Chapter 212 - Chapter Fifteen: Village Life
This time too, I was the only one who learned magic. As expected, it's basic magic.
It's a spell called [Recovery], and it apparently has a fatigue recovery effect. In short, it's a massage.
My agility increased with the cat ring, but my endurance seems to have dropped by that much. So, the Goddess-sama must have surely felt pity for me like that.
For now, when I cast it on myself, I felt that the stiffness was relieved. Until now, I could only do things like selling Green Marble at events, but since I can relieve the stiff shoulders of the elderly, the customer attraction for the older age group, which hadn't grown much until now, will likely go well.
When I tried it in the village of Regnentes as an experiment, the reputation was excellent.
"It's good, that magic. There was such magic, huh."
The woodcutter also seemed satisfied, rotating his shoulders.
"It's fine. You worked hard at the wild boar extermination, so this much is cheap."
Beatrix, that's not your line, is it?
Honestly, whose magic do you think it is.
"But Priest Jeanne possesses various mysterious powers. Like using birds to search for monsters."
The Bishop-sama praises me. Beatrix should take a leaf out of my book (T/N: Literally 'to drink the decoction of the dirt from under someone's fingernails,' meaning to follow someone's example or learn from them.)
"This is it, the jerky made in the village."
In the village meeting hall, six pieces of wild boar jerky are lined up as the first result.
It's the second meeting with the landowner's participation. One of them is for tasting. When I went with Harrison-san, we were able to annihilate the six wild boars that had swarmed the scattered bait, so I had them made in the Owen-brand style. It seems they were completed successfully. I had them make a hot pot for the taste test.
"Yes. We actually delivered them to the Lord-sama and had him compare the taste with those made in Sertoria, and we received word that they were not bad."
At the Bishop-sama's words, five village ladies nodded timidly.
I had the women's group make them. All five were watching Beatrix's reaction with tense expressions. Behind them, their husbands and children were looking down.
It's an attitude not often seen in Sertoria. It's a thought that made me realize anew the system of serfdom.
"Then, these can be taken in at the Lord-sama's place, right?"
"Yes. If Beatrix's OK is given, I will pack them in barrels and deliver them."
First, they will be bought as portable food for soldiers. It's two silver coins per piece. Since there are five in total, that's ten silver coins. It's two silver coins per household. This will be the village's first income.
When I actually compared the taste, it was slightly inferior to the Owen-brand ones. In early spring, the wild boars are also thin after just passing winter. Ideally, it's better to hunt them in autumn for better taste, but it can't be helped in order to make a certain amount. The talk is settled by selling the spring ones cheaply and the autumn ones dearly. Once high-quality jerky is made from autumn wild boar, we plan to put it up for sale in the Royal Capital of Regnentes.
"It's not bad. For a first time, it's quite delicious. I can't give a perfect score, but it's a pass. I'll take the tasting one back and actually ask the people making it in Nakanohara for their impressions. If any additional ingenuity is needed, I'll let you know."
"Th-thank you very much, Landowner-sama."
The ladies breathed a sigh of relief. After bowing politely, they were exchanging smiles with each other.
Beatrix keeps telling them to stop calling her Landowner-sama at every opportunity, but it's somehow different from Sertoria.
"Beatrix is fine. Well then, I look forward to working with you from now on. For now, it's free, but from the fourth year, you have to pay one gold coin per household per year to enter the forest, so work hard to make good things. Also, I want you to pick medicinal herbs when you enter the forest for wild boar hunting. Mary will talk to you about the details."
This time, Mary of the water-sprinkling magic participated. Of course, her aim is medicinal herbs, but she can't just pick things from another country and take them back. So, it was decided that the Class of 175 Shop would buy them and sell them wholesale in Nakanohara.
"If there are medicinal herbs that aren't often picked in Nakanohara, we can find buyers, so please aim for those. The purchase price is one-third of the retail price. This is the same as the market price in Nakanohara. I think you should use leftovers or other medicinal herbs in the village or sell them to other villages through our shop."
When Mary told them the types of medicinal herbs she was looking for, the woodcutter and the Bishop-sama knew them.
"Then, the woodcutter and I will teach the villagers and have them gather them. Since they aren't things that exist in such large quantities, we may not always be able to hand them over."
"I don't mind. If there are too many, the price will drop, so please use the amount written on this paper as a guide. The way to dry and store them is also written, so please do as it says there."
When she smiled, the woodcutter turned red. In addition, the young man from the guards watching nearby also turned red. When it's me or Beatrix, they've never shown such an attitude, but as expected of Mary. She's built differently.
"Also, I've brought the draft of the textbook for the children's magic study from Sertoria, so I'll hand it to the Bishop-sama. There are various tips, but it can be divided by the person's preference or personality, so please tell the Bishop-sama what kind of personality the children have. And, as I said before, it's important that the person themselves is interested in magic, so absolutely do not force them. Training might be tough for small children, but they won't be able to learn if they don't feel some purpose or enjoyment. If they're doing it because their parents made them, I don't think they'll be able to learn it."
Seeing as cheers rose from the children, their motivation seems sufficient.
"And also, study reading, writing, and calculation properly. Eventually, you'll have to read magic grimoires and such, so I'll have you do this whether you like it or not."
They fell completely silent. Well, children in any country are probably similar.
"The textbook for reading and writing will be a book of fairy tales from today. The Bishop-sama will read one day's worth, and you'll do dictation. Now, Jeanne will read a little."
One day's worth is not that long. When I finished reading, they came to beg for the continuation.
"Will everyone also work hard at reading and writing?"
Since they replied energetically, when I read to the end, even the young fathers and mothers bit onto it.
"Fathers and mothers who wish to can also study reading, writing, and calculation. But since you have work, you'll take turns."
"Is it alright?"
"It's fine. If you write down the fairy tales through dictation, you can keep them as your own. Become able to read them to your children at home."
Everyone was somewhat bewildered, but there was a mother who was crying. Being able to do such things was a fairy tale itself for serfs, and usually, it seems old men and women who were knowledgeable would tell stories they had heard to the children. This time, we asked such people to refrain from accompanying us. It's only young couples of second and third sons and their children. It's because we're starting with a completely new method. To that extent, they lack experience, but let's have them overcome it by consulting among the villagers, including the Bishop-sama, the woodcutter, and the guards.
Incidentally, when I asked what kind of magic they wanted to learn, it was overwhelmingly water magic. This is because one of the first jobs is drawing water. Second was [Holy], popular among boys, and the reason was that they could exterminate monsters. After that, magic for the work they were made to participate in was popular, such as earth magic for picking up stones, and wind magic for gleaning or threshing. This area is also different from Nakanohara. In Nakanohara, there were only four children, but one of them was a child who wanted to give water to the flowers in the flowerbed.
When I asked what magic was impressive, it was [Exorcism Formation]. It's not helpful at all.
Well, it can't be helped if they were shown that. The fact that holy magic is the second most popular might also be influenced by that area.
"There might be magic that adults want the children to learn, but please put that aside. Don't tell the children either. Please wait until they see us using magic and say they want to learn it themselves. This is absolute. Otherwise, they might lack concentration and find it harder to learn."
This is also written in the textbook. It's important to first prioritize the magic that the person themselves is interested in and has the will to learn.
As adults, they probably wanted them to learn fire magic so they wouldn't have to use firewood. They seemed to want to say something, but everyone said they understood.
Immediately, it's a demonstration.
They split up according to the magic they want to learn and create images. Beatrix produces water in a bucket, and Lyudmila makes stones on the ground fly. Since the Bishop-sama can use [Heal], we didn't have to do a demonstration. For gleaning and threshing, since Paul-san is here, after cutting weeds with [Wind Cutter], he showed them how to gather the cut grass in one place with [Favorable Wind] and thresh it by rubbing the weeds on a board with a bag filled with stones using [Clump Stone]. Threshing can be done much more at once if done with [Clump Air], but Lyudmila hasn't learned it yet. Since it would cost money if Paul-san actually threshed, he seems to have intentionally done the less efficient way. Even so, those who saw it were raising voices of admiration. If they learn [Tornado Wind], they can do it all at once, but that will be a little further in the future.
Finally, when Mary made a rainbow with [Shower] magic, the children were going through it in turn while getting soaking wet. Looking from behind at the children running in front of me and going through it, I clapped for them, saying they did it well.
Afterward, each went to their work. Since the reconnaissance results from the Chururi couple were that there were no bears or wolves in the vicinity, I decided to go wild boar hunting with the Jaeger Corps and two village men, Paul-san and Beatrix went to fell trees, Mary went to pick medicinal herbs with the village guards, the Bishop-sama, and the woodcutter, and the others each took on their roles in agricultural work.
As for the fields, since the field burning after the grass cutting was finished, I had Lyudmila till them grandly with her tilling magic. Well, for now, what we're planting is clover and oats and ryegrass for feed, so there's no need to work so hard at tilling, but at any rate, the person herself wants to do it. I had her work hard at tilling, and after that, everyone in the village followed while hand-sowing the clover seeds that Beatrix had personally bought from Wilson-san. Since they don't have to dig so deep, it seems they can till two fields in an hour, so if they work hard, they can do all ten in a day, but after planting the seeds, they have to cover them with soil using magic. They left half and decided to do the rest next week. In the afternoon, Mary, who finished picking medicinal herbs, is supposed to sprinkle water.
If [Favorable Wind] could be used, sowing seeds would be fast, but unfortunately, Beatrix failed to learn it. Paul-san offered to help, but she refused. It's because they have to do the felling of trees for the road construction, and she can't just be pampered.
With the Jaeger Corps' activity, we were able to safely exterminate three wild boars.
The ladies joined me in preparing the meal. We all make lunch together. The ladies make wild vegetable soup. The village men roast rabbits and mountain birds caught in traps taught to them by the bandits... I mean, the light infantry of the border guard. We eat bread baked in the village bread oven from the rye dough supplied by the Lord-sama. Eventually, they will be able to eat wheat bread they made themselves at any time.
At the Bishop-sama's proposal, it seems they decided that the village meals when we come would be for everyone to gather in the meeting hall and eat together. That's why we make enough for everyone. Fuel costs are also efficient. He said that when the number of people increases and they can't fit, he wants to also use the roofed plaza in front of the shrine. He said he doesn't know how long it will last, but he wants to continue as long as possible because he wants to avoid the kind of internal discord within the village like before.
"Isn't it an excellent start? How is it as a landowner?"
The light infantryman is asking Beatrix.
"For now, I'm satisfied. More than that, it seems you're helping out in various ways. Thank you. I'll have to give you something in return next time."
It seems the light infantry and the guards are always helping with agricultural work and hunting. Especially with hunting, the serfs are not used to it. It's thanks to them that things like wild boar are handled without any injuries.
"Thank you to the Captain-san too."
"No, for us, it's like training. To be honest, we've been doing things by imitating how to use weapons, so we're being helped by the people of Sertoria teaching us various things."
When Beatrix said her thanks, the Captain-san pointed to the light infantry and told her.
The Jaeger Corps are stalwarts among stalwarts selected from the Kingdom Army. Even in Sertoria, they are treated as higher in rank than general royal guards. It seems they are receiving guidance from those stalwarts every day, from individual combat techniques to small unit combat and scouting techniques. In the future, there is also a plan for the Lord-sama's own soldiers to come to the village about once a month to receive collective combat training. After all, the Jaegers are all unit commander class if they transfer to other units. They are sufficiently useful as commanders, and the Lord-sama's territory is a border zone with Engrio. Guerrilla warfare techniques utilizing the forest will surely be useful.
"It is done under the approval of the Kings of both countries. It is a great honor. This is also thanks to you all."
The light infantry, which was three people at first, was increased to five, and their period of assignment in this village was apparently extended by a full year. If they serve successfully, the awarding of medals from both countries is almost certain.
"Once the mead is finished, I'll give you one barrel each for a tasting, so please do your best."
I told the Bishop-sama how to make mead. Since it's from priest to priest, there's no problem.
I had Flora negotiate, and the talk was settled for two swarms to move into the hives made by Matilda and Bonnie.
Originally, they would move when winter passed and flowers began to bloom, but for June to August, when various flowers are in full bloom and a large amount of nectar is collected, we were allowed to have a little shared with us. The bees also seem to have liked the new hives. The hives have a top plate that opens like a lid. When I had one taken out to show me, many new hexagons had been made along the wooden frame. Since one box holds about ten wooden frames, by the time it's full, a lot of honey will likely be stored. This is the same for our fields in the Flatlands. In exchange, we have to be careful to protect the hives from external enemies and make sure wintering isn't too cold, but the hives are placed in a dedicated shed with large windows behind the shrine, and the Bishop-sama looks after them. It will surely be fine. Clover will also bloom in summer. Additionally, we've picked saplings of trees with flowers that the bees requested, like cherries, from the forest and planted them in the village. For now, it's something made for the villagers to drink, but eventually, we might be able to mass-produce it and make it a commercial product.
"Now, lunch is over, let's do one more job!"
We set out riding in the bowls. In the afternoon, I'm also helping with the felling of trees. It's a role to assist Beatrix using the Black Stone.
We shape the trees felled in the morning so they are easy to transport.
Paul-san digs out the roots, and Beatrix lops off the branches. Since straight trees make good timber, we have to do it carefully. Crooked trees are made into firewood, stakes, or short boards, so we arrange them into sizes that are easy to transport.
It's about enough for one horse to run, but on the ground that has been leveled to some extent, logs with their bark peeled off are lined up on the ground for moving the sleds that carry the timber, and branches overhead are also cleared so they don't get in the way. The felling has also progressed considerably, and the place we're working on now is close to the Sertoria border. As planned, it will open in the summer.
When I released Chururi to scout, it seems there's a bear.
"Alright. Let's deal with a bear for the first time in a while. Jeanne, take out the jerky. Let's set up the pot."
Apparently, the main dish for the villagers tonight is bear meat.