kscans

Chapter 5 - The Starting Point

The letter from the god, in addition to skills, meticulously detailed what seemed to be necessary information about the country Yuri was reincarnated in, its customs, prices, and more, though there were a few omissions.

"...This is detailed. It seems to cover almost all the necessary information."

Offering a prayer of thanks to the considerate god, he slowly moved on to his next action. He had confirmed there were several days’ worth of food in his Storage, likely a present from the god. He offered another prayer of thanks for that. Next, he needed to secure a place to live. Fortunately, this was an abandoned village. There were several candidates for a house. He just had to choose one that was relatively undamaged and seemed easy to live in.

After about three hours of selection, Yuri decided on a house in the approximate center of the village. The reasons were that it was less damaged, a well and a field were nearby, and it seemed sheltered from the wind by the other houses around it. The house itself had a floor area of about one hundred thirty square meters, but all three rooms inside had an earthen floor. It seemed they used to lay down mats or something as needed. A Kamado stove was built in the room near the entrance, so this was likely the kitchen and probably also the dining area, with the two rooms beyond it being the living space. There was what looked like a window for lighting in the ceiling, but it was closed. There were also small windows in the walls, but of course, there was no glass fitted in them. They were all of the so-called awning window or projecting window type, where a wooden shutter is pushed outward. Since they were all currently closed, the inside was dark. The toilet was a public toilet outside, but they might have used a chamber pot or some other kind of indoor toilet. However, none was left behind. There was no bathroom. They probably used a tub or something on the earthen floor as needed. He could tolerate the toilet situation, but the lack of a bathroom was unbearable, so he resolved to build an extension sooner rather than later.

There were no cleaning tools left, so he only tidied up the inside roughly. Even so, he used wind magic to sweep out the accumulated dust. It was a dusty mess at first, but once he got the hang of manipulating the wind, it did not take long to clear out all the trash and dust that had gathered inside. Yuri reflected on how he had underestimated the slow life, seeing as the first magic to prove useful was the one he got as a bonus. He himself did not mind that its first use was for cleaning, though the god would probably be appalled if it knew. There was no water leakage, and in a corner that seemed free of drafts, he laid down a fur pelt that had been in his Storage. This was another of the god’s thoughtful gifts. Just how considerate could a god be? And with that, his temporary home was complete.

"Now then... I’ll have to rely on rations for food for now, but securing water is important. There was a well, but I wonder if it’s usable."

He wanted to check if anything was left in the house, but it would be better to check things outside before it got dark. Securing water was a pressing issue. With that thought, Yuri headed for the well near the house. He had completely forgotten that he had been given "Water" Magic.

"Hmm... The cover isn’t broken yet, and the well itself seems usable..."

He checked it using earth and water magic. He had not yet thought of creating water with magic, despite using water magic. The well seemed to have water in it. He said "seemed" because he had no way of confirming it at present. First, this well was a so-called well sweep, with an asymmetrical seesaw-like crossbeam. A stone was tied to one end, and a bucket for drawing water from the well was tied to the other. The weight of the stone would lift the bucket, allowing water to be drawn with less effort, but...

"The bucket’s been taken..."

The bucket that should have been tied to one end of the crossbeam was nowhere to be found, likely taken when the villagers left. On top of that, the crossbeam itself was cracked and could break at any moment. Well, that was probably why it was left behind. There was a water jug in the corner of the house, but it too was cracked. He repaired it with earth magic, but he could not find a substitute for the bucket. He might find something if he searched the entire village...

"It looks like it’s about to get dark, so I don’t have time for that. In that case..."

An idea occurred to him. He tried to see if he could draw water from the well with water magic. He still did not seem to think of creating water with magic.

"Bingo! ...But is this really water magic?"

Looking at the water sphere about fifty centimeters in diameter that he had drawn from the well, Yuri wondered if this was truly water magic. Well, regardless, he had succeeded in obtaining water. He immediately used Appraisal on it, and it seemed to be free of harmful components or microorganisms. He would boil it before drinking anyway...

"Ah... I don’t have any pots, pans, or even dishes, do I..."

For the time being, he carried the water sphere into the house and poured it into the water jug in the corner of the kitchen. He then used water magic to stir the water, washing away the dirt and grime accumulated inside the jug. He formed the dirty water into another sphere...

"It feels wrong to just dump it outside... There was something like an old field out back, so I’ll sprinkle it there."

He filled the now clean water jug with fresh water again, and his supply of drinking water was secured.

"Now... I need water for washing my hands at the toilet."

The toilet was not inside the house but in a separate building outside. More accurately, there was a public toilet on the outskirts of the village, far from the well. He had checked all the houses, but not a single one had an indoor toilet. It seemed they used portable indoor toilets, so-called chamber pots, at night and emptied the contents into the public toilet.

"I can do my small business in the back field... but for the big business, I guess it has to be the public toilet. I understand why they couldn’t build it near the well... but it’s so far away..."

He grumbled, but with no other choice for now, he decided to follow suit. However, he was thrown into a panic when he realized there was no toilet paper, or leaves to substitute for it, nor a water basin for washing his hands. Fortunately, he was able to find suitable leaves by using the term search function of his Rural Life Guide and confirmed them with Appraisal. They were growing near his house. In retrospect, they might have been planted there for that purpose. As for the hand-washing basin and a jug for storing water, he could not find any suitable containers. They seemed to have been taken when the villagers left. But then he had an idea and managed to create them with earth magic.

"Come to think of it, this was a standard thing in light novels, wasn’t it?"

...Though he could not recall any works where the protagonist’s great achievement was making a hand-washing basin and water jug for the toilet.

Yuri wondered if he should make a chamber pot in case it rained, but he should have paid a little more attention to the skills he possessed.

Namely, the magic skill called Cleanse, which was part of Life Magic.

This skill was for cleaning things around him, and it would have solved the problem of washing his hands after using the toilet, and wiping his behind as well. Although many people possessed it, not everyone did, so it seemed a shrub for wiping was also planted near the public toilet. But in this country, most people relied on this magic. It was an oversight born from coming from a world without magic. And...

"I didn’t see any bathtubs... either they don’t have a custom of bathing, or they took the tubs with them... I guess I’ll have to make one with earth magic... I want soap too... I’ll have to make it from animal fat and ash."

Yuri, with no thought of Cleanse in his mind, was also racking his brain over how to obtain a bathtub and soap.