Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari, Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life.

Chapter 81 – Ije’s Village

In Ije’s village, no, what used to be the village, there were about ten small buildings.
The buildings were made by combining wood and vines.

Ije looked at them and muttered sadly.

“…Ruined.”
“When the people are gone, buildings fall into ruin so quickly…”

Out of the ten buildings, five of them had collapsed.
That was probably because the false demon bear had destroyed them.

Not only that, but the other five buildings were in a bad state as well.
And the inside of the village was overgrown with grass.

The village had been attacked about the time that the snow melted.
I didn’t know exactly how the seasons were on the new continent.
But it was currently summer, so the attack was likely three or four months ago.

If it had been abandoned for that long, it was no wonder that things were like this.

“The ingredients. Are they fine? Will go look.”
“Okay. Be careful.”

I watched as Ije went into one of the buildings, and then I searched the village for any corpses.
Thankfully, perhaps, I found no bodies of Ije’s friends.
Either they had been eaten by the false demon bear, or some other wild beast.
In any case, it was probably a good thing that Ije did not have to see it.

In the meantime, Ije went around to the other buildings.
After checking all of the buildings, Ije returned to us.

“Found ingredients.”

And so I helped Ije go around and recover all of them.
There were five barrel’s worth of ingredients that were in a good state.

“There was quite a lot.”
“Yes. Everyone made it together.”
“I see.”

Apparently, their food culture was quite advanced.

“Will give all of this to Theo.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”

And then Ije went back into the buildings.
Ije picked up a bag, and anything that could be useful inside of it.

As I was putting the barrels of ingredients into my magic bag,
“Theo! Theo!”
Fio started to pull me by the hand.

“What is it, Fio?”
“Lot of grass to eat!”
“Wuff!”

Fio and Shiro looked very happy and excited as they wagged their tails.

“Edible grass? Like mountain vegetables?”
“Yes!”
“Wuff!”

And so we all moved to the place with the mountain vegetables.
Ije came as well.

“This!”
“Wuff!”

Said Fio and Shiro.
There, we saw a field that was completely overgrown.
It was quite big. And there were broken fences around it.

“These aren’t mountain vegetables.”
“Not?”
“Wuffu?”
“No. These are normal vegetables. I suppose Ije and the others were growing them?”
“Yes. Right after planting…the devil attacked.”

So it was the kind of vegetable that you planted as soon as the snow melted.

“…They were left…and have not grown at all.”

Ije muttered sadly.

“…I see.”
“Will gather what has sprouted.”
“I’ll help.”
“Fio too!”
“Thank you.”

And so we split up in order to help gather the vegetables.
As it had been abandoned, there were weeds growing everywhere.
It was like a field of weeds, with some vegetables here and there.

“…So small.”

Ije muttered as we picked them.

“It cannot be helped. There was no one to remove weeds and insects.”
“…Yes. Of course.”

But it was still sad.
I understood how Ije felt. They must have put a lot of effort into this.

“Theo? No fields?”

Ije was asking if we didn’t grow our own vegetables.

Like Fio, the way that Ije talked sounded a little strange to my senses.
However, I could fill in the gaps and understand.
With my taming skill, I could read the will of monsters.
And so it was quite easy to understand Ije and Fio.

“We haven’t been able to make any fields yet.”
“Oh.”

Ije’s expression looked sad.

“However, the others just happen to be trying to start.”

Victor’s plans for a field had been delayed due to the food poisoning.
However, it would likely recommence soon.

“Really? Ije. Has something to give to Theo.”
“Give to me?”
“Come.”

And so I followed as Ije went into one of the buildings.
And then Ije came out and handed me a bag.

“Here. Seed. Give Theo.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Wait here.”

Ije went around to the back of the building, and then returned with hoes and farming tools.

“Take these too. Though, they rusted…”

It was because they had not been used in a long time.
But it should be fine with some maintenance work.

“This will help a lot. Can we really take them?”
“Yes. Everyone dead. The village is finished. The field is finished.”

Ije said sadly.
Shiro and Hippolius must have felt bad, as they began to lick Ije’s face.

“There were clean tools too…but…the devil took them.”
“To the nest? The place you were taken?”
“Yes. The devil took the shiny tools.”
“I see.”

I suppose the shiny tools were tools that were not rusted.
In other words, the ones that were left were old.
But the new tools could be found in the nest.

“Ije. These are enough. And a great help already, so thank you.”
“Yes… Ije will go get the others in the devil’s nest. Wait here.”

Ije said with a brave voice.