“I'm sorry, we don't have much to offer…” The woman said, putting four cups with water in front of them.

“It's okay! It's not like we were expecting a reception or anything, I'm grateful that you even let us stay!” Y/N said with a smile.

“I-I see-” The woman seemed weirdly uncomfortable.

'Oh- maybe I said something rude? I should probably leave the talking to the others then-' She thought, doing her best to keep a neutral expression.

“I'm sorry about the weird question, but is there anything weird happening in this village recently?” Shinobu politely asked.

Different from the expected answer, the woman seemed to suddenly get defensive, saying with an almost angry voice. “You guys are not one of those deceivers that pretend to be doctors, are you?!”

No one responded, more from the sheer surprise at her sudden personality change.

“Uh- Could you elaborate?” Y/N asked after noticing that the other three were too shocked to keep the conversation going.

The woman seemed to notice that they had no idea about what she was talking about, sighing and saying : “If you guys are here, then you already know that there's a terrible disease affecting the villagers, there's been countless people coming here and claiming to be doctors or to have the cure in order to take money from us.”

'…to take advantage of such a terrible situation, humans can truly be so despicable.' Y/N thought with a frown.

“Well- It's kind of a bad time to say this after you just told us about these fake doctors, but I do have medical knowledge, and I would like to check on the sick people here if that's okay with you. Oh! And we won't charge anything in trade, so don't worry!” Shinobu said, her smile so bright that it almost blinded Y/N, she even had to hold down the urge to clap.

“I- I don't know… Though you guys don't seem like bad people, the others here are still suspicious of outsiders, I can't guarantee they will be friendly…”

“Well, does this village happen to have a leader or some authority we can talk to? Maybe if we can get permission from them, it might make things easier.” Shinobu responded.

“Oh- If it's an authority, then you are probably talking about the elder, she often prays on the temple, so it is easy to get on contact with her, I will take you guys there tomorrow.”

“We would definitely appreciate that!”

“Uh- It's a bit late right now, and this village doesn't have any inns- I have a room left, but it might be uncomfortable to share it with so many people…”

“It's okay, we can manage it. Thanks for the kindness.” Shinobu said, politely bowing and turning to leave, the others doing the same.

Y/N suddenly stopped in her tracks and walked back to the woman. “Is there anything else you need?”

“Not really.” Y/N shook her head. “I was just wondering why you are helping us so much.”

The woman seemed surprised at the question, but said with a melancholic smile : “My son, Haru, has the disease. Everyone is afraid that it might be contagious, so they don't approach the infected even if they are dying in front of them, It was the first time that I have seen someone approach one of them without any second thought like that, I guess that I was a bit… moved.”

“I see. Don't worry! Shinobu is a wonderful doctor, we will discover a way to treat it in no time!”

'If we were assigned here, then it's probably a demon that is causing this. If we kill it, the disease will most likely disappear together.'

“Yes, I will be waiting! Thank you so much!” She grabbed her hand, shaking it with her eyes sparkling in admiration.

“You should thank Shinobu, she's the one who will have to do the hard work after all!”

“Yeah, I will! I can't believe it, my son, Haru will finally-”

She kept talking for a long time after that.

                          『••✎••』

“Here's the temple!”

The place looked extremely clean and well-kept, it didn't match the poor village at all.

“The villagers all have been doing their best in keeping it clean, the infected are also staying in here, so be careful!” The woman, that they sooner discovered to be named Hina, gave them the instructions.

They all entered the temple through the massive doors, there were some large statues inside, but Y/N didn't recognize what religious figures they were representing, maybe it's a religion exclusively from this village?

“Elder?”

An old woman got up from one of the chairs, approaching them.

“Hina. What brings you here?”

“These people are-”

Y/N had her attention on the conversation interrupted as something suddenly tugged her sleeve, she looked down with a confused expression, only to see a little kid staring up at her.

“… Hi?” Y/N greeted and tilted her head, a bit awkward.

“Are you a doll?”

“A what-”

“I saw a girl walking while holding one a long time ago, you look just like it!”

“I-is that so?”

She nodded happily. “So, are you a doll?”

Y/N crouched to her eye level, saying with a small smile : “Seems like you caught me.”

“Wow! Guys, it's a living doll!” The girl exclaimed, a group of kids coming from who knows where and stopping to stare at Y/N with curious eyes.

“I see you get along with kids.” The elder approached Y/N, slightly chuckling at her surprised expression.

'Not really, kids just randomly approach me out of nowhere, even though I don't specifically do anything to call their attention-'

“Since you seem to get along so well with them, why don't you three play with them while I take Lady Shinobu to see the infected?”

“But-”

“It's okay Y/N, just don't cause trouble while I'm out, okay?” Shinobu says, looking at Kyojuro and Giyuu standing behind her. “This applies to you both too. I know it's hard to say no to her, but don't let her run wild, okay?”

“It will be okay! Trust me!”

“…”

Shinobu didn't seem convinced at all, but followed the elder anyway.

“…so, what's your name…?” Y/N asked the little girl with a gentle smile.

“Yuki!”

“That's a cute name! And what about you guys?”

“Kota!” A boy with black hair said.

“Hiro.” A boy with brown hair said.

“Ichika!” A girl with short brown hair said.

'You can do this Y/N- It's just four kids, you can handle four kids-'

“And what's your name, doll?”

“I'm Y/N! This is Kyojuro, and this is Giyuu!”

“Wow! Are they dolls too?” Yuki said, but Ichika just said while scoffing. “Of course not! They are too ugly to be ones!”

'Kids are so cruel-' Y/N sweat-dropped.

“Ah! I know, let's play house!” Yuki said.

“Ughh- Again?” Kota and Hiro seemed immediately against that idea.

“We will play that stupid sword game of yours later! We even played it yesterday, even though it was soooo boring!” Ichika argued, the two only looked down with annoyed expressions in response.

“Let's go to the garden, Y/N! There is a lot of space to play there!” Yuki said with a big smile, taking Y/N's hand and starting to drag her along.

The garden was also surprisingly well-kept, now that Y/N looked closely, it was the first time that she saw green ever since she entered the village.

“Let's distribute the roles then!” Ichika said, pointing to Y/N. “Since it's your first time playing, I will let you be the princess!”

“…wow… uh- thank you.”

“Oh! Then I will be her mom!” Yuki exclaimed, hugging her leg.

“He will be the prince!” Ichika pointed to Kyojuro. “Kota will be dragon! And Hiro will be the King! And you.....” She stared at Giyuu with a long silence.

“… The dog!” The way she said this with such an innocent smile just worsened it.

Kyojuro gave some pats to Giyuu's back.

“Pffft… What… what about you, Ichika? Who are you going to be?” Y/N tried to ask while holding her laughter.

“Who else other than the narrator?”

“I see-”

“So let's start!”

She suddenly gave Y/N one of those plastic tea cups, making her sit on the floor together with Yuki.

“The princess is drinking tea in the palace with her mother!”

'what a direct narrator-'

“Princess, question!” Ichika suddenly pointed to Y/N, making her jolt. “What kind of tea are you drinking?!”

'does this even matter to the story?!'

“Uh… uh…. k-kombucha?”

“VERY WELL!” She exclaimed so loudly that Y/N almost dropped the tea cup from surprise.

“I came here to get the princess or whatever.” Kota said, entering the scene with a bored expression.

“The dragon ferociously attacked!” After Ichika said this, she started to stare at Kota, waiting for him to do something.

With a straight face, he kicked the plastic tea cup Yuki was holding, the object hitting the ground some meters away from them in a pathetic manner.

Everyone just looked at the tea cup in silence.

“… As I said, very ferociously!”

Yuki started to tear up as she looked at her hands.

“Uh- here, Yuki, you can have my cup-” Y/N exasperatedly tried to give hers to the kid.

“But I don't like kombucha!”

“Oh- what do you like then?”

“Apple juice!”

'that's not even tea?!'

“The mom likes apple juice!” Ichika exclaimed.

'there was no need to clarify this, Ichika-'

“I'm taking the princess now, or something like that.” Kota said, starting to tug Y/N's sleeve. “Can you come with me?”

“Sure.” she said, getting up and following him.

“The princess was brutally taken away from the palace and her mother!”

“Oh no, what am I going to do now?” Y/N robotically commented, sitting beside Kota in the ground with a sign that says CAVE.

“The princess was devastated!”

“My daughter, oh no, I'm incredibly sad.”

“The mom was also really sad!”

“I'm going to ask for help to retrieve her.” Yuki said, walking over to Hiro, who was also sitting in the ground with a sign saying CASTLE.

“Can you help me get my daughter back?”

“Yeah.”

“The negotiations took hours! But in the end, the mom managed to be victorious!”

“Go save the princess......son.” The way that Hiro's face contorted when he had to call Kyojuro 'son' took all of Y/N's efforts in not laughing out loud.

“I will save her! Through blistering cold and scorching desert, traveling for many days and nights, risking life and limb to reach the Dragon's keep!”

'Kyojuro, aren't you taking this too seriously?!' Y/N sweat dropped.

“The prince is very determinate!”

“I will go too!” Yuki said. “I'm going to save Y/N- I mean, my daughter too!”

“Sure!” Kyojuro said, lifting the girl and making her sit on his shoulders. “Let's go!”

“Though the prince was reluctant in taking her, he caved in the end!”

Kyojuro was walking in the direction of the 'cave', but Ichika suddenly stopped him when he stepped in a specific spot. “Stop! You stepped into a minefield! You are dead now!”

“A minefield?!”

“Yeah! The dragon is really smart and put a lot of traps in the way!”

“I- I see-”

“From the start!” Ichika exclaimed.

Kyojuro exasperatedly walked back to the start.

“Stop! Another minefield!”

“Stop! You fell into a hole with spikes!”

“Stop! Quicksand!”

This kept going on for a while.

“Huff…puff… did… did I pass now?” Kyojuro asked.

“Yeah!”

The way that he brightened up make it didn't even look like he was trying to go through invisible traps all this time.

He cleaned his throat. “I'm here to save the princess!”

“Me too!” Yuki exclaimed, still sitting in his shoulders.

“Yay! I won again!” Y/N happily exclaimed, she has been playing rock-paper-scissors with Kota through all of this. “No way! Let's do it again!”

“The princess suffered a lot in the dragon's grasp!” Ichika said, she was really set in saving this play, huh?

“I won't let you have the princess, taste my wrath.” Kota said, taking a small pebble from the ground and throwing it at Kyojuro, it hitting his thigh and pathetically bouncing off.

“The prince took a direct hit! Is he going to survive that?!”

Kyojuro put Yuki on the ground and got down on one knee when he noticed that he was supposed to be in 'pain' and dramatically said : “Oh no! How can I survive such a fierce attack?! It seems like… This is my end…”

“Noooo! Don't die! What about my daughter?!” Yuki cried.

“Forgive me, for not being able to stop him….blegh.” He pretended to die, laying on the ground.

'He got too much into character!' Y/N sweat-dropped.

“Uh- the prince died…?” Even Ichika was confused now.

Giyuu, who had been forgotten up to this point, walked over to them.

“The dog walked into scene!”

With a straight face, he did a small tap in Kyojuro's forehead.

“The dog used its healing powers to save the prince! It's a fairy-dog!”

'Does that even make sense?!'

“I'm alive!”

“He's alive?!”

“The prince is alive!”

“I will now defeat you, uh-” He walks over to Kota, without knowing how to do the 'defeat' part without accidentaly hurting the kid.

So, he did a small bonk in his head.

“The prince used his strongest attack!”

“OOoooh, You've defeated me. How can this be, you are stronger than I thought, etc. Whatever.” Kota walked away.

“The dragon was defeated!”

“Now, princess, let's leave this place.” Kyojuro said, walking over to Y/N.

“Yeah, thanks forGAH-” He lifted her up, carrying her bridal style.

“Oooh! The prince is quick on his moves!” Ichika said. “Now, the mom, the prince, the princess and the fairy-dog are going to go back to the castle!”

They started to go to where Hiro was sitting, but Ichika suddenly stopped them when Kyojuro stepped over a specific spot.

“Stop! You stepped into a minefield!”

“Aaaargh-” Everyone sighed loudly in annoyance.

After some more minutes of trying to not step in any pretend traps, they finally reached Hiro.

“The princess is saved!” Kyojuro said, putting Y/N down.

“Cool.” Hiro responded.

“My daughter! I'm so happy to see you are okay!” Yuki said, hugging Y/N. “Yeah, it was a cool experience.”

“The princess will probably never recover from this experience!”

“Thanks for saving the day, prince… and fairy-dog.” Y/N said to Giyuu and Kyojuro.

“Any time!”

“…”

“Now, as promised by the mom, the princess will have her hand gave in marriage to the prince!”

“What?!” Yuki exclaimed.

“You don't remember? I said that you spent hours negotiating with the king! It wouldn't make sense for him to help out without anything in trade.”

“But-”

“Come on prince! Kiss the princess!”

“NOOOO! I DON'T WANT HER TO MARRY! SHE'S GOING TO LIVE WITH ME FOREVEEER! WAAAAH-” Yuki exclaimed while hugging Y/N's leg.

“The mom is overprotective! But deep in her heart, she knew that she had to-”

“I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING DEEP IN MY HEART!”

“I'M THE NARRATOR! JUST FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!”

“NOOOO! I'M NOT GOING TO BE YOUR FRIEND ANYMORE!”

“OH YEAH? THEN AFTER THIS ENDS I'M NOT TALKING TO YOU ANYMORE-”

“G-guys, don't fight, okay? Let's all be friends-” Y/N tried to interrupt their fight.

“Y/N! Do you want to live with your mom or do you want to marry the prince?!" Ichika asked.

“Yeah! The choice should be of the princess!” Yuki said, turning to Y/N.

“Uh… Can't we all live together…?”

“Oh… that works, I guess…” The two sweat dropped.

“Sorry for saying that I'm not your friend anymore.” Yuki said, teary-eyed.

“Yeah, sorry for saying that I'm not going to talk to you any more either…”

“….can we play swords now?” Hiro and Kota asked.

“Yeah! After the prince kiss the princess!”

“What?!” Y/N exclaimed.

“What kind of marriage doesn't have a kiss? Go on!” Ichika said, she and Yuki proceeding to push Y/N for her to stood in front of Kyojuro.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

“Get over with this, so we can play swords-”

“Yeah!”

'W-what do I do-' Y/N could feel the sweat forming in her forehead.

“K-Kyojuro, say something to stop them-” she whispered to him, since he was still smiling with his arms crossed she thought he would be able to get out of this situation without any problems, but-

“K-Kyojuro?” She called, waving her hand in front of his face, but he didn't even blink.

'He- He froze from shock!'

“Uh-”

“Come on Y/N!” Yuki said. “You don't want to?”

'I-it's not like I don't want to- but it's kinda embarrassing to do this in front of a bunch of kids-' She sweat dropped, before once again turning to look at the still frozen Kyojuro.

With a determinate expression, she quickly got close to him and gave him a peck......on the cheek.

The loud cheering of the kids immediately stopped.

“Does that count?” Yuki asked to Ichika. “I guess so?”

“….can I have one too?” Giyuu asked.

“Oh! The fairy-dog is actually a prince cursed by a witch, and all that he needs is a kiss from a princess to break it!” Ichika suddenly exclaimed, entering in narrator mode again.

'The dog has lore now?!?!'

“Come on princess! You don't want to leave the poor prince in this state forever, right?”

“Oh no-”

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

“Get over with this, so we can play swords-”

“Yeah!”

'Déjà vu?!'

“Here you-” She kissed his cheek. “Go!”

'Kids are so tiring….' Y/N was feeling like all of her energy was depleted, but different from her, the other two guys were very much energized.

“… I think that I said not to let things run wild, right?” Shinobu suddenly appeared, walking over to them with a menacing aura.

“Oh no- she saw us-” Kyojuro started to panic.

“AAAAAAH! IT'S THE WITCH!” The kids cried loudly and started to run away in fear, leaving the three alone with the angry Shinobu.

“So, can you both explain to me why is Y/N kissing your cheeks when you are all supposed to be playing with the kids?” She started to crack her knuckles.

“W-we can explain-”

For the sake of keeping the book for all-ages, we will be ending the chapter here.