Chapter 19
“I can’t believe a dessert this delicious exists…!”
The village chief devoured the dish at impressive speed.
Meanwhile, I was frozen in place, staring at something above his head.
Not because my cooking failed—no, it worked perfectly, just as intended.
The problem was…
What on earth is that?
I rubbed my eyes, wondering if my vision had glitched.
Because floating above the chief’s head…
There was a long line of X-shaped icons. Dozens of them.
And right at that moment, one of those many X’s disappeared.
Don’t tell me… All of those are restrictions?
Before I could count how many there were, the icons flickered and vanished.
Apparently they only appeared for a moment when the restriction-removal dish was eaten.
The instant I saw that, all my motivation evaporated.
How am I supposed to remove all of those…
Just eyeballing it, there were dozens—maybe more. At this rate, I’d need to keep the chief glued to my side and feed him three meals a day like I do with Kaizen.
Noticing the despair written all over my face, Kaizen—rarely—spoke first.
“What troubles you?”
“Mm… something just came up.”
“Is your magic failing?”
“I said it’s not magic. It’s just… it seems like I’ve gained another mouth to feed. Why is nothing ever easy?”
At my grumbling, Kaizen didn’t respond. He simply stared at me quietly.
Then, without warning, he rose and strode toward the feast table.
He was so tall compared to the beast-folk that I could see exactly where he was going.
“Ay…”
He ignored me completely after asking the question, Hamma was fluttering around the feast like a butterfly, and I was the only one worrying about how to feed the chief from now on.
And then—
“…?”
Something was suddenly held out toward me.
A plate piled high with chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, and chocolate brownies—so sweet it looked dangerous just to exist.
“Ahem.”
Kaizen cleared his throat, clearly searching for words, eyebrows twitching as if nothing came to mind.
He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it, closed it again—then abruptly turned away, leaving only the plate in my hands.
“…?”
I blinked at the desserts left with me.
What…?
Was he trying to console me?
Like, ‘Here. Eat sweets and cheer up?’
His ears, turned away from me, were faintly red.
The gloom I’d had a moment ago melted away.
So he does have a cute side.
Truthfully, I don’t like sweets.
Especially death-by-chocolate situations like this.
But…
…They look kind of good.
I stared down at the desserts, then picked up a chocolate cookie and took a bite.
Crunch, crunch. The crumbs broke apart in my mouth.
“…Well. It’s edible, at least.”
Kaizen’s ears twitched at the sound of my mumbling.
I snickered internally.
“Thanks, Kaizen. I’ll enjoy it.”
“……”
Well. We had time, and Kaizen had promised to cooperate as much as possible.
I could remove the restrictions slowly.
Convincing myself with positive thinking, I continued nibbling through the desserts when—
Someone suddenly burst into the village hall, shouting desperately.
“P-please help us!”
The festive atmosphere instantly froze.
The beast-folk murmured anxiously as they gathered.
“Eh? Isn’t that the inn couple? They weren’t at the feast all day—what happened?”
“Good heavens… Their faces are pale as ghosts. Dear, don’t cry, speak slowly. What happened?”
Curious, I approached the front—and my eyes widened.
“That’s the inn couple who gave us a room last loop.”
‘Kaizen’, murmured from beside me.
“Yeah… What’s going on?”
The inn lady was trembling violently, white as a sheet. The innkeeper held her tightly, trying to steady her.
The commotion drew the village chief, who pushed through the crowd and stood before them.
“Liriel. Tell me slowly. What happened?”
At the sight of him, the couple grabbed onto him desperately.
“Ch-chief! Our child… We think he wandered into the Forest of Death…! Please, please save him!”
Forest of Death?
Wasn’t that the place the chief mentioned earlier today? Where did the Hirata live?
The surrounding beast-folk gasped, covering their mouths.
“Dear heavens… Is that true? What do we do now!”
“The sun’s already set—no one can enter at night! What do we do?”
The chief’s face paled.
“How did your child end up in the Forest of Death?!”
“H-he was playing near the edge with a friend… The ball rolled into the forest, and he must’ve gone in to look for it… Please… help us…”
Silence fell, heavy and suffocating.
No one volunteered.
Everyone knew going there meant death.
I started wondering—
Did this happen in the last loop?
I leaned toward Hamma and whispered.
“Hamma, did this happen last time?”
“I dunno. I spent every day out by the shed! And after two days I forget everything anyway!”
Right… I had no way of knowing. This was my first loop in Hanak Village.
“He’s only five years old… hic… and his night vision is terrible. He can barely see… Please, someone, anyone… help…”
The chief’s expression twisted painfully. Then he turned around—
And knelt in front of Kaizen.
“What are you doing?”
Kaizen asked flatly.
The chief bowed deeply, voice trembling.
“Jek is the first child born in Hanak Village in five years. I know it’s shameless of me… but please. Just this once… I beg of you.”
I looked down at the top of his bowed head and snorted.
The chief flinched visibly at the sound.
“You told us never to go into that forest. Now you want us to risk our lives?”
“Y-you two are strong enough to survive there…”
“That’s because we went during the day and didn’t encounter the monster.”
“You defeated the orcs instantly, and also—”
“Oh please. Instantly? Have you seen him? Look—he’s injured.”
I pointed at Kaizen’s hand, slightly scratched from cutting through the woods.
“We save you once, and suddenly you think it’s guaranteed? What, you think we have spare lives?”
“……”
Saying that, I turned and walked away.
Kaizen followed, baffled.
He didn’t understand—of course he didn’t. Negotiation is built on manipulation.
The inn couple sobbed behind us, the village chief was probably on the brink of losing his mind, and the villagers were watching everything unfold.
He needed a solution, but nothing was in sight. Perfect.
I smirked and glanced at Kaizen. He scowled.
“It’s meddling.”
“Nope. This is opportunity.”
I’d been worrying over how to remove the chief’s countless restrictions, and here the answer fell into my lap.
While I smiled darkly, Hamma shook his head.
“Hero-nim, you still don’t understand Romi-nim, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, please. Look at that face. Does that look like someone with no ulterior motives? She’s plotting something again…”
“This is all for our benefit. You want a house too, don’t you?”
“What does that have to do with anything?!”
“What do you mean ‘what’? It’s our chance to get free labour.”
“……?”
Honestly, even if the chief hadn’t asked, I planned to go help.
The inn couple didn’t remember me, but I remembered them. They were good people.
But now that the chief had come begging?
Only fools would let an opportunity like this slip by.
Suppressing a grin, I began counting in my head.
One, two, three, four, five…
I didn’t even reach ten.
Behind me, the chief shouted desperately—
“I-I’ll repay you with anything! Please… just this once… save him…!”
Gotcha.
I hid my smile and slowly turned back.
