Chapter 527: Golden homeland 2
After taking her time to examine the condition of the land, Tetes gave us a stern report as she looked up at the orange of the setting sun that stained the sky.
“Partly. I can’t help but say that the king is right……about a part of it”
“It’s a subtle point”
“It’s also true that 『Bad growth due to poor qi flow』 is a big problem in a country where peasants can’t use magic on a daily basis, because it’s a fact. If I had only had a basic level of knowledge of magic, I am sure I would have given up. But I took a bite out of agricultural magic in the elf territory, or rather, in Polka, where I learned from Christie. I have a good idea how to improve this situation”
“You mean, all it takes is a little in-depth knowledge and some serious work?”
“Yes. I’ve only had a taste of it and I could come up with a remedy in a day. I don’t believe that a king who has ruled for three hundred years is completely toothless. I’m sure that even an ordinary farmer could come up with a solution if he took the time to study it……”
“…………”
“But I think they were trying to prevent the development of such technology. I can only imagine how they could have slowed down the accumulation and study of knowledge”
Tetes tapped her fingers on her elbow and muttered.
“They keep people from becoming literate, raise taxes, induce famine and kill old people. That’s not hard to do under a dictatorship”
“The village chief here says he’s been doing it for 50 years”
“……That means he’s pretty good at it, then”
“Eh?”
Tetes laughed as if she was troubled and did not speak beyond that. After thinking about it for a while, I agreed. I feel uncomfortable calling a familiar village chief 「Sly and clever」 in front of Neia. ……Just then, I heard the sound of something falling from the top of the cliff in the valley.
“Sorry to keep you waiting”
It was Ray. A large bear and a cow, apparently hunted somewhere, had been carelessly tossed down from above. The reason I say seem is that it’s hard to tell at a glance what kind of creature it is when it’s dead and its arms and legs are bent in a strange way.
“What should we do with this? We can’t move it without a cart or without disassembling it, but I’m not very good at that sort of thing, are we?”
“Ah…….”
Tetes told me to think about it for a while. Yes, when I thought about it, the corpse of the beast was too large to be dragged away as a souvenir. I’ll have to let Maia, Ray and Emma carry it. It might irritate the villagers a little, but……it would be pointless to do such a daring thing when they are disguised in inconspicuous clothes.
“Let’s leave it here. You can have the villagers come and get it themselves. Faria used to do that”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, since it’s supposed to be a souvenir”
“If you are invited tonight, all you have to do is to bring one of the cut legs. Tell them that the rest is here and the village will be enriched”
I see. I don’t have to bring the whole thing. Emma, who had remained silent up to that point, advised.
“We should at least drain the blood out of them before we do that. It will taste bad”
“I thought that dragons don’t care about it, since they eat all of this stuff”
“It’s not bad to eat them alive with dragon bodies, but……there are cultures that cook the meat and eat it elegantly. Even for dragons”
“I didn’t know that……”
I was a little surprised. They cook it. Oh, no, on second thought, they like to drink. Is it strange that they can drink slurpee with their human bodies, but not have a culture of picking up the knob?
“We are not barbarians. Did they not even tell you that in the palace of the blue dragons?”
“Maia’s palace had its own clan to serve. It was difficult to determine whether the food culture was that of the dragons or that of the people they served”
“It’s self-destructive”
Emma snapped.
“Mu”
Maia looks ticked off at that. ……Emma is also very provocative.
“Both of you, don’t fight. I don’t like girls who can’t get along with others”
“It’s their fault”
“I’m just generalizing”
These girls are……already.
The muscles, but not the internal organs, are getting worse and worse, so I cut off one of the legs of a wild cow (it was a cow, after all) early and I carry it back with me. If I reported it early, the villagers would be able to get their hands on it while the entrails were still edible. So I hurried to the village chief’s house and found about ten villagers gathered around the chief’s house. I wondered if something had happened.
“Ah, it’s Neia”
“Neia-sama”
“Are you really alive?”
When they recognized Neia, they all broke into a smile. It’s her hometown, isn’t it? After all, there were many villagers who knew Neia well.
“It’s been a long time. Everyone”
“I thought that you had also been killed by the devil after Faria-sama”
“I told you, there’s no way Neia could be defeated by a devil”
“How could you survive for a year? Have you been sleeping in a village somewhere?”
“She said she was rescued by a dragon”
The villagers ranged in age from 15 or 16 to 40. The older ones are also tired, but not too old. But the hardships of their lives have given them an air of decrepitude that is greater than their actual age. Although their faces were not aged much, their impression was clearly that of old people.
“Who are these people?”
“It’s not like they’re heroes……right? They have no armor, no swords and they don’t look strong”
The villagers looked doubtful when they saw me and Tetes and the others. Well……yeah. I don’t look strong, everyone agrees. I can’t help it. But Tetes and Maia are strong. Don’t judge by appearances.
“I’m from downstream. We are surveying the farmland. Neia-sama knows this area well, so I’m asking her to show me around”
Tetes told a bland lie again. No, there is no fact that is so clearly a 「Lie」 that it can be called a lie, so I should say that she was just fluffing the story. When I think about it, she did not say anything that would reveal her true identity, but thanks to Tetes’ natural attitude, none of the villagers seemed to suspect anything.
“Here is a souvenir for you. This is the meat of a beast hunted by the dragon that rescued Neia-sama. In addition to this, there are three whole animals near the field over there, if you like”
“Oh……”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had meat. Are you sure, chief?”
“If they say yes, I don’t blame them”
The village chief gave the go-ahead and the villagers rushed out of their houses, grabbed their tools and ran toward the direction indicated by Tetes.
“I’m grateful. Aside from when Faria was around, there hasn’t been much monster meat available lately”
“……I’m sorry. If only I had gotten more meat”
“No, I’m not complaining. And we all know that Neia worked hard. Faria was special”
“………..”
Neia is silent. Is she embarrassed to be told she worked hard, or does she share the sentiment that Faria was special? Or is she ashamed that she left such a hometown behind for a year to live a rich life outside?
“Just this one leg will be quite a treat for a while. Can I pickle the rest?”
“Ah, yes, feel free”
The village chief receives the wild cow’s leg and carries it happily to the kitchen. He is a farmer, after all and he is very strong.
“If we can afford to harvest the crops now, we will be very happy”
“Tetes-san, is the magic method something that even the people of this village can manage?”
“Yes. But still, this time it is only a survey. It is a material that will be used in the dialogue with the king”
“Thats……right”
We are not here to save this place directly, but to gather evidence to denounce King Jedha. If the monarchy were to be overthrown, there would be no need for taxes. But whether that will lead to a good result is unknown. Can we save this poor village? Will there be smiles here a year from now? We don’t know yet.
It had been a long time since they had had meat, so the whole village joined in a meat festival. It was getting dark, but we did not want to leave the corpses of the beasts unattended. So we gathered a group of people, built a bonfire and got to work. We couldn’t touch it (we didn’t want the starving villagers to think we were trying to steal their food), so we waited for the chief’s food to be ready at a table set up outside, watching their work from a distance. Neia is being questioned by the young people of the village, who have just learned of her return. And there is Apple, surprisingly, singing a song to the children, who are delighted by the lively atmosphere, even though it is nighttime and are bouncing around without knowing why. I thought they’d be more likely to hide behind us.
“This……”
“Nice voice”
Tetes and Maia roll their eyes at the song. Such a beautiful voice. Not just an amateur singer with good throat material, but a bard-like singer who knew how to make her voice sound good.
“Apple”
“Ah. ……Huhuhuu, sorry. I only seem to be able to do this much”
“I didn’t know you could sing like that”
“Didn’t Selenium tell you? Selenium played the instrument and I sang……and that’s how we earned money”
“……Still, that’s great”
“I can practice my singing anywhere. Even while walking or sleeping”
While traveling aimlessly. While lying ill. Waiting for me and Selenium. She kept singing, didn’t she? ……Apple smiled at me and began to sing again to the children.