Chapter 140
I decided to make an extended trip to survey the perimeter of the lake in my territory.
The group consisted of five people: me, Anemone, Lilith, and two beastfolk.
I had Lilith change into trousers that were easy to move in, while Anemone wore a blue robe made from cave-spider silk.
If we left our skin exposed, we might be bitten by insects.
"Nyaa."
Of course, Bell, who had come over to my feet, would be coming too.
"Kenichi, are you setting out?"
Akira had come over after spending the night in Sakura.
"I'm not exactly setting out. I'm starting the survey from here."
As a first step, I would measure the distance from where the mansion would stand to the lakeshore.
I had the beastfolk run to the water's edge with transceivers and signs I had made myself.
They were hardly signs at all—just round boards attached to poles—but they were meant for me to aim a laser at so I could measure the distance.
I bought a book on surveying from Shangri-La and studied it a little. As a result, I discovered that the auto level I had bought earlier could only survey short distances.
To change my surveying method, I bought a new laser rangefinder that could measure distances of about one kilometer.
"Nyamena, take this sign and set it up for me."
"Sure thing~"
I took a laser rangefinder mounted on a tripod out of my Item Box and set it up.
I had to try things out somehow. Even an approximate survey would probably produce a more accurate map than anything in this world.
"So how does it tell the distance? Is that a laser?"
At the water's edge, I centered the sign Nyamena was holding in the machine's sights.
"That's right. You press the button, and it displays the distance. Apparently, it was originally made for golf."
Akira peered through the machine.
"Huh. It really is displaying the distance. So this is how you survey?"
The ground sloped down from here to the water, so this was not the true distance.
If I wanted an accurate measurement, I would have to measure the angle of the slope and calculate it from there, but this world did not need maps that precise.
An approximate map would be good enough.
Lilith peered into the machine after Akira.
"Hmm. Is this another magic tool?"
"Lilith, how do they survey things in the kingdom?"
"They use poles."
"Poles?"
Apparently, they measured things with a pole one kan long, made from the height of the first king.
They also used a compass and something resembling a protractor.
That protractor-like device was probably used to measure direction and elevation.
What they were doing was not all that different from surveying in my old world.
"Let's see... The distance to there is 562 meters."
We could also determine the bearing from the compass and the graduations engraved around the machine's circumference.
Once I knew the distance, I recorded it on the map. North was at the top.
On a map with a scale of 1:10,000, it would be 5.6 centimeters; on a 1:100,000 map, it would be 5.6 millimeters.
"This is a pretty tedious process."
"Can't be helped."
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. All we could do was get started.
Even if the circumference was 200 kilometers, covering ten kilometers a day would take twenty days, and covering twenty kilometers a day would take ten.
As we were about to leave, Akira stopped me.
"Oh, Kenichi. I'll lend you this."
He took a ring off his finger and handed it to me.
It was a silver ring. According to what I had heard before, it was supposed to be a translation ring.
"Elves, wild dwarves, and other races don't speak our language. But with this ring, there won't be any problem."
He said he had received it from the elves, so there was no doubt that it worked.
"Oh, thanks. I'll gladly borrow it, then."
"Yeah. Good luck."
I said goodbye to the other family members and the maids, then set out.
Since I would be gone, the maids would prepare meals for the family members who remained behind.
I had given Mairen a large supply of curry roux as well, so I told her to make curry whenever she was unsure what to put on the menu.
Mairen had begged me to take a maid along to care for Lilith, but there was no room in the car.
Lilith turned down the offer as well.
"Lilith, are you sure?"
"It will be fine for once. Besides, I can never relax when I feel like those women are watching me all the time."
"They probably are watching you. They need to be able to rush over as soon as you call. That's their job."
"Well, that is true, but..."
She probably wanted to try traveling without attendants for once.
I got into the La○kuru I had taken out of my Item Box and drove to the place where Nyamena had been standing.
From here, Nyamena and Myaaree would run to the water's edge again and set up the sign.
I would measure it with the auto level and record the result on the map.
The beastfolk would have to keep running the entire time, but ten or twenty kilometers was nothing to their legs.
It was an ordinary walking distance for them.
I had been unsure which direction to circle the lake, but I chose the clockwise route toward Santanka.
I would have the beastfolk stand at intervals of roughly one or two kilometers, measure the distance and bearing, and record them on the map.
With this method, an error would probably accumulate by the time we circled the lake and returned to Sakura, but a little error was not a problem.
All I needed was a general idea of the terrain and what could be found there.
As we surveyed the area, we first entered the village of Santanka.
Naturally, we would survey this place too. We needed to be a little more thorough in places where people lived.
For example, we needed to know roughly how large the village was.
The villagers watched us from a distance as we carried out our suspicious-looking activities.
Bell waited inside the car, while Anemone, who was with her, seemed to be reading on her tablet.
Lilith was looking around various parts of the village, so Myaaree was accompanying her as a guard.
"Hey, ain't that the merchant who supposedly became lord here?"
"What in the world is he doing...?"
Perhaps they were worried, because the village chief came over to me.
"Um, my lord. What are you doing, exactly?"
"I'm surveying the area and making a map. Now that this has become Hamada Territory, I need to understand my land. You don't have anything to worry about."
"Oh..."
I asked whether anyone had ever gone to the opposite shore of the lake.
"No, sir. I've never heard of anyone doing that."
"No one eccentric enough to travel around the lake by boat along the shore?"
"Well, we were barely able to make a living, and there are monsters deeper in the lake..."
"Monsters in the lake? Have people gone missing?"
"Yes."
If there really were monsters like that, it was a good thing I had not tried crossing the lake by boat.
If we were attacked in the middle of the lake, that would be the end of us. Even with the Blessing, we would die if we drowned.
What kind of aquatic monsters were there? Mermen? Kelpies? Could there be krakens in freshwater too?
I was a little worried, but even after asking the villagers, it seemed no one had actually seen a monster clearly.
Perhaps they had simply blamed accidents on monsters.
As I surveyed the area by looking through the auto level, the village children gathered around me.
There were about ten of them. I had not realized there were so many children here.
"Let me see!" "What are you looking at?"
The children milled around me, but since I was technically a noble, the adults seemed to be watching anxiously.
"My lord! Please forgive us!"
A woman in a navy-blue dress who appeared to be one of the children's mothers came rushing over in a panic.
"Oh, it's fine."
I let the children look through the laser rangefinder.
The device itself was a telescope, so distant scenery appeared much closer and larger.
"Amazing!" "The distant things look close!" "Let me see!"
I was swept up in a typhoon of children and churned around with tremendous energy.
Dealing with children was exhausting.
"Phew..."
As I stood there, thoroughly jostled and sighing, I noticed that several beastfolk women had drawn near without my realizing it.
I had never seen them before, so they were probably new residents. They wore calico-patterned or black tiger-striped fur, along with leather jackets and miniskirts.
They did not leap at me, but I could tell they were slowly closing the distance.
They did not look like assassins, at least.
Myaaree and Nyamena noticed them and came running over at incredible speed.
I wondered what had happened to Myaaree's assignment as Lilith's guard, but then Lilith came over to me too.
"Hey! You lot, scatter! The Boss is ours!" "That's right, nya! Hiss!"
Their fur was standing on end. They were seriously furious.
"Come on, don't be stingy! You could share him with us a little!"
"If we share him, there'll be less for us!"
Myaaree and Nyamena began driving the village's beastfolk away. Was some scent beastfolk liked coming off my body?
"Sorry, but we have enough beastfolk in our group already. Maybe next time."
As I said goodbye to the village beastfolk trudging away, Myaaree and Nyamena rubbed themselves against me, marking me with their scents.
"Kenichi, you are popular with the beastfolk, aren't you?"
Lilith was right.
"Honestly! You can't let your guard down for a second. Is there some strange smell coming off the Boss's body?"
Nyamena brought her face close to mine and sniffed me repeatedly.
"Ha ha. I was wondering the same thing."
"This isn't funny, nya."
Anyway, it was time to get back to work.
Once we finished surveying the village, I said goodbye to the villagers and returned to the car, then drove along the water's edge to the next location.
A sandy beach continued along the lakeshore, with the forest beginning about ten meters inland, so the car could travel easily along the water's edge.
The day after leaving Santanka, we reached the southern end of the lake, and from there we would head north.
In places, there were small cliffs, while elsewhere the forest began abruptly without any beach.
Where there was no beach, I stored the car in my Item Box, and had the beastfolk carry Anemone and Lilith across.
I had expected the shore to remain flat and smooth the entire way, but the terrain was surprisingly varied.
We continued surveying for about three days and covered a distance of roughly sixty kilometers.
We finished work on the third day at around three in the afternoon.
We limited each day's work to about twenty kilometers so that we would not overdo it.
There was no need to hurry. We could take our time.
When we reached an open area, we prepared camp and secured a place to sleep.
As soon as I parked the car, Bell went out on patrol. I was grateful to her for checking the surroundings and keeping watch.
We had left all our houses and huts in Sakura, so I bought another container house.
It was convenient, and if we had one left over, we could use it as a room or hut.
I took the container house out of my Item Box, and it dropped into place about ten meters from the water's edge.
The lake was enormous, so there was no danger of a sudden rise in the water level even if we set it up near the shore.
"Kenichi, that iron box is convenient, nya."
"Yeah. It's sturdy and easy to use."
I placed two double beds lengthwise inside. That would be enough room for sleeping.
There was a lamp installed, so we would be fine even at night.
"This room in a box is bleak, but it is usable."
"Well, it was made for that purpose."
I took out the equipment we needed from my Item Box to prepare dinner outside.
"Anemone, bake some bread for us."
"Got it!"
While she baked the bread, I decided to gather some food.
We had eaten meat and instant food from my Item Box for several days, but I wanted something different.
There were fish in the lake right in front of us, so why not go fishing?
I was pretty sure I had fishing gear I had bought before in my Item Box.
We could catch a huge amount by using Anemone's magic, but I had been told to stop blasting the surface of the water.
When I took the fishing gear out of my Item Box, Lilith peered at the rod and fly set with great interest.
"Kenichi, what is that thing on the end of the hook? I heard that people use insects when fishing."
"This is artificial bait. The fish mistake the fur for an insect and bite it."
"So this is how devious sages are?"
"You don't have to put it that way."
The last time I had used artificial bait, I had been fishing in a flowing stream. I wondered whether it would work on a lakeshore like this.
Well, there was only one way to find out.
I cast the artificial bait toward the surface of the lake. The cheap reel gave a sharp whir as it released the line, and the bait landed with a plop, sending ripples across the water.
I reeled it in, but there was no response.
I cast and reeled in again, and this time I felt a powerful tug—the fish had taken the bait.
"Oh! I caught one even here?"
But where had the trout in this lake come from?
Had the lake originally been connected to a river? No, if water only flowed into it, it would keep filling up. Perhaps there was a river flowing out somewhere.
What came up was a trout about thirty centimeters long.
"What a splendid fish!"
"Not bad. Think we can catch two more?"
We caught three more after that, bringing the total to four.
I would fillet them all, season them with salt and pepper, and make chanchan-yaki.
It was normally made with salmon, but trout should work too.
First, I chopped the vegetables and made the sauce. It consisted of miso, sake, sugar, and mirin, with a little kombu stock.
I set up two portable gas burners, spread butter over the griddle, arranged the trout on it, and piled the vegetables around them.
"Anemone, heat it with your magic for a little while."
It was supposed to be steamed and grilled, but that was too much trouble.
"Okay! Warm!"
I heated only the griddle. If I heated the gas canisters, they would explode.
Once everything was cooked, I poured on the sauce. White steam carrying a wonderful aroma rose all around us.
"Oh, damn! That smells incredible!"
"It's making my mouth water, nya!"
"It looks delicious!"
"Nyaa."
Bell had returned, so I gave her some cat food and cooked trout.
"All right! It's finished!"
"Ohhh!"
We had the completed chanchan-yaki and Anemone's bread. The soup was instant.
The beastfolk, who had eaten at a separate table since the former royals had arrived, joined us at the same table today.
"This is great! I didn't know fish could be cooked like this!"
"Oh! I have never eaten a dish like this at the castle! What is this mysterious sauce?"
"It's a seasoning made from fermented beans. I used butter too."
The beastfolk had initially disliked soy sauce, but they seemed to be fine with it now.
Today I had used miso, and they were eating it happily.
"So it comes from beans. Who would have thought beans could produce such a deep flavor...?"
"If it suits the royal family's tastes, I should probably teach Sanbak-san how to make it too."
"Mmm! This is delicious! So delicious!"
"Here, Nyamena—ale!"
"Ohhh! This is the stuff!"
She took the canned beer from me and drained about half of it in one go.
"Ahh! That's the good stuff!"
With her eyes closed and the aluminum can raised as she savored the beer, she looked just like a middle-aged man.
By the time we finished eating, it had grown completely dark.
On the pitch-black lakeshore, all we could hear was the gentle splashing of small waves reaching the water's edge.
I took firewood from my Item Box and lit a campfire.
"All right! I'm full, so next is the bath!"
I summoned the Yu○bo from my Item Box and dug a hole near the water's edge.
There were five of us, so a small hole would be fine—though it was still about the size of a public bath's tub.
"Anemone, heat the water with your magic."
"Got it! Mmph—Warm!"
Steam soon began rising from the muddy water filling the hole.
As I checked the temperature with my hand, Nyamena, who had taken off her clothes, leaped in.
A huge column of water shot up.
"Woohoo!"
"Hey! What if the water is too hot?"
Myaaree jumped in after her.
"Nyaa!"
"If the Boss has his hand in it, that means it can't be too hot, right?"
The beastfolk were far too casual about things, which was a problem.
We all stripped and got into the water.
On either side of me were Lilith and Anemone, both naked with their hair tied up.
The two of them glared at each other as they tried to seize the initiative.
The water was murky, so I could not see their beautiful naked bodies.
In front of me, the beastfolk swam with their bottoms sticking out and their tails swishing back and forth.
"Sorry about this, Princess—taking a bath with you and all."
"Don't worry about it. As Kenichi always says, we are family."
I wondered where Bell had gone, then noticed that she was right beside me.
As expected, she did not seem inclined to get into the bath.
Since we would be throwing the water away anyway, we washed ourselves in the tub and rinsed off with water from the lake.
"Woohoo! It's cold!" "Nyaa!"
"Shouldn't we warm it up a little with Anemone's magic?"
"It's fine, Boss."
"Are you all right, Lilith?"
"I'm fine."
We all stood naked in a row, bathing in the middle of nature.
A lot had happened, and I had drifted far from my slow-life days, but this felt like a slow life.
Finally, we dried our hair with a jet heater, leaving everyone's fur fluffy.
"Oh! Come to think of it, we didn't prepare the bath before leaving Sakura..."
We had left the bathtub inside the hut we used as a bathhouse, at least...
"Do not worry, Kenichi. Mother will take care of it somehow."
Lilith was right. We could probably leave it to Amaranthus.
Once we were clean, we all went inside the container house.
Bell came in too.
"Nyaa!"
Myaaree leaped onto one of the large double beds.
There were two beds, so Lilith, Anemone, and I would share one, while the beastfolk used the other.
"Now that your fur is clean, how about I brush it?"
I had naked Nyamena lie face down on the bed and began brushing her back.
As I moved the brush, Nyamena held her tail straight up and seemed to be trying not to make a sound.
"Ff... Fuuuh!"
"You can make a sound if you want, Nyamena."
When I brushed from her rear to the tip of her tail, her body twitched and trembled.
"—! Nyaaah!"
Nyamena suddenly arched her back and began trembling, making Myaaree leap into the air.
"Nyaa! Tiger peed herself!"
"What?!"
In a panic, I took a replacement sheet out of my Item Box.
"You stink of pee, Tiger! Get off!"
"Fgyah!"
Myaaree kicked Nyamena under the bed and began changing the sheets.
"You little black cat!"
"Nyaa, it's my turn next. Brush me while you hold me, nya."
I brushed her while holding her, just as she requested.
It was surprisingly difficult.
"Nyaaah..."
Myaaree's eyes turned dreamy as she bit my neck.
"Ow! Myaaree, stop! Even if it's just a playful bite!"
The beastfolk's fangs were sharp, so even a playful bite hurt quite a lot.
Once I finished grooming the beastfolk, I returned to my bed.
Then Lilith and Anemone began glaring at each other over my stomach.
"I am the first wife!"
"I've spent more time with Kenichi than Lilith has!"
"If we're talking about that, I've spent the most time with Kenichi, nya~"
"That's true. Myaaree was the first person I met in Dalia."
Well, the first woman I actually met was the innkeeper's daughter.
I had even had my first, er, experience in another world with her...
"When we first met, you smelled like spices and everything. You were such a strange old man, nya~"
"I can't deny that."
"But I thought that if I followed Kenichi, I'd get to eat lots of spiced food, nya."
"So that's why you followed me?"
She had actually eaten plenty of curry, so Myaaree's instincts had been right.
While I talked with Myaaree, Lilith and Anemone continued glaring at each other.
"Mmph!"
They both shoved their heads inside my shirt.
"Hey! Stop that! You'll stretch the shirt!"
"Then mine will go here!"
Lilith's face moved toward my lower body, and she began trying to pull down my trousers.
"Hey, hey! Stop that while everyone is here!"
"But you were enjoying it too, were you not?"
"Well, yes, but..."
"Then I'll do it too!"
"Hey, Anemone!"
After a great deal of commotion, we all fell asleep.
The room was perfectly quiet, with only the faint sound of waves drifting inside.
What did you call a sound like this again? 1/f noise?
Thinking about that, I drifted off to sleep.
------◇◇◇------
I was suddenly awakened.
"Boss! Boss!"
I opened my eyes as someone shook me vigorously.
"Huh? Wh-what is it? Is it morning already?"
"No! There's something dangerous outside, Boss!"
"What?!"
I hurriedly turned on the light and saw that Bell's black fur was standing on end as well. This was no ordinary problem.
As I woke Lilith and Anemone, a loud pounding struck the outer wall, and the container house began to move.
"Wait a second! What's moving it?!"
I could not make out anything in the darkness when I looked outside through the window. The container house was extremely heavy, yet something was moving it with ease...
As we panicked, the container house suddenly overturned, and the beds toppled toward us.
The LED lantern we were using for light rolled around noisily.
"Aaaah!"
"What is it?!" "Aah!"
"Fgyah!"
The inside of the container house descended into utter chaos.
What the hell is this?!