Chapter 631 - Chapter 562: An Invitation for All Island Residents
Saturday
"I'll take care of things here."
"I'm counting on you."
It was Saturday afternoon. Mion was out for her lessons, so it was a solo play session for me after quite a while.
The wooden statue of the Jade Goddess was mostly finished yesterday, so today I planned to take a relaxed mountain walk to the port and have dinner with True and the others.
"Alright, let's go."
"Woof!" ""Bow!""
Lupi and the others were extremely excited for their first long walk in a while.
On the way from the mansion to the church,
"Rigel!"
When I called out, Rigel, who had been resting in the shade by the waterway, immediately sprang up and ran over.
Raz, who was riding on his back, leaped onto my shoulder.
"Kuru~♪"
"Bururu"
"Wafuun"
Rigel and Lupi greeted each other with a touch of their noses.
"I'm going to the port via the mountain observation deck. Want to come?"
"Kururu♪" "Bururun♪"
Rigel, of course, nudged my cheek, so I gave him a good pat. It was just a walk, so I probably didn't need to bother with horse tack.
As I leisurely walked to the church, I saw the Cait Sith who were cleaning around the church.
"Thanks as always."
"""Nya~"""
I didn't see Shal. Was he in the fields?
As I exchanged high-fives with the Cait Sith and headed to the back, it seemed Paan was just discussing something.
"Ryu~" "Nya!"
"You two, good work. Is something up?"
"Ryuryu?"
"Ah, turning all these fields over to Grapeful, huh? Sounds good. The Dragonkin are pretty keen on wine."
If we sell the excess on the mainland, there will surely be people who'll buy it.
Let's make the next sale heavy on wine so it can reach many people.
"Nya?"
"Yeah. I was thinking of taking a walk through the mountains to the port. You two coming?"
"Ryu~!" "Nya!"
Of course, they decided to come along.
Well, going back will be instant with the Transfer Magic Circle and teleportation, so let's just hang out there until evening.
...
"Nyafun!"
"Wow, this is amazing. Thanks, Shal."
Shal showed me inside the storage room with a smug look.
There were nearly 30 sake barrels stored after brewing. No wonder I kept getting asked to produce more barrels.
But, well, with this many, it would have been better if Vermilion-san had taken more last time she visited.
"Nya nya?"
"Yeah. Let's move the ones here to the mansion."
We can give the alcohol Argenta-san and her group like as presents, and a little for cooking is enough. The rest can just be sold.
"Nyafu"
"Ah, about that..."
To Shal, who said they would start dividing the work and carrying them today, I took out a Transfer Magic Circle from my inventory and set it up.
With this, we could transport them to the back of the mansion in an instant, which should make things a lot easier.
"Nya?"
"Yeah. For a while, let's say until next week, I'll leave it here."
There was that incident with Sabana-san, and Mion is doing a live stream from here today, so let's postpone exploring the northern side of the island until things calm down a bit more. If I come to collect it the day before, it'll be fine.
With this, Sweee can come to the mansion even without me, and I also need to tell True...
"Kyu~!"
True leaped onto me as usual.
Behind him was Paan, who had gone to call True, seemingly talking to an elder Selkie.
"Sorry for being absent for so long."
It wasn't exactly an apology, but I told them I'd leave the Transfer Magic Circle here for a while.
Paan was here too, so I wanted them to use it for more than just transferring sake barrels.
Also,
"I'll come invite you later, so will everyone come to eat dinner with us?"
"Kyu~♪"
Mion's story will surely create a festive atmosphere, so I want the Selkies to come too. I should probably invite Kuro and the Ghillie Dhu as well.
Oh, right. There was something I'd forgotten to ask True and the others.
"Um, from where the mansion is..."
Since it was hard to explain, I created a thin A4-sized stone wall and roughly drew a map of the island on it with an engraving pen.
I just wanted to know if True and the others knew anything about the small island to the northwest of the island...
"Kyu?"
"Kyukyu~"
He asked the Selkie behind him, but he didn't seem to know anything either.
Well, I'd been to the base of the northernmost tower's cliff and the southern sandy beach before, but both had felt like places I was seeing for the first time.
"Kyukyu"
"Yeah. Could you ask everyone if they know anything about the area around this island?"
"Kyu!"
It must have been a very long time ago, but there should have been people at this port, and it would be interesting if something from that time still remained.
"I'm thinking of having Emeraldia-san transport the wooden statue of the Jade Goddess, which we're unveiling today, tomorrow."
"Understood. Just, I'd like you to keep the timing a secret."
According to Bell-buchou, the number of people wanting to come to the Southern Island would dramatically increase just to see Emeraldia-san or the wooden statue of the Jade Goddess.
Emeraldia-san's personality is... well, that, so it might be better to have her transport it secretly and ask Gaju and his team to handle the handover.
"Good evening! It's finally today, aren't you nervous?"
"Y-yes. I'm fine."
Mion answered that way, but she seemed a little nervous after all.
Today's live stream will be entirely from the island, so I'll have to take the lead.
"Since this will be a different kind of live stream, let's do a rehearsal a little earlier."
""Yes.""
...
"Yeah, this looks good."
Today's broadcast started from the mansion's backyard.
Mion was sitting on her usual simple chair, with the flower bed as a backdrop.
[This is great~. At first glance, it looks just like your usual studio~]
Mion was the main focus of the live stream camera.
From there, Yata-sensei, as usual, would follow up on us and monitor the comment section.
The setup was for Mion to talk about the album, then call for Lupi and me as usual...
"...?"
"Sweee, you wait until you're called too."
Sweee gave a firm thumbs-up in return.
Somehow, Sweee seems to understand what's going on...
[Only three minutes left~]
"Alright, let's do it like always."
"Y-yes."
I released Mion's hand, which I had been holding, and moved away from the table.
Yeah, I guess I'm getting nervous too...