Back in Kaina Village after seeing off the scouting party, the residents held a meeting to discuss what else they could do. They decided to build fences around the fields—a practical move, as it would protect their crops from pests and wild animals even if no immediate threat materialized.
The villagers felled trees, trimmed them into logs, and sank them into the earth around the perimeter. Between the villagers and the assistance of the golems Gon and Gen—along with the Golem horses Drei, Quatre, and Cinq—the work proceeded at a breakneck pace. To an outside observer, the speed would have looked positively supernatural.
By the third day after the scouting party's departure, the project was nearing completion.
"Phew. Well, it’s finally starting to look like something," Jin murmured.
He had been using Craft Magic to help process the felled timber into logs, but now that he had finished the required amount, he finally had some time to himself.
"I should probably have some weapons, just in case," he mused.
With materials as scarce as they were, he couldn't create anything particularly specialized. At most, he could manage some bladed tools reinforced with adamantite.
"Well, they won't go to waste. I'll start by making some axes and machetes."
He decided to craft blades that could serve as everyday tools. However, since he had used a significant portion of his stash on the Golem horses, he didn't have much adamantite left. He settled for making tools with iron bodies and adamantite edges. Even with those constraints, he managed to produce ten axes and twenty machetes.
"Now for a weapon for myself."
Jin wasn't proud of it, but his physical strength and athletic ability were lackluster. Compared to the men of the village, he was at the bottom of the ladder. Close-quarters combat was out of the question. He was equally abysmal with a bow.
"I guess it has to be that," he whispered.
Jin began constructing a water gun—specifically, a pistol-style model equipped with a large external water tank.
"Onii-chan, what are you making?"
As was her habit, Hanna had wandered into Jin’s workshop, which technically belonged to her late grandfather.
"Oh, hey Hanna. I'm making a water gun."
"A water gun?"
The concept of a "gun" didn't exist in this world, so the term meant nothing to her.
"Here, just watch."
The mechanism wasn't complex, and he finished the first unit quickly. It was the version with the attached tank.
Hanna looked at the device with a puzzled expression.
"See, you put water in here, hold it like this, and when you pull this trigger..."
A thin stream of water squirted out.
"Wow! That looks fun!"
Since it was nothing more than a toy to anyone other than Jin, he decided to give it to her.
"Usually, you play with these during the hot summer, though."
"Thank you! It’s so much fun!"
Hanna took the water gun and skipped off to play, looking delighted.
"...I should probably make some for the other children, too."
Realizing the potential demand, Jin set about producing ten more of the same model. Once he had the design down, mass-producing such simple items was easy. Since plastic didn't exist, he crafted them all out of muscovite; they were lightweight and surprisingly durable.
Afterward, he built his own weapons: two units with significantly larger water tanks and high-precision internal pistons. He also made two backup units that fired only the water stored within the gun's frame.
If Jin used these in tandem with his Water Jet magic, they would become terrifyingly effective weapons.
"Even so, I can't protect the whole village on my own."
He reminded himself not to let his guard down.
Predictably, Kurt, Mario, and the other children saw Hanna playing with her new toy and came running. It went without saying that Jin ended up distributing water guns to every one of them.
Two peaceful days followed. Then, on the third day, the scouting party returned.
"Hey! Rock! Jan! You're back safe!"
"Yeah, thanks to these horses," Rock replied.
After a very brief rest, the two men gathered at the Village Chief's house to deliver their report.
"Everything was fine at first," Rock began.
He explained that there were no issues up to the point where they had hunted the mountain deer.
"We pushed another day's journey deeper into the mountains, but things still looked normal. So, we decided to circle around to the west."
Instead of continuing straight north, they had made a ninety-degree turn to the left.
"That area was quiet too. We were starting to feel relieved, so we turned back north. And then..."
"Then what?" the Village Chief asked.
"...We came across a place where mountain deer bones were scattered everywhere."
"What!?"
"I had a bad feeling about it, so we stayed on the horses. Then a massive forest bear—a Wood Bear—crawled out. It was dragging a mountain deer that was still dripping blood."
"A forest bear!?"
"Yeah. And that’s not the half of it. Don't be shocked, now."
"What is it?"
"Ten of them. There were ten of those huge forest bears right there in one spot."
A collective gasp filled the room. A forest bear was a lethal predator that required three or four veteran hunters working together just to stand a chance. And now there were ten.
"Why would they come this far south?" someone asked.
The consensus was that they had followed the unusually large number of mountain deer moving south. But that still didn't explain why the deer had moved in the first place. Between the deep mountains and Kaina Village, there was a barren valley that usually acted as a natural barrier.
However, if the mountain deer had crossed that valley, it was only a matter of time before the forest bears followed. That was the grim conclusion of the meeting.
"I’ve prepared some sturdy axes and machetes just in case," Jin spoke up. "Please come by later to collect them."
The Village Chief nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Jin. It’s a blessing having you here. Jeff, Tom, go with Jin and bring the tools back. I’ll keep them in my custody for now."
"You got it."
Jin returned to Martha's house with Jeff and Tom. Jeff carried the pile of axes from the workshop, while Tom took the machetes. Once they left, Jin explained the situation to Martha.
"I see... so the mountain deer and the forest bears might really come this way. We’ll have to make sure Hanna stays safe."
"I agree. Hanna, it's dangerous, so you mustn't go toward the northern mountains for a while. Understand?"
Hanna looked up at him. "Okay. But is the river fine?"
The Erme River lay to the south and was relatively safe. Jin knew from his time at the orphanage that if you forbade a child from doing everything, they would eventually do something reckless out of frustration.
When he told her the river was fine, Hanna grabbed her water gun and ran off to play by the water.
From that day on, the villagers took turns monitoring the northern mountains. Two days passed, then three, with no sign of trouble. Just as the villagers began to wonder if they had been overreacting, the peace was shattered.
It was after breakfast when Jeff, who was on lookout duty, spotted a massive cloud of dust rising from the northern slopes. As he squinted, he saw a literal tide of mountain deer charging down toward the village.
"Hey! The mountain deer are coming! They're coming down the mountain!"
The alarm spread through the village instantly. The Village Chief, Rock, and Jin rushed out to witness the sight.
"Look at them... it’s like they're being driven by something," Rock said, stroking his jaw.
"If that 'something' is a forest bear, it won't be long before we see it," the Village Chief added grimly.
"Then we need to divert that herd away from the village before they trample everything," Jin suggested.
The plan was met with immediate approval. Jin, Rock, Jeff, and Rick mounted the Golem horses, preparing to lead the deer toward the forest to the west.
"Let’s move!"
Rock took the lead, followed by Jeff and Rick, with Jin bringing up the rear.
"Be careful!" the villagers called out.
The four Golem horses accelerated, their figures shrinking into the distance in an instant.
"They'll be fine. It’s just mountain deer for now," the Village Chief said, trying to reassure the worried women. "Come, everyone, get inside the houses."
"Onii-chan..."
Hanna stood still, her eyes fixed on the horizon where Jin and the others had disappeared.