Steeling herself, Enri furrowed her brows and took a deep breath.
“Don’t wolves eat meat? Just because you’re higher level than me, don’t go thinking I can’t whup you fist to fist!”
“Fist to fist, you say? Since you’re so hungry, how about a knuckle sandwich?”
And just as Enri stood up, everyone immediately returned to their seats and calmly resumed their meal as though nothing was wrong.
“ALL OF YOU, QUIT MAKING A RACKET!”
Enri’s furious bellow echoed across the silent air above the breakfast table.
“Ah…”
Surprised, Enri looked all around, but the only thing she could see were the goblins looking at her with expressions on their faces which said, “We were all quietly having breakfast, is that a problem”, or “being suddenly shouted at for no reason at is really vexing”. After standing silently for a while, she plopped back into her seat, red-faced.
“Pfhahahahaha!”
The first to break the silence was Nemu. Then, unable to contain herself, Enri followed suit, clutching her stomach as she laughed and then the goblins joined in as well.
That flawless coordination and timing could not have taken place without careful discussion and preparation. It was quite amazing how seriously they prepared for prank like this.
“Ah, that was just weird. Were you all planning to make fun of me from the start?”
Even though she was tearing up because she was laughing too hard, Enri made a show of being angry and asked.
“Of course, Ane-san. We wouldn’t argue about things like this for real.”
“That’s right, Ane-san.”
“Yup, yup!”
The goblins were unrepentantly blathering on, deflecting Enri’s questions with jovial expressions on their faces. In response, Enri focused on Kaijali, turning a fierce stare on him. Under her stern gaze, Kaijali wilted, averting his eyes as he responded in a small voice that abdicated all responsibility.
“You see, how do I say this… we thought Ane-san looked a little down.”
Several nearby goblins shrank away, their heads lowered as they looked around uncomfortably without saying a word.
“Everyone―”
“That’s because… we’re all Ane-san’s bodyguards.”
“That’s right!”
“Yep! Bodyguards!”
“We put a lot of thought in how to look good as your escort.”
“That’s right, that’s right. Now, Ane-san and Nemu-san, stand here, in the middle, like this…”
“Eh? I have to go over too?”
“Of course you do, now, the two of you, raise both your arms like this, that’s right, in a totally cool and awesome way…”
Even if she gave them the benefit of the doubt, this pose made them look like frogs stretching their arms out to the sky.
“Look, I understand your good intentions, and to begin with, you don’t need to be my bodyguards…
right, Enfi?”
Enri turned her head to her childhood friend sitting beside her for aid, but found that there was nobody there.
She had a bad feeling about this, but still shifted her line of sight down just a little bit… and found that Nfirea’s head was resting face down in his bowl of soup.
“Enfi!”
Enri immediately scooped up the toppled Enfi, crying out as her face turned pale. Cona quickly rushed over, and peeled Nfirea’s eyes open with his fingers.
“…He’s just asleep. If you leave him like this until noon, he should be all right.”
“Enfi… what am I going to do with you?”
Enri was thinking that she should return Nfirea to his own bed. So she hefted him onto her back, and began heading out, leaving behind such conversational gems as “Shouldn’t their positions be reversed?” “Nemu-san, you can’t say these things… “ “Ani-san, you…”
After the wheat was harvested, the tax collectors would come around the village.
Enri was obviously worried about how she was going to explain the presence of the goblins in the village.
Should she say they were summoned beasts, or that they were her henchmen, or maybe she should say…
Enri had the feeling that they were always concerned about her.
It wasn’t limited to worrying about her safety, they were thinking about her feelings too. What could she do for these goblins?
What could she do for these rowdy and reliable new members of her family…
Using the still-clean back of her hand to wipe off the sweat trickling down her neck, Enri bundled up the weeds she had just finished cutting. The large pile of shredded plant matter gave off the fragrance of freshly-cut grass.
Her body was tired from working long hours in the field and the way her sweat-slicked clothes clung to her body made Enri uncomfortable.
To lift her mood, Enri stretched herself out.
As she did, her eyes swept across the sprawling fields.
The wheat they’d planted had grown slowly but steadily, and as the harvest season approached, the wheat would slowly turn golden. Although a wheat field painted gold was a beautiful sight, the weeding work before that was both essential and annoying. If it wasn’t done, that golden field would also be a very lonely one.
Her labour now was entirely for the sake of the harvest to come.
She straightened her body to let her stiff muscles loosen, and to let her tightly-wound body relax.
The wind felt refreshingly cool on her skin that had been overheated from long hours of field work.
The wind also brought the sound of a commotion from the village to her ears.
It sounded like something banging on something, and shouts for getting people to combine their strength as one. These were sounds that had never been heard before in the village. At this moment, the village was working to turn all manner of plans and ideas into reality.
Of these plans, the ones with the highest priority were the wall surrounding the village, and the construction of the watchtowers. It went without saying that all these were projects were intended to turn the village into a fortress.
Carne Village stood at the edge of the Great Forest of Tob, and the forest was the home of many wild beasts, or in other words, dangerous territory. It would be impossible to live in peace without the protection of sturdy walls.
However, Carne Village was laid out in neat rows of houses radiating from a central square in all directions. Without anything like a wall in place, anyone could easily enter the village. Until recently, the village had been peaceful and the wild beasts did not enter, even though it was right next to the forest.
That was because the mighty creature known as the Wise King of the Forest had continually expanded its sphere of influence, and as such, no beast dared move around in the forest near the village. So the village defenses were comparable to a wall of steel.