On our way to her tent, I tried to ask the little girl for the reason behind the earlier ruckus.
"Umm...... It's our fault...... It's because we have the blood of the devil from a long time ago. And we also have black hair like that devil."
Hearing her words that she spoke without much confidence and looking quite pale, I more or less understood the situation.
Discrimination against demonic races was rampant in the western region, and the color black was seen as ominous because it reminded people of the Archdemon.
That was why they had been forced to live in unkept places even in the refugee camp.
"Thank you for sending me here, Onee-chan."
"It's fine. But more importantly------"
I quietly murmured and produced a piece of bread on my hand as I clapped my hand like a magician and handed it to the little girl.
It was a slightly fluffy french bread, made from sweet potato, milk, and dried fruits, so it was much better than the earlier stolen bread.
"Here, eat it with your granny."
"This is delicious, you'll definitely like it!"
"Thank you, Onee-chan!"
The little girl put on an awkward smiling face and rushed towards the tent. She must have lived a life filled with fear all this time, as she didn't look used to smiling.
Then, as she was rushing, the little girl greeted Shael, whom we were searching for, in a familiar gesture.
"Ahh, Angel Onee-chan."
"Ohh, if it isn't Naia. That bread looks delicious, did they distribute it earlier?"
"About that, you know! The Onee-chan there helped me, and they even gave me this bread!"
When the little girl pointed to us, Shael finally noticed our presence.
"Majou, and her guardian too? What are you doing here?"
"We came looking for you guys."
"We came here to see how you are doing!"
Shael patted the little girl's back, urging her to go back, after hearing us and she then led us to her tent.
"Haa, I've shown you two something strange. Anyway, feel free to relax."
The tent she led us to was much firmer than the tent of the other refugees, something like the Yurt that nomad tribes used. I guess Baretta must have given it to them.
Furthermore, there were also other tents set up in the surrounding area, as if taking their distance from the other refugee camps.
"Yahada has gone out to scout for any possible monster attack on his griffon. There are also other adventurers whom we have befriended who come here for meals."
"I see...... you seem to know that little girl from earlier, when did you have the chance to befriend her?"
A troubled expression appeared on Shael’s face as if it was something awkward to say when I asked her, but she eventually stopped looking for excuses, sighed, and started explaining.
"I know her as one of the people who has gathered around our tent. They are members of the demonic race and also the abandoned humans whom Dragon Grandpa saved."
"Abandoned people?"
Seeing that the discussion was getting too complicated for her, Teto brought out her food from the magic bag and started eating while quietly listening to us.
"Yeah. They were originally abandoned and forsaken people. Dragon Grandpa had sent them here to the fort through the , but the other humans didn't accept them."
In summary, they were either people who couldn't enter fortified towns, the expelled demonic race members, the old, ill, and slaves who were deemed to be a burden when others escaped for their lives, the orphans without any guardians, and the minor criminals who were given the cold shoulder.
"It would have left a bad taste when Dragon Grandpa saved them only for them to die after being left to starve when fellow human refugees who abandoned them take their distributed ration as well. Yahada and I share the food and medicine supplies we have, but it's not enough."
"I see."
Listening to Shael's words, the frustration on her face was evident.
The stampede's effects this time wouldn't end just by defeating the monsters. If the people's future lives were not secured, our efforts to help them wouldn't be truly meaningful.
"Majou-sama, Teto doesn't want that girl to be bullied."
"......I also want to do something about the discrimination against them, but it's difficult."
Unlike the angel and dragon-demon races who had a more favorable image in the eyes of humans, changing deep-rooted discrimination for the other demonic races would be challenging.
Just eliminating this deep-rooted discrimination would take tens of hundreds of years, at least.
"Say, Majou. Can't we bring them all to the ?"
Shael said with a serious expression on her face. I pondered the question carefully.
If it was just a simple yes or no, then we have more than enough capacity to do that.
The only problem was------
"We can accept them. But your opinion is to accept only the other demonic race members and the abandoned humans, right?"
"Yes. There's no need to help those who revere us as Angel-sama or Yahada and the dragon-demons as messengers of the dragon but are hateful toward Naia and the others!"
Teto and I quietly listened to the ramblings of an enraged Shael who puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
"I can understand where your anger is coming from. I also don't like the way they don't even spare children and steal their bread."
"I know, right?!"
"But if we do that, then we'll become the ones discriminating against others. That's why, I want everyone to be happy,"
"Majou-sama is sad about the situation on both sides, so she wants to help both of them."
Teto, who had been silently listening from the side, summarized my feelings. It was just as she said, I want to accept all 50,000 refugees.
When I stated straight to Sheal that this was basically my ideal, she seemed like she wanted to say something but she eventually swallowed her words and scratched her head in frustration.
"......Seriously. I don't get what goes on in your head to even think about accepting everyone. You are too good-natured to the point of fault...... But more importantly, how are you going to do it?"
Sheal said, with a hint of exasperation mixed in her words. Though she didn't try to stop me.
"I'll create the food supply with until the refugees are self-sufficient with their food."
"Then Teto will make new fields! They will eat, work, and eat again!"
"That's a good idea. We can keep strife from occurring by making the people with needlessly excessive energy work."
Shael looked dumbfounded as if to say how could things be so easy while Teto and I spoke.
"To begin with, aren't you taking things too easy? Every day, dead people are appearing, unable to withstand the refugee lifestyle. There is also the gravesite a bit further from here where they are buried."
There is no end to people dying from starvation, overwork, chronic disease, worsening of injuries, age, and many more reasons.
My shoulders slumped, as there was no way to help those who have already departed from this world.
"Of course, I am going to make sure the weak are saved too. But my may be able to do many things, but it isn't omnipotent. So I am sure we'll be facing many hardships along the way."
How strong goddesses were, there was no need to explain, but even they were unable to save all the people. The best we could do is to help people be able to lead a healthy life.
"So it is up to us to make sure to take it seriously to avoid any more unfortunate people dying. If there are some, I just hope that others will step in to help out."
What I was trying to achieve might not be a wise solution that would solve everything in one stroke. There was a chance that discord might arise if we tried to hurry up.
That was why what we were going to do was very simple and we would take it a step at a time, making sure everything is done well.
"Majou-dono! I also agreed with your idea!"
"Yahada! And you guys too, were you all listening!?"
I guess they must have been listening to our discussion from outside the tent, as Yahada declared so after entering the tent. Behind him, there were also Alsace and Refrya, which surprised me.
I hadn't kept my mana sense turned on as I thought we were inside the tent and there shouldn't be any problems.
"I am glad to see Chise is still the same kind and caring person that I remember. We'll also help out."
"That's right. You don't need to feel reserved. We're still A-rank adventurers. Bet we'll be more helpful than any untrained person."
So said Alsace and Refrya. I am really glad that they were offering to cooperate, but if we were going to help 50,000 refugees, then we would need Selene and the others' help. The cooperation of Margrave Reebel was equally indispensable before we could roll out our plan.
