I finished cleaning every last one of the wells.
Rotting corpses, presumably the source of the poison, had been submerged in every single one. My gathered Split bodies had apparently finished devouring them all.
The haze that had been drifting through the village had vanished as well. Everything was perfectly tidied up.
I’d cleared the objective with thirty minutes still left on the clock.
...Wait, why isn’t the countdown stopping?
Is this one of those requests where I have to find the client and have them confirm the completion?
"What a pain. If I don't get a reward after going through all the trouble of cleaning those wells, it’ll be a complete waste of effort. Let's find the client, Miti-chan!"
"Right!"
Who the hell is the client?
In a situation like this, it’s bound to be the leader of the fallen soldiers. I kicked one of the soldiers awake and splashed him with the water he had clearly swallowed too much of.
"Ugh...!"
"Hey, we’re here to help. Where's your boss?"
"H-Help...? Over... there... in the biggest house..."
If these guys were the soldiers who had come to reclaim the village, they had probably requisitioned the grandest house for their commander.
Even so, getting wiped out just because some poison was dumped in the wells? Are they total weaklings? I didn't see anything resembling battle scars around, either.
Actually, looking at the state of them, I felt like cleaning the wells was too little, too late.
Well, I took a request to clean the poison out, and I did it. As long as I get my reward, it doesn't matter to me. Or at least, that’s what I thought. Until I found the boss in question.
"Hello? Coming in. Excuse the intrusion."
Inside the Village Head's Mansion, lying weak on a bed... was a cute blonde-haired cat-eared girl staring blankly at the ceiling with hollow eyes. She was wearing ornate, billowing sleepwear that felt entirely out of place on the simple bed. A soldier with a red ponytail was leaning against the frame beside her.
"Yay, a little sister! There's a little sister here, Lord Spirit!"
"Wait, it's just the Princess and the female knight. You could have told me that sooner."
"I'm going to make both of them my sisters!"
Since I had a soft spot for cute girls, finding them here made me feel like helping out just a little bit more.
Helping the heroine is a basic tenet of gaming, after all! Even if they happened to be on the side of the invaders, cuteness is justice in a video game! In fact, a villainous girl with jagged teeth would probably be a fan favorite.
"Jagged teeth? Like me? Do you like that, Lord Spirit?"
"Come to think of it, Miti-chan, you used to be a villain who went on rampages on the monster side. I like it, I love it! You're adorable."
"Ehehe! I'm so happy!"
Well, since that was the case, I decided to give them a potion as a bonus. It was an antidote Miti-chan had made during her Alchemy Skill practice. I shoved the bottle into the Princess's cute mouth with a brisk "There!"
"Mph!? ...Gah! H-H-Hah... Haa..."
"Oh, did it work?"
"A-Ah... God...? An Angel...?"
"I’ve got a halo, but I think you’ve got the wrong person."
At the very least, she seemed capable of conversation.
"I took a request to clean the wells and I just finished. Can you confirm it for me?"
"Eh? ...You... cleaned the wells... for us?"
"Yeah. That was the request, right?"
"The miasma is gone...! We're... saved...?"
I didn't quite know the details, but it looked like they were saved. I wondered if that counted as completing the request.
"So, is it okay to call the request complete?"
"Tell her you'll make her my little sister! Tell her, Lord Spirit!"
"The request...? Ah, y-yes. Thank you very much."
"Also, here’s a bonus. I'll give you one more antidote potion."
"A-Ah, thank you."
I figured she should use that one on the female knight.
Finally, the timer stopped. A new button appeared: "Request Complete, Return."
"By the way, how did you all get wiped out so easily?"
"...We fell into a trap."
"Yeah, but why did you fall for such an obvious one?"
"When we reclaimed this village, it had been camouflaged."
Reclaimed. Huh, so they weren't the invaders after all.
"How dare they do that to my little sister! Lord Spirit, let's kill the enemies!"
"No, the request was only to clean the wells..."
"I haven't rampaged enough!"
"It's outside the scope of the request, so taking it upon ourselves is a bit much, don't you think?"
"Muumuu...!"
I didn't actually feel like helping them that much. Besides, unlike Tria-chan, Miti-chan's actual combat power wasn't very high. Unless we were on a field that gave us an advantage, a direct assault was a losing game. She could probably only manage things like surprise attacks or sneaking in to spread poison of her own.
...If only Tria-chan could come here.
"Call her?"
"Hm?"
"Should we call Tria-chan?"
I wondered if I even could, but then I spotted "Summon Ally" in the menu.
So I could call the first companion.
Still, doing that felt like getting a bit too invested in this. Hmm, if I could get an additional reward at least, then maybe...
"U-Um? Mr. Angel?"
"Hm? Oh, no, I was just thinking that if I could get an additional reward, I might be willing to work a bit more. You know, go crush your enemies or something."
"...Ugh, ah, that's..."
The Princess turned pale and started trembling.
...What was wrong? All of a sudden?
"Hm? An additional reward... is a no-go, then? Fine, I'll stop here."
"Lord Spirit! She's a little sister, you know! Let's help her!"
Even if you say that, if I can't get a reward...
"Y-You can take it from me!"
"Huh?"
The female knight had revived after drinking the medicine.
"Yay! If there's a reward, we can help, right? Right?"
Good grief, I suppose I have no choice. I’d already said I’d do it if there was a reward, I wanted to call Tria-chan and let her go wild anyway, and she did have that Heroine Character vibe. I might as well help her for a small fee.
"I, Valeria of the Aurest Royal Guard...! I shall pay the price in the Princess's stead!"
"Ho. And how much are you paying?"
"..."
"I have no intention of working for free."
"I... I offer half my life! Take it!"
...
"No, like, how am I even supposed to collect a lifespan?"
"Eh?"
"I'm not a demon... Look, I want money, items, things like that."
"Um...?"
"Then, even the socks you're wearing right now will do."
"!? Why socks!? N-No, if that's all it takes, I don't mind, but..."
Hm? Obtaining a character's clothing is a classic collectible in games, isn't it?
...Wait! But in VR mode, wouldn't I just look like a total creep?
"Sorry, forget the socks."
"...H-Huh. I see. ...To ask for just a pair of socks would surely affect the honor of the Aurest Royal Family."
"I'm fine with socks! If they belong to my little sister, I'll gobble them right up!"
You really don't have to do that.