Chapter 38 - Chapter 35: Time to Get Serious
"Putting that aside, wasn't today the day to upload a video?"
"Yes. I'm going to upload it now."
That's right. I completely forgot…
Today's video covered progressing west along the coast, finding Lupi, rescuing her, and giving her first aid.
Just then, Kumano-sensei… Yata-sensei appeared.
"Good evening~. Are you about to upload Mion-san's video~?"
"Yes."
"In that case, how about Mion-san, Shou-kun, and I watch the post-upload activity in real-time today~?"
Since the number of channel subscribers had increased, views and comments would likely surge immediately after posting, so we decided to observe it in real-time.
"Is it alright if I go to IRO now?"
"Please do~."
"Alright, I'm off then."
Bell-buchou, having heard the reply, headed off to IRO.
In the meantime, Mion seemed to have finished her upload; I guess all that's left is to make it public.
"I'm making it public."
"Okay."
"Go ahead~."
After Mion made it public for a while…
"Whoa, that's amazing…"
After about a minute, the view count rapidly climbed. Notifications must have gone out to subscribers, and about a tenth of them were already watching.
Then, once the video's playback time passed, the increase in views began to accelerate again.
"It's accelerating, though…"
"I think someone must have shared it on a forum or SNS and started to spread it~."
"It even appeared on my Saezutter timeline."
Seriously? I wonder what kind of people are spreading it.
And, little by little, comments began to appear.
"Puppies and kittens are strong after all~."
"Lupi-chan is cute, after all."
Most comments were about Lupi—or Wolf? since she wasn't named yet—and many were relieved that there was no suspension due to 'that incident'.
For now, no strange comments seem to have appeared, so it's all good, I guess?
*
"Shou-kun, Lupi-chan, good evening."
"Welcome, Mion."
"Woof-un."
Since there was no sign of the uploaded video getting out of hand, I logged into IRO.
Today, Yata-sensei was also watching Mion's group-restricted stream.
"Is today a continuation of Pottery?"
"Yeah, I'm planning to make a slightly larger pot. One big enough to process lizard skins."
If I soak them in Papu Fruit juice, the skins apparently turn into leather, so I want to make a wide-mouthed pot big enough to cram as many in as possible. Plus, there's no point in making any more cups.
"Woof."
"Hmm, I'll make your food first."
Lupi got her usual minced rabbit meat. For myself, I'd like to try Roasted Rabbit, but I don't have salt.
Going to search for it on the west side is an option, but for today, I'll just put up with plain skewers.
"Alright, shall we begin…"
That said, I couldn't make anything larger than what would fit in the stone kiln, so I shaped a pot about the size of a small bucket.
Maybe because my skill level went up, it's easier to make larger, simple shapes.
While it was in the kiln, I made the glaze. If I hadn't found that information on the official forum, I might have been stuck.
I'll mentally designate Jinbee-san, who Mion told me about, as my Pottery master.
Yata-sensei said, impressed. Well, I guess it's fun, but there's skill assist, and firing finishes in about 15 minutes…
After the bisque firing and during cooling, I passed the time playing with Lupi. This time, I evenly applied the glaze before the full firing.
"You're getting the hang of it. You look like a potter."
"Ugh, if only I had a proper kiln…"
With this crude stone kiln, it's really below the level of a school's experiential learning activity.
"Are you going to rebuild it after you crush the goblin settlement?"
"Yeah. At least, I want to make a slightly larger one. No, a place to sleep comes first, actually."
"Saturday will be fun, won't it?"
"I hope it goes well."
If I can take over that place, my future activities will expand considerably.
Also, I'd like to expect some kind of loot from the goblins. Like an axe…
"Eugh…"
"A livestream?"
Mion unintentionally replied too.
"Hmm, I'm fine with it, but… what about you, Mion?"
"I want to do it!"
Eh, her being so positive is surprising…
"Um, can I ask why Mion's so eager?"
"The video I'm posting this Friday is about naming Lupi-chan and rabbit hunting on the east side.
I'm thinking of making the next one about traps, so I think if we do a livestream before that, it'll be a surprise."
Whoa, she actually thought this through…
"But if it fails then…"
"It'll be fine! It will definitely go well!"
Yata-sensei…
"Is it no good?"
"No, let's do it. I was planning to do it on Saturday anyway, so I'll go in fully motivated to get it done in one go."
If I'm going to do it, I want to succeed on the first try, and I want to move my base of operations to that spot by Sunday.
"Let's do our best!"
"Yeah, I might not be able to respond much on the day, but please forgive me for that…"
"Got it."
"Woof."
I caught Lupi as she jumped in and petted her.
"I'll need a lot of help from you too, Lupi, so please cooperate."
"Woof-un."
I basically plan to have Lupi handle the job of luring out the goblins.
It's about time I really understood the terrain and decided on the direction to lure enemies and where to set traps.
[Pottery: Fired Finished.]
"Shou-kun, it's almost 5:30."
"Okay, I'll log off once I take these out. After that, it's just waiting for natural cooling."
Bell-buchou, what are you doing…