CH 335

Chapter 335 – Pioneer Village Construction and Mono’s Story

Developing a new pioneer village.

It sounds simple in words, but there are many things to consider when actually doing it. For example, if the village develops steadily in the future, it is necessary to consider how to expand the size of the village, how to arrange buildings and farmland, and then how to lay out houses, fields, and waterways.

In general, once a building is constructed, it cannot be moved, and the same is true for farmland and waterways. In addition, when it comes to farmland, there are soil issues such as fertile soil and drainage. And when it comes to clearing forests, cutting down a single tree and pulling out the stump is a big job.

Well, even if you put that aside, it is a huge undertaking to clear an undeveloped field, wilderness, or forest and build a village. It is not something that can be done by one person.

“It should be like that. But I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“You’ve got to face reality here.”

Right now, I was listening to Mono’s instructions as I ran around the planned pioneer village construction site, pioneering at blazing speed. Mono was giving me instructions from the observation platform I had set up using a golem communicator.

Right now, only Mono, myself, one of my guards, Grande, and a harpy, are at the site where the village is to be built. The rest of the harpies and the oni girls are looking around to see if there are any monsters or dangerous terrain in the vicinity. I have given them a set of golem communicators as well, so they should be able to work together perfectly. The harpies are very good both as air power and as reconnaissance personnel. Well, this time, they are not equipped with explosives, so basically, they can only do reconnaissance.

Incidentally, I have already revealed to Mono about the houses and water towers I will build. The houses are designed so that even large beastmen and oni tribe members can live in them. It may be unavoidable to be amazed when you see them being built in the designated places for the first time.

Incidentally, the land is currently being leveled to determine the location of the main facilities. Surprisingly, the land in this kind of wilderness is not always flat, so clearing the land is a must.

“That shovel? What the heck is with that shovel?”

“It’s a pure mithril blade with the finest materials.”

“What made you decide to make such a thing out of mithril and give it additional functions…?”

It’s mainly my hobby. Well, it’s a good thing that it’s also a practical benefit. It is actually very convenient to be able to dig and level a large area at once.

“By the way, changing the subject, is there a community… of one-eyed folks somewhere, or is it more like a gathering?”

“There used to be, but I don’t hear about it anymore. We, one-eyed people, were hated by the people of the Holy Kingdom, so I think many of us hid ourselves away as inconspicuously as possible. Fortunately, many of us are long-lived and skilled in magic, pharmacy, alchemy, and the like. So I think there are more people than you might think who survived by blending in with other subhuman groups and offering their knowledge and abilities in exchange for protection.”

“Subhuman groups? I thought they were suppressed and dispersed.”

“Not really. Even under the rule of the Holy Kingdom, the Kingdom of Merinard was originally a country where humans and subhumans lived together as the same people. On the surface, there were many Merinardians who pretended to follow the teachings of the Holy Kingdom, that is, the Adol religion, but behind their backs, they hid subhumans. Therefore, there are a certain number of subhumans who escaped from difficulties by gathering together in such places.”

“Oh… I remember Bella saying something about her village.”

I remember that she used to talk about how things were in her village. Maybe Bella was from such a place. Maybe I should ask her about it next time.

“Bella is the girl of the red oni tribe, isn’t she? The Oni tribe is a race of people with high fighting power, so they tend to live in villages deep in the mountains where the environment is harsh. Well, there are many troubles because there are many rough people, but it seems that they have accepted many subhumans into their villages and protected them for the past 20 years.”

“Heh, so there are a lot of people who are violent but also very humane?”

I don’t have the image of our oni girls being rowdy. Well, maybe it’s because Bella is the odd one out among the oni tribe that she has gone out of her village to become an adventurer.

“I guess that’s about it. In the western part of the Merinard Kingdom, the rule of the Holy Kingdom was quite loose due to the conflicts with the Union of Small Nations and the Dragonis Mountain Kingdom. However, in the east, the central region, and the north, the Holy Kingdom’s power was strong, and it was difficult. Also, there is a resistance group gathered in the south, and for the past five years, the Holy Kingdom has been concentrating its efforts on controlling that area. The rebellion failed a little over three years ago, and things have been pretty tough since then.”

“I know that. The remnants of that rebellion reached the Black Forest, and then they turned around and got into the situation they are in now.”

The people in the south who were in a bad situation were probably those who helped Sir Leonard and the others to start the rebellion. That’s why they were treated so badly. Now that I think about it, I think that many of the subhuman slaves freed north of Erichburg were treated better than those freed in the south.

While listening to Mono’s stories about the occupation and rule of the Holy Kingdoms, I proceeded to develop the pioneer village.

☆★☆

Once the land was cleared, the rest of the work was quick. Using the blueprint function, I quickly set up registered houses, water towers, and barriers, and then all I had to do was shake my mithril hoe at the places that were to be farmed. As expected, If I set up a farmland block, the growth rate would be too crazy. If I plow, any wasteland becomes fertile land by normal standards, so this is just fine.

But the ability to decompose pebbles, shrubs, weeds, and everything else and turn them into land suitable for farming is a frightening ability when you think about it calmly like this. I wonder what is happening to the microorganisms and nutrients in the soil. Am I actually doing something amazing with this hoe? Well, it’s a miraculous power of magic or God, so it’s no use thinking about it from a scientific point of view.

At any rate, there are many villages to be developed, and this village of Mono and the others is only one of them. Mono was the first one-eyed race I had met other than Isla, and I would have liked to talk to him about a few more things, but my schedule was already pushed. I was still reluctant to leave, but I said goodbye to Mono and the others and headed for the next pioneer village.

“You’ve been busy, haven’t you?”

“It can’t be helped. Ellen and Amalie-san are about to give birth, and I want to get the job done and get back home as soon as possible.”

“I know you’re worried, but don’t push yourself too hard. If you collapse, everyone will be in trouble.”

“If you say so, Tozume should take it a little easier at night―it hurts!”

Tozume’s fist flies to the back of Bella’s head as she is about to say something stupid. Don’t hit Bella hard in the back of the head while she’s driving. If you do it badly, we could get into an accident and be in danger.

We then return to Viscount Travis and report that the construction of the first pioneer village has been completed. Since this is my second visit, I get a pass to enter the town and the Viscount’s mansion.

“Huh…? Uh, the construction of the first pioneer village has been completed…?”

“You said yesterday that you were going to build the first village, right?” He has a look on his face that says that. Yeah, it’s natural to have doubts, but it’s really over; that’s it.

“Well, at any rate, the first one is finished, and we’re asking you to report back and proceed with the inspection of that one. In the meantime, we’ll go around to the planned pioneer village construction sites in the territory and build more and more villages in the same way.”

“We will proceed with that, but it was only yesterday… no, I understand. First of all, we will dispatch personnel as soon as possible. If you give us three days… no, two days.”

“I understand. I’ll come back here around noon in two days. I don’t want to waste a single second right now, so I’ll be on my way to the next site right away.”

“Understood. Then, please come here for lunch two days from now. I will let our head chef show you his skills.”

“Alright. I’ll see you then.”

It’s hard to act as a prince consort with a nobleman. But it is not good to be too frank with them. I’m not very good at talking big, after all.

So we built a number of villages in the territory ruled by Viscount Travis. Viscount Travis was the first person Sylphy, and the others decided to send me, and he was a very capable and cooperative lord. Everything went smoothly, and it was really easy to work with him.

Now, let’s see where I will be sent next.