The Two Leaders

by Kugane Maruyama

  “Sure, but that didn’t mean I would give ya a proper reply… Well, listen. First, if you only take the job because someone is pushin’ ya, you’ll regret it, so definitely don’t do that. You should keep thinking till ya have an answer that makes sense.”

  Lupusregina’s usual innocence had faded, giving way to alluring beauty. Normally her eyes were round, but now they tapered thin. Her faint smile gave Enri shivers.

  “That’s just my opinion—I won’t tell ya what to do. Break it down in your own head. One thing we can say is that no matter who becomes headman, they’ll make a lot of mistakes. As far as I know, there’s only about forty-one people who can do everything perfectly. So it’s stupid to worry about failure. And if ya take a step back and really think about it, no one in this village is more fit for the job than you.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Go ask the goblins what they’ll do if a monster they deem unbeatable attacks the village—both if you’re the headwoman and if you’re not.”

  Lupusregina quietly changed back to her normal cheerful expression.

  “Well, that was no fun! Agh, I’m not into this scenario. Mannn. It’d be more fun if instead of you bein’ headwoman, the village got hit by a big, fat tragedy!”

  “What?”

  “Heh-heh.” Lupusregina patted Enri on the shoulder. “I think you should be headwoman. As for everything else…you should ask the boy over there…” As she took her hand off Enri’s shoulder, she twirled around once. It was a light movement, as if friction didn’t affect her. “Later, then!”

  Lupusregina walked away while waving. Nfirea and Nemu were standing in that direction holding hands. She patted Nfirea on the shoulder. As if that had poured energy into them, the pair started to move.

  “Welcome back, Enri!” Nemu must have been incredibly anxious, because she raced toward her at full speed.

  For a moment, Enri worried she would be bowled over, but she managed to avoid it by bringing out all the strength in her leg muscles.

  “You’re back sooner than I expected, Enri. You didn’t stay the night?”

  “Hi to both of you. No, I didn’t. I camped on the way back.”

  “Hmm… I’m glad you didn’t get attacked by monsters. I can’t really support that choice, though. The goblins may be strong, but there are stronger monsters out there. We live on the plains, so you don’t get too many out here, but still.”

  “Enri, don’t do anything dangerous!” Nemu grabbed her shirt as if to say she would never let her go again.

  Enri was the only living family her little sister had left. My life doesn’t belong to only me. It seemed like she had briefly forgotten that.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

  Enri gently petted Nemu’s head.

  “Okay! I forgive you!” Nemu looked up at her and smiled.

  “Thanks. Were you a good girl while I was gone? You didn’t make too much trouble for Nfi, did you?”

  “Aw, c’mon, sis! I’m not a baby anymore! Right, Nfi?”

  “Ah-ha-ha. I had to take care of the members of Arg’s tribe, so I couldn’t watch her the whole time, but I think she was good!”

  “Agh, you’re treating me like a kid, too, Nfi? Anyway, more importantly, Enri, Nfi stinks!”

  “Nemu! It’s the smell of herbs, isn’t it? Didn’t you say your hands smelled after you crushed them?”

  “Is the smell that makes your eyes sting from the herbs?”

  “…Well, there are other things, too, like alchemical items I use as an apothecary. But, Nemu, don’t make it sound like I smell bad…”

  “But you do!”

  His face froze.

  “Well, it’s just that the odor clings to your clothes. I think you’d be fine if you changed out of your work clothes…” Enri hurried to explain what Nemu meant, and Nfirea’s face softened a bit.

  “I don’t really have other clothes… In E-Rantel, I pretty much just wore this.”

  “Then should I make you some?”

  “Huh? You can make clothes?”

  “What do you take me for, Nfi? Of course I can make simple clothes.”

  “Oh. I’ve always bought mine so it seems amazing that you can just make your own.”

  “Well, thanks, but anyone in the village… Nemu, we should start practicing.”

  “Okayyy!”

  “All right. Will you go on home ahead of me? I want to talk to Nfi about something.”

  Nemu put a hand to her mouth, and her eyes sparkled. “Okay! Got it! I’ll go home now! Good luck, Nfi!” She dashed excitedly toward the house with a wave.

  “She sure listened well. I wonder if she’s hiding something,” Enri murmured as she watched Nemu go.

  “Nah, I doubt it… More importantly! What did you want to talk about? Of course, I have an idea, since I participated in the village meeting yesterday…”

  “Then this will be quick.” Enri skipped needless explanation and told him what had happened at the headman’s house.

  But not only that. She told him about her worries and what Lupusregina had said—everything.

  After listening to the end, Nfirea looked her square in the eye and said, “You should do what you think is best; I’ll support you either way…is the kind of canned reply I don’t want to give. I want you to do it.”

  “Why? I’m—”

  “You’re not just a village girl. You’re Enri Emmott, leader of the goblins. You’re thinking that the goblins aren’t your power. But in the end, they are. I’ll answer the question Lupusregina told you to ask the goblins. In an emergency, if you’re not the headwoman, they’ll carry you off and escape before their fighting power is too depleted.”

  “They wouldn’t do that!”

  “…They’ll say that while you’re safe, but if the time came, they would. They told me so.”

  “No way…”

  Enri stared at Nfirea in disbelief. She thought he had to be lying, but she couldn’t detect so much as a hint of exaggeration.

  “The most important thing to them isn’t the village but you. But if you’re the headwoman, then the village belongs to you, so they’ll stay here and fight as long as they can. That’s the only thing that changes, but it does make a difference. By the way, they told me to take your sister and follow them in case that did happen. Enri…you can confirm with them if you want, but don’t tell them you heard anything from me.”

  “I’m not going to ask them,” she declared.

  Nfirea parted his bangs and looked at her with wide eyes. “Are you sure? There’s always the possibility that I’m ly—”

  “No, there isn’t. You wouldn’t lie to me. I believe you. But I guess that’s just how important a summoner is, huh?”

  “I think it must be partly because it’s you. You buy weapons for them and stuff, right? Seems only natural that they would place the highest importance on such a kind master. This isn’t the nicest way to put it, but the villagers never gave the goblins anything—they think of them as monsters you summoned. It’s only natural to pick the person who sees them as individuals over the people who don’t, right?”

  Of course, the villagers didn’t necessarily think of them that way, but when she thought back, she had never seen any of them showing their gratitude in a concrete way.

  “…But sometimes the villagers treat them to lunch.”

  “That’s a thank-you to you. They’re just saying, ‘We’ll handle the lunch cost and prep time.’ Have you ever seen any of the villagers call a goblin by their name?”

  She hadn’t. She thought it was because they just couldn’t tell them apart, but maybe they never even felt like trying.

  When she thought that, an indescribable loneliness came over her.

  “Oh…”

  But the forlorn feeling wasn’t the only thing in her voice. There was a determined gleam in her eyes, like she had made up her mind.

  “Yeah… Personally, I think you’d be a great headwoman. And if you become
headwoman, the goblins’ situation will change pretty quickly.”

  “…You’ll all help me, right?”

  “Of course. It’s more like there’s no one who wouldn’t help you!”

  “Okay. Then I’m going to pay the headman a visit. When you’ve made up your mind, it’s better to act right away!”

  Nfirea laughed at her declaration. It was a soft, bubbly laugh that showed he understood that she wanted encouragement.

  “Okay! Get going, Enri!”

  She turned on her heel with an “Mm-hmm” and took a step down the path to being the new head of Carne.

  Watching the village intently from the sky, Lupusregina saw people clustering in the square. Enri went out in front of everyone and said something, but it was nearly impossible at this distance to pick up her voice.

  Perhaps she had finished talking—the villagers began to clap.

  “Ha-haaa. So that’s how it turned out. She did it. This is great. Ee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!”

  “—What are you having so much fun with?”

  Lupusregina turned just her head to face the voice behind her. “Oh, if it isn’t Yuri. Are you flying with a magic item?”

  “Yes, by the power of a magic item Lord Ainz lent me. What’s so…? This is Carne. You got scolded over it, right?”

  “That’s right. But things just got really interestin’.”

  “What things?”

  “There’s a new leader in the village now… For the humans here, that means new history, a potential for new beginnings. But imagine the looks on their faces if, just at their grandest moment, the village got attacked and everything burned up!”

  A crack appeared in her beauty, and anyone who saw it would have said that something evil or horrible was flowing from it.

  “I thought you were getting along with the villagers…”

  “Yeah, we get along. I just get so excited when I think about all my human pals getting crushed like bugs.”

  “So you’re a total sadist, hmm? Right up there with Solution. Why are you all like that? Shizu is the only saving grace—honestly. Although Entoma isn’t so bad, either…”

  Lupusregina laughed at her leader’s complaints and said, “Oh, village, won’t you fall for me?”

  4

  “Urrrgh, I’m so tired.”

  Enri tossed the little chalkboard she was holding onto the table and flopped over. Hearing some quiet laughter, she turned just her head to see her teacher, Nfirea, smiling at her as she had guessed.

  “Nice work, Enri.”

  “I did work—so hard! I’m not good at using my head…”

  “But you have to be able to do simple reading, writing, and arithmetic.”

  Enri groaned.

  She’d been told there were minimum education requirements for becoming headwoman, so she was getting private lessons from Nfirea, but her head felt like it was going to burst.

  “Why are there so many letters? Someone came up with this system just to torture meeee…”

  “Don’t say that. You can write your name now, right? And Nemu’s?”

  “Yeah, I’m a little happy about that… I don’t suppose that much is good enough, is it?”

  “Sorry! Unfortunately, you’re still at the most basic of basics. I mean, it’s only been five days since you started studying, so we haven’t gotten to any of the important stuff yet.”

  Enri looked like someone who couldn’t believe what she had just heard.

  “Ohh, don’t make that face. Once you get the simple stuff down, it’s just application. So this actually is pretty important, yeah.”

  “…Wahh.”

  “You do seem tired, though. Shall we call it quits for today?”

  Enri stood as if she’d been waiting for the word. “Yes! Got an early day tomorrow! Good thinking, Nfi!”

  With a wry grin, Nfirea erased the squiggly worm letters off the chalkboard. “Okay, have a nice rest. We’ll start studying at the same time tomorrow.”

  “I’m really happy that you’re willing to take time away from experimenting to help me, but I can’t do anything to thank you…”

  “Yes, yes. That’s how it goes. Someone once told me that the teachers hated by their students are better than the ones who get thanked.”

  “That’s a lie! That’s definitely a lie!”

  “Ah-ha-ha-ha! Okay, I need to get going. Good night, Enri.”

  “Okay, good night, Nfi. You should go home and sleep, not experiment.”

  Acknowledging her remark with a smile, he left through the front door. After watching his magic light recede for a little while, she went back inside, and the dark house suddenly felt terribly lonely.

  “Ahh, I’m tired.”

  She sluggishly took off her clothes and got into bed. They had been pretty noisy, but next to her, her sister was making adorable snoozing noises. Enri closed her eyes in peace.

  She was sure she would fall asleep right away because she had worked her brain so hard, and she was right. Perhaps only a few seconds after she closed her eyes, she was out.

  How long had it been since she had fallen asleep? Some far-off noise awakened her from her light sleep.

  Three knocks. Then a little while later, another three knocks.

  When she realized what that pattern meant, her eyes popped open in the darkness. Her extraordinarily lucid brain recognized that she was in her own house, and she jumped up. Her sister jumped up at the same time.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  She sounded scared but not to the point where she couldn’t function.

  “Get ready now!”

  “Okay!”

  Turning on the light would be a waste of time, so they simply started preparing to run.

  As the ringing of the bell came to them on the wind, they got their things together in an extremely short amount of time—the result of practicing over and over, as well as a product of the fear that had stuck with them from the previous attack. Probably Arg’s story planted the possibility in their minds, too.

  “Nemu! You run straight to the meeting hall! I’ll be there as soon as I finish my duties!”

  Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed her sister’s hand and flew out the door of their house.

  The bell still making a racket signaled an emergency. It meant that attackers had been spotted.

  She couldn’t completely abandon the hope that this was just another drill, but the agitation in the air denied it. It was the same atmosphere as when the knights had attacked.

  When they neared the meeting hall, Enri gave Nemu a push. “Now go!”

  Nemu made a small reply without turning around and ran as fast as she could.

  Enri felt the urge to go after her, to at least see that she made it into the hall safely.

  But at the meeting several days ago, she had become headwoman, so she had to act with the entire village in mind now.

  She wished this would have happened before she’d assumed the position or long after…

  “It’s almost like some evil god is watching us.” Her inner thoughts spilled out. This really was the worst timing.

  “Boss lady!” A goblin ran toward her.

  “What is it? What happened?”

  “We spotted some monsters on the edge of the forest. They might attack the village.”

  “Understood. I’ll follow you!”

  Led by the goblin, Enri raced toward the main gate. Just behind it was the fence they set up only at night, and Enri saw that the goblins were all present. Equipped with the new weapons and gear she’d bought for them, they looked stalwart—like true veteran warriors.

  As they approached, Enri could tell by the stench on the wind that the ogres were there, too. They had their brand-new, brutal-looking clubs firmly in hand.

  At about the same time Enri arrived, the self-defense squad members, along with Brita and Nfirea, all gathered from around the village. Arg and two of the goblins from his village who had managed to make a
psychological recovery came, too.

  “Is this everyone? How about Lizzy? Is she coming later?”

  Nfirea’s grandmother Lizzy was a fairly powerful caster. It wouldn’t have been at all strange to have her help defend the main gate.

  “No, she’s not coming. I had her go to the meeting hall. That place is important, too.”

  The villagers nodded with conviction. Their families were gathered in the meeting hall. They needed to fortify those defenses, as well.

  “I had members who aren’t great with bows go there. If you have any available hands, I’d like some of you to go as well, just to be safe, but what do you think?”

  “That’s not happening.” Jugemu shot down Brita’s request with zero hesitation.

  The villagers who lived with the goblins knew there was no malice in his reply. Enri swallowed tensely and the goblin leader continued.

  “There are a lot of monsters. Not only ogres, but lots of different kinds. It’s too dangerous to split up the force.”

  “We don’t have an accurate count?”

  “Brita, they’re in the woods, so we don’t have an accurate count. Keeping that in mind…our current count is at seven ogres, a few giant snakes, a couple wargs, creatures that resemble barghests, and something huge at the rear…”

  “Wargs, snakes, and ogres working together? Is there a druid behind them?”

  A warg was a magical beast that for all appearances looked like an upsize wolf. They were smarter than wolves, and encountering one in the woods meant a bad time.

  “There’s a good chance. If they have a caster, this’ll get tricky—they’ll have a ranged attack method, too. Should we commit our full force? If so, I’ll go call Grandma.”

  “I’m…not sure that’s a good idea, boss man. The meeting hall is the sturdiest building in the village. It was made that way so people could hole up in there if it came to it—it’s the village’s citadel, so to speak. It’s far better if we have someone there to protect it.”

  “…So we might have to retreat? Where should I position myself?”

  “Lead the self-defense squad, Brita. I want ya to explain my orders to them in an easy-to-understand way and take other actions as appropriate.”

  “So we’ll be the second line of defense against the invaders? First will be the archers, and then we’ll be behind the barricade not really aiming but just thrusting our spears?”