Chapter 6 …
Tokura Village
(…Hey, you idiot Yuuuu! What are you doing kissing my mother?!)
(…T-Tomori? N-no, this isn’t what it looks like—)
…Then Tomori turned away from me and walked off.
“Tomoriiiiii!”
At that moment, I woke up.
Haha… seriously? It was another dream ending?
Thinking that, I looked around.
Huh? Where is this?
…Hoshi-san and I were supposed to have collapsed out in the open, badly wounded after being attacked by beasts…
There was a roof above me… and was this straw?
Apparently, I was sleeping buried in a pile of straw inside some kind of hut.
That’s right! What about Hoshi-san?!
I frantically looked around me…
There she was!
Thank goodness.
She was fast asleep, clinging tightly to my lower body like a little child.
…Hm? Hoshi-san, why are you naked?
And when I looked closer—I was naked too!
“Waaaah! Hoshi Akari-san, where are you grabbing?!”
While I panicked, Hoshi-san finally seemed to wake up too and opened her eyes.
“Huh? Yuu-kun… good morning… wait, kyaah! Why are you naked, Yuu-kun?
…Heheh, I seeee. So that’s it. I probably died after all. And God is giving me one final memory with Yuu-kun…”
“N-no, that’s not it! This is just a coincidence, or an accident, or something… I seriously have no idea what’s going on either! We were buried in snow, right? So where are we?”
“…Huh, I’m naked too. Even though we were definitely deep kissing back then.”
“Ah, um, yeah… I’m sorry! Wanting to kiss you… I completely lost my mind… I mean, I don’t even know how to apologize…”
“No, no, you don’t have to panic that much. Let’s keep it a secret from Tomori, okay? I’d probably get scolded too. But… when I thought that was definitely the end for us… I suddenly wanted to kiss you too. But somehow, we’re alive like this now… sooo… could you maybe put that energetic thing away?”
“Hauuu—s-sorry!”
As I shouted that, I hurriedly buried myself deeper into the straw pile.
Having naked Hoshi-san right next to me was making my heart pound uncontrollably, but after taking a deep breath and calmly reassessing the situation, I realized both our fevers were gone.
More than that—my left shoulder wound had almost completely healed, and even the swelling was gone.
There was no doubt someone had saved us by putting us in this straw bed…
But who?
That answer became clear soon enough.
“Tokripeeni. Tatano yore!”
Speaking words I had never heard before, a girl who looked a little over ten years old approached us.
“Tatsumari? Heneshiteere?”
I had absolutely no idea what she was saying, but I didn’t sense any hostility.
It seemed almost certain this girl had something to do with saving us.
She wore clothing like a mix between Native American tribal dress and traditional Ainu patterns from Hokkaido…
Wait… huh?
Animal ears?
Large triangular fox-like ears were sticking out from the top of her head.
Was she… not human?
“Setoharu. Imenji!”
After saying that, she turned around and went back the way she came.
And from behind her…
Yep.
She also had a magnificent fluffy fox tail.
Well, I’d already seen elves and pig-men, so beastfolk existing shouldn’t really surprise me anymore…
A little while later, she returned saying, “Imenji. Barua,” while bringing along what looked like a large adult male beastman.
Then the man pointed at himself and said, “Barua.”
So this person was probably Barua-san.
Thinking that, I pointed to myself and said, “Yuta.”
Then the girl from before pointed at me and said, “Yuta.”
Apparently, that was correct.
And just like that, Hoshi-san and I somehow managed to introduce ourselves.
The girl’s name seemed to be Prune.
From fragments of her speech, it seemed “Imenji” probably meant something like Papa or Father.
But beyond names, we could barely understand a single word each other said, and we were struggling badly…
Then that night, an unexpected visitor arrived.
‘Are you two a human mating pair?’
Suddenly, an image entered my head directly.
Damn it—that telepathy?!
That elf bastard?!
I was just about to leap at him when Hoshi-san stopped me.
“Yuu-kun! No, no! This is different! Probably a different person! Calm down! We need to listen first!”
After Hoshi-san said that, I calmed down and looked properly.
Sure enough, this was a completely different elf from the one at the gate.
This one was an elderly, gentle-looking elf.
“U-um… excuse me. We really have no idea what’s going on…”
‘Hmm. That makes sense. You were severely injured, burning with fever, and clearly in a state of confusion. Even so… for humans, you did remarkably well to kill five War Wolves.’
“War Wolves?”
‘Indeed. The pack of War Wolves that had been ravaging this frontier region was recently hunted down by the frontier defense force, but a few stragglers escaped into the forest. While the people of Tokura Village and I were pursuing them, we found you two.
I should introduce myself. I am Gothak, priest attached to the Kingdom Frontier Defense Force.’
“Gothak-san. We have… a lot we’d like to ask, and a lot to explain too. It may take some time, but would it be possible to speak with you properly?”
‘Very well. I also have many questions for you. But it is already late today. Tomorrow, come to the garrison. I will have this household guide you there.’
With that, Gothak-san gave Barua some instructions and left.
Afterward, Prune brought us a simple soup made of beans and vegetables, along with the clothes and underwear we had originally been wearing.
They had even washed them for us.
Good grief… now I could finally look directly at Hoshi-san again.
Though… our bed was still apparently this straw floor.
Well, it’s not like we were guests or anything.
Just as we were about to get dressed, Prune stopped us and guided both Hoshi-san and me—still naked—behind the hut.
There, a girl about five years younger than Prune was waiting with a bucket of hot water.
“Meron!”
Prune pointed at her.
So Melon-chan was probably Prune’s little sister.
She eagerly gestured for us to wipe ourselves with towels.
“Ahaha… right. We really do smell super bloody…”
I hadn’t noticed until Hoshi-san pointed it out, but after being wrapped in raw War Wolf hides all night, both of us smelled unbelievably awful.
So they wanted us to wash.
As I gratefully reached for a towel, Prune stopped me again.
Then she gestured to Melon washing Prune’s back, and then Prune washing Melon’s back.
Apparently…
She wanted Hoshi-san and me to wash each other.
…Hoshi-san’s entire face turned bright red too.
“Y-Yuu-kun… I guess we don’t really have a choice. Maybe this is just their custom here. Besides… that priest said we were a mating pair, right? I think… they may be misunderstanding something…”
Ahhh…
Maybe when they found us in the forest, we were still kissing…
With that horrifying realization, I accepted that when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
So Hoshi-san and I washed each other’s bodies.
And the sight of Prune and Melon clapping joyfully while watching us somehow left the deepest impression.
◇◇◇
The next morning, breakfast was bean and vegetable soup again.
Honestly… I really wanted a little more salt.
Maybe beastfolk preferred lighter flavors than humans.
Although we had gotten our clothes back, both Hoshi-san and I were still wearing our summer clothes, so the moment we stepped outside, we started shivering violently from the cold.
Seeing that, Barua kindly lent each of us something like a towel-sized wool blanket.
The frontier defense garrison wasn’t very far, but since we’d be leaving the village, Barua still armed himself with a massive sword.
When we arrived, Gothak-san seemed busy, but he assured us he had set aside time for us.
To summarize a very long story:
When Barua and the others entered the forest chasing the stray War Wolves, they found the hunter’s shack burned down.
Panicking, they searched the area and discovered Hoshi-san and me sleeping in the snow, still kissing, on the verge of freezing to death.
Around us lay five dead War Wolves.
Since we were wrapped in their hides, they concluded we had killed them.
But because we were gravely injured, they took us back to the village, where Gothak-san healed us.
So that explained why my shoulder had mostly recovered.
In return, we explained everything that had happened to us so far.
But Gothak-san said he had never heard of anything like dimensional invasions or gates.
For a moment, I wondered if he was lying…
But he genuinely didn’t seem deceptive.
And doubting the man who saved our lives too much felt wrong, so I let it go.
He explained that because he had spent so long stationed on the frontier, even if the royal capital’s upper ranks were involved in something, he wouldn’t know.
If we truly wanted answers, we’d have to go to the royal capital.
At the same time…
He also said there was no way we could do that right now.
According to him, humans were extremely rare here.
They weren’t naturally reproducing creatures of this world, but rather occasional drifters like us who wandered in across space-time.
And since humans had no particularly exceptional abilities, our status was effectively at the absolute bottom.
In fact, even Barua’s family was apparently treating us kindly more like rare pets than equals.
Worse, elves like Gothak-san who could use telepathy with other species were extremely rare.
Unless we first learned this world’s common language, even if we somehow reached the royal capital, we’d likely just be viewed as suspicious creatures—
And in the worst case, immediately put down.
I asked Gothak-san if he could at least teach us some simple words.
But he was already busy preparing to return to the frontier defense headquarters.
Naturally, he couldn’t take us with him.
Still, before leaving, he gave us this advice:
‘If no magical beasts cause trouble here, the frontier defense force likely won’t patrol this area again for about three years. Until then, work under Barua while learning the language and this world’s ways. Then, when we meet again in three years, I will judge whether you are ready to go to the royal capital.
I will explain your circumstances to Barua.
However… the nuance of kissing your beloved’s mother is considered immoral here, even if nothing truly improper happened. So for appearances’ sake, it would be best if you lived publicly as a mating pair.
I wish you both luck.’
With that, Gothak-san returned to his duties.
“Ahahaha… a mating pair, huh… But you understand, right, Yuu-kun?! Just in appearance, just in appearance! If we really became mates, I’d never be able to face Tomori…”
“I feel exactly the same way. Still… three years, huh? Is there really no other way?”
“Yeah… But honestly, if we go wandering out there without even being able to communicate, we really might freeze to death for real next time. First, we need to at least learn enough to talk with Barua-san’s family before we figure out anything else.”
“…Understood. I’ve made up my mind! Hoshi-san, for the next three years, please be my fake wife!”
“Ehhhhhh?! Fake wife?! W-well… I guess so! I’ll do my absolute best to play the role of your fake wife!”
“Pfft… hahahaha!”
For some reason, it all suddenly seemed hilarious.
And so Hoshi-san and I burst out laughing together—
While Barua, watching us, looked utterly baffled.
