I was sitting in a floor chair reading a letter when one of the kittens—Miel—approached and started climbing up my body.
Over my legs, my stomach, my chest... his claws really stung.
I thought he might settle on my shoulder, but he kept going until he reached the top of my head.
So that’s where you’re going to stay?
I didn't mind, but I told him not to fall off.
...Wait, no.
I didn't mean he should dig his claws in to keep his balance.
That hurts, so please stop doing that.
There, just like that.
Whoops, Uel.
You came along too?
Did you see Miel and decide you wanted to be on top of my head as well?
Unfortunately, you don’t seem very good at climbing.
Yeah, my stomach is going to be a bloody mess at this rate, so you'd better give up there.
I get it, I get it.
Here, climb onto my hand.
Now, up to the top of my head... Hey, don't start a fight up there.
I played with the kittens for a while until the Cat came to fetch them.
"Even the Village Head gets injured sometimes, it seems?"
"Well, yeah."
Now that Ann mentioned it, was this actually the first time I’d suffered a proper injury?
Granted, they were just scratches from kittens.
I had Ann, the leader of the High Ogre maids, apply a liquid made from crushed medicinal herbs to the wounds.
"This part is the most severe."
"That happened when Miel fell off my head and reflexively dug his claws into my chest. It really hurt."
Beyond that, cats were hunters by instinct.
They had a knack for biting the more sensitive parts of my body.
Between the toes, for instance.
The kittens probably thought they were just playing, but they weren't very good at holding back yet, so the pain was no joke.
The children of Zabuton and Kuro, who the kittens used to pounce on all the time... they must have been incredibly patient.
I decided I’d have to show them some extra appreciation later.
"Doting on them is all well and good, but disciplining them properly is also important," Ann noted.
"Can you even discipline a cat?"
"They were able to learn how to use the outhouse, so they’ll be fine."
Come to think of it, she was right.
It was Ann who had potty-trained the kittens in the first place.
"I’ll leave it to you... ah, wait. Be gentle, okay? Don't be too hard on them."
"...Understood."
A few days later, I witnessed the kittens sitting perfectly at attention whenever they saw Ann.
Field work in Village One, Village Two, and Village Three seemed to be progressing smoothly without any major issues.
The fields in Village Two that were previously reported to have harvest yield problems were likely suffering from replant failure.
If you grow the same crop in the same spot repeatedly, it absorbs the same nutrients from the soil over and over, eventually leading to a deficiency.
In the Village of the Great Tree, I tended to grow things from scratch every time with the Universal Farming Tool, so I hadn't really noticed the issue before.
As a countermeasure against replant failure, we would grow different crops in rotation.
Alternatively, we could let the fields lie fallow.
Since we had plenty of land, we decided to rotate the crops annually while letting certain fields rest.
Additionally, we tried out a method of growing dungeon potatoes under the sun and processing them into fertilizer.
We wouldn't know the full results until this year's harvest season, but Hou had reported that they had been doing it in the Demon Kingdom since last year and were seeing decent results.
The Demon Kingdom apparently wanted to provide dungeon potatoes to the human kingdoms if their effectiveness was confirmed again this year.
However, they were supposedly scratching their heads over the logistics of the gift.
I thought they should just hand them over honestly, but apparently, providing aid to a hostile nation was politically problematic.
Furthermore, the receiving side couldn't easily accept gifts from an opponent they were at war with.
What a hassle.
...
"Would it be bad to just sell them to merchants?" I asked. "I’d imagine they would spread them around on their own, right?"
"Dungeon potatoes are powerful, so it would be dangerous if a country didn't manage them properly?"
I see.
"Well then, why not treat them like vital strategic supplies and let them be 'stolen'?"
The look on Beezel’s face suggested the scales had fallen from his eyes.
Predicting that there would be a dungeon to the west, we formed an investigation team.
Thirty of Kuro's children.
Sixty of Zabuton's children.
The arrangement was for two of Zabuton's children to ride on the back of each of Kuro's children.
"Is that really okay? Are you guys alright with that?"
When they barked back with expressions that clearly said, "Leave it to us," all I could do was offer my support.
"Good luck, then. I’ve packed plenty of food in your bags."
Ah—... wait a second.
"Yeah, you, the one over there. Come here for a second."
Sorry about this.
I reached into the backpack and pulled out a kitten.
"You little troublemaker."
I looked around. "There aren't any others, right?"
...
There were no more kittens, but I did discover Urza and Gral, who were fully prepared to tail the investigation team.
I apprehended them immediately.
"I assume you’ve finished today's studies and chores?"
Kugh, they actually had. They were spotless.
"Fine. I’ll take you somewhere else, so give up on following the investigation team."
After those distractions were dealt with, the investigation team departed safely.
I returned the captured kitten to Jewel and boarded the balloon with Urza and Gral.
Our destination was Village Four, also known as the Sun Castle.
The goal was to discuss the transport and installation of the Teleportation Gates.
We hadn't decided where they would connect to yet, but it was already a certainty that one side would be installed inside the Great Tree Dungeon.
I wanted to confirm the physical transport methods for the gates and the procedures for the actual installation.
"Ah, hey, hey! Don't run wild inside the basket! And don't try to drop things over the edge!"
"Gral, you can fly on your own, so this shouldn't be that novel for you. Don't touch that."
"Hm? That’s a parachute. It's kept there just in case of an emergency."
"...What are you planning to do with that on? No. I’m serious, absolutely not."
Mothers of the world really have it rough.