Chapter 908: Time marches on
Now then. When winter arrives in Polka, traffic naturally slows to a crawl. The Small Snake Mountains, which join the Blue Snake Mountains, running north to south across the continent, to form a Y-shape encircling Polka, are still free of any sign of snow at this time of year. Since crossing the mountains suddenly plunges one into a snowy landscape, many travelers are said to turn back or get stranded in the mountain villages of the Small Snake Mountains during this season. Well, I suppose it’s natural to hesitate at the thought of trekking through the snow for days on end while dressed for flatland walking. It might be manageable for large caravans or shared stagecoaches with drivers accustomed to this climate, but for small groups traveling on foot, even a simple overnight camp can be a cause for anxiety. Of course, since making the special trip to Polka often involves a matter of life and death, many still push forward with reckless courage, though apparently, there are quite a few cases where they end up stranded in the snow along the way. ……A service to scout for and rescue people like that wouldn’t be too difficult with a dragon. I’ll have to give it some thought. But anyway, that’s beside the point. The real problem is that people stop coming and there’s no turnover. Some of the female slaves have been worried about this very thing.
“It’s about time to head back south, isn’t it?”
“Ah……come to think of it, is it that time of year again……?”
It’s Nord. She doesn’t seem to dislike this laid-back hot spring life in Polka all that much, but she says she hates it because there’s no point in dancing when people stop moving around.
“Well, I guess I could devote myself to sex for a winter or so……but you don’t seem to have that much free time, do you?”
“……Yes”
A whole winter of mating with Nord-san until spring. It’s great, but right now, I’ve got a bit too much on my plate. Now that I’ve decided to open my own smithy, I can’t keep borrowing a forge from Jackie-san forever, so I have to build a new workshop. I also can’t just leave Princess Ran and the others alone until spring. Plus, as the dragon rider, the main source of labor, I’ll likely have plenty of opportunities to help Dianne with her new city construction project, and this is Kalwin’s first 「Winter Without a King」. If I have to keep all that in mind, I don’t think I’ll be able to provide a winter that would satisfy Nord even if she gave up dancing. Unlike many of the other female slaves, Nord doesn’t owe me any favors, so asking her to put up with it and wait patiently would be completely unreasonable. Besides, winter is winter, and there seem to be plenty of events around Talc, so if she wants to spend it there, I can’t stop her. After all, we agreed from the start not to impose more restrictions than necessary.
“You don’t have to take it so seriously, Andy-kun☆ We dark elves have long lifespans, after all. I can’t just spend this year fooling around with Nord, but there’s always next year and the year after that, right?”
“Well, that’s true, I suppose……”
Hilda tried to comfort me, but I can’t help feeling that, having gone through the trouble of signing a female slave contract, things are already going like this in the first year……or rather, will there even be any free time in the winters to come? I didn’t exactly go looking for it myself, but as a result, I’ve ended up taking on the Saint Gardo case as a new project. As long as I carry the authority of a dragon, it might be a situation where trouble just comes crawling up to me whether I move or not. But.
“Hilda-nee is right. I just want to be free to do what I enjoy♪ I thought we’d get along well precisely because you’re the kind of person who lets me do as I please at times like this♪”
Nord says that to me and gives me a kiss.
“Besides, you’re coming to Talc for the Spirit Festival anyway, right? It’s not like we’ll be apart for that long♪”
“Ah, Nord-chan, so despite everything, you’re planning to attend the Onyx Party again this year, aren’t you?”
“Well, unless Brother Carlos slacks off and makes it a boring party, but I doubt he’d do that. Besides, if we’re going to meet up again, it’ll be hard to find you if you’re not near the main house, right?”
“I suppose so. And I’d be worried if Nord-chan didn’t have Jose with her☆”
“I can make a living anywhere, even without Jose, though”
Jose, her bodyguard and accompanist. He really helped me out during that whole Isabel incident. Nord’s already a big star, so I totally agree that it’d be scary if something happened without him by her side. It’s no wonder even Carlos relies on him, he’s just as steady as Commander Becker himself.
“So, I’ll send Laila……is that okay?”
Just as I was about to call Laila, Emma appeared out of nowhere.
“I remember the way to that town. We don’t need Laila-dono to send just one or two people”
Come to think of it, I left it to Emma and Leda during the Isabel incident, so if it’s just transportation, that might actually work.
“Alright, can I count on you? ……If anything troublesome happens, leave the cabin behind and come back to let us know right away”
“Understood”
Nodding firmly, Emma set about helping Nord-san prepare for her journey. She’s reliable. Or rather, is she showing off her reliability to prove she’s more capable than Maia? Maia, as always, doesn’t want to do anything outside the scope of my direct orders. Well, lately I’ve come to understand that this is just Maia’s……way of defining a dragon’s scope of responsibility. As long as no problems arise, someone who takes the initiative and handles everything on their own is more reliable, but dragons think very differently from humans when it comes to emergencies. There’s a high chance that 「When a problem does arise」, they’ll do something against my wishes. It’s too late once things become irreversible, so a stance like Maia’s is definitely valid. That’s why, as far as I’m concerned, my evaluation of the two remains equal……no, actually, maybe Maia is still a little better. It wouldn’t be fair unless I also took into account their past achievements, as well as the frequency and intensity of our sexual encounters.
For Nord-san’s trip to Talc, I’ll of course have her use the 「Sexroom」, which is quite comfortable. If this were an outside guest, I’d hesitate to let them use it for various reasons, but since Nord-san has firmly entered into a contract and had sex with me as a female slave, and fully understands how this cabin is used, there’s no reason not to let her use it. That said, even with Emma’s wings, it takes nearly two days one way, so we won’t be able to use it for at least four days. It’s not like we have any urgent business requiring it, but this situation is a bit unsettling, if I’m honest. If we absolutely need to move as a group, we could just use the reinforced carriages like we’ve done before, but we do have several dragons available as a power source. It might be a good idea to build a second and third flying cabin in preparation for situations like this. I feel a bit hesitant about having them prepare too many of those gemstone windows, but if I use engraving, I can make ordinary stone or iron plates see-through like windows……yeah. Dianne was working on a cost-cutting plan before, and maybe the time has come to push that forward in earnest. Thinking that I’ll need to work out the details with Irina and Dianne soon, I watch Emma and the 「Sexoom」 take off from the overcast snowfield.
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As for Dianne herself, she was holding a meeting in the baron’s garden, accompanied by a group of elves carrying axes.
“What are you doing?”
“Preparing for logging. We agreed that most of it could be blown away, but there are some decent-sized trees over there, so some people think we should salvage as much timber as possible”
“Logging in all this snow……?”
“Leaving the cutting to the elf lumberjacks won’t be a problem. They say their magic axes can easily cut through trees covered in midwinter ice”
“……That’s amazing”
Come to think of it, just as we use engraving to enhance our tools, the elves can modify their tools to a much higher degree using their own intuition and magical techniques. Setting aside using engraving to alter an object’s strength, I can’t manipulate its sharpness, but the elves could make an axe sharper, or treat it so that freezing isn’t an issue……anyway, I suppose they can make axes like that.
“The problem is transport, but they say the Blue Dragons will handle that for us”
“I’m gonna go all out chopping today”
The elf lumberjacks hoist their massive axes, flexing their biceps. As expected, every single one of them is incredibly handsome. There’s even a lumberjack whose face could be mistaken for a beauty’s, but from the neck down he’s rock-hard and muscular, creating a jarring contrast. ……Come to think of it, if this is what they look like even after working out, maybe Berga, who’s a bit of a tough guy for an elf, is actually the odd one out.
“……Still, I thought elves were a race that cherished trees more than this”
Me, saying something so obvious now. I mean, it’s like, what am I even saying? considering I’ve been getting all kinds of lumber from the Northern Forest. You wouldn’t expect to see so many lumberjacks out here so openly.
“I get what you’re saying, Hero”
The lumberjacks answered me without batting an eye at my strange remark.
“The forest is our mother, our world. So everyone must cherish the trees……or so a human might think. But in reality, trees and grass are all competing for survival against each other. Just like people, trees too, if they take one side, they have to let the other die. You can’t be on the side of every single plant”
“Living with the forest also means maintaining it properly. Sometimes weeds grow too thick and the trees can’t thrive, and sometimes it’s the other way around. There are even trees out there that cause suffering just by touching them, or spread poison all over the place just by being burned. That’s nature too, of course, but we certainly can’t have them standing right next to where we live”
“Cutting down trees is a necessary job, precisely for the sake of the forest. Of course, a situation like this one is rare”
……I see. It makes sense. Because you know the details, and because you want to protect them, you sometimes have to take action against the trees. It’s obvious, I guess.
“I thought there’d be more pushback about blowing up a forest, even a small one, to clear the land”
“Well, there are a few grumblers, but it’s not exactly something you can say openly when Irina-sama and the Blue Dragon are involved”
“Besides, it’s not like there are any elven allies living there. It’s just a matter of if we find a good tree, we’ll take it”
Umm. Things are going much smoother than I expected. Or maybe I just assumed the elves were more difficult to deal with than they actually are……?
“Well, leave it to me. ……I’ll make sure to give the people of Neia’s homeland a proper life as soon as possible”
“Please do”
Behind the way things are going this time, the female slaves and the people I’ve befriended so far must have played a huge part. Still, this new world is being built with surprising ease. It’s changing. Watching everything move so fast I feel like I might get left behind, I slap my cheek to snap out of my daze. A naughty winter break will have to wait until next year or the year after. I’ll look forward to it, but for now, I’ll do my best to push forward with what needs to be done.