CH 80

It’s Ko-Fi’s Supporters’ chapter (28/63), enjoy~

Thanks to the consideration of Isla and the Harpies, I spent the night alone with Sylphy, and the next day I began to work vigorously. At night, Sylphy, Isla, and the Harpies would heal me. So I’m full of energy every day… I feel like I’m being sucked dry, but I’m full of energy!

By taking advantage of the fact that the residents have been evacuated, the houses have been demolished and moved to new locations, the walls have been repaired and strengthened, the originally long moat has been deepened, and the millstones have been used to grind grain all day long.

But I am fine.

“Your eyes are dead…”

“You were grinding the millstone all day long. So I can understand how you feel.”

“I’ll refrain from doing that again.”

After several days of completing tasks that needed to be done quickly, I was given a day off. Today’s companion, or rather escort, was Qubi. Originally, my escort was to be Sir Leonard or Ms. Zamir, but they were absent because they were leading their respective troops in a campaign to sweep the Holy Kingdom’s army south of Erichburg.

Although the control of Erichburg is over, there might still be soldiers of the Holy Kingdom army hiding somewhere, or spies of the Holy Kingdom army might have entered the city somehow. Therefore, I need an escort when I spend my vacation in the city.

I really wanted to take a look around the city with Sylphy or Isla, but they were both busy with their own work.

“And even if it was a day off, where would we go? It’s not like we’re going shopping.”

“Well, I guess so.”

In my case, I can make almost anything I want with my crafting abilities. If it’s a rare material that can’t be obtained easily, I might as well buy it… I don’t have access to any magic material after all. It seems to be prepared in the backline, but I never had the chance to go there, and I ended up not being able to get it while I was building the production base. I couldn’t get in touch with the merchants who deal in it…

“Do you want to go to the brothel?”

“I’m interested, but I’m afraid of getting caught, so I’ll pass.”

“Right.”

If I have the energy to vent in a brothel, then I’ll be ‘fine,’ which means my nightlife could be in trouble. Also, I have a feeling that it will simply affect my future days off. It’s a choice that smells of death.

“A bar then?”

“I think it’s better to make the delicious drinks and snacks myself… But actually, I don’t want to go to a place where pretty girls and pretty Onee-sans entertain me for the same reason I don’t want to go to a brothel.”

“That’s true, too.”

My kids are a little bit out of the ordinary, so the slightest trace of them can be detected. Well, even if I’m interested, it’s only for curiosity. Sylphy and the others are good enough for that kind of thing.

“Then, maybe we can go play.”

“By playing, you mean gambling? What kind of games are there?”

“Well…”

I asked him about it, and he said it was some kind of dice game. Apparently, you can play it at a bar table or a gambling den.

“I see. I guess there are dice games everywhere.”

“Do you want to go?”

“No, thanks. I’m an amateur, so I might be an easy target if I go.”

“Right.”

Gambling is designed so that the dealer can profit from it. What can I, an amateur, do against a fierce competitor who is making money even in that environment? The answer is that I’ll be plucked up until the hair on my ass.

“Even if I get a day off, there’s not much to do.”

“How do you usually spend your time?”

“Developing new items?”

“Can that be considered as a day off…?”

“Thinking up and creating new things can be a lot of fun, you know?”

Whether or not it will actually be used by the Liberation Army, I have made some powerful weapons. You never know when you might need it.

“What are you going to do on your day off when there is no rest, no drinking, no gambling, and no brothels?”

“Just wander the streets randomly…?”

“Again, that’s not a day off, is it?”

While talking about this, Qubi and I wandered around the city. It’s been more than a week since we conquered Erichburg. The people seem to have settled down to a certain degree and are enjoying their new daily lives. The people who had used subhumans as slaves until now seemed to have a hard time with their daily lives, though.

“Are things settling down in the city?”

“Yes. Although there are still some troubles.”

“I guess so.”

It’s because the subhuman slaves, who were treated as slaves like livestock until now, are now forced to be treated as ordinary people. The subhuman slaves have been freed from their status and are now under the protection of the Liberation Army.

I think we can feed them for the time being, but they have spent a long time as slaves, so they have no property. We can’t just free them and say, “You’re free! And do your best!” For the time being, the Liberation Army would take care of their food, clothing, and shelter and support them so that they could stand on their own.

At the same time, they are also seizing and confiscating the property of those who have been making money by forcing the sub-humans to work in harsh conditions. I don’t know what the standards are for this, but I think they are making a lot of progress as Melty goes out into the city every day with a happy face. It’s like the inevitable decline of a prosperous person… Well, it’s more correct to say that if you’re going to suffer the retribution of what you’ve done, it’s better to say that you deserve it.

“Melty seems to be working very hard. Is she going to be okay?”

“Ah… well, I think she’s going to do just fine. She’s a tough girl, and she’s not stupid.”

According to Qubi, there are several merchants who are former citizens of the Holy Kingdom who have read the current situation and are actively cooperating with Melty or the Liberation Army. In addition, even though they are the people of the Holy Kingdom, not all of them are persecuting subhumans.

“There are many kinds of people among the Holy Kingdom’s citizens. There are those who are religious, those who are not, those who persecute subhumans like me, and those who are not.”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

There are two types of masters who use large numbers of subhuman slaves: those who overwork subhumans to make money and those who use subhumans heavily to create a good working environment and working conditions.

The former are mercilessly destroyed, while the latter are given preferential treatment and used as workplaces for the freed subhuman slaves.

“Isn’t there a limit to that?”

“The point is, they’re giving away the concessions and whatnot that were held by the merchants they shut down in order to coerce them. In order to make a profit from the new concessions, they need to bring in their own people.”

“I see…? So what happens to the ones who get destroyed?”

“Basically, their property will be confiscated, and they’ll be sent north of Erichburg.”

“That’s terrible.”

“I think they’re lucky they’re not executed.”

“Execution.”

Indeed, the rule of law does not extend to all parts of this world, and the areas under the rule of the Liberation Army today are all like “law? Is it delicious?”

The Sylphy Liberation Army, which has conquered the area south of Erichburg by force, is in a position to physically eliminate subhuman racists and Adel believers if they wanted to. The current way of doing things without raining blood may be quite moderate.

When entering the commercial district, there are stores that are energetically doing business and others that are quietly shutting their doors. The difference between the two is probably the result of Melty’s work.

“Is everything alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“No, I’m worried about the future.”

To be honest, I don’t know anything about governing a country, so I can’t do anything about it. The only thing I can do is create things so that people don’t starve so that they can live safely and so that they can resist foreign enemies.

“You should talk to the princess or Melty about such things. It’s too much for me to think about.”

“Right.”

It’s not something that two idiots like us who don’t know the first word in politics can’t help with. I’ll talk to Sylphy and Isla about it this evening.

“I’ve been wondering, how much stuff do you carry around with you?”

“Oh, the contents of my inventory? Hmm, it’s quite a lot.”

I can’t say I have a complete grasp of the contents myself. There are many things that can be found in my inventory: wood, stone, clay, minerals, living organism materials such as leather and tendons, parts, alloys, weapons, ammunition, tools, clothing, food, Harpies’ feathers…?

“If you have time, why don’t you try to organize it? I’m curious to see what’s in there too.”

“Fumu… that’s good too. I can only do that when I have time. But I need some space to spread out the stuff.”

“You know, there’s a vacant lot near the west wall that was cleared the day before yesterday.”

“Oh, that place, huh?”

It was a so-called slum area, and there were a lot of dilapidated shacks. The plan was for me to clean it up and build a new one. The slum dwellers seemed to have been given homes elsewhere in the city, so it wasn’t much of a challenge to clear the land.

After a short walk from the commercial area, we came to a large vacant lot.

“Let’s see, let’s get it all out.”

“I’ll watch from a distance.”

“Okay.”

I don’t want to get caught under a log or something. So, I silently spit out the contents of my inventory into the vacant lot. There was a lot of wood, stone, clay, and minerals. Especially, there is a lot of timber, especially since I cut down a lot of it the other day.

“Your stuff is outrageous, by the way.”

“I know, right?”

After the wood, stone, and clay were released, the following items were fibers, bent branches, refined iron and steel plates, glass, mechanical parts, leather, strong tendons, gunpowder, and other intermediate materials.

“There’s a lot of stuff around here I don’t understand.”

“It’s called intermediate materials. These are things that are made by processing the basic materials and then processing them further to make various things. I don’t think it can be used by itself for anything.”

The next thing is construction blocks, but I don’t think it’s ever materialized into an item before, has it?

“What is this?”

“This is a building block. One of these blocks is one meter wide, tall and deep.”

“It’s like a die.”

The materialized construction block was shaped like a die and came out of the inventory in pieces. When it comes to the actual construction blocks, they look like blocks that cause pain if stepped on.

“The foodstuffs are a pain in the ass when you take them out.”

“You shouldn’t take them out then.”

The next step was to arrange the weapons. There are many items that have been in storage since they were made. There are swords, bows and arrows, firearms, ammunition, bombs, cannons and cartridges, crossbows, ballistae, and stone-throwers.

“There are some very disturbing items here. A lot of it I’ve never seen before.”

“Not all of the weapons I’ve made have been practical.”

Mainly because of the cost. The cost of ammunition, especially for firearms, is really outrageous. Bombs are much more efficient when using the same amount of gunpowder… and efficiency is a bit of a problem when using them against people.

The rest is furniture, small household items, clothing, and tools.

“Hey, these pickaxes, shovels, axes…”

“They are made of mithril.”

“This is driving me crazy.”

I finished removing most of the items from my inventory. A corner of a large open space has become a chaotic mess of materials and stuff. The only things left in my inventory were food and Harpies’ feathers.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah, that’s almost it.”

“I see… It’s amazing.”

“Even so, it must be a lot less.”

In fact, after arriving in Erichburg, I consumed quite a lot of materials for repairs and such, and I also stored most of the food and weapons, and ammunition used by the Liberation Army in the warehouse.

“Your ability can do almost anything without materials, right?”

“Hmm? Well, that’s true. It’s not like I can create everything out of nothing, though.”

People in the Liberation Army have been misunderstanding me a lot lately. I’m not a magician who can create anything with magic.

“That’s right; I heard you say that before.”

Qubi put his hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Qubi swinging his fist at me.

“Gah!?”

Qubi’s fist strikes me in the jaw, and my vision wobbles. Then something wrapped itself around my neck and choked me. I dug my nails into the thing that was strangling me, but I couldn’t reach the fur at all.

“What…!?”

“Sorry, dude. I’m not going to kill you, so you can relax.”

As Qubi said this, my vision began to darken rapidly. I wonder if my carotid artery is being compressed, but my consciousness is… shit.

My consciousness was cut off there.