Chapter 11 (1/2)

”Ha ha ha. Why, falling in love with a little human missy, you’re even more of an odd duck than I!”

I was a demon, and s.h.i.+ek was a pixie. The explanation had been fine up to that point, but when he asked me why I was pretending to be human, this was how he responded when I answered.

”Captain, It can't be helped~ When you first told me, I laughed myself silly~”

I knew it was unthinkable for a normal demon, but was it really that hilarious?

I couldn’t help that I fell in love.

”...Come on. It's not that funny. You even went and got yourself lost.”

Mortified by their continuous laughter, I tried fighting back. It seemed to have worked better than I imagined.

”Lost...?”

There was an audible crack, like stone skin fracturing. My words had apparently done quite a bit of damage. Contrary to his appearance, he was surprisingly thin-skinned.

”Ye~ah. Lost, lost~”

I tried to ignore s.h.i.+ek’s laughing. It was just a snappy comeback, but the gargoyle had taken quite the hit.

”No...To be lost is humiliating. Alas, I am unable to refute the truth of that statement...”

Now I had a depressed gargoyle on my hands. His response was much heavier than just a normal retort. Thinking about it, I only really knew weird people. Cecilia was the only one amongst them that seemed to have a shred of common sense, and she s.h.i.+ned all the brighter in my mind for it.

”Putting all that lost stuff aside, you're not planning on causing any mischief, right?”

”Naturally. I merely live in this shrine. I neither intend to trouble the village, nor save it.”

In others words, he meant neither harm, nor good.

Even so, he had still rushed to save Tiel-chan when she was in trouble. I'm sure it would be fine if I overlooked that small detail, but I still planned to discuss it more with Cecilia when we got back.

”So long as you mean no harm to the villagers, we're golden. s.h.i.+ek, let's go back.”

”O~kay.”

We said our goodbyes to the gargoyle, then returned to Tiel-chan's home.

Just as we were leaving, the gargoyle asked us to keep our lips sealed. ”Do not tell anyone of my existence,” he demanded.

Don't worry, I wouldn't tell anyone other than Cecilia. It'd be a huge ha.s.sle if I told any of the villagers anyway.

When we got back to Tiel-chan's house, she was sleeping in her bed, while Cecilia was sitting in a chair reading.

”Thank you for your hard work. ...Did anything happen?”

She had some questions after seeing the dirty state of our clothes. After making sure Tiel-chan was fully asleep, I told Cecilia everything that happened.

”The Guardian Deity was really a gargoyle? He hasn't caused any trouble for the villagers, and there hasn't been a request to exterminate him. However, that doesn't rule out the possibility of something happening in the future...”

Cecilia wasn't sure where she stood on the issue. I didn't really mind overlooking his real ident.i.ty but Cecilia couldn't afford make her decision so lightly.

”He's behaved himself for several hundred years already. I'm sure it'll be fine.”

”Well, when you put it that way... And there is the fact that he saved Tiel-chan; he does not seem to have any ill-intentions.”

”I'm bo~red~”

Right in the middle of a serious conversation, that little twerp...

”Go check on things in the village then. If you're hungry, get something to eat with this.”

I gave s.h.i.+ek some spending money, and kicked him out of the house. Now the nuisance was out of the way. It may have been mean, but he left for the village in high spirits, so everything should be fine.

”Is that really all right?”

”Even if he had stuck around, he wouldn't really have an opinion on the matter. He just wants to play around right now.”

”That is true...”

She was easily convinced. It just went to prove how childish s.h.i.+ek really was, didn't it?

”...So, we were talking about what to do about the gargoyle, but why don't we hold off on that for now? We still need to heal the last of the villagers, and I think we should plan for what to do if the bandits attack again.”

Plus, if we did anything to the gargoyle, who knows what Tiel-chan would do? Tiel-chan was the biggest advocate around for the Guardian Deity.

”That's true. Let's focus our efforts on healing the villagers . Youki-san and s.h.i.+ek-kun have been such a big help; The healing is nearly finished. Then we may be able to do something about the bandits...”

We then further discussed what to do about the bandits.

We came to the decision that tomorrow, once the villagers were healed, we would get some information from the gargoyle.This would also allow Cecilia to have a proper conversation with him. When we'd finished our discussion, we realized night had already fallen.

”Already that time, huh? We'd best get back to the mayor's house.”

We didn't want to worry anyone by getting back too late.

”I must agree. Let's be on our way then.”

We left quietly so as not to wake Tiel-chan.

Walking through the woods on a moonlit night, just the two of us, it doesn't get much more romantic than that.

I hadn't experienced the joy of walking with a woman on the street late at night in my last life.

I was incredibly nervous, but I tried not to let it show on my face.

I took a fleeting glance at Cecilia, but she didn't seem particularly nervous at all, just walking along normally.

”...Is something the matter?”

”Ah, no, nothing.”

As I guessed, Cecilia didn't think anything about it. Seeing me all fidgety, Cecilia tilted her head.

In the end, even though there was such a good mood to work with, nothing happened on our trip back to the mayor's house.

I'm such a loser... I should have at least tried to hold her hand!

”Ooh! Cecilia-sama, you and your friend had us worried, coming back so late. Your other friend came back a while ago. He already ate dinner and retired to his room to sleep.”

Upon reaching the house, a very lively mayor came out to greet us. He was very happy with the progress we'd made healing the villagers.

s.h.i.+ek must have tired himself out from playing around. He ate his dinner and went to bed without even waiting for me or Cecilia? I suppose it was fine since he was just a kid.

”I'm sorry to have caused you any worry. After we treated Tiel-chan, we lost track of time while we were talking.”

”Is that what happened? Tiel lost her parents early on, then just 3 years ago, she also lost her last blood relative, her grandmother. I'm sure Tiel had fun talking together with you. Thank you very much.”

He bobbed his head in thanks. We spent more time with a pretty interesting Guardian Deity, but what the mayor didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

After that, we were treated to dinner. On the menu was vegetable stew and bread.

”I hope you'll excuse this meager meal, it's all we could prepare...”

”No, no. Considering the circ.u.mstances with the bandit attack and all, it's normal not to have much in the way of food. I'm simply thankful you were able to give us any food at all. Time to dig in!”

I said my piece, then started chowing down on the grub. The mayor's wife, our chef for the night, was a bit taken aback watching me eat so heartily.

”Youki-san is just that way. I shall also partake in the meal.”

Cecilia was my opposite, eating quietly and ladylike. Seeing us, the wife looked pleased.

After finis.h.i.+ng our meal, we went over tomorrow's plans with the mayor before heading off to bed in the late of night.

”Cecilia-sama, please use the room you were in earlier, and have your friend stay in the room next door.”

Following the mayor's instructions, we headed up to the second floor.

I told Cecilia goodnight, entered my room, and saw s.h.i.+ek already fast asleep on the bed with that dumb-looking face of his. Apparently, we were sharing a room. It didn't really bother me since it wasn't any different than usual.

I needed to heal more villagers tomorrow, and had to get more information from the gargoyle. Being so tired, I immediately fell asleep.

”Today we're gonna continue healing the villagers, then get some more information from the gargoyle!”

”We are indeed.”

”Boo~”

It was morning, and we were gathered in Cecilia's room to go over the plan for the day. s.h.i.+ek was still half-asleep, but I dragged him along anyway.

”I'm sure the gargoyle has some solid intel, but I also want to hear what the villagers think. s.h.i.+ek, you better get your rear in gear.”

“......Fi~ine.”

He didn't sound motivated at all, would he really do his job? I knew it would have been impossible, but should I have tried to bring Duke or Hapyneth along?

”When we take a break from healing the villagers, shall we go visit Tiel-chan once more? I'm still a bit worried about her health.”

”I think it's a good idea, since she knows the most about the ‘Guardian Deity’.”

We'd be able to meet with the gargoyle and have our talk with him after meeting Tiel-chan. After eating the breakfast the mayor's wife gave us, we gathered all the injured people back at the same place, and resumed treatment.

”Thank you, Cecilia-sama.”

Many of the villagers, especially the guys, wanted to be treated by Cecilia, creating a long line. I was tempted to get rid of the ones that had obvious ulterior motives with my magic.

”Take care~”

”Thanks, s.h.i.+ek-kun.”

The lady receiving medicine was charmed by s.h.i.+ek's adorable smile. There were a lot of young women going to see s.h.i.+ek.

Me, on the other hand...

”Sorry to trouble you, Youki-san.”

”Thanks, sonny.”

”Them's good healin's.”

I had a majority of the older folks. I didn't hate it or anything, but...I felt like I lost to Cecilia and s.h.i.+ek.

”Hahaha...Don't push yourself too hard with the healing, m'kay?”

When I used my healing magic on them, the older folks relaxed and conversed with me. It was the kind of talk you'd hear at a hot spring resort. As I thought about that, I suddenly remembered about getting information on the gargoyle.

There was a high chance the elders still knew of stories from the past. This was my big chance, right?

”Excuse me, but do you happen to know anything about the village's Guardian Deity?”

”The village's Guardian Deity? ...Aah, I do know a little something. It’s that demonic statue deep in the woods. Tiel-chan is a devout wors.h.i.+pper of that statue after all. Everyone in the village knows about it.”

So apparently Tiel-chan was famous in the village. Everyone else in the village, other than her, knew it was a demonic looking statue. So that's why the overly zealous Tiel-chan was infamous.

”Then is there a reason you call it the Guardian Deity of the village?”

”Hmmm....I'm not sure. It's just been pa.s.sed down as a legend that the demonic statue saved the village. But no one knows who made that stone sculpture, and there's no record of it either.”

Of course there wasn't. That statue itself was the one that saved the village after all. I wondered if there wasn't any more pertinent information.

”But if that's all there is to it, why is Tiel-chan so attached to it?”

”Ah, that girl wasn't always like that in the past. She'd clean or take offerings from time to time, and that was all. But you see, one day that girl was attacked by a Red Fang.”

The Red Fang was a wolf-like monster. It got its name from the blood that would drip from its mouth when it caught prey. The name’s origin made it sound scary, but it was still only a piddly little rank E monster.