Chapter 17
After all the twists and turns, we grilled some fish for a simple meal and headed straight toward the village.
“Ow—! These stupid weeds! Someone needs to clear this mess already! Ugh!”
“Wouldn’t wearing long pants solve the issue?”
“If the Hero would just cut the weeds properly, we wouldn’t have this problem!”
The forest path was rough and unkempt, untouched by people for a long time.
Naturally, Kaizen had to walk in front, cutting through the thick brush with his sword.
Watching the two bicker nonstop as they walked ahead, I casually spoke up.
“I have something to say.”
Kaizen, who had been striding ahead, suddenly stopped. Hamma, following behind, crashed into his back and clutched his nose.
“Ow ow ow—my nose! Why’d you stop like that!?”
“What is it? What do you want to say?”
Kaizen slowly turned back and met my eyes.
He still didn’t even have the Obedient icon above his head, yet he always stopped to listen when I asked. It moved me every time.
I wiped my suddenly misty eyes and got straight to the point.
“I want to break the chief’s restriction spell.”
But the voice that answered wasn’t Kaizen’s—it was Hamma’s.
His eyes widened in confusion.
“You want to break the chief’s restriction?”
“Yeah. It might not even be a restriction, but something feels off. I want to at least check.”
Kaizen, who had been quietly listening, frowned slightly.
“Even if you break it, it will be useless if he has no memory of the previous timeline.”
I nodded.
“That’s why we have to restore his memory too. Which brings me to this—how can I get him to eat my cooking naturally?”
After all, once he ate my food, his memories would come back. I just needed a way to feed him.
But all I could think of was forcing it into his mouth, so I needed some outside intelligence.
I was strong but definitely not the brains of the party.
After a moment, Hamma puffed up proudly.
“What’s there to think about? Just create a situation where offering food in return feels natural. And we have the perfect excuse.”
Kaizen let out a small incredulous laugh, as if saying, ‘Of course.’
“You really are sly when it comes to things like this. Must be because you’re a rabbit.”
“What? What is it? Am I the only one who doesn’t understand?”
When I still didn’t get the hint, both Hamma and Kaizen gave me pitying looks.
And then, at the exact same time, they said—
“You just need to hold a village festival.”
“A village festival.”
My eyes widened in awe.
Their words felt like someone had opened a window in my brain.
Right. When we first met, Hamma said the orcs were blocking the iron needed for the village festival.
Which meant—once we cleared the orc settlement, they could hold the festival.
And as thanks for the invitation, I can just make a special dessert for the chief.
Watching the two of them work perfectly in sync made me smile proudly.
“You two are geniuses. Then we need to deal with the orcs before heading to the village. Let’s go now. We need a map anyway.”
“Okayyy!”
“Haa… troublesome. All we needed was a map, and now we have to defeat orcs and free a rabbit beastman too.”
“What was that!? You heartless hero! It won’t even take long!”
Hamma mumbled with a sulky expression, and Kaizen sharply snapped back.
“If you had just told the chief you returned from the future, none of this would’ve been necessary.”
“It’s not that I didn’t tell him! Nobody believed me! They all treated me like a sick beastman! Do you have any idea how much that hurt!?”
“……”
“And when I tried to avoid the hut, they kept forcing me out of the house. Eventually, explaining was too annoying, so I just went by myself…”
The resigned look on Hamma’s face made me feel a sense of kinship.
I understood him. I’d been called crazy every time I tried to explain regression to Kaizen.
As tears started dripping down Hamma’s face, Kaizen let out a flustered breath.
“…My apologies. That was careless of me.”
Sigh. That’s what you get for making the kid cry.
Seeing Hamma so dejected strengthened my resolve.
Alright. Then we’ll revise the plan a little.
It was outrageous that the whole village had conspired to deceive one kid.
“The Truman Show is only fun as a movie. Living through it is a nightmare.”
“So here’s what we’ll do. While holding the festival, we’ll restore everyone’s memories too. Then they’ll finally understand you weren’t lying.”
And they needed to experience Hamma’s pain for themselves.
Forgetfulness is a divine blessing for a reason.
Hamma blinked his round, tear-filled eyes several times. Then he covered his mouth and whispered:
“Wow… Lady Romi, are you Satan? Shouldn’t we be catching you instead of the Demon King?”
“You said it yourself—they betrayed you. It’s only fair to return the favour.”
“I mean… yes, but… You’re seriously going to restore everyone’s memories? For free? Lady Romi, doing something troublesome without compensation? Impossible…!”
Hamma eyed me suspiciously.
He wasn’t wrong.
I grinned wickedly.
“Who said it’ll be free? I have… plans.”
Naturally, the villagers would pay in full.
With that decided, we wiped out the orc settlement cleanly, grabbed the map, freed the captured rabbit beastmen, and returned to Hanak Village.
When we reached the entrance, the village chief came out to greet us.
“Thank you—truly—for helping Hanak Village. I don’t know how we can ever repay this grace…”
He bowed politely, as if meeting Kaizen and me for the first time.
I remembered him—but he had no memory of me.
It was always bitter.
Kaizen’s expression stiffened slightly at the chief’s reaction. He leaned in and whispered:
“You must always have felt like this.”
…Empathy. From Kaizen. That alone shocked and touched me so much I froze.
When I looked at him, he was watching me with a solemn expression.
“Oh my god. Is the sun rising in the west? You’re understanding me? I’m touched, Kaizen…”
“……”
While we were whispering, the chief shot us a strange glance.
I cleared my throat and stepped forward.
“If you really want to repay us, there is one way.”
“…?”
The chief’s face grew hesitant.
I smiled widely and pointed toward the village.
“Hamma told me you were planning to hold a village festival. Invite us. That’s all.”
“…E-Excuse me?”
The chief clearly panicked.
As if he didn’t even remember saying such a thing.
He opened and closed his mouth silently for a moment, then adjusted his glasses.
“Ah… the festival. Right. However, we are short on iron ore, so it would be difficult…”
“Iron ore? You mean that?”
I turned around and pointed behind me.
The chief rose onto his toes to see—and his mouth fell open.
From afar, Hamma was sprinting toward us at alarming speed, pushing a cart overflowing with iron ore.
“Chieeeef! I brought the iron ore!”
“…Wh-What is this…!?”
The chief grabbed the back of his neck in shock.
Of course he would—this was impossible for them alone.
Heh. Didn’t expect us to prepare this much, did you?
Hamma had been brainwashed into going to the hut for seven years.
Maybe the villagers really did send him to help the trapped bunny beastmen in the orc village, but…
If not, then the festival was nothing but an excuse, wasn’t it?
I smirked internally.
“Hamma said the festival absolutely needed iron. With this, you can start right away, right?”
I still had no idea why a festival required iron ore, but whatever.
“And I heard everyone brings a dish. If it’s okay, could we borrow your kitchen? I’d like to show off a little too.”
“……”
Hamma, who had come up beside me, whispered, impressed:
“Wow… He didn’t even invite us yet, and you’re already asking. Shameless queen…”
Well, that’s what he gets for saying he wanted to repay us.
I stared at the chief, waiting for his answer.
After a moment, he wilted like a dying plant and nodded weakly.
“…Let’s… go inside first.”
