81 – Starting Parenting
“You said his name was Matikus, right? All visible injuries have healed. “Are there any more uncomfortable places?”
“Thank you. “I think it’s okay now.”
After leaving the human adventurers to die, he returned to his companions.
The party was erasing traces of the battle by hiding the human corpses in the forest.
It was difficult to remove the soot and blood stains, but there seemed to be no risk of being identified.
I approached Kaa, who was healing the injuries of the centaurs.
“Ah! Ghaul. “Have you finally arrived?”
“Okay. “Was there any problem?”
“Nothing happened here. “Are you really okay?”
“I’m fine. “I wasn’t even hurt.”
Kaa, who had healed all of the group’s injuries, smiled brightly and welcomed me.
When I looked around at first glance, it seemed like the reorganization and cleanup had all but come to an end.
There was absolutely no reason to stay in this place where the smell of blood was strong, so I immediately motioned to my companions and instructed them to leave.
“The centaur colony won’t be far from here. “You may be tired because you just finished a battle, but let’s leave right now.”
“Hmph. “Do you really think you’ll be this tired?”
“Okay. There will be no problem if we leave right away.”
Fortunately, everyone in the group followed my instructions without a word.
The centaurs formed a line and waited at the front, while the other party members began to take up positions, riding on deer and wolves.
“Awww!”
“Uh… “Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
At that time, the demon child sitting on the wolf whined as it fell into the arms of Kaa, who was on top of him.
During the battle a little while ago, Kaa left the child alone on the wolf to protect her companions, and it seems that the situation felt quite scary from the child’s point of view.
The child being hugged as if telling him not to leave her alone from now on, and Kaa not knowing what to do with the child’s behavior, looks quite fresh and cute.
I spoke to Kaa in passing.
“Because of that, I will believe you if you say she is your daughter.”
“Ugh!”
Kaa flinched at my joke and pricked up her ears.
I don’t know what came to mind, but seeing as her face was bright red, it seemed like she was embarrassed.
[Gaul. Shizu is looking this way.]
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.”
I felt like teasing her by asking her what she was thinking, but if she couldn’t resist such playfulness, it looked like she was going to get yelled at by Shizu.
I felt like I had to put up with this prank for the sake of myself and everyone else in my group.
I thanked Piyi for paying attention and wrapped myself in the wild nature of the course horse.
Then Piyi, who was chuckling and laughing, shouted in surprise.
[Oh, that’s right! I want to ride next to someone other than you!]
“Hey, it’s happening again. “This time, let’s just go together.”
[No! I get dizzy when I run fast!]
“I guess the ride won’t be so bad now that I’ve learned the trick, right? “I’ll run smoothly, so just trust me this once.”
[Ugh… Is it real? If you lie, I will bite you! Okay?!]
I nodded and put Piyi inside the breastplate and headed towards the front of the group.
The group formed a line with the centaur at the head, waiting for my instructions.
After confirming that there were no problems, I lightly kicked the ground and started running through the wide meadow next to the deciduous forest.
[Wow! It shakes so much! It was a lie after all!]
“Then how about running like this?”
[It’s equally dizzy! Are you doing this on purpose!?]
* * *
How long did it run like that?
When I finally arrived at the centaur village after improving the ride with Piyi, my chest was full of scratches from Piyi.
Of course, no matter how little Piyi squeezed, it didn’t hurt that much. Rather, it was just so itchy that it was difficult to run.
“But wasn’t it somewhat comfortable in the end?”
[No… I’m just getting used to your ride….]
“Then that’s enough.”
[Hey… Aren’t you so obnoxious these days?]
I comforted Piyi, who was tired of motion sickness, and looked around the scenery of the centaur village.
The village located on a grassland a little away from the main forest had a quite unique appearance.
I asked Matticus, the leader of the centaurs who was standing next to me.
“Is that your village?”
“That’s right. “Is there anything strange?”
“It looks more like a campground than a village.”
The overall appearance of the centaur village was reminiscent of a nomadic residence.
However, there was one thing that was a little unusual, and that was that there were a variety of carriages lined up instead of huts.
From gorgeously decorated carriages to heavy carts. Various types of carriages were combined with tents to function as houses to block rain and wind.
“It is not wrong. “Because we did not live a settled life until we received the blessing of the wild.”
“So you’ve been living a nomadic life, pulling a carriage?”
“Yes.”
There was no way that Centaurs, who were monsters, could have made a carriage.
If that were the case, it meant that the dozens of carriages in front of him had all been looted from humans.
“It looks like you really caught humans like catching rats?”
Looking at the gathered carriages, I could understand why the adventurers were trying to subdue the centaurs.
At this point, it is difficult to tell which race is the victim and which is the perpetrator.
I felt like the boundary between good and evil would collapse the moment I changed my position and thought about it, so I decided not to care and let out a helpless laugh.
“Hmm. Druid. Are you disappointed in us?”
“I was just a little surprised. “I wasn’t particularly disappointed, so don’t worry.”
Since the centaurs were blessed with wildness, I, as a druid, had a duty to protect them.
Anyway, aren’t the arms only bent inward? If you worry about external forces for no reason, your arms will bend outward.
I, who had already made up my mind, shook my head lightly and eased Maticus’s worries.
“Oh! Matikus! “Is that man a druid?”
“Human? Elf? Prisoner? I don’t know what the race is. Amazing.”
As we were looking around, the centaurs in the village began to come out one by one and surround us.
About a hundred centaurs, who have inherited the wild nature of horses and deer, are looking at me with explicit interest.
There was no hostility at all and the interest was purely curiosity, but the sense of intimidation conveyed was considerable, perhaps because everyone was large.
“That’s right. This person is a druid. “It is Ghaul Crood.”
“Oh! There really were druids! “Awesome Matikus!”
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“Renisha was not wrong! “Now we can save our children!”
At Maticus’s confirmation, the centaurs cheered and started running around.
Then they returned to the tent, trembling, and gathered together again, holding their children in their arms.
Like a centaur with a fixed breeding season, dozens of babies born at the same time each day line up in front of me, held in their mothers’ arms.
Me, Kaa, and Shizu couldn’t hide our embarrassment in such a sudden and burdensome situation.
“Druid! Are the two-legged babies okay!?”
“I sleep all day! “I can’t stand up and run!”
“Winter is coming! “I need help!”
Desperation appeared on the faces of the centaurs holding the baby in their arms.
The babies were born with the blessings of wildness and looked different from themselves, but despite this, they showed deep maternal love for the babies.
Of course, the fact that she had maternal love was something to be happy about.
But it didn’t feel good to push the babies and yell at them like this.
“Go, Gaul. “I will leave the wolves in a suitable place.”
“…… I will also come and give the deer some water. “I’ll leave this to you.”
Centaurs scream desperately, and babies play and cry.
As the situation suddenly became chaotic, the two young ladies next to him ran away, dragging the reins.
Even though they were young women who had lived on the battlefield, I expected them to be more familiar with babies than with me, a man.
It seemed like Kaa and Shizu were having as much trouble with babies as I was.
“Ugh… They seem like unhelpful women….”
[Phew! What do you expect from kids who have never met a man?]
“But since she’s a woman, I thought she would have some maternal love.”
[You have a bad prejudice.]
Shizu and Kaa chose to run away, but fortunately there were veterans in our group who knew everything about babies.
I nodded my head in agreement with Piyi’s advice and turned around to look at the sitters.
The three nannies had already taken action, looking at the babies gathered around them.
“Oh my! Are you carrying the baby like some kind of luggage? “You have to sacrifice your neck properly to give it a hug!”
“Parents should not shout in front of their children. “Can’t you see I’m crying because I’m shocked?”
“Why did you come out in the first place when it was so chilly? Everyone, hurry up and get inside the warm tent!”
The nannies quickly assessed the babies’ condition and began herding the centaurs into a warm room.
The gathered centaurs also followed without saying a word, perhaps because they felt the sitters were more trustworthy than the druids.
As expected, childcare issues can be left to the nannies.
Thinking like that, I quietly followed Maticus into the village to relieve my travel fatigue.
“Hey, candidate? “Where are you going now?”
“Uh… me? Why?”
At that time, Amula, Ridin’s mother and a nanny chosen among the high elves, called me over and smiled brightly.
When I raised a question to her wondering what was going on, she pointed in one direction and continued.
“There are more babies than expected. “I think there will be a shortage of workers.”
“Yeah, really? “It’s going to be a bit of a struggle.”
“Yes. So, please bring Shizu and Kaa back quickly.”
“… ….”
It was completely understandable that there was a shortage of workers.
But no matter how busy I was, I wanted to avoid taking care of the baby as much as possible.
It was obvious that if he failed to control his strength, it would lead to a major accident.
“Hmm?”
However, it was an excuse that could not possibly work for Amula, who had full experience in raising children.
As I hesitated without answering right away, Aemula looked up at me and spoke softly.
“You didn’t mean to pass everything on to our ladies, did you? Come back with your brides-to-be before you get scolded. “You understand, right?”
“… ….”
Holy sh*t. There’s no way I can get scolded at this age.
I had no choice but to nod with a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Okay. “You can just bring it.”
I had a feeling that there was going to be an uproar.