Atelier Tanaka

Book 4: Chapter 2 (10)

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Territory Pioneering 2

I’m not exactly sure how many days have passed since I arrived here. I know it hasn’t been more than twenty days and if I had to guess, I’d say it’s been a little under two weeks. I’ve been so focused on how my territory has been developing that I’ve actually lost track of the days.

Part of the reason for this is Christina.

“Oi~! Look over here at what I made!”

The loligon was happily bouncing up and down next to a brand new structure.

We were standing in a large city square that hadn’t existed at all just days ago. There was a large fountain with a massive statue of a dragon shooting water from its mouth located in the centre of the square.

Even though this is my town, I had been primarily focusing on paving the roads and doing other menial work while the loligon had been busy constructing these ornate statues and opulent manors fit for only the richest of the nobility.

I hadn’t even noticed this new dragon statue until she pointed it out.

“Whoa, that’s amazing….”

“Right!? It’s beyond amazing! I wouldn’t hold it against you if you wanted to praise me more.”

“But that doesn’t mean I’m going to admit defeat.”

“Fufufu~, then I’ll just have to make more amazing things until you do.”

“We’ll see about that!”

I can’t deny that the loligon’s attention to detail has surprised me. When we fought previously, her magic was focused on widespread destruction, but her construction magic can produce statues and buildings with many finer details that I’d never be able to reproduce.

Working beside her for just a few days has shown me that I’m nowhere near competing with her when it comes to construction magic. But, her being here is still a good thing. Seeing her constructions evokes the competitive spirit in me and gives me a goal to aim for.

“Oi, Tanaka-san, we’ve finished up the interior on this building.”

“Thanks for your hard work.”

Whenever Christina and I finished the large-scale construction on the buildings, we’d hand them off to Gonzalez and his men to finish up the interiors by attaching doors, windows, moving in furniture, or anything else they can think of.

Working together as a team like this feels so rewarding.

I can honestly say this is the most fulfilled I have felt since coming to this world.

“What should we work on next?”

“There’s a large tower that Christina-san built. You’ll probably need to grab some of the men working in the west to help out.”

“On it!”

“Oh, and are your men continuing to produce the bath additive?”

“They’re handling that in Tricklis.”

“In Tricklis?”

“Yeah, those we left in the city are producing it to sell and for use here. Considering the abundance of raw resources here, I’d guess that we’ll have more than we can ever hope to use. I hope you’re keeping your expectations high. We’re already working on negotiating contracts with surrounding cities and even some other countries. We wanted to negotiate the prices while we have a monopoly.”

“Ah, I see. That will be a big help, thank you.”

“The only real issue I see is the final step in the production process. I don’t think any mage but you is capable of adding the necessary mana. If it’s just mana potions, our mages should be able to handle it, but they don’t have enough mana to be able to charge all of the powder.”

Ah, that’s right. The additive will have an affect on its own when it’s added to the baths and it’s easier to add mana to a liquid solution rather than the powder. To be honest, it tastes horrible in liquid form and I don’t see it having any practical use in its current state. We could potentially sell it in town as a sort of souvenir. It could be like a gag gift of this world.

“….”

I instantly thought of Nannuzzi-san gagging after trying the mana potion I made previously.

According to Gonzalez, when the pessari grass in tablet form is added to a mana solution, it acts as an moderately powerful mana potion. Even after hearing this, I can understand why Nannuzzi-san failed me. The taste would’ve been enough on its own to fail me no matter how effective it may be.

It’s only natural. If I were to cook a meal with exquisite presentation and cost me almost nothing to produce, it wouldn’t matter if it ended up tasting disgusting. No one would buy it. I guess the main difference between these scenarios is that the mana potion would be used in life or death situations.

I can’t imagine anyone would choose death over drinking an acrid potion.

Which is why it may work as a souvenir. It can be a joke for the most part and this may make up the majority of our sales at the start, but once people discover how effective they are, I’m sure everyone will try to discover the source.

“Is something wrong?”

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

“Then I’ll be heading out, all right?”

“Of course, thank you for your efforts.”

Gonzalez and his men quickly gathered everything they needed and took off in the direction of the tower.

The men of the Twilight Company led by Gonzalez each looked excited by the work ahead of them. As he ran off, Gonzalez had a broad smile that was somehow different than his usual smile. His broad back looked reliable as he ran off into the distance.

It’s nice.

It reminded me of an art class in elementary school.

There was a big kid in class that taught me how to cut styrofoam with a heated wire.

“Oi, over here, look at this wall I made! Do you think you can break it?”

“Are you doubting the power of my fireball?”

“Who knows? But if you’re confident in your fireball, fufu, then you should be able to destroy it!”

“Fine, I’ll accept your challenge. I’ll take out that wall with ease.”

“Oh, g-good, but you have to do it in one shot! No more than that, okay!?”

“I understand. One shot is all I need.”

Without a sound and no preparation, I shot a single fireball into the centre of the monolith next to the loligon. A single one of my fireballs is capable of destroying an entire building. Even if I’m holding back slightly to avoid damaging the surroundings, this monolith stands no chance. My fireball erupted into a pillar of fire which left only a wall of smoke where the pillar once stood.

The dejected expression on the loligon’s face was cute.

“Wha –”

I was expecting the pillar to be completely evaporated, but once the smoke had cleared, the monolith stood there as if it were mockingly looking down on me. I had been serious with that shot — intending to destroy it — but the only sign of the attack I had just launched were the scorch marks and a sizable crack that ran down the face of the pillar.

But the monolith stood strong.

“Aha! Look at it! My wonderful wall!”

The loligon had been tense up until a moment ago, but now was happily smiling and laughing, relieved.

I don’t want to accept this.

“…you’ve built a very sturdy wall.”

“This is my power! Bow down before the might of my magic! What do you think!? Isn’t it the best!?”

“Yes, it certainly is. It’s my loss; I couldn’t destroy it in a single shot.”

The loligon’s smug face caused genuine anger to bubble up inside of me.

But it’s also cute.

But she is annoying.

And cute.

But annoying.

But still cute.

Damn it.

I could feel my pants getting tighter as I looked down at the loligon.

I want to show her some construction techniques from Earth and plaster her stomach with my sticky white compound.

“A town created by such a weak lord that can’t even break a single Stone Wall of this level doesn’t stand a chance. It will need a sturdy wall to defend itself from attacks. I guess I have no choice but to save such a pitiful town by surrounding it with my own magnificent walls.”

“….”

It’s good that I held back from saying anything else. This gave the loligon a chance to continue her bragging and get to what she really wanted.

She wants to surround my town with her own walls.

I’m not sure how I feel about this considering the walls that I created myself are already doing that.

I’m proud of all of my creations and to see one be replaced so easily honestly hurts my pride. If I had known this at the start, I would’ve gone full power and disregarded any concern for our surroundings.

“What’s wrong, human? Shouldn’t you be thanking me for blessing your town with an impenetrable barrier created by my wonderful magic?”

But a loss is a loss.

Even with her acting all smug and looking down on me, I have to admit my defeat.

And there’s no denying her construction magic is superior to my own.

“Of course, I’d greatly appreciate your help in building a stronger outer wall.”

“Fufu~, even if you’re acting tough, I can tell that hurt for you to say.”

“….”

Damn this smug loligon.

I just want to squish her plump cheeks.

Damn it, I’m supposed to be annoyed at her.

“I may have lost this time, but next time, I’ll make sure to obliterate every one of your Stone Walls with a single one of my fireballs.”

“….”

I spoke sternly to make sure she knew I was serious. This caught the loligon off guard as she was still praising herself and expecting more praise from me.

“F-Fufu, you could barely even scratch this one and I wasn’t even trying when I built it! I-I-It would be a waste for you to even try to destroy one of my walls!”

“Oh, I’ll be sure not to waste my opportunity next time.”

I guess it can’t be helped now. She can obviously make stronger walls than I’m capable of creating. It will benefit my town anyway so I might as well.

“I hate to ask you to do more work, but do you think you could create taller walls that surround my entire territory? The walls I created are shorter than I’d like and there are some areas of my territory I haven’t built walls protecting yet.”

“O-Of course! How can I refuse when you’re desperately begging me to save your pitiful town!? I’ll build the greatest walls imaginable that will remind you of my superiority everytime you see them!”

“Thank you. I’m truly grateful.”

Christina in full smug mode is the best.

I love this powerful loli.

I want to express this love physically, but she’s currently a candidate to become the noble mage’s wife.

“I’m going to get started!”

With little hesitation, the loligon took off into the sky towards the border.

I think she’s also starting to grow attached to this town. It’s nice to see her so motivated.

It’s also nice to see her panties when she flies.

I’m getting excited for two very different reasons.

But there was something in the back of my mind that kept nagging at me.

“Please, don’t overdo it.”

“Ah….”

For a brief moment, the loligon started plummeting out of the sky before she started to regain altitude.

I watched her fade into the distance before turning my attention to another task.

Christina has drastically increased the speed at which new buildings are created and Gonzalez has also provided more men then we previously agreed on. With them helping me, I should be able to have a fully functioning town within a few days.

The first monolith I built was now at the centre of the town. Dozens of buildings now surrounded it with a wall surrounding them and another layer of buildings followed by another wall surrounding that. It was getting to the point where we were running out of space.

I thought the second layer of space between the two walls would be plenty, but with both Christina and I spawning new buildings out of thin air, we’ve quickly run out of space. Which is why I sent her out to create a third layer that will encompass all of my territory. I presume that third layer will be the last.

By mere coincidence, my town has essentially become a ringed city.

Due to trial and error as we built the city, I’ve managed to create a extremely well fortified town. There’s also two main streets that run diagonally through town. This has sectioned off parts of the city into the north, south, east, and west districts respectively. Each of these sections have their own smaller streets that branch off deeper into the district.

The entire city has been sectioned off into four districts even though each district is essentially just an entertainment district. But each of them provide their own form of entertainment unique to all the others. It’s similar to theme parks that have land and sea attractions.

The north district is for the higher class, the south is for the general public, every facility in the west prohibits visitors from wearing clothing, and the east district is all mixed bathing. I’m quite fond of the rules I’ve come up with.

And, naturally, a town wouldn’t be complete without the slums.

There is one in each district.

I plan on making one final slum outside the outermost wall.

The pinnacle of all slums: Slum City.

I used my fireball to clear a road out to a certain wooded area not far from my town. I created a road just as I did within the city but cracked it here and there to make it more fitting for Slum City. I then brought over damaged furniture and the like from the main town to Slum City and created a few rundown buildings for people to begin populating. I also released a few rat-like creatures in the area to give it the proper slum feeling.

Our company prides itself on offering the most despicable of slums that only the greatest of degenerates and loose women would want to call home. Daily orgies are, of course, expected. I hope you’re looking forward to our grand opening.

“…I guess I can leave the buildings to Christina while I focus on the infrastructure.”

I think that area will need a well.