Chapter 524 – Preparations for Spring
Chapter 524 – Preparations for Spring
After a few days of blizzard, a warm day came which made me feel that winter is ending.
However, I will not let my guard down.
There might be another blizzard.
According to my past experience, there will be.
……
Maa, I shouldn’t get upset if there’s no blizzard.
-0-
Some of the kuros are running outside making marks on the snow.
They might have been stressed staying in their sheds or the mansion to avoid the blizzard.
By the way, it was the kuros who were born last year or this year who were running.
As for the older generations, they stay in their own sheds or the mansion.
They know that winter is still ongoing and they are already used to it.
Kuro and Yuki are enjoying the kotatsu in my room.
In the old days, even if there’s a blizzard, they are outside guarding the village.
Now, they are taking refuge when there’s a blizzard.
There are two reasons for that.
First is that they can detect monsters or demon beasts’ attacks even if there’s a blizzard and they are inside the mansion.
The other reason is that the Fenris are fine wandering around even if there’s a blizzard.
Presently, the Fenrir has partnered with a kuro and birthed 15 pups.
The pups born this year are still small and cute but the other twelve are already as big as their mother or they might even be bigger.
The fenrirs are not only watching over Big Tree Village but also Village One, Village Two, and Village Three. Unlike the kuros, they don’t want to get inside a shelter when there’s a blizzard.
On the other hand, the kuros are working hard aside from winter. You can consider it as division of labor.
Of course, the Fenrir family is not playing outside when it’s winter.
-0-
Those twelve big pups of the Fenrir.
I was thinking if they would go out of the village to find partners like the kuros but they didn’t.
Like their mothers, they’ve chosen kuros as their partners.
Racially speaking, is that okay?
Are the fenrirs incapable of finding partners somewhere?
I don’t particularly care if they are okay with it though.
Hnn?
The kuros, who have been taken by the fenrirs as their partners, looked at me with an anxious expression.
No no, I’ll never oppose it.
You’ve breached the size barrier and you are also approved by the mother Fenrir and her kuro partner so I have nothing against it.
I just thought that the fenrirs will also go out like you do.
Yeah, even if it’s getting warm, snow is still pilling up.
I know I know.
It’s okay, don’t overdo it.
No matter what form love has taken, it is still love.
-0-
Anyway, it is almost spring.
The day Alfred and Ursa will start attending school in the royal capital is coming too.
The two of them are working hard in various ways in order to prepare so I will not cancel it.
In addition, it was decided that Tiselle will enroll at the school along with Alfred and Ursa.
Nutt, Ririus, Riguru, Ratte, Torain, and some of the hatchlings were also selected as their companions but only Tiselle was chosen. Malbit said that if we send the lot of them there, they’ll just group among themselves and the purpose of sending them there won’t be achieved.
Certainly. If there are a number of people who know each other, they’ll just rely on each other so befriending others will be less.
There is no point in sending them to school that way. It would look like they just changed their place to study.
I was convinced so I decided that only the three of them will enroll at the school in the royal capital.
I asked the others if they want to study at the school in Village Five or Shashaato City but they said that if they wouldn’t be accompanying Alfred and Ursa, they would just continue studying in the village.
Okay.
We’ll be lonely if the lot of you enroll at a school away from the village. We’ll also feel uneasy.
Even if I want the children to see how wide the world is, I have to respect their choice of staying in the village.
Even if they can’t go this year, that doesn’t mean they can’t enroll at the school in the royal capital next year, right?
Let’s talk with their mothers.
-0-
A person named Tou arrived from Village Four.
Tou Foguma.
A man that looks like a captain and is around 50 years old.
I said he looks like a captain because he’s wearing a captain-like clothes.
It seems like when the Sun Castle is still fully utilized, he was the airship captain of the Sun Castle’s exclusive airplane called prom.
I said airplane but it’s not really an airplane but a ship without sail.
According to my imagination, it should be a flying cruise ship.
Since it’s an airplane, he should be called airship captain rather than a captain but it seems like Tou prefers to wear like a captain.
However, due to the financial difficulties of the Sun Castle, the airplane called Prom was sold.
Won’t that be a problem? How can people go and leave the Sun Castle then? It looks like there are regular flights to and from the Sun Castle so there’s no problem with the traffic.
Since Tou has nothing else to do, he was put to sleep in order to save fuel.
Even now, there are no planes in the Sun Castle or Village Four and there’s no plan on buying it back. Because of that, Bell originally planned to wake him up last but Asa will move to the school so he woke him up to replace Asa as the manager of the teleportation gate in the hot spring area.
According to Bell, she already convinced him to work as the manager of the teleportation gate of the hot spring area but….
Big Tree Village has the universal ship.
A ship that can fly in the sky.
When he came to Big Tree Village, he tried riding it.
He had an incredible expression.
Tou returned to Village Four by riding the universal ship and brought a woman back to the village.
「This girl will manage the teleportation gate so please make me the captain of that ship. No, I’m even willing to be the lowest sailor! I beg you!」
「Wait, I’m the person in charge of weapon management in the Sun Castle!」
「That place is no longer called Sun Castle. It is called Village Four. Also, the weapons you manage are no more. They were sold off. You no longer have a job. Do you have any complaints?」
「I do! There’s still the ultimate weapon! It’s my job to manage it!」
……
I heard something about an ultimate weapon, will that be alright to leave as it is?
「What ultimate weapon! It’s nothing but throwing stones manually!」
I guess it’s okay.
「Is your head empty! Do you want to experience being hit by a stone thrown from that altitude?」
「And how many stones will it take you before you hit me?」
「I’ll kill you!」
The rampaging woman can’t move her arms and legs though.
Since she’s tied up.
「Untie me!」
For the time being, I pulled Tou and the woman apart in order to continue.
I also untied the woman.
The woman’s name is Yoru Foguma.
She has long wavy hair and glasses.
She gives off the secretary of a major company impression.
If she shuts her mouth, she can be considered a beauty.
After I released Yoru, she bowed to me and dashed towards Tou but Asa stopped her.
Asa came here after hearing that Tou gave up being his successor.
The three of them discuss it.
Well, not really.
It’s only Asa and Yoru.
Tou is basically just nodding behind Asa.
It looks like persuading Yoru was left to Asa.
「Yoru, though the management of the teleportation gate is not difficult, it is an important job. Yoru is more suited to take care of it compared to Tou.」
「Even if you say that, I have a job at the Sun Castle.」
「The Sun Castle no longer has weapons. You no longer have a job there.」
「M-my job is to adjust the ultimate weapon.」
「Sorting stones to throw can’t be called adjustment. Look at reality.」
「N-never! There are weapons!」
「There are none. Also, do you understand that if you continue your claim, we’ll be accused of hiding something? Please refrain from saying dangerous remarks.」
「U-ugh….」
「It will be helpful for everyone if you have a sense of unity. So, can you take over the management of the teleportation gate?」
「….what are the defensive equipments around the teleportation gate?」
「None. It’s in a safe place.」
「W-what do you mean none? I’m someone in charge of weapons! I have to manage weapons!」
「There is a river nearby. You can get stones and throw them as much as you want.」
Ah, Yoru started to cry.
Yeah.
I can’t do anything about it.
There are no weapons or anything dangerous in this village.
Or so I thought since there are those who don’t think so.
The mountain elves.
One of the mountain elves patted Yoru’s shoulder and pointed her to look somewhere.
Trebuchet.
When did you assemble that?
And it’s even loaded.
Moreover, behind the trebuchet are neatly arranged bullets.
From the right, they are ordinary stone, ordinary stone, ordinary stone, ordinary stone, and barrel.
Barrel?
「The moment the barrel hits something, it will release smoke. It’s a smokescreen.」
When did you make that thing?
What’s inside that smokescreen?
I don’t know what those are but they are not dangerous, right?
It won’t explode, right?
I was worried about the barrel but what Yoru cared about was the ordinary stones.
「Mou…these stones. Good choice.」
Yoru and the mountain elves seem to have understood each other.
They are shaking hands.
And look at me.
…..
Alright.
You can put that trebuchet in the hot spring area.
However, it should be disassembled and stored if you’re not going to use it.
It’s dangerous after all.
However, if that thing is disassembled, she won’t be able to assemble it alone. I’ll just keep silent about that.
-0-
It was decided that Asa’s successor is Yoru.
Asa took Yoru to the hot spring area to teach her what she must do.
There’s only Tou here.
He’s smiling.
Yeah, well, if you really want to work on the universal ship, I won’t mind.
Get along with the devil sailors who are working there.
They are all residents of Village Four so everything should be okay.
-0-
Three days later.
Yoru assembled the trebuchet alone.
It is physically impossible but magic exists in this world.
Honestly speaking, I think she’s amazing since she can assemble and disassemble the trebuchet alone.
However, when she asked me to add a new trebuchet, I was troubled.
-0-
As for Tou, he became the captain of the universal ship.
It seems like it’s not usurpation but ability.
Certainly, someone who was created to be a captain will be the most suitable captain.
If the devil sailors are convinced with his ability, there’s no problem.
As for the former captain…ah, he’s the vice-captain now.
Good luck.
-0-
I was worried about Tou and Yoru’s relationship now but…it seems like there’s no problem.
Until now, they only asked me if they can mount a trebuchet on the universal ship.
Ahahaha.
No.
-0-
Side story.
「Asa, on the race column, it says cow. Are they minotaurs?」
「No, they are normal cows. During winter, they often go here.」
「…..we’re talking about cows, right?」
「It’s cow alright.」
「But why do they have personal names in the user name column?」
「I named them myself for the purpose of individual identification. Please rest assured. I will teach you all of them.」
「Maa, I’m just wondering if it is really necessary to identify a cow individually.」