Today is Saturday. The townspeople take the day off work and go to church in the morning to pray.

Even at the Lalm Church where we’re staying, not only believers but also nearby residents come to pray. Because of that, we couldn’t eat in the congregation seats that Raffilia-san and the macho guys had just finished cleaning. So we decided to have our meal in the courtyard.

I went to the travelers’ bedroom to call Lucia and the capybara girls.

"Hey~ Breakfast is ready!"

They all seemed to be awake, but they were just scattered around the room spacing out without doing anything in particular. Lucia and the three capybara girls slowly came over.

"Masaharu, good morning."

"Masaharu-san, good morning!"

Oh. Is this energetic one Kemolori?

—Or so I thought.

"Masaharu-san, good morning!"

"Masaharu-san, good morning!"

...All three who came closer greeted me with the exact same voice and similar greeting. Damn. I can’t tell them apart. Still, I want to believe that Kemolori is one of the three who approached first. If the one in the corner with her butt pointed this way, staring at the ceiling and ignoring me, is Kemolori, that would be a little sad. Actually, why is she staring at the ceiling? Is there something up there besides spider webs? Maybe, like cats often do, she can see some ghostly thing that human eyes can’t perceive.

Hm?

Is it just me, or does the usually expressionless Lucia look a bit smug... or rather, she’s smirking? Her lips seem slightly upturned.

"Lucia, is something wrong?"

"Fufufu... Masaharu. I gave everyone names."

"Eh?"

"This girl is Kapi. She has a wide forehead. This one is Piba. Her front legs are short."

Lucia told me the names of the two in front. The fact that she didn’t mention the last one’s name probably meant she judged that I already knew it. Which means this one is Kemolori. Indeed, Kemolori has a narrower forehead and longer front legs than the other two. Being the oldest, she’s also the biggest. I’ll burn her appearance into my memory so I can tell them apart.

I tried picking up Kemolori. She didn’t resist, so it really is her. Her weight feels about the same as the Kemolori I flew with yesterday.

"That girl over there is Bara. Her eyes are red like roses. The one with long legs is Raka. And the one who always sticks her tongue out is Pira."

I see. She took two characters each from "Kapibara" to name them.

Extracting two characters from four letters... that gives 12 possible combinations? That’s more than enough for ten people.

"And this girl is Kaba. She has a face like a hippo."

"Is that really okay...? Are there no hippos in this world?"

"I’m Kaba."

Kaba slowly walked over and body-slammed my calf, then tried to lift my leg. It seems she wants to show off her strength now that she’s named after a hippo, but I don’t really feel any particular power.

I placed Kemolori on top of Kaba. Kemolori rolled off and Kaba fell over too.

...Wait a second.

Kaba?

I have a bad feeling about this.

After that, Lucia continued introducing the names one by one. When she finished the ninth, she pointed at the last one — the girl in the corner with her butt pointed toward us.

"That girl is Baka."

My bad premonition was correct.

"That’s no good?! You can’t call her Baka?!"

"B-But... she is a baka (idiot)..."

I wondered if the reason Baka (provisional) was staying in the corner wasn’t because she could see something invisible, or because she was being left out, or just because she was a weirdo — but because she was sulking.

I went over to Baka (provisional) and gently stroked her back. She wasn’t crying.

"I’m Baka..."

Ugh. Poor thing. Her voice sounds so sad...

While tickling under Baka’s chin, I turned to Lucia.

"There, there. Hey, Lucia. Let’s give this girl a different name. If you take two characters from twelve letters, you can make 12 patterns, right? With ten people, you should be able to name everyone without using ’Baka’."

"Understood."

"Good."

And so the capybara girls were named: Kapi, Kaba, Kara, Pika, Piba, Pira, Bapi, Bara, and Baka was renamed to Raba.

Unfortunately, just like how calling someone "horse-like" or "mule-like" in Japanese carries a mocking nuance, in French "raba" is also colloquial slang used to belittle someone. It seems Baka (provisional) couldn’t escape the "baka" fate.

But the girls themselves seemed happy. They were cheerfully introducing themselves to each other with smiles, saying things like "I’m Kapi!" and "I’m Pika!" and having fun.

"Time to eat, so follow me."

"Yes!" ×11

I led the procession of capybara girls toward the courtyard.

Even though they usually do whatever they want, the moment food is involved they obediently follow. Without wandering off, the capybara girls trailed after me in a line.

In the courtyard, besides the familiar faces, there were several unfamiliar neighbors. It turned out this space wasn’t just the church’s private courtyard like I had assumed — it was actually a shared area for the neighborhood. The church and eleven houses were arranged in a square, with the central open space serving as the shared courtyard. This whole area forms one district.

In other words, those unfamiliar people were residents of the houses surrounding the courtyard. They were eating together with Raffilia-san’s cooking. Ah, I’m glad they didn’t see me flying through the sky yesterday while doing wind-pressure masturbation.

Instead of the elf, who was missing, the capybara girls were desperately honest with their desires. Even though they were told there was enough for everyone, they kept trying to push their way to the front toward Raffilia-san.

"I’m Kapi!"

"Yes, Kapi-chan. Nice to meet you. There’s plenty for everyone, so eat slowly, okay?"

Crunch crunch crunch.

"I’m Pika!"

"Yes, Pika-chan. Nice to meet you. There’s plenty for everyone, so eat slowly, okay?"

Crunch crunch crunch.

The capybara girls were crunching away at raw turnips with satisfying sounds. It seemed Raffilia-san had cut up raw turnips for them. Some were eating bread and cheese, but they mostly seemed to love raw vegetables.

Crunch crunch crunch.

What pleasant chewing sounds. Just listening to them makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

"I’m Kara!"

"Yes, Kara-chan. Nice to meet you. There’s plenty for everyone, so eat slowly, okay?"

As if the same moment was repeating over and over, the capybara girls kept crunching on vegetables.

I waited until all eleven capybara girls had received their food, then got some soup for myself.

Before I knew it, there was already a capybara girl behind me starting her second round.

"I’m Kapi!"

"Yes, Kapi-chan. Nice to meet you. There’s plenty for everyone, so eat slowly, okay?"

She was introducing herself again to get more food. She must be really happy about getting a name. How wholesome.

Crunch crunch crunch.

They look so happy eating. Just hearing the chewing sounds makes me feel happy.

Hm?

From deeper in the courtyard, I heard one of the macho guys loudly say "Thank you very much!" I wonder what happened. The two macho men were having an animated conversation with the neighbors. When I listened in, it sounded like one of the locals was looking for workers and they might be able to get a job. That’s great, macho guys.

The dog girls were eating the same food as the humans. Even onions, which are poisonous to regular dogs, seem fine for dog girls. Yesterday Raffilia-san had been considerate and avoided putting onions in the soup, but this morning’s soup had them. The onions give the whole soup a nice sweetness.

I’m really glad Raffilia-san awakened to her meal-multiplication skill. Feeding such a large group would have been financially devastating otherwise. I’m just temporarily borrowing a room, yet I’ve brought nearly twenty people with me and keep causing trouble...

I looked over at the group that had grown so much in just a few days. Because the capybara girls were freely moving around, the courtyard had the lively atmosphere of a standing buffet party. Thanks to the newly named capybara girls wanting to introduce themselves to everyone — human or beastfolk — the positions kept changing, making the whole place lively and harmonious.

With six neighbors, me, Raffilia-san, two macho guys, five dog girls, Iferasuki, and twelve capybara girls all in the courtyard, it was a bit cramped.

...Hm?

I feel like something’s off, but maybe it’s just my imagination?