I received another message from Naga.
He had left the Beast Kingdom and was heading to Cyanoeides, expected to arrive in five days.
They managed to secure a large amount of honey from a dungeon. I also received letters from Reus and Ars, and it seems the three of them are doing well together.
In Ars' letter, for some reason, he mentioned that it would be better to make the ranch spacious, raising the possibility that they expanded it over there as well.
I think we’re fine here too, since we’ve already made our ranch fairly large.
At night, we have them go into the sheds, but if we had something like a Shimaou, we could even let them roam free.
As for Caro and Lott, since they’re likely to eat the crops and alchemy materials, I don’t plan to let them roam freely.
"I'll depart in two days, head to Cyanoeides to receive the honey, and do some alchemy work."
"I'll come too. Kaia called for me."
At the group report meeting, after I made my announcement, my brother chimed in as well.
Since we need to receive the honey and do some alchemy work, we’ll be heading to Cyanoeides. The water dragon livers have already been fully processed, and since they’re not poisonous, other alchemists can also use them to make potions.
But the moss from the Green Swamp used as an ingredient... it's a material we don't want to spread around too much, so it's best we handle it ourselves.
I really didn’t want to know that there was an unbelievably large water dragon in that swamp. Apparently, we only took the moss growing on its body, but it's not something we can tell other adventurers. I'd rather keep it a secret.
"Would it be troublesome if nobles come by while you’re away?"
"Who knows. As a rule, we require introductions from the prince or Raz. So polite nobles shouldn’t be showing up."
If someone wants to request a potion, Crow will be staying, so it won't be an issue. It might get troublesome if it’s someone like that last noble, though.
Still, most of the master’s clientele has already been transitioned. We sent letters informing them of her retirement, and most of them replied.
For those who wish to continue, we've adjusted the contracts so adventurers from Mare can deliver the medicines—since coming all the way to the settlement would be too much trouble.
This delivery job has actually been popular among older adventurers.
It pays better than guarding merchants, even if it’s not a lot, and they’re happy to take it on even though most would usually refuse something like this.
"Traveling to another region without a reason raises suspicion. I'll make sure to spread good rumors about the little one, so leave it to me."
"Delivering cargo is easier than fighting monsters. At this volume, it’s a breeze."
They’re out delivering medicines to clients in various regions. While they’re at it, they also collect materials from the other side and bring them to our settlement—it’s been a huge help.
Being able to ask trusted people to handle deliveries is a big deal. It’s much cheaper than hiring for escort missions, and having connections really helps.
"It’s fine. Honestly, the only ones shameless enough to badmouth Medicia and still request favors are the Banagloria family. If anyone shows up, I’ll turn them away. It’s true I can’t do any more potion mixing, anyway. If it’s truly urgent, I’ll have little Crow handle it."
Master seems to agree with my brother and me going. Tiga-san has no issues with it either, and Luna-san has farm work to do, so she’s not coming.
I feel like everything will be fine... I glanced at my brother and he nodded in return.
"There won’t be any dragons involved this time, right?"
"Lust-san. That’s right, this time it has nothing to do with dragons. We’re continuing the alchemy work from before. Once that’s done and we’re back, we’ll go together. For now, I’d like you to stay on standby... and before we leave, I plan to thin out the monsters around the area a bit."
To prioritize Master's safety, we’ll reduce the number of monsters nearby.
Well, Tiga-san and Crow are fairly strong now, but I still feel uneasy. The remaining members can’t do close combat, and that’s a bit concerning.
"Should we ask Jude and the others to cover while you're gone?"
"Hmm. Yeah, that could work."
Yeah. Just that alone makes me feel more at ease... I’ll go ahead and ask them.
I’ll check in with her later, but I think now’s not the right time to bring it up.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everything’s handled properly.”
“Um… well…”
“You should just leave it to her. No need for you to butt in… don’t do it.”
Crow cut Luna-san off mid-sentence. Maybe he realized it was something she shouldn’t say, and she nodded in understanding.
However, Ryunne-san glared at Crow, perhaps because his words sounded a bit harsh.
“Crow, I don’t think it’s right to expose a girl’s secrets like that.”
“It’s not like I want to expose them... but well, we might as well leave danger-sensing to Klein. He wouldn’t be able to explain the reasoning anyway.”
Well, that’s true. It’s more of a gut feeling. Luna-san shouldn’t overuse her abilities, and since even Crow is telling her to stop, she seems to have accepted it.
“Still, really—stop it. I’m fine with it, but you’re being too invasive with Luna-san.”
“Sorry, what’s this about?”
Ryunne-san asked a question, but I brushed it off casually. I mean, she probably already knows that Crow sees all sorts of things, so I hoped she’d catch on.
“It’s just that the level difference lets me see your status clearly. Sorry, I try to avoid doing it.”
“Uh, that means…”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about it. The person in charge here will handle the danger monitoring. It’s probably best not to get involved.”
If Luna-san starts prophesying, it can stir up all kinds of trouble.
If she sees something and can’t shake it, it might overwhelm her. So maybe I should at least create a structure where she can talk to me or someone else if needed.
Honestly, even just having her tell us the weather every morning during breakfast is super helpful.
The carpenters especially are always saying they want to bring her to the site. Knowing whether they need to stop work, how long drying will take, etc.—just that information can speed up construction dramatically.
“Getting back on topic—about the dragon. It’s fine if Lust wants to come along even knowing the risks, but… what about the rest of you?”
“I think I’d better not go. If I went to the battlefield, I might start meddling again.”
“Wow, you really are reflecting on things, huh.”
“Crow, what about you?”
“I’ll pass too. The old lady’s here, and there’s always the chance of alchemy requests. I think it’s best if I stay.”
So Tiga-san and Crow will stay behind. That’s a relief, since Master will still have someone to rely on. Lately, Tiga-san has often been at her side, and it seems like they’ve been getting along just fine.
If it’s just Lust-san coming with us, we can manage one more person.
“Luna, is there anything you’re worried about?”
“Eh… hmm. If Crow-san’s here, watering won’t be an issue. I’d like help pulling weeds, but…”
Luna-san thought for a moment after my brother’s question but didn’t seem to have anything specific.
They’d just finished planting the rice, and it seems the farm has enough hands right now. As for watering, we use wind magic to sprinkle water like a sprinkler—Crow and my brother handle that.
It’s understandable that if either of them is gone, things get difficult.
“I wish I could do it too, but I’m still not very good at using water magic for watering.”
“Me neither.”
“Same here.”
Luna-san, Ryunne-san, and Lust-san have all learned water magic, though.
It seems demons aren’t particularly bad at using magic. Like me, they’ve all learned wind, water, earth, and fire magic to some extent. But their levels are low, and they haven’t had many chances to use it, so they haven’t leveled up enough to learn advanced spells.
Ryunne-san knows dark, wind, and water magic—nothing outstanding, but not terrible either. I’m not sure if she hasn’t learned fire and earth because she doesn't use them much, or if she just lacks the talent for them.
“Even when I try to stir up wind, it doesn’t go well.”
“Well, maybe it’ll come with practice? My brother and Crow are just unusually good at wind magic…”
Maybe it’s because they’re birdfolk, or because their DEX stats are high to begin with.
The two of them use wind magic skillfully to draw water from the river. It’s apparently better that way since it brings the river’s nutrients, too.
When it’s my turn, I just use water magic. It’s easier that way.
I’m not good at wind magic—it’s invisible, so it’s hard to control. I can use it to slash or attack, but I don’t get how they use it to carry water.
“I’ve already given up if even Klein-san can’t do it…”
Yeah… magic really does depend on intuition sometimes.
“Most normal people only get to around level 20–30, right? That’s enough. I don’t want to be an adventurer. I don’t even want to go outside.”
“Since Luna says that, I’ll refrain too.”
Still, don’t you think you should level up a bit more?
We might expand the farm in the future. There’s still open land left… and being able to easily water the crops would be a huge benefit.
It’s not good to have situations where work can’t be done unless someone’s around. We’ll need to think about that moving forward.
“Well, if there’s anything you want to do, let me know—I’ll help. Since you’ll be helping us too, we’ll try to meet your requests as best we can… Though if possible, I’d like you to teach us how to care for the crops.”
“Ah, sure. I used to hate helping out at home, but here there’s nothing else to do, and watching them grow is kind of fun.”
“Alright, we’ll be away for about a week, so if there’s anything you need, tell us soon.”
My brother wrapped things up with those words, and starting the next day, we began hunting the nearby monsters in slightly greater numbers.
It was just the three of us—Lust-san, my brother, and me. Not that it was unexpected, but Lust-san apparently wants to raise her level enough to catch up with Tiga-san and the others.
“Hmm… the difference in strength is really huge, huh.”
“There’s the level gap, of course, but also a difference in abilities... As an attacker, my brother’s skill is very high.”
With my brother around, the monsters are taken down quickly and efficiently, so Lust-san and I don’t get many chances to step in. He has better eyesight too, so he spots them first, and even long-range attacks with his bow are enough to take them down. There’s not much left for us to do.
Lust-san is the same all-rounder type as me, with growth potential in both melee and magic attacks—basically a hybrid attacker—but she can’t match the sheer firepower of my brother.
Her growth rate is good, but when it comes to learning abilities… she’s just average?
My brother, Crow, and I tend to pick up abilities more easily. Naga-kun, Tiga-san, and Ars-kun have a harder time—it’s quite a stark contrast. Aside from Naga-kun and me, it might be a birdfolk versus beastfolk thing.
Then there are Reus and Lust-san, who don’t fall into either category. I think it probably comes down to racial differences. As for Luna-san and the others, since they don’t fight, it’s unclear.
Anyway, we managed to thin out the monster population and stockpile plenty of meat. We’ll have to buy vegetables and such, but we’ve secured enough food to not worry about shortages. We don’t know yet how much of the planted crops will yield, but we should be able to get by through self-sufficiency in this new land.
Globally, food supplies seem to be in a tough spot… so it’s probably wise to preserve as much as possible to make it last.
Well, at least we can get meat easily—there are still plenty of monsters around.
The settlement is finally starting to take proper shape, too.