Chapter 113: Village Recruitment ①
After returning to Leben, my first order of business was to rush around procuring personnel to get the salt production site operational.
First, I spoke to Rose at the mine and asked her to see if anyone who wished to could come along with the children. As it turned out, every single one of them decided to come.
Apparently, things hadn’t been going well at the mine.
It seems women and children were often looked down upon and frequently had unpleasant experiences.
“Honestly, it’s a big help for me too. Being in charge isn’t really my style…”
Rose-san seemed to have been going through a tough time as well.
Things went smoothly with the mine management, so I told them I’d come get them once I’d prepared a place for them to live. Next, I sent Kai off to the Ignat Territory.
I’d asked him to headhunt some craftsmen.
Since we already have Magic Tool Craftsmen, I asked him to recruit carpenters, construction workers, and clothing-related artisans.
However, since I can’t let them travel back and forth freely, I told him it would be fine if he could find some skilled individuals with circumstances that would make them willing to relocate.
In the meantime, I bought several houses and set about creating a livable environment by placing a mansion and the purchased houses at the planned village site near the Tunnel.
I asked Ignat to annihilate the surrounding Monsters and investigate the upper levels of the Dungeon.
I’ve confirmed there’s a Dungeon here too, but I haven’t entered it yet.
Whether we can get edible meat from the upper levels is a matter of life and death in this world.
And so, the mansion and fifteen houses were finally built, and I let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s somehow starting to take shape, isn’t it? There’s a spring nearby too, so all that’s left is the Dungeon, I suppose,” Yuri said.
The three Magic Tool Craftsmen, having nothing else to do, made Magic Tools like a stove, a refrigerator, and air conditioning units.
Of course, they only handled the Magic Circles and circuits. Since I’d brought the materials when we made the Salt Maker, I built the outer frames under their direction.
When it was all done and I relaxed in the mansion, I found I’d obtained a level of comfort no different from being in the city.
“This speed is terrifying, isn’t it? A village appeared in an instant!”
The guy with the Staff puffed out his chest with a smug look, saying, “We’re really amazing, aren’t we?”
“Nah, it’s not a village yet. It’s more like a settlement. Well, if Rui seriously tried to build a village, it’d probably take shape in another three days, though.”
“Well, I could do it, but I won’t. I plan to have the craftsmen live here and build it. I need to gather our Magic Tool team and have them make that, and there are various other things to do.”
That, of course, referred to the bombs.
Knowing that we were still at war, even though the previous battle ended in victory, they immediately understood and nodded.
“Also, there’s something I want to ask you guys to do.”
“Eh? But we were planning to make a Magic-Powered Car?”
“No, that thing can’t run without paved roads. If you plan on staying here, that’s still a long way off, right?”
He looked out the window at the nature-filled scenery and nodded. “I see.”
“So, what is it you want us to make? It’s not something boring, is it?”
“I want you to make a hot air balloon powered by Magic Stones. I could make one myself, but I want to reduce its consumption. I don’t want a makeshift Magic Tool; I want one made by professionals.”
Flying over the mountain range every day using only my Magical Power is tough, so I really wanted them to make one.
When I briefly explained it, Mizuki spoke up.
“Ah, you mean that round thing Rui-kun made when he flew, right?”
“Hoh, so it’s a flying Magic Tool after all. Not bad.”
“Yeah. The way it flies is different from my concept, but it’s not bad as a stopgap until we make the Magic-Powered Car. Leave it to us!”
Since they were enthusiastic about it, I explained the general concept and asked them to create it.
After that, Ignat returned from his investigation, and I decided to hear his report, but…
“Listen to this! I defeated a Monster by myself for the first time! Isn’t that amazing!?” Natalia exclaimed.
“Oh, uh-huh. What kind of Monster?”
“Um, well. It was like… like this… a weird one!”
No, I can’t tell from that…
“Um, ah, yes. So, how did it go?” I asked, turning back to Ignat, but Natalia-san started sulking, and he became completely focused on her, so the conversation couldn’t proceed.
“Yuri, sorry, but could you take care of Natalia-san…?”
“Ahaha, understood,” Yuri replied.
I asked her to deal with Natalia-san, and finally, I was able to hear Ignat’s report.
“Yes, being near the mountains, the difficulty was quite low. If you go down about three levels, boar-type Monsters appear, so securing food should be easy.”
“I see. That’s good. But what do you mean, ‘near the mountains’?”
When I asked, it seems the Dungeon’s difficulty is determined by its elevation and depth. Apparently, Dungeons in higher locations tend to be deeper, and the higher the ground level, the lower the difficulty tends to be.
It probably depends on how much the Mana Essence rising from below is consumed and thinned out.
“I see. Well then, your work for today is done, so you can relax for the rest of the day. You can use the rooms in the mansion from now on.”
“Eh? But I believe there’s still much to be done?” Ignat asked.
“No, no, our main job is being Hunters, right? There’s no point in overdoing it in areas outside our expertise. Let’s leave it to the professionals we’re currently recruiting.”
When I told him that, he smiled and said, “That’s true,” then went off with Natalia-san to choose a room.
“Well, I plan to go to the Abyss next… What should we do? Go after sleeping?”
“Yes, that’s right. If you plan on bringing the craftsmen, it would be better to sleep first to adjust the time,” Yuri suggested.
“Yeah. While we’re at it, I was thinking of asking Naomi to introduce us to a Chef.”
Yep. I don’t want to keep cooking all the time either.
“I could start cooking soon, but it’s true that we could use a separate Chef,” Yuri mused.
Oh, getting to eat Yuri’s home cooking sounds nice.
While talking about such things, the two of us took a few hours of sleep in our bedroom.
The next day, during the daytime, after finishing our hunt in the Abyss and dropping off the materials at the academy as usual, we arrived in Belfast. We had come to explain the situation to Naomi and ask if she could help us find a Chef.
“Hey now… We just opened, you know? I’m pushing myself to train people right now! Even if it’s a request from you, I can’t just send those people out like they’re being passed around!”
“Oooh. Come to think of it, you’re right… Understood. I’ll try somewhere else then.”
“Wait a minute! Wait one month. I’ll have someone trained by then!”
I tried to refuse, saying she didn’t need to push herself, but she wouldn’t budge, insisting she’d do it even if it meant some hardship.
“Well, I’ll train up some personnel. But even if I ask them, I can’t force them, so whether you can recruit them is up to you.”
“Oh, uh-huh. Then I’m counting on you.”
“Leave it to me! So, help out today. Come on, wash your hands quickly!”
Eh? I still have things to do today…
No, wait. The Magic Tool Craftsmen from Belfast probably aren’t ready yet, given it was just yesterday.
So, I decided to help Naomi today. I went to the kitchen, and Yuri handled customer service in the hall, and we worked like crazy for several hours.
Afterwards, we stayed overnight at the Castle, and when I spoke to the craftsmen, it seems they all agreed to relocate with their entire families.
Apparently, Pops had threatened them, saying there was a very high chance they’d be targeted, so they prepared immediately.
When I went to talk to them, they looked a bit gloomy, so they were probably reluctant. I felt bad and couldn’t bear it.
I invited them to our village.
When we arrived, thanks to their families being delighted by the sight of the sea, the rather unfortunate atmosphere was mostly dispelled.
It seemed they had changed their mindset to, “Well, since it’s come to this, let’s enjoy it.”
After that, I brought Rose-san and the others, explained how to make Salt, and assigned them houses.
All that was left was for Kai, whom I’d asked to recruit people, to succeed, bring those personnel, and then things would settle down for a while.
Or so I thought, but those three—the Magic Tool Craftsmen—had already completed the core part of the hot air balloon.
“It’s already done!?”
“Yeah, something of this level can be done right away! Can’t you give us something a bit more difficult!?”
He lamented that, on the contrary, it was too easy and didn’t fire him up.
Now that he mentioned it, amplification-related stuff was his specialty, and circuits were Mizuki’s area of expertise. The only new thing was adding heat to increase buoyancy…
“Well, try it out. That said, we had some time, and I was quite particular about the circuits, so it’ll be tough to improve the Magical Power efficiency any further,” Mizuki said.
Responding to Mizuki’s voice, I called out, “Alright, let’s go then!”
“Eh, me too?” Ignat asked, sounding surprised.
“Well, I thought you might be free… You can stay and watch the place if you want?”
“Oh, that sounds interesting! Of course, I’m going!” Natalia declared.
Since Natalia-san was eager to go, I thought that settled it, but unusually, Ignat spoke up, “No, let’s sit this one out.”
“It seems only non-combatants will be here, and the investigation isn’t complete yet,” he said.
Come to think of it, he was right.
Even though the annihilation in the plains area is finished, we can’t say for sure that Monsters won’t spawn.
That was close. The village’s safety comes first, after all.
“That’s a big help. Alright then, the two of us will just pop over for a bit.”
With that said, I called out, ascended from the foot of the mountain in the hot air balloon, and tried sniping from the sky.
Lines of light flashed and ran, and the magical power released by the monsters was severed.
“Alright, looks like I can do this without any problems.”
“L-Lui? It’s a bit difficult for me at this distance…”
Hearing that, I realized. Yuri hadn’t learned the Mana Sight magic yet.
So, I fashioned a magic circle out of Mithril and made something like party glasses. She made a slightly dubious face because the shape was comical, but since beggars can’t be choosers, she put them on and started defeating monsters too.
The magical power consumption has become quite a bit easier.
I guess it’s about a third of what the hot air balloon usually consumes with just wind magic.
Compared to the airplane form, it’s reduced even more.
Since I can now take turns with Yuri, it’s at a level where we can do it every day.
After continuing to snipe as if it were a chore for a while, Yuri’s magical power ran low, and we decided to return.
She said that even this was lasting quite a long time for her.
“The backpack’s contents are zero too, huh. That was unexpected.”
“Even I have a lot, you know!? Your magical power capacity, Lui, is just abnormal, okay?”
Well, that’s true. I’ve been absorbing everything, ignoring the risk of Sclerosis.
Well, so far, I’ve only heard of non-combatants getting Sclerosis, and I myself have never felt any such symptoms.
As long as I keep hunting, I should have some leeway, I guess.
Besides, even if symptoms appear, there’s still time, so I just need to stop absorbing then and continue subjugating monsters.
I also have Light Magic, so I don’t need to worry about that anymore.
In that case, I figured Yuri could absorb them for a while, so I gave her all the Magic Stones we’d collected, saying, “Yuri, you use all of these.” But she seemed to be struggling with some internal conflict, saying they were from monsters I defeated.
“You’re supposed to accept people’s goodwill gracefully, right?” I showed her the backpack she gave me and grinned. “Fufu, you’re right. Well then, I’ll make use of them this time,” she said and diligently absorbed the Magic Stones.
And so, when we returned to the village, the area around the house had become quite clean.
The haphazardly growing weeds had been completely uprooted.
It’s amazing they finished such a wide area all at once.
However, thinking it was a good opportunity, I gathered everyone and we had a barbecue outside.
Charcoal-grilled meat was lined up on the Maso Platform, and idle chatter began as we ate dinner.
“Man, when His Majesty ordered us to develop a new village, I was at a loss, but I never thought the conditions would be this good.”
“Yeah, I was on edge too. I know the hardships of village revitalization, at least by hearsay… To arrive and find a fine house already here, and to be able to drink so carefreely like this.”
When I talked to them, who were in much better spirits than in the morning, it seemed they had expected to start with several weeks of camping out.
They were relieved that there was a town relatively close by once you passed through the Tunnel, and that the environment was far better than what they had heard.
“You’re naive, Yuugo-san. If Rui gets serious, this place will become a town in a month. A proper town on the scale of Orde. If that happens, we’ll be the top brass of the town. The guys who stayed in the castle are fools.”
“That’s right. Rui has only spent two days here so far. And that includes building the Salt Maker from scratch.”
Hearing Ichirou’s and Mizuki’s voices, the craftsmen stopped moving.
“Including the construction of that, it only took two days…? What kind of joke is that? Even for His Highness, that’s impossible, right?”
No, you guys were the ones who mostly built that.
Well, regarding the house, that’s true though.
Fufufu, this is something only I could probably do.
“Hahaha, you’re forgetting the Tunnel. That’s the greatest achievement, I think.”
“That’s right. Digging that in a single day is unheard of.”
“Eh, you said that thing is open all the way to the other side, right…? Hahaha, it seems boasting about clearing weeds with a Magic Tool around here would be embarrassing.”
No, no, you did a good job, so you should be proud of that!
As I continued to converse normally with the craftsmen, their families, perhaps feeling reassured, gradually joined the conversation, and it became a barbecue with a pleasant atmosphere.
“So, once you’ve gathered the craftsmen and things are somewhat in order, what’s next?”
Just when I was thinking it was about time to wrap up and head back to the mansion, Ichirou casually asked.
Well, I just wanted a salt-producing area, so I haven’t really thought about it…?
But it’s hard to say that to these Magic Tool Craftsmen whom I forcibly summoned.
That’s right. Since I brought them here forcibly, their future needs to look bright.
“Hmm, if there are people who want to, maybe I’ll try gathering more. I think I’ll try my best to make this a comfortable place where you can find pretty much anything to some extent.”
When I answered Ichirou like that, words of gratitude and applause came from the adult craftsmen.
Hmm. Perhaps I should tackle this more seriously than I initially thought.
Having been made to change my mind like that, the first day since this place became a village passed.