Shirukine-san had returned.
「……」
She looked like she had sothing to say.
What could it be?
「Ehto… first of all, that beast?」
Shirukine-san glanced at the young beast, curled up in the corner of the reo enclosure.
That was a cub from the local territorial beasts.
Since it would be a problem if the reo enclosure got attacked again like this, I planned to have it work as a guard. For now, it was on standby.
If this were the Big Tree Village, I could make the decision on my own, but since Shirukine-san was managing this place, I had to defer to her.
Even Beezel couldn’t grant permission on his own.
「Is it going to live here?」
No, I’ll have it stay a little farther away, so it won’t be in plain sight most of the ti.
It also said there was no need to worry about food.
Apparently, it would manage that on its own.
「What about compensation?」
Well, its main reason for doing this is as an apology, so I’m fine with it being free…
But making it work for nothing doesn’t sit right with .
I’ll figure out so form of paynt.
「And what about us?」
When danger cos, I’ll have it fight alongside you.
Also, if soone tries to hunt the beast, I’d like you to stop them.
Of course, if the beast causes trouble, I’ll take responsibility for dealing with it.
「…Understood. Bee-kun… My husband told that a male reo would be staying here. So this beast will serve as its guard, then.」
That helps a lot.
「Next… well, it seems like the facilities have changed a bit?」
I just reinforced the defensive walls around the reo enclosure and repaired so of the damaged structures.
The materials were leftovers from when I made Hakuren’s pack saddle, so it wasn’t much trouble.
Oh, and I dug two new wells.
Water supply will co from them.
That’s the power of the AFT.
Also, over there, I set up a small field for the reo and Net Turtles’ food.
「I wouldn’t call that ‘small’…」
I don’t think it’s that big.
About the size of two of my mansions in the Big Tree Village.
…
Is that big?
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
Since the reo and Net Turtles need space to move around and tend to the field themselves, I left wide gaps between the trees, which made the field larger.
It would be difficult to ask the caretakers to maintain it on top of everything else.
Since the reo and Net Turtles will be the ones eating the crops, they should take care of them too.
It won’t be ready this year, but by next year or the year after, they should be able to harvest.
Of course, before I built the wells and fields, I got permission from the caretakers.
In fact, the wells were their request.
「Ehto… Can the reo and Net Turtles really take care of a field?」
They said they would.
They’re determined to do it.
「……」
Shirukine-san nodded with a smile, then headed toward Beezel, who had co to pick her up.
Oh, she’s hugging Beezel.
They’re so lovey-dovey.
I wanted to ask Shirukine-san about the information she gathered in the forest, but…
I guess I’ll wait until later.
-0-
Hakuren, the young beast, and I moved to a location a bit farther from the reo enclosure.
It was to build a ho for the young beast.
We decided on a spot while listening to the young beast’s preferences.
It wanted a cave, but since we couldn’t find a suitable one, we decided to dig one ourselves.
With the AFT, it was a simple task.
First, I cut down so trees on a suitable slope and turned them into lumber.
Then, I quickly dug into the exposed slope…
Might as well make it a bit bigger.
The young beast will grow into a full-sized one eventually, and it might even find a partner.
Oh, and it would be better to have a water source nearby, so I’ll dig around here…
It said it could handle its own food, but having so fruit-bearing trees wouldn’t hurt.
I’ll plant a few—maybe a few dozen?
No, more would be better.
「Village Chief. It seems the cave floor should be a little harder.」
Hnn?
Really?
Alright, then—I’ll tamp it down with the hamr function of the AFT.
How about this?
「Looks good.」
By the way, why is the young beast relaying its requests to through Hakuren?
It was speaking to directly just a while ago.
「It says talking to the god who reshapes the land is too frightening.」
The god who reshapes the land… is that supposed to be ?
That’s not right.
I’m just a normal human.
「A normal human wouldn’t reshape a forest this much in such a short ti.」
Ugh.
But the young beast saw working at the reo enclosure, didn’t it?
Isn’t it a little late for this reaction?
「It thought it was easy for you because that was human land.」
Alright, alright.
Just don’t be too formal with .
Otherwise, it may make look arrogant.
Now, I’ve set up most of the environnt, but is there anything else missing?
Don’t hold back.
Ah, I see—you want that small hill leveled to improve visibility.
Got it.
-0-
Hnn?
As I was leveling the small hill, sothing erged.
It looked like a man-made stone structure.
「Could it be an old house?」
Possibly.
Digging further, I uncovered a well-built house—not exactly new, but still intact.
It wasn’t large.
It seed like the kind of ho where an elderly couple might have lived.
The wooden roof showed no signs of rot.
It was clearly enchanted with magic.
Did sothing happen that caused it to be buried?
「Aren’t you going in?」
W-Well… even if the house itself is protected by magic, the people inside… you know…
Looking at the trees growing around the hill, it’s obvious that this house didn’t just get buried yesterday or the day before.
At least a hundred, maybe two hundred years must have passed.
I don’t mind seeing the remains of hunted animals, but I have no desire to see human remains.
「Hmm… then should I just burn the house down with my breath?」
Wait, wait.
There might be valuable items inside.
「A normal house wouldn’t have anything like that.」
…right.
It didn’t look like the kind of place where treasures would be hidden.
But if we burned it from the outside, we’d at least be able to see what was inside….
「My breath wouldn’t leave anything behind, you know… Ah! How about I breathe fire through the chimney? That way, it’ll burn from the inside, and we won’t have to see anything.」
There was indeed a chimney… and surprisingly, it wasn’t blocked by dirt.
Another sign of magic at work.
「So, what’s the plan?」
…Alright, let’s do it.
「Okay」
Just as Hakuren replied, the house’s door suddenly swung open from the inside—
「You will do no such thing!」
A short elderly woman stord out, gripping a broom in one hand, shouting in fury.
Alive….no, I an, soone’s living here after all.
Sorry.
-0-
Shirukine: 「I had heard the rumors, but this defies common sense…」
Beezel: 「Welco to our world. There’s no turning back now.」
-0-
Village Chief: 「I really don’t want to see a corpse.」
Young Beast: 「Then maybe you just shouldn’t look when she breathes fire?」
Village Chief: 「If I don’t watch, Hakuren will sulk.」
Hakuren: 「Ehehe.」
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