Chapter 635

Welcoming the New Kiblinki Saltas
It looked like the work on Parfe’s wagon was finally wrapping up.
That meant the real issue now was the lack of personnel among the Kiblinki Saltas.
That was something I had to deal with quickly.
I’d originally planned to visit their hidden village later, but… maybe I should move that up.

Those heading to the Kiblinki Saltas’ hidden village were me, Talat, Plum, Modalphas, Gleam of Molten Iron, and several Kiblinki Saltas to act as guides.
For Modalphas and the three from Gleam of Molten Iron, it would be their first meeting.
It wasn’t a dangerous place, and if the Kiblinki Saltas ever decided to swarm us, they wouldn’t even count as enemies—so this really was just a meet-and-greet.
We weren’t going there to pick a fight.

Riding in baskets spun by the spiders, we soared through the sky for several days until we finally arrived at the hidden village of the Kiblinki Saltas.
The place looked… completely transformed.

“Lady Lily, what’s that storehouse?”

“Probably one for storing vegetables, I’d say?”

“Lady Lily, there’s an entrance over there that looks like it goes underground!”

“Maybe they built an ice chamber or something?”

The fields had grown absurdly huge, but seeing stilted storehouses and what looked like underground ice chambers… that seemed a bit much.
Where did they even get that kind of technical know-how?

(Oh? I thought we had guests, and it’s Master Lily.)

“It’s been a while, Representative. The village has really developed, hasn’t it?”

(Thanks to the seeds you sent us, Master Lily, many new crops now thrive here. To harvest and preserve them, we needed proper storage facilities, so we built the storehouses and ice chambers.)

So it really was an ice chamber.
They really could make just about anything, huh?

(And for you to come here in person—has something happened?)

“Well, yes. Actually, I’ve had requests from two nations asking for Kiblinki Saltas to be dispatched, so I’m looking for volunteers to go with us.”

(Two nations? Which ones?)

“Both are across the sea. One’s an island nation across the sea, and the other one is a country on the continent beyond the ocean.”

(I see. And the purpose of this dispatch?)

“Mostly agricultural support and discovering new crops. Also, we’ve been asked to help with the protection of a certain monster species. The farm work shouldn’t be much different from what you do here in Vardmoi.”

(I understand. Since there aren’t enough of us to cross the sea on our own, you came to fetch some.)

“That’s right. Would you be willing to help?”

(That depends on our comrades’ motivation. Everyone, gather up!)

At the Representative’s call, the Kiblinki Saltas came swarming in from every direction.
There were already plenty in Vardmoi, and we’d brought back around five hundred last time, but this looked like four times that number!

(... And that’s the summary of Master Lily’s request. This new work will mostly take place beyond this continent. Your skills may not apply perfectly elsewhere, but… who among you still wishes to go)

At his question, the Kiblinki Saltas responded all at once with excited hisses and lively gestures.
Well, yeah—who’d want to miss a chance to boldly venture across the sea?
There were jobs here too, but still.

(Very well, I understand your enthusiasm. We’ll send out a portion of you for now, though we must still maintain the fields here. First, we’ll dispatch about four hundred as a vanguard. Since nearly everyone seems eager, I’ll make the selections myself.)

As the Representative began calling out names, each chosen one let out a cheer of joy, while those left out groaned in disappointment.
That repeated about four hundred times until the vanguard was decided.
Even though they were called the vanguard, they’d first need to register as tamed familiars in Vardmoi before they could be sent off freely.
Really, there was still so much to do.

What do you think about this chapter?