Amane reported the situation during breakfast the day after we built the house.
「 And so, Sasazaki’s team is fleeing to the northeast. As for Sumeragi Reito, he seems to have taken his team and moved their base to a cave complex where Sasazaki Taiki’s team has rooted 」
「 I see, so their idea is pushing Sasazaki’s territory into a corner 」
Team Sumeragi’s dispute with team Sasazaki is making progress.
Sumeragi Reito’s the one who made the move.
Reito attacked Sasazaki’s base alone.
His goal is to kill Sasazaki and his cronies.
He probably thought that if he crushes the head, the rest won’t be as scary as him.
However, that plan will end in failure.
Sasazaki didn’t die.
Reito can handle a gun but he’s still an amateur.
The bullet deflected and failed to hit Sasazaki.
That said, it wasn’t a failure at all.
He killed the cronies who were running with Sasazaki.
Two of them.
The two of them were practically on top of Sasazaki’s team.
Although he failed to kill Sasazaki, the leader, the results were quite good.
In fact, Reito’s attack shocked team Sasazaki.
They assumed that Reito won’t shoot.
It’s a different story when the enemy uses guns without hesitation.
Sasazaki’s group went northeast to escape.
There aren’t that many caves in the northeast as our base.
There are plenty of resources but Sasazaki and his team had no way to make use of them.
「 It’s easy to imagine team Sasazaki’s fall 」
「 On the other hand, team Sumeragi’s recovering, 」 says Amane
Yes, Reito’s team broke through the biggest obstacle.
Most of the survivors have overcome their illnesses and are on the road to recovery.
However, that’s not an easy one either.
Their originally 110 member group is now in their low 70s.
Most had fallen ill and breathed their last, and a few, like Shiori, had left the group.
Their recovery trend means that the momentum of the workforce decline has stopped.
As for the mood, there’s a huge difference between us and them.
「 True, there’s no need to rush. 」
Yesterday, we celebrated the completion of the house and we went straight to bed.
That was enough to determine that there was no problem, and as expected, there wasn’t.
They’re not growing in power, but rather, they’re on the decline.
If that’s the case, they’re no threat to us.
「 Speaking of which, there was another team apart from Sumeragi and Sasazaki. A ten-member group 」
「 Oh yeah, the team without a leader 」
Team Sumeragi and Reito had their respective names as the leader of the group.
However, the other team had no leader.
They’re just a group that doesn’t want to be on either side.
「 I wonder what happened to them? 」
「 I don’t know, but they should also be moving northwest. If they’re moving south, towards us, then you’ll find their footprints somewhere
Amane can find traces of movement better than me.
Furthermore, she can use the knowledge of the US special forces so she’s on a different level.
It’s the difference between a self-taught high-school boy and a professional.
「 Well, there should be no problem then 」
Amane’s report ended and we started our work.
◇
Ten days passed since then.
Our base has grown further.
We’re steadily expanding our fields and increasing the number of crops we grow.
With the help of the monkey army, we have enough manpower that’s not enough for humans alone.
Yoshiokada’s making new blueprints for a different house.
This time, it’s another raised-floor house but it’s slightly larger and with more rooms than the last
Unlike the last time when it’s a single room, this one has two.
Using the same blueprint isn’t allowed.
When you build something new, you start building it from a new design.
Even if it’s the exact same thing, the blueprint has to be new.
This is to give Yoshiokada experience in making blueprints.
The second raised-floor house will be the home of the monkey army.
The hideout is more than comfortable for us.
Rita and his friends are indispensable to us already.
He’s still hateful as usual, but he has no complaints about his work.
It’s now September 20.
「 It’s time for the start of the cycle. 」
I mutter in the wheat field
Mana and Karin are standing next to me.
「 Cycle? 」
Karin asks.
「 It’s when a new stem emerges near the root 」
I say while pointing at the gouge.
Mana and Karin bent down and looked.
Karin found it and understood.
「 When the crops start to turn, we’ll start treading wheat 」
「 Treading? You’re not going to step on them, right? 」
Mana asks this time.
“It’s exactly that,” and I showed her.
I entered the wheat field and trampled on it.
「 Eeeeeeh?! Are you sure about that? 」
Mana’s shocked.
Reacting to her voice, the monkey army who were working looked this way.
The monkeys saw me stepping on the wheat and they bared their fangs as if to say “what are you doing?”
「 I get how you feel but this is what to do. You start stamping on the wheat and it starts to tread. The cycle is in two months, so we need to tread it like this every day until the 20th of November 」
This isn’t my original idea.
This had been a common method of cultivating wheat.
Karin asks if it’s effective.
「 I somehow forgot about that. Anyway, you can step on it. That’s what I’m sure about 」
I’m no scientist so I don’t pursue the “why”.
It didn’t matter to me why I needed to tread on wheat.
If I were a stubborn science major, then I would probably be concerned about it.
Meaning, I’m just a social science person.
「 Karin, tell everyone to do the same on the wheat 」
「 Got it 」
After finishing explaining, I went to help out with the other work.
「 Ah, Hokage, do you have time? 」
Or so I thought. Karin called me.
「 What’s up? 」
「 I’ve been thinking this since before… 」
Karin said and then stopped halfway.
Mana sensed something was unusual so she said “I’m leaving,” and went away
She probably guessed that Karin wants a private talk with me.
I thought so too, but it seems that we were wrong.
「 Wait, Mana. It’s nothing private at all 」
Karin stopped Mana.
Mana then asked back “You sure?”
「 I don’t mind. I’ll talk about it after dinner anyway. I’m just going to tell Hokage first, but I figured that I’ll tell everyone the details later 」
Something seems to be weighing her mind.
I said nothing but “Okay”
Then, the clock is ticking, and it’s time for dinner.
「 Okay, let’s go to bath! I’m going in first today! 」
Tanaka stands up merrily then Karin speaks up.
「 I have something to suggest to everyone first 」
Tanaka who just got up sat down quietly.
“Suggestion?” I asked.
「 Our ultimate goal is to return to Earth. And to get to that end, we’re planning to travel to the island we see across the ocean, right? 」
「 Yes 」
「 But, realistically speaking, it’s unlikely that we’ll return to Earth after that trip, right? I think everyone knows that 」
I nodded.
We’ll continue to work on that problem.
「 I don’t want to abandon the possibility after all 」
「 Yeah. I’m not opposed to that policy either. But no matter what you think, it’s going to be an endurance battle right? It could take months, years, or even decades. Isn’t that our current situation? 」
「 True 」
I can’t see what’s Karin trying to say yet.
She’s just reaffirming the current situation.
And finally, she now begins her suggestion.
「 And so, this is my suggestion 」
It’s come to that now.
Karen shows a serious face and so everyone braced themselves.
「 Why don’t we leave our offspring? Assuming that we’re going to live in this world long 」
That’s an unexpected proposal.