Visiting Draco Village Again (4)

Thinking about it very, very carefully from Cid's point of view of [Niku is male], wanting to do this marriage is a very normal thing, right?

Still though, the fact that Niku's a girl has probably already been found out. Like… surely.

"Alright, so it's not something I could just decide of my own accord. I'll have to talk to Vonodoru-sama as well."

"Of course. This is mostly just me wanting to announce my intentions and talk it out with you. Although I am serious about it, you can refuse. I've only showed you the contract to show that I am prepared, that's all."

Yeah, it's a hard pass for now. At the very least, run it by Maiodoru first. And seriously please don't get me mixed up with all that sex change stuff.

"Oh, right, Village Chief. Could I have a moment?"

"Hm? What's up, Setsuna?"

"Could I ask where and when that drug was obtained?"

Ah, so it's about the drug made by the Chaos GodLeona, huh. She's probably wondering as her grandchild.

"Could you please tell me how you obtained that drug?"

"Mm. A travelling alchemist supplied it to me three days ago."

"… That alchemist didn't have black hair and red eyes by any chance, did she?"

"She did, actually. Though her actually being a girl could be bad information given she had this drug on her."

Setsuna's expression changed.

No way, it really was Leona? —Wait, three days ago? Huh? What? She's that close?

"Oh, she also had a black slime with her."

"… Did you catch the name of the black slime?"

"She was calling it Rin. Apparently it likes to eat white things despite being black. It appeared to hate salt though, even though that's white too?"

Hearing Cid's explanation, Setsuna's eye twitched.

… Rin and Leona joined up? Uwaah, crazy! Scary!

I have to get home right now and get ready to intercept them. There's no way I can sleep when what's basically our dungeon's natural enemy is so close. It's too scary!

"Where is that alchemist now?"

"In Pavera, I think? She's not in this village anymore, at least."

Wait. She was here? Not just Setsuna, but even I feel like pressing my temples.

What I felt was something like a knife at my throat. Not held by Cid, but by Leona.

Alright, I've decided. I'll be refusing this marriage thing. There's no way I could spend effort on that when there's a Leona Alert going on.

"Things have changed. Would you mind me speaking frankly, Cid-dono? This marriage is impossible."

"… Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"…"

"Don't look at me like that, I'm sure."

When I asserted myself clearly, Cid could only let out a sigh.

"Alright. If you're that firm about it, I'll give up… But now I have no need for this drug. Could you please take it from me as a way to sever my lingering regret about it? As a friend."

"… If it will help you, alright."

I decided to accept it so that Cid wouldn't try thinking too much into the matter.

"Oh, how much for it? The drug, that is."

"No, just take it. It's to sever my lingering regret, after all. Honestly, you having it for free helps me a bit."

"Really now?"

Unable to refuse him and his incredibly refreshed smile, I received the [T-AAce] magic drug that was also a clue about Leona.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

Since there wasn't really much for me to do after that, I returned to Golen Village.

Once there, I was questioned by Wozuma and had to report everything to him…

"And after all that, I had a chat with Cid and had to—"

"Village Chief. Didn't I tell you to not do any extra work?"

I-I didn't! I just went to hang out at my (diplomatic) friend's house.

Wozuma started looking like he was getting a headache, but when I told him about refusing the marriage, he arched his eyebrow and held his hand to his mouth.

"And then you received this magic drug, Village Chief?"

"Yeah. It's dangerous in various ways, so I couldn't exactly leave it in his hands."

"So that's how're you're going to play it… well, that should be fine? At the very least, that evening out the balance should have pleased them."

"Huh? Pleased? Even though I rejected the marriage?"

Hearing me and seeing me looked confused, Wozuma's eyes opened a bit wide.

"Oh, curious. I'll have to change my evaluation of the young prodigy."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a person who was able to act so naturally that not even you noticed, Village Chief."

Acted naturally…? Huh? Is he saying that the whole marriage with Niku was supposed to be some kind of act? I really don't get it.

"He might have already talked with Vonodoru-sama about it."

"And?"

"Although I am not an expert in the matter, I believe this magic drug should be worth around five hundred gold coins. You should confirm that with a magic apothecary somewhere, though."

I can't keep up here… what? Five hundred gold? The heck? Expensive!

Come to think of it, wasn't the similarChaos God magic drug being sold in Corky, the one with a permanent effect, said to be a thousand gold at cost? The retail price would jump way higher than that, but five hundred gold has to mean this one's pretty potent too, right?

"… Was me accepting it a bad thing?"

"Well, there was no problem with you accepting it. He was the one asking you to take it, after all. I'd say it's safe to see it as effectively a tribute to you, Village Chief."

"That so? Alright then."

I don't get it, but moving on! I've got no use for it whatsoever, but if I gave it back and Cid ended up proposing to Niku again, things would just get more complicated… Huh? No, wasn't he just acting? Gah! This is confusing.

Either way, I have to prepare the dungeon to defend against Leona… Gah, there's no way we can win if Leona and Rin both come at us. Has the orichalcum golem still not respawned…?

"… Still, it's a bit expensive to just accept for nothing. Shouldn't we do something in exchange?"

"Please don't, them being able to do that will have helped them a lot. They'll have understood at least a little about you by now, Village Chief, so I doubt they will attempt to so shoddily meddle with you in the future."

"O-Okay? If you say so."

Well, I can just quietly pay him back over the course of our future dealings then.

Thinking that, I quietly storedsealed away the five hundred gold-valued sex-change drug in my [Storage]… Maybe I could pawn it off to Wataru?