CH 26

Chapter 26 [Once the reclamation village takes form, matchmaking begins.]

Well then, three weeks have passed since we’ve come to the reclamation village.

In this world, there are mana and levels.

If a person, who can fight, directs that power to the reclamation project, it will result in a human heavy machinery that would even frighten modern technology.

Also, as for the villages and other areas that were once abandoned, they were overrun by monsters and rapidly eroded by plants and other things whose reproductive power had been increased by mana.

As a result, after a long time has passed, the village would be completely buried by them.

On the other hand, buildings which are protected by magic for hundreds, and even thousands of years become historical ruins.

“Huh, so there are ruins that are formed like that.”

“Chise-Jouchan is a kid as well, I see. You’re interested in these sorts of stories!”

“It’s not a story, you know. I’ve never been to one and I have no knowledge about them, so I am interested in them.”

“Well, I guess someone who’s never been to one would be interested in them. But, most of the treasures have already been taken and there aren’t any hidden rooms. It’s just a building where most of the monsters live uncontrolled.”

The adventurer laughed self-mockingly, but it would certainly be worthless to those seeking fame and fortune.

However, I did not think that way.

“Thank you for the wonderful story. One day, I will go to one with Tet.”

“I’ll go together with Majo-sama~nanodesu!”

Tet said as she raised her hand over her head while she was eating skewers.

Then, a wry smile floated onto the reclamation team’s faces.

“You’re leaving, ain’t ya?”

“Yes, when the village starts to take form, I think I’ll head to the next town.”

Thanks to me, the village started to take form greatly quicker than initially planned.

Furthermore, with additional people coming in with the leftover budget from the shortening of the initial project, the responsibilities of the chores have decreased, so currently, I am thinking of what the village’s speciality could be together with Gash-san and enjoying myself as I make food with the females from the additional batch of people.

“Chise-san, Tet-san. Please use some of that magic of yours for the reclamation.”

“Eh, I don’t want to…”

“Then, if you do so, I’ll increase your request reward! How about the same amount as the males from the reclamation party—2 silver coins!”

“If that’s the case, then sure.”

My labor does not come cheaply.

Therefore, it was decided that my remuneration would increase only on days when I worked as a magician to improve the fields, roads, and to prevent the rivers from overflowing.

As a result, the reclamation village was able to get the fields ready for planting right away, since the soil had been fixed with magic, whereas it would normally take years to create the soil for the fields.

Also, half of the distance of the road from the town to the village is maintained by the town, but the other half was a dirt path that was recognizable only due to tracks from wheels.

Since I fixed the dirt road with earth magic, the burden on the horses was reduced, and the trip to the town was shortened from three days to two days.

“Now it’s easy for the village to receive immigrants, and easier to go back and visit their parents, too.”

“Is that so, that’s good, isn’t it?”

That’s how Gash-san somehow tries to blow over it and use us well.

If you actually want to hire the country’s best magicians or magician adventurers, it’s at least five silver coins a day.

However, even if you hire one excellent wizard, it does not necessarily mean that the reclamation work will be greatly shortened, and they may run out of mana.

Therefore, when you consider the number of people you need to hire: the number of people who will be guarding these valuable people, the daily wages for the adventurers in the party, and the mana potions that will be given to them in case they run out of mana, you will need no less than two or three small gold pieces per day to operate.

In such a reclamation project, Tet and I—a scarce magician resource—were put hard at work.

Our mana pool is big so we do not need mana potions. During my break time, I meditate and recover mana.

So far as it goes, I am a D-rank adventurer, so I can also protect myself.

Thus the stubborn Gash-san made use of my magic, and since I could use magic as much as I wanted, it became a nice change of pace.

And now, the long-awaited day has arrived finally.

“Welcome to the reclaimed village. You are an immigrant applicant, right?”

In order for the male adventurers to continue to live in the reclamation village after completing this request, more women and craftspeople began to move into the village, and the first group of women arrived for the matchmaking party.

Most of the male adventurers are in their late twenties to early thirties.

In contrast, many of the women applicants were widows or women from nearby villages who had been too late to be married off due to helping out a home.

They had been helping out at home, so I was not worried about their housework skills.

Most importantly, they’re hard to come by who accepted becoming the wives of dangerous former-adventurers.

Gash-san had a hard time calling out to the people around him.

“After all, don’t you want everyone to be happy?”

I hope for the adventurers that I became friends with during this reclamation project to be happy.

Also, speaking of Gash-san:

“Nice to meet you. My name is Mary.”

“N-N-Nice to meet you!”

He was engaged to be married to Mary-san, the daughter of a merchant family who had a store in Otto City.

A political marriage between the seventh son of Earl Gaspar’s family and the merchant family who supported this reclamation project.

By creating a reclaimed village where Gash is and giving him the position of baron and the role of village chief as the deputy of the village, the Earl family is aiming to increase the tax revenue in Earl Gaspar’s territory while also increasing the number of noble families.

As for the merchants, they want to secure connections with the nobles connected to the Earl Gaspar and the new market in the reclaimed village.

It was a political marriage of sorts, but like so, the adventurers who couldn’t enter a relationship and the women who were sent to support the development of the area began to form couples one after another, and the village began to take shape.

The farming prep work is done, so the plan was to plant crops that are ready for the current season from the agricultural guides, build houses to live in, and earn money for a while mainly through hunting to defeat monsters, and buying food and luxury grocery items from Mary’s family store.

All of them are beginning to have a vision of the future.

And, I couldn’t imagine a scene where I belong within the reclamation village in the future that is stable and the villagers are living with smiles on their faces.

“Well then, I guess it’s almost over.”

“Eh?”

“You don’t need me and Tet anymore, right?”

Therefore, I brought to Gash-san’s attention that the request should be over soon.

“…That so? I’ll calculate the reward amount of the work you’ve done up until now and write the request completion document.”

“Thanks.”

The rest would be the job of the people who remain in this village.

I took Tet and traveled up to the plains outside the village.

It was a meadow covered with small flowers blooming.

I remember being told this place was great for goats and sheep to graze, or even for flower seeds to be sown for beekeeping.

“Hey, Majo-sama?”

“Hm? What is it Tet?”

“Majo-sama, haven’t you ever thought of wanting to stay in that village?”

“Hmm?”

I muttered, pondering.

“Do you remember the book I bought in Daryl?”

“Yes~nanodesu.”

It was a book about grimoires, magic, and mana.

In it, there was a sentence.

“——‘People with large amounts of mana tend to stay at their body’s prime longer and have longer lives,’ it said.”

The person with the most mana within the magician adventurers in the reclamation party had 5,000 mana, the same as mine.

Even though he was 40, his outward appearance was still youthful, in his early 30s.

Also, adventurers that could use [Body Strengthening] were generally full of youth, and I heard races, like elves, that are good at magic live a long life.

“My mana pool exceeds 5,000 and I expect for it to increase steadily from now on.”

If I continue to eat the Seed of Magic for a month, my mana will increase by about 500~1,000 mana.

Initially, the growth range was small, but as my mana increased, the range of development also started to become bigger.

“If that’s the case, I think that my aging will slow down and my life span will increase. I believe that if I settle down in this village, my appearance won’t change whatsoever. I feel it’s going to be… a bit lonely.”

By continuing to eat the Seed of Magic, the range of things I can create with my Creation Magic should increase and I’ll become stronger.

However, the price seems to be walking time, different from others.

“Hmm? Tet thinks that she won’t be lonely since she has Majo-sama. But, do you think you’re lonely, Majo-sama?”

As far as Tet is concerned, her world only involves herself and me. Anything other than that is tangled up and it seems like she’s not very good at comprehending it, but certainly, I probably won’t be lonely as long as Tet is here.

As I smiled wryly in response to Tet’s honest feelings, I threw myself down on the plain and rested my head on Tet’s thighs.

“…I might be a bit naive. Tet, spoil me.”

“Okay~nanodesu!”

Tet and I leisurely passed time as the village was in their matchmaking mood.

Then, when the sun set, people who liked this village would settle here and build up this village little by little.

“Well then, let’s head back.”

I can’t stay together with them, but my feelings changed, thinking it might be fun to come back sometime after traveling 10 or 20 years in the future and see the development of the village.