It had taken almost a year to go to the dungeon city because of repeated detours and diversions, but because I knew the location of the [Empty Wilderness], we went straight without taking detours then we approached the town of Daryl which we had first visited in about two weeks.
And during this trip, we ran into a troublesome matter.
「What, is this feeling……」
「Majo-sama~, I can smell blood from here nodesu.」
Teto and I were walking along the highway when we noticed a strange smell and a magical power coming from the woods. It felt like two magical powers clashing amidst a battle.
「Let's go. A bandit wouldn't have such an advanced magic or magical tools.」
「Yes, nanodesu!」
Using mana perception, Teto and I quickly arrived at the area where the battle was. When we arrived, several people were already fallen.
「A battle between humans. Maybe a disagreement?」
Some skilled people had collapsed, and I felt the indication of mana that had faded from someone escaping as we arrived.
But I thought the mana was unpleasant in some way. Yes, it felt like the mana that was attached to the cursed equipment.
However, after thinking about it I quickly dispersed the thoughts out of my head and searched for any injured people.
「It’s alright now! Is there anyone who is conscious!?」
I immediately used wide-ranged heals and identified the people who had a living response.
The humans of two forces had fallen, torn apart by blades and magic, and there were many people who had died from severe bleeding.
I searched for people who were still alive, and felt the mana of someone at a distance.
「Teto, there’s someone over there.」
「Understood nodesu.」
Teto and I went ahead following the signs of people, and found a woman leaning her back on a tree as if trying to protect something.
「Haa, haa……who, is it?」
「Just an adventurer passing by. I’ll treat you now.——《Heal》」
I used recovery magic without hesitation, but the woman just moaned in pain and vomited blood.
She had lost too much blood, and seems to have had internal organ damage because she was vomiting blood.
At her current state of near-death, if I didn’t use higher rank healing magic it would be useless.
「Haa, haa……it’s impossible already.」
「Don’t give up. Live」
I continued casting recovery magic, but it only prolonged her life. The woman slowly shook her head.
「I understand because I also use recovery magic……but please, just Selen, my daughter……」(T/N: セレネ Serene)
Having said that, she offered the valuable thing she had been carrying to me, a baby under the age of one.
「I’m depending on you. Please keep her sa...fe……」
I continued to use recovery magic but power left from the woman’s arms, and I hurriedly supported her baby. Even if I used recovery magic, there was no reaction of life that returned, and I noticed her eyes losing their light.
「Majo-sama……She’s already dead nodesu」
「............Yes, we were too late.」
Perhaps feeling the death of her mother, who had protected her, the baby started crying.
For the first time after reincarnating in another world, I had encountered a human death. It also made me bear in mind the misery of conflict between humans and monsters.
If I had rushed earlier, I might have been able to help. If my mana was higher, I might have been able to use the highest magic of the church, resurrection.
But those were all just what-ifs.
「Majo-sama, are you okay nodesu?」
「It’s a bit painful. But I’m okay.」
「Waaaah! Uwaaaah!」
「It’s okay. It’s okay, don’t cry.」
I picked up the baby from the mother’s arms and rocked her gently.
「Teto, can you level out this place a bit? Let’s rest here tonight and collect the corpses.」
Even if they had died in a conflict between humans, I couldn’t overlook them being left in the forest and being eaten by monsters.
I set up a tent on the spot, confirmed that the baby had fallen asleep, and collected the corpses and items in the area. (T/N: specifically the word that’s used is 遺品, like an inheritance or keepsake. If anyone has a better translation than just “item” then pls help)
It was difficult to look at the corpses of those who had fallen with anguished expressions. In order to escape from it, I courteously cast magic on each person who had died.
「——《Embalming》《Clean》」
Heals work on people who are still alive, but repair magic worked on dead people.
I used the church's magic to close the wound, clean off the blood and dirt, close their wide-open eyes, and wrap each person in a white cloth I made with【Creation Magic】.
「Rest in peace.」
I didn’t believe in God until recently, but surely Goddess Liliel would rescue their souls, and I hoped they would be reincarnated somewhere like me.
Then, after finishing the make-up of the two dead forces, I put them in a magic bag to have them buried in a church or graveyard in a town.
After disposing of the corpses, I confirmed the belongings of the mother who was trying to protect her baby.
「This is silver? No, Mithril.」
I took out the appraisal monocle and examined a ring that had been made of mithril and unicorn horn. Inside, a long aristocratic family name was engraved.
「This is your mother’s keepsake. Take it.」
I put it on the palm of the baby girl, and the ring shined faintly.
It didn’t work when I had it, so it seemed to be a magic tool that had the effect of warding off illnesses and poison when worn by babies.
「Leaving behind such a precious thing to protect a child, she must really loved her.」
While I was slightly curious about the baby, I quickly steadied and calmed my mind.
The woman and her escorts who were attacked were disguised as travelers, but they possessed clean magic bags with a lot of supplies inside.
「Was she a noble who was traveling seecretly? Or maybe escaping?」
While I was thinking that, I checked to see if Selen's diaper was dirty. It was, so I asked Teto to get a bathtub ready and wash her in lukewarm water.
After that, I used "Creation Magic" to make powdered milk and a baby bottle. I warmed it up to about a body temperature, and gave it to her to drink.
「Drowsy already? It’s fine, you can go to sleep.」
I gently tapped her back to burp her, and then used【Creation Magic】to change her clothes and baby diapers, then laid her on a towel in a large basket as an improvised bed.
「Teto, I’m preparing our meal, so look after the baby.」
「Understood nodesu! I’ll protect the baby nodesu!」
I cleaned up the corpses that had fallen to the ground, and used wind magic to disperse the smell of blood to the sky. Then, I set up a stronger-than-usual barrier.
「Did they run because they noticed our approach? Was it because it would be problematic for them to be seen?」
In the belongings of the assailants who were opposing the forces defending Selen, they had something like a medal indicating their organization.
「For now, it’s an important evidence.」
While thinking about it, I prepared a meal and called out to Teto who was in the tent.
「Teto, dinner is here」
「Majo-sama, you’re back nanodesu! The baby is sleeping soundly nodesu.」
「Right, but your voice is loud, so let’s be a bit quieter while finishing our meal.」
「(Understood nodesu)」
I gave some advice, and Teto’s voice became a whisper.
Teto, who ate as if she was worried about the baby, also shoveled in her food so that she could return to the tent where the baby was sleeping.
「Unexpectedly, Teto took a liking to the baby.」
I recalled taking good care of the children in the orphanage in the dungeon city.
Then, after I cleaned up the meal and returned to the tent, Teto, who held out her index finger to tickle the baby’s hand, had it held unconsciously by the baby.
「Majo-sama~」
「A~, Baa~」
Selen seemed to cry when it was pulled out forcibly, and I let out a small laugh at Teto’s panicked appearance.
「Fufuu, looks like fun. Then, let’s discuss our future plans. About Selen—」
「What should we do? Do we just take her like this nodesu?」
「......Yes, let’s take her」
Our destination was where there was nothing, the 【Empty Wilderness】.
We shouldn't take such a young child there.
But even if we left Selen at the orphanage in Daryl, there was a chance that the people who attacked her would do it again.
「Then, let’s rest here today.」
「Understood nodesu!」
Unexpectedly grounded, Teto and I spent the night in the woods.
I woke up in the middle of the night when the baby cried, but the next morning we left for the town of Daryl.
On my back, Selen, who was wrapped in a baby sling, swung her legs in a good mood, and we proceeded at a normal pace to not burden her.
「A~, buu~」
「What a beautiful girl. Her hair was inherited from her mother, and her eyes are probably from her father.」
She was a baby with dark green eyes that were extremely common. A child with an identical color to her mother who had entrusted me with her.
I thought it was good, seeing that her mother’s relic of hair had been left behind with Selen. (T/N: Used to be that people who died in battle would have a lock of hair instead of their remains used as a keepsake, in the case that it wasn’t possible to bring home the remains. I’ll translate it as “relic of hair”, because the literal translation of dead person’s hair is a bit…on the nose)
「But why were the mother and child being chased like this? It’s like an assassination……」
With the opponent launching a seemingly organized attack, perhaps it was part of the political dispute of royalty, a child that shouldn’t have been born politically……
While I was thinking that, Selen began to cry.
「Wuu~ Waahhh!」
「Ah, yes, yes, it’s time for lunch. Teto, let’s get ready」
「Yes, nanodesu!」
I let Selen drink powdered milk, and since the paper diapers were dirty, I changed her clothes.
「Japanese baby products are really convenient. If not for these, I might’ve had to look for a breastfeeding person or use goat milk as a substitute.」
Thinking that, I confirmed that the baby had fallen asleep and started walking towards town again.
Then, we proceeded along the highway towards Daryl and finally arrived at the town, much later than expected.
Detouring to Otto town for the development project, and returning from the dungeon city. It’s been almost a year and a half since, and I felt nostalgic.
Teto and I soothed the baby, and lined up with the adventurers for entering the town of Daryl.
The set of Teto and me, a small child holding a baby, were standing in line with the other adventurers. As we moved forward, I could see the gatekeeper who I had talked to before.
「Could you two be the ones who killed the ogre!?」
「How nostalgic. It’s been a while.」
He compared me, who was wearing a black robe as before, who was now carrying the baby sling that dug into my body, and the unchanged Teto.
「No way, one of the jou-chans got a child……」 (E/N: I could already see his mortified face XD)
「We picked it up nodesu!」
「Well, I wanted to talk a little bit about that, so why don't we go to the guard station and talk to someone in charge?」
When the guard noticed our problem and the baby, he immediately guided us and called his boss.
After the guard's boss showed up, I told him about the terrible human battle that happened on the road while we were traveling. I also told him that I had brought back the bodies and items with a magic bag.
「So, a battle and a surviving child, huh……」
「Yes, even if it was a battle, I want to courteously bury the corpses」
Along with my explanation, I was given a gem that could tell if I had done something wrong or not. Since there was no response on the gem, it was decided that I had not killed anyone or tried to kidnap the baby. (T/N: If a crime detecting gem exists, are there just like…no criminals in big cities?)
「Got it. I’ll prepare for that here. So, what about the belongings of the dead?」
「I’ll leave everything to the guards. I just want to get the belongings of this child’s mother and a part of her hair.」
「In that case, I’ll guide you to the place to put it.」
I was guided to the morgue and prayed for those corpses I had repaired.
At that time, I also deposited the belongings as evidence and cut a part of the mother’s hair and set it aside as a relic for the baby to keep.
As a result of investigating the corpses, an astonishing fact would be revealed at a later date, however at that time Teto and I were not in this town.
After discussing the case, I noticed it was almost dusk.
「What do the jou-chans will do from now on?」
「We’ll head to the same inn as before, and we’ll take care of this child and raise her.」
「Teto is used to dealing with crying at night nodesu!」
Selen, who was surprised by Teto’s cheerful reply, began to cry loudly and the guards also showed bitter smiles on their faces.
With that, the oral survey ended, and we safely entered the town, and while entering the inn from last time—
「The hero of the town is back with a baby!?」
To the energetic signboard girl, I explained the trivial circumstances and rested for the day.
