My Refrigerator Turned Into A Dungeon

Sasayama-san

When the gate opens, Sasayama-san's forestry truck drives into the yard. Well, I don’t think there’s any problem anymore, but just in case, the gate is always kept tightly shut.

"Hello, Uncle."

Serai-san calls out to Sasayama-san as he steps down and approaches.

"Heya, Machi-chan. And Kogetsu-kun too. Smells good—you’re smoking something?"

"Yeah, kinda. The chips are just whatever fragrant firewood Chip picked, crushed up, and made into a makeshift thing."

Perhaps intrigued by the handmade smoker, Sasayama-san walks over to me alongside Serai-san.

"Nah, for youngsters, this is impressive. As expected, the kids under Seibei-san’s wing are different. Unlike those guys…"

Clicking his tongue, Sasayama-san glances to the side. Hmm, seems like he’s in a bit of a bad mood today.

"Ah… Sorry to bring this up right after arriving, but could you two spare some meat again?"

Hesitantly, Sasayama-san brings up yet another request for food.

"Haa… Well, we still have plenty, so it’s fine, but what’s going on? Just the other day, you said what we gave you would last half a month. It hasn’t even been a week since then."

"Uhh… Well, about that…"

Then, with an apologetic look, Sasayama-san begins explaining the situation.

Apparently, once word got around that they’d obtained a large amount of meat, not just evacuees but other people started swarming in for boar meat. With soaring prices and logistics at a standstill lately, this sudden meat frenzy was like manna from heaven.

And so, seeing no choice but to ride this big wave, nearby residents also rushed in.

But to Sasayama-san, these were all familiar faces—some had even been providing food for the evacuees. In that situation, it’s not like he could say, "You’re fine, but you’re out!" So a significant amount of meat vanished in the distribution.

And the problem didn’t end there. Seeing this situation, some of the younger guys started taking meat meant for evacuees for themselves or even throwing barbecue parties. The meat we’d delivered was gone in just a few days.

Seriously, what a bunch of idiots.

"Sorry… I’ve got no excuse."

Sasayama-san apologizes to us, looking ashamed at his lack of oversight. But this was volunteer work to begin with—everything felt loose, with no clear organizational structure. This time, the downsides of such a vague system had been laid bare.

"So that’s what happened."

"Honestly, what are they thinking? Those guys…"

"Ah, well… Even so, they’re volunteering for free. Thanks to their patrols, monsters really don’t come near the town. So if we scold them too harshly and they get pissy, we’d be in trouble."

"Hmm… I see. There’s that side to it too, huh?"

Like the Self-Defense Forces, the police force is in shambles right now.

Even if those boys couldn’t hunt prey, making a racket while heading into the mountains at least helped keep monsters away. And even for unpaid work, a little reward makes it more bearable. Going too far is a problem, but you’ve gotta turn a blind eye sometimes if you want to keep people working.

"If that’s the case, I get it. If it’s just meat, we don’t need Grandpa’s permission—we can load up your truck right away."

"Right. We’ve got so much that we have to smoke it anyway. Uncle, why don’t you have some tea and watch Masaru while we finish loading?"

"Huh? Who’s Masaru?"

"The kangaroo. Oh, look—over there, chewing on the camellia leaves?"

"Whoa!? There’s really a kangaroo here…"

Heh, seems even Sasayama-san was surprised by Masaru. By the way, if you find a stray kangaroo, do you report it to the city office…?

.....

"Sorry for taking so much. And even getting furs on top of it."

Sasayama-san, now in his truck loaded with meat and pelts, bows his head apologetically from the driver’s seat.

"It’s fine, really. Grandpa was complaining about how they were in the way anyway."

"……"

Still looking guilty, Sasayama-san gives me a silent glance—probably aware of the pelts’ value. Ah, no no, it’s really fine, Sasayama-san. We’ve got way too much anyway. And even if you made clothes out of these, they’d just end up as bandit fashion.

So I flash him a smile and a thumbs-up.

"I see. Then I’ll take it without holding back. I’ll repay this favor another day. Oh, and one more thing—there’s been a rise in break-ins lately. Lots of places getting ransacked. There are plenty of empty houses around here too, so keep an eye out, would you?"

"Really? But sure. It’s just us in this basin right now. If any suspicious cars show up, we’ll notice."

"I’ll let you know if I find anything too. Thanks, Machi-chan."

"Yep, leave it to me, Uncle!"

With that, Sasayama-san honks once, just like when he arrived, and drives off. We kept the load light this time to avoid overloading, so he should make it back to town safely.

Still, break-ins, huh? Nasty business. I’ll have Taro step up night patrols, but I wonder if Masaru would be any help with security…??