The festival was over, and summer had arrived in full force.
One way or another, the villagers were always finding excuses to splash around in the pool.
"You’ve certainly kept it quite clean."
Since the Lizardmen used the pool year-round, I had left the management to them, and the results were surprisingly pristine.
"We drain the water and scrub it down once a month," they explained.
"I'm impressed... but take it easy. There's no need to push yourselves too hard."
I wanted to hop into the water myself, but I had too much on my plate. I needed to respond to requests from the various villages, expand the facilities at the Hot Springs, and handle several other tasks.
I also needed to consult with Michael-san regarding the shop in Shashato City. Since we relied on Small Wyvern Communication, our correspondence was a slow, time-consuming process. It had a certain old-fashioned charm, but if I didn't keep a record of what I'd sent, I would quickly forget the contents. As a result, every letter required the effort of writing two identical copies.
Whether one viewed that as good writing practice or a total nuisance was a matter of perspective. Personally, I found it a hassle. I really wanted a photocopier.
The Civil Official Girls seemed used to the labor, writing out two copies as a matter of course without any complaints. A few of them slacked off by simply keeping their rough drafts, but...
"Even their drafts are written at a professional level," I noted. I was genuinely jealous.
I set out with the High Elves to tour the villages and fulfill their requests.
Village One wanted a mushroom field. Yes, I understood—truffles.
I'd assumed truffles needed to be near trees, but they seemed to grow just fine directly in the soil. So, I went ahead and cultivated a massive amount of them across the entire area.
Speaking of which, I remembered that White Truffles existed alongside the black ones. I wondered if they would be appreciated here as well. Because I had been preoccupied with these stray thoughts while working, the Black and White Truffles ended up mixed together. Well, a truffle was a truffle.
Once harvested, mushrooms tended to regrow in the same spot several times. I hoped the residents would work hard to gather them.
Also, though I apologized for it being a personal preference, I set up some timber to grow shiitake. As for the maintenance... the most important task was repelling pests like insects, birds, and wild beasts. Zabuton's Children in Village One used gestures to insist I leave it to them, so I entrusted the fields to their care.
In Village Two, I provided additional farming tools: hoes, axes, and sickles. They also requested forks—three-pronged implements used for gathering and moving fodder.
Since these tools were for the Minotaurs of Village Two, they had to be oversized. However, simply scaling a fork up to a "big size" proved useless. The crops themselves were still normal-sized, meaning everything just fell through the gaps between the tines.
Hahaha. My mistake.
I made new ones, this time increasing the number of tines on the fork. Since Gatto had done the heavy lifting on the actual production, I told the Minotaurs to thank him rather than me.
As for the failed, giant forks... they wanted to display them. I didn't mind, but it was a bit embarrassing.
Village Three requested new housing and a track that circled the perimeter of the village. The High Elves and I finished the houses in a matter of days. For the perimeter track, I used the Universal Farming Tool to clear a path. Compared to when I first built the village, I’d become much faster at road-making.
I worried the ground might be a bit too soft, but they assured me it would be fine once they packed it down by running on it. The Centaur race immediately began sprinting along the completed course. They were a force to be reckoned with once they built up enough speed; from a defensive standpoint, the track was a smart addition to the village.
Wait, an intense race had already broken out. What was going on?
Ah, it was some kind of marriage proposal ritual. Apparently, they had been waiting for the track to be finished before they could start. I felt a bit bad for the delay. I wished them a happy future.
In Village Four—the Sun Castle—I decided to have them grow seasoning-related crops. They didn't have any specific requests, so I offered to cook for them instead.
"What would you like? A pot dish?"
They didn't seem to care about the seasons inside the castle, so we went with a hot pot. I sent over the missing ingredients via balloon. While the number of balloons had increased, the amount they could carry in a single trip was still small. I wanted to improve the logistics, but for now, I didn't have a solution. It would require more research.
After the meal, I toured the Sun Castle Canned Food Factory. It wasn't a full-scale industrial plant, but rather a facility designed to preserve souvenirs. Its performance, however, was incredible. You just fed in the raw materials, and it manufactured the cans on the spot. The metal was very thin and processed to be rust-resistant. They weren't much different from the cans I remembered from my previous life.
Unfortunately, the machine couldn't make anything other than cans. While the filling process was automated, we had to prepare the contents ourselves. The first prototype they produced for me was a can of unpeeled mandarins. Since there was no syrup, the fruit just rattled around inside the metal and got bruised when shaken. It was a very surreal piece of canned food.
If we were going to make fruit cans, we would need to provide the fruit already sliced and soaked in syrup. Given the low daily output, it wouldn't be much use for a commercial business. Bell mentioned that once a specialist familiar with the device woke up, things might improve. I had high hopes; if we could use canning to preserve seasonings, it would be a huge help.
Next, I headed to the Hot Springs to expand the facilities. Even in the heat of summer, the hot springs felt wonderful. The problem was the temperature after getting out.
It was sweltering, but Father Lion used magic to produce a block of ice. I see. So they could use magic. That was impressive.
Since I was there, I made sure to put in some work. First, I wanted to upgrade the facilities for Progenitor-san. I thought about building a new hut, but the existing one hadn't deteriorated as much as I'd expected. Perhaps the timber was exceptionally sturdy. I decided to build a new one anyway, along with a dedicated hut for the Death Knights who guarded the area.
Once I prepared the wood, I left the construction to the High Elves while I fulfilled a request for the lions. They wanted a place to shelter from the rain. Given the season, they also needed protection from the harsh sun. I gouged out a section of a rock wall near the springs—careful to avoid the area with heat retention stones—to create a cave-like shelter. I shaped the top like a small mound so rain would run off the sides.
It looked like an exhibit at a zoo, but I hoped the lions wouldn't mind. Father Lion inspected it first, followed by Mother Lion and then the cubs. It seemed there were no issues. I noticed the ground inside was still a bit hard, so I softened the soil for them.
By the time we were done, the Hot Spring area had two new lodging huts (one for the Death Knights), wooden partitions to provide shade for the bathers, and a new water supply line drawn from the nearby river. I also built a simple roof and floor nearby for the lions, since they tended to hang around the Death Knights anyway.
The lions had more than enough food, thanks to the monsters and magic beasts the Death Knights hunted. I set up a specific area to dispose of the spoiled remains, which I could process whenever I visited.
"I suppose that’s everything."
They didn't have to perform a Dance of Gratitude, but it looked like they had a new version ready. They must have been practicing. Even the cubs were participating. Ugh. I guess I had no choice but to join in.
When I returned to the Village of the Great Tree, harvest time was fast approaching. I would have to work hard soon, but for now... I wanted to play.
In my hand was an empty can I'd brought back from the Sun Castle.
"Let's play Kick the Can!"
I gathered the children together for a game.
...I had severely underestimated their stamina. They were incredible. At this rate, I was going to be "it" forever. The sheer frustration of having the can kicked right after I'd finally caught a few people was endless.
I had no choice but to increase the number of seekers. I saw a few others looking like they wanted to join in, anyway.
"The rules are simple! No violence and no magic! And no going outside the village!"
"Nyunyu-daphne, stop pretending to be a tree."
"Hakuren, no kicking the can with your full strength!"
We enjoyed the game until the sun finally dipped below the horizon.