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Mating season.

That was a system set up in life forms to urge them to reproduce, and many animals were furnished with it.

And the human species of this world were no exception.

Most beastman gave off a characteristic smell during the mating season, which put the opposite sex of their species in aroused states.

Most birdmen instead chirped and danced in a characteristic way to excite the opposite sex of their species.

And the fishmen danced like the birdmen did, as well as changed the color of one part of their body and other such things which tempted the opposite sex of their species.

The problem here was that the temptation targets were the opposite sexes of the same species. And that you couldn’t control who the target would be or whether to do it or not.

Those who held romantic feelings towards a specific person or someone of a different species. Those who didn’t wish to be involved with the opposite sex. People like that couldn’t help but be forced to lead lives away from other people.

That stood true even in Luneville where many races lived together.

…Or rather, it was the problem that our branch was currently facing.

“I wish you luck…”

Clara languidly saw a guild member off after they accepted a commission.

Luke was processing the registrations next to her, and in the hall were Lashelle, Cynthia, and me working as temporary waitresses.

There were no beastmen anywhere in the branch.

This was because, while normally cat and dog beastmen mating seasons were at different times, this time they happened to coincide.

“Illya, can I get seconds?”
“Understood.”
“Oh, me too, me too!”
“……Understood.”

Ahh… I hope the mating season ends fast.

The small mercy(?) was that the mating season wasn’t only in Luneville but the entire world.

People going out naturally decreased, so you could work without much workload.

But it came with its share of problems too.

“Haah… I’m tired…”
“F-Finally got here…”

The ones dragging their legs inside the branch were the members of the Mercenary Guild ≪Purple Smoke of Water and Fire≫ who accepted some commissions the other day.

While they were processing their achievements at Claris’ counter, everyone but their representative sat down and started ordering food to their heart’s content.

But one of them looked at the bulletin board and smiled wryly.

“Oof… aren’t there even more than there was yesterday?”
“Huh? Woah. There really aren’t enough people for them, huh…”

As they said, the bulletin board they were looking at had many commissions stuck on it.

Because of the shortage of hands, the commissions that increased in proportion to the population weren’t resolved and kept stagnating.

The more serious of them were the monster subjugations.

As the population grew in Luneville with the continued flow of tourists coming to sightsee the inn town and arena, the monsters also increased with them as a source.

Lately, monsters started to spring forth in even larger numbers than expected from that.

They didn’t know that “monsters increased along with the population” so they failed to notice it, but monsters were clearly showing an abnormal increase.

This was probably the evil god’s fault considering the current situation.

“Hello!”

A bright and lively voice reverberated through the branch.

“Hello, big sister!”
“Hello, Sofia. I left it in the usual place.”
“Thank you very much!”

With a blooming smile, she bowed and headed to the kitchen.

She came to bring back the school lunch. The other waitresses could handle the situation for now, so I decided to help her.

“T-Thank you!”

She grabbed the heaviest pot around so she staggered when trying to bow, so I supported her.

We carried the pot and the side dish trays to the luggage rack of a trolley and Sofia tugged it away toward the church.

As her smile suggested, the school was being operated without a hitch. However, there was still a single problem.

It was about textbooks.

I created the textbooks for each subject and included the knowledge that I was fine sharing in this world including my knowledge from my previous world.

Because of that, I was requested to submit them as official materials by the royal capital, but I refused them as there was a risk of them getting censored. Of course, they had no choice but to back down, but they still tried to steal the contents by trying to enroll the royal and noble children… There was some trouble, but things have calmed down now.

I felt really apologetic to Ector who had to go and report about the city’s development progress to the royal capital.

Anyway, to get to the point, Luneville had grown so much that it held even higher ability than a small nation in regards to the city’s scale, combat-ready power, tourism industry, and educational institution.

On another note, I haven’t met with Bernard since the opening ceremony, but there seem to be no changes based on the rumors about him or in the way he interacted with Sofia.

Even though I couldn’t imagine any other reason but the evil god to be influencing the monsters in the entire region around Luneville.

At any rate, as Bernard’s consciousness was still intact, there was barely anything I could do.

“…Sigh.”

I sighed to distract myself from the feeling that I was falling behind, and then returned to the branch to get back to work.

“S-Stop messing around!”
“You’re the one messing around here!”

I heard dangerous voices ringing through the hall, and felt like leaving right away.

That said, I couldn’t just overlook them now when I have always banned violence and thrown such barbarians out, so I headed towards Cynthia who was nearby to ask for the reason.

“(Oh Illya.)”
“(Sorry for leaving earlier.)”
“(Not a problem. More importantly, it’s gotta be about that, huh?)”

We took another look at the people having an argument.

One was a human girl. She was dressed like an archer, and her class was a compounder.

The other one was a human boy. He was dressed as a swordsman and his class was that too, but he had no specialized weapon on him.

The girl seemed to be the noisier of the two, but seeing their expressions and attitude, the guy looked to be winning their argument.

“(Did you hear what it’s about?)”
“(Uhh… I couldn’t hear it clearly, but it was something about the guy telling her that she was a hindrance and to quit. And then the girl stood up and it turned into that.)”
“(I see… thanks.)”

Listening to their conversation with what Cynthia told me in mind, the man seemed to be criticizing the girl’s lack of skill while the girl was arguing back about it.

It was a normal thing for arguments around each other’s skills to occur in parties, and they weren’t being malicious, so it was too hasty to forcefully kick them out.

“Excuse me.”
“Huh?! What do you want?!”
“You’re bothering the other customers, so please take your argument elsewhere.”

When I said so with a smile, the two were seized with fear for some strange reason.

“……I’m sorry. I’ll get out.”

The girl bowed her head and took her belongings. Just as she was about to leave, the man called out to her.

“Wait.”

He also stood up and they both headed to the exit.

“…Erica. You have no intention to quit, huh?”
“…”

The two continued as they walked.

“If you’re that determined, have a contest with me.”
“…Huh?”

I approached the two as they stopped in their tracks. It was both to evict them but also because I heard a risky word like a match. I had no intention to overlook violence in this branch where the outcome was clear. Or so I was thinking, but the man turned around and saw me.

He coughed to gloss over the fact that he flinched, not expecting me to approach them, and then faced me once more.

“Can you be our witness?”
“W-Wait, what are you saying, Serge?”

The girl tried to stop him while confused. The man glanced at her and smiled provocatively.

“For the following month, let’s have a contest on who hunts more monsters.”
“Wha…”
“If you can hunt more than me… No, that’s too simple. Let’s contest who can complete the highest-level subjugation request. If I win, you have to listen to one order from me.”

The surrounding people seemed to be exasperated from hearing that. Everyone expected the girl to reject his scornful proposal. However…

“…What if I win?”

What she asked instead was the confirmation of the rules.

The man probably intended to use her refusal here to aid his point to make her quit. Her words seemed unexpected to him, and he was taken aback for a moment.

But he quickly recovered and smiled provocatively once more.

“If that happens, I’ll accept you remaining in the par—”
“No.”

As the girl interrupted his words, everyone listening in on them was astonished once again.

“At that time, you will listen to one of my orders.”
“…Hah. Hahahahahaha!”

The man’s laughter reverberated in the hall. The girl continued to glare at him while gripping her fist with more power.

Once he had enough of laughing, the boy declared.

“Fine then. If that happens, not just the order, I’ll also allow you to remain in the party.”

Like this, I ended up being appointed as a witness to their weird contest.

Amidst the mating season, men and women were getting into quarrels. The increasing population only increased problems and I hated it. Like, really, I hated it.