Chapter 97
We have come to a mountain pass called Veronica Gorge.
The highway running through that pass has collapsed for a length of one hundred meters, and we have to somehow deal with it.
The king and queen of this country have taken notice of the power of my heavy machinery.
The nobles are apparently gathering personnel and rushing here to provide assistance—but according to the princess, it will take three weeks.
There was no way we could wait that long. We decided to handle it ourselves.
To do that, we first had to make a campsite.
So, using K○tsu-san fitted with a hydraulic breaker, I broke down the rock wall and made some space.
For now, all we needed was enough room to place the house and sheds. At present, there was barely enough space for two carriages to pass each other.
Once we had made the space, we set up the house and sheds, creating a temporary base of operations.
Next, we needed a large amount of biodiesel fuel to operate the heavy machinery.
K○tsu-san's fuel tank held 400 liters—so we needed to build a shed for synthesizing the fuel. But there was no time to construct a kit shed.
We would have to make do with a large tent. With that in mind, I searched Shangri-La for a large tent.
I found one shaped like a circus tent, with a central pole and a conical roof spreading out around it.
Since it was large, it was naturally expensive—65,000 yen.
Still, something this large would be perfectly suitable as an emergency shelter too.
“Click.”
The components came crashing down with a thud. This one was also assembled from parts, but it probably would not take long to put together.
I spread a circular vinyl sheet on the ground as the floor, then erected a pole in the center to support the roof.
To secure it, we had to hammer stakes into the ground, but that was not easy because the ground was rock.
I took out a generator and hammer drill from my Item Box, drilled holes, and then secured the stakes—it was quite a job.
The roof was held in place by the pole and stakes, allowing the tent to stand even without walls.
I thought I would never use a hammer drill again—but it surprised even me by finding an unexpected use.
Finally, I suspended vinyl sheets from the roof to serve as walls, completing the tent.
It really did look like the circus tents I had seen as a child.
Come to think of it, I felt as though I had not heard the word circus in a very long time.
“One unfamiliar magical tool after another—just who are you?”
“I am a merchant and mage from the frontier. Nothing more, nothing less.”
While the princess looked perplexed by my answer, everyone slipped inside the tent.
“Wow, it's huuuge!”
Bell had come with Anemone and was already sniffing every corner.
“Oh! What a magnificent tent! I would very much like to purchase it—”
The merchants came over to negotiate a sale, but of course, this was not for sale.
“Boss, are you going to sleep here?”
“No. We will be doing important work here—producing the oil my summoned beasts consume. We did this during the construction work in the viscount's territory, remember?”
“The thing where you use a magical tool to separate the oil, nya?”
“Exactly.”
I bought two cheap plastic bathtubs from Shangri-La and thirty cans of canola oil.
Each can held eighteen liters, so thirty cans amounted to 540 liters. Since each plastic bathtub held 250 liters, the two of them would be almost full.
Each can cost 3,600 yen, for a total of 108,000 yen. Operating the heavy machinery for one day would cost about that much in fuel. Well, it was a necessary expense. I decided to buy two new ladles while I was at it.
I filled the plastic containers with canola oil and added the chemicals for pretreatment.
After that, I just had to run it through the magical tool shaped like the character '不'. Since Kaldon-san had given me an identical one, the fuel production speed had doubled.
“Take the oil here and pour it into the top of the magical tool with the ladles, then collect the oil on the left. Just like before. Make sure you don't mix the oils, or the summoned beasts will get a stomachache.”
“I know, boss.”
“There's nothing else to do in a place like this, so this is all we can do, nya.”
Myaree was right. There were cliffs on both sides, and nowhere to go.
The beastfolk could probably run down the pass and go hunting in the forest below, but apparently they could not be bothered.
“Boss, can't we use the scaffolding in your Item Box to climb up that cliff?”
“Probably not. Even at a glance, it looks several times higher than the cliff at our place.”
Besides, the cliff here was slanted. We could not climb it just by setting up scaffolding.
“Unyaa...”
A calico woman entered the tent from behind the grumbling Myaree, hugged me, and pressed her large breasts against my arm.
“Hey, boss—since you already have two beastfolk, why don't you hire just one more?”
“I have a wife and children, so that might be difficult...”
“Gyaaah! You let your guard down for one second and—this calico!”
“Don't you dare put that weird scent on him!”
“Your stinking scent is much worse than mine!”
The beastfolk women glared at each other, on the verge of coming to blows.
“Hey, hey, stop it. Don't fight. I've been told not to take on any more of you.”
“Geez! You didn't have to turn me down so quickly!”
If two or three of them all got their periods at the same time, my body would not be able to take it.
When the calico woman moved away, Myaree and Nyamena rubbed against me, trying to overwrite her scent.
“There was someone like that during the goblin incident too, but honestly, you can never let your guard down around them, nya.”
“With this sort of thing, you have to get in first! Shoo, shoo!”
If I let every newcomer into my group and turned it into a harem, Anemone and Primula might stab me.
Primula was especially frightening. A serious person like her could do anything when she became obsessed with something.
She had actually abandoned her family home and come to live with me.
“Damn it—Kuro-suke, there's someone else flirting with him too!”
“Seriously, this is no joke, nya.”
“No, Nyamena, the men are obviously looking at you, aren't they?”
“Ugh! No way!”
“We'd better sleep inside a shed with a barrier around it.”
“Boss, we'll do that...”
In any case, I had them help me replace the hydraulic breaker with a regular bucket so I could use the heavy machinery.
Should I just buy another K○tsu-san and operate two machines, one with the breaker and one with the bucket?
I would think about it the next time I needed to use the hydraulic breaker.
“Thanks.”
“Then we'll make the oil, nya.”
“Please do.”
I left the oil production to the beastfolk and decided to test-drive the heavy machinery while chewing on some bread.
I also handed bread to anyone who was hungry. Melissa seemed to have exhausted her magical power using the golem, so she would not be able to help today.
I put the tools outside the house so Anemone and Primula could start preparing dinner.
“Kenichi, I would like you to bring out a little more, please...”
“Are you going to sell food again?”
Well, Primula had nothing else to do here. Besides, she had customers right in front of her.
I decided to prepare the wine server we had used before, along with a large amount of wine. I had them gather the garbage, and I would throw it into a trash bin later.
“Should I bring out more meat?”
“Yes.”
I took the lesser dragon's corpse out of my Item Box.
“Wooooah?! A dragon?!”
The merchants came running over in astonishment.
“I-is that for sale too?”
“No. Primula over there is going to use its meat to make delicious food for us. Have some if you like. We have wine too.”
“Good heavens! Warm food in a place like this!”
Primula and I peeled off the hard scales and cut out chunks of meat. As we had done yesterday, it would probably be best to boil it once and discard the scum-filled broth.
The merchants asked to buy the scales, so I sold them some. When I asked Primula about the going rate, she said one small square silver coin per scale (5,000 yen).
Because they were hard and even repelled magic, they were apparently popular as talismans because of those properties.
“I'd like to try eating dumplings made with this meat.”
“Understood. I'll make some.”
I took out the mincer for making ground meat and bought a large quantity of dumpling wrappers from Shangri-La.
Since the meat had no fat at all, I wondered whether adding butter or lard would work.
“Anemone, do you remember how to make them?”
“Yes, no problem.”
While I was setting up the mincer, customers arrived almost immediately.
“We heard there's alcohol here?”
“Give us some too!”
About six beastfolk with various-colored fur had come over. The calico woman from earlier was among them.
The men kept glancing at Nyamena, but she made her refusal obvious, wearing an openly disgusted expression and holding up a hand in refusal.
“This isn't a free soup kitchen, so I'm taking payment.”
However, the merchants objected when the beastfolk tried to drink.
“Don't forget your guard duty!”
“Yeah, yeah, we know.”
“What kind of monster would be out here? The only monsters around are those guys, right?”
A male beastfolk with black-and-white fur pointed toward a black bird resembling a crow. Its tail was long, however, and its silhouette differed from that of a crow. It did not caw, either.
“What kind of bird is that?”
“Boss, that's a Deathbird.”
A bird that announced death—it was apparently a scavenger that fed on carrion. In other words, if there was one of those birds around, there was probably a corpse nearby.
“Don't you hunt it?”
“You're joking!”
No one touched it. Everyone said the same thing: apparently, it tasted terrible.
Still, it seemed that no one had actually eaten one and they were only repeating rumors they had heard from someone else...
I had grown up in my original world hearing that crows tasted terrible too, but apparently they were not entirely inedible.
Maybe that bird was the same, but with delicious meat available, there was no reason to force ourselves to eat it.
I also brought out a table and chairs for the princess. I prepared a tea set and some snacks to go with it.
“I can have Anemone boil the water, or I can prepare a burner for you.”
“Hmm, you have thought of everything. Being able to drink tea in such a remote place is normally unthinkable.”
“But when a princess travels, surely there should be a long line of carriages loaded with luggage...”
“I hear some nobles do that sort of thing, but there are countless other worthwhile ways to spend money instead of wasting it like that.”
So she was surprisingly frugal—or perhaps it was better to say that she knew where to spend money.
I left the cooking and sales to Primula and Anemone and had to operate the heavy machinery.
When I climbed into the driver's seat, K○tsu-san belched thick black smoke and raised its bucket high.
Then it broke apart the earth and rocks from above, scooped them up, and dropped them over the cliff.
“Hmm, this is inefficient...”
A backhoe was fine for breaking down the earth and rocks from above, but we needed a different machine to scoop up and move large quantities at once.
In other words, a wheel loader.
Well, I had money. One desk I had received from the queen as military funds was more than enough to buy one piece of heavy machinery.
I had considered getting a yellow K○tsu like the backhoe, but perhaps it would be better if the color and name were different when I explained it to my family.
That brought an orange wheel loader made by H○tachi Construction Machinery to my attention.
It cost ten million yen used. It looked quite large—would it even fit in my Item Box?
Apparently, this was still considered a medium-sized model. If it did not fit, I could probably remove the bucket and manage somehow.
I stored the yellow K○tsu-san in my Item Box and chanted the summoning spell.
“All right! Come on out, come on out, H○tachi-san! ZW160, 175 horsepower! Click!”
Its enormous black tires bounced as the orange vehicle dropped down. It was used, but still fairly new.
It was huge! Would it really fit in my Item Box? I was starting to worry.
And those tires really were enormous. They were about as tall as a person.
Would I even be able to inflate them? Besides, I remembered hearing that heavy-machinery tires had incredibly high air pressure...
I had often seen news reports about tires exploding and killing people.
“Wooooah!”
The merchants cried out in astonishment.
“What is this?! Another summoned beast?”
“That's right. It can use that enormous box with claws to scoop up and carry large amounts of earth and rocks.”
Since this world had neither the word 'orange' nor the color itself, I asked the princess what she would call the vehicle's color. She said it was flame-colored.
I see—flame-colored... That did not really click with me.
“What in the world is this?! Is this magic?!”
Melissa was also looking up at the orange vehicle.
“Melissa, this man is a Unique Magic user. He controls things completely different from the magic we know.”
“So this is Unique Magic... Honestly, it's absurd!”
Even if she called it absurd, I did not know why I had this power either.
In any case, I decided to try driving it.
I put my foot on the ladder, opened the glass door, and climbed into the driver's seat.
Unlike the backhoe, it had a steering wheel and operated like a car.
The accelerator and brake were also like those in a car, but there were two brake pedals.
Perhaps they were arranged so either the right or left foot could be used. The left column lever seemed to control forward and reverse.
But honestly, I had never driven a wheel loader before.
“Still... my first time driving one, in this cramped and perilous place? I wish I could have practiced on level ground...”
For now, I turned the key and started the engine. The rear of the cab was also made of glass, and I could see black smoke billowing from the engine at the rear of the vehicle along with its vibrations.
“The fuel's fine... I assume it's automatic, so I think it will move when I press the accelerator...”
I released the parking brake and pressed the accelerator slightly. The machine moved forward, so I hurriedly stepped on the brake.
The two levers beside my right arm apparently controlled the bucket.
“Hyaaaah! Calm down, calm down, me—hee, hee, hoo! If I fall, it's all over...”
I moved forward, scooped up some earth and rocks, then reversed and turned the wheel left before dumping the bucket over the cliff.
I repeated the process over and over, checking each control one by one until I got used to it. My shirt was soaked with sweat.
This was a completely different kind of stress from fighting monsters. What would I do if all this stress made me go bald?
The people crossing a narrow bridge for money in a certain manga might have felt something like this.
I could not see the rear of the vehicle at all, but it had a rearview monitor that displayed an image.
This was convenient. It seemed to be a fairly new model, so it appeared to have all sorts of features.
Even so... Damn it—how did things come to this? Where had my slow-life plan gone?
I was steadily moving farther away from the life I had imagined: a beautiful wife, cute children, fluffy beastfolk, and a Forest Cat, all living happily together.
Getting involved with royalty and nobility really never led to anything good.
Even so, after driving for about an hour, I had gotten fairly used to it.
It looked like I could manage. But I had used so much concentration that I was exhausted.
The sun was beginning to set, so we ended work for the day. We would begin in earnest tomorrow. For now, it was time to eat.
I climbed down from the wheel loader and tried storing it in my Item Box. Would something this huge really fit?
“Store wheel loader!”
The enormous orange vehicle vanished as though it were being sucked inside.
“I did it! Thank goodness!”
I wandered over and collapsed into the tent where the beastfolk were processing the oil.
“Boss, what's wrong?”
“What happened, nya?”
“I'm tired...”
The beastfolk stopped working and hurried over to me.
“You can use my lap.”
“Then I'll be your blanket, nya.”
With that, Myaree sprawled herself over me.
“Ahhh, so fluffy...”
I stroked Myaree as she lay on my stomach.
I sat up a little, took a canned coffee from my Item Box, and drained it in one go.
This was what I needed when I was tired.
“Pheeeew...”
“Boss, you look awfully tired. Is it because of that new summoned beast?”
“Yeah. It was my first time operating it. If I made one wrong move, we would fall into the ravine, right? Falling here would definitely kill us.”
“Sounds tough, nya.”
Anemone came over.
“Kenichi, are you going to eat dinner?”
“Yeah, I'll eat. I'm starving.”
“We'll eat here.” “That's right, nya.”
When I went to the table, the princess was already stuffing dumplings into her mouth.
“Huff, huff—this dish is quite delicious too! It resembles the pastry-wrapped dishes served at the castle, but it feels as though all the flavor has been concentrated!”
The princess was eating the dumplings with soy sauce and chili oil, and she seemed perfectly fine with fermented foods too.
“Ahh—the delicious juices are coming out...”
Melissa was eating with obvious relish as well, so apparently there was no problem with the flavor.
I tried one too—it was quite delicious. Since the meat was dry and completely lacking in fat, adding fat had been the right choice.
We had lard and butter versions, and both were delicious. Perhaps blending it with other meat would work too.
The butter was salty, so it tasted good by itself and went well with soy sauce too.
There was even such a thing as butter-and-soy-sauce flavor, so naturally they went well together.
“Primula! Aren't you going to eat?”
“We have customers! I'll eat later.”
The merchants who had remained here were lining up to eat the lesser dragon soup Primula had made.
“Ohhh! Delicious. Who would have thought we could eat warm food in a place like this!”
“Indeed. And it is lesser dragon meat, no less... I will be able to boast about this to my grandchildren.”
“This wine is exquisite too! It is far too fine to be served in a place like this!”
It seemed they wanted me to sell them wine too, but that sounded like a hassle, so I passed.
I wished Shangri-La sold wine by the barrel, but I could not find any even after searching.
“But how long are you merchants planning to remain here?”
Well, I was technically a merchant too.
“We are thinking of placing our hopes in Her Highness the Princess and the grand archmages here.”
“My wife is a merchant too, but she says turning business into gambling is strictly forbidden.”
“That is certainly true—but there are times when a man must take a chance.”
Primula made a sour face when she heard that. What would she do in a situation like this?
Would she immediately turn back, cut her losses, and make up for them through some other steady business?
“Your wife certainly seems to enjoy commerce.”
“Yes—if she has customers and is sure she can make a large profit, she will even sell her own belongings.”
“Ha-ha-ha... But a merchant is someone who will sell even his own parents and siblings for the sake of business, is that not so?”
Primula reacted to the princess's words.
“That is not the case. Marrow Trading Company's Secret to Making Money—Never betray your own.”
There it was again, a secret to making money. I wondered how many of them there were in total.
“Ha-ha-ha.”
The princess laughed and stuffed another dumpling into her mouth.
Later, after it grew dark, the women took baths in the shed.
There was still river water in my Item Box, so we could probably take two or three more baths.
I just wiped myself down with hot water and called it a night. I would not die just because I skipped a bath.
However, just as I was about to go to sleep, three female beastfolk who were guarding the merchants came over.
“Hey, boss. I have a favor to ask.”
The calico woman was the one negotiating with me.
“What is it? If you're asking me to have a wild group orgy, the answer is no.”
“Idiot, it's nothing like that! Though I wouldn't mind that either—the woman from your group is giving off a strange scent, and all the men around here are getting worked up and dangerous. Take responsibility for it.”
“Ah, I see. The princess is sleeping in that house, so there's a barrier around it. If you sleep in front of the house, you'll be safe. I'll negotiate with her.”
“Thanks, boss. I owe you one.”
We had been given magic stones that could be placed inside the barrier in case of an emergency, so I used them.
When I checked with the princess, she said she did not mind, so I let the beastfolk women inside the barrier.
Well, it could not be helped.