Chapter 1: Let's Make an Exploration Base in the Badlands!

Chapter 1:
Let’s Make an Exploration Base in the Badlands!

 

WE PREPARED TO DEPART for the Great Omitt Badlands to scout and construct a base. Our party consisted of me, Sylphy, Sir Leonard, Madame Zamil, Jagheera the cat beastfolk scout, and Pirna the harpy scout. Pirna was flying ahead of us.

“I must say, Kousuke, this bolt-action rifle is amazing!”

“Don’t start shooting at everything that moves, now. I don’t have a reliable way of producing the bullets yet. Also, make sure you pick up the cartridges after you fire them.”

“I know, I know.” Jagheera grinned with her infantry rifle in hand. It was one of the three bolt-action rifles I’d made for our expedition. I had another, and the final one was in my inventory as a backup weapon.

It was a 7.92mm-caliber, magazine-fed rifle with a five-shot clip. The gun was 1,100 millimeters long and weighed 3.9 kilograms. It had four-groove, right-hand twist rifling. The initial velocity of the muzzle was more than twice the speed of sound at 760 meters per second, and its effective range was 500 meters.

Bolt-action firearms like this one were durable and highly reliable. The design was… Well, I wasn’t enough of a gun nerd to be able to distinguish between these kinds of rifles. However, it was famous enough. It was the kind used by Short-stache’s country during World War II.

It would be hard to mass-produce these at present. Making one of these took eight whole hours. It could be possible if I made more workbenches and had them all crafting guns at once, but that was easier said than done. And that was to say nothing about the material cost.

I was fairly certain I would need to upgrade the workbench somehow. I could try to push through with sheer numbers, since I had no idea how to do the next upgrade for the workbenches yet. I assumed I’d have to acquire some kind of motive power. Perhaps I could make something like a steam engine, building off of a water wheel or windmill. I made a mental note to ask Ira whether there was some kind of magical engine we could slap together.

I had a moderate amount of lead, copper, and zinc, which were all necessary for making the bullets and cartridges. However, that made ammunition for two or three guns at best. I didn’t have nearly enough to keep two to three hundred guns loaded.

On the other hand, I was able to make far more gunpowder than I’d anticipated. Gathering soil from the bathroom was incredibly arduous work, but thanks to everyone, I’d been able to build up a healthy stock of gunpowder. It was truly a win-win. Explosions were so cool!

“I find those weapons to be extremely noisy. They aren’t to my taste in the slightest,” Sir Leonard said.

“I don’t like them either,” Madame Zamil agreed.

Evidently, they weren’t fans of the bolt-action rifles. Maybe they had a gut feeling that these weapons would drive warriors and knights like them to extinction. Once dozens or even hundreds of these were made, a valor was transformed into an antiquated curio.

“I admit their power amazes me.” Sylphy didn’t like how loud it was either, since her long ears were so sensitive. The sound of a gun going off must have been too much for her.

Speaking of which, these guns were powerful enough to take down a gizma in two shots—that was how much of a game changer they were. Jagheera and I shot one bullet each at a gizma’s head, and that was all it took to kill it. Its partner met the same fate. From the looks of things, that level of lethality didn’t drop off until somewhere beyond the hundred-meter mark.

It must have been a huge letdown for Sir Leonard and Madame Zamil, who had proudly brandished their weapons, as well as Sylphy, who had smoothly unsheathed her Pale Moon. Jagheera promptly discarded her crossbow obsession to fixate on the new hotness.

We walked for about another couple of hours, stopped so I could put down another marker along the way, then continued the trek until we reached a small hill.

“Hmm, this is a pretty good distance away. Seems like a nice spot, doesn’t it?” Sylphy said.

“You speak true. I believe this hill would make a sound place for a fortress,” Sir Leonard replied.

I had to agree. We were in the middle of the badlands with hardly any obstacles, and the elevated position would give us a better idea of the lay of the land as well as make it more defensible than anywhere else nearby.

“Very well, then we shall rest here. Kousuke, start building afterward. We’ll keep watch and do some investigating in the meantime,” Sylphy commanded.

“Aye aye, ma’am.” I took out tables and chairs and started getting food ready.

Jagheera blew a whistle, making a shrill noise that could be heard far in the distance. She was calling Pirna back.

First, it was time to fortify myself with a meal. Then it was happy fun base-building time.

 

***

 

“Hmm, this is pretty good. You made this out of minced meat, right? Reminds me of bif. It’s been so long since I last had some,” Sir Leonard mused.

“I like how you can eat it with your hands,” Jagheera said.

“This is quite easy to eat,” Pirna added.

The three of them had their cheeks stuffed with hamburgers. This was the recipe:

 

Hamburger——Materials: Bread × 1, Vegetable × 1, Tomato × 1, Meat × 1

 

I could make two hamburgers with that. Two of them. Talk about getting bang for your buck. Incidentally, anything would do for the tomato part of the recipe so long as it resembled a tomato, so I substituted a vegetable from this world called a tomel instead. Tomels were pretty much tomatoes, except they kept that green color even when they were fully ripe. I had no idea what the heck had happened to the lycopene.

And while I had expected the bread to pop out looking like some kind of fancy French loaf, I had actually made soft hamburger buns dusted with sesame seeds. Also, I had used gizma meat, but these were clearly beef patties.

As for vegetables, whether I used oneel (purple onions), dicon (black daikon radishes), or anything else, it popped out as crispy lettuce. Weird, yet so incredible.

My powers might not make any sense, but I can’t even complain.

Madame Zamil was silently sinking her teeth into the burger. Either she was prone to bouts of quiet during a meal or she loved the food so much that it had rendered her speechless. Probably the latter—there was a different kind of glint in her eye.

“Two isn’t enough,” Sir Leonard said.

“I want more too!” Jagheera demanded.

Pirna groaned. “I’m full.”

“I request seconds,” Madame Zamil told me.

“Comin’ right up.” I took a wooden plate out of my inventory and piled on the hamburgers. Eat as much as you’d like, folks.

“Just make sure you don’t eat so much that you can’t move anymore,” Sylphy said as she reached toward the plate. She was a fan of the burgers too.

Nevertheless, these burgers were pretty big. I was stuffed after two.

Once I’m done eating, the first thing I gotta make is a bathroom. It’s only a matter of time before one of us needs it, and we’re not going anywhere tonight.

It went without saying that a flush toilet would be out of the question, so it’d have to be a pit latrine, unfortunately. Since we need them for men and women, I’ll make two for each and place them a little ways apart.

“Hmm, no, wait, I should make them where we’re going to be sleeping tonight.”

Using one-cubic-meter brick blocks, I plunked down the floor, walls, and roof. The walls were mighty thick, but we’d want them to stand up against gizmas and the Holy Kingdom’s troops garrisoned in the Kingdom of Merinard. Plus, during my tests yesterday, I’d discovered that blocks that were half as thick had their durability reduced by half too. Time and time again, the world found ways to remind me how important it was to be empirical about my whole situation.

“Done already?”

“Just with the building. I still have to work on the interior.”

However, we were only going to be using this place to sleep for tonight, so I had only made a big room for sleeping and a room for dining. I placed hammock stands in the bedroom. They were surprisingly comfortable, but you’d get cold if you didn’t make sure to wrap yourself up in a blanket.

“Now for the protective walls.”

We’d decided that this fortress—which would be our first Omitt base—needed to be big enough to house all three hundred of the refugees. This was because as the base closest to the Black Forest, it could potentially become the last line of defense against an invasion.

Plus, being close to the Black Forest meant that it would be easy to get backup from the elves. Once we liberated the Kingdom of Merinard and moved our headquarters elsewhere, we would hand this fortress over to the elves. In exchange, we had their complete support.

I’d discussed the dimensions and design of the fortress at length with Danan, Sir Leonard, and Madame Zamil for their military insight, and I’d also sought the logical input of Melty and Ira. We’d come to the collective conclusion that the fortress would be a hundred meters square, with walls seven meters high and three meters thick.

Also, I was to make the corners diamond-shaped to create something like a bastion. That way, we could attack the enemy from the flanks if they tried to attack our gates. It only made sense; we had a huge advantage at long range thanks to the crossbows, and we meant to exploit them to the bitter end. It would also be an effective design for the elves, given their tactical focus on archery.

I placed wooden frame blocks to determine the general shape. They were kind of unique blocks in that I could put them back into my inventory without destroying them first. They didn’t take many materials to make and were quite handy to use as references when building.

The outline took me about half an hour. Pirna checked its shape from the skies and then conferred with Sir Leonard, Sylphy, and the others about it. It seemed to be okay, so I started constructing the actual fortress.

First, I dug five meters down. The foundation was key when constructing castle walls. Without an underground foundation, they could easily invade by digging underneath the walls.

“His speed is just incredible,” Jagheera remarked as she watched me dig.

“I don’t think that would be possible even with earth magic,” Sir Leonard said.

Part of me wanted to tell them to help out, but there was no way they could match my speed. They’d probably only get in my way.

Once I was done, I started placing the brick blocks.

I’m used to placing blocks now, but it’s annoying to put them down one at a time. Is there no way to set down a ton at once? The moment this thought ran through my mind, I was suddenly able to set down a three-by-three-block chunk of 27 blocks. What the…? Did I unlock some kind of achievement or something?

 

Beginner Builder——Place approximately 5,000 building blocks.

*Unlocks the Mass Placement feature. Unlocks Mirror Mode.

 

“Oh… Well, why couldn’t you have unlocked sooner?”

Mirror Mode placed a center line as the focal point on a spot; when I placed blocks, it would place blocks on the opposite side, equidistant from the center line. With this, building would be even faster than before, at about half the effort.

However, that was just for bilateral symmetry, so I couldn’t do anything with the blocks I had placed. I either had to destroy the ones already there or start placing blocks using that mode starting now, and then laboriously fill in the places that didn’t have any blocks placed on the opposite side later. I decided on the latter.

“Kousuke, there’s a wall coming together on that side too,” Sylphy told me.

“I just got a new ability. It’ll make building much faster!”

“I see.” My mistress had this vacant look in her eyes as she resolved to accept her reality without question. She had known me the longest, so it was no surprise.

As for me, I’d already made peace with my preposterous gift and all the conveniences it afforded me. Besides, thinking about the illogical dark power that fed my crafting abilities would just drive someone to madness.

I carried on building the rampart using Mirror Mode and Mass Placement.

“I was wondering if you’d be able to finish it today, but this is crazy,” Sylphy said.

“I actually managed to pull it off, didn’t I?” I imagined that it still required some minor adjustments, but I had finished building walls to the exact specifications we needed.

“Next, we need everyone to inspect the walls. Report back if you find anything. Kousuke, keep outfitting this place,” Sylphy ordered.

“Aye aye, ma’am.”

I watched everyone scatter to do their inspections. Meanwhile, I started making stairs, a storehouse for supplies, and lodgings for us.

When I’m done with this, I’ll dig a well next. Shelter won’t mean much if we’ve got no water. Which reminds me: I need to dig out underground as well. I want to make an escape route just in case we need to evacuate the fortress. Shame that digging underground sucks big time.

At one point, I’d contemplated digging a safe underground passage straight to the Kingdom of Merinard so that we wouldn’t have to travel aboveground. I’d tried it yesterday, since I needed to fortify the elves’ village’s bulwark anyway.

The short version of this story is that I nearly killed myself.

The digging worked okay—I made progress at a pretty fast clip—but I knew I’d dug too greedily and too deeply when I hit water. The air got thin and hard to breathe, and the soil crumbled like some kind of cave-in. I was almost buried alive.

It seemed that when I shoveled, my crazy powers were applied to the upper side of the shovel, or rather, only the side of the shovel that carried the dirt—and the tip. It had no effect on the bottom, so no matter how much I dug, dirt was still dirt.

With a little experimenting, I discovered that it dug up stone, gravel, and soil by ignoring their hardness. Meaning I had to take different measures for the cave-ins and air. I was able to prevent the cave-ins by placing building blocks. The type didn’t matter. For air, I either had to make huge bellows or use wind magic, wind spirit magic, or wind spirit gems. I could also try making an appropriate number of air vents, since that seemed to work. I’d be okay as long as I had Sylphy with me, milling out fresh air with that wind gem in her bracelet.

The tunnel strategy was a valid option, but it was too draining—well, honestly, too dangerous—for me to put up with right then, and it was going to take more prep time than I wanted to spend.

I decided to only build the lodgings and storehouse for now and not worry about their interiors yet, since we wouldn’t be using them right away.

“Kousuke, the sun’s about to set. Let’s call it a day,” Sylphy told me.

“Mmkay.”

I was just about halfway done placing the buildings. I only had the lodgings to work on next. Apparently, my walls were flawless. It had been worth it to work up a nice coating of sweat and grime.

“C’mon, Kousuke. Take off your clothes. I’ll wash you.”

“Okay. Can you please warm it up a li—ahhhh! That’s cold!”

“Aha ha ha. Sorry about that.” She laughed, but I knew she must have done that on purpose. Still, I was grateful for her using spirit magic to make water, so I let it slide.

Sir Leonard chuckled as he scanned my naked body. “Ha ha ha. Kousuke should work out a bit more.”

“Yeah, he’s lacking muscle,” Jagheera agreed.

“You think so? I’d say he’s got just the right physique,” Pirna said.

“His frame’s not bad. He could be quite impressive if he trained,” Madame Zamil commented.

Apparently, Jagheera and Pirna didn’t see eye to eye about the aesthetic value of macho dudes. Madame Zamil sounded like she was evaluating me as an instructor rather than as a woman.

You might wonder if I felt embarrassed. I was no blushing virgin, so I thought nothing of being in the nude. Not that I’d be comfortable becoming a nudist or anything like that, but after being caked in mud from laboring so long, I just didn’t have it in me to care. If they didn’t like it, they could just look away. Ha ha ha.

Once all of the mud was off of me, Sylphy conjured a breeze to dry my hair and skin. It was perfect.

“Do you guys want a shower too?” she asked the group.

“I’m fine waiting until tomorrow morning,” Sir Leonard said.

Jagheera nodded. “I’d like one before bed.”

“Me too,” Pirna chirped.

“And I as well,” Madame Zamil said.

So the girls all planned to get washed before they went to sleep. I wasn’t gonna peek, okay? I got to see Sylphy naked every night, after all; I had a feeling that Jagheera and Zamil would punch me anyway, and more importantly, I was sure that I’d piss Sylphy off. It was just too scary to consider.

I decided to have dinner and head straight to bed. I could hear the ladies yelling about something, but it sounded like they were having fun. For my part, I had a feeling that if I didn’t hit the sack immediately, Sir Leonard would start badgering me to make him a fresh set of mithril weapons.

I’m going to bed. Goodnight! I’m gonna sleep! No, get your hand off my shoulder, Sir Leonard! Lemme go!

 

***

 

“I’m Sylphy’s slave. I can’t make weapons out of a material as valuable as mithril ore without her permission. Ask her first if you want them so bad,” I blurted, and then I fled.

Even the self-serving Leonard couldn’t force me to do it after hearing that, so he withdrew.

“Princess, I beg of you! Please grant unto me mithril swords as well.”

Nah, he just went to Sylphy instead. In all my years, I would have never predicted that he would go and shamelessly appeal to her, like old man Rihaku from Fist of the North Star… Just kidding. I had a teeny, tiny hunch this might happen.

“Now, Sir Leonard, it’s not nice to go behind everyone’s back. Your Highness, I would like one as well,” Madame Zamil said.

“Eek…”

Sylphy was looking at me with a frightening expression. I frantically tried to convey through gestures that she’d vowed to protect me, but I had no idea whether she understood me.

She closed her eyes for a time, then opened them with a sigh of resignation. She turned to Sir Leonard and Madame Zamil and said, “I acknowledge your efforts and your public service. However, mithril weapons are an entirely different matter. I cannot readily agree to handing them out. You know why, don’t you? You’ve seen Pale Moon with your own eyes, so I’m sure you understand, but the mithril weapons that Kousuke can forge are of an immeasurable quality even among treasured swords. If we do not treat them with due respect, it could lead to the downfall of a noble’s territory—or even the destruction of an entire nation.”

Sylphy’s declaration left them at a loss for words. I was pretty surprised myself.

Huh? I know they had said Pale Moon was on a “national treasure” level of quality, but they’re considered that good? Have I become a crafter who brings about the downfall of nations? Like, what?

“In other words, if I am the one who shall determine who gets bestowed mithril swords and spears, then the standards for who can receive them shall be quite strict. You’ll have to eliminate an enemy general or slay a catastrophe-level monster.”

Huh? That doesn’t sound too good.

“However, Kousuke does not come from our world. He is not bound by our values. Creating a mithril weapon takes only a little bit more time than a regular weapon for him. I’m sure he would be willing to make one if you deepen your relations with him or pay him something equal to the value of the effort involved. While Kousuke is technically my slave, that is merely a code to show what our personal relationship is. The slave collar has no effect on him, after all.”

Uh, Miss Sylphy?

“So, what you’re saying is…” said Sir Leonard.

“You aren’t going to restrict Kousuke’s actions in any particular way?” Madame Zamil said.

“Pretty much,” Sylphy murmured as she looked out into the distance.

Sir Leonard’s and Madame Zamil’s heads snapped in my direction. I dashed away at top speed.

“Huh?! He’s surprisingly fast!” Sir Leonard exclaimed.

“What a strange way of running!” Madame Zamil said.

I used all of the abilities at my disposal to run around the fortress. I dashed as fast as I could, imagining myself holding the Shift key, reaching a speed that exceeded human comprehension while I casually used the command jumps and my own jumps to scale the building.

However, they were formidable opponents. Sir Leonard and Madame Zamil hadn’t earned their reputations for nothing. They were slowly but steadily gaining on me. They eventually had me trapped in the middle of the square atop of a wooden tower ten blocks high.

“Kousuke, come down. There’s no need to fear us.”

“That’s right.”

Sir Leonard and Madame Zamil tried to coax me into surrendering. I hissed at them, but they had me. Now what should I do? Think. Think, me!

“You seem to be in some trouble, Kousuke.” As I was trying to come up with an escape plan, Pirna came flying over. Was I saved?! “I’m your ally here. I can rescue you!”

“That would be great! But how?”

“As long as it’s not too far, I can grab you and fly away! We should be able to make it to the walls!”

“Okay, sure, then I’ll just…”

“But, hmm, I am feeling a bit tired. Perhaps I’d feel more up to it if you’d come up with a new kind of weapon for us harpies to use.”

“Just when we thought he had an ally, it turned out to be another predator,” Sir Leonard said.

“Pirna! Grab Kousuke and bring him down here!” Madame Zamil commanded.

“It’ll be impossible for him to shake us off with your speed. I am sure we can work together.”

“Hee hee. That’s a good point. Whatever shall we do?” Pirna grinned, flashing her pearly whites.

Is it really me versus the world?!

“How long are you guys gonna keep messing around? C’mon, I want breakfast.” Jagheera yawned as she delicately polished her bolt-action rifle with a cloth. Sylphy was sitting right next to her, taking care of her blade.

Meanwhile, Sir Leonard, Madame Zamil, and Pirna had me cornered. The haves and have-nots—this was a microcosm of society.

“Haven’t you all had enough fun? Kousuke, you come back now too,” Sylphy said as she finished with Pale Moon.

“I almost had him too,” Pirna grumbled as she trudged back over to Sylphy.

Sir Leonard followed suit. “So close.”

“How exasperating,” I heard Madame Zamil say as she followed.

Puzzled, I destroyed the wood blocks at my feet and descended back to the ground.

I made my way over to Sylphy, noticing her grim expression. “So, Kousuke. That really sucked, didn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah. I guess so.”

The two, or rather the three of them, had seemed pretty zealous when they chased me, but there was something playful about it as well. It had taken a lot out of me, but I wasn’t afraid for my life, and it had been kind of fun. Thinking of it in a more childish way, it was like we’d played a game of tag.

“I’m sure that there’ll be even more people like them who’ll try approaching you for your powers and what you can make with them. However, I am trying to make sure that you’re always surrounded by me, Danan, Sir Leonard, and other such powerful and influential people so that—and I hate to use this term—ordinary people don’t try to directly appeal to you.”

She must have been referring to those who didn’t hold any special positions—the ordinary refugees who weren’t particularly skilled in combat or had no other special ability.

“I swore that I would protect you. And I will do what I can to keep people from preying on you. Make sure you always have someone like Danan, Sir Leonard, or Madame Zamil nearby whenever I’m not around.”

“But those guards are the same people who want to hound me for mithril weapons.”

“I’m sorry, but you should probably comply with their wishes. In return, I’m sure they’ll protect you with their lives.”

I glanced over to see that Sir Leonard was broadly grinning at me with his lion face. His sharp fangs sent a shiver down my spine. Madame Zamil’s expression was tranquil, but I could see a sparkle in her eyes.

Oh, I get it. These two well-renowned people are going to be my exclusive bodyguards.

Actually, I didn’t mind making weapons for them all that much. I’d acquired more mithril ore the day before yesterday, and if I made some more workbenches, I could create the weapons right away. With just one more workbench, I could make two or three weapons in a day if I just set them to craft.

“In that case, maybe I will make them for you,” I said.

Sir Leonard’s face glowed with satisfaction. “I see you are a discerning man, Kousuke.”

“Much appreciated,” Madame Zamil said with a similar expression.

By contrast, Pirna looked disappointed. I understand how you feel. Really, I do.

“Look, I’ve already developed a new weapon that harpies can use,” I said as I took it out of my inventory. Everyone looked at it with their heads tilted in puzzlement.

“A club?” Sir Leonard said.

“It’s a club,” Madame Zamil confirmed.

“I don’t think I can use this,” Pirna told me.

“It’s not a club, okay?” I chuckled awkwardly as I picked it up. It certainly looked like a club—or even a potato masher. Maybe some of you readers have already figured it out, but it was something called a stick grenade. “I think it’ll be faster to show you how it works rather than explain, so go wait on the wall. I’m going to go put a target outside.”

“It must be a weapon for attacking faraway enemies,” Pirna mused.

“Indeed,” Madame Zamil said.

Sir Leonard turned to me. “I shall accompany you as your escort.”

Outside, I set down groups of logs to use as targets, and we ascended the wall.

“This is called a hand grenade or a throwing grenade. You throw it near your target, and then it explodes and causes damage. Lemme explain how to use it,” I said.

First, you took off the safety cap on the end of the handle. A weighted string came out from the hollow of the handle, which you were supposed to wrap around your finger as you squeezed the weight along with the handle. Then it was ready to throw.

“After you pull out the string, you’ve got three or four seconds before this part at the end violently explodes. You won’t be able to stop the explosion, so you have to be really careful. Brace yourself, because the sound it makes is really loud.” I threw the stick grenade at the targets. I pulled out the string as I released it from my hand, which ignited the fuse of the bomb inside with frictional heat, like a match.

The stick grenade struck one of the logs and detonated. Most of the logs were blown to smithereens with a thunderous boom that resonated all the way to your stomach.

These were also used by Short-stache’s nation, but I wasn’t particularly a fan of their weapons. I was more into the ones from the land of hamburgers. I only knew as much as I did about these because I’d fallen down a bit of an internet research hole once. I was curious, since guns and other handmade explosives turned up every once in a while in survival games. That wasn’t a thing? Ah, but it was.

As for why I picked stick grenades, they were easy to handle and operate, and they would fit nearly in a harpy’s talons. Perhaps there was something more suitable for folks like Pirna out there, but this was the only thing I could come up with. I didn’t have oil or anything like that for making a Molotov cocktail. If I ever had an abundant supply of liquid fuel, I wanted to try making a flamethrower or something like that, though.

So yeah, I had been thinking about making bombs that were optimized for harpies. If they could carry something a bit heavier, then I’d be interested in adding more gunpowder and making something like a harpy aviation bomb that they could use to scatter shrapnel far and wide.

While I was busy reflecting, everyone finally recovered from the shock of what they’d witnessed.

“Kousuke, whatever that was… That was incredible,” Sylphy said, her voice notably calm.

“That resembled the explosive magic of a high-ranking mage,” Sir Leonard said coolly.

“Imagine it in the hands of every rank-and-file soldier,” Madame Zamil added.

“Huh? The harpies are gonna drop these from the skies? Seriously?” Jagheera’s tone was flat too.

“Wow! I wanna try it too!” Meanwhile, Pirna was incredibly excited. Pirna’s request was much appreciated, since I wanted a harpy to test it out in the first place.

“Just to warn you, this is an incredibly dangerous weapon. If you screw up, it’s instant death for you and everyone around you. Be very, very careful,” I said with a serious look on my face.

“I shall.” Pirna straightened her posture and nodded with a meek look on her face. I handed over the bombs.

“First, grip the handle with your foot.”

“Okay. It feels weird to have you messing with my foot like this.”

Pirna had sharp talons like a bird of prey, so they looked surprisingly burly. After confirming she had a grip on the handle, I took off the safety cap and then tied the string with the weight to her ankle. I wrapped it around both of her feet.

“How’s the weight?”

“Light as a feather. I could manage a lot more weight.”

“I see. Is the handle comfortable enough to hold on to?”

“It’s a little small, but that’s okay.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Do not let it go until you’re ready to drop it. It’ll explode once the string is pulled out.”

“I understand. Okay, I’m gonna go give it a try now.”

Pirna kicked up strong gusts of wind as she flew high into the sky. It seemed like she was using some kind of magic to help her fly. I doubted those feathers alone could create such winds.

From her position high in the air, Pirna dropped one of the bombs onto the logs. It landed a little ways away from the targets and exploded. Nevertheless, some of the logs were blown to bits.

Then she dropped it from an even higher altitude, comfortably out of arrow range. The bomb hit terminal velocity pretty fast, given the longer fall and the strength she put behind the toss, landing where several logs stood. Another explosion, and the logs were goners.

Hmm. This felt much more villainous than I’d expected. But according to Pirna, she could carry bombs that would be heavier and even more powerful. I’d have to try making some dummy bombs to test handles and weights in different sizes.

“I did it!” Pirna chirped with a joyful smile as she returned.

“That was incredible,” Sir Leonard said.

“From that altitude and with that power… The battlefield will never be the same,” Madame Zamil said.

“Cool. I’m hungry.” Jagheera was doubled over.

Sylphy was standing with her arms crossed, lost in thought about something. I had no idea what might be going through her mind right now, but it was time for breakfast.

And then it’ll be back to work after. Oh, but I have to craft those mithril weapons and dig a well… Dang! I have a ton on my to-do list!

 

***

 

After breakfast, I got back to crafting and building. First, I was working on building the lodgings, and then I would work on the well. However…

“Jagheera, Pirna, there’s something I’d like you to do for me.”

“What is it?” Jagheera asked.

“Yes?”

Jagheera had recovered her energy again now that she had eaten. Speaking of which, we had had bread, soup, salad, and steak, all of which I had crafted ahead of time. It might sound like a heavy breakfast, but our party was mainly composed of manual laborers, so we scarfed it all down. Everyone but Pirna and me even had seconds.

Anyway, I started dumping out bullet clips for guns in front of Jagheera. There was a total of 500 bullets.

“I don’t care if the guns break, but I want you to fire these. I’m looking to test their durability.”

“For real?”

“For realsies. It’ll be dangerous, though. The barrel heats up from successive shots. It reduces the accuracy and might even cause the gun to discharge accidentally. If that happens, it will break the shooting and loading mechanisms, not just the barrel. It’s hazardous, but could you give it a try for me?”

“Leave it to me,” Jagheera replied.

I put a big basket on top of the table. Jagheera packed a ton of ammo into it and headed to the top of the walls. That took care of one thing.

“Pirna, I’d like you to do some tests for the weight of the hand grenades. I want you to figure out exactly how much weight you can fly with. And I don’t mean how much you can barely handle; picture yourself traveling from ally encampments to drop bombs on enemy lines multiple times. If the bombs are too heavy, then you won’t be able to make multiple trips. If things go bad, you might even crash right in the middle of enemy lines. It’d be best to figure out a good weight that won’t put too much of a strain on you.”

“That makes sense. Very well, then.”

“I’m going to put out a bunch of tools, wood, iron, and stones, so I want someone to help you out. Also, take these.” I took out four dummy stick grenades from my inventory. “These are dummy grenades without any gunpowder in them. Use them for reference.”

“Okay!”

“I shall lend her my aid,” Madame Zamil offered. I knew Pirna would be in good hands.

“Sylphy, Sir Leonard, I’d like you to be my guards,” I said.

“Okay.”

“Understood.”

Everyone set about the various tasks I’d assigned them. Now it was time for me to work on our lodgings.

“I’m going to start working on the living quarters. In the meantime, Sir Leonard, think about what kind of mithril weapon you want.”

“Yes, sir! You can count on me!”

“Kousuke.”

“Hmm?” I turned back to look at Sylphy and found her face tightened in a somber expression. Was something wrong? “What’s the matter?”

She hesitated a moment before saying, “Never mind. Do your best with the construction.”

“Uh, okay? Yeah. I got this.”

What’s gotten into her? I haven’t a clue what it might be, but I’m gonna give this project my all. Granted, I’m just planning to make a bunch of basic square houses. I already know the size and shape, so this is gonna be easy-peasy.

Thus, I made one house after another; they were really only suitable for holding a few necessities and for sleeping. The houses had four rooms, each big enough for two people to sleep in, and there was a living room as well. I made them two stories, with the same floorplan on the second floor too. I estimated that each building could house sixteen people. By making twenty of these, we could put up over 300 people, at least temporarily.

I was hoping everyone would ignore how livable these places were—or weren’t—although I did put windows in each room, at least. Even gave them sliding wooden storm shutters. The day before yesterday, Melty, Cuvi, and Ira had supervised as we discussed the dimensions and layouts. I had already crafted the exact number of storm shutters we needed, so all I had to do was mount them.

“It’s incredible watching a building pop up at such incredible speed,” Sylphy said.

“Quite. Kousuke’s power really is something else,” Sir Leonard agreed.

Ha ha ha, don’t expect any special treatment from me with those honeyed words.

The three of us inspected the final house, and the task was complete. Next up, digging a well.

“Sylphy, I’ll need your help with this.”

“I got it.”

We dug directly underneath as fast as we could to make the well. I didn’t have to worry about air, since Sylphy used her wind magic to send it in after me. I put cobblestone wall blocks along the sides so that the walls didn’t cave in on me. Not only could they be made from just stone and clay, but they were reasonably sturdy, so they were pretty convenient to use.

After I had dug about seven meters deep, I hit water. I dug another meter down, making it eight meters deep. We would be able to use a hand pump at this depth. I had read on the internet once that they only worked until about ten meters down.

Speaking of which, I had already made a hand pump. Everyone had been overjoyed when I’d crafted it and installed it on a well in the refugees’ living area. Like, super-duper happy. They made me promise that I’d install them on every well in the refugee camp. Ira took one for research. I heard that she had assembled a team of skilled underlings from among the refugees to help conduct her studies. She’d said that the construction was surprisingly simple.

Anyway, all I had to do was get back up, since I dug a place where there was a decent amount of water. I took a ten-meter wooden ladder out of my inventory, leaned it against the stone walls, and made my escape.

“Welcome back,” Sir Leonard said.

“Did you find water?” Sylphy asked.

“Yep. I had to dig deeper than I did in the forest, though.”

“I see. We’ll check tomorrow whether it’s potable, then.”

“Spirit magic sure is amazing.” Apparently, Sylphy could figure out if water was drinkable or not by using water spirit magic. Apparently, we couldn’t test the water until after some had gathered in the well and become clear.

“We said that we were going to dig four wells, correct?” Sir Leonard said.

“Yeah, that’s right. Let’s head over to the next spot.”

My digging was accompanied by the sounds of intermittent gunfire. Jagheera was still firing at a good rhythm, at least for now.

I repeated the same process and dug three more wells. I managed to hit water in all of them, so we wouldn’t have to worry about that for some time.

“Why doesn’t anything grow here if there’s water below the surface?” I asked Sylphy.

“They say that nothing can grow here now because the spirit gem weaponry used here unbalanced the power of the local earth elementals.”

“Who said that? Wait, let me guess—the elders?”

“Yup.”

Whoa, the spirit gems certainly were powerful! Could they have a negative influence on the human body or something? Now I was kinda scared of them.

 

***

 

In the castle north of the Great Omitt Badlands, where Kousuke and the others were busily toiling away, the stout, clearly high-class clergyman in white-and-gold vestments was once again receiving a report. This time, it came from an officer of the imperial court.

“Are things proceeding as planned?” The man’s voice echoed across the spacious dining hall. Before him was a luxurious meal of a thick pork chop, freshly baked and pillowy soft white bread, red wine, a golden-colored soup, fresh fruits, and a vast array of side dishes. He was just in the middle of cutting his chop.

“Yes, Your Excellency. However, we received food from the nearby villages when we defeated the gizmas the other day, so we were unable to gather much.”

“Hmm… I’d say commandeer it, but it would be a bad idea to exploit them to the point that they starve.”

Even humans succumbed to the temptations of rebellion and larceny when pressed to the point of starvation. How would demi-humans, who were lower than humans, react? Well, he didn’t have to think about it.

We are the ones who guide the lowly demi-humans, and they serve us. Sometimes, a certain amount of discretion is required to remind them of that fact.

“Very well. Move food and supplies from the homeland as well. But do so in a way that they do not notice. However, restrict the rations the demi-human slaves receive at the mines as much as possible.”

I’ve been preparing this strategy for years now. I’ll be undone if the pigheaded people in charge of our country try to butt in.

He popped a piece of the pork chop into his mouth. He relished the sweetness of the fat, the mild saltiness, and the pungent flavor of the pepper. After thoroughly savoring the bite, he swallowed and appeased his thirst with some wine.

“Are you certain, Your Excellency?”

“Absolutely. At any rate, I plan to use the rebels until they’re no longer useful. They’re more good to us working off their debt to society than feeding the worms.”

The rotund man—the archbishop—chortled as he thrust his empty wine glass toward a maid, who filled it immediately. Amid the sound of blood-red wine being poured into the glass, no one heard the tiny splash of a water droplet.