As the villagers pressed on with the harvest, I worked alongside them, tilling new fields. Pirika helped out as well, though she seemed perpetually baffled by a harvest that completely ignored the seasons.
"Thank you," I said. "How is your training going? I heard Aegis and the Eagle have been joining in lately."
She asked me for some combat advice.
"Well, even if you ask me... let's see. If you look at it like hunting, maybe the most important thing is to watch your opponent closely. Yes, observation is key. Sorry if that’s just an amateur’s perspective."
Construction on the underground shopping district in Village Five was moving along nicely—so much so that it looked like it would be finished well ahead of schedule. However, a problem had cropped up: traffic.
I’d thought I had designed the roads to be reasonably wide, but the influx of construction materials was causing constant bottlenecks. While this might resolve itself once construction was finished, I worried that the actual delivery of goods to the shops would cause the same headache.
I wanted to find a solution, but given the real estate situation in Village Five, widening the roads was out of the question. After all, building the underground district in the first place had been a way to circumvent the lack of land.
Still, a dedicated supply route was necessary. I’d been too optimistic.
What to do? Since it was essentially a series of tunnels, the fact that there were only two main entrance and exit points was a major flaw. I’d reserved the access points on the second, third, and fourth floors for customers...
After mulling it over for three days, I had a brainwave: a subway.
If I turned the first floor of the underground district into a station and built a loop around the mid-slope of the mountain that housed Village Five, wouldn't that solve the problem? Each station would serve as a new delivery hub.
Prada, who was standing nearby, raised a hand. "What exactly is a 'subway'?"
I showed her a model of the district. I explained that a subway—or a railway—consisted of tracks and minecarts. Since the path was made of iron, it was called a railway.
But as I thought about expanding this throughout the mid-slope of Village Five... was I being reckless? Securing and processing enough iron for all those rails would be a nightmare. Plus, an underground derailment would be a catastrophe. Then there was the issue of what would actually pull the carts.
"Never mind. Proposal scrapped."
"Why not use Golems for the power source?"
The Mountain Elves had appeared out of nowhere. They must have been visiting the Village Five workshop.
"If we run it unmanned, then a derailment wouldn't put any lives at risk," one of them suggested.
"How about resurrecting that monorail plan we scrapped a while back?" another added. "Those are much harder to derail. If we use Golems for power, it doesn't matter if the carts are a bit heavy."
"If that's the case, we could even use wooden rails," a third suggested. "The timber from the forest surrounding the Village of the Great Tree could certainly handle the weight."
One by one, the hurdles were cleared—save for a single, glaring issue.
"But the only one who can process that specific wood is the Village Head, right? Isn't that an enormous amount of work? I assume the Village Head would be the one digging the tunnels, too."
Ah, they noticed. Good.
"The Village Head will be fine!" someone else chirped. "Besides, I'm sure he'll do it no matter how difficult it is. He’s definitely going to do it!"
I really wished they wouldn't place such heavy expectations on me.
...Though I was going to do it.
The scrap order was officially retracted. The Railway Plan was a go.
"Um, Village Head," Prada interjected. "If it's made of wood, shouldn't it be called a 'Wooden Railway' instead of a 'Railway'?"
She had a point.
And so, the Wooden Railway Plan was launched.
Step one: Build the Power Golems. Step two: Prototype the wooden rails. Step three: Prototype the monorail minecarts.
...Actually, step zero: Prioritize the martial arts tournament.
I couldn't spend all my energy on Village Five. I had to look after Village One, Village Two, Village Three, and Village Four as well. Granted, the other villages rarely caused as much trouble as Village Five, but I couldn't use that as an excuse for neglect.
I checked in with Village One. "Problems? None at all."
Village Two: "If you're asking for requests... nothing comes to mind."
Village Three: "It's not right to force ourselves to find a problem where there isn't one, is it? So, we're doing just fine."
Then there was Village Four.
"Oh, as for trouble... Roku, who’s currently in Village Five, has been sending out constant distress signals. I’m sure it’s some kind of mistake, but maybe you could check on her the next time you visit? Oh? She’s drowning in paperwork? But you already sent Prada as relief? Thank you very much."
...
Right. I’d better focus on preparing for the tournament.
"Preparing" mostly meant hand-carving the trophies for the winners. I wondered what the categories would be this year. I’d have to confirm the details with the Civil Official Girls.
It took about five days to finish the trophies. I refused to cut corners; every piece was intricately detailed. All that remained was to attach the nameplates on the day of the event.
Along with the trophies, I brought back the tradition of making crowns. I had stopped making them for a while because the participants' sizes varied so wildly, but since so many people had requested them, they were making a comeback this year.
Carving several types of crowns in various sizes was a bit of a chore, but I pushed through because I wanted to see the look on the winners' faces. I’d considered making them adjustable, but that tended to make them look like cheap toys. Items like this needed to be grand.
...Though, they were still made of wood. Was that really okay? Maybe I should have asked Gatto to forge them out of metal.
Hm? You think not? The value lies in the fact that I made them by hand?
That was a lovely thing to hear. Encouraged by the silent support of Zabuton's children, who had been watching me work, I regained my confidence.
Getting into the spirit of things, I whittled some small wooden hats and handed them out to the spiders. They looked quite dashing on them.
However, these weren't for fashion or sun protection. They were meant for throwing into the air when they were happy.
"Doesn't it sound fun? You can all toss them up together."
...You don't actually have to catch them afterward.
What's that? You can't bear to treat such precious gifts so roughly?
That's flattering, but they were made of wood. It was actually a little dangerous to have them falling back down. I would have preferred to make them out of cloth, but I didn't have the skill for that.
What I could make, however... were straw hats.
I wove tiny straw hats and distributed them to Zabuton's children. It was a bit late in the season, but they looked great.
Then, one of them handed something to me. It looked... like a beret.
"Is this for me? Did you all make this?"
I gratefully placed it on my head.
Eh? You want to throw them up together?
Hahaha. Well, I'd better make sure I throw mine with enough force that I can actually catch it.