on a person’s appearance, but to cross the mountains and the desert, you, sir, seem to be quite strong, na.”
“Oh no, I’m still F Rank. I just followed along after strong adventurers.”
“Whaat, you were a luggage carrier, huh?”
So saying, the merchant seemed to lose interest in me and began to talk to other customers.
I’m just glad he didn’t ask me about what I came here to do.
There’s no way I can answer that.
The customers who came to the stall are also merchants. All of the merchants here are probably people involved in some way with the raw cotton you can get from the Hero’s fields.
It’s not just the merchants who are directly transporting the cotton, there are also people who do business directed towards those merchants.
There’s maintenance done on the road around the village so it’s easy to come to the village.
People naturally gathered.
There’s also the possibility that this village will become even bigger.
Merchants with keen business senses have their eyes on it.
It’s just, if I destroy the cotton fields, those possibilities are also destroyed.
“What should be done?”
I headed over to the Hero’s house as I muttered things like that.
The cotton buds in the cotton fields are swaying in the wind.
I can see children working in the cotton fields.
They seem to be weeding the weeds that grew in the space between the cotton plants.
When I called loudly and asked the children where the Hero was, they pointed up the road.
Near the cotton fields were two warehouses, and I could see a large house behind them.
Seems like he’s making quite a profit.
“Hello~!”
When I called out towards the house,
“Oh, hello.”
The Earth Hero called out from behind me.
The Hero came out of the warehouse and saw me, giving his usual, pleasant smile.
“The guy from then! You really came, huh? To come this far, welcome, welcome.”
