"There are a lot less refugees now, aren't there?"
"Yeah. But many couldn't make it to the end."
As the season turned to winter, the harsh circumstances of the refugees and the coldness of winter became the scythe of death that harvested the lives of many refugees.
A graveyard has also been built on the outskirts of the refugee camp to mourn for the fallen people.
There were also instances where people chose to sell themselves into slavery to secure money for their families so that they could escape their current circumstances as soon as possible. Many committed crimes and were then expelled from the refuge camp and sent to work as mining slaves.
"------But, there were also kids who were born during this time."
Women who were pregnant even before the start of the stampede went through delivery in the refugee camp wrapped in a sense of anxiety. I also assisted them to ensure safe childbirth.
When I looked at the innocent newborn, I mentally decided to create a safe haven for them where they could live in peace.
As we supported the refugees and saw them off to their new beginnings, there were also some other situations like people who were working in other nations finding out that their motherland was already gone, or the people who escaped to the refugee camps of the other nations to reunite with their families that kept the numbers fluctuating.
Nevertheless, a year later, the population of the refugee camp had been reduced to 3000.
"It's the Wheat Lady, good morning!"
"Majou-sama, thank you very much for providing medicine the other day."
"Creation Witch-sama, how do you think should we lead our lives from here on out?"
Perhaps our intentions had been conveyed to them as me, Teto and the others strived to help them out as much as possible, so the refugees began to open up to us.
I visited the remaining people of the refugee camp and probed them if they would like to relocate to the .
Belonging to different races and bearing peculiar traits, they were members of the demonic races and they were the families who found it hard to find their place in society.
They were the old and the ill who were left behind due to their old age or sickness.
There were children from various races who were driven away from the slums of towns.
They were the halfling children who couldn't find their place in any community of any race.
Aside from them, some people were charmed by Shael and Yahada and stayed behind.
Speaking of which, the breakdown of the refugees to whom we had suggested relocation was 400 humans, 300 beastkin, 100 each for demi-humans, elves, and dwarves, and 50 dragonkin.
Notably, the refugee population also included halflings from races such as beastkin, elves, dwarves, and dragonkin, among others.
When there was an offspring between fellow beastkin or demi-humans, the child takes on the race of one of the parents, but if a child was born between them and a human, the offspring would become a halfling instead.
Because of this, halflings had a history of being discriminated against due to factors such as pure-blood supremacism, lifespan difference, and variations in racial traits.
Even so, the Gard Beastkin Nation welcomed many of the halflings, but there were still many who didn't find a place ready to accept them.
The remaining species from demonic races were as follows---
Demi-human demonic races such as devilkin, oni-kin, and the multi-eyed race (Three-eyed demonkin).
Beastkin demonic races such as Werewolves, half-human half-horse Centaurs, half-human half-snake Lamias, and bull-headed Minotaurs.
Insect-type demonic races with features resembling bees and spiders who could also partially control their size and form through .
Plant-type demonic races like dryads and alraunes who had plants and flowers blooming on parts of their bodies.
The situation was particularly severe for the Lamias, the spider-kin, and the plant-based demonic races as they had a history of kidnapping males from other races to maintain their lineage due to their unique trait of being a female-only race. Naturally, they were avoided by others.
In the case of the Minotaurs, males had bull-like heads similar to the Dragon-Demon demonic race, while women were more similar to the normal cow-like beastkin in appearance.
Aside from them, other minority demonic races that were hard to classify had accepted our proposal of relocation.
Thus, to accommodate those who had no other place to go, we had Beretta, Shael, Yahada, and the others, who returned to the through the , create settlements for them.
With the decrease in the refugee population, I no longer needed to produce food items using 'til I barely had any mana left, so I also began to help out in building the settlements with the surplus mana I now had.
Incidentally, a part of the demon-kin who were still finding it tough to live with humans left for the one step ahead where they started creating their own place after finding suitable land.
And finally------
"From hereon, I announce the disbanding of the refugee camp! Everyone, you all did your best to endure!"
" " "Hurrayyyyyyy!" " "
Along with the announcement of Margrave Reebel, the refugee camp was disbanded.
I reckoned refugees who couldn't find a place anywhere and had no destination to go to would be given some assets to sustain them for a short while before exiling them initially.
However, since we intervened by providing a place for these refugees including the demonic races who had nowhere to go, they were able to leave for their next destination with brighter expressions.
"Well then everyone, come to this side!"
Since Dragon Grandpa had already used to secure the refugees who were late in escaping, they already knew what to do and unhesitatingly passed through the to their new place, .
Beyond the five were their respective settlements that had been prepared beforehand. The humans' repulsion towards the demonic races had also abated to some extent after passing the time together in the refugee camp, so I was hoping they'd be able to lead a life mingling with each other without any major problems in each settlement.
With all things settled, we returned to our mansion in the where------
" " "Welcome back, Master! Teto-sama!" " "
"I'm back. Is everyone doing well?"
"We're back-nanodesu!"
Children that were in the refugee camp were there to greet us when we returned to our mansion.
These kids, wearing the maid or butler uniforms that Baretta and the maid group had made, were now working in our mansion.
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It was something Baretta suggested when I discussed with her the acceptance of the demonic races to our place.
Hence, among the 100 mechanoids plus their head maid Baretta, Baretta and 50 other mechanoids were now working at the mansion while 30 mechanoids were taking turns in managing the various villages.
As for the rest of the 20 mechanoids------
(T/N - Now that there are so many new editions to demonic races, I will use demonic race to collectively refer to them, in single case, it would be angelkin, dragon-demonkin format.)
"......Excuse me?"
"Ohh, are they going to have babies!? Congratulations!"
The news was so out of the blue that I was left completely dumbfounded.
I mean, for the last couple of years, I had spent one year in the Great Forest of the Elves, while another year was spent in the fort to take care of the refugees' relief operation, so I was unaware that such drastic changes had been taking place among the residents of the which caught me completely off-guard.
Functionality-wise, Mechanoids all had pregnancy features so they were able to have kids.
Following the shock that was like a lightning bolt to me, a sense of happiness slowly welled up within me.
"I see...... They were originally fledgling service dolls that I had created with who later became demonkin...... That's great to hear."
"Majou-sama has become a grandma!"
"Fufu, you are forgetting Selene has kids, so I'm already a grandma. Oh wait, age-wise, I could even be a great-grandma."
My body is still that of a 12-year-old, but it has already been over 70 years since I came into this world.
We all chuckled softly at my remark before Baretta brought the derailed topic back on track.
After receiving the suggestion from Baretta, we looked to recruit kids who would like to work at the mansion among the relocated refugees, and a lot of them immediately stepped forward to repay their gratitude to me.
Also, with the sudden rise in residents, there were various changes like the rapid spread of the monetary system in the , and they barely survived by making a living, but from my point of view, I think I had done enough within my capabilities.
Editor's note - I did a spit take on the "pregnancy feature". Who designed these robots again?
