Maybe This Place Was Once, Long Ago...
“Man, this is great. All that money Boromioshi embezzled can be used entirely for development funds.”
Two months had passed since life in the frontier territory of Zenas began.
Boromioshi and his idiotic accomplices had been escorted to the royal capital by the knights who had accompanied Fitcher as guards, so that problem had been resolved.
Then yesterday, an express dispatch arrived from the royal capital.
What it contained was the decision regarding that money.
The contents were simple: feel free to use all of it as development funds.
“Well, it’s a bit too much money to transport all the way to the capital anyway.”
“You can say that again. If you hauled that much around in a wagon, you’d basically be asking bandits to steal it.”
“Those guys apparently used to attack officials from the capital every now and then too.”
The “those guys” the foreman referred to were the bandits working with Boromioshi.
Even if they were gone, there were surely other bandits along the road between here and the royal capital.
That was why the money was being left here for use instead.
Of course, even with money, there wasn’t anything to buy in this village.
In the end, we arranged to purchase various supplies through Fitcher and his family’s merchant company.
“That should solve our food problem for the time being, but water’s still an issue. We can’t keep importing vegetables forever. Self-sufficiency has to be the foundation.”
“Quite right. Water’s one thing we can’t transport.”
“If we tried hauling it by wagon, the barrels would probably be empty by the time they reached Zenas.”
Even neighboring Regal was a three-day wagon journey away. Road conditions were practically nonexistent in this world.
Especially out here in the frontier, where traffic was extremely sparse, wagons shook violently. Barrels full of water would probably leak all over the place from even a little jostling.
As for vegetables, leafy greens didn’t keep long. At best, each household could only buy enough for a day or two. Root vegetables lasted somewhat longer, but if we wanted a constant and sufficient supply, we’d have to make frequent trips.
Thinking about the future, self-sufficiency was absolutely necessary.
“They weren’t kidding when they called this a barren land.”
“If only we had water...”
“You’ve been drawing water from the village well and sprinkling it over the fields, haven’t you?”
“Yeah. But the crops still aren’t growing very well.”
Well, part of it was probably that we couldn’t spare enough water. We needed it for drinking too.
Even so, the vegetables were small. They tasted good, though.
Hm?
“What are these little whitish grains? Now that I look closely, they’re all over the place.”
“Fertilizer, perhaps?”
You think this village has fertilizer?
Curious, I picked some up, but they were so tiny that examining them individually was difficult.
Hmm… Maybe I should extract them with alchemy.
I placed both hands on the field and activated my magic.
… Oh?
“Man, no matter how many times I see it, magic circles are beautiful.”
Ignoring Fitcher’s admiration, I noticed something strange.
“Huh? Why is the magic circle bigger?”
“Whoa there. It suddenly got huge. Hmm? Come to think of it, kid, you usually use one hand, don’t you?”
“Wait, don’t tell me it got bigger because I used both hands!?”
No way! But when I tried it with one hand, the magic circle returned to its usual size.
Seriously? Using one hand and both hands changes the size!?
Well, ever since I was a baby and had trouble keeping my balance, I’d always used one hand, but still...
“Ain’t it obvious? Your magic’s the kind that channels mana into a target, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then it makes sense. You can pour more mana through both hands than through one in the same amount of time. That’s probably all there is to it.”
I see. Using both hands doubled the amount of mana I could output per second.
In fact, the magic circle really was about twice the size.
I couldn’t believe I’d never realized something so simple.
With a magic circle this large, I should be able to extract a decent amount of those white grains.
Extracting the characteristic components from the soil...
The words that came to mind were:
“Sand.”
“Clay.”
“Salt.”
Hmm?
“Wait, salt!?”
“Huh?”
“Boss, these white grains... they might be salt.”
“Haaah?”
“Hm? Hm? What do you mean?”
Fitcher, who still didn’t fully understand my alchemy, could only tilt his head.
I had explained my alchemy to him. That I could transmute things besides wood.
And I’d also attached a warning:
If he ever thought about spreading the secret or trying to use me for his own gain… I’d decompose him into his component parts.
Alchemy.
Extraction.
Inside the magic circle, the soil and salt separated.
I’d thought it was white, but once it gathered together, it looked faintly pink.
Doesn’t this resemble rock salt? I steeled myself and licked the golf-ball-sized lump.
“Salty!”
“Salt? Is it really salt!?”
“If that’s true, then...”
“Yes. It’s salt. But why would there be salt this far inland?”
And in a field, no less.
Boss licked the lump too.
“Salty as hell.”
Same reaction.
Still, why would there be salt in a field...?
Ah.
“Boss. Don’t you think the water here tastes a little salty?”
“Huh? Ah, maybe. I did think it tasted different from the water back in the old barony. Figured that was just because the land was different. But... yeah, now that you mention it, it is a little salty.”
I’d thought the same thing. That it was simply because we were in a different place.
But there really was salt in the water here.
“But in a place this far inland...”
Could it be that this place was once, long ago…
“It’s bad! It’s bad! Niichan, it’s bad!”
The one running toward us from the village in a panic was Chico.
Did something happen?
“They’re here!”
“Eh... they?”
Don’t tell me… the remnants of the bandit gang!?
“It’s the Desert Folk! They’re here!”
“That’s who you meant!?”
What do you think about this chapter?
