Here’s the chapter, enjoy~

Last night, Sylphy was very sweet to me. She was like a little kitten. Imagine a usually cool woman, even violent, being sweet to you in a lustful voice. Well, I think I might suddenly explode and die today.

And it was morning as usual.

“Sylphy? Sylphy-saaan?”

“…..”

When she woke up, Sylphy was dumbfounded for a while, then suddenly her face turned red like a boiled octopus and froze. When I called out to her, she covered her face with both hands and curled up on the bed. She didn’t respond when I shook her by hand or called out to her. She seemed to want to be like a clam for a while, so I decided to leave her alone.

Fortunately, there was still enough water left in the water bottle in the backyard to cleanse and refresh my body. At the same time, I collected the items and materials I had made during the night. I’ve finished mass-producing the crossbow, so now I just need to mass-produce the bolts. The mixing table materials have also been produced, so all that remains is to construct it.

After retrieving the improved workbench and blacksmithing facilities, I returned to the house. Still, Sylphy hadn’t come out to the living room yet. I wondered if she was still too embarrassed to come out. I had a feeling that if I messed with her too much, I might get a painful counterattack, so I decided to make breakfast quietly.

Hmm, what to make? To be honest, I don’t have much of a repertoire for cooking from flour… Oh, that’s right. I’ll make up something okonomiyaki-like. If there are flour, giblets, and meat, I can make up something like that. The only way to get the soup stock is to use mushrooms, so it might not taste as good as it should. Oh no, there’s not enough time to make a sauce from tomatoes. I’ll add some shredded onil and a little more salted meat from the reserve to cover it up.

As I was making the okonomiyaki, Sylphy came out of her bedroom, killing the sound of her footsteps. No matter how much you kill your footsteps, if I always keep the entrance to the bedroom in the corner of my eye, it will be obvious.

“…..!!”

As soon as our eyes met, Sylphy turned her face away with tremendous speed and walked out to the backyard. Of course, her face is still as red as before.

“What a cutie.”

In the evening, when she’s in lovey-dovey mode, Sylphy lets go of her daily stress, or maybe it’s because she’s so out of control. It’s almost as if the daytime Sylphy and the nighttime Sylphy are two different people. Sylphy is essentially an elf of young age. She told me that her mind and body matured when she was about 20 years old, but I guess she is still a little young for an elf.

But she had to be strong, so she disciplined herself, and she had been living her life with the purpose of being a strong person. Until she met me, perhaps she loosens her bounds at night. There is no such thing as a person who can keep their guard up all the time. She’s not a human; she’s an elf.

Then, in the morning, the consciousness of playing the strong person comes back, and in a sense, she comes back to her feelings. And I have to writhe in shame. It’s wonderful; I hope she will be like that forever!

“Good morning.”

“Yeah, good morning.”

While I was cooking okonomiyaki with these thoughts in mind, Sylphy came back from the backyard. Her face was still red, but she seemed to have managed to clear her mind. She may have simply cooled down after taking a bath in the water.

“Kosuke.”

“What can I do for you?”

“Don’t say anything about last night.”

“Fumu…”

It’s easy to tell Sylphy not to worry about it in the future by saying, It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, it’s just Sylphy and me, and so on. She should cut her resistance to spoiling by saying, you can spoil me as much as you want in the house or when it’s just the two of us, and I’m more than happy to do it. Yup.

“I understand.”

That’s all I said and decided to pass the moment. I wanted to enjoy the sight of her being shy for as long as possible. Hahaha.

After breakfast (the okonomiyaki turned out to be quite edible, by the way), we quickly left the house and headed for the wall. Danan and the others had already gathered near the wall. They seemed to be discussing something with a wooden board on which they had drawn a topographical map of the area around the village.

By the way, Sylphy has already fully recovered. Before she left the house, she made a kind of “Mmm!” She made a fist with both hands and put her energy into it. She was so cute; I was afraid she would go bald*.

[T/n*: I don’t know what it means, though.]

“Good morning, everyone.”

“Good morning, Your Highness. You too, Kosuke.”

“Good morning.”

We exchanged brief greetings, and I placed one of the modified crossbows on the table.

“This is the improved crossbow――.”

As soon as I said that, Jagira and Isla were reaching for the improved crossbow. At the same time, they touched the improved crossbow, their gazes met, and sparks flew.

“Yes, there are more, so please don’t fight.”

I had no choice but to bring out two more improved crossbows and give two of the three to Jagira and Isla. I put the other one in the middle of the table. I then gave them a general description of the improved crossbow’s capabilities. It is more powerful but heavier, and the bow is harder. Unless you have enough physical strength, you will be exhausted in no time.

“I understand. But more powerful is more fascinating.”

“I’d like to deploy a few of them.”

“Speaking of deployment, I’ve completed the mass production of the basic crossbow. I can deliver them, but it would be a burden to give you 300 of them now, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s right. Can I have fifty of them for training?”

“Copy that.”

I took out more and more crossbows from my inventory. Well, even if there are only crossbows, there won’t be enough bolts right now. In addition, I also gave him the number of bolts I have.

“I guess we can start training now.”

“Well, let’s get started.”

“Kosuke and I are going to collect iron ore.”

“I’ll go too,” said Isla.

“Jagira and Pirna should accompany us, too. Pirna, you look for traces of Gizma from the sky.”

“”Roger.””

It seems that the cat beast-man Jagira and the harpy Pirna―two of the scouts―will accompany us. And as for Isla, she must have thought there might be something interesting to see.

“Isn’t Isla supposed to be in charge here, making preparations or anything like that?”

“No. There are no sick or injured people here right now.”

I looked at Danan, Melty, and Qubi, and each of them gave me a look and a manner that said everything was fine. Well, I don’t think Isla is really suited for giving orders to anyone, judging from the way she looks. In general, Isla seems to be a researcher.

Now that we’ve decided on our personnel assignments, we’ll get moving. Sylphy, Isla, myself and the scouting duo of Jagira and Pirna will be securing the iron and patrolling against Gizma. Of course, for the patrols, it’s not just us, but the lightest and quickest of the refugees are sent out in pairs to each direction. It seems that Qubi will also be on patrol.

Danan, Gerda, and Worg are going to train the refugees to fight with crossbows. They said that after a day of training, they should be able to hit Gizma without any problems.

Melty will be busy securing supplies and making preserved food for the defense line. I’ve been reminded to help out in that area tomorrow. It’s really depressing.

And so we were on our way to the mountain stream that we had visited before.

“Why do I have to carry Isla on my back?”

“I can’t be carrying her. And the two scouts have to be on the perimeter.”

It’s not a problem for me to carry her because she’s small and not very heavy, but I feel a subtle softness in my back and hands that makes me uncomfortable. She doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, so I’m going to do my best with a will of steel.

“It’s not a bad ride… but something’s wrong.”

Isla is mumbling something in my ear. Yeah, it’s probably because the stride and the travel distance don’t match. It’s a lot easier to move forward with a command action as I walk.

Also, my body feels strangely light, probably thanks to the agility and strong cardiopulmonary capacity skills I took yesterday. I don’t feel tired when I walk.

Thanks to Jagira and Pirna, who acted as scouts to keep us on the lookout, we were able to keep moving at a fairly fast pace. I think it only took us half the time it did the last time we were here.

“Now, I’m going to take a look around.”

“Oh, and if you see any prey, go hunt it down. Kosuke can bring back any prey he wants. We’ll be moving upstream to mine, so be careful.”

“Understood, I’m going to test the power of this new model.”

Jagira smiled pleasantly and disappeared into the depths of the forest with the improved crossbow in her hand. What is it about crossbows that drives her so much…? I can’t understand that.

“Jagira is a scout, but she’s not very good with a bow… and that’s probably why she loves the crossbow, which allows her to shoot strong, accurate arrows, even though she’s not very skilled with a bow.”

Perhaps noticing my curious look at Jagira, Pirna explained Jagira’s odd behavior to me. Well, just because you’re a scout doesn’t mean you have to use a bow, but, indeed, scouts are often associated with bows.

“Isn’t there something innovative like the crossbow that I can use?”

Pirna stared at my face. Hmm, something innovative that even a harpy could use, like… a bomb or a poison gas bomb? I’m not sure if a Molotov cocktail would work.

“I can think of a few, but I don’t think I can make them right now.”

“That’s a pity… Your Highness, I’m going to do some scouting too.”

“Be careful.”

“Ha!”

The Harpy’s Pirna also soared into the sky. The wind breeze slammed my cheeks, but I don’t think those wings can generate this much wind. Perhaps there is some magical power at work there.

“Now… let’s dig.”

“Yeah, let’s do it to our heart’s content.”

Isla is silently staring at me. Her big eye is half-open, and I feel like that eye is watching me. Wait, is she sleepy?

I took out my steel pickaxe and started smashing rocks of a reasonable size. When I broke a rock, I would get a stone, iron, or, if I was lucky, a gem of some kind. When the rocks were gone, I went on to dredge the sand from the riverbed with a shovel. At the same time, I put the rocks on the river bed into storage. I don’t want to do too much, or I’ll damage the ecosystem, so I do this in moderation. The water was cold, though.

As I continued upstream, I came to a canyon-like terrain sandwiched between rock walls.

“Okay, let’s dig harder.”

This kind of terrain makes me want to clear the land. Is it okay if I just clear the land?

“I guess it’s okay… but be safe. If it collapses and you’re buried alive, you won’t survive.”

“That’s for sure.”

If the rocks come crashing down and crush me, I’ll die no matter what. It is possible that I can respawn even if I die, but I don’t feel like trying.

So I dug through the rock wall, being careful not to fall. It seems that this rock wall contains iron and silver, and copper in small amounts, so in addition to stone, iron, and gems, I can also get copper ore and silver ore. I found an excellent mining point. I think I’ll make this my main mining spot from now on. Well, I’ll have to think about what to use the copper and silver for, though. Hmm, what should I use them for? Copper can be alloyed to make bronze or even brass, right? I think it was also used as a material for bullets. Or was it as a coating? I don’t remember exactly. I remember brass was also used for bullet casings. I don’t remember seeing much bronze in daily life anyway. Copper is used for electrical wires and wiring, and maybe water heater pipes and cooking utensils.

I can’t imagine silver being used for anything other than ornaments, such as tableware, or as a conductor in electronic boards, similar to copper wire. If it can be expected to have magical effects, perhaps Isla and the elves will have more use for it.

And I’m using this mining time to craft a mixing table. I’m looking forward to seeing what I can make with it.

“Keep this.”

“Aiyo.”

Isla had been observing my mining work for a while, but eventually, she got bored and started gathering grass, flowers, roots, and other things from around the mining site and brought them to me. I lent her a shovel and a rattan basket, and she went about her work happily.

“Hey, what’s all this stuff Isla’s been picking?”

“Probably some kind of medicinal herb or poisonous plant. Isla is also trained in alchemy. It is essential to healing the refugees from injuries and illnesses.”

“I see.”

When I checked my inventory, I found that there were indeed items that were classified as medicinal herbs or poisonous herbs, not just grass. Maybe I’ll get her to share it with me later.

I continued to mine mindlessly for a while. It looks like there’s a long stretch of rocky caves at the river’s edge that people can stand and walk in, but isn’t this dangerous? Wouldn’t it be better to climb up and mine from the top?

“That may be true, but how are we going to get up there?”

“I have a better idea.”

I checked the stock of woodblocks in my inventory. Yes, there are enough.

“Like this, like this, and hoy hoy hoy.”

My command jump is capable of jumping lightly two meters vertically on the spot. And the building blocks can be placed up to six or seven meters away. You already know what I mean, don’t you?

Jump and place a woodblock at my feet.

Jump and place a wood block on top of that woodblock.

Jump and place a wood block on top of that woodblock, and then jump and place another wood block on top of that woodblock.

“…..”

Sylphy opened her mouth and speechless.

“Absurd.”

Isla’s absurd call pops out again after a while. I don’t want to be told that. This is like a fundamental technique in the game where you can install blocks.

“It’s good that you can climb up, but how do you get down from there?”

“I’ll get a ladder or something.”

I took out my ax and destroyed the woodblock at my feet. Destroy the woodblock below it and below that as well.

“See? Easy, right?”

“I’m losing my mind now.”

“My brain refuses to comprehend.”

Sylphy snorted with her hands on her temples, and the light drained from Isla’s large eyes. It’s not that absurd, is it?

“If you use it, you can climb the walls all you want.”

“Well, yes.”

To be honest, there are much more effective and deadly ways to deal with defensive equipment like castle walls, but I won’t bother mentioning them here. When the time comes, let’s be amazed.

So I continued to mine―or rather, expand―the canyon while building a foothold with woodblocks. My pickaxe shaved the canyon’s rock walls, and the canyon became wider and wider.

“Kosuke, don’t you think you’ve gathered enough?”

“Hmm? Yeah, if you say so.”

Before I knew it, my goal had switched from mining to the clearing. It’s a very common thing. The next thing I knew, I had gathered a large amount of iron ore, copper ore, silver ore, rocks, gemstones, and mithril ore in my inventory.

Hmm? Mithril ore?

“Sylphy, there’s some kind of mithril ore here.”

“…..”

When Sylphy heard my words, she put her hand on her forehead and looked up at the sky.

“Let me see. Let me see. Show me.”

“Ah, Yes.”

Isla came at me with tremendous pressure. I was somewhat scared, so I took out a piece of mithril ore and handed it to her.

“…It’s definitely mithril ore. The purity is high.”

“…Kosuke, how many do you have?”

“Thirteen, including that one.”

There are about 150 iron ores, 500 copper ores, 200 silver ores, and 13 mithril ores. The amount mined seems to be relatively small.

“It depends on the refining, but with thirteen of these, we can at least make two swords.”

“…Kosuke, don’t tell anyone about the mithril. Okay?”

“Y-yeah.”

It seems it was something extraordinary. It’s a magical metal that is often heard of in fantasy, but is it precious in this world? As for me, I was wondering what I could craft with it.

“I’ll put it in my inventory then.”

I held out my hand, and Isla placed the mithril ore in my palm. I took it.

“…..?”

Isla didn’t let go of my hand. I grasped it lightly and tugged on it, but she wouldn’t let go.

“Do you want it?”

“…..?”

Isla’s eyes shine brightly. Well, it’s dazzling…! No, it’s not dazzling, but it is sure is dazzling. When I glanced at Sylphy, she let out a sigh and nodded.

“Well then, I guess I’ll do it.”

“…..!!”

Isla raised an inaudible cheer and danced around while raising the mithril ore above her head. It seems she was delighted.

“What a joy.”

“As a magician and alchemist, Isla must have plenty of uses for it… She worked very hard.”

Sylphy smiled bitterly at Isla’s happiness. I don’t think Sylphy is able to pay the salary for Isla at the moment, so I guess she thinks she has to give her a good treat once in a while. Maybe.

When we had finished mining and removing the scaffolding from the canyon, Jagira and Pirna joined us. Pirna was empty-handed, but Jagira had killed a deer-like animal. I think it was a Yakki or something like that? It’s a pretty big one.

“Hehehe, this new model is amazing! I was able to kill it with a single blow from over 300 feet away.”

There was an arrow wound, and a sword wound on the side of the neck of Yakki. Perhaps one of the crossbow’s arrows destroyed its cervical vertebrae, and when it collapsed, she ran over and killed it with her dagger. That’s amazing. I would have shot it in the torso instead.

I made a pillar to hang Yakki with a woodblock and hung it with a rope. Sylphy and Jagira pulled out Yakki’s internal organs together. Then, they plunge it into the river.

“We’ll eat the organs here. Kosuke, make sure the fire is ready.”

“Aye aye, ma’am.”

As I watched Sylphy and the others start processing the organs, I prepared to build a fire. I wonder if there’s a fireplace on the crafting menu, so I take a look.

・Simple fireplace――: Stone x 20

There is something just right for it. So, I crafted and set up a simple fireplace.

“Oh, it’s rather nice.”

“…When did you build that?”

“I’m tired of being surprised by everything Kosuke does.”

Pirna was surprised to see the unexpectedly splendid fireplace that appeared before she knew it, and Isla said something indiscreet when she saw it. I’m not saying that I’m not actively trying to surprise them, but I am!

“Let’s have lunch.”

When Sylphy and the others who had finished preparing the internal organs returned, I lit a fire in the simple fireplace and roasted the organs. We only had enough internal organs to cook and eat right away, so we mainly ate the heart, liver, and tongue.

I sprinkled the salt I had in my inventory and used grated garike as a condiment. It was delicious. I also brought some okonomiyaki for lunch and shared it with the four of us.

By the way, Pirna and Jagira had brought baked bread and dried meat, but Isla hadn’t brought anything.

“I completely forgot about that.”

“Be careful… it’s hard to be stringent.”

“I had a feeling Kosuke would take care of it.”

“You see, I can’t work miracles to create food out of nothing.”

“Is that so?”

She looked at me as if to say, “You can do it, can’t you?” I wouldn’t say I like it when people look at me like I can do it because I can’t.

“Kosuke could do it, that’s why…”

“You’re popping out things I don’t understand, you know.”

Sylphy and even Jagira say such things. Pirna silently nodded and put a piece of Yakki’s liver in her mouth. It seems to be her favorite food.

“Don’t get me wrong; I can’t do that. I’ll say it clearly. I can’t do that. My ability is to transform what is there into various things. It’s not the ability to create something out of nothing.”

I desperately tried to explain, but everyone just replied appropriately. I can’t figure it out.

After that, we finished our lunch, collected the Yakki that we had cooled in the river, and decided to return to the elf village. And on the way back, I had to walk with Isla on my back. I can’t understand it… but it’s okay.

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