Summer had arrived. It was getting hot. The snow mountain we had built back in the winter had shrunk considerably. Still, the air around it remained crisp and cool. That was probably why the village animals were practically living there.
Take the goats, for instance. Had they escaped their pen? They didn’t usually have the guts to set foot outside the village, yet here they were in a full-blown herd. "Make sure you go back when night falls," I told them.
Then there were the horses. Seriously, what was the whole family doing out here? I understood that it was hot, but they weren't supposed to just wander off. They tried to keep their faces all dignified and serious, but they weren't fooling me. "Be sure to head home by dark, too."
Kuro’s children were there as well... Ah, they were off duty. In that case, it was fine.
Then I spotted Yoko, the Nine-tailed Fox. "What are you doing out here?" I asked.
"It is cool here," Yoko replied, remaining in her fox form.
"What about the spots in the Village Head's Mansion where the cool air comes out?"
"The cats have occupied those areas."
"What about the dungeon? It should be nice and cool down there, right?"
"I would rather not go there if I can help it."
"Well..."
"I will head to the forest to hunt once it cools down tonight," she added. "I am not merely slacking off."
"No, I wasn't blaming you. I’ll increase the number of cooling devices as soon as I can."
"I am counting on you."
...
"Is there something else?" she asked.
"It might just be because you’re in your fox form, but is lying on your back out in the open really appropriate?"
For a second, I had actually thought she was dead. Maybe I should make her a hammock? No, I could only picture her getting tangled in the mesh and flailing around.
"Are you thinking of something rude?"
"Just your imagination. Just don't let your belly get too chilled."
I headed back to the Village Head's Mansion. Sure enough, the area near the cooling device was packed with kittens. Hitoe, the little fox, was right there with them. Kuro and Yuki were nearby, though they kept a bit of distance, along with the Cat and the Jewel Cat, Jewel. Looking up at the ceiling... yeah, there were a lot of Zabuton’s children hanging around.
Wait. This was my room, wasn't it?
No one seemed to care. Well, fine. I definitely needed to get that on-off function installed soon.
I went to the workshop in the mansion, where the Mountain Elves were busy building more cooling devices. The place was sweltering. It was ironic—working in a heatwave to make things that produced cold air.
It had all started with a request from Sena. Apparently, infants of the Beastman Race didn't handle the heat very well. It wasn't like the summer heat here was enough to actually hurt them, but Sena had been worried regardless. I understood where she was coming from; I didn't want to take any chances either.
So, I had looked into getting an air conditioner. However, even if I knew the basic principles, actually building one was a different story. In the end, I had Lu create an ice and wind magic item, which I combined into a simple cooler... or maybe more of a fan.
It had its flaws—no on-off function and no way to adjust the airflow. But it was enough to spark the Mountain Elves' creativity. Prototype No. 1, which featured an on-off function and adjustable wind power, had been installed at Sena’s house.
I’d meant to wait for her feedback before making more, but the requests came flooding in. Everyone wanted one.
But while the Mountain Elves could mass-produce the devices themselves, we still relied on Lu to create the ice and wind magic items that served as the power source. Right now, her limit was about one set every three days.
Despite that bottleneck, the Mountain Elves were working feverishly. On what? Upgrades, naturally. They kept refining the design until the latest model was twice the size of the original. It looked even bigger than it had yesterday. Did the concept of "miniaturization" not exist to them?
I really thought they should stop trying to pack every single feature into a single unit, but... well, I shouldn't discourage the "learn from failure" mindset.
Still, this new model used three separate wind magic items. Lu was going to snap. They told me they’d handle her, but Lu was terrifying when she was actually pissed off. I just hoped we could finish a few more units before the real heat of summer arrived.
That night, one of the High Ogre maids was getting a lecture from Ann. The reason was simple: she’d fallen asleep while basking in the cool air in my room and ended up with a bit of a cold. No wonder she was getting scolded.
I had to be careful with that device myself. After all, it just kept pumping out cold air indefinitely. I usually adjusted the angle of the device or pointed it away from me before going to sleep. It didn't have a proper on-off function, but you could shut it down; it was just a massive pain to get it started again. The power consumption from the magic stones was negligible, so I usually just left it running.
Anyway, I digress. "Ann, save the lecture for when she's feeling better. Let her get some rest for now."
Lu was buried in work on the magic items, so I decided to ask Flora for some medicinal herbs instead.
"Make sure you stay in bed and rest. And don't go spreading it to everyone else."
As for nursing her... if I tried to do it, I'd probably just get scolded even more. I'd have to ask whoever had some free hands to look after her.
Come to think of it, was this the first time someone in the village had actually fallen ill? No, we went through medicine, so it wasn't the first time. We just hadn't had any major outbreaks. Even then, it was usually just minor things like this...
A loud sneeze echoed from the maid’s direction.
Take care of yourself.