--This was Subaru's third visit to the village.
The first time, she visited the village with Ram, and the second time, with Rem. For a village located so close to the lord's mansion, it was small, with only around 300 people living there. Much fewer than the local elementary school in her previous world.
He knew it was very tiny, but to Subaru right now, even the size of that village seemed so large it was beyond his comprehension.
Even if we say it's around 300 people, it's impossible to investigate all of them. And even if we're optimistic, we only have today and tomorrow.
"Even so, you finished your work quite quickly."
"Balus was eerily bright. I wonder what happened."
"Hmm, I guess my hidden potential has blossomed. Ramuchi, you can give me straightforward compliments without being embarrassed. Just don't fall in love with me!"
Subaru is extremely ecstatic after receiving high praise for his work that morning.
This was the result of putting all my energy into finishing the essential work to ensure that I could do the shopping in the afternoon. In the past, when I tried to do something with enthusiasm like that, it often ended in failure, but strangely, this time I was able to relax and do it naturally.
Naturally, the feeling of Emilia's knee on my knee comes back to mind and my ears get hot.
--It must have made you relax.
Even though I was so forced to keep up a false front with the twins, my interactions with them no longer had much of an impact on my mental health.
Although there was still some tension remaining, in a good way, it had the effect of strengthening Subaru's resolve.
Therefore, as he strolled through the village with flowers in both hands, just as he had said, Subaru's emotions were calm enough that he "didn't even begin to tremble".
It was partly a matter of his feelings towards the two of them, but also in terms of the tension he felt when moving around the village.
--The last thing he needed to do was to act strangely and give the impression that he was the person in question.
From what he had learned during the Q&A session with Beatrice last night, the condition for a sorcerer to cast a spell was physical contact with the target.
As a prerequisite for a sorcerer to curse a target, he must make some kind of contact with the target once. If you think of sorcerers as purely assassins, this is a fairly risky condition.
If he thought about it based on the knowledge of his original world, he would have to take the risk of exposing himself to something that could have been easily solved by sniping from a distance.
However, it can also be said that it is by paying that the absolute success of the spell is guaranteed once it is activated.
Anyway,
"The criteria for the culprit haven't changed - it has to be a villager I've encountered both times I've visited the village."
And if that person has been outside the country for the past few days, it is almost certain. Narrowing down the possibilities is easy.
As he gazes out at the scenery of the small village, Subaru racks his memory to search for his past. However, no matter how hard he tries, he is unable to remember all the people he has met in the village.
His eyes, which had been fixed on the inside of the mansion up until now, were suddenly turned to the outside. Since he had almost completely excluded the line, it was difficult to search for old memories.
"For now, what I remember is... the 'Rejuvenated Hag' and the Youth Gang. The 'Ramrem Guard', 'Muraosa' and a bunch of kids."
What is particularly memorable about the village are the faces around here.
The "Rejuvenating Granny" is an old woman with a sexually harassing nature, and I remember her groping Subaru's buttocks with a lustful smile. Apparently, she sexually harasses any young man she finds, and keeps saying things like "rejuvenating, rejuvenating."
The Youth Group was exactly what it sounds like: a group made up of young people from the village. The leader was a loud, athletic-looking guy with crew cut hair and a loud voice, and his constant smacking on the shoulders was tough on the indoor-type Subaru.
The "Ram and Rem Guard" was merely a name for convenience, and was not actually used by the people themselves. At first glance, the group looked similar to the Youth Group, and was led by a leader with crew cut hair. It seemed they didn't like the man being close to Ram and Rem, and they slapped Subaru on the shoulders, causing him to grimace at the harassment.
And "Muraosa" is a short, hunched old man. He is bald on top of his head, but instead has a distinctive hairstyle with long white hairs growing out on either side like horns. He has a beautiful, pure white beard, and with his sharp gaze, he looks exactly like a "competent village mayor." He is not actually the village mayor himself, he just has the air of a village mayor. That is why he is referred to as "Muraosa" and other lukewarm names. He tends to be difficult to deal with, as he would poke fun at you while saying things like, "Young people these days!"
"Now that I think about it, they all seem a bit suspicious. They've all been in contact with me casually. These four options… well, actually it's actually three options."
In terms of options, the second and third options are combined, so it naturally becomes a three-choice question. However, that's the limit of the information to consider. To go any further, I had to think about――
"I guess I'll just have to try stepping into the same place this time."
There is no other conclusion to be drawn.
Subaru sighed, lamenting the fact that he could only think of a way to tackle each problem head on.
"What's wrong, Subaru?" "Do you have a stomachache?" "Are you hungry?"
The voices responding one after the other came from above Subaru.
Turning his head, Subaru looked behind him - at the small figure clinging to his back.
It was a boy with short, brown hair. He looked to be under ten years old, around the early years of elementary school. The boy grinned as Subaru gazed upon him. Small shadows were also clinging to Subaru's legs and waist.
All of them were small children, only standing up to Subaru's waist. There were four of them clinging to him, and looking around, there must have been roughly ten people.
Restoring his weight, which was not particularly heavy for his trained body, Subaru began by saying, "Now then,"
"You guys won't come and get involved with me even if we cross time and space..."
"What are you talking about?" "Did you hit your head?" "Did you have an upset stomach?"
"Don't be so hung up on your stomachache. What's wrong with you, do you really want to give me diarrhea that badly?"
When Subaru said that, the children all burst out in laughter. It wasn't that they found the joke funny, but rather that they were simply reacting to the "diarrhea pee" part.
It seems that no matter where you go in the world, talking purely about dirty things is what makes people of this age laugh.
"And his tendency to get involved with kids for no reason has not changed."
With the child climbing onto his back and tugging on his cheek, Subaru could only slump at the cruelty of his own constitution.
This is the true power of the contradictory force that opposes the power of absolute solitude that comes from social anxiety, the "power of absolute solitude (except for kids)."
"I've always been popular with kids and the elderly. Honestly, I'd be happy if I was popular with just one person in the world."
He turns around and comforts the baby on his back.
Listening to squeals and cheers of "It's my turn!" echoing around the village, Subaru led the children through the parade.
Currently, Subaru is free to move around on his own.
In reality, he was not alone, and was restricted in his freedom of movement due to people clinging to him in various places, but in the sense that he was not traveling with Ram and Rem, he was moving around freely.
The maid sisters who came to the village together,
"Sister, sister. Let's split up and gather only the light items."
"Rem, Rem. Let's leave the heavy ones to Barusu."
With these depressing remarks to make later, he hurriedly ran off to do some shopping.
It was probably out of consideration for Subaru, who wanted to see the village, but the truth is that they wished one of them had stayed behind. That way, the situation wouldn't have been so bad that the child would have clung to them.
"I didn't have to go round greeting the suspects under such stress."
Feeling himself breaking out into a cold sweat, Subaru confirmed his own judgment and confirmed the difficulty level.
The method Subaru chose to use in his search for the sorcerer was extremely simple.
--Using himself as a decoy to lure out the sorcerer.
However, that doesn't mean he's offering himself up and saying, "Come on, kill me!" He's thinking about taking the step before that, the step where the sorcery formula is engraved on him.
He was aware that it was an extremely risky decision. What it meant was that if the sorcerer really wanted to, the moment he activated his spell, a countdown would begin to await Subaru before he died of exhaustion.
Like a carp that has jumped onto the chopping board of its own accord, waiting for the chef to bring the knife down on it - that was Subaru's aim right now.
To see the face of the craftsman, who you can't see unless you step on the cutting board.
"At the very least, Beako was able to unravel the magic formula."
Beatrice and Puck are both said to be able to cancel the curse's formula. The latter would naturally involve Emilia, so they wanted to avoid it, but if Beatrice was uncooperative, they would have no choice but to resort to this method.
"Subaru, what a bad face..." "Scary face..." "Weird face..."
"What are you saying, pointing at other people's faces, kids? Plus, I've been listening to you here and there since a while ago, Number Three."
He dragged the children around the village, making comments along the way.
It sticks to you no matter how hard you try, and it's also pretty effective as a navigation aid in searching for suspects.
Above all, for an assassin who cannot afford to cause trouble in the village, there is no way he could harm Subaru, who is walking around with so many children. It was meant as a shield against bullets, that was the calculation.
"I'm pretty sneaky too. I'm shocked by my own way of thinking."
"Subaru, what's wrong?" "Where did you go?" "Are you senile?"
"Oh, nothing special."
The children grabbed him around the legs, and Subaru laughed self-deprecatingly as he stroked their heads.
"Well, it's for my own happiness. Can you at least help me out a little, okay?"
Come to think of it, I never really liked children to begin with.
Noisy, familiar, and selfish.
--Maybe you feel that way because it seems like they are the same as you.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
"Your free time is almost over, so why don't you come and take a look..."
Ram sighed in exasperation as she ran her hands through her pink hair.
Subaru received her gaze and put his arms around her.
"You're not doing anything weird, are you? Oh, come on, it's almost there. --Hey, swing your arms and bend and stretch your legs!"
He moves his body freely and dynamically, loosening up the stiff muscles in his body. Subaru imitates his movements, and the children do the same, while a group of older people and a group of young people surround him and follow suit, one beat behind.
Finally, take a deep breath and calm down together.
Then, as a final move, they all raised their arms to the sky and sang together in unison,
"--Victory!!"
When he finished, cheers rang out and everyone around him instinctively clapped their hands together. He wiped his slightly sweaty forehead and left the circle of people chatting to face Ram. In contrast to Subaru's cheerful demeanor, Ram turned her cold eyes towards him,
"So what kind of entertainment is this?"
"Entertainment, it's not such a big deal, you know? It's just that the adults watching got carried away while we were entertaining the little bastards."
Radio Exercise No. 2 was a way to deal with all the kids who kept telling me to play and be aware of my surroundings. If I recall, this was the only time I acted as a radio artist, so I took this opportunity to make it public.
"Well, it was more popular than I expected, which surprised me too. But I think the fact that it can be enjoyed by a wide range of people, from children to the elderly, is the secret to its continued popularity for so many years!"
"I don't know."
"That was a smash!"
Subaru recoiled in response to Ram's cold response, and the other children watching also recoiled in response.
"Ramchi, it's cold," "Ramchi, it's terrible," "Ramchi, it's scary"
"...Did you teach these kids how to call them?"
"Well, I didn't teach you that intentionally or anything. But isn't familiarity important after all? If you're far away you can't see the other person's face very well. I thought that was lonely... I thought..."
"You have quite the mouth. Ram doesn't mind that much, but Rem might not like that sort of thing."
"Remrin?" "Remrin" "Remrinrin"
Seeing the children all nodding their heads in agreement, Ram shrugged her shoulders as if she had given up.
Then she turned to Subaru,
"So, did you enjoy the village you wanted?"
"---Ah, on that point, without any problems."
As Subaru answered Ram's question, his cheeks curved into a smile.
A stroll through the village, or even contact with the suspects in name only - that in itself was easily accomplished, surpassing Subaru's expectations.
This was partly because they were a group of people who stood out to begin with, but it was likely because they had also been keen to make contact with Subaru. They had shown up without him even having to look for them, so regardless of the flow of events, the amount of physical contact was the same as last time, if not more.
However, he consciously avoided physical contact and took great care to ensure that no one other than the main named characters emerged as suspects.
"I wanted to show you my flexible body techniques, using different tactics and dodging them all... Though there's nothing you can do if you're surrounded by a bunch of Jarinko."
I sighed at the children who were still clinging to my body. Unlike the adults who gave up after avoiding them once, I couldn't help but admire the vitality of children.
However, if Ram comes to pick her up, it will be time to say goodbye to her youth.
Subaru's eyes were filled with regret at the parting,
"Then I need to get off work, you guys. What a shame. If I had more time I would have played with you more. Haha, what a shame."
"Refreshingly," "Laughing," "Are you that happy?"
"Shut up! If you want to be treated properly, you guys should think about how you treat older people! If a child talks to you in a casual manner on their first meeting, it makes you realize how poor your objective human skills are and it makes you feel depressed!"
And then they end up yelling at their children, and are made painfully aware of their own lack of human skills. It's a negative spiral.
Waving at the sulking children, Subaru followed Ram, who was signaling with a glance for them to hurry up and meet up with Rem. However, just before he could start walking, someone pulled him by the sleeve. Turning his head, he saw a girl with brown hair in a ponytail shyly holding Subaru back.
"oh?"
Subaru instinctively let out a cry of surprise.
Unlike the group that had been actively engaging with him up until now, the girl had been taking a step back, glancing at Subaru from time to time.
Crouching down, I met the child's gaze as he looked down.
"What's the matter? If you have something to say, I'll listen."
"Ummm... here."
Pulling at her sleeve, the girl pointed in the opposite direction to where she was supposed to meet Rem.
Feeling reluctant to let go of her weak grip, Subaru looked at Ram as if asking permission. She sighed softly,
"How about you just be a little more selfish?"
"Y-yes, I'm indebted to you, senpai. Well then, what can I do?"
I follow the girl, her hand leading me.
Following her at the front were the same group of children as before. They all seemed to know their destination, and they all had mischievous smiles on their faces and were whispering to each other in small voices.
"They'll be surprised," "They'll be happy," "They'll pee with delight."
"I'm like an ill-trained puppy, getting surprised and then peeing with joy. With my expectations raised that much, I'm the contrarian who doesn't want to be surprised..."
Pushed by the children giggling at each other, we slipped between the houses and into a shady corner.
And then I discovered what the kids wanted to show me.
"Oh, come to think of it, there was this event too."
Subaru couldn't help but exclaim in agreement, and clapped his hands and nodded repeatedly.
The girl let go of Subaru's hand and took off running. Breathing heavily, the slightly shy girl returned to Subaru with the object in her arms.
It was a brown-furred creature that resembled a puppy.
It appears to be still very newborn, and even when fully stretched out, its body length would not reach 30 centimeters.
With its round eyes and soft-looking fur, it was more than enough to get Subaru's blood pumping as a modellist.
Ignoring Subaru's will, his arm reaches out, but he somehow manages to restrain himself and lets out a long sigh.
Being surrounded by children and pampered, he is a pet that feels like a king. However, based on his past experiences――
"Fuuuuh!"
"I thought this was going to happen..."
The moment Subaru approached, the fur on its body stood on end and it threatened.
The children looked surprised at the sight of the little guy on his guard.
"He's usually so quiet," "He's only angry at Subaru," "What did you do, Subaru?"
"That's exactly what I want to hear. Three times, three times. Is this simply a question of the compatibility between me and this guy?"
Responding to the boos from the children, Subaru observes the behavior of the small animals, who are not at all friendly.
If there was no particular reason, this would be his third encounter with this small animal. Contact with the exact same individual, and receiving such an identical response, would make the loop worthwhile. For some reason, the loop Subaru experienced never let him repeat the same habit as the last time.
"But if I were to have the same reaction, I would be happy if it was a friendly one."
When you find out that you are disliked three times over, it makes you really depressed.
Subaru fawned while smiling fondly. Then, the puppy suddenly let go, as if it had let its guard down. Seeing the puppy curled up in the arms of the girl with pigtails, Subaru took this as his chance and walked over to her.
"Well then, excuse me."
The Moffling's arms, raised by the pack, are leaned with all their might towards the curled-up small animal.
First, I check the head and back, then the belly, and then I attack the pros' favorite route, from the tips of the limbs to the base. My recent fads, the ears and tail, are for you to enjoy in the second half.
"Wow, this is the fluffy pet I've always dreamed of. It's quite a fluffy vacation. But strays can be a bit rough on the touch. Daily brushing and love are the key to that."
"I don't know what Subaru is talking about," "Fluffy? Fluffy?" "It's a bit creepy when adults are acting all lovey-dovey with puppies."
"The third person has been really merciless ever since the beginning!"
The beautiful chestnut-haired boy in charge of the third shift smiled innocently at Subaru's remark. If you just looked at that scene, he was an angel, but that must have made him even more arrogant.
"I wonder how many girls I'll make cry in the future... But anyway, Mofling is awesome after all. It's the pinnacle of culture created by mankind."
While the soft touch soothes his frayed heart, Subaru becomes captivated by the Moffling's mysterious charm.
It's no wonder that cat cafes are so popular. Who would have thought of combining cats and cafes, especially considering the hygienic aspects of the idea? The person who came up with the idea must be an exceptionally talented mofo.
"Mofu-kids and Mofu-lists are destined to be attracted to each other. I'm poetic. And you're super cute. However, there are a few things that bother me. Oops, I noticed a ten-yen... no, one-yen bald spot on the top of your head. It's turning white, but where did you hit it――Ouch!"
Perhaps it was because his complex was pointed out, because the puppy, who had been well-behaved up until then, suddenly bared his fangs.
Its small canines bit into my left hand, and as I hastily pulled it out, a small trickle of blood ran down the back of my hand.
"Ouch," said Subaru, looking at the wound.
"What an event completion rate. Even the position of the wound is almost the same. Maybe you've time-leaped?"
When I asked as I lightly wiped the bleeding wound, the small animal had completely regained its wariness and could only make a threatening noise in response.
The children who were watching the exchange between the man and the dog, which had opened up again,
"I guess I got carried away," "After all, she touched me like that," "And besides, she's a girl."
"I feel like the problem is shifting slightly… and no one is worried about me. It's about time a dere-tsundere character showed up!"
He tried to say something about the children's behavior, but no one listened. On the contrary, it was probably because Subaru had spoken out loud.
The puppy started, trembled, twisted itself out of the girl's arms, and ran off towards the bushes.
"Ah ah," "Ah ah," "Ah ah."
"Finally we're all together! Sorry! I didn't mean any harm! It's the same as always!"
He stomps his feet, apologizes profusely, and then waves goodbye to the children who are going off to look for the puppy.
After parting ways with them, who had left their mark all over Subaru's body, he hurried back to where Ram was waiting for him.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting."
The haughty maid had her arms folded and was leaning her back against the wall. When Subaru called out to her, she opened one eye and looked at him,
"Regarding the incident where I sent my junior off thinking he would be fine quickly, but when he returned his hair was all messed up, his clothes were tattered, and he was bleeding from his left hand."
"That's really unfortunate! A lot happened, you can see."
"Yeah. I watched it so I pretty much know."
Ram let out a small sigh, her handsome face revealing a hint of sadness.
Subaru frowned at this unusual behavior, but immediately afterwards Ram looked at Subaru and snorted, "Hah,"
"Your wounds and appearance are horrible, so I'll go and meet up with Rem quickly. I'm sure Rem can heal both of them."
"Huh? Ramuchi can't use healing magic?"
"I can do the drastic treatment of cutting off the affected area."
"An extremely dangerous folk remedy!?"
Subaru couldn't hide his fear, and suddenly Ram approached him, tugged on his sleeve and began to lead the way.
Subaru blinked, thinking it was unusual for her to touch him like this, and Ram turned her head and said,
"Balus, aren't you coming?"
"Shall I come? With you?"
As he responded, Ram was seen to relax her lips for just a fleeting moment.
Just like that, he started walking with her pulling his sleeve.
While I think it would be cute if she was always this honest, I also think that maybe she makes those kinds of comments because she's always so honest with herself.
Honesty also depends on the time and situation.
With that in mind, Ram and I headed towards the place where we had left Rem waiting.
For some reason, I felt as if I was walking slowly, more leisurely than usual, as I listened to the lead footsteps.