CH 769

Chapter 769 – Guided to the Dormitory

My comment upset Pon and his two fellow round-face foxes.

「I-impossible….there’s no way we are not foxes….」

「O-our grandfathers said we are foxes. We can’t be tanukis.」

「No, I’ve always thought we were not…..」

No, it looks like it’s only Pon and one of his companions.

He’s not that upset.

「Wait wait wait, just wait a minute kon! The round-face fox has always been recognized as foxes kon! How can you say that they’re not foxes now kon!」

And it looks like Youko was the one who got upset for him.

That’s unusual.

Maa, anyway.

It’s true that it is wrong for me to judge based on my knowledge.

It’s from another world after all.

I shouldn’t bring my otherworld common sense here.

There may be a type of fox that looks like a tanuki.

Thus, let’s call an expert.

The devil in charge of “knowledge”, Versa!

She’s a devil whose main responsibility is to name races or something.

She will be able to tell us the true identity of the round-face foxes.

Fortunately, Versa stays in Village Five.

I’m sorry for asking her to come while she’s busy writing.

「….they’re tanukis. To be more specific, they are round-face tanuki called sato tanuki.」

They’re tanukis alright.

Thank you, Versa.

I’ll have gifts delivered to you later.

….they’re just food.

Don’t get your hopes up. It’s not a good example.

Hnn?

Have I talked about this shrine to ancestor-san?

So far, I told him about building a facility for the beast gods.

However, we haven’t talked about it in detail yet.

Ancestor-san seems to be pretty busy.

He’ll go to the village but he’ll leave immediately to meet you so it was hard for us to meet.

Don’t be shy, don’t be shy.

I’m glad that the two of you are getting along so well.

Yeah, it would be great if you could tell ancestor-san about this shrine when you meet him.

It looks like it will be completed sooner than we thought or rather….every building related to the shrine is almost complete.

We are currently working on the road connecting the shrine to Village Five and the surrounding area.

I hope that ancestor-san will check it out before the shrine begins its full-scale operations.

I’d also like to ask if it’s okay to ask for monetary offerings.

Though I think it should be alright.

-0-

We see off Versa back to Village Five and talk with the tanukis.

「W-we were really tanukis….」

「 Others say we were the cutest among the foxes because of our round eyes. But we have round eyes because we were tanukis…」

「Youko-sama, can you try saying “pon” at the end of your sentences? Yes, pon. It is strangely on my mind. Ah, I like it. We were tanukis after all.」

TN: Pon is the onomatopoeia of the sound tanukis made.

And the three of them seemed to have accepted they were tanukis.

Maa, so, why do you look like that now?

「Village chief, since we are tanukis, what will happen to our migration? Are you not going to approve it?」

Hahaha, of course not.

I pointed out that you were tanukis not because I wanted to get rid of you but because I was curious why you were calling yourselves foxes.

I don’t really care whether you are foxes or tanukis.

As long as you observe proper discipline, I’ll accept it.

「oohhh, as expected of village chief pon」

Not only Youko but even Kon and the others were happy.

It seems like I made them worry.

My apologies.

I couldn’t suppress my curiosity and went to….

Unfortunately, they don’t seem to know why they call themselves foxes which was something I would really want to know….

「They have been called round-face foxes since before I was born pon. I never thought they weren’t foxes.」

Well, just because the round-face fox race turned out to be tanukis doesn’t change your relationship with them, right?

Just get along with them like you used to.

「Affirmative pon」

……

Are you going to keep saying “pon”?

「Oh kon」

Yeah, I’m more comfortable hearing Youko like that.

It’s true.

Don’t get mad, don’t get mad.

Sorry for taking up so much time.

Let’s move to the dormitory.

-0-

I, along with Youko, guide the silver foxes to their lodgings.

The dormitory is a one-story apartment building.

A total of twelve rooms are arranged to the left and right of the corridor that extends straight from the entrance.

At the end of the corridor is a back door.

The common kitchen and living room are located right after the entrance.

There are two toilets. One is at the entrance and the other is at the back.

Both toilets have six seats each.

Twelve in total.

Yeah, you can decide which rooms will use the toilets.

As for me, I wanted to set up a kitchen and a toilet in each room but this is what was decided because of the water management, sewer, and fire prevention.

I wondered if they would be okay with that but the silver foxes looked very happy.

A room is around 12 tatami mats big and assuming a family is around three to four….

No problem?

This is your first time having such a big room?

Good.

There are currently sixteen of these twelve-room apartment buildings.

Yeah, I think we overbuilt it too.

However, the construction site manager (Ria) said that it is better to build more from the start. The construction cost will be lower compared to building only when needed.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide which building to live in and who will use which room.

However, I would like you to decide who will be in charge of the entire dormitory and who will be in charge of each building.

The one in charge can be anyone aside from Kon-san.

I’m going to assign Kon-san to oversee the entire shrine.

Hnn?

Ah, you can enter in your fox forms.

However, when you enter the building as a fox, make sure you’ll wipe your feet.

It is floored with wooden planks so no shoes are allowed.

That’s Youko’s request.

There are shoe boxes near the entrance and the back door. I guess you’ll need a bucket of water and a mat.

I’ll get you buckets and mats.

If you want to use tatami mats in your rooms, please inform the person in charge of the building where your room is located.

That person will be in charge of your entire dormitory needs.

Lastly, the person in charge of all the dormitories should report to Youko.

For now, Youko will be your contact person but she is usually busy as the acting village chief of Village Five.

There is a possibility that the contact person will be changed.

Please take note of this.

-0-

Currently, your immediate goal is to get used to living here….or to decide how you want to live here.

We have prepared accommodations for you but if you want to live in the mountain, you are free to do so.

We will not force you to do what you don’t want so please consider this as an individual.

We will provide food for now but in the future, we would like you to become self-sufficient.

If you need a field or fruit trees, we will provide them.

However, it will be your responsibility to take care of the field and the fruit trees.

Of course, we will also provide you with farming tools.

But only at the beginning.

Or if you don’t want to farm, you can also earn money from working at the shrine to buy food.

Please think about it carefully.

Work at the shrine?

The work at the shrine is basically operating and managing the facilities around.

To put it simply, it’s taking care of the enshrined gods and guarding and cleaning the place.

However, it’s hard to get money from this alone so we have to think about selling things.

I have thought of some things so if you’re up to it, just tell Youko.

This concludes the….wait a minute.

Sorry.

I forgot to say something important.

Those who work at the shrine must be in humanoid form and must wear this costume.

For men, wear an oriental priest-like costume and women must wear a shrine maiden-like costume.

You don’t have the right to refuse.

Sorry about that.

I told the spiderlings about the costumes and they made them excitedly….

So when you take on your humanoid forms, don’t wear anything else aside from this costume.

Keep your ears and tails out and don’t hide them.

That’s what I’ve been told to tell you.

My best regards.

Yeah, sorry.

Then, you’re free to do what you want.

Hnn?

We have informed Village Five, Shashaato City, and the elven villages near Village Five that access to this mountain is forbidden. I don’t think anyone will go but if they have to, you will be notified in advance.

However, that doesn’t mean you won’t be vigilant.

We have eliminated aggressive monsters and demon beasts from the mountain but non-aggressive monsters and demon beasts are still around which means there won’t only be you, foxes and tanukis, who’ll live in this place.

Remember to remain vigilant.

Ah, right, the treants around the mountain are guards we prepared for this place so don’t attack them.

Even scratching them is prohibited.

Alright, good response.

-0-

…..?

Pon left the other foxes and came to me.

What’s the matter?

「I heard that the fox god can be worshiped here, is that true?」

Yeah. Youko said it was unnecessary but since we’re going to have the silver fox manage the shrine, we decided to reserve a place for the fox god.

「Ah, thank you. And, well….we already accepted that we are tanukis but, is it okay for tanukis to worship the fox god?」

Right.

So, you have always thought of yourselves as foxes and worshiped the fox god. However, now that you know that you are tanukis, you find it harder to worship him, is that it?

「Yeah」

However, there is freedom of faith.

No matter who Pon is, I think you are free to honor and worship the god you believe in.

「Yes and that’s what I wanted to do. However….well, I’ll feel sorry for the tanuki god….」

….well, you’re right.

Tanuki exists so there should be a tanuki god.

Is that bad for the tanuki god?

That’s a reasonable question.

Umu.

Then, why don’t you honor and worship both?

「Eh?」

What’s wrong?

Is that bad?

「N-no, I don’t think so but…eh? Both?」

That’s right.

Why not honor and worship both the fox god and the tanuki god?

What’s the problem?

「……..an eye opener. I would like to honor and worship both gods.」

Do what you like best.

Ah, do you get what I’m saying? There are other gods here aside from the fox god.

「Understood. I will not be disrespectful to other gods.」

Good.

Pon returned to the foxes.

-0-

………

Reflect, me.

I had my curiosity get the best of me and pointed out a sensitive issue (being a tanuki).

I did ask them if I could ask something but I never thought that no one there would dare say no to me.

Since everyone had thought that the round-face foxes were foxes, they probably wouldn’t have expected what I was going to ask.

I think I’ll have to compensate Pon and the others in some way….

Come to think of it, there shouldn’t have been any tanuki god shitai.

Perhaps I should carve a statue of the tanuki god as a replacement for a shitai.

Hopefully, that would compensate them.

-0-

Pon: Should I go back to my hometown to inform everyone that we were really tanukis?

Village Chief: Given the reaction earlier….there would be a mass hysteria. Don’t.

TN: Caught up with the raw.