Kujonin

“It took 20 years to come this far, hahaha . ”
While watching the cotton plants, the Earth Hero Garcia said so with deep feeling .
“It’s been 5 years since we completed the ca.n.a.l and finally got it going . ”
The ca.n.a.l is the river that’s flowing right through the village .
“Did Garcisan make that ca.n.a.l?”
“Yah, this entire region be a wasteland, after all . It’s pretty awful, hahaha . ”
“So why cotton? Aa, no, well, this is a wasteland, so I thought that other plants would take better . ”
“Simple . I wanted clothes . ”
“So, clothes…”
“Whatever can be worn is enough . Ah used to think that myself, see . But then Ah realized it when Ah bought my first slave child . People discriminate based on appearances . Up until then, Ah’d never seen a slave before, since Ah was raised in a place without them, and so…”
And he explained that he thought it was so sad that slave weren’t normally dressed in anything but worn out rags .
“And so, just by dressing them up in good clothes, people will change how they see them . It’s just like magic . So if Ah can make it cheap for them to change appearances and wear nice clothes, at least so they won’t be wearing old rags, Ah thought Ah could change how slaves were being treated . ”
And so that’s why the cotton, huh?
“Goatsheep wool isn’t suitable?”
I was wondering if the wool from the sheep monsters like at Merumo’s home’s ranch, the goatsheeps, wouldn’t do as well .
“This is a wasteland, so the feed costs would be horrible . And the King also promised to buy it if I did cotton . ”
Is this plantation half owned by the country?
“Ah received this land from the King so it didn’t cost any money, but it was tough from then on . Not a single one sprouted, hahaha . Ah was seriously at a loss then . ”
I could catch a glimpse of the anguish within that laughing tone .
“An’ so, it wouldn’t work no matter what Ah did, so Ah wandered around all over as an adventurer, studying how to raise plants . And when Ah returned, Ah tried all sorts of things . Look at the forest around the plantation; Ah planted the trees as young saplings one by one . Ah never made a plantation before, so Ah didn’t know Ah needed a windbreaker, hahaha . That’s something that just took time from then on, hahaha . ”
Garcisan lifted his straw hat and wiped the sweat from his head .
“Ah thought about giving up many times, and just living by using the Hero’s power to be an adventurer, but there’s no point for a Hero in this age without a Demon King to be going around stealing other peoples’ work . And so Ah came back to this wasteland in the end . But thanks to going around to all sorts of places, Ah met my wife, and Ah met the slave children, too . The village getting bigger is all thanks to the slave children I had released from slavery helping out . ”
He seems happy about it .
“Ah’ve got good luck, see . If Ah didn’t have Earth Spirit-sama’s blessing I wouldn’t be able to make the ca.n.a.l, and my plantation wouldn’t have been able to get so big . Ah, Ah’m really glad I’m the Earth Hero . ”

Certainly, a water ca.n.a.l would normally take a number of years to make .
It would take quite a bit of time for the plantation to get this big .
But if you had earth magic, then it’s easy to do .

Haa~ it’s completely hard to call him out .
He even has a proper reason for growing cotton .
That said, I can’t not say anything .
“Um… did you know that Adel Lake to the west … the water level’s dropped?”
“A! Ah do know . Ah found out recently . The country’s officials said they’re going to make a waterway, bring fish from the sea, and raise them through aqua culture . Ah also got a request to make the waterway . In 2 years it will be made . ”
“No, that’s, the reason the water level’s dropping, or like the reason the water in the lake is being reduced, isn’t it possible it might be because this ca.n.a.l is pulling from it?”
“E!? No… well, it can’t be something that simple, right? Like, it might not be raining as much, or look, the mountains to the west might not be having enough thaw flowing down . ”
That’s certainly enough to think about .
And that’s exactly why it’s necessary to investigate .
“Of course it’s possible . And that’s why it’s necessary to investigate . ”
“Un, Ah get that it’s necessary to investigate, but Naoki-kun is an exterminator person, right? You do investigations too?”
“Yes, with exterminations, a very thorough investigation is necessary . If we don’t do so to determine whether an extermination is necessary, we can’t make a decision . ”
“Exterminate – you intend to exterminate this cotton field!? You!”
The Garcia who was laughing showed anger for the first time .
“The extermination target would be Garcisan, the Hero you are . ”
“… Hahaha, what kind of joke is that? Exterminate a Hero? Ah have the blessing of the Earth Spirit, you know? You think you can exterminate me?”
“Hahaha, hahaha, that’s right . It’s a farce to say I’d exterminate a Hero . Sorry, it was a poor joke . ”
“That’s right . Hahaha~ To,today, can you leave for today?”
“A, of course . Sorry . I’ve hindered you for quite a while . ”
“Haha . ”
Laughing dryly, Garcia saw me out to the exit .

Along the way, a red-haired, middle-aged woman came out from the warehouse and called, “It’s cla.s.s-time soon-!” out to the children working in the fields .
It’s probably Garcia’s wife .

It’s probably Garcia’s wife .
“Oh my, a visitor?”
“Aah, h.e.l.lo . I’ve been intruding . ”
“Next time, take your time and have dinner with us . ”
“Haa, thank you very much!”
I, who was in an unpleasant mood, responded politely .
“Dear, check the children’s counting and calculations later . ”
“Aah, I know . Ashley . ”
The Misses said, “Then excuse me,” and went towards the house .
The children in the fields also headed towards the house .
Every one of them was wearing well-tailored shirts .

With Garcia’s glare-like stare seeing me off, I left the plantation behind .

—

[“Velsa here . I’ve arrived . I’ve also collected soil from the plantation-“]
Velsa’s contact through the communication bag came towards evening .
I was at the inn, lounging in the bed, at that time .
“I’m at the inn in the village . ”
[“Which inn?”]
“There’s only one so you’ll know immediately . ”
[“Ky . ”]
Cutting off the magic power to the communication bag, I got up off the bed .
“Even so, in the end, someone has to stop this . ”
Regardless of drawing ire or creating conflict, if the residents around the lake die, it will be too late .
Then what will we do about the people in this village? What will we do about the children at the Hero’s house?
Even if I say exterminate the Hero, it’s not enough just to remove the Earth Spirit’s blessing from the Hero .
What happens afterwards is important .

What happens afterwards is important .
“We, the Komura Company, give perfect after care, after all!”

Clack

“What are you saying, all by yourself?”
Velsa has arrived .

Under the light of the magic stone lamp, Velsa poured the plantation’s soil out of a bottle onto a white cloth .
When I asked how she got her hands on the soil,
“There wasn’t anyone around, so I went into the cotton fields and borrowed a little . ”
She carelessly answered .
Laying out another white cloth, she poured out soil from a different bottle .
“N~, it’s inarguably more, ne . ”
“What is?”
“Magic stone sand . ”
“This one is soil from the plantation, and this one is soil I collected on the way here from the wasteland, but the plantation soil’s magic stone sand content is larger . Can they make the fertility better if that’s the case?”
“Can you bestow magic onto this sand?”
“You can’t put magic onto such tiny particles of sand, right?”
“But you can draw magic circles with it, right?”
“Throughout the entire plantation?”
“Un, well, they could also divide up the area and draw it . ”
Velsa said, “Like that, then…” and thought .
“But what kind of magic circle would they draw? Besides, normal people can’t draw magic circles . Magic tools with magic bestowed on them are very rare . Our company is weird . To be able to use this many magic tools . Even if there was one, it would be the only one in the country, right? If that’s the case, it would be something like a national treasure that would never be seen by most of the people . ”
“But if it’s a Hero, then he’d be able to see the country’s treasury, right?”
“That’s true … but what kind of a magic circle?”
“Like enhancement? Or accelerated growth?”
“I wonder if there’s something that can do that … well, whatever, I’m hungry . ”
“Then let’s go eat . ”

When we descended to the dining hall, there was a delicious smell of grilling meat .
“Then let’s go eat . ”

When we descended to the dining hall, there was a delicious smell of grilling meat .
There were a lot of the merchants that I saw at noon crowded in the dining hall .
“O-i! Over here!”
The travelling merchant ossan I had come to Gnomefield with and said, “Let’s drink at the inn tonight,” seemed to have remembered his promise and had taken up a spot in the corner of the dining hall .
“What, you got a woman?”

[“President!”]
Right at that time, Seth’s voice came from the communication bag .
“Ah, Seth is calling . Velsa, have something to eat and drink over there . ”
“Got it . ”
I exited the dining hall, and when I had gone out the entrance, I poured magic into the communication bag .
“What is it? Did you find it?”
[“Yes . I found the river with reduced water, and I went up one of the branches . ”]
“Ou, then, if you follow that branch…”
“Yes, I tried following it, and I arrived at a village . ”
“A, really? Does that village have a river flowing right down the center, with houses on both sides of the river?”
[“Yes . ”]
“Can you see something like a church with a triangular roof?”
[“Yeah, I can see it . ”]
“In that village, there’s only one inn, and Velsa and I are…”
[“What the!? That person!! President, there’s a weird person!!!”]

Clangclangclangclang, clangclangclangclang

All of a sudden, I can hear the shrill clammering of a bell from outside .
I immediately activated Search Skill, opened the door and leaped outside .

“It’s a ghoul! A ghoul has appeared-!!”

Across the river, the villagers were raising loud yells .

“It took 20 years to come this far, hahaha . ”. While watching the cotton plants, the Earth Hero Garcia said so with deep feeling “It’s been 5 years since we completed the ca.n.a.l and finally got it going . ”. The ca.n.a.l is the river that’s flowing right through the village “Did Garcisan make that ca.n.a.l?”. “Yah, this entire region be a wasteland, after all . It’s pretty awful, hahaha . ”. “So why cotton? Aa, no, well, this is a wasteland, so I thought that other plants would take better . ”. “Simple . I wanted clothes . ”. “So, clothes…”. “Whatever can be worn is enough . Ah used to think that myself, see . But then Ah realized it when Ah bought my first slave child . People discriminate based on appearances . Up until then, Ah’d never seen a slave before, since Ah was raised in a place without them, and so…”. And he explained that he thought it was so sad that slave weren’t normally dressed in anything but worn out rags “And so, just by dressing them up in good clothes, people will change how they see them . It’s just like magic . So if Ah can make it cheap for them to change appearances and wear nice clothes, at least so they won’t be wearing old rags, Ah thought Ah could change how slaves were being treated . ”. And so that’s why the cotton, huh?. “Goatsheep wool isn’t suitable?”. I was wondering if the wool from the sheep monsters like at Merumo’s home’s ranch, the goatsheeps, wouldn’t do as well “This is a wasteland, so the feed costs would be horrible . And the King also promised to buy it if I did cotton . ”. Is this plantation half owned by the country?. “Ah received this land from the King so it didn’t cost any money, but it was tough from then on . Not a single one sprouted, hahaha . Ah was seriously at a loss then . ”. I could catch a glimpse of the anguish within that laughing tone “An’ so, it wouldn’t work no matter what Ah did, so Ah wandered around all over as an adventurer, studying how to raise plants . And when Ah returned, Ah tried all sorts of things . Look at the forest around the plantation; Ah planted the trees as young saplings one by one . Ah never made a plantation before, so Ah didn’t know Ah needed a windbreaker, hahaha . That’s something that just took time from then on, hahaha . ”. Garcisan lifted his straw hat and wiped the sweat from his head “Ah thought about giving up many times, and just living by using the Hero’s power to be an adventurer, but there’s no point for a Hero in this age without a Demon King to be going around stealing other peoples’ work . And so Ah came back to this wasteland in the end . But thanks to going around to all sorts of places, Ah met my wife, and Ah met the slave children, too . The village getting bigger is all thanks to the slave children I had released from slavery helping out . ”. He seems happy about it “Ah’ve got good luck, see . If Ah didn’t have Earth Spirit-sama’s blessing I wouldn’t be able to make the ca.n.a.l, and my plantation wouldn’t have been able to get so big . Ah, Ah’m really glad I’m the Earth Hero . ”. Certainly, a water ca.n.a.l would normally take a number of years to make It would take quite a bit of time for the plantation to get this big But if you had earth magic, then it’s easy to do

Haa~ it’s completely hard to call him out He even has a proper reason for growing cotton That said, I can’t not say anything “Um… did you know that Adel Lake to the west … the water level’s dropped?”. “A! Ah do know . Ah found out recently . The country’s officials said they’re going to make a waterway, bring fish from the sea, and raise them through aqua culture . Ah also got a request to make the waterway . In 2 years it will be made . ”. “No, that’s, the reason the water level’s dropping, or like the reason the water in the lake is being reduced, isn’t it possible it might be because this ca.n.a.l is pulling from it?”. “E!? No… well, it can’t be something that simple, right? Like, it might not be raining as much, or look, the mountains to the west might not be having enough thaw flowing down . ”. That’s certainly enough to think about And that’s exactly why it’s necessary to investigate “Of course it’s possible . And that’s why it’s necessary to investigate . ”. “Un, Ah get that it’s necessary to investigate, but Naoki-kun is an exterminator person, right? You do investigations too?”. “Yes, with exterminations, a very thorough investigation is necessary . If we don’t do so to determine whether an extermination is necessary, we can’t make a decision . ”. “Exterminate – you intend to exterminate this cotton field!? You!”. The Garcia who was laughing showed anger for the first time “The extermination target would be Garcisan, the Hero you are . ”. “… Hahaha, what kind of joke is that? Exterminate a Hero? Ah have the blessing of the Earth Spirit, you know? You think you can exterminate me?”. “Hahaha, hahaha, that’s right . It’s a farce to say I’d exterminate a Hero . Sorry, it was a poor joke . ”. “That’s right . Hahaha~ To,today, can you leave for today?”. “A, of course . Sorry . I’ve hindered you for quite a while . ”. “Haha . ”. Laughing dryly, Garcia saw me out to the exit

Along the way, a red-haired, middle-aged woman came out from the warehouse and called, “It’s cla.s.s-time soon-!” out to the children working in the fields It’s probably Garcia’s wife “Oh my, a visitor?”. “Aah, h.e.l.lo . I’ve been intruding . ”. “Next time, take your time and have dinner with us . ”. “Haa, thank you very much!”. I, who was in an unpleasant mood, responded politely “Dear, check the children’s counting and calculations later . ”. “Aah, I know . Ashley . ”. The Misses said, “Then excuse me,” and went towards the house The children in the fields also headed towards the house Every one of them was wearing well-tailored shirts

With Garcia’s glare-like stare seeing me off, I left the plantation behind

—.

[“Velsa here . I’ve arrived . I’ve also collected soil from the plantation-“]. Velsa’s contact through the communication bag came towards evening I was at the inn, lounging in the bed, at that time “I’m at the inn in the village . ”. [“Which inn?”]. “There’s only one so you’ll know immediately . ”. [“Ky . ”]. Cutting off the magic power to the communication bag, I got up off the bed “Even so, in the end, someone has to stop this . ”. Regardless of drawing ire or creating conflict, if the residents around the lake die, it will be too late Then what will we do about the people in this village? What will we do about the children at the Hero’s house?. Even if I say exterminate the Hero, it’s not enough just to remove the Earth Spirit’s blessing from the Hero What happens afterwards is important “We, the Komura Company, give perfect after care, after all!”.

Clack.

“What are you saying, all by yourself?”. Velsa has arrived

Under the light of the magic stone lamp, Velsa poured the plantation’s soil out of a bottle onto a white cloth When I asked how she got her hands on the soil,. “There wasn’t anyone around, so I went into the cotton fields and borrowed a little . ”. She carelessly answered Laying out another white cloth, she poured out soil from a different bottle “N~, it’s inarguably more, ne . ”. “What is?”. “Magic stone sand . ”. “This one is soil from the plantation, and this one is soil I collected on the way here from the wasteland, but the plantation soil’s magic stone sand content is larger . Can they make the fertility better if that’s the case?”. “Can you bestow magic onto this sand?”. “You can’t put magic onto such tiny particles of sand, right?”. “But you can draw magic circles with it, right?”. “Throughout the entire plantation?”. “Un, well, they could also divide up the area and draw it . ”. Velsa said, “Like that, then…” and thought “But what kind of magic circle would they draw? Besides, normal people can’t draw magic circles . Magic tools with magic bestowed on them are very rare . Our company is weird . To be able to use this many magic tools . Even if there was one, it would be the only one in the country, right? If that’s the case, it would be something like a national treasure that would never be seen by most of the people . ”. “But if it’s a Hero, then he’d be able to see the country’s treasury, right?”. “That’s true … but what kind of a magic circle?”. “Like enhancement? Or accelerated growth?”. “I wonder if there’s something that can do that … well, whatever, I’m hungry . ”. “Then let’s go eat . ”.

When we descended to the dining hall, there was a delicious smell of grilling meat There were a lot of the merchants that I saw at noon crowded in the dining hall “O-i! Over here!”. The travelling merchant ossan I had come to Gnomefield with and said, “Let’s drink at the inn tonight,” seemed to have remembered his promise and had taken up a spot in the corner of the dining hall “What, you got a woman?”.

[“President!”]. Right at that time, Seth’s voice came from the communication bag “Ah, Seth is calling . Velsa, have something to eat and drink over there . ”. “Got it . ”. I exited the dining hall, and when I had gone out the entrance, I poured magic into the communication bag “What is it? Did you find it?”. [“Yes . I found the river with reduced water, and I went up one of the branches . ”]. “Ou, then, if you follow that branch…”. “Yes, I tried following it, and I arrived at a village . ”. “A, really? Does that village have a river flowing right down the center, with houses on both sides of the river?”. [“Yes . ”]. “Can you see something like a church with a triangular roof?”. [“Yeah, I can see it . ”]. “In that village, there’s only one inn, and Velsa and I are…”. [“What the!? That person!! President, there’s a weird person!!!”].

Clangclangclangclang, clangclangclangclang.

All of a sudden, I can hear the shrill clammering of a bell from outside I immediately activated Search Skill, opened the door and leaped outside

“It’s a ghoul! A ghoul has appeared-!!”.

Across the river, the villagers were raising loud yells