CH 54

It was good to play with Helmut, but I got soaked. Moreover, it is sticky because it is seawater. I’d like to wash it away, but there’s no river around here, so naturally, the water we’re carrying doesn’t have that kind of leeway.

“Miss Flora, your clothes are a bit transparent,” Isabella said.

“Huh? Aah…” I said, looking down at myself.

I could clearly see that my wet clothes were sticking to my body, especially since my breasts had recently grown. I may be slightly see-through if you look closely.

Well, until modern Europe and this world, they don’t really care about being naked or showing their tops and bottoms. In the first place, I’m still a child before the age of 11, so I don’t think it’s something to worry about. I’m not saying that Isabella is rude or saying I’m indecent, it’s just pointing out a fact.

What’s a bigger problem is what I’m going to do with my sticky body and clothes both. Helmut and I were completely soaked and looked terrible.

“We played a little too much,” I said. “Helmut, Isabella, come with me for a while.”

I take the two of them away from the beach and into the forest. This is as far away as we could get.

“Water,” I said.

I use Water magic to make it fall from above like a shower. It feels good, but something is missing…

Oh, I see. It’s cold. I wonder if this would be a perfect shower if it was warm.

“Heat…”

I use the Heat magic I invented before to turn the water into warm water. It feels good. This would be perfect.

“Helmut, please wash your body with this, too.”

“… Miss, I believe it would be better if you don’t show these things in public,” Helmut said.

Hmmm… Helmut also gave me a warning. Isabella also said something similar, and it seems like it’s better not to show my weak magic to other people.

“I’ve only shown it to you two, Helmut and Isabella. If Father could see something like this, I’m sure I’d be in big trouble,” I said.

Helmut took off his clothes and washed his body as if he were taking a shower. I’m still wearing clothes, but I washed them well, so now I’m drying them with warm air magic. Helmut is taking the shower I gave him, so he needs to take off his clothes and wash them in order to get clean. Because I control the magic myself, I can wash even the smallest details freely. Just because I finished before Helmut, it’s not like I did a lazy rinse-off.

“What did you do here?”

“Hii! Father…” I squealed.

Father came out of the shadow of a tree, even though I had entered quite deep into the forest. Why is he coming all this way…?

“No…” I said, “I mean… this is…”

Helmut still had a shower, and I had hot air, there are no excuses. Father got to see this strange magic.

“If you had a spell like this, why didn’t you tell me sooner? It would have been easier to secure water,” Father said.

“… Huh?” I said.

I thought that he would be angry or appalled because I was making strange spells, but it seems that was not the case. After confirming the shower that Helmut was like rain and the hot air drying my clothes, Father touched his chin and went “Hmm.”

I was a fire starter until I came here. We couldn’t have time to start a fire normally each time we made camp, so I used my spells to start it instead. But I didn’t run water or wash my body like this. Rather, I thought that I would be scolded for using magic or strange spells for this kind of thing.

“Well, that’s fine,” Father said. “I’ll wash off, as well.”

“Okay…” I said.

How can I refuse? Hence, the showering marathon began when the other soldiers in the party came along and enjoyed the bath. As expected, even in this world where bathing was infrequent, they were wandering around a forest without being able to properly wipe themselves clean for nearly a month, so everyone seemed to be happy for the opportunity to shower.

By the way, Isabella showered last after the others finished. I had to control the magic, so I was using this shower while witnessing everyone naked in front of me… I wonder if it was some kind of punishment game or something…

The next day, we left the beach and investigated the nearby forest. The purpose is to secure a water source. If you build a village on this side of the mountain, humans can’t live without at least one water source. Unfortunately, there are no large rivers flowing through this area, so we have no choice but to take another method.

It takes a lot of effort to make fresh water from seawater. A simple method would be to evaporate the seawater, condense it back into liquid, and take only the water. But this requires a large amount of fuel such as firewood, but the amount of water obtained is small. Until these forests and mountains become bald, we won’t be able to get much firewood.

If so, should we use a well? Shall we try digging somewhere for the time being?

I heard that the soil on the other side of the mountain, the part currently being cultivated, is terrible, and even if you dig a well, you won’t get potable water, but what about this side? I think the water source is the same mountain water that soaks into this range, but if the soil is different, the water might be potable.

“How about… we dig a bit around here?” I asked. “Is there a place suitable for a well?”

I’m a novice when it comes to wells, so I don’t know where to dig. I asked Helmut and Isabella, but neither of them really understood.

“I don’t know if it’s suitable for wells or not… do you mean you’ll be digging, Miss Flora?” Helmut said, looking at me like he’d just seen something odd.

But, I have a lot of physical strength and stamina, so I feel like I can dig a well. Of course, it’s not like what Helmut is thinking, digging it out by hand.

“Of course, I’ll dig,” I said. “Earth…”

I’ll dig a hole, evidence is better than argument. Well, rather than digging, I’m just moving the dirt away with Earth magic. Remove the soil and move it aside. A hole was completed in no time. This is convenient and easy.

… Huh? Maybe this would have made work go faster at the pioneering village.

No, no… I can’t just dig up the soil with magic every day. Even I have a lot of things to do, and I’ve been told not to show my magic to people too much. That should have been fine.

“… Water is already springing up, isn’t it?” I said.

“Huh? Ah, it really is,” Helmut said.

And while I was thinking about the proper way to go about all this work, water was already bubbling forth. Leave it alone for a while, and when the water accumulates and the mud sinks, you have no choice but to try drinking it. There is no way to test the water quality like it would have been in the modern day, and it would take too much time to do something like that from now on, so I have no choice but to test it with my body. I don’t think it’s contaminated, so I won’t die… maybe? 1

To prevent the well from collapsing, I use magic to reinforce the bare soil around it and solidify it before I leave the place. I have a lot of other things I want to do before I can try this water to see if it’s drinkable.

I think about various things while walking in the forest and the coast and investigating. If we were to build a village on this side of the mountain, the important thing would be where to build it and how they would make a living.

First, agriculture and forestry will be difficult. It’s not that far from the mountains to the coast. Moreover, it is thought that the crops that can be grown in coastal areas are probably limited due to salt damage. In that case, it is necessary to leave the coastal area and go into the forest and clear it. It is also difficult to secure water because there are no large rivers. It’s possible, but not on a large scale.

If you think about it normally, would it be fishing or salt making near the sea? I don’t know much about fishing. What kind of fish can be caught around here? How do you catch it? What kinds could you catch with that method? Can you sell what you catch? You won’t know until you actually try them.

Salt is the safest. If you make salt from seawater, there will definitely be a demand for it, and unless the seawater turns into fresh water, you won’t run out of materials. But this is not without problems.

If you want to make salt, you need a vast salt field if you use sun-dried salt. Also, I think it would be difficult unless you live in a hot, dry, and sunny area. Since Japan is hot and humid and has a lot of rain, pot-cooked salt has been made for a long time… or at least, it should have been.

Both sun-dried and kettle cooking requires a large salt field, but rather than using the sun in the salt field all the way until it dries, pot cooking will probably make more salt in less space. However, pot cooking requires fuel. I don’t know much about the actual process, so I have to bring in a craftsman who used to make salt somewhere.

Clearing the forest between the mountains and the sea, making a small farm and making it as self-sufficient as possible, trading with fishing and salt production. Can I do this? In that case, the location of the village should not be too coastal or too deep in the mountains. Wells will also have to be dug for the water source used in agriculture…

“Miss Flora, let’s go back today,” Helmut said.

“Huh? Oh? Is it already time?” I asked.

Before I knew it, the sun had dropped considerably. It’s still some time before sunset, but it’s probably best to go back soon.

I don’t know how well the fishing and salt production will work, but if the well water is somehow managed, we might be able to build a village on this side.

After that, we investigated the seaside for a while, confirmed that it was safe for the soldiers to drink the water from the well, and after finishing the investigation, we returned to Carruzan.

A soldier of Margrave Carruthers’s Army, Oliver, didn’t even try to hide his blank expression. When he was first summoned directly by Margrave Albert, he wondered what was going on. And while listening to the initial conversation, he was happy that his abilities had become known to the Margrave. Then, in the middle, he was angry at how far it veered to left-field.

When Oliver was summoned by the Margrave and reported in, there were 4 other people, a total of 5 people lined up. One of them was a fellow soldier he knew.

The content of the first conversation was simple. From now on, Margrave Albert is going out to the forest with his daughter, so they’re going to escort him. Since Oliver is a soldier, it is natural for him to join to protect his master, Margrave Albert. Oliver in particular was quite excited, being only 18 years old and of a commoner’s background.

But things changed in the second half of the conversation. After looking closely at Margrave Albert’s daughter who was to accompany them, Margrave Albert said that those who thought they could serve her were to join her service once this escort mission was over.

In terms of wording, it was certainly just a request, not an order. They were told to decide after seeing her with their own eyes, so if they did not like Margrave Albert’s daughter, they can refuse. In reality, however, this will not be the case. Virtually everyone thinks this is an order by now. In terms of formality, you can choose, but when you are summoned here, you have no choice but to quit the army or become his daughter’s personal guard. Oliver interpreted it that way.

It’s infuriating. Even though Oliver was a commoner, he should have done his best. Even so, it is unforgivable to be transferred to protect Margrave Albert’s daughter for no reason. Even if he were dismissed as a soldier, he would absolutely refuse to be transferred. As he thought so, he joined the escort detail into the forest.

Oliver was already acquainted with Ignaz, a senior soldier, and Arman, who he worked together with for the first time, and three of them were to be escorts for Margrave Albert’s daughter, Flora. Even though they are soldiers of the same lord, not everyone in Margrave Carruthers’s Army had known each other or worked together, the organization was so large. It was especially so since Arman was from a neighboring country.

“Aaah… I can’t do this,” Oliver said. “Why do we have to be transferred to protect a young lady who doesn’t know a thing about the world?”

“Well, don’t say that,” Ignaz said. “It’s much better than being forced to kill each other on the front line, isn’t it?”

As a senior soldier, Ignaz is already approaching middle age and has a wealth of knowledge and experience, but he thought it would be useless to just continue as a soldier on the front lines forever. Ignaz has a long service history and has actual combat experience. Arman, who was in his late twenties and was from a neighboring country, and Oliver, who was still young, were completely different in terms of thinking and experience from Ignaz.

“I also agree with Oliver,” Arman said. “I was thinking we’d be active on the front line, aiming for a promotion rather than escorting a young lady with barely anything to offer.”

Certainly, if you’re an escort for a young lady, you probably won’t be on the front lines of a war. It might be better if you want to live a peaceful life. But that doesn’t mean you can’t expect to achieve success. For better or worse, it will be a situation where it is not possible to aim for the top even if it is a stable position.

Lady Flora, the daughter of Margrave Albert, whom they’ve met for the first time, is certainly clever and cute for her age. Ignaz and Arman are too old, but with Oliver’s age difference, once Flora is old enough to be married they could be.

Even so, they would like to refrain from escorting her. Maybe they’re being selfish. She may be an arrogant noble who sees the commoner-born as little more than stones on the side of the road. Rather than worrying about being pushed around by such a person, it’s better to go out on the battlefield and swing your sword around to get ahead in life. The two young men thought so. However…….

“Oh? Is that a fire starter? Isn’t that troublesome? Fire… right, is this alright?” Flora said.

“… Ah, yes…” Oliver said. “Thank you?”

Oliver was holding his unused fire-starting tools, then Lady Flora came by and easily lit the tinder with magic. At this age, she already uses magic as a matter of course. He’s heard that about half of nobles like her can’t use magic, but he can’t believe that she’s about 10 or 11 years old and still uses magic as easily as clapping her hands.

Besides, by walking and exploring the forest together like this, they came to understand Lady Flora’s character. A normal child wouldn’t be able to explore such a forest for a month. Despite that, Flora doesn’t complain even once, and on the contrary, she takes the initiative to work all over the place.

Even when she talks, she is far from being selfish and is very humble. What’s more, she’s quite lovely…

In the first place, it seems that Lady Flora already has a skilled escort detail, and they immediately realized that she had the ability to think so far on her own that she didn’t even need protection. Even if Oliver and the others are exhausted from walking in the woods, Lady Flora takes care of the tired ones and lets them rest, while she explores here and there by herself. Just how strong is she supposed to be?

She moves around so actively that she seems to have more physical strength than the soldiers who should be training on a daily basis, and she solves the dangers in the forest by herself with barely any effort. More than half of the prey they ate then were animals that Lady Flora hunted. He wanted to suspect that this was not a noble daughter but a hunter somewhere.

She freely mastered magic, started fires, and even spewed out water to let them all bathe. Oliver had never been on such an easy forest exploration. He was astonished at how easy the march was with Lady Flora alone.

And after more than a month of exploring the forest, Oliver, Ignaz, and Arman had already decided on their answer.

“I humbly accept the transfer, to serve as Lady Flora’s subordinates.”

Yes. It’s not Lady Flora’s escort. The job they want is to work as Lady Flora’s hands and feet. It may be a horizontal transfer that lowers their ranks than being in the Margrave Carruthers’s Army. Still, the three agreed to the transfer.

“The other two chose not to transfer,” Margrave Albert said. “You will not be blamed for refusing either, are we clear?”

The three shook their heads.

“No, we, ah, we all want to work under Lady Flora,” Oliver said.

And from this moment on, Oliver and the others were reassigned as Flora’s subordinates. After seeing off the three of them, Majordomo Marius opened his mouth.

“It seems that the two men we planted were not necessary, were they…?” Marius said. “I apologize for the wasted preparation.”

Of the 5 soldiers, the remaining 2 were actually planted at Marius’ advice. If no one said that they would transfer to Flora’s command, the 2 people who had been planted would be transferred, and they were intended to encourage the others to transfer, as well. And if the 3 people who weren’t planted were to transfer, just as they did now, the 2 plants would not be transferred, and instead instructed to serve as an example, to prove there really would be no punishment.

But it was all unnecessary. All three of them accepted their decision to transfer to Flora’s command.

“No, it was worthwhile just to be able to confirm their intentions at the end,” Albert said.

Albert knows Marius does not trust Flora. If he believes in Flora, he will believe that she has enough charisma to automatically draw others to her once they meet face-to-face. That Marius crafted this insurance policy was out of a lack of faith.

Albert also understands Marius’ feelings. He’s also unable to measure Flora’s depth. That’s why he accepted Marius’ insurance plan. Should he be happy or afraid that it ended in a baseless worry? Albert, who sent 3 subordinates to Flora for her manpower woes, was thinking further into the future.