Chapter 45
I was relieved that Anemone seemed to be all right after developing a fever from magic sickness.
She looked like she would recover soon.
After everyone ate canned peaches, the four of us and the Forest Cat had breakfast, then decided to repair the wall Anemone had burned with magic.
"Well, what should we do?"
This house was built like a log cabin, with the outer walls made by stacking logs, so cutting out part of the wall would weaken its structure...
I searched Shangri-La for lumber.
Ten cypress boards, each six millimeters thick and about two meters long by twelve centimeters wide, were being sold for 6,500 yen.
"This should do—it’s rather expensive, though."
For the moment, I bought these and decided to attach them vertically across the entire wall.
There were no windows on the side of the wall Anemone had scorched, so I didn't need to cut the boards to fit around one.
I took out a tape measure and measured the room. The wall was about four meters long—which meant I would need to line up thirty-three boards vertically.
The ceiling was about two meters thirty centimeters high. The boards were two meters long, leaving thirty centimeters uncovered. I would have to add another piece and attach it.
I looked for other lumber, but there was nothing suitable. According to my calculations, buying four sets of these boards should cover the entire wall.
I went outside, bought the lumber from Shangri-La, then took a generator and a circular saw out of my Item Box and cut the boards, making fine adjustments so they would fit the wall.
Once I got the dimensions right, I could use that board as a template and cut all the others.
When I began working, Primula came out of the house at the racket made by the saw.
"It’s noisy, but bear with it for a while."
"You have so many of those magical tools."
She gazed at the tools I was using with great interest.
"Well, yes. I can’t show you everything, of course—not even you. Naturally, the same goes for Anemone and Myaree."
"But..."
"You have things you keep hidden in your heart too, don’t you?"
"I-I do, but..."
She seemed bothered by how many things I kept hidden. But even close friends had their boundaries—I thought she would understand.
The cutting was finished while we were talking.
All that remained was to take out the compressor and nail gun and attach the boards to the wall. There would probably be a partial board at the end, so I would cut it to fit when I got there.
While I was at it, I bought sheets of expanded polystyrene as insulation and placed them beneath the boards. They would also provide soundproofing.
Ten sheets measuring about two meters by one meter and one centimeter thick cost 6,000 yen.
With Myaree and Primula holding the boards in place, I drove nails into them one after another.
With their help, the wall was finished in less than two hours.
All that remained was to peel up the imitation wood flooring stuck to the floor and replace it with new sheets.
"All right! It’s finished."
"It looks much nicer now."
Until now, the inside had been bare, with only the outer wall in place. Now it had an interior wall too.
"It would look better if I redid the other walls to match these boards. I’ll work on them bit by bit and improve the interior over time."
"These boards smell nice, nya~"
The boards were cypress, so they had a strong woody scent, but apparently the beastfolk didn't find it unpleasant.
"Look, Anemone. The wall is all fixed."
"Yeah."
She had been very troubled by burning the wall, but seeing it repaired beautifully brought her smile back.
Thank goodness.
Since I had the tools out, I decided to modify the shed I had built earlier too.
I decided to install a small window in the wall directly opposite the shed's entrance.
It was the square type often used for bathroom windows, which swung outward to open.
The shed had been pitch-black before because it had no windows.
When I made biodiesel fuel, I had removed some boards for ventilation, but I couldn't keep using it that way forever.
I covered the roof and walls with waterproof sheeting, then bought and attached galvanized steel panels measuring forty-five by ninety centimeters for 1,800 yen each.
That should greatly improve its durability.
Finally, I built shelves inside the shed, completing the work.
With a table inside, it could serve for simple tasks and as an emergency shelter.
――Speaking of shelters, I wanted a barricade for combat.
I wanted something to put between us and large monsters such as Fang Bears if we were attacked.
I cut down trees about ten centimeters in diameter with a chainsaw and cut them to the required lengths. I sharpened the ends like pencils, then assembled three of them into an 'inverted V' shape.
Any animal would instinctively fear having something sharp pointed at it. I could make it flinch with these, then shoot it from behind with a crossbow.
When I searched Shangri-La, I even found barbed wire for sale—it cost 5,000 yen for one hundred meters. Wrapping it around the barricades would make them perfect.
They could even be used for war. Not that I intended to do that.
I made six identical barricades. That way, if I turned the shed into a shelter, I could use them to defend it.
Moving something like this would be difficult, but putting them in my Item Box made it easy.
But while I was using the chainsaw, a thought occurred to me—
"Ah, if I used a chainsaw attack on a Fang Bear—no, that wouldn’t work. It would kill me with its claws before I got close."
"Is that a magic tool too?"
Primula watched the chainsaw from a distance as it roared and belched white smoke.
"Yes. It’s a magic-powered tool for cutting wood."
"..."
"Why are you making that face? Are you starting to want to go home?"
"Absolutely not!"
"I might not be a sage at all—I could be a demon, you know?"
"A demon wouldn't help women in pitiful circumstances, would one?"
"I suppose not. Hahaha."
Once I finished the woodworking, Primula and I went out to look for medicinal herbs.
"I’m coming too!"
Anemone came running out of the house.
"Are you sure you’re all right?"
"Yeah!"
Anemone looked like she was having fun, but Primula seemed somewhat displeased at losing her chance to be alone with me.
I found small amounts of Red Dewgrass and Blue Dewgrass, but maybe there wasn't any more around here.
I thought we should widen our search area, but going too deep into the forest increased the risk of encountering monsters.
The thought of there being Fang Bears like that one everywhere made me hesitate.
But according to Myaree, she sensed no large monsters nearby.
Apparently, she had gone quite deep into the forest, but there were so few monsters that it felt unnatural.
Could something be causing it?
As I searched the ground for medicinal herbs, I raised my head and looked to the left. I could see the lake glittering between the trees.
"Ah, we could cross the lake too."
We could cross to the opposite shore in a boat or something. But this lake was enormous.
When I searched Shangri-La, I found rubber boats for sale, but most of them were only large enough for two people.
Hmm... The flimsy ones cost about 3,000 yen, but sturdy ones were over 30,000 yen.
It would be disastrous if I bought a cheap one and sank in the middle of the lake. Accidents on the water happened fairly often.
Fishing accidents were common too—an acquaintance who was a fisherman used to say that hell was only a plank below the boat's bottom.
Models that could be fitted with an outboard motor cost around 60,000 yen, but I didn't want medicinal herbs badly enough to invest that much.
"Kenichi, I want to do business in Astrantia."
She was the daughter of a major merchant and had even gone along on purchasing trips. She probably couldn't stand sitting around in a little house in the middle of the forest.
It seemed Marlowe-san had hoped she would marry and settle down to a family life, but she didn't look like the sort of woman who would live such an ordinary life.
"You’re a merchant’s daughter too, Primula, so you’re registered with the guild, right?"
"Yes."
"But we don't have much to sell. I sold almost everything I had in Dalia. What will you sell?"
I could buy more things from Shangri-La, but I had enough money to live comfortably and didn't want to attract attention by doing business unnecessarily.
"I’ll think of something..."
"Oh, right. I have the picture books I made recently."
"Picture books?"
I showed Primula the picture books about the Elven Forest and Cinderella.
"These are wonderful! They’ll sell!"
I hadn't explained how I made them. Printing technology would be a major breakthrough in this world.
It could become a big deal like the draisine, so perhaps it would be better not to make too much noise about it.
It would be enough to make picture books and illustrated stories now and then and earn a modest profit.
"But that alone won't be enough. Once we have vegetables, we could sell them. Or we could catch fish and make dried fish."
"In that case—"
At Primula's suggestion, we decided to sell stewed Fang Bear meat, or pot-au-feu, along with sweetly stewed Linka.
She said she had gotten the idea for the stewed Linka from our conversation that morning while eating canned peaches.
------◇◇◇------
――The next day.
I rubbed spices and herbs into the Fang Bear meat the night before and soaked it in wine overnight. I had also peeled the vegetables and soaked them in ash water.
We used these ingredients to make a stew in the morning. I contributed a little soup stock powder.
I tasted it, and compared with the soups sold in the city, the difference was like night and day—the broth tasted like an expensive gourmet soup.
Then I peeled the Linka I had stored in my Item Box and stewed it with sugar.
I added enough sugar that we could plausibly claim its sweetness came from the Linka itself.
I provided an apple peeler from Shangri-La. It was a machine that peeled an apple when you turned a handle, and cost 1,500 yen each.
It looked like a toy, but it peeled surprisingly well. Any reduction in effort was worthwhile.
The stewed Linka tasted like a lightly cooked compote, but it was wonderfully fragrant, sweet, and delicious. This would sell.
Primula had learned how to make it, so she said she would prepare it herself starting the next day.
The soup and compote cost 1,000 yen with bread. That was an ordinary price in the city too. She planned to buy the bread in town.
I made twenty liters of soup, so at three hundred milliliters per serving, that came to sixty-six servings. If we sold it all, we'd make 66,000 yen.
The compote would bring in more than 100,000 yen if we sold it all, but—
"Kenichi, please lend me the magic-stone stove."
"Sure."
I taught her how to use the cassette stove I called a magic-stone stove.
She said she only wanted to borrow it because she would earn money quickly and buy one of her own, but even a used magic-stone stove cost around 300,000 yen.
If she really made 100,000 yen a day, she should be able to buy a 300,000-yen stove soon enough, but...
"In that case, should I build a stone oven for baking bread?"
When I checked Shangri-La, I found large stone ovens for about 80,000 yen.
"How many loaves of bread can you bake in that oven?"
"At most, two loaves, I suppose..."
"If the soup and stewed Linka sell, we'll need more than twenty loaves of bread."
A loaf of bread cost about one copper coin, or 1,000 yen, so that meant an additional 20,000 yen in expenses.
"Then there wouldn’t be enough time to bake it all..."
Leave bread to the baker—hmm, she really was the daughter of a professional merchant.
Besides, if we wanted freshly baked bread for ourselves, it would be more efficient to take out the generator and run a bread machine.
Now that the products were ready, transporting them was going to be difficult.
Primula's father had an Item Box, but she didn't.
She also had to travel through the forest to reach the city. I had never encountered a monster on the road along the cliffs, but walking there was still somewhat dangerous.
I decided to put the cargo in my Item Box and take her by motorcycle, riding tandem, to the outskirts of the city.
Once we reached the main road, I would load the cargo onto the four-wheeled carrier I had bought when transporting the injured Forest Cat and pull it along.
That way, she should be able to pull the cargo herself.
The carrier's box was made of plastic, so I covered it with wood-grain sheets, then draped burlap over it to disguise it.
At a glance, it should look like nothing more than an unusual cart.
Primula would run the business in Astrantia by herself, then return in the evening, when I would ride back with her on my motorcycle.
――Then, evening came.
I straddled the off-road motorcycle and went to pick Primula up.
I reached the main road, but it seemed I was a little early.
I took out a stool beside the road and read an ebook from Shangri-La. After a while, I saw Primula pulling the cart, and she waved at me.
But a tall beastwoman was walking beside her...
"Kenichi!"
"Primula, did you sell all the food?"
"It all sold out! Your cooking is simply too delicious. Customers couldn't pass up a stew like that—something you could only eat at an expensive restaurant, available from a street stall."
The cart held an empty pot and cassette stove, along with Linka and vegetables for the next day's cooking.
Once she bought her own magic-stone stove, she would practically be able to run the business using only this world's goods.
"And who is this beastwoman?"
She was a tall, muscular, tiger-striped woman. Her fur was somewhat long and looked a little shaggy.
The length of her fur made her body look even larger, and her sharp eyes were fixed intently on me.
She wore a shabby hemp shirt and a short navy skirt, but beastfolk apparently wore clothes only as a token gesture and had little interest in fashion.
It wasn't that they had any problem being naked; they simply wore clothes because ordinary humans disliked it when they weren't.
"I'm Nyamena. Nice to meet you."
"There were many men who took us lightly and harassed us when I was the only female vendor, so I hired her as a guard."
"Hahaha! All I have to do is glare at the men, and I get one small square silver coin a day—that’s 5,000 yen! That’s easy money!"
I put the cart Primula had pulled into my Item Box.
"Oh! An Item Box? I haven't seen one of those in ages!"
The Item Box was a rare ability, but apparently a fair number of people possessed it.
Some people also kept it secret, so there might actually be more users than I knew about.
Primula said she wanted to invite Nyamena home and treat her to dinner.
"We’ve finally gotten to know each other, so surely that’s all right?"
"Sure. She’s the person protecting you, after all."
After we walked through the forest for a while, I took the off-road motorcycle out of my Item Box, and Nyamena reacted to it.
"That’s the dry-something-or-other that rides through the city, right?"
"This is a special model powered by magic. Don't tell anyone about it."
When Primula climbed on behind me and I started the engine, Nyamena chased after us in astonishment.
"It moves without pedaling? How does that work?"
"That's what I mean by magic."
"Heehee."
We made our way through the darkening forest with the beastwoman and returned home.
"Now that’s something else. I can’t believe it can move that fast even through the forest... This is a nice place, though."
Nyamena looked around. It was already dark, but her eyes could probably still make out the beautiful scenery.
While I was putting the motorcycle into my Item Box, Primula brought up the books.
"Those books all sold too. You said they should cost one small square silver coin, but they sold for two small square silver coins—10,000 yen each."
"There were eighteen books, so that’s just under one gold coin..."
"Yes—but..."
Primula lowered her head, looking as though she found it difficult to speak.
"What’s wrong?"
"The men who bought the books asked whether we had any more erotic books with pictures of naked women..."
"Men only ever think about that sort of thing."
Nyamena rested her left hand on her hip and waved her right hand dismissively as she spoke in exasperation.
"I think books like that would sell, but the authorities would take notice. They’d call it offensive to public morals."
"You wouldn’t make anything like that, would you, Kenichi?"
"No, I wouldn't."
There was no way I could make something like that in a house full of women.
Still, if we ever ran short of money, it might be an option. Simply learning that there was demand for it was useful.
Myaree must have heard us returning, because she came rushing out of the house.
"Kenichi~! Gyaaah! Who’s that woman, nya?!"
Myaree's fur stood on end when she saw Nyamena.
"She’s a guard Primula hired. Primula wants to treat her to dinner."
"Oh, that’s what it is, nya~. I thought Kenichi had gotten another woman, nya."
"What do you mean, 'another'? That's not happening."
The Forest Cat came out of the house too and ran over to me.
"Nyaa~"
"There, there. I'm home."
I stroked her head and beneath her chin—the black, velvet-like fur clung to my hand.
"What? The Forest Cat! Aha—I get it. You live in the forest because you live with a Forest Cat and all those magical tools, don't you?"
"Good guess—that's right. Don't tell anyone, okay?"
"I understand."
We ate curry all the time, so I decided to make stew today.
I had prepared a large amount of Fang Bear meat with its odor removed and vegetables with their bitterness removed and stored them in my Item Box, so I could cook whenever I wanted by taking them out.
Once the stew was simmering, I added flour fried in oil, milk, and heavy cream, then let it simmer for a while.
I wanted to make all sorts of different dishes for everyone, but people grew wary when they saw food they had never encountered before.
"All right, it's ready."
I arranged the finished stew on the table.
Nyamena looked surprised at the white soup set out on the table, and I wondered what she would think after tasting it.
The stew had been well received by the other beastfolk too, so I didn't expect any problems, but...