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"Phew... that was satisfying."
Chris-san, having released Lamb I, sat down in her chair with a contented look and drained her cold green tea. When I glanced over, I saw Aina had somehow caught Aura and was dragging her down the corridor. Naturally, I pretended not to see.
"By the way, Tenma-kun. What's that child's name?"
"The one you caught earlier was 'Mary,' and the one sleeping in the bag is 'Ali.' There's one more..."
Before I could finish, Chris-san went to retrieve the bag containing Mary. And once released by Chris-san, Mary abandoned Ali and dashed away at full speed...
"Now, come on out~"
"Hmm?"
Ali, who had been sleeping in the bag, heard Chris-san's words and obediently came out, only to be caught and promptly cuddled. The difference from Mary was that Chris-san's excitement was slightly more subdued, and Ali didn't seem bothered by being cuddled. Still, I never thought Ali would try to go back to sleep while being cuddled.
As for the names, I couldn't keep calling them Lamb I and Lamb II forever, so I took them from the famous nursery rhyme and the constellation Aries. Ali sounds like a girl's name, but 'Ari' sounds too much like a boxer, and since Mary (a girl's name) is gentler than Ali, I thought it suited her.
"I thought this when Mary did it too, but their fur is incredibly fluffy."
Actually, when we first got these two, their wool was coarse, and they were covered in mud and dust, looking rather dirty. But after we got back to the mansion and washed them with shampoo and conditioner, they were reborn as sheep with incredibly soft, glossy fur. Incidentally, their base color is white, and in the dark, their pure white faces look like they're floating in mid-air.
"Alright... it's about time I got to work on some land. Chris-san, please take it easy."
I've officially acquired the rights to the adjacent land, so I'd like to start leveling the ground soon. I intended to begin as soon as the paperwork arrived, but Chris-san's little rampage threw off my timing.
"Well, since it's a special occasion, I'll come along too."
I was surprised when Chris-san, whom I thought would continue her cuddling heaven session with Ali, unexpectedly said she was coming along. She had already cleverly stood up while holding Ali. And behind her, with Shiromaru in tow, she held the Dimension Bag that Mary had fled into. It seemed she was going to enjoy her cuddling heaven outside.
"I suppose I'll lend a hand too."
"Then I'll help too."
"Good luck."
When Grandpa and I said we'd work, Jeanne hastily offered to help. Amour probably didn't want to be left behind.
As we all walked outside together, we could see Aura sitting seiza in the corner of the hallway, getting lectured by Aina. Naturally, all of us pretended not to notice as we walked by. After all, nobody wanted to face an angry Aina.
"For starters, just give me instructions on what needs to be done."
"Let's see — Grandpa, I'd like you to demolish all the walls that served as boundary markers. Jeanne and Amour, while Grandpa takes down the walls, coordinate with the Golems to clear the debris. When you sort through it, separate everything by material and group them together. I'm going to scout the neighboring land, so — oh, and Grandpa, once you finish with the walls, come find me so we can survey the property together and I can get your input."
"Understood, dear."
"Got it."
"Ro—ger that!"
After giving each of them their tasks, I hopped over the wall and began scouting the new property. At a rough glance, the land appeared to be roughly the same size as the plot where our mansion stood — likewise a rectangular shape. That meant leveling the ground would be relatively easy. The real problem was disposing of the mansion's debris, the stone pavement, the decorative garden stones, and the trees.
"I could just smash everything together and bury it all underground, but I'd like to set up some farmland and also build an exercise ground for Juubei and the others, so I guess there's nothing for it but to remove each piece individually."
Fortunately, we had several high-capacity Magic Bags, so running out of storage space wouldn't be an issue. Just as I'd decided on the first task, Grandpa — having finished demolishing the walls — made his way over to me.
"All done, my boy."
"Perfect timing. First, I want to clear out the mansion's remains and the rocks and trees in the garden. Like I mentioned before, most of this land is going to serve as grazing pasture for Juubei and the others, so I'd like to recover as much of it as possible."
"I see. Then how about I summon a few Golems?"
"Yeah, do that. And the order I'm thinking is: mansion debris first, then the garden trees, then the garden stones and stone pavement."
"Hmm. What about the mansion's basement?"
"I want to salvage the basement's floor and walls too, and if possible, dig up the foundation as well."
"So a complete removal, then. For now, we just toss all the debris we pull out into the Magic Bag, right?"
"That's right. Once we're done with the initial sweep, I'll sort through everything and separate what's usable from what isn't."
After a quick huddle, we each started working from opposite sides. I had the several Golems we'd called in gather anything they could carry, while Grandpa and I tackled the oversized pieces—the pillars and charred wall remnants that couldn't be lifted—using magic
and such
to break them down. Occasionally I'd get a little too enthusiastic and smash walls with my fists or kicks, but that only produced more tiny fragments, so I put a stop to it partway through.
"Looks like most of it's been cleared out."
"Then let's move on to the basement."
According to the layout we'd been given beforehand, the basement consisted of two rooms that had served as a storage area and a food pantry. To prevent theft of valuables and keep out rats and other pests, the basement entrance and walls had been built thick, and sturdy grates had been fitted over the drainage openings.
"Well, if you know even a little bit of magic, it's practically useless."
Our neighbor apparently hadn't considered that anyone might be able to infiltrate the basement, so no magical defenses had been put in place. Granted, nothing particularly valuable had been stored down there to begin with, so protecting it from the fire may have been the right call after all—but now it's nothing but a nuisance.
"We'll leave the floor as is, but tear out the walls. Then we can haul soil from the fields or the forest to fill in the holes."
"That'll work, but I'm worried about the bugs living in the dirt... Earthworms would be fine, but if something venomous gets mixed in and multiplies, the damage won't be confined to just us."
"Should I burn everything inside the Dimension Bag first and then bring it over?"
"Aye. Burning it inside the Royal Capital would cause all sorts of trouble."
Grandpa and I could probably use magic within the Royal Capital without causing any stray sparks, but nothing is ever absolute, and using fire on the site of a previous fire would only stir up anxiety among the surrounding residents.
I'd rather not burn things inside the Bag, but it's the safest way to heat that much soil. There's a chance it could damage the Bag, but there's no helping that. Well, I've got spares of spares, so I can always use one of those.
"Heading out right away?"
"Yeah. If I leave now, I should be back by evening."
The forest in question was the one where Jin and the others had gone hunting. Back then, we'd discovered and slain an Earth Dragon—an unprecedented event near the Royal Capital—but something like that happening twice in a short span seemed unlikely. Besides, I had at least some familiarity with the terrain, so I could gather materials more efficiently there than in some other forest.
"Then I'm coming too!"
Amour suddenly came bounding out from behind us. It sounded like he'd more or less finished his side of the work and had come over to help us.
"Hm... well, I guess that's fine."
At first, I had planned to go alone using "Sky-High" to prioritize speed. However, after some thought, I judged that if I flew alongside Amour while he rode on Raiden, even if the travel time increased, I could shorten the time spent working in the forest, so the total time would remain the same.
"Next, we have Slarin, Solomon, and Shiromaru..."
Looking at Slarin and the others who followed after Amour, Slarin and Solomon posed no problem, but there was an extra person riding on Shiromaru's back. It was Chris.
Chris wasn't straddling Shiromaru's back; she was hugging it, savoring the texture of Shiromaru's fur with her entire body.
"Shiromaru, I'm afraid you can't come. Please look after the place."
"Gau..."
Shiromaru seemed saddened by the fact that he couldn't follow me, but he couldn't bring himself to shake off Chris, who always doted on him, and reluctantly gave up. As for Chris herself, she didn't even notice my words (or rather, she didn't seem to realize Shiromaru had started walking), and was tripping out on Shiromaru's back... For Chris, perhaps "fluffy" was like a hallucinogenic drug.
I left the rest of the arrangements to Grandpa, and we immediately set off for the forest.
On the way to the forest, Amour grumbled about not being able to ride Raiden with me, but otherwise, we arrived without any particular issues.
"Alright then, Amour, you take a few Golems and go collect some soil. Aim for about half of the Dimension Bag I gave you, and don't worry if some grass gets mixed in—just go wild. Solomon and Raiden, while Amour is gathering soil, keep watch around the perimeter. Slarin, come with me."
"Got it."
"Kyui!"
I gave Amour and the others their instructions, and we parted ways at the entrance to the forest.
"Well then, let's gather some leaf mold."
One of the reasons for coming to the forest was that I wanted to collect leaf mold. Since we were at it anyway, I thought we might as well prepare a field while cultivating the pepper and chili peppers.
However, even with the leaf mold, it would be troublesome if there were weird insects. Beetles weren't a problem, but since there was a possibility of centipedes and the like hiding within, we had to exterminate them. But if we burned them to kill the insects, it might damage the drainage properties of the leaf mold, so I planned to freeze them instead.
"I'll gather the leaf mold, so Slarin, you collect the earthworms."
Saying that, I handed Slarin a shovel, a ninja rake, and a bucket. Just looking at the equipment, it was like he was going clam digging, or perhaps a fisherman gathering bait.
Equipped for clam digging, Slarin led several Golems with him and began digging around the bases of trees and under rocks.
"I should get started too."
I moved some distance away from Slarin, who was busily unearthing worms one after another, and started searching for leaf mold based on the feel under my feet.
The method was straightforward — I'd step on the ground to locate soft spots, dig lightly with my toe to check if it was leaf mold, and if so, have the Golems gather the soil within the designated range. It was a simple loop: find a spot, have the Golems dig, repeat, and stockpile the leaf mold.
With this approach, even though I couldn't extract a large amount from any single location, the rapid turnover meant I was collecting leaf mold at a good clip.
"That should do it — finished ahead of schedule."
About an hour had passed since we started. The leaf mold gathered by the Golems had filled nearly half of the Dimension Bag. I couldn't tell the exact amount, but it had surely exceeded one ton.
"All right, time for Blizzard."
I aimed the spell at the leaf mold I'd stuffed into the Dimension Bag and cast the same magic I had once used to freeze the G-rank monsters in Seigen's dungeon. Partway through, I paused the spell several times and had the Golems flip the leaf mold over, ensuring everything froze evenly. Left as-is, any pests inside would be eradicated. Well, beneficial creatures like worms would die along with the pests, but since I'd already had Slarin collect the worms separately, that wasn't a problem.
"My part's done — now, what about Slarin..."
Once my own work was finished, I looked in the direction Slarin had gone and caught a brief glimpse of a Golem some distance away.
Using that Golem as a landmark, I made my way over and found Slarin there with a bucket brimming with worms.
"That's quite a haul... I mean, I'm used to worms from using them as fishing bait, but seeing this many wriggling around is honestly off-putting..."
I felt bad for Slarin, who had eagerly gathered them all for me, but the sight of what must have been several thousand worms squirming together was genuinely shocking.
The number was excessive, but given the size of the land, a few thousand worms were probably no big deal. I used earth magic to conjure up several boxes and divided the worms among them roughly evenly. I made sure to poke air holes small enough that even the worms couldn't squeeze through, so they should survive long enough for the trip back to the manor.
I returned the cores of the Golems I'd been walking with to my bag, scooped up Slarin, and headed toward Amur and the others.
"Now then, Amur is — wait,
if I follow
these tracks, I should be able to find him without even using Search."
When I reached the spot where I'd parted ways with Amur, a trail of disturbed earth stretched out ahead, as if the ground had been dug up and left behind. These had definitely been made by Amur and the Golems.
"Kyiiii!"
After following the tracks for several hundred meters, Solomon — having spotted us — came hurtling over at full speed.
"Oh, Tenma!"
Following Solomon, Amur came pushing through the tall grass. Behind her, the Golems we'd left with her were filing in one after another, heading our way.
"Mm."
Amur opened the mouth of the Dimension Bag she'd been holding and showed me the dirt inside.
There was more soil than I'd expected — over three-quarters of the bag's capacity was filled. Probably around five tons, give or take?
"That's quite a lot, but it should work. Thanks."
I thanked Amur and set about sterilizing the soil right away. However, if I simply used magic to burn it as-is, the fire would only reach the surface, so I first carved out a large hole through the center with earth magic. I packed in dried, shredded wood — pieces I'd collected while clearing the adjacent plot — along with charcoal, then blasted it with fire magic.
With each successive use of fire magic, the flames grew larger and the charcoal began to glow a deep, vivid red. Before long, massive plumes of smoke were billowing out of the bag, so I dispersed them with wind magic. This was to prevent anyone passing by from mistaking the smoke for a house fire.
At the same time I used wind magic, I also made sure I had water magic at the ready in case the bag itself caught fire. As a magic item, the Dimension Bag wouldn't turn into a fireball even if its mouth was sealed — the oxygen inside would be depleted before that could happen — but with the mouth open to feed air to the flames, there was a risk the edges could melt or scorch from the heat.
Just to be safe, we moved a comfortable distance away from the bag on the ground and killed time while keeping watch for any danger.
After roughly two hours, the fire inside burned out on its own, and aside from some soot buildup and discoloration, the bag suffered no real damage.
I had been prepared to write off the Dimension Bag entirely, but it looked like it could still be used. That said, the strong smell of dirt and char made it unlikely that Slarin, Shiromaru, and the others would want to go inside, and I'd feel uneasy putting food in it too, so going forward it would probably be relegated to carrying things that could stand getting dirty.
I was about to head back and went looking for Amur and the others — she'd gotten bored of sitting still and was galloping across the plains on Raiden with Solomon in tow — when I spotted them over on a gentle slope, chasing a Horned Rabbit. Raiden, for some reason, had broken off on her own and was running across the field by herself.
"Hey, it's time to head back!"
Solomon reacted to my voice immediately, stopped chasing the Horned Rabbit, and flew straight toward me. Amur was slower to respond and lagged well behind Solomon.
"Tenma, I caught Horned Rabbits!"
When Amur finally caught up and held out the Dimension Bag, it contained ten Horned Rabbits. I hated to rain on her proud display, but the sight that greeted me was a makeshift drying rack fashioned from branches, with ten Horned Rabbits hanging by their necks and dripping blood — so I averted my gaze and quickly shut the bag.
"Maybe we'll use them for dinner tonight."
After saying that, I started getting ready to head home. Well, "getting ready" was generous — I just did a quick check for forgotten items and called for Raiden, so it should have only taken a few minutes. I shouted her name, and she came thundering toward me in response. For some reason, her face was flushed red…
"Raiden…"
Raiden approached me, then twisted her body around in front of me and stamped her front hoof against the ground, as if she wanted to lead me somewhere.
"I get it, just hang on a sec… Slarin, take care of this."
Just as I was about to mount Raiden's back, I noticed something sticky and red had gotten on my palm. I gave it a sniff — it was blood. If I rode like this, my legs would end up covered in it, so I asked Slarin to clean off Raiden's face and body.
"Alright, we're all set. Take me there."
"Go!"
The moment I climbed onto Raiden's back, Amour hopped on behind me. Amour was small and Raiden was huge, so there was no problem with fitting two riders. The only issue was that the saddle was made for one person, so it could get dangerous when she ran.
If she went at full speed, there was a real risk of Amour tumbling off, but it seemed our destination was close by, so Raiden set off at more of a trot.
After about two or three minutes of running, we seemed to be nearing the destination, and Raiden began to slow down.
"So that's it… No wonder Raiden ended up covered in blood."
From atop Raiden's back, what I could see were several lizards that had been split clean in half. When you hear "lizard," you might picture something small, but these halved lizards were each well over a meter long.
I dismounted and examined them with Appraisal. They appeared to be a species of Monster called Prairie Giant Lizard. Rank C. From the looks of it, they attacked with sharp claws, large fangs, and thick tails. The bigger ones exceeded two meters around the torso, and their skin was brown with a rough, shark-like texture.
"Wonder if they're edible?"
From the feel of them, they had the springiness of poultry — they looked tough but seemed like they'd be perfectly edible. The hide looked reasonably durable too, so there should be some use for it.
Once I had collected all of them, Raiden was happily rearing up on her hind legs. The sudden movement nearly bucked Amour off, but she managed to keep her balance and avoid taking a tumble.
"Raiden, that's dangerous!"
Amour protested by smacking Raiden on the neck, but it seemed to only hurt her own fist. She was rubbing the reddened knuckles of her other hand while Raiden herself acted completely unfazed.
"Anyway, let's head home."
If we didn't leave soon, we'd end up arriving at the mansion later than expected. I'd have to put off burying the soil until tomorrow, but I at least wanted to finish butchering the Horned Rabbits and Prairie Giant Lizards today — ideally before dinner.
So on the way back, I had Raiden pick up the pace compared to the trip out. Both she and Solomon managed to keep up without issue. Amour had a bit of a rough time, but by gripping the handle I'd attached to the front of Raiden's saddle, she managed to make it all the way to the Royal Capital safely. In the end, we arrived at the mansion just before the sun had fully set — right as Aina and the others were about to start cooking. So I quickly butchered two Horned Rabbits and set to preparing them right alongside Aina.
What I decided to make was fried rabbit. That way, I only needed to lightly season them, dust them in flour, and fry — quick and easy to make in bulk.
"Time to dig in!"
The first to dig into the dinner spread was Chris, followed closely by Amour, then Aura. However, Aura was scolded by Aina right after, so she was actually the second to last to get fried chicken in her mouth (the last was Aina).
The fried chicken disappeared in the blink of an eye, and Chris and Amour both asked for seconds, but since all the butchered Horned Rabbits had been used up, I couldn't fulfill their request.
After dinner, I butchered the remaining Horned Rabbits and stored them in the Magic Bag in a state ready to make fried chicken at any time. During a break before starting on the Prairie Giant Lizards, I spotted Aina dragging Chris toward the entrance.
Chris was bound up tight in rope and muzzled to the point where she couldn't move, let alone make a sound — if this weren't inside our mansion, and if I didn't know about their relationship, I'd have no doubt called it a kidnapping.
"Aina, what did Chris do?"
Noticing me, Aina gave a slight bow and began to explain the situation.
"She was blabbering about living here from today on and creating a fluffy paradise, so I'm taking her home. That's why I just tied her up with rope so even someone weak like me can carry her."
When I turned to look at Chris after hearing those words, her eyes were plainly darting around. So the right course of action for me to take was, of course…
"I'll lend you a small carriage and a Golem, so get home safe. Also,
Din —
give him my regards."
The right thing to do was to promptly help transport Chris — or rather, get her home safely. And as a bonus, have Din snitched to.
"Thank you. I'll be sure to give Lord Din a thorough report of today's events."
Aina
too
understood what I meant and promised to report to Din. Chris also seemed to understand what I was saying, because she suddenly started shaking her head violently — so violently that I worried she might strain her neck muscles.
I followed them to the entrance, saw Aina and Chris off, and then quickly finished butchering the Prairie Giant Lizards.
Fortunately, there were plenty of Prairie Giant Lizards, and since they'd been cut in half,
thanks to that
Since there was no real need to worry about quality, I simply chopped off the heads and legs, scraped out the innards, sliced open the torsos, and then tore off the skins with satisfying rips — and that was the rough butchering done. I did hold onto the innards after removing the magic cores, but when I checked on them later, they turned out to be useless for both food and medicine, so I disposed of the whole lot by burning.
Speaking of later, Chris hadn't shown her face for about ten days after that. I thought it was odd, especially with a new fluffy one around to see, but apparently Aina had reported to Din that very day, and Chris had been put through training so intense she couldn't come visit. The next time she finally did make it over, she was treated to the hell of being completely forgotten by Allie, who had supposedly been relatively attached to her before.