Grasping Evil

Chapter 54: That time when a group was gathered after I made some sweets

TL: kizen
ED: Filip

In the afternoon, I decided to dig a reservoir at a low lying area that’s near the temporary base so that we’ll have a place to store the water that’s being drawn from the wetlands. I made the hole shallow but wide with a gentle slope instead of digging straight down in order to keep the area safe and avoid accidental drowning.

As for the drainage, I just let it flow straight into the bay. Since the black soil has a lot of minerals and microorganisms, it would probably have a good effect on the fish there. It might turn the water muddy at first though.

Since it would be horrible if we do laundry and throw any other pollutants into the water as we use the reservoir pond, I’ll just make a separate area for those tasks. It should be alright if we let the drain flow to a place that’s outside of the bay.

After that was done, I went to the area where the wetlands were, making the ground sink with my magic as I went along the way. To be honest, it’s probably better to make an embankment instead but I’ll just make those kinds of improvements at a later date.

The depth of the water channel was about 1 meter with two 2 meter, 30 degree angled slopes on each side. Because of that, the overall width of the water is 5 meters. I still haven’t experienced what a storm is like here but it would be unwise of me not to take flooding into consideration when making this. Incidentally, whenever there was a tree that was obstructing my way to the wetlands, I would cut them and just temporarily roll them over to the side.

I’ll have to collect stones or cut some up in the quarry to line up on the embankment at a later date. After that, I made some kind of box that’s 2 meter squared and 1 meter deep every 500 meters of the water channel that will be used to monitor if the water is flowing at a constant rate. The rigidity of this is probably questionable at best so it’s also necessary to reinforce it with stone.1

I could already see the planned site of the previous Demon Lord’s castle just ahead but I’ll stop here for now. I was going to keep at it for a bit longer but the sun was about to set soon so I decided to head back home immediately.

◇

After giving everyone their instructions for the day, I went back to what I was doing yesterday.

As I passed by the abandoned construction site, I decided to create another small pond so that we’ll have something to use once we eventually move to this place in the future. Fortunately, it was already relatively flat and there weren’t a lot of trees so I just had to dig a similar hole with the similar gentle slope for the same safety reasons as the previous one I built in the temporary base.

Once I reached an area that was a hundred meters before the wetlands, I stopped digging the water channel and started to clean up. To do that, I first made a temporary dam and placed it 50 meters upstream in order to stop the flow. Then, I dug out the muddy areas and gathered all the mud and fallen leaves in a【Water ball】 and placed it somewhere that won’t get in the way. That mud might turn into humus later on so we would have something to use to fertilize the fields once we’re done reclaiming them.

I did the same thing till I reached the approximate center point of the wetlands, then my job was pretty much complete. There were no longer any trees that could litter the area with fallen leaves and you could only see a hole that was gently sloping towards the center which would act as a reservoir to collect the water from the stream before it flows to the water channel.

By the way, my entire lower body was covered in mud and when I took off my pants to rinse them, I noticed a huge leech that was latched on to me. I immediately burned it to death but it sure was big…… I compared it to my manhood…… I lost……
I can’t even say that it’s bigger than the leech that was stuck to my thigh……

After that, I removed the temporary dam I placed and let the water flow for a while but it became quite dirty as I expected. Well, the soil would probably settle after leaving it be for a week. All that’s left is that 100 meters before I can connect it to the water channel I guess.

On the way back, I passed by the well that I made by the abandoned construction site and tried drawing some water. Since it looked pretty clean and there weren’t any problems when I drank it again, I guess I should come back later and build a shed around it so that the water won’t get dirty again from debris.

It would have been nice to use a hand pump instead but since I don’t know how to build it myself, I guess I’ll just have to wait until the hero or somebody else makes it. Being able to leave it to others really is the best.

I had some extra time so I tried exploring for a bit and found a beehive. I guess beekeeping would also be nice. I’ll try to consult Fleur-san about that later.

Once I got back to the temporary base, I noticed that the number of wolves had increased causing the humans to be terrified. It looked like there were about 20 and the humans were keeping a set distance away from them. Well, they’re afraid so that’s to be expected. The human men that were in front were holding axes and natas but the wolves aren’t reacting to them. It seems like the children have even started crying.

「I can already kind of guess what’s happening but can anyone tell me what happened?」
「A-a lot of wolves came out from the forest……」
「……I see. Anyway, it seems like they’re just observing us so I’ll try approaching them for a bit」

I thought I’d be fine since I’ll just hit the entire group with emerald bullets if they attack. As I moved forward, one of the wolves came closer.

「Wha? Is that you Wulf?」

I’ve seen that color of fur a lot after all.

「Waon!」

So it was him. I squatted down and began talking to him.

「What’s with that group? Your friends?」
「Ku~n」
「So they’re not your friends? Then, does that mean you’re their leader?」
「Waon!」
「Then, does that mean that everyone there listens to what you say?」
「Waon!」
「I see, I see. So you’re the one who told them to come along」

When I patted his head, the group behind him barked and gathered around me.
Being surrounded by wolves is scary as expected but they just sniffed my smell and rubbed their necks against my legs.

「Tanya, Sonya」

As I called out their names, they placed their forefeet on my chest and started licking my cheeks. Ahー, so it was them after all. When I looked behind, I saw that the humans were still frightened. I guess it can’t be helped.

「Wulf, Tanya, Sonya, I’m sorry about this okay?」
「Wafun?」

After saying that, I stood up while covering my body with mana and glared at the wolves.
Most of them were surprised and immediately did the submission pose but a few of started growling and looked like they were ready to attack at any moment. Wulf, Tanya, and Sonya were fine as they sat by my side but that’s probably because the bloodlust wasn’t pointed at them.

These guys are the strong individuals of the pack, aren’t they? Or rather, since Wulf the leader of this group, does that mean that these guys are vice leaders or something like that? I guess I need to let them know that I went up the hierarchy and became the leader of the wolves right away.

While feeling sorry for what I was about to do, I took off my shirt and wrapped it around my left hand then walked up to one of the wolves who was showing me their teeth. As I got closer, it lunged at me and tried biting my left hand so I used that opportunity to grab its tongue to prevent it from actually biting down. Then, I tipped it over and I pinned it down by strongly pressing on its neck with my right hand. It tried biting down in desperation but it couldn’t do anything and just hurt itself instead. Hearing it cry out in pain, I let it go. Before I could even approach the others who were also resisting, they had already given up and did the same obedience pose the others were doing.

Wulf was just looking at them like he was saying, 『See? It’s impossible right?』

For the time being, I asked the hunting team if I could have the deer that they haven’t dismantled yet. After getting their approval, I took out its liver and lightly grilled it on my palm using magic so that I can eat with them now that they’ve recognized me as their leader.

If I remember correctly, the leader eats first right? And it seems like they also get the most nutritious part……

『Well, it’s just the liver so it’ll probably be fine after grilling it for a bit』

While thinking that, I showed the wolves the sight of me eating the deer’s liver then gave the rest to them. Recognizing that I am their and the humans’ leader, the wolves who have submitted themselves returned into the forest.

「Iyaー, I had no choice but to do that in order to discipline them and make them recognize that I’m the leader」

I noticed too late that it was stupid of me to approach the humans while my hands and mouth were still covered in blood. I should have washed my self with a water ball before I did that. What I did made it seem like I ate raw meat with the wolves so the distance that I’ve been working so hard to reduce between me and the humans until now had gotten even further. The children even started crying again. That made me pretty depressed.

「Wait, I grilled that liver on my palm with magic before eating it you know? It was necessary for me to make that group to obey me you know?」

I was washing my hands and my mouth as I explained but it doesn’t look like they believe me.

「Haaー…… I’m sorry for scaring you…」

While saying that, I entered the house that I’m currently using together with Wulf. There, I began talking with him while thoroughly petting him.

「I shouldn’t have done that in front of everyone. But still, if I didn’t demonstrate my strength, they might have attacked the other humans right?」
「Ku~n」
「I wonder if they’re all afraid of me now? The children even started crying you know?」
「Ku~n」
「I wonder what I should do during dinner today. Should I avoid them after all?」
「Kuu~n」

As I said that, he rubbed his head on my lap and lightly scratched me with his forefoot. Does that mean that he’s comforting me?

「Thanks」

I patted his head as I said that when I heard a voice coming from behind.

「U-uhm, dinner’s ready」
「Ah, okay. I’ll go there right away……uh, did you perhaps hear me?」
「I’m really sorryー」
「Ahーー, okay. I might be a little late」

After the woman left as if she was trying to run away, I rolled around on the floor while screaming,

「UOooooooーー! How embarrassingーー!」

Once I calmed down, I stood up and was about to go have dinner but I noticed that there were even more humans who saw what I was doing.
It was so embarrassing I wanted to die.

During dinner, I ate my share as far away as possible from the others. The meal was also a bit saltier than usual.

~Idle Talk~
The woman who called Caam to dinner2

Villager A: 「You know…」
Villager B: 「Hmm?」
A: 「I went to call Maou-sama once dinner was ready right?」
B: 「You did, didn’t you?」
A: 「That wolf that first got attached to him, Borfu was it? Well, he was talking with that wolf as he patted its head you know?」
B: 「Uwaー」
A: 「He was grumbling to that wolf about what happened today. He was wondering if all of us are afraid of him now and was sad about making the children cry. He was even asking it how he should act during dinner you know?」
B: 「Our Maou-sama is quite weak hearted, isn’t he~?」
A: 「It also seemed like the wolf understood what he was saying you know? It was crying sadly as if it was trying to comfort him」
Villager C: 「Hmmー he certainly does seem scary but you can easily understand how nice of a guy he is. He a bit of a weirdo but he’s also good at making sweets. I’m sure he’s a good demonkin deep down because of that」
B: 「That’s trueー」
C: 「To be honest, I’m living a better life right now than back when I was enduring starvation while I was in my village so I’m really thankful to him」
B: 「Me too. I mean, he hasn’t hit us once and I haven’t seen him hitting anyone else after all. I even think that he’s too nice you know?」
A: 「We all agree that he’s a really nice demonkin right? He’s being considerate to us women and is providing us our needs after all. Well, let’s just forget what happened and act normally around him okay?」
B & C: 「That’s right. That would be for the best」