Team Sasazaki fled northeast from the cave group about a month and a half ago.
During that period, we’ve been growing steadily.
We began coastal fishing, produced fur coats, and built a furnace out of the mortar.
We even went so far as to build a water mill shed to automate some of our work.
During the same period, team Sasazaki continued to weaken.
The deciding factor was the raid Sumeragi Reito did a month ago.
While team Sasazaki is on the run, Reito rebuilt his team.
Now, team Sumeragi has over 85 members.
Not a single one of them is in poor health.
All the survivors recovered from their common colds and other illnesses.
The key point here is the numbers in team Sumeragi.
They’ve fallen below 70 before but now they’re 85.
That’s because Reito’s pulling members from the team Sasazaki.
Team Sumeragi is on duty and everyone works together to procure food.
Although Reito’s in charge, he doesn’t have the same leadership privileges as we do.
As usual, their civilization hasn’t developed, but they’re not troubled in their daily life at least.
Since they’re based in a group of caves, it won’t matter if a storm comes.
Reito keeps pulling people from team Sasazaki with that as an asset.
Team Sasazaki’s team follows the rules during the Byakuya era, so it was a class system.
Naturally, those who have lower ranks feel displeased.
They only follow Sasazaki because of their lust.
In team Sasazki, you have the right to bang women, just like in Byakuya’s era.
However, this privilege no longer functions.
Because there’s a large gap between men and women, most of them aren’t able to have sex.
As a countermeasure, Sasazaki thought of a duty system, but there was opposition from the women’s side this time.
In the end, the class system is collapsing.
Thus, some leave team Sasazaki.
Currently, the members of team Sasazaki falls below 20 people.
「That’s all」
Amane finished her after-dinner report.
Recently, it’s Amane who’s been doing the scouting missions.
Kageyama is also on a scouting mission, but he’s been busy doing odd jobs for the handicraft team.
「I guess we don’t need to scout anymore, right?」
Arisa says while tidying up the tableware.
Everyone pretty much agreed, but Amane and I shook our heads.
「Amane’s the only reason why we can work safely like this. If we don’t know their movements, we would hesitate to build the water wheel. Who knows what they’ll do after all」
Arisa doesn’t seem convinced.
Her lips twitched, muttering “I wonder that’s how it’s supposed to be?”
Even so, she doesn’t object.
That said, indeed, we don’t have to be so cautious anymore.
I often scout them myself but I don’t see any threat.
That’s why I ended the topic and went to the next.
「Tomorrow will be our 100th day in this world」
Meiko says “So it’s been that long”
「It just went in a blink of an eye」
「Summer vacation just ended a long time ago」
Shiori and Arisa said calmly.
「So, I thought of having a festival tomorrow, what do you guys think?」
「「「「「Festival?」」」」」
They all got hooked.
The response was as expected, even so, it was fun to see.
I nod with a smile.
「Our daily efforts have been successful and we have ample stocks of food and other supplies. That’s why we’ll only work in the morning and prepare for the festival in the afternoon tomorrow. By night, we’ll build a bonfire by the sand and make a lot of noise while we eat the manga meat on the bone」
「「「「「Oooooooooh!!!」」」」」
「There’s one secret weapon that the ladies would be surprised to see」
「Secret weapon?!」
Mana took the bait.
「I won’t tell you what it is but I’m sure you’ll be thrilled. The taste might be subtle though」
「Taste? You mean it’s food?!」
Eri reacts this time.
If I keep talking I’ll just spill the beans.
「That’s all I can say for now」
I smiled and shut my mouth.
「And so, tomorrow’s a festival. In the morning, we’ll be working as usual, but in the afternoon, we’ll get ready for the festival. Like, preparing the bonfire, and if you have an idea, then introduce it without hesitation. After all, I’m not very social so I don’t know much about festivals from when we were in Japan」
And that’s how we decided to have a festival tomorrow.
◇
Then, the next day has come.
October 24, Thursday.
–Day 100 in Isekai–
After completing our morning activities without problems, we set out to prepare for the festival.
「Thank you for picking us!」
「We can’t rely on girls when we’re trying to make something that’ll surprise them」
「There you go again! You say that but you want me, right?!」
「No, I would’ve preferred Muscle, but the girls caught him first」
「Bruh!」
And so, Kageyama and I are working together this time.
I would’ve wanted one more, but I only needed an assistant because it’s labor-intensive.
「Careful, this skin is very hard」
「Eri-dono can do it so I should be able to do it as well!」
Right now, we’re in the process of peeling and washing the coconuts.
The coconut’s husk is more of a shell when it comes to hardness.
It’s not like an apple where you can just use a knife to peel it.
I swing my bronze machete violently.
「Gununu, this should be…」
Kageyama’s struggling as expected.
「Tanaka should be doing this, not Kageyama」
Only four people could open coconuts easily.
Eri, Tanaka, Amane, and me.
Tanaka is Eri’s assistant and so he’s good at this, and Amane’s got her battlefield skills.
「No, I’m also a man! I won’t lose!」
Kageyama’s imitating my example and he’s persevering.
It reminds me of the time when Tanaka was doing his work for the first time.
I want to cheer him on and not hurry him, but maybe not today.
「We’ll split the work. I’ll peel the husk, Kageyama can do the next step」
「Sorry」
「Don’t mind it」
After peeling the husk, anyone can do the remaining work.
All they need is to wash the white pulp clean and grind it.
「Done!」
Kageyama shows me the contents of the millstone.
You can see the white pulp looking messy.
It’s spreading a nice smell through the hideout
「Looking good」
I transfer the ground pulp to the lacquer bucket.
We repeated the process several times and stored a good amount in the bucket.
「Now, we mix this pulp with warm water, just near human temperature」
We keep the mixture a little hot since we’re taking into account the cooling down while mixing.
So, it’s only about 40-50 degrees.
We don’t have any way to measure the temperature.
「What’s left is to compress and we have our coconut milk」
「I can do the compression job! I know how to do that」
「That’s the plan. I still have to do something else after all」
We made coconut milk so many times already
If you treat them this, the girls won’t be pleased.
Since I went out of my way to describe it as a secret weapon, then I’ll have to add more effort
「What is it?」
「It’s Cassava」
Only a few people would get it when I mention cassava
「It’s used to make tapioca」
「I still don’t get it」
Yeah, not many know about it
I said “Thought so,” and left it aside
I still have to prepare the cassava
It’s poisonous as is so I had to take that out first.
That’s why I didn’t tell Eri about it.
I will change this cassava into the thing girls love.
That is the highly popular tapioca balls.