"Are you ready? Then let’s get to it! Safety first!"
"Goh!"
It was the morning of the third day at the experiment ground.
I mobilized every Goblin from my Dimension Home onto the eastern plateau I’d scouted the previous afternoon. Handing them axes and saws made from deformed Metal and Iron Slimes, I set them to work felling the trees across the ridge.
I’d already surveyed the area and finished the preliminary clearing and trial felling yesterday. There was nothing to impede their progress, and I’d even secured a place for them to rest. If any issues arose, the Goblins could alert me through our Taming Magic link, allowing me to handle problems as they occurred.
"Shall we get going as well?"
After seeing off the Goblins as they scattered among the trees, we humans set out to lay the road that would also serve as a firebreak. While Lord Rosenberg remained in the mountain hut to pore over documents regarding Lost Magic, everyone else joined in the manual labor.
The road we were extending from the base of the mountain to the hut followed the safer eastern side. The mountain slope ran from the northwest to the southeast, with the hut situated slightly above the midpoint toward the south. Our plan was to create a path shaped like an "S" tilted nearly ninety degrees to the left, which would connect directly to the highway at the foot of the mountain.
To accommodate firebreaks, forest maintenance, and the transport of goods by horse-drawn wagons, I intended to keep the incline gentle by increasing the total distance. Once finished, the road would traverse the mountainside from one end to the other; from a distance, it would look as though the road divided the mountain into upper and lower halves.
"Well then, I’m starting. Please proceed as we discussed."
With a chorus of "Understood!" echoing back, I began working just ahead of the mountain hut. Since the preparations were already complete, I decided to push forward at full speed.
"First, we'll start from the side nearest the base."
I directed the Soil Slimes and manipulated the earth with Slime Magic. I turned over the ground with significant force, toppling the trees standing within the construction zone. The air vibrated with loud crashes and impacts, but the slimes were assimilated into the earth, and since there was plenty of distance between the slimes and the human team, safety was guaranteed.
I asked the adventurer team to temporarily move any fallen trees that obstructed our path to the side; I planned to collect them later. I wanted to waste as little as possible, so I intended to use them for lumber, fuel, or perhaps even mushroom cultivation.
I dug up and compacted the ground, clearing space for the "soil retention" structures that would keep the road from collapsing. During the process, I left the various large and small stones found underground exactly where they were.
When I sent in a Huge Rock Slime, it consumed the stones remaining in the excavated hole and underwent a deformation, creating an L-shaped Retaining Wall that integrated seamlessly with the foundation. Each wall section stood one meter high and one and a half meters wide. It was a feat of incredible efficiency, taking only about twenty seconds for each piece to be set in place.
If I’d tried to do this with the heavy machinery and manual labor of my previous life, I wondered just how long a single one would have taken to install...
"The first one is in."
"I'm going in-nyan!"
The moment I called out, Miya-san dove into the gap between the retaining wall and the earth. Later, we would perform backfilling to secure the space, but for now, we had to address the drainage holes in the wall. Today, the team's job was to install hemp bags to act as Permeable Mats, preventing soil from washing out through those holes.
While they worked on that, I continued installing the next retaining wall. Even though I called it "digging," the depth wasn't particularly great. By repeating this process and linking the walls together, I could prevent the road from eroding and create a curb as a byproduct.
"I thought so during yesterday's test as well, but this is truly shockingly fast..."
"I can't deny it feels a bit like I'm cutting corners, though."
Eleanora-san took notes, appearing deeply impressed. However, since I was simplifying the process by utilizing magic and slimes—things that didn't exist in my previous life—there was always a chance that issues might crop up later, even if everything seemed fine now.
Then again, if that happened, I could just figure out the cause and rebuild it. This mountain was an experiment ground, after all, and this was an experiment in utilizing slimes for civil engineering.
As we continued the work—
"Ah, wait a moment."
After a while, Yudum-san called out to stop me, pointing to a tree in our path.
"We're almost at the Kareppashi Tree cluster."
"Those are the trees that store water, right?"
"Exactly. I expect the ground will get quite damp, so you should probably be careful."
I didn't think water would come gushing out of the ground, but since we were toppling trees, the soil would likely become unstable. I slowed my pace and proceeded with caution.
"Come to think of it, I didn't get a good look at the Kareppashi Trees yesterday."
"We were busy surveying the construction sites, so that took priority. I was the one who collected the branches for the cuttings... Actually, do you want to see one now?"
He ran over to a Kareppashi Tree, hacked off a low-hanging branch with the machete at his hip, and returned. The branch he handed me was remarkably thick and heavy.
"Right now, because it was just cut, the moisture is trapped inside. But if you leave it for a while, the water seeps out. Like this—Exudation."
When he casually spoke the spell, magic enveloped the branch, and water began to pour from the cut end. The flow was similar to a kitchen faucet; if I’d known beforehand, I probably could have washed my hands with it.
"It takes time for it to seep out naturally, so I gave it a boost with magic. The volume of water is only what was already contained inside the wood, though."
"There really is a staggering amount of water inside... Setting that aside, I'm also interested in that spell."
"That's a spell to discharge moisture from plants. It's not very common, but it's quite handy. For example, I used it for hydration during my travels, and my father used to pull the water out of waste brush and trees before moving them to reduce the weight. My mother and sister used it as a hobby to make dry fruits and dry flowers. It's not suited for mass production since it uses up mana, though."
I see... I usually only used magic like Grow to make plants larger, but there were practical applications like this as well. It was fascinating.
As I was reflecting on that, I heard the sound of a dry branch snapping in Yudum-san's hand.
"Oops."
"Are you all right? You didn't get a splinter, did you?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. This wood becomes incredibly brittle once the water is gone. It almost never pricks your skin."
As he spoke, he handed me one of the pieces of the snapped branch. When I took it, it began to crumble the moment I gripped it. Even before that, I noticed the branch had shrunk to less than a third of its original thickness.
Looking at the cross-section, the interior was full of hollow spaces, making it look almost like a sponge. In a live tree, those cavities must have been swollen with water. Looking closely, even the living trees seemed to have a slight, balloon-like roundness to them.
"It certainly feels rough, but it doesn't feel like it would pierce the skin."
"Right? It's not poisonous, and while it's useless as lumber, it's a safe tree."
It was true that wood this brittle couldn't be used for building, and it would be difficult to use for crafts like sculpting. Even as firewood, it seemed like it would fall apart during transport and burn up instantly. If wood burned too fast, it made heat regulation difficult and didn't last long. That made it inconvenient in its own way, but...
"Yudum-san, does the whole tree become brittle like this when it dries, or is it just the branches?"
"I've never actually tried drying out a whole tree, but it should be the same. Did you have something in mind?"
"I was thinking this might be useful for my Curse Magic Tools."
What came to mind was incense. While the methods of making it varied by region, the common incense used for memorial services in Japan primarily consisted of powdered bark from the Tabu tree—Tabu powder.
If I could turn this easily crumbled Kareppashi wood into powder and mix it with aromatics or grain powder, it might allow for the mass production of incense. That, in turn, would make it much easier to use techniques for memorial services and purification.
"For now, let's collect the Kareppashi Trees later and set them aside for that purpose."
"There aren't any other uses for them anyway."
"If that wood is viable for your techniques, Master Takebayashi, then it would be wise to establish a place to grow it as material for your Curse Magic Tools," Sebas added.
That was a good point. In that case, maybe I should build a brewery for the Goblins as well? I used the alcohol they made as offerings, and Seishu in particular seemed to have an excellent affinity for it, increasing the effectiveness of the rituals. As I thought about it, the list of things I wanted to do just kept growing.
For now, constructing the road was the priority, so I resumed the work. Installing the soil retention walls while taking short breaks, we arrived at the halfway point in a little over three hours.
"Good work, everyone. We've finished the portion planned for the morning. Let's head back after we rest for a bit."
If we worked straight through, we might have finished the road in a single day, but there was no need to rush. We would start preparing lunch early and proceed at a leisurely pace.
Come to think of it, how were the Goblins doing? Depending on their progress, I might be able to shift some of their manpower over to this side...
"Please, have a drink."
While watching Sebas distribute water bottles he had taken from his Item Box, I checked on the Goblins through the Sensory Link.
Things seemed to be going generally well over there.
The Goblins were divided into four units: felling, de-branching, trunk transport, and branch transport. The Felling Unit and the Trunk Transport Unit were composed of large, powerful Hobgoblins, while the smaller Goblins were split into the de-branching and branch transport teams, divided according to their suitability.
And then, there were eight Goblins who didn't belong to any of the units. They were the original veterans—the ones I had first captured and tamed—and they were overseeing the entire operation. While not as fast as our side, their numbers provided significant force. Several piles of logs and branches were already lined up across the cleared land.
I intended to eventually use that land for crops, but for now, it would serve as a temporary storage area for the trees felled during the initial clearing. If they continued felling and organizing after lunch, we would likely have enough space secured by evening.