The day after the banquet.
Waking up clear-headed, Jin stood by the window of his room, gazing out at the dawning sky. Just then—
"Jin-kun, are you awake...?"
Sergei had come by to check on him. The man's face made it painfully obvious that he was nursing a throbbing hangover, so Jin instructed Reiko to cast Detox and Healing on him.
"Ooh! My head's completely clear! That's incredible!!"
Sergei beamed with delight.
"Come to think of it, does the village have a doctor... or a healer?"
"Hmm, unfortunately, we don't have a dedicated healer. One comes by from the royal capital two days a month, but..."
"I see."
Jin made a mental note: doctor shortage.
Before breakfast, Jin decided to make the rounds to check on any other villagers suffering from hangovers.
"Ugh, my head is pounding..."
"Reiko, please cast Detox."
Clearing out the acetaldehyde—one of the main culprits behind the headache—dramatically lessened the pain.
"Yes, Father. Detox. Healing."
With a touch of Healing to gently restore their vitality—
"Ah, that feels so much better. Jin-san, thank you..."
Their heads were completely cleared.
Naturally, he couldn't visit the entire village, so he kept his rounds to the immediate neighbors around the Village Chief's house.
Afterward, Jin ate breakfast alongside the Village Chief, his wife, and Helga.
"What do you have planned for today?" the Village Chief asked.
"I'd like to take a look around the village," Jin replied. "I'm sure it doesn't look quite like it did when I was here, but think of it as putting on the finishing touches of reconstruction... If there's anything I can do to help, I'd be glad to lend a hand."
"That would be a huge help....Helga, would you mind showing him around?"
"Sure, sounds good. I think Kachea will be here soon anyway, so the two of us can guide him....Then again, Kachea probably doesn't know her way around the new layout very well either."
In that sense, Kachea would practically be getting a tour herself.
"Now then, let's start right here. Is there anything around the house that needs fixing? Well, ideally nothing, of course."
When Jin asked, the Village Chief began with a slight hesitation.
"Ah... it's only a minor thing, but..."
He went on to explain:
"The stairs leading up to the second floor creak. It's fine during the day, but at night, I worry it'll wake anyone who's asleep."
"I see. Mind if I take a look?"
"Please, go right ahead."
With that, Jin went to inspect the staircase.
"Aha, I see what's going on..."
Generally speaking, there are several reasons why floors and stairs creak, but the root cause almost always comes down to the flexing of the boards.
When weight is applied, the wood bends, and as it springs back, it rubs against the surrounding materials and makes a sound.
While that deflection can't be reduced to zero, it can be minimized with the right approach.
Using thicker boards or adding Reinforcing materials are typical ways to fix it.
In the case of the Village Chief's house, the stair treads were on the thinner side. Having to build so many houses at once had likely forced them to conserve lumber.
Jin explained his assessment to Sergei.
"Aha, so that's the reason. I suppose it can't be helped, then."
Village Chief Sergei was ready to resign himself to it, but Jin shook his head.
"No, no, there's still plenty we can do."
With that, he activated his magi-craft.
"Toughening."
Among the Reinforce-type spells, Toughening was by far the most versatile. It formed a network across the free ether between molecules, enhancing the material's overall bonding strength.
Its ability to retain elasticity was what set it apart from Hardening.
With Jin's casting, the effect would last semi-permanently. On top of that, the enhancement was tremendous.
"All done."
"I-Is that so?"
"Oh, let me try it!"
Helga, who had followed them over, dashed up the stairs and ran back down. While her footsteps tapped against the wood, not a single creak followed.
"Wow, amazing! Jin-san, thank you!"
"Is there anything else?" Jin asked Sergei, who pondered for a moment before replying.
"Hmm... The gap under the door is a little wide, and a chest of drawers sticks a bit... Minor annoyances like that, but nothing major."
"Understood. Let's get those fixed."
"Were you listening to me?! I said they're not major issues, you know!"
"I heard you. But even small defects like that can become a real headache when you have to live with them day in and day out."
And so, Jin adjusted the gaps on two doors and corrected the dimensions of three sticky drawers in the chest.
"Thank you, Jin-kun."
"Thanks, Jin-san."
Both Sergei and Helga were thrilled.
"All right, I'll go grab Kachea, and then we'll show you around the village."
"Sounds good. Thanks."
"Good morning, Jin-san."
"Ah, good morning."
After about five minutes of waiting, Helga returned with Kachea in tow.
"Well then, Jin-san, shall we take a walk around the village?"
"Lead the way."
The four of them—Jin, Reiko, Helga, and Kachea—headed toward the southern end of the village first.
"This area was the very first to be hit."
Helga murmured, recalling how she had truly thought everything was lost back then.
"There are still people who have nightmares about it."
"I see... I can understand why."
Here, Jin made a second mental note: mental care.
"Hey, Jin-kun, thanks for yesterday!"
"Jin-kun, out on patrol?"
Everyone they passed called out warmly to Jin.
Continuing on their walk, they soon arrived at an open field.
"From here southward, it's all farmland."
Lush, vibrant wheat fields stretched out before them.
"Is there any trouble out this way?"
"Well, if you want to call it a problem, there is one... We don't have a watermill to grind the wheat into flour."
"A watermill, huh..."
Grinding wheat into flour required a stone mill, and that mill was powered by a waterwheel.
"Harvest is only about a month away, so I was wondering if something could be done before then."
"There's a river nearby where we can install one, right?"
"Well, of course. We were using a watermill right up until it got burned down, after all."
"Good point."
Truth be told, even Jin had never built a watermill before.
Or more accurately, he wasn't entirely sure how the rotational force of a waterwheel was transferred to a stone mill.
With that puzzle in mind, he began to ponder what he could do to make it work.