Mid-spring, early afternoon.
The weather was so pleasant that I set up a foldable outdoor chair in the courtyard, adjusted the backrest just right, and stretched out lazily.
Kuro and Yuki took up positions on either side of my chair, yawning in unison before settling down with contented sighs.
We’d been pretty busy lately with tora’s wedding and reception at Big Tree Village.
Pii—hyororororooo…
It’s been a while since we’ve had such a peaceful mont.
Ah, cat ca too.
Oh? You want to sit on my belly instead of my lap?
Go right ahead.
What about the jewel cat?
Taking a nap in her favorite spot, huh? I see.
And your daughters… the anenekos are with the tiger again.
Sa as ever.
What about the imoutonekos?
Patrolling the mansion with the spiderlings?
Heh.
Hmm?
You’re serious about finding partners for your daughters soon?
Yeah, I guess so.
But the matchmaking we tried before was a disaster, wasn’t it?
It turned into a bullying scene.
If we increase the number of tomcats, we can manage?
You believe adding more males will fix it?
Are you sure?
Ah, he looked away.
Proposing sothing you don’t even believe in yourself isn’t wise, you know.
I get that you’re worried about your daughters.
Well, how about we ask the Demon King to help us find suitable matches next ti?
The anenekos are still infatuated with the tiger, but there might be hope for the imoutonekos.
Hmm… now cat is staring at , asking if I really believe there’s hope.
…
I quietly averted my gaze.
Pii—hyororororooo…
By the way, that ‘Pii—hyororororooo’ is a high elf imitating a bird call.
「They’ve been practicing.」
I have to admit, it’s pretty good.
But that ‘Pii—hyororororooo’ is the cry of a black kite.
A black kite is a mber of the hawk family so it’s a bird of prey.
And that’s probably why…
Eagle, another bird of prey, is walking around searching for the black kite that dared to invade its territory.
You’d think it would fly, but no—it’s walking.
And its expression is very intense.
So… what do we do now?
「We’ll try a little bird next ti!」
Good call. Definitely a safer choice.
-0-
Evening
After dinner, I received a few reports.
First up was Gutt.
He and his team had been working on processing the iron ore purchased from Village Five. To handle it efficiently, they constructed a large furnace—probably what you’d call a blast furnace.
Using the blast furnace, they had produced a substantial amount of pig iron.
Since pig iron in its raw form isn’t high-quality iron, it requires further refinent to improve its purity and strength. However, Gutt and his team prioritized reducing the massive stockpile of iron ore first.
They likely didn’t want to extinguish the furnace fire or let the warehouse situation in Village Five beco a bigger problem.
Thanks to their efforts, nearly all the iron ore they’d acquired had been processed into pig iron.
However…..
So of the iron ore had turned out to contain rare precious tals. Unaware of this, they had tossed it into the blast furnace along with the rest, causing so of the pig iron to change in composition.
「I’m sorry.」
No, no. There’s nothing to apologize for.
No one would have expected the iron ore to contain rare tals.
「Actually… it’s not that uncommon.」
Really?
「Yes. It’s fairly common for iron ore to contain impurities other than iron… Normally, we inspect it properly before slting.」
What happened this ti?
「With the sheer volu of iron ore, plus the excitent of using our newly built blast furnace for the first ti, we… got carried away and overlooked it.」
Ah. Got carried away, huh?
Be more careful next ti.
「Yes, of course. I’m very sorry… But, um…」
Gutt glanced nervously toward Loo, who was standing a short distance away.
「She’s… not exactly pleased that we fused the rare tals with ordinary iron. So, um… I’m sorry about that too.」
Got it, got it.
I’ll talk to Loo and calm her down.
-0-
Next report from Beezel.
The second report ca from Beezel, regarding the male reo sent from Village Four to his territory for breeding at a special reos breeding facility.
It was originally scheduled to return soon, but he asked for a slight extension.
The reason?
So of the female reos still hadn’t successfully mated.
It wasn’t necessary to breed with every single one, but…
「Apparently, seeing the reos—who normally just eat and sleep—secretly practicing their ‘breeding dance’ late at night touched the hearts of the caretakers. They’d like to give them just a bit more ti.」
Ah… If the male reo from Village Four isn’t objecting, I don’t mind.
The devil girl who owns the male reo had also entrusted its care to the caretaker, so there was no issue on that front.
Co to think of it, how are Village Four reo doing health-wise?
「Shirukine says its doing just fine. She reports it’s in great shape and full of energy.」
That’s good to hear.
And how about the female reos?
「The female reos have gotten too energetic. The caretaker is struggling to keep them calm so they don’t wear out the male reo. We’re keeping the strain on it as low as possible.」
I appreciate that.
We’d originally planned to send the universal ship to bring the Village Four reo ho, but as an apology for the delay, Beezel offered to use teleportation magic to transport it back instead.
His wife, Shirukine, generally disliked having Beezel go to such lengths, but she seed to have accepted it this ti as an unavoidable trip.
「It seems even Shirukine was moved by the effort the female reos are putting into it.」
Oh, I see. Seeing hard work and determination can be pretty moving.
-0-
Final report was from Youko.
Hitoe, who had been clinging to Youko since earlier, had transford into her fox form and climbed on my lap.
I gently patted her.
「The swan races are progressing smoothly. Odette and Odile seem to be getting along well with the villagers.」
That’s good to hear.
「The Pond Turtles that ca to help maintain water quality are also doing their job without issue.」
I nodded.
「Initially, a few fools tried to target the Pond Turtles, but we haven’t heard of such incidents recently.」
That’s reassuring.
「The young High Elves in the security team seem to be working hard.」
That would be Ririus and the others.
I hope they aren’t causing trouble for the security team.
「It’s to be expected that inexperienced ones may cause so inconveniences. If there were serious issues, we would’ve received a report, but there haven’t been any so far. Rest assured.」
You’re right.
「The real problem lies with the parents. A few High Elves have been spotted observing the security team’s training.」
Ah… Watching over them rather than outright spying, right?
「From a distance, yes. They remain far enough not to be noticed by the security team…」
Youko glanced at the ceiling, where so of the spiderlings began descending.
「These little ones found them and sought my advice on what to do.」
Wouldn’t it be better for those parents to participate in the training instead of observing from afar?
That’s what they’ve been doing before, right?
「The young High Elves dislike it.」
Ah, I see. They’re at the age where they don’t want their parents around… Or maybe it’s because they’re working hard to leave the village, so having their parents constantly hovering would be counterproductive.
But if that’s the case, the parents’ watchful behavior will persist.
…
Can’t we just leave them alone?
「We’ll be in trouble if soone with ill intentions mimics their behavior. If the parents would clearly display that they’re High Elves, it wouldn’t be an issue, but they apparently disguise their hair and ears while observing.」
To avoid being noticed by Ririus and the others, I suppose.
… Understood. I’ll talk to them about improving their thods of observation.
「Please do. Also, about the traffic at the teleportation gates…」
Ah, the issue of congestion at the gates.
「We tried addressing it by scheduling people and small packages for dayti transport and reserving nightti for large cargo…」
Didn’t it work?
「It did help alleviate so congestion, to a degree. However, Shashaato City is struggling to adapt to the changes.」
What part of it are they struggling with?
「Transporting large cargo at night. While it’s manageable in Village Five, Shashaato City doesn’t allow large cargo transport during the night for security reasons.」
Ah, I see.
The nights in this world are darker than one might expect.
Transporting large items under such conditions must certainly look suspicious.
「Shashaato City constructed a storage depot near the teleportation gate for large cargo, but now it’s causing a bottleneck as people co to collect their items.」
Handling cargo retrieval does take ti.
For the sake of preventing trouble, skipping over confirmation steps isn’t an option.
「Miyo hasn’t voiced any complaints yet, but action must be taken. Therefore, we’re going to strengthen the road connecting Village Five to Shashaato City.」
I understand, but hasn’t that road already been improved several tis?
「Yes, but we’ll take it even further. The civil servants of Village Five want it wide enough to fit eight large wagons side by side.」
Eight wagons?
That’s going to be quite the massive road.
「It’s all part of planning ahead, considering a possible future where we’ll lay wooden or iron rails.」
Ahh, I see.
「We’ll also improve the lodgings along the route.」
Since the idea is to widen the road and increase the number of wagons traveling it, sturdy and comfortable rest stops will be crucial.
「Understood. That concludes the irregular reports.」
Youko glanced down at Hitoe, who was nestled in my lap.
The little one was peacefully asleep.
「Hmm. I was hoping to bathe Hitoe tonight…」
It’d be a sha to wake her.
Let’s ask the Oni maid to handle it in the morning.
「Fair enough. Could you carry Hitoe to her room for ?」
Of course, I don’t mind at all.
-0-
Since Youko headed off to the bath, I carried Hitoe to her room, making sure not to wake her.
The door was opened and closed with quiet efficiency by the ice monster, who also guided to Youko’s room.
The ice monster was to stay in Big Tree Village until Ursa cos to retrieve it. In the anti, it’s been acting like a personal attendant, insisting on helping out with various tasks.
It handles everything so competently that I’m grateful for its help. Since no one has raised any objections, it seems to have found a place here.
However, when Ursa finally cos to take it back, I’m starting to worry—I might be tempted to ask it to stay.
What should I do?
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