CH 334

Chapter 334 – Treatment of Former Subhuman Slaves

Before leaving this place, I started the treatment.

People who have no problems in their daily lives but have chronic pain somewhere in their bodies. People who can manage to move but suffer from a slight fever and cough. A child who has a fever in an unfamiliar environment. Most of them had minor illnesses that were not life-threatening, and there were few people who had difficulty walking or working.

“It’s good that there are so many people with minor illnesses…”

“Those who couldn’t work because of injuries or illnesses were thrown out and died. To them, subhumans were nothing more than disposable labor.”

“Hah… it doesn’t help when they preach about the love of God.”

I don’t like to talk about religious matters because they are sensitive, but it seems that even in the religions of the Earth, there was a saying that infidels are non-human. And, for that matter, how could they talk about love and goodness with their mouth?

“For them, it’s a good deed. Even they have a heart of pity for us. But they use us up with their goodness and leave us to die in the field. Subhumans are atoned for their sins by dying after a severe ordeal, and in the next life, they will be reborn as decent human beings. And they will be welcomed by God as a better person by inflicting tribulations on such pitiful subhumans, and by allowing them to complete their trials, even though it hurts their hearts.”

“That’s absurd.”

“Actually, though, no one is that devout. But it is important to know that God says so and that the clergy says so. God says so, and a great clergyman says so, so it’s okay. Everyone else is doing it, so it’s okay.”

The hooded One-eyed race stared at me as I healed the villagers.

“By the way… what is it that you are doing?”

“I’m putting a splint on them and bandaging them up.”

“…..?”

“Oh! The pain in my knee is gone!”

“…..???”

The hooded One-eyed race is reacting like Isla did a little while ago.

“Well, I haven’t heard your name yet.”

“…Oh, yeah. They call me Mono.”

“One-eyed? Is that your real name?”

“No. But it’s okay.”

He―maybe it’s he―must have something on his mind or something he’s holding on to. He seems to have the same intellectual curiosity as Isla, but compared to Isla, he seems to be much more mature or shadowy.

“I see. Well, I’m sure things will only get better from here on out, so take it easy.”

“Yes. I hope so.”

☆★☆

Soon after the treatment was over, we were to have a meal that had been prepared in the meantime. The prepared dishes were vegetable soup and porridge. Both of them seemed to have soup stock made from dried meat, but they were not very tasty. But the quantity of the soup was enough to fill me up.

“Well, that’s what you get when you go this far from the city.”

“That’s right. I think that will change when canned food becomes more widely available.”

“But the production is still very small.”

The canned food and instant noodle businesses that I proposed and launched are expanding steadily, but the production volume is not yet large enough to spread to this area. We haven’t yet built a mass production plant using golems, but it’s still in the range of the manual industry.

Even if we tried to mass-produce cans by using machines, the metal materials used to make cans have not yet been mass-produced by large-scale industries in this world, and there are still many things that need to be improved. In order to mass-produce iron, we need to secure a large amount of ore. Without putting effort into that area first, mass production of canned food is just a pipe dream.

“There’s so much to do…”

“I don’t know why that word came up in this conversation.”

“Danna is much smarter than us, after all. You can see things we can’t, right?”

“Kosuke, I’ve had enough of this. I don’t feel like eating it anymore.”

“Yes, yes.”

Even if we were having a somewhat serious conversation, it was the end of it when Grande was being spoiled like this. Our Dragon-sama is very picky about the level of satisfaction with her food.

“What do you want? A hamburger?”

“Yes, pancakes, too.”

“Yes, yes. What about Shumel and the others?”

“I’ll have one of those, too.”

“I’d like one too.”

“I don’t mind. But I want to eat the pancake.”

As I began to serve hamburgers and pancakes to Grande and the oni girls, the pioneers began to gather around, wondering what that unfamiliar smell of food was. Fortunately, I had plenty of ingredients and stock for the hamburgers and pancakes, so I decided to serve them not only to the pioneers but also to the soldiers who were protecting them. I have limited ingredients for whipped cream, so they’ll have to settle with jams and the like.

“Delicious!”

“This is delicious!”

The pioneers’ preferences were split into two groups: hamburgers and pancakes. It seems that even among the beastmen, those with carnivorous animal elements prefer meat, while those with herbivorous animal elements prefer pancakes. Of course, there are some people who are not included in this category, so it is not absolutely certain.

I mean, you guys have eaten, right? I don’t care if you get a stomach ache from eating so much.

“By the way, I’d like to hear your opinions at the pioneer village site, so if possible, I’d like to have someone come with me and hear your opinions directly at the site as well…”

When I said that, there was tension among the pioneers. Yeah, I screwed this up. I should have talked to them before feeding them hamburgers and such.

“Okay, let’s calm down and talk about it.”

The discussion was very contentious, but in the end, we decided to take Mono with us. Mono, who is small in stature but very intelligent, is apparently relied on by everyone for some reason or another.

In fact, not only that, he is a master of magic and can use recovery and offensive magic. He was sent out because I had fixed all their illnesses and injuries, and the soldiers were protecting them against monsters and bandits.

“Okay, let’s go.”

“Kuh… I wish I could go with you.”

“I wanted to go, too.”

“It’s not a game, you know. Anyway, you’re going to take care of things while I’m gone, okay?”

We headed toward the pioneer village with Deneros, Raya, and other pioneers who were still complaining about the situation.

Well, let’s get the job done quickly.