It was mid-spring, just past noon.
Since the weather was pleasant, I set up a folding outdoor chair in the courtyard, adjusted the angle of the backrest, and stretched out.
Kuro and Yuki took their places on either side of me, both yawning as they settled down.
I had been quite busy lately, particularly with Mettora’s wedding and the subsequent reception held in the Village of the Great Tree.
Pii-hyoro-rororo...
It had been a long time since I’d enjoyed such a peaceful moment.
Suddenly, a cat approached me.
Ah, do you want to sit on my lap? Or rather, on my stomach?
I didn’t mind.
I wondered where the Jewel Cat was. Taking a nap in her favorite spot, I presumed.
As for her daughters, the older sister cats were with the tiger. They were as inseparable as ever.
And the younger sister cats? Apparently, they were patrolling the mansion alongside Zabuton’s children.
Well, that was a surprise.
The mother cat looked at me. Did she want me to start thinking seriously about partners for her daughters soon?
"Ah, right. I suppose so."
However, the matchmaking session we’d attempted before had been a complete failure. It had turned into a scene that looked more like a group of thugs shaking someone down for lunch money.
She seemed to be arguing that it was only a disaster because there was only one male cat last time. If we increased the number of males, she claimed, it would work out somehow.
"Do you really believe that?" I asked.
She averted her eyes. It really wasn't good to propose things that even she found hard to believe.
Still, I understood her concern for her daughters.
"Well, I’ll ask the Demon King to help look for candidates next time. The older sisters are stuck like glue to the tiger, but I think there’s a real possibility for the younger sisters."
The cat stared at me, her gaze practically questioning if I truly believed there was hope.
...
I quietly looked away.
Pii-hyoro-rororo...
For the record, that "Pii-hyoro-rororo..." was actually a High Elf performing bird vocal mimicry.
"I’ve been practicing," she said proudly.
It was quite an impressive imitation.
However, that specific cry belonged to a black kite. Black kites are raptors, members of the hawk family.
Because of that, the eagle—who apparently felt his territory was being encroached upon by a rival bird of prey—was currently trudging across the ground with a very serious expression, searching for the kite.
I felt like an eagle should probably search from the air, but his face was so grim that I didn't want to point that out.
Now, what was I going to do about this?
"I-I’ll do a small bird next," the High Elf stammered.
"Yeah, I think that would be for the best," I replied.
Night fell.
After dinner, I received several reports.
The first was from Gatto.
To process the iron ore we had gathered in Village Five previously, Gatto and his team had constructed a large furnace—I suppose it was a blast furnace. Using it, they had been producing large quantities of pig iron.
Since pig iron is low-quality on its own, it usually requires further processing to improve its grade, but Gatto’s team had prioritized getting through the massive stockpile of ore first. I suspected they didn’t want to let the furnace fire die out and were also worried about the storage space issues in Village Five.
Thanks to their efforts, almost all the gathered ore had been converted into pig iron.
However...
A portion of it had failed to become pig iron.
It turned out that some rare precious metals had been mixed into the ore. Not realizing this, they had tossed everything into the blast furnace, causing some of the pig iron to transform into an accidental alloy.
"I’m very sorry," Gatto said, bowing.
"No, no, that’s nothing to apologize for. Nobody would have expected rare precious metals to be mixed in there."
"Well, it’s not exactly that..."
"It’s not?"
"No. It’s actually quite common for things other than iron to be present in ore. Usually, I check everything properly before melting it down."
"And what happened this time?"
"Between the sheer volume of ore and the excitement of seeing how well our first blast furnace worked, I just... got a bit careless."
Careless, indeed. I told him to be more careful in the future.
"Yes, sir. I’m truly sorry. And, um..." Gatto glanced toward Lu, who was standing a short distance away. "She seems quite offended that I bonded rare precious metals with ordinary iron. I’m sorry about that, too."
"Alright, I get it. I’ll try to soothe her for you."
The next report came from Beezel.
It concerned the male Meleo from Village Four who had traveled to the breeding ground in Beezel’s territory. He was supposed to have returned by now, but Beezel wanted to delay the departure slightly.
Apparently, there were still several female Meleos who hadn't had a chance to mate. It wasn't strictly necessary for him to breed with all of them, but...
"It seems the caretakers were moved by the sight of the female Meleos—who usually do nothing but eat and sleep—secretly practicing their breeding dances in the middle of the night. They begged for just a little more time to give them a chance."
"Well, as long as the Meleo from Village Four doesn't mind, I don't see the harm," I said. The devil race girl who owned him had already said she would leave it up to the caretakers' judgment. "By the way, how is his health?"
"Silkyne told me there are no problems. He’s doing quite well."
"That’s a relief. And the females over there?"
"She said they’ve become so energetic that it’s actually a struggle to keep them in check. We can’t afford to let them place too much of a burden on the male, of course."
"If they’re keeping an eye on that, I appreciate it."
We had planned to pick up the Meleo with the Universal Ship, but Beezel offered to transport him back via teleportation magic as an apology for the delay. Beezel’s wife, Lady Silkyne, usually disliked bothering Beezel with such chores, but she had apparently decided this was an exception.
"It seems Silkyne was also moved by the female Meleos’ dedication," Beezel added.
Well, everyone’s heart is swayed by the sight of someone giving their all.
The final reporter was Yoko.
Hitoe, who had been clinging to Yoko, shifted into her fox form and climbed onto my lap as I sat there. I gave her a few gentle pets.
"The swan races are proceeding smoothly," Yoko reported. "Odette and Odile also seem to be getting along well with the villagers."
"Good."
"The pond turtles who arrived to help maintain the water quality are also doing their jobs without issue."
"Excellent."
"Initially, there were a few fools who tried to target the turtles, but I haven't heard of any such incidents lately."
"That's a relief."
"The High Elf children in the security team seem to be working hard as well."
That would be Lilius and the others. I hoped they weren't being a nuisance to the rest of the team.
"It’s only natural for inexperienced youths to cause some trouble," Yoko said. "If it were anything intolerable, I would have received a report, but there’s been nothing so far. Rest easy."
"I suppose you're right."
"The real problem lies with the parents. We’ve confirmed that several High Elves have been watching the security team’s training."
"Ah... rather than monitoring them, I bet they're just 'watching over' them."
"From a great distance, yes. The security team hasn't even noticed them, but..." Yoko looked up at the ceiling, and several of Zabuton’s children descended. "These little ones found them and asked me what should be done."
"Instead of having them watch from afar, why not just have them participate in the training? Or rather, wasn't that the plan originally?"
"The High Elf children were the ones who objected to that."
I supposed they were at that age where having parents around was embarrassing. Or perhaps, since they were working so hard to earn their independence from the village, having their parents hovering over them was frustrating. But if we did nothing, the parents would just keep lurking.
"Maybe we should just leave them be?" I suggested.
"That would be problematic if someone with actual malice tried to do the same thing. It would be fine if they clearly identified themselves as High Elves, but apparently, they hide their hair and ears when they’re 'watching over' the kids."
So they were trying not to be caught by Lilius and the others.
"Alright, I understand. I’ll speak to them about finding a better way to watch over their children."
"Please do. Now, regarding the traffic volume at the teleportation gate."
Ah, the congestion issue.
"As a countermeasure, we tried separating the flow so that people and small parcels move during the day, while large freight is consolidated at night. However..."
"Did it not work?"
"It resolved the congestion to some degree. However, Shashato City is struggling to adapt."
"What’s the problem on their end?"
"Moving large freight at night. It’s fine in Village Five, but Shashato City can’t transport large goods after dark due to security and crime prevention regulations."
That made sense. The nights in this world were far darker than one might imagine. Someone hauling large crates through the streets at night would look incredibly suspicious.
"Shashato City built a large cargo collection point near the gate, but now it seems they have a new congestion problem with people coming to pick up those goods."
Receiving freight took time, and to prevent errors or theft, they couldn't exactly rush the process.
"I haven't heard any formal complaints from Miyo yet, but we need to act. Therefore, we’re going to step up the maintenance and expansion of the road connecting Village Five and Shashato City."
"I understand, but haven't we already improved that road several times?"
"We have, but we're going further. The civil officials in Village Five say they want a road wide enough for eight large freight carriages to drive side-by-side."
Eight carriages? That was going to be an incredibly wide road.
"You're planning to install a wooden railway or a standard railway in the future, aren't you? This plan takes that into account as well."
"Oh, I see!"
"Furthermore, we’ll be reinforcing the lodging facilities along the route."
Since the goal was to widen the road and increase the volume of traffic, we needed to ensure the drivers had sturdy, safe places to rest.
"Understood. That’s all for the non-routine reports."
Yoko looked down at Hitoe on my lap as she finished. Hitoe was breathing softly, fast asleep.
"Hmph. I wanted to give Hitoe a bath today, but..."
"It would be a pity to wake her now. Let’s just ask the High Ogre maids to help her wash up tomorrow morning."
"Very well. Could you carry her to her room for me?"
"I don't mind at all."
As Yoko headed off to the bath, I carried Hitoe to Yoko's room, careful not to wake her.
The Ice Monster handled opening the doors and guiding me to the room. He was scheduled to remain in the Village of the Great Tree until Urza came to fetch him, but he’d insisted on doing some kind of work and had basically become my valet.
He handled every task flawlessly, which was a huge help, and since no one seemed to have any complaints, I suppose he had been fully accepted.
I was actually starting to worry that I might try to talk him into staying when the time came for Urza to take him home.
Now, what was I going to do about that?