Chapter 67

It was a remarkable feat, combining the plight of the girls left behind by Nodon with livestock raising by the beastfolk.

In theory it seemed likely to work, but when I had still only been discussing it with Kengo, there had been no telling at all how it would turn out in practice.

So I had Marks gather information from the girls in the back alleys, and before long, our expectations turned into certainty.

That was especially true after hearing from the citizens who had had no choice but to hand over their daughters in place of debt.

Without exception, the girls had all been cast out of their homes, but it was not because their parents hated them enough to do that. As honorable citizens, they simply had had no other choice.

For that reason, many were willing to pay any amount if there was a chance their daughters could regain their honor, and more than anything, perhaps the reason they trusted our plan was the fact that, after Nodon’s expulsion, we had already written off most of their debts.

Thanks to that, it looked as though we would be able to cover the initial costs of establishing the convent.

And then there were the girls themselves, the most important parties involved.

If they spent time at the convent as devout nuns, their past deeds would be overlooked, and on top of that they would learn to read and write and be able to return to town once more as honorable citizens—what did they think of that?

That said, the convent would place importance on labor, and they would end up handling meat from livestock raised by beastfolk…

The girls’ response was clear.

If it meant they could return to their former lives, then gutting pigs and chickens was nothing at all.

Work drenched in blood alongside beastfolk? Compared with all the bitterness they had suffered, that was nothing—bring it on, was the feeling they gave.

Besides, most of the girls had been favorably inclined toward beastfolk from the start.

Apparently, as people in similarly painful circumstances, they had more than once been helped by kind beastfolk.

And so the plan moved forward at a rapid pace.

We found a farming shed and residence outside town that had not been in use, finished arranging its purchase and renovation, and at the same time worked out the complicated agreements with Clover and the others for establishing the convent, laying out a path for the girls forced into the back alleys to return once more to the main streets.

I explained the situation to Dodol as well, saying that it would take the form of joining hands with the church, but asked him to remember the example of Kururu, and got his agreement. We would not be submitting to the church, only making good use of them.

And as for the girls entering the convent themselves, if you asked how many of them truly revered God now, after being tossed about by cruel fate without God ever once coming to save them, Dodol merely shrugged his enormous shoulders.

In the first place, for someone as practical as Dodol, what mattered more was how much work and food livestock raising could secure for his people.

And so, after all the work had been completed, when I guided the first group of girls to the building that was to become the convent—

The girls, who had resigned themselves to having no choice but to accept an unjust fate, thanked me with overwhelming fervor.

I would be lying if I said I had felt no pride while being hugged, kissed, and thoroughly mobbed.

But afterward, under Kururu’s cold stare and Iiria’s smile that was not smiling, my back involuntarily hunched.

“You’ve gotten quite full of yourself, haven’t you?”

There was an expression about kisses raining down like rain, and honestly it had not been much of an exaggeration.

Iiria pinched at my disheveled hair and the rumpled collar of my clothes with her fingers, wearing the face of a mother-in-law bullying her son’s wife.

“Kururu, what do you think?”

“I know very well how foolish men can be, so I don’t mind.”

If that was really so, I wished she would stop bristling the fur of her tail and baring her fangs enough to show her gums when she spoke, but of course if I actually said something like that to Kururu, she would probably bite my throat out.

“By the way, where did Kengo get off to?”

Kengo’s cleverness showed itself at times like this. He had said that since he himself had done nothing in particular, he would refrain from being present at the moment of triumph, but it was Kengo who had handled coordination on the beastfolk side, and it was also Kengo who, in place of Marks whose position was somewhat questionable, had gone to explain matters to the honorable citizen parents.

But clever Kengo excelled at risk management.

If it came out that he had a favorite among the girls thanking us, he probably had no idea what kind of looks Kururu and Iiria would turn on him.

“He’s gone to discuss the construction of the livestock sheds…”

Since that was not exactly a lie, I answered that way, and though the two sharp-eyed girls exchanged some kind of conversation through glances and tail movements, they did not pursue it any further.

“Well, let’s call this one settled, then.”

It was still difficult to save all of the girls. Some of them had not even been able to remain on the island and had already crossed the sea to the provincial capital. On our coming trip to the provincial capital, I also took on the task of searching for them and telling them that they could return to the island.

Even so, we had gained one major step forward.

The territory’s meat production was certain to rise sharply, and Nodon’s parting gifts ought one day to be completely dealt with.

Kururu still looked a little dissatisfied with Iiria’s words, but loyalty to her master was one of this attendant’s better qualities.

“Well then, shall we eat?”

Kururu crossed her arms and looked toward me.

“…Would you let me… help?”

Kururu only served food to her master and her master’s guests.

So being allowed to help in the kitchen meant—

“Of course!”

With that, Kururu smacked me on the head.

“You’re one of ‘our’ people now!”

It was rather too intense to call mere jealousy over seeing me fawned over by glamorous girls, but if they thought of me as someone inside their territory, then perhaps I ought to be pleased.

More than that, though, she looked like a gang leader kid angry that someone was about to steal one of her underlings, but I thought that was fine too.

“By the way, Yorinobu-san?”

As I was following behind Kururu, who was striding back toward the mansion, Iiria slipped up beside me and deliberately called me Yorinobu-san.

“So then, which one is Kengo’s favorite, I wonder?”

Faced with Iiria’s question, her tail flapping with curiosity, I somehow managed to keep my silence.