CH 34

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Yes, hello. I’m Kosuke, the Otherworlder Survivalist. I’m here in the Omit Great Wilderness. What am I doing here? Well, it’s because of that, you see.

“Kosuke, set up a signpost around here.”

“Aiyo.”

I replied in affirmation to Sir Leonard’s words and immediately stacked three brick blocks on top of each other using the jumping feet technique. And on top of that, I placed a torch.

This would make it more visible during the day and at night. The reason for using brick blocks instead of wood blocks is to prevent the Gizma from destroying them easily when they attack. Wood blocks would have been destroyed by their rush attack, after all.

Well, ultimately, I could have left the top block alone and destroyed the other two. But, considering what would happen later, it would be a problem to leave an apparently abnormal object. The same thing will happen if Gizma eventually destroys the block, though.

After setting up the torch, I jumped down from a height of three meters and placed a woodblock at my feet before landing on the ground. The drop is 2 meters. I don’t feel like falling off a cliff at this height, though 3 meters is a bit dangerous.

“No matter how many times I see it, it’s still weird…”

“I don’t think you should be surprised anymore by what he does.”

Jagira replied to Ms. Zamir’s words with a shrug. You’re adapting too much, aren’t you?

“So this is the sixth signpost. Should we go a little further?”

“Yes, I think so. I think we can go a little further since we’re not with the soldiers.”

“Then let’s go a little further.”

Sir Leonard and Sylphy exchanged some words, and it was decided that today’s trip into the wilderness would be extended even further. We’ll have to set up at least two more signposts.

“However, Kosuke-dono’s ideas are very flexible…”

“It is certainly a good idea to build a road in the wilderness and then build a more secure fort.”

Ms. Zamir and Jagira are saying this with a look of admiration or maybe amazement. Yes, that’s exactly why we’re here in the Omit Wilderness. To build a safe road and a suitable fort for defense in the Omit Wilderness. This is the first step I proposed to take in order to retake the Merinard Kingdom.

It all started two days ago in the morning.

“I want to move toward the recapture of the Merinard Kingdom.”

After she gathered the people in the usual meeting place, Sylphy declared so. The reactions of the people who heard Sylphy’s declaration were varied. Danan, a huge man with horns like a raging bull, a bull beastman who was a member of the Merinard Kingdom’s royal guard, crossed his arms and made a complicated expression.

Melty, a sheep beast woman with curly horns on her head who used to be an internal affairs officer in the Merinard Kingdom, put her hand on her cheek and looked up as if in thought.

Isla, a one-eyed girl with a small body, has her large eyes half open as usual, looking a little sleepy. A truth-seeker, a skilled alchemist, and a mage with a mastery of advanced magic, she was recognized for her talent and worked as a court mage in the Merinard Kingdom.

The fox-faced man with the amused smile on his face is called Qubi. He wasn’t in any particular official position, but his body movements were as light as a scout in the kingdom’s army or even lighter, and he was strong despite his slender frame. The story goes that he was originally a slum dweller, but well. I’m sure he’s no ordinary person.

And the one with a satisfied smile on his stern lion face is Sir Leonard, the lion beastman. He was a former nobleman of the Merinard Kingdom, and was said to be a warrior who was said to be the best in the Merinard Kingdom. It is said that the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom feared him as Leonard of the Twin Fangs.

The one staring at Sylphy’s face with an unreadable reptilian expression is the Lizard Woman, Ms. Zamir. She is said to be an outstanding woman who served as an instructor of spearmanship in the Merinard Kingdom, and her military prowess is said to rival that of Sir Leonard.

Finally, the one with the fiercest expression on her face was Shumer, a former high-ranking adventurer from the Red-Oni tribe. She is a huge woman, even bigger than Danan, with red skin and two horns on her hairline and forehead. She was well over two meters tall, maybe even two and a half meters. Standing side by side with me, the physique’s difference is such that I, who should be about 175cm tall, look like a child.

There were seven of them and nine including Sylphy and me. The first one to speak was Qubi.

“It’s good; it looks like the Princess is finally getting back into shape.”

“Agreed. I can’t stand being put down by the pigs of the Holy Kingdom anymore.”

Qubi and Shumer seem to be in favor of the idea.

“I also agree. We can’t leave our homeland to be trampled underfoot by them all the time.”

“I will wield my spear as you wish, Your Highness Princess.”

Sir Leonard and Ms. Zamir also agreed with Sylphy’s decision.

“I would like to agree with Your Highness’s decision, but the reality is that there are a lot of problems. The question is how to solve them.”

Danan, the kingdom’s citizens’ actual representative, expressed his approval but took a cautious stance. That’s true. I’ve only been in this world for about two weeks, and there are easily three problems that come to mind.

“It will take time to prepare enough supplies to wage war. And no matter how much help we can get from the elves, there is a limit. Even now, we’re almost unilaterally putting the burden on the elven villages.”

Melty wrinkled the corners of her neat face and shook her head. She’s in the position of distributing the daily rations to about three hundred Merinard citizens. She would like to say that even though she can barely cover it now, it is impossible for her to stockpile more for the war. I think so too.

“We should be able to do it with Kosuke’s help.”

That’s what Isla’s opinion is; it’s kind of a messy statement based on her accurate insight into the true intentions of Sylphy and me.

“Well, that’s right. That’s how it is. As for whether or not we can solve the problem, Kosuke is the key. I’m sorry that I have to rely on you, but I really need your help.”

“As much as I can.”

There are things I can’t do. Maybe. It’s important to take precautions.

“Now, let’s go through the problems one by one. The first problem is the Great Omit Wilderness.”

Everyone in the room nodded at Sylphy’s words.

“I think it takes about ten days to get through on foot. Well, it would be better to start walking when the sun comes up and build a base ― a fort ― in a position where we can reach it in plenty of time before the sun goes down.”

There are several ways to reduce the dangers of expeditions in survival games, but the most reliable and safest way is to build a base. A secure building and the furniture you need to spend the night. It is even better if you have a stockpile of food, medicine, and spare weapons in emergencies.

“It’s easy for you to say, but…”

“Kosuke-san can actually do that.”

Danan, who gave a cautious opinion, smiled bitterly, and Melty was smiling. Ah, that face of Melty’s is scary.

“Let’s build a road anyway. If there is a road that can be used to transport a cart, we can carry some supplies from the elven village without relying on Kosuke. The road should be about six blocks wide.”

“Are you serious about that?”

It’s not really that easy to build a six-block-wide road for ten days on foot. No matter how much material and time there is, it won’t be enough.

“We’ll build the road later. The road can also be used as an invasion route. If we were to build one, it would have to be after we take back the Merinard Kingdom.”

Sylphy dismissed Melty’s suggestion. As expected of my Master! Eh? But if it means later, does that mean we will make it someday?

Let’s not think about it now, yeah.

“We’ll move during the day and spend the night in a sturdy fort. Surely that would allow us to make it through the Omit Wilderness safely.”

“But Gizma doesn’t only attack at night, right? Safety along the way is also an issue.”

“The only way to do that is to bring a certain amount of fighting force with us when we move. Fortunately, I have a crossbow that Kosuke-dono made for me. It’s easy to handle, and many of us actually shot at Gizma during the attack the other day. We should be able to handle it.”

The three combatants, Sir Leonard, Shumer, and Ms. Zamir, exchanged their opinions. Yeah, I think it would be bad if we were taken by surprise with no defensive equipment at all.

“We can use Harpy’s scouts during the day. We can manage it.”

Isla murmured, perhaps anticipating my concern. I see, Harpy’s scouts. Harpy scouts have excellent eyesight, and they are especially effective in places with few obstacles, such as the Great Omit Wilderness. However, they don’t seem to be very good at night vision, so they’re not very good at night battles.

“That’s right, as long as we can convince the Harpy to locate the Gizma from above, we can use the crossbow to blow holes in it.”

Qubi nodded at Isla’s words. As long as the Merinard citizens are armed with crossbows, a Gizma or two will certainly not be a threat. They would undoubtedly be Swiss cheese full of holes before they even got close.

“It will be a difficult road ahead, but it’s also our first step. We’ll be using a lot of clay in the future. So I’ll need you to collect as much as possible.”

“Understood. We will also stockpile as much food as possible.”

“That’s right. I will ask the elders if they can increase the amount of food supply.”

That’s how we decided to build a base in the Great Omit Wilderness. The six members of the advance team were, Sylphy, Sir Leonard, Ms. Zamir, the cat-beast woman scout Jagira, Pirna, who was also a scout harpy, and I. Pirna is doing reconnaissance ahead of us.

“Even so, Kosuke, this bolt-action rifle is amazing!”

“Don’t shoot it too much. The production of the bullets is not yet stable. And make sure you pick up the empty shell casings after you shoot it.”

“I know that.”

While smiling, Jagira is holding an infantry rifle ― a bolt action rifle. This is one of the three rifles I made up in preparation for this expedition. One of the other two is equipped by me, and the other is kept in my inventory as a spare.

It has a caliber of 7.62mm, a fixed magazine type, and a capacity of five rounds. The overall length is 1,100 mm, the weight is 3.9 kg, the rifling is a four-row clockwise rotation, the initial muzzle velocity is 760 meters per second, more than twice the speed of sound, and the effective range is 500 meters.

The mechanism is the robust and reliable bolt-action type, and the design is… to be honest, I’m not enough of a gun maniac to be able to tell a bolt-action rifle apart by its appearance. I’m not a gun maniac, but this is a very famous one. I think it was used by the small mustache-san’s country during World War II.

To be honest, it isn’t easy to mass-produce this at this stage. After all, it takes eight hours to make one. If I could increase the number of workbenches and produce several simultaneously, it would not be impossible, but it would be tough. The material is not so difficult, though.

Regarding this, I don’t think there’s anything I can do about it unless I upgrade my workbench in some way. It’s one thing to push hard with numbers, though.

Currently, I’m not sure how to upgrade the workbench. I think it needs some kind of power… I might combine it with a waterwheel or windmill or build up a steam engine… I’ll ask Isla if she can make something like a magic engine later.

As for the bullets, I got a fair amount of lead, copper, and zinc for the bullets and shell casings. However, this was only for the operation of two or three guns, and if it’s to be used for two or three hundred guns, the number will not be enough at all.

On the other hand, I was able to make a lot more gunpowder than I expected. Collecting dirt from the toilet is a very painful process, but people appreciate it, and I get a lot of gunpowder. It’s a win-win situation.

An explosion is a man’s romance, anyway.

“I don’t like that weapon because it’s very loud.”

“I don’t like it either.”

Sir Leonard and Ms. Zamir, who were both warriors, did not seem to like the bolt-action rifle at all. It may be that they instinctively feel that this weapon is something that will destroy the existence of warriors and knights. If there were dozens or hundreds of these weapons, individual prowess would be an antique and obsolete.

“The power is remarkable, though.”

Sylphy is also not a fan of bolt action rifles with noisy firing. She has a good ear. The sound of gunfire is probably unbearable for her ears.

By the way, in terms of power, if I were to say that two shots were enough to kill Gizma, would that be understood? Gizma died after Jagira and I each fired one shot directly into its head. There was another one following us, but the same thing happened to that one. Furthermore, we had defeated Gizma, who was still some distance away, at least 100 meters from us.

From the perspective of Sir Leonard and Ms. Zamir, who held their weapons in high spirits, as well as Sylphy, who was able to pull off the Pale Moon with ease, it would have been a disappointment. Instead, the crossbow-crazed Jagira became a bolt-action rifle crazed.

We walked for another two hours. We made another signpost along the way and walked further until we arrived at a small hill.

“Fumu, the time is good, and the location is perfect, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. A hill is a perfect location for a fort.”

Indeed, it is a good location. There are few obstacles in the wilderness, so the view from the top of the hill is perfect. It would be a good location for a defense zone.

“Let’s take a break here. After the break, Kosuke should start building the fort. The rest of you, search and be vigilant of your surroundings.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.”

After replying to Sylphy, I took out a table and chairs and started preparing a meal. The first thing we need to do is eat. At the same time, Jagira sounded her whistle, and the high-pitched sound echoed in the distance. She was calling Pirna back from a reconnaissance mission.

Well, let’s get some food first. After that, it’s time to build a fun, fun base.