The dragon banquet continued.
Since we had just finished harvesting the food and they were paying for everything, supply wasn't an issue. Donovan and his crew were making the rounds, serving a new kind of sake and asking for feedback. It seemed they had steeped lemon peels in a high-proof spirit... the consistency was thicker and more syrupy than I expected. Ah, it looked like they had added sugar along with the lemon peels.
I took a sip.
Phew. That was strong.
It was a bit too intense for me to finish even a single cup, but Dos and the others were gulping it down. I just hoped they wouldn't transform into their dragon forms and start a drunken rampage. Also, I had to remind Hakuren and Rusty that they weren't allowed to drink.
They seemed curious about the plum-steeped sake. I suppose that made sense. Since we were also serving the plum wine we had started last spring, they were likely worried about the remaining stock. It was fine, though. We had prepared a massive amount of it. It wasn't the kind of thing that could be finished in just a few banquets—though I planned to keep a close eye on the dwarves regardless. I was abstaining too, so I wanted Hakuren and Rusty to be patient with me.
Since Hakuren and Rusty were pregnant, they couldn't take their dragon forms, which caused the village’s transport capacity to plummet. As a countermeasure, we were going to have the Universal Ship work overtime, but the real issue was long-distance transport—specifically, getting goods to where Dos and Raimeiren lived.
Since Dos and Raimeiren visited the village so frequently, I thought it would be fine if they just carried things back themselves, but apparently, their status made that impossible. Furthermore, they insisted that because people were waiting for our crops, the transport simply had to happen. After considering various options, we eventually decided to commission Draim and Graffaloon for the task. Of course, they would be compensated, though the reward would be paid in kind with village crops and sake.
Participation in the dragon banquet was optional. Consequently, those not attending were outside practicing for the upcoming martial arts tournament. Right next to them, Yor was using a catapult to launch boulders, while Hiichiro—in his dragon form—was catching them. It looked like a lot of fun, though I couldn't help but worry since the boy was catching literal boulders.
When I wondered if Raimeiren would object, I saw her sitting at an outdoor table with food and sake, watching Hiichiro intently. Apparently, it was the perfect exercise for practicing power control. I see. So, like just now, if he crushed the rock he caught, it counted as a failure. In that case, I had no complaints. Yor looked like she was having a great time, too.
"By the way, Village Head," Raimeiren said, her eyes still fixed on Hiichiro. She wanted to know what we planned to name Hakuren’s next child.
Ah... that. Naturally, since he was Hiichiro’s younger brother, the name Hijiro came to mind, but it didn't quite have the right ring to it. I was thinking of adjusting it slightly to Hinojiro. I had also considered skipping Hijiro entirely and going with Hisaburo, but my naming sense wasn't exactly something I was confident in. I told Raimeiren that I wanted to make the final decision after consulting with Hakuren. She gave me a gentle smile in response.
...I made a mental note to warn her not to be too pushy with her own suggestions, given that Hakuren was currently pregnant.
Later, Dos called me over to the banquet to offer his own naming suggestions. This, I thought, was where the difference between Dos and Raimeiren became clear. Thirty suggestions was far too many. I told him I would add them to the list of candidates, but asked him to narrow it down to two or three.
Giral, don't start adding your own candidates without asking. Mark, you too? Because he’s your future son-in-law? Fine, fine. Everyone gets three suggestions. They're just candidates, though. No final decisions yet. Also, keep the naming discussions for after the banquet. If you try to come up with names while you're drunk, they'll just end up getting rejected.
I eventually made my way to the golf course on the village's western side. I had built this course quite early on, and it was still used fairly often. We even had a dedicated shed now for the growing number of clubs and balls.
However, there were problems. Originally, I had cleared the forest to make the course or used the woods as a driving range, but as the surrounding area was developed, it became impossible to take full-strength swings. Nowadays, short courses or putter golf using only the greens had become the standard. There hadn't been any specific requests for improvement, but since the High Ogre maids enjoyed it so much, I wanted to do something for them.
I decided to turn the current area into a dedicated putter golf facility and build a new course a bit further south. I carefully laid out the course to ensure it wouldn't interfere with the pool or the shrimp pond. It was mostly just a matter of felling trees, so it wasn't overly difficult. Domaim and Kuorun helped me transport the timber.
After finishing the golf course, I used the felled wood to create a prototype minecart and rails for the monorail project in Village Five. Everything was made of wood. For the rails, I processed logs into a T-shape. Since I wasn't sure what size would be ideal, I made them as large as possible. The top of the T-shape ended up being about a meter wide. I went with a T-shape because I figured a minecart that "hugged" the rail would be harder to derail. It made mounting the cart onto the rail a bit of a chore, though.
Additionally, I needed more wheels than I had anticipated. The vibration was also quite intense, which meant I’d need to figure out a suspension system. For the prototype cart, I settled on a size of two meters wide by four meters long. This was one of those cases where bigger wasn't necessarily better. I spent a lot of time working on it alongside several Mountain Elves.
I went back and forth on where to install the rails, but finally decided to run them straight east from the front of the mansion all the way to the herb field. If they got in the way later, I could just tear them down. I recruited the help of the Giants and Minotaurs who had arrived for the tournament to lay the rails. They were perfectly straight, which was a satisfying sight.
Once the prototype cart was set on the tracks... well, we didn't have a power source yet, so I had the Centaurs pull it. It moved fine while empty, but once we loaded it with cargo, the resistance was much higher than expected.
"It's fine once we get up to speed, but..." they noted. It took a surprising amount of force to get it moving from a standstill. Would Golem power solve that? No, the physical resistance would be the same. I had to find a solution.
If I wanted to make the initial movement easier, I needed to distribute the weight more effectively across the wheels. That meant adding more wheels. Considering the weight of the wheels themselves, it was better to use many small ones. The image in my head was something like an inverted abacus. It was a lot of work, but the small-wheel version of the minecart moved much more smoothly even when fully loaded. With the Centaurs pulling, it could reach a respectable speed.
At that point, one of the Mountain Elves spoke up. "It’s a bit boring that the track is so straight, isn't it?"
I nodded. We needed to test curves and elevation changes. Since this was a prototype, we had to push the limits.
"If we start from a high point, we could move it without having the Centaurs pull at all," they suggested. That was true.
"And if we loop the rails, we only ever have to move in one direction." Also true.
"I also tried making a smaller version of the minecart."
...Wait, what?
Before I knew it, we had accidentally created a simple jet coaster. It started from a height of about five meters and tore through a twenty-meter square area filled with curves, drops, and straightaways. At the end, the cart had to be hauled back up to the starting platform by hand, a task the Giants and Minotaurs took over. It became an instant hit with the children.
"With the monorail design, there's a limit to how sharp the curves can be," they observed. Since the cart had to wrap around the rail, that made sense. It was good to have those limits verified.
"I think we can make it turn even sharper if we make the cart even smaller."
I had to remind them that our actual goal was a transport system for Village Five.
"I wanted to see if I could make the cart do a vertical loop."
I had to put my foot down on that one. Moderation in all things.
With that settled, it was finally time for the martial arts tournament.