CH 204

Chapter 204 – What Should I Do Now

“Thank you for the meal. I’m glad we had a chance to talk. I hope we can continue to be on good terms with each other.”

After finishing her strawberry parfait, Aquawill-san expressed her gratitude with a graceful gesture and left. That’s it, a courtesy kind of thing. Driada-san was like a friendly older sister, but Aquawill-san was an intelligent and polite princess.

My first impression was that she was a timid princess who was hiding behind her sister… No, maybe that appearance right after she woke up from sleep is her true nature. Maybe she is able to behave in a way that gives a different impression now that things have settled down and she has more leeway in her mind. I’ll have to keep an eye on her.

And since Aquawill-san also rebuked me. I will apologize to the red jersey ─ Ifrita, later. It is true that I got emotional and said too much.

But even if I want to apologize, I can’t just leave my work behind. I’ll have to finish my assigned work first. The fields that can be cultivated at high speed can only be done by me.

That’s why I silently dig up the soil with a shovel, place the farm blocks, and plow with a hoe. The work itself is easy now that I can handle a large area at once.

Once the farmland is ready, I plant herb seedlings and seeds, which is the most time-consuming part because I have to do it one block at a time. Well, I can plant while moving backward with the command action, though. The problem is that people around me would look at me like I’m weird if I moved without moving my legs. It’s convenient, though.

“So that’s about it.”

After planting seedlings and seeds in about half of the herb garden, I ran out of stock. The rest will stay that way until Isla or Melty can get them for me.

“The rest is…”

I think about what else is left to work on. I have built a facility to hold prisoners of war. The distribution of supplies, including weapons and ammunition, has also been completed in preparation for the subjugation force coming from the Holy Kingdom. The only thing left to do is to mass-produce weapons and ammunition.

“Hmm…”

I think it will probably be done with just the machine guns of the riflemen’s corps. I’ve made plenty of ammunition available for the machine guns, so I’m sure there will probably be enough. No matter how much the Holy Kingdom army, if the vanguard is destroyed by the machine gun sweep of the opening shot, they will not push too hard.

But, I think that when religion is involved, they might push in without regard to the rate of wear and tear and so on. Maybe I’m prejudiced, but I don’t know. If that’s the case, I might have to show them more fear than faith… Hmm. Should I make the automatic grenade launcher I’ve been working on a prototype for full-scale operation? It has a range of about 1,500 meters and a load capacity of 48 rounds.

The multipurpose grenade has a kill radius of 5 meters, a damage radius of 15 meters, and can penetrate 50mm of armor in the case of a direct hit. I don’t know how strong the chorus magic of the mage unit, which is said to be the Holy Kingdom army’s tiger cubs, is, but there is no way they can survive being shot with a multipurpose grenade that can penetrate 50mm of armor. It may be a little overpowered, but I’ll make some ammunition. If it is to be operated from the top of the ramparts, it should be able to cover a wide area.

However, if I did that, the Holy Kingdom would probably recognize me as an enemy or perhaps as a Demon King. This is not the time to worry about it, though. If they still come at us, I will crush them once and for all and then make a second request for them to surrender. That should settle the matter if the other side is sane.

“I need iron, copper, and gunpowder.”

We have a good stock of all of them, but it would be better to procure them as soon as possible for future use. The stable manure used to make gunpowder can be found in the sewers, so the problem is iron and copper. If I want to get them quickly, I should ask Poizo to go out with me and collect swamp iron ore from the sewers. Although I am not sure if we can call that sewage iron ore “swamp iron ore” or not.

“Poizo, is Poizo here?”

“Did you call for me-nodesu?”

In the courtyard, the ground is dirt, and there are no walls nearby, so I wondered if Poizo would come out, but she came out from somewhere without any problem. How did she really come out? Really.

“I’m in desperate need of iron and copper. I need that metal from the sewers.”

“I understand-nodesu. Where do you want me to take it-nodesu?”

“I’ll go with you.”

Poizo thought for a moment and shook her head.

“There are some places that require a bit of walking, so I’ll bring it over here-nanodesu. Kosuke doesn’t know when you’ll be called, so it’s best not to go too far-nodesu.”

“Mm, is that so…? I see.”

There is indeed a possibility that I may be called out suddenly. After all, my ability to do many things is much more versatile than I thought. It would be bad not to be able to get in touch in case of an emergency.

“I still have a lot of leeway, though.”

“Then you should go to the salon-nodesu.”

“Salon?”

“Yes-nanodesu.”

The salon is a kind of common room around the royal quarters, right? It is the place where Sylphy’s frozen sisters, the queen, and the lost king used to be.

“It’s a good place to go-nanodesu.”

“…..?”

I can’t read Poizo’s intention, but since she says so, she must really mean it. At least that’s what I think she’s trying to tell me. There’s no reason for Poizo to be plotting against me. It’s easier and faster to simply crush me and bury me in the darkness than to try to trick me, and she has the power to do that.

“I don’t know, but I get it.”

“It’s good to be obedient-nodesu.”

I decided to leave Poizo and head to the salon. I already know where it is, so I don’t get lost. I walked to the royal quarters, looking sideways at the human maids and sisters who had worked at the castle from the beginning, who were moving somewhat hurriedly. The frozen royalty quarters were an untouchable area for the people who worked in the castle, so as I approached, the hustle and bustle of the place became less and less.

By the time I reached the corridor that led to the royal quarters, the hustle and bustle of the castle had already become a distant reverberation. I continue down the corridor and open the door to the salon, thinking that the atmosphere is somewhat dreary.

“….?”

Poizo must have said something good would happen, but the salon seemed to be empty. Well, it doesn’t matter if no one is there. Not sure about this.

I scratched my head. It would be boring to just turn around and wander aimlessly around the castle. Since I’ve come to the common room, which is furnished with a nice sofa, it might be nice to relax by myself once in a while.

Incidentally, the sofa here was brought in from the unfrozen section of the castle. The one that was originally here was exposed to extremely low temperatures for 20 years, and it soon deteriorated.

When I approached the sofa, wondering if I should sit down on it, I almost screamed.

“…Suu,”

There, I found Ifrita sleeping, not in a red jersey but in a princess-like dress. She was lying on the sofa, so I didn’t notice her presence until I got closer.

“…Hmm.”

I was surprised to see Ifrita sleeping quietly like this, and I realized that she was a princess, too. She has an extremely well-developed face, as she is Sylphy’s older sister. She’s a beautiful woman when she keeps her mouth shut, which is exactly what she is now.

“Mmm…”

Is it really good that I got to see her innocent sleeping face like this? I don’t know what Poizo’s intention was. But it is obvious what would happen if she suddenly woke up. She will probably say something like, “Don’t look at my sleeping face without my permission,” or “Get away from me, you animal,” and then she will probably shoot out some magic.

It would be wise to leave before that happens. Yeah, I guess so. That’s what I decided, and I immediately left the place.

“…..”

“…..”

My eyes met with a pair of azure eyes that snapped open.