Chapter 255

The Patrolling Village Chief: End

"Come to think of it, there's only preserved foods here, where do people go to buy food?"

It's not like everyone only ever eats at our inn or the bar, right? In that case, there should be people that cook food for themselves.

"There's a new shop specializin' in food that got built over that way."

With that, Dyne pointed over to the district the villager's houses were cluttered together.

Kantra's smithy was in the same direction, but it was a little ways away from it.

... Has there been enough newcomers to open up a food-focused shop?

Guess we'll check out the housing area next. Bidding farewell to Dyne, I headed there with Ichika.

"Still though, there wouldn't be too many places for me to actually see there, huh. It's just a housing district."

"On the contrary, Goshujin-sama, see this?"

Ichika pointed at the shacks in front of her.

"And this?"

She then pointed out the ordinary wooden houses. There weren't many of them, but they were clustered together like there was a definite division.

It caused it to look like there was a definite upgrade between them.

"Kusan and the other carpenters have gotten better, so they're gettin' good enough for some proper housin'."

"... Umm, was there a river around here? What are they doing for water?"

"They use the water jug magic tool Kantra made. They work with magical power or magic stones, even the scrap magic stones you can get from goblins. For adventurers, goin' into the dungeon's like going to pump water."

True, goblin magic stones are basically free in dungeons.

... But aren't goblin magic stones like tiny seeds inside their brains? What a gross way to draw water, oi.

"These are planned to be destroyed so new ones can be built."

"Hmm..."

Honestly, I'd like the ones that got built near the inn to be fixed up first... nah, they're good until they stop being good.

When we strolled a bit further into the residential district, there were people out hanging their laundry and some leaving with hoes in their hands... wait, hoes?

"Oh, look there Goshujin-sama. There's fields over that way! They've been growing vegetables."

"... Yeah. They've even cut a ways into the forest, haven't they."

When I looked over, the area had been developed more than I thought it was... I was somewhat concerned about the environmental destruction, but even with checking the map to confirm, they hadn't even used up one percent of it. The nature here's abundant—rather, beyond abundant.

... Well, even if the environment was destroyed, there's magic skills like [Grow Wood], so the trees could be regrown if it came down to it.

Magic sure is convenient.

"Oh, Ichika and Village Chief-san. Doing well~?"

"Village Chief just works at his desk all the time, you gotta move your body. Wanna help with the fields?"

"Here, take this. It's some vegetables I grew."

As we continued the stroll—err, the patrol, villagers with a local, country-like accent came up to us and handed me some vegetables... aren't you guys ordinarily adventurers? I remember you two by face.

"... Rather, how long have you been dryland farming?" [1]

"Since this past spring, maybe a month or two? The area around the dungeon's filled with magical power, so it shows a good result for harvesting."

"It's the best for us farmers. Well, we'd ruin the soil if we did it too much!"

"It'll be fine if we keep usin' fertilizer. Goblin corpses are a dime a dozen anyway."

Seriously? It's one of those settings where magical power causes vegetables to grow quickly? And then with goblin corpses as fertilizer? What bloody vegetables. Be it water or fertilizer, goblins take an active role.

Also, you guys were definitely ordinary adventurers, since when did you pick up that accent and since when did you turn into farmers?

"Well, I was the fifth son in a family of farmers, so... I've been yearnin' to have a field of my own."

"I've been trying to mimic Pa's accent, but it really feels like I'm a farmer when I use the accent doesn't it?"

"Eh, you guys had the accent originally? It just looked like fake personas to me though."

Can't say I get it, but at least the two of them were enjoying the 'villager life'.

After that, I headed to Kantra's smithy, still holding the fresh vegetables.

"Compared to vegetables grown with [Grow Weed], it's like night and day."

"Yah they're pretty tasty. Like actual vegetables... ah, it's Kantra."

Kantra was banging some metal into shape... is he making a single-handled pot?

Noticing me, he stopped and waved with his hammer.

"Ah, Kehma-dono. You're back? I heard you'd be married into the Sia family or something?"

"You were misinformed, but more importantly, is that a pot? Not a magic tool, right?"

"Yeah. I got an order for a normal pot. They wanted a small one they could use on one of those portable stoves."

I also had one of periods where I thought blacksmiths only ever made weapons and armor.

Well, even excluding the obvious things like cutlery, they make nails and pots and the like.

"Right, Kehma-dono! Please take a look at this, it's something new I made!"

"Oh? What is it, uhh, a spear?"

"Yeah, fire comes out from the base of the blade when you press the switch on the grip, heating the blade up. It's hot!"

Kantra was using alchemy with the goal of making a magic sword of his own.

By the way, he said it releases fire, but it's at most as hot as a lighter, maybe a stove burner.

"I see, so it ups its offensive strength a little."

"Though as a downside, it takes some time to warm up and becomes brittle if it's cooled down suddenly, breaking easily."

"Isn't that a pretty big weakness? Is it not possible to make it so that it heats up fast enough after turning the fire on after the start of the battle?"

"Maybe if it was kept on the entire time... aah, that'd use so many magic stones though."

By the way, the reason he made it a spear instead of a sword is because it would get so hot that you wouldn't be able to hold it.

It's chock full of faults, huh.

"Well, it can be improved. Why not let the fire come directly out from the blade?"

"Hmm, hmm... that definitely would look cool. But then balancing the intensity would be hard. If I used orichalcum... hah, that'd be a legendary weapon. Maybe black steel would... Kehma-dono, have you seen any black steel golems appearing further within the dungeon?"

"Not as of yet."

I am considering using a golem with orichalcum joints as a dungeon boss though. I've been using mostly iron golems recently, but maybe I should up the metal type for the golem spawners here soon...

Black steel golem spawners are 1,000,000 DP... woooooow. I wonder if I could afford it if I used all my current wealth?

"That so? Well, let me know if you see any. It'd be cheaper than if I had to import it."

"Yeah, will do."

Thinking that it was about time I check somewhere else out, I bade Kantra farewell.

"Still though, Kantra-han's doin' some awesomely cool stuff. But Goshujin-sama, ya just make magic swords with [Create Golem], so..."

We left the smithy. Let's see, what other facilities does the village have...

"I guess the inn's next? We don't really need to though, it's our base anyway~"

"Well, we'll check it out anyway, followed by the dungeon."

Making my rounds patrolling the village now that it had become splendidly large, I headed back to the inn.

Footnotes:

I have no idea when it comes to farming, so here's a Wikipedia article about it. Return