Afterwards, for about a month, we tried various things to somehow restore Donatella. After about two weeks, the village had calmed down, and Hamokin and Gargado helped as well, but…
“…………”
Suddenly, Gargado put a doll into the cage where Donatella was held captive. Then, Donatella glanced at it with a look of disgust, and immediately kicked the doll away with her foot.
“Ah!? Donatella, what are you doing!?”
“That’s my line. Gargado, what are you thinking?”
“Looking at erotic things, makes the heart kind! So, I made this for you with all my effort!”
“I don’t care! I won’t become kind by looking at such a thing! Men are the worst! Men are vulgar!”
“Guh…”
At Donatella’s uncompromising attitude, Gargado showed a frustrated expression. The doll that was kicked away was not the usual female type, but a semi-nude figure of a man with the most muscular body in the village, which Gargado had desperately created for this day.
“Why, why can’t she understand this eroticism… I really don’t understand what women find erotic…”
“Don’t be discouraged. Everyone knows that you worked hard. Isn’t that right, Ed?”
“Eh!? Ah, yeah, that’s right. I definitely think he put in a lot of effort.”
“Hamokin, Ed… okay, I will try harder! I will make another erotic doll that will resonate with Donatella’s heart!”
“Keep going Gargado! I’m cheering for you!”
“Ou!”
Encouraged by Hamokin, Gargado left the cave. I admire his effort, but I wish he would change his approach a bit… Well, I won’t say it. We really don’t know what will work.
“Really, men are truly incomprehensible. Why do they think that everything can be solved with eroticness?”
“Hahaha, most men’s problems can be solved with something erotic. It motivates us. It resolves conflicts. Erotic things are wonderful.”
“Hmph!”
Saying that, Hamokin also put a small jar into Donatella’s cage. There were freshly picked flowers in it, and although Donatella snorted in dissatisfaction, she didn’t kick the jar.
“Hamokin, you bring this every morning. What’s your intention?”
“The cave is lonely, there’s no view. But we can’t let you go outside. Men would like something erotic, but you said that you do not like that. So I chose flowers… Are they also not to your liking?”
“…If it’s flowers, well, they’re not bad. But that doesn’t change the fact that men are the worst.”
“It’s okay… right, Donatella?”
“What?”
Donatella answered to Hamokin, who asked in a quiet voice.
“If you truly hate men, Donatella, there’s nothing I can do about it. But if you’ve changed because of the shining star, then that’s not really your heart. I’m sure I can return you back to normal.”
“You’re overstepping your bounds! I’ve changed! But I didn’t change myself! I’ve seen the truth about men! That’s why I hate men! Men are the worst!”
“…Is liking erotic things that bad? It increases the number of children and prospers the village. I don’t understand what’s wrong with it.”
“………….Hmph!”
Hamokin’s expression darkened, but Donatella turned her face away without giving a clear answer. Watching their exchange from a distance, I started to think.
Hmm, if we could somehow bridge the gap between the two of them, it feels like the problem could be solved nicely… Unfortunately, I can’t think of any way to do that.
If it were Tia, she’d handle this situation better, but we can’t let any woman near Donatella… I really don’t know what to do.
“It’s terrible!”
Suddenly, a loud voice echoed from the entrance of the cave. When I turned to look, a familiar man was standing there, out of breath.
“Hey, what’s wrong? Calm down… Do you want some water?”
“N-no, I’m fine. But it’s urgent, Hamokin, Ed, it’s terrible! The village is being attacked by black demons!”
“”What!?””
Unexpectedly, everyone present exclaimed in unison. Donatella gripped the cage tightly, and Hamokin rushed over here in a panic.
“Black demon attacks are usual. But is there something different this time?”
“It’s different! There are more than 100 black demons! We can’t possibly defend against them!”
“What!?”
Hearing the number of attackers, Hamokin let out a voice of astonishment. It’s routine to deal with two or three attackers, but this is the first time I know of more than 100 attacking. The village only had a simple barrier to keep beasts out, so if attacked by that many, they’ll be inside in no time.
“Hamokin, I’m going to head to the village’s defense immediately. You should–“
“Take me with you!!”
As if to interrupt my words, Donatella’s shriek echoed throughout the cave. The material of the cell she was gripping tightly is creaking and warping, as if it was about to burst open at any moment.
“Donatella!? What are you saying!?”
“I can’t leave the village defense to men! I can fight the black demons! Let me out of here right now! I’ll protect the village!”
“That’s…”
“That’s impossible.”
While Hamokin voiced his doubts, I bluntly said so to Donatella. Surely Donatella was strong, and the attacking black demons were beings that had received the power of this world’s Demon King… And Donatella was a hero, she could potentially unleash overwhelming power like when she confronted me and defend the village.
But even so, we couldn’t let Donatella out.
“Ed!? Are you going to get in my way!”
“Of course. If we let you out and took you to the village, all the women including Tia would be affected by your mind control again, right? Even if you became a bit of a combat force, we couldn’t take someone like that out.”
“What’s wrong with that! Women can fight instead of weak men! Women who aren’t swayed by lust are the strongest! You guys are just jealous of women! You’re weak!”
“Haa… at this point, where you can only say things like that, there’s no option to take you with us. Just wait there quietly. Hamokin, I’m going, so take care of Donatella.”
“Ah, yes. Understood.”
“EDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!”
With a vengeful roar behind me, I bolted out of the cave and started running towards the village. If I were moving normally, it would be quite a distance, but with the [Hermes Dash] it was a piece of cake.
“Whoa!? This is bad.”
What came into view was the fences being broken in several places and the state of disorder inside the village. I ran up to there and decapitated a boar-like creature shrouded in black mist with a single blow.
“Are you okay?”
“Ed! You saved us. But there are still a lot of black demons! We need your help elsewhere!”
“Got it. I’ll handle the ones inside, so I’m counting on you to keep any more from coming in.”
“Leave it to me!”
Without waiting for his answer, I ran towards the next prey. Not only beasts, but humans were also mixed in among the black demons, so for them, I was just trying to knock them out, no killing.
I wasn’t being merciful. I had been asked to help as much as possible because they were just being manipulated by the black mist, and I hit them hard on the head, so if they were unlucky, they could die… In that sense, it was almost as much trouble as killing them, but I just left the possibility of survival.
“Ahhhhh!”
“And, next is over there!”
Screams were heard from all over the village. There also seemed to be a small fire, and thin smoke was rising from some places. It was very busy… but unlike a little while ago, I now had a reliable partner.
“Leave the fire to me! Ed, please help that woman over there!”
“Roger!”
She wasn’t nearby. But her voice in the gentle breeze that reached my ears clearly, I grinned and kicked the ground hard.