That was the man who returned with Nishka to their village in Apegut Forest, leading a caravan of settlers. Yoi was sad to see them go, but she still agreed to Shooter’s suggestion to work as adventurers in his village.
Once we took care of our prior obligation in town, we could sell the mansion and head out to the settlement in Apegut. But first we had to deal with the issue before us.
“So that group of ogres came from the north?” I asked. I sat in my workshop, brightly lit by sunlight coming through the window.
A Templar woman sat in a guest chair beside the window, watching me as she replied. “That was the conclusion reached by the joint investigation between the Order of Templars and the adventurer’s guild, anyway. Here’s the report.”
“Thanks, Pyne.”
Her name was Robart-Pynelyne. She was the woman who’d been my roommate in all the stories I told Shooter. Her cheerful smile never left her face, but she was the most formidable lance wielder in the Order of Templars. Those of us who worked with her fondly referred to her as “Pyne.”
I accepted the papers from her and Pyne continued. “As of right now, we have about two thousand decapitated ogre heads total. This is without question the greatest onslaught in recent memory. The experts suspect this is more than a few small tribes filtering down from the north. They believe that something has caused a mass migration.”
“Something causing a mass migration…” I echoed, rifling through the stack of papers.
When we encountered the ogres on our way to hunt the basilisks, we thought they were related to the appearance of those basilisks. But as far as I could tell from scanning the report, something else was driving the ogres to start moving in such large numbers.
“Colonel Cleef,” I said. “What are his thoughts?”
“He wants us to keep working with the adventurer’s guild to find out exactly what’s causing this. If there’s something in the northlands scaring the ogres away, they might start moving in even greater numbers. And if that happens, the Order will have to send out an expeditionary force.”
I raised my eyes from the report to give Pyne a long, careful look. If the Order did form an expeditionary force, the Templars scattered throughout the lands would gather in Bulka and be sent forth. Considering what was at stake, the expression on her face was oddly placid.
Pyne spread out the map she’d brought with her. She pointed at the villages along the northern border, her finger jumping like a skipping stone from one to the next. “The Bulka adventurer’s guild has dispatched search parties to villages here, here, and over here. But as of now, we haven’t received any follow-up reports of new ogre incursions.”
“There are no immediate plans to send a large expedition north, then.”
“That’s right. You’re looking pretty calm, though. No plans any time soon, Ganjamary?”
“I have something in the works. But if they do end up sending an expedition, maybe I should let him know…” I mumbled, lost in thought.
Pyne was a keen listener, though. She perked up and craned her neck toward me. “Ah, is that the matter you reported to Colonel Cleef? You and little Yoi planning to move to the Apegut settlement in the next few days?”
“S-so what if we are? Scrape that look off your face, would you?”
She snorted. “I look the way I always look.”
“Then look: he’s from the same world as me. As a member of the Order of Templars, I should keep him under watch. It’s part of my duty as holy maiden. Do you have a problem with that?”
“Oh no, no problem at all.”
The more I tried to justify it, the more it felt like Pyne was misunderstanding me. Her smile kept getting bigger and goofier, and since I already felt incredibly awkward, I just drooped my head in embarrassment. Nothing I said could convince her. Come on, hardly anyone in the Order got involved in love affairs. Any other Templar would have reacted the same way!
Pyne looked down at the map and once she located the Apegut settlement, I saw understanding dawn on her face.
“Ah, I see. So that’s where Apegut village is. If this gentleman was led to this world by the Goddess’s intervention like you were, he would also be a patron saint. We shouldn’t lose track of him.”
She had seen Shooter when we exposed the nefarious slave trader Lutbayasky Nupchsay Nupchakan, so she was at least somewhat familiar with him.
“Are you recommending that he be brought to the Order of Templars?” Pyne asked.
“Not yet.”
“Ha! Too bad! Once Colonel Cleef hears about this, I’ve no doubt he’ll want us to bring the gentleman in and put him under our protection!”
“No, Shooter has a family in Apegut. The colonel wouldn’t get very far trying to convince him to leave.” Still, hearing someone else say that the slave Yoi had bought completely randomly was actually a patron saint struck me as funnier than I’d expected. I broke into a huge smile.
“Heh.”
“What’s up, Ganjamary?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Ahem!” I regained my composure and looked back at Pyne. She straightened up. “I’ll send a report to Colonel Cleef in the next few days. The man is a newlywed. He’s finally been released from Yoi’s service and gone back to his village. I don’t feel right calling him back here so soon.”
“In that case, there’s no need to discuss the matter any further.” And just like that, Pyne backed off. Not that she wasn’t still smiling. “You’re going to Apegut to become his second wife, aren’t you? You don’t want me to concern myself with it because you’re going to, uh, ‘teach’ him about patron saints and ‘take him into the fold’ yourself. I see!” She was very, very good at winking. Maybe it was the dimples.
“Why would I do that? Of course that’s not my plan!”
“I’ll drop the hint to Colonel Cleef. I tooooootally get it!”
“You don’t get it at all, actually! Hold on!” First Yoi saying this kinda stuff, and now her. Yoi had an excuse, at least—she was just a kid!
Pyne left my workshop, giving me one last meaningful look. I watched her go. The only sound in the room was the potion reagent I was studying, bubbling away in its flask.
I was totally deflated, at a loss for words at the sudden turn our conversation had taken.
Shooter must’ve been just getting back to his village about now, joyfully reuniting with his wife. I had thoughts on the situation. A lot of them hinged on how there were only a scant few of us who’d been transported here from the same world.
I…would pray to the Goddess for him, that he could spend at least a few more days in peace in this cruel world.
“I pray that he be granted happiness…”
Murmuring this prayer in a low voice, I leaned on my worktable, propping my chin in my hands, and watched my potion brew.