Chapter 117: [Bonus] A Day in Cypress County

Author note: Some of you might have noticed how this chapter has changed tremendously. Long story short, I actually scheduled a chapter 1 month in advance wrongly last night cuz I was too tired. This is a cooked up replacement chapter for those who have privilege because WN is dumb and does not allow deleting. The editors cannot do anything either, so I made a stand in to upload the actual one in the actual sequence.

Sorry for the inconvenience! Now back to the story! Also, it will be nice if some of yall privileged readers can comment in advance on the peasants who fast pass to foster a more positive reading community in my book. I have been getting too many haters, and honestly, I don't really want to write anymore because of it. It gets harder every day.

>>Xxx Destiny Aitsuji xxX<<

The morning always set a chill in his bones. Kragami wasn't getting any younger, even if the quality of life in his later years improved tremendously. Who would have thought that yesterday's enemy could become today's student?

Rino left to start a new town somewhere, and as the mayor of Cypress County, Kragami had many matters to attend to. While most things ran independently because Rino's minions were better trained than his zombie army, sometimes his opinion as the mayor is still required.

The one thing he looked forward to every morning was a cup of hot tea.

"Good morning!" a fairy greeted when she saw the necromancer walking out of his sleeping quarters still in his nightgown.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Kragami nodded a greeting in return and climbed up the steps to his separate kitchen. Why did he separate the kitchen from the bedroom? It hurt his knees having to climb it every morning for his tea. Then again, it was Aiden's proposal to get him walking more since he was starting to put on weight from all that good food. Curse that good-natured pygmy dwarf! Sometimes Kragami wondered if he loved that ex gnome more than he hated him.

The little morning exercise did Kragami good, and tea always tastes better after a small workout. As the water boiled on the magic stove, Kragami wondered which tea leaf he should use. There were a few things that he needed to tend to before he could get on with his research. Erika informed him last night that the paper production had dropped and Rino needed a new batch as soon as possible. He had to investigate it, and investigating was a time-consuming chore.

Furthermore, something happened to the brewery, turning their latest batch of potato beer sour. Aiden was so depressed when he heard that they wouldn't be drinking for a while. Cypress County's overall mood plummeted because of it, and it was up to Kragami to manage the people under his district.

"Water Bell tea it is," he decided and tossed some dried flower petals into a cup before filling it with boiling water.

Thirteen minutes later, Kragami was dressed and ready to check on Cypress County. The fairies were changing shifts and the night shift gnomes gave the mayor their daily report on the things they worked on.

"So what happened in the brewery?" he asked.

The question brought a metaphorical grey cloud over everyone's head. "It turned into vinegar. We just confirmed it. The bacteria is still in there. What should we do about it? There are five barrels of vinegar now. We won't be needing vinegar for many more years."

Hearing that, Kragami chuckled. It wasn't a bad thing. Vinegar could be used to do many things, and maybe it was time to start pickling things. Rino might also find vinegar helpful when it comes to treating animal hide.

"Don't worry," he reassured them. "Although we might not be drinking for a while, there is a use for vinegar in large quantities. It is good for cleaning difficult things, especially moss. Didn't Fronzo complain about the moss invasion in the reservoir?"

Lighting up, the gnomes made plans to contact the goblins for help to move the heavy vinegar barrels. Kragami made sure that they kept the mother vinegar bacteria so that they could mass-produce vinegar again if needed.

With one issue resolved, Kragami listened to the complaints from the sawmill about the weakening trees. Cypress trees used to be strong, but after mass growing them on the tree farm using magic water, they've grown to become flimsier and can withstand lesser weight when made into furniture.

"The new living quarters broke, and three fairies were hurt when the roof collapsed on them. Goblin Lord Gnut is unhappy about it."

Stroking his long braided beard, Kragami asked if they could get some fertiliser from Fronzo to test if reconditioning the soil would bring back the quality of cypress wood on the tree farm. A few fairies left to act as messengers, and Kragami followed Aiden to the gnome workshop.

"This is the new invention that you requested. Do you think they are better than spears?"

Kragami took a look at the weapon he designed for fairies. They had plenty of fairies around Noir Province, and the population of fairies increased constantly. He thought about training a squad of fairies in aerial combat fit for assassination and reconnaissance to boost the patrol team's defences. It was better to get rid of potential enemies than wait for them to strike. Lately, several monsters were prowling around Cypress County even though they don't know what it is. Even the king toads are frightened of them.

"Get a few fairies compatible with fire magic to test it out. I might need to ask the little pixie from the kiln for a favour. Find me in two hours. I will write her a letter. Deliver it directly when it is her shift. Also, let the fire sylph know that I'm borrowing some of her girls for this."

Nodding, a few more fairies left.

It was finally time to check out the problem at the reed factory.

As usual, the reed factory looked busy. There was pulp mixture in woven baskets everywhere, and fairies were still busy harvesting reeds grown in magic-imbued water. Kragami did not sense anything out of the ordinary. Things were progressing as they should be. Why did Erika inform him about a decline in paper production?

"Excuse me, can I check if there are any problems with paper production? Erika told me that we were giving them less paper than they required."

The fairy in charge flew over to Kragami and apologised.

"It's because you've been teaching the fairies how to read and write lately that we've been using more paper than normal. I will ask for overtime work to meet the production requirements! I'm sorry I overlooked it!"

Tearfully, the fairy in charge apologised over and over again as if she committed a grave sin. Kragami took twenty minutes to assure her that it was not a problem. He shared blame in it for not noticing earlier too. They might have to pause literacy lessons for a while due to the lack of paper for lessons to meet the production deadline. He thanked the fairy in charge and told the fairies in the paper factory to ask for help if they needed it.

After Kragami left the reed farm, he wondered if there was a way to teach his classes without using so much paper. In fact, he wondered if there was another use for the paper that had already been written on. The pile of used papers, even if they used both sides, was starting to accumulate. Fronzo assured them that the paper would decompose into fertiliser, but Kragami wondered if that was truly the best way to use papers.

He thought back about the meeting with Erika. The ghoul was usually quiet and composed. She spoke little about herself and only talked when it was necessary. Rino did not make the wrong decision when choosing her to be the secretary to carry out his biddings. She managed everything with calculated proficiency and gained respect from everyone. 

More interestingly, everyone knew that the relationship between Erika and Fowler wasn't as simple. The lesser vampire only ever listened to Erika and, even to some extent, feared her. However, Erika had interesting things to tell him about his student from time to time.

"How did Rino teach her how to write and count without the use of paper?" Kragami wondered. 

With that, the necromancer packaged his newly dried experimental tea blend and hopped onto the teleportation pad. He had a secretary to see and a goblin lord to apologise to.