Chapter 538: Imagination
It had been a few days since we had set up camp. The resting place……which at first was simple by magic and the place to stay had begun to be reinforced by Maia bringing in trees from the nearby forest. These were people who were better at working with their hands than walking. Even without much in the way of tools, they quickly built up the appearance of the village. They began to build not only wooden huts but also masonry houses and sun-dried bricks and even began to fortify their positions under Tetes’ orders.
“Don’t use people who haven’t fully recovered yet. You’re just letting those who have free time help out”
“I understand. But if everyone is moving, it will seem like a bad thing to sit quietly……”
“If you know that, don’t make them work……”
“That’s why we rotate everyone. I try to cut one person’s allotted time as short as possible while still being able to feel like I’ve got a hand in it there and then. It’s counterproductive to tell them to take a break”
“……Muu”
Of course there are many villagers who work for us out of the kindness of their hearts, but the reason they don’t rest or can’t rest is fundamentally a sense of disparity among our people rather than a sense of awareness of ourselves. However, there are many villagers who have become too energetic to spend their time just sleeping and it is also true that it is a bit harsh to ask them to stay quiet just like the weak ones.
“Master, please keep watch. I will send out a few other villagers in shifts, so please let them waste their time while I teach them how to keep watch”
“……Ah”
As I said myself the other day, being a lookout is just a job where you 「Think」 you’re helping. The truth is, Maia can hear you or, if she wants, she can see you a long way ahead if she flies around for a few minutes or so. But it was a good job in the sense that it didn’t require much physical exertion. It’s a little harder to climb up to the rocks, but compared to carrying rocks, working wood, or making sun-dried bricks, it’s a lot easier. I only have time to spend. It’s boring.
“Alright, I’ll take care of it”
“I love it when Master doesn’t complain”
“Shut up and go!”
I’m not much of a technical instructor, since I’m only helping Goto´s group with the carpentry and civil engineering work. I’m not sure I could teach them any skills. In fact, it would be a hundred times more useful to let Maia do things with her dragon body than it would be for me to do them myself. The cooking could have been done by the village women or Apple and Neia and Brian were resting in the vanguard of the camp because it would be a problem if they could not move immediately in case of an emergency. There was nothing else for me to do. Yeah. I’m sorry, I’m just an ordinary soldier.
“Watch out for that area and that area. It’s boring to just watch, but the sooner you spot them, the better off you’ll be in the actual fight. It takes time to get the word out, time to make decisions, time for the combatants to prepare, time for the non-combatants to evacuate, time to clean up, time for roll call checks, etc. ……the lookout is a way to make up that time. You can’t let your guard down”
“Hee. You’re like a hero, aren’t you?”
“I was a soldier in the outside world”
“Soldier? What’s that? Aren’t you a craftsman?”
“I was in the middle of my training there, but it was interrupted by the war and I was pulled into a group of warriors whose main mission was to fight against other countries, like the soldiers……or heroes as they are called here. And then, well, things happened and I became a soldier in the enemy army”
“……Why enemy? I mean, people are killing each other out there. It’s scary”
“…..Ah, it’s scary. But when people get together, there are people with whom you can’t get along no matter what you do”
“Still……I would like to get along with them if I can”
“I’m sure that’s true. But if your family is going to be killed by someone you don’t know, you think you have to do something about it before that happens”
“……This is a difficult story. I only know about my family, but I only know about my friends in the village”
The villagers, being naive, poke at delicate points without reserve. We don’t really think about or discuss the meaning of wars between nations anymore, so it’s refreshing to think about the meaning again to make it easier to understand.
“I wonder if we will have to do something like that when we go outside”
“……I don’t know. I’ll try to live without that stuff as much as possible……”
Maybe we will have to fight for the land. Refugees are inseparable from that issue. For hundreds of people, if Dianne is willing, I might be able to get them to live somewhere in……Celesta. Or I might be able to secure such land somewhere if I borrow the authority of the dragon. But if I force myself to do so, there is a possibility of a fight at some point. Or even if the acquisition of land is amicable, people around me may dislike the common sense of the people of Kalwin and we may end up getting along badly. A war could even start over something like that. If someone hurts someone else in a different community, the fire can spread from there.
“Heaven ain’t what it used to be in this world……”
I could only speak passionately to the villagers who were saying this to me.
“But if you eat good food, live in a beautiful house and your children are smart, you can train them. If the children are smart, let them learn something other than blacksmithing. They will all live to be seventy or eighty because they have the skills to manage injuries and illnesses. They would not have to eat the corpses of their fellow workers. Wouldn’t you want your children to grow up in a place like that?”
“……I’m not sure, to be honest with you. It’s too convenient”
The villager shook his head. And extended his own hand, which was missing a finger, in front of me.
“I still eat good food. I sleep and wake up in my house, as long as it’s not too cold. I know only the king, the heroes and the peasants, except for the blacksmith. I never imagined that illness and injury would disappear and the only person I’ve ever seen who has reached seventy or eighty is the king. ……Is that a good thing as you say?”
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing. At least those hands will all grow back again”
“……That’s the only thing I’m looking forward to, though”
Even if it’s not a Breakcore treatment, a magic doctor like Hilda should be able to heal at least the fingertips……if not the entire damaged arm.
“But I think most of us don’t really know. I don’t want to be killed by those evil new heroes who make us work without sleep. You guys talk so much good stuff, I wonder if it’s possible. When I get tired of walking, I just want to give up and say that maybe there is no such thing”
“It’s possible. Believe me. ……There will come a time when you can tell your children with a smile on your face that even that was a long shot”
I tell the villagers this from the bottom of my heart. It’s not right that what is normal for us sounds so glorious. People are supposed to believe that they can be happier. I was about to say this when I looked at the villager’s profile and saw that his expression had turned suspicious. I looked back at the end of the valley too, wondering if he saw something, or if it was possible. ……And then.
“H, Hey, Andy-san. That……”
“……Not good”
I lean back from the rock, put my hand over my mouth and yell.
“Maia, get out! Everyone, the dragons are coming! Stop working and get back!!!”
Beyond the sky. A small, fly-like shadow could be seen above the valley. But it is unmistakably a flying dragon.
“You get down, too! Come on!”
“H, Hey, what about you, Andy-san?”
“I’ll meet them here”
“You can’t fight, can you!? You’re gonna have to come back with us”
“I’m not going down with you”
“You’re not scared?”
“Of course I’m scared! It’s a dragon! It’s a hero!”
……Ah. Why am I laughing while saying this? After a moment’s delay, I realize the shadow of strength that has seeped into me. I’m not going to start screaming and being frightened at a time like this. But it’s more than that. I can hear the voice of 100-man commander Grants. From somewhere far away. From within that nostalgic scene.
“But there is something I can do. There’s work to be done”
Don’t give up just because the enemy is strong. Don’t give up just because you don’t have a weapon. Find what you can do. Do one more thing than your enemy. These words put a smile on my face and made me stay ahead of everyone else……. That’s what I can do now.
“Leave this to me! We’ll protect everyone!”
At that moment, Maia spreads her wings and soars up from the bottom of the valley.
“Aaah. You can think you know what you’re doing, but please don’t do anything reckless”
“We’ll protect you!”
“……Strange, isn’t it? When he says it, I don’t feel like we’re going to lose, even if Rainer´s dragons do come”
Tetes, Neia and Brian then jumped onto the watchtower one by one. The villagers nodded cockily at that and ran down the cliff path.
“Is that it?”
“Is it one……by the looks of it?”
“No, it is not. That woman named Shario, along with the other two……and Rainer Exceliza are on board”
“They came directly?”
The four warriors guarding the defensive position stare at the flying dragons without any fear. ……Well. At last, the show is about to begin.