SIAW Vol. 1 Chapter 3
Chapter 3 – Ranga’s Family
“Daddy!!”
I turned towards the voice, and saw a Fox Beastman child, pretty tail and all.
…daddy?
“Mei, my little angel! I’m home!”
“You’re home early today! Why? Who is that boy?”
The little girl looked up at me. So adorable!
“I just had something to do at home. This boy will stay here for a while, you see.”
The little girl looked at me with a mixture of curiosity and puzzlement. Terribly cute!
I introduced myself to the girl called Mei.
“My name is Tenma, hello.”
“My name is Meilin, I’m five.”
“Nice to meet you, Mei. I’m fourteen years old.”
“Nice to meet you!”
“Hey! Don’t get too close to my daughter!”
Ranga barged in, rather rudely at that.
I couldn’t help but look at them both, in turn — to Ranga’s displeasure.
“My wife is a Fox Beastman, all right? Children of Beastmen inherit their traits from one of the parents! You know that much!”
…actually, I didn’t!
Obviously enough, there were still many things I didn’t know about this world.
“She doesn’t look like you at all!”
“What…? Are you joking? Look at her hair color, or her cute little hands!”
Well, the face was completely different…
“Anyway, Mei, where’s mommy?”
“Mommy is inside.”
“Okay, I have to introduce Tenma to her. Come on, let’s go.”
I was going to follow Ranga inside, but Mei grabbed my trousers.
“Can I climb? Pwease?”
Mei looked at me with such innocence and purity in her eyes that I almost fell over. Climb? What did she mean?
“S-Sure.”
I didn’t know what she wanted to do, but how could I have refused?
Mei smiled wide at my reply and started climbing up my body. She swiftly reached my shoulders, put a hand on my head and sat on the right side.
Simply adorable!
Ranga wasn’t as elated, though.
“Mei, don’t bother the boy! You can climb on daddy!”
“No, I like it here! Tenma, am I a bother…?”
“Of course not! My shoulder is all for you!”
Ranga glared at me, but I couldn’t have cared less!
He probably realized that there was no way he was going to win, so he sighed and motioned at me to follow him.
～
We exited the barn and proceeded towards the main house.
Inside, there was a beautiful Fox Beastman lady!
Large, pointy ears and a large, glossy tail. She looked a lot like Mei, but had a mature elegance to her, naturally. She also had nice curves where it counted! Simply gorgeous.
“Sasha, the elder ordered me to take care of this guy for a while. He’ll sleep in the barn.”
Ranga spoke in a rather brusque tone. He seemed worried about how Sasha would react.
“If the elder said so, then it’s fine. More importantly, shouldn’t we be introduced?”
Sasha spoke in a vaguely accusatory tone, and Ranga continued.
“T-The boy’s name is Tenma. He left his village when he came of age, but got lost on the way and ended up here.”
“I see. Nice to meet you, Tenma. I am this man’s wife, my name is Sasha. Mei seems to be pretty fond of you already, I assume she doesn’t need introductions.”
I replied to Sasha.
“Nice to meet you. Yes, Mei and I exchanged introductions just now. Er…I apologize if I sound rude, but why would someone as pretty as you be with Ranga…? Were you threatened, maybe…?”
“You little…!!”
“Oh my, how frank you are. But Ranga has his good points, you know.”
Ranga was about to start yelling at me, but Sasha started talking before he could.
“Thank you for allowing me to stay here. As a sign of gratitude, please have this.”
I took out a guinea fowl from the Item Box.
“Hey, is that a gui—”
“Oh my, guinea fowl! Did you catch it by yourself?”
Again, Ranga’s attempt of a comment was overruled by Sasha.
“Yes, I caught one not too far from here. I’ll be in your care for a while, so please take it.”
“How many years have passed since we last had some? It’s really delicious, isn’t it…Ranga catches Horn Rabbits from time to time, but he can’t use a bow or magic, so guinea fowl is too difficult. There are no other hunters in the village, so it has really been a long time since I last saw one. For Mei, it might even be the first time she can eat some.”
Mei jumped from my shoulder to the table and went closer to the fowl.
“Delishious meat?”
“Yes, very, very delicious. Say thank you to Tenma.”
“Thank you, Tenma!!”
“My pleasure. If you like it, I’ll try to catch some more.”
Ranga then burst into the conversation: he seemed pretty angry.
“Hey, Tenma! Are you hiding weapons in your Storage!?”
“Weapons? No, not at all…in my Storage I only have some money and…this?”
I took out some pebbles.
“Stones!? Come on, you must have a bow and arrows! How else did you catch this guinea fowl? Take them out, now!”
Ranga seemed overly excited, for whatever reason.
“I caught the fowl with stones like these, though? I have the Throwing skill, so I can catch a bird like that with just these.”
“Wha—the Throwing skill is useless, everyone knows that! Take out your bow and arrows, I said!!”
What was he talking about…?
Oh…now I see.
“If you think the Throwing skill is useless, it’s just because you don’t know how to use it.”
“What did you say!? As if you could hit a guinea fowl with a skill like that!!”
“Phew…you really don’t know anything, do you. The Throwing and Storage skills are fantastic together. It’s true that when its level is low, the Throwing skill has pitiful accuracy and offensive power, but they both improve a lot after it levels up. They improve enough that you can shoot down a guinea fowl with just some pebbles. Besides, do you see any arrow wounds on the fowl I caught?”
Ranga picked up the fowl and inspected its wounds.
“The Throwing skill alone shouldn’t be enough to hit it, though…”
“That’s why I said that it’s fantastic with the Storage skill. To level up Throwing, you need to use it over and over, right?”
“Right.”
“You can just use pebbles to do it, so it’s easier than using a bow to practice. And with Storage, it’s even easier: you don’t have to pick up and throw pebbles one by one, you just need to put lots of them in Storage first, take them all out and practice Throwing, then pick them up and put them back in Storage when you’re done. Just repeat the process and the skill will level up soon.”
“I-I see!!”
“But that’s not all. When you practice Throwing, sooner or later you’ll learn the Targeting skill. Storage too levels up after you use it enough.”
“That…that…I didn’t know that…”
“Besides, is Throwing really as weak as you say?”
So I asked Ranga, a mischievous smirk on my lips.
Ranga looked at me, puzzled.
“???”
“For example, what if you throw a knife? Or a spear? Or use Physical Boost first?”
“!!!”
Ranga looked at me wide-eyed, speechless.
“Anyway, I’m not hiding any weapons, and can shoot down a guinea fowl with a pebble.”
“A-Alright, fine.”
Sasha then interjected.
“Dear! Don’t you think you owe Tenma an apology? You accused him without any proof!”
“Right, yes…I mean…I’m sorry, kid!”
“As punishment, no guinea fowl for you. The feast tonight will be just for us three — Tenma, Mei and I!”
“Wait, please! I haven’t had fowl in ages either, let me have some, please…!”
“Hmm, I suppose Tenma should decide. What do you say?”
Ranga looked at me with pleading eyes, to my immense pleasure.
I pretended to think about it, and waited before answering.
“Well, let me see…it was truly painful to be accused like that, all of a sudden…as punishment, how about making his portion half of Sasha and Mei’s? Since it’s Mei’s first time, she should eat plenty, and I feel bad for imposing on you like this, Sasha, so you should have a large portion too. I’ll be fine with a portion the same size as Ranga’s. What do you think?”
I looked at Sasha, and she had the brightest smile on her face.
“I agree, mistakes should be punished, but not excessively. That’s okay, then?”
“Yes, of course, I’m glad just to have some. I’m really sorry about that, Tenma.”
Sasha was clearly the boss of the household. Putting her above Ranga in my priority list should lead to a pleasant stay here!
“Dear, you’re still here? Go back to work already, or you’ll trouble Jeet.”
“Yeah, I’ll go back to work now.”
Ranga then quickly left.
I gave the rest of the food ingredients I had in my satchel to Sasha: she was especially happy when I showed her the salt. It was a rare commodity in a remote village like this, maybe.
After that, I played with Mei until dinner, enjoying the touch of animal ears and tails to my heart’s content.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
On his way back to the village gates, Ranga was reflecting about Tenma. At first he thought of him as nothing more than a crybaby, but realizing that he could hunt Horn Rabbits and guinea fowls, Ranga saw him in a new light. Tenma seemed to be thinking that he could become an adventurer easily — just like the past Ranga — so maybe he required some strict training.
Furthermore, the gate guardian job was not busy at all. He only needed to do something whenever someone visited the village.
Ranga thus also acted as the village hunter, though recently the number of Horn Rabbits had increased exponentially, so he didn’t have to go far to catch them. That day too, he spent some uneventful hours with Jeet on the watchtower, and returned home in the evening.
～
On the way home, he bumped into Misha, Sasha’s younger sister, who had gone to the well to draw water.
Misha was a Fox Beastman, like her sister. She dreamed of being an adventurer too, so Ranga had been teaching her about the profession since she was little. She was like a little sister to him.
“Hey, Misha. It’s your turn to get water today?”
Misha glared back at him, apparently annoyed.
(You spend all day sitting in the watchtower…don’t I do more work than you?)
Misha used to sincerely admire Ranga, since she was a child, but thought he had become more and more of a coward, ever since Mei was born.
“You know, a guy wandered in the village today. He’s just come of age, and left his village to become an adventurer. He started bawling when I looked at him, it was a sight to see! The elder told me to take care of him for a while, so I’m letting him use the barn. If you see a boy you don’t know, it’s him, so don’t be a stranger, okay?”
“Okay.”
Misha said nothing else, and headed towards the village well.
Ranga didn’t especially mind, as that was her usual demeanor these days. As he hurried home, he was busy thinking about what games to play with Mei instead.
～
On her way to the well, Misha thought about the boy she just heard about.
(To be able to leave your village just after coming of age, to become an adventurer…I’m envious. But to get lost immediately, end up at a village like this, and start crying? Pitiful!)
Misha’s parents were against her becoming an adventurer, so Misha was irritated at the thought that a boy that, unlike her, was allowed to pursue that dream…was such a weakling.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Ranga arrived home before dark. Seeing that Mei was more and more fond of me, he was not pleased at all.
For dinner, we had a delicious guinea fowl feast, of course!
Sasha and Mei seemed to have a higher and higher opinion of me…to a certain someone’s displeasure, maybe.