47 Episode 46 Logging and Rewards

We arrived at the guild.

The number of people in the guild is a little higher than usual, but far from the number of adventurers I've seen in this city.

Maybe ten or so.

It would not be a laughing matter if we were to be overrun during the pre-mission gathering to expand the area of control, so it was only natural.

Whoever is here is probably a liaison or something.

Unlike the special requests I've received directly from the guild, there doesn't seem to be any strategy meeting.

That's true, I'm just going to chop down some trees, and it would be more efficient to have a strategy meeting with the defending adventurers and their party.

Instead, the mayor declares.

The mayor declares instead, "We will begin cutting down the trees within the hour, and each of you will take your assigned position. 　Logging will end with the explosion, but be on the lookout for more demons.

The adventurers walked out of the open door one after another without answering.

They don't seem to reply loudly like the military.

Incidentally, the explosion is said to be caused by the use of an explosive magic tool and a warding magic tool.

The explosion is triggered by trapping an explosion tool made of a relatively small magic stone inside a ward made of an even smaller magic stone.

It is said that the use of wards makes the sound louder and thus allows for relatively inexpensive communication.

This is only by Decibatore standards, though.

National defense is a costly affair in any world.

...... Recently, there is a story that a lumberjack is planning to eat up the budget by himself.

I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that.

I'll check with the remaining mayor.

My role is different from the others.

I'd like you to wait a quarter of an hour before you start, because there's a speed difference between you and the other adventurers. 　And after the explosions and the logging stops, you can join us in defeating the demons in the cut area.

Well, we're doing it this way to prepare for it, so of course.

If we could have just carried on as usual, we wouldn't have had to wait until today in the first place.

We waited for about 15 minutes, checking our weapons even though we didn't really need to, and then left.

From the air, I descended to the side closest to Desibatore.

Holding the magic sword in my right hand, I flew at a speed of about 40 km/h, skimming the left side of the tree.

As I found out when I tried it again, there is no time to hunt for medicinal herbs.

It's not a problem of magic control, but a simpler problem of the blade length of the sword.

The blade length of a sword is about 60cm, while the diameter of a tree is about 30cm at a height of 1m.

Thanks to the fact that it has been only 50 years since the fall of Brokens, the diameter of the tree is only about 30cm, but there is still a margin of 30cm.

Of course, there would be a little more room if only a few of them fell down, but there was no room to cut the herbs.

While I was flying with this thought in mind, the trees seemed to have finished cutting one row, and we came to a beach.

In some places, the density of the trees was different, so there were some leftover pieces, but there would be no problem if we cut them all together later.

There were some other trees that were cut but didn't fall down properly, but for now, the goal was to reduce the number of trees as much as possible.

Turn around and cut more trees.

At this speed, it's easy to control.

Now that I have more time, I'm thinking again about what I can do about the medicinal herbs.

The first problem with picking herbs is the difference between the height of the herbs and the height of the tree to be cut.

You can't just tear off the head of the herb, so you have to cut the herb right through the ground.

If you don't have enough height, you won't be able to make the sword long enough, so you need some height to cut.

I've been trying to pull the herbs using a magic board that pulls the herbs, but it's not working.

After all, to use resources effectively, it is necessary to reap the benefits of both.

In the meantime, acrobatic flight.

Raise your right hand and hold out your magic sword to the left, extend your left hand as far down as it will go, then thrust your staff toward the left and lose altitude slightly.

For a moment, the blade slightly sliced through the Zunana grass, but not after that.

First, the magic sword. 　It's impossible for me to fly through the trees while holding the sword in my back hand and lifting it upward to keep it level.

Next, the blade.

The blade will cut through the grass to a certain extent, but it's not a blade all the way to the root, so the undergrowth in that area will hit your hand.

Also, if I really try to use the blade close to the ground, the stones on the ground will hit my hand, so I keep it about 15cm away from the ground, which naturally reduces the yield.

It may not be a problem if the root is not there, since it will be used for medicine anyway, but this is not the way to collect the tip.

Incidentally, I was able to recover it. It flew into my hand by magic, and was stored where it hit me.

But this amount is meaningless.

I have no complaints about it, or rather, I have only complaints about it.

I guess it's magic.

Cutting magic: ......

Is it some kind of wind magic?　I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but it's a good idea.

Then wind magic.

In RPGs, you see wind magic cutting monsters, but I don't understand the logic behind it.

I've heard that foxglove is a kind of chapped skin, and plants probably don't chap.

Do you freeze part of it and then thaw or fold it?　It's hard to do, and it's twice the work. I've never cast ice magic before, and it doesn't have range because it doesn't shoot.

I guess I'll just have to follow the traditional RPG approach and use some kind of wind cutter.

I tried to shoot it at a nearby zunana plant, but it didn't even fire.

It's a miracle if it works.

I'll have to find another way.

Something a little easier to visualize, something that can be cut, and something that can be cast as magic.

...... There are only a limited number of cutting tools that can be shot out.

I don't think Hitler's electric saw is a cutting tool, it's a gun.

Then there's the ...... water cutter.

There is already magic that releases water, and if you speed up the magic, it might be possible to cut.

Just for kicks, let's make the water magic thin and release it, about 3mm thin.

The water successfully hit the zunana grass about 10 meters away and shook it.

It just shook it.

Despite hitting the root, it shook a lot, but it was far from disconnected.

The speed of the water should be enough, what am I missing?

Oh, by the way, the speed of magic has nothing to do with its power.

I forgot.

So we should just increase the MP consumption while keeping the slenderness.

When I tried this, the Zunana grass was cut when I increased the magic consumption by 10 times.

However, it doesn't seem to have much penetrating power, and rather than the water penetrating through the grass as I had imagined, it just cuts the part it hits a little, and it seems to take a while to cut the grass behind it.

The efficiency is as subtle as ever.

The thickness of the grass is about one-tenth of the usual one that consumes 1 magic power per 3 seconds, so even if you multiply the magic power consumption by 10, the calculated magic power consumption is only 1 per 30 seconds, which is garbage.

Because the distance is so close, there is no need to let out the water from the hands, so the water is released from the bottom of the feet, just above the ground.

Instead of one, use fifteen on each side, which will cut down the trees to some extent, and thanks to the lack of penetration, you don't have to worry about collateral damage to the adventurers.

I use my right hand to cut down trees, my left hand to collect herbs, and my feet to mow.

After about five hours of this lumberjack-turned-lawnmower destroying nature at an accelerated rate, I heard a poof.

It was the signal for the end of logging.

I cut off the logging and headed back toward the city.

I cut down any demons I see along the way with my magic sword and store them in my item box as I head back to town.

On the way, I see a group of adventurers.

It seems that they are still fighting, but the front line has moved up from the city.

They seem to be in good shape.

He hunts the demons a little further away from the adventurers, and after a while, when he seems to be free, he talks to them.

"How's the war going?

"As you can see, it's going well. 　The wizard's magic is wearing off, so it's going to be a little tough if it goes on much longer.

That's why they're done cutting.

Well, it'll be getting dark in an hour or two, so it's about time.

"Okay, thank you.

With that, I left the adventurers and continued my demon hunt.

It doesn't matter if there are two parties with enough strength to destroy the demons in one party.

It's also a hassle to deal with the demons you've killed, so it's best to go solo.

After half an hour of hunting, the demon defeat was over.

I didn't realize there were so many demons when I cut down the tree.

I had already cut down a tree once before, so they might have been evacuating to avoid being cut down.

They're the kind of creatures that retreat as soon as a metal lizard dies, so it's not surprising that they have that kind of brains.

Well, the more prey, the better.

Return to the guild and pay up.

With a total of 2,431 trees cut down and the demons killed, the total income was 123,454,000 ter.

I'm worried about the national defense budget.

I guess it's better to spend money than to be pushed around, and there aren't many front lines, so I think we'll be okay.

However, as expected, there will not be lumberjack jobs forever.

When I was worrying about the financial resources, I was summoned by the mayor.

Is it a strategy meeting or a consultation on lowering the compensation?

Well, you'll know what I mean when you hear it.

"Oh, you're here.

Yes, everything seems to be going well as far as I can tell, but is everything okay?

Even if there was one tree per four meter square, it would have to be about 100 meters by 500 meters.

As I recall, it's about ten kilometers to the Brokens site, and about three kilometers across.

It would take about 600 days to finish cutting.

...... That's a long way to go, and the total cost will exceed 60 billion ter.

What kind of national budget is that?

"Yeah, we're good. 　I think I can manage tomorrow on a schedule like today's, but I need to talk to you about something.

What is it?

We've got enough money left over from the past to cover the cost, but if we have to push back to Brokens, we're gonna need more money. 　I'm sorry, but can you make the fee around 5,000 yen a piece?

I knew it.

Even a tenth of that is six billion Tel, plenty of income.

The reason they couldn't use it is that they didn't have enough adventurers to use it, and the war situation was getting worse because of it.

In Japan, if you have a budget surplus, it will be reduced the next year, but in other worlds, there is no year-end road construction.

I understand. 　In exchange, can I have a day off from time to time?　And if possible, I'd like to have the corpses of the demons that were left behind after they were eradicated.

"Thank you. 　I don't care about the demons, I'll inform the adventurers about the corpses of the abandoned demons. 　As for vacations, the guild is not in a position to bind adventurers. 　We don't want to be forced to take time off at a reduced rate.

I wonder how much money the guild has.

I wonder how much money they have.

I wonder if the entire defense budget of a country is being spent on this city.