chapter 63.2

『Hnnghー I should have taken the time to pick an area with softer ground to sleep on.』

I stretched my aching back while thinking that as I took down the building I camped in, except for the wall that’s blocking the wind. After finishing my preparations, I continued my journey towards the western coast while nibbling on some dried meat.

「Oh my, you’re up early, aren’t you? How did your exploration go?」

「Ahー Palma-san. I was able to ensure that we’ll be able to regularly trade with the harpies that came over yesterday. They’ll also bring us rabbits that they manage to catch」

「Hmmmー. Is that a good thing?」

「We’ll be able to have a friendly relationship with the Demonkin living on this island after all. As for the rabbits, we’ll be able to secure a stable source of meat if we manage to breed them」

「I see. Anyway, can you give this child some water?」

I did as she asked and gave it plenty of water and then went on my way.

There wasn’t anything special on the western side of the island except for the large coffee forest so I decided to head back. Since it was on the way, I dropped by the hot spring first. After getting there, I saw Facile who looked like she was in high spirits. I think she was also heading towards the hot spring.

「Ohー, it’s Caam!」

Noticing me, she came over to give her greetings. Does she have any shame? Well, I guess her top and lower half seem to be covered in feathers so they’re not really exposed. She’s still childish so I wouldn’t feel anything even if her chest didn’t have feathers, but she should still put on some leggings or something for below. I’m really curious of her body line though.

1

「Hey」

「This place is super amazing! It’s really warm!」

「Well, it’s hot water after all」

「Even mom and dad are praising it you know?」

「That’s good」

After saying that, I took off my clothes then covered my privates with a towel as I entered the hot spring.

「Ahhhhhh~~」

Feeling the hot water caused my soul to cry out as I leaned into the wall of the hot spring.

「Oohー, that was amazing moan」

She was splashing around with excitement so I told her off but it was pointless.

Hmm, won’t her feathers get damaged by the hot water?

「Caam! I just remembered something. The meat was delicious. What kind of meat was that?」

「It was deer meat」

「Are deer the ones with those weird things on their head?」

She put her hands on the top of her head with her fingers extended.

「That’s right」

「Amazing! We can only hunt by grabbing rabbits from the sky after all so I think you guys are amazing for being able to do that!」

「Haha, thanks」

「Hnー, swimming in warm water is also pretty nice! Right?」

After saying that, she suddenly stood up, lightly shook her head to remove the water, then flew off.

2

「She just can’t settle down, can sheー?」

◇

「I’m backー」

「How did it go?」

The one who greeted me was Kitsune-san.

「After I left, I went straight towards the hot spring then descended in the direction opposite of where the sun rises. Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, I started walking in the direction where the sun descends. There was a lake not far from the mountain and I discovered a forest filled with trees bearing that red fruit we traded yesterday just before I reached the beach」

「I see. Good job」

「Thank you very much」

Kitsune-san only gave me that reply so he probably didn’t understand a thing from what I said.

After that, I continued to recount what happened from yesterday evening until lunchtime today.

「Because of that, Root-san, I’m sorry for troubling you even more but please make a large crate that will be used for breeding rabbits. It needs to be that way because the rabbits can just dig a tunnel to escape if we just leave the bottom open」

「Gotchaー」

「Also, didn’t you have a concern you wanted to address?」

「Ahー, it’s about the quarry area. We don’t have enough hands so we can’t acc.u.mulate enough materials, thus I wanted to ask for a few more helpers」

「I see. About that, I’ll try using magic to see if I can solve that myself. I’ll be the only additional help so please bear with it for now」

「Sure」

「Anything else? If there’s none then let’s eat. Ahー, are our food stocks still fine? We traded some with the harpies yesterday after all」

「Yes. We still have raw meat that’s being dried so our supplies didn’t get affected that much」

「Alright. I’m sorry for the delay everyone. Let’s eat」

After saying that, they picked their places and then we started eating.

Ever since Root-san arrived, he was able to make simple tables and chairs so we’re now eating on top of those. I feel bad for the quarry group though since I’m having them walk all the way back over here just to eat their lunch. I should probably just let them bring bentos to work.

「All of these really makes it clear how much we’re hurting for manpower, doesn’t it?」

Realizing that the mining of the quarry wasn’t actually going that well, I let that complaint leak out.

「Well, you can’t avoid having difficulties at this point I guess」

To help with our quarrying problem, I ignored the mana required and just made a diamond blade instead of the large saw I made earlier using a weaker material. I made it rotate at a high speed by constantly channeling mana to it and started pushing the bedrock on top of it to test it out.

This thing is called an off-cut blade for stone use or diamond cutter.

3 It will cause noise pollution and get dust all over the place whenever I’m using it but I can just cover this thing in a 【Waterball】 to prevent the dust. I can’t really do anything about the noise though. I think that wind magic will probably be able to do something about that, but I’ll just have to put up with it for now.

Hearing sounds that they have never heard before, the quarrying group just did their work while covering their ears without minding me. The stones are heavy so I decided to cut 30-centimeter chunks out of the stone face. This time the blade was able to cut the stone cleanly.

After I finish cutting an entire stone block, the human workers carry them to a wagon to transport them to the processing area. We continued doing that operation until the evening so we should already have a decent supply, but I and the humans who have been transporting the stuff ended up exhausted. Also, it’s probably because I made that diamond blade but I received a notification.

【Skill :: Attack attribute :: Earth** :: 5】 acquired.

I wonder if that will continue to increase if I keep making those diamond blades? I still have no idea what causes these numbers to go up.

「Let’s wrap it up for today. I can’t do anymore after all」

「Us too, Maou-sama. There was no end to carrying and transporting these rocks」

「Haha, sorry about that. With this, we can start laying down the foundations for our buildings」

「Just what is that thing anyway? I thought it was a terrifying magic at first but it’s really convenient, isn’t it?」

While wiping his sweat, a human male lightly tapped the stone he was carrying as he drank some water.

「You know about diamonds, right? It’s hard enough to withstand rubbing against anything so it’s fine making it rotate against the stone like that」

「Iyaー, it’s amazing how you can just casually use a diamond for that」

「It’s just something I made with magic so it will disappear once my mana runs out. That’s why I can use it like this as much as I want」

After saying that, I handed him a palm-sized gla.s.s that I formed into a brilliant-cut diamond. After that, my mana reserves were already empty so I’m feeling extra tired.

「If I had something like that, I’d use it to try and get myself a woman」

「That’s not how it works!」

「You can’t just show that to a woman after all」

「That’s right」

They were having that argument while looking at my fake diamond.

「We’ve heard that Maou-sama has a wife and children, but how did you guys meet?」

4

5

「Ahー. Let’s see…… To put it briefly, I noticed that my childhood friend liked me so I just responded to her feelings」

「Ohー so it was love huh?」

「Did you give her something like this?」

「I’ve only given her a handmade hair ornament, an earring, some bra.s.s knuckles, and a silver bracelet」

Ah, shoot.

「Bra.s.s knuckles?」

「Ah, just ignore that one」

「No way we can do that. Just where can you find a woman that’s happy receiving a weapon as a gift!? Is she an adventurer?」

「She’s a girl who has been raised in our village and has lived there for her whole life」

「That means she’s just an ordinary wife then……」

「She is you know?」

「Ahー, I want to see how she looks like at least once. What is she like?」

「Ha? Well, she’s just normal. She doesn’t look that different from humans but since she’s also a Demonkin, she has a small horn on her head」

I pointed at my forehead while saying that.

「How about her height and figure?」

「Why do you even need to know that?」

「「「Because we’re curious about Maou-sama’s taste in women」」」

「……she’s a bit taller than me, has a slender body, and has black, shoulder-length hair」

I just went with it since this is kinda like bonding with your subordinates.

「Hmmー, if she’s taller than Maou-sama……… What kind of woman is she?」

「Also, slender means she’s thin, right?」

「I wonder if there are a lot of Demonkin with black hair?」

「Still, the mermaid that came here the other day was pretty nice, wasn’t she?」

「Ah, come to think of it, I wonder how Demonkin make children」

It’s good that they don’t have any animosity towards other Demonkin but I’d have to back out if they start talking about how those fish head guys reproduce.

We continued chatting after that and after we got back to the village, we ate dinner then ended the day. And as for the fake diamond, it disappeared just before we reached the village.

~Idle Talk~

Maou-sama’s wife

A: 「Hey you guys, Maou-sama told us about his wife earlier. Apparently, she doesn’t look that different from us humans, apart from the horn on her forehead」

B: 「Huh, was Maou-sama the type to focus only on looks?」

6

7

A: 「That’s not it. I heard that it was his wife who made the moves」

B: 「Hmmー. Well, he’s a Demon Lord now after all. She might have done that since she saw a promising future with him」

8

A: 「I heard that she was his childhood friend」

B: 「So she was with him from back then huh? That wife of his has pretty good insight doesn’t she?」

Kitsune: 「She’s a pretty taciturn beauty you know? I think it’s nice that they were already together since they were children」

A: 「What!?」

Kitsune: 「Unfortunately, she’s a bit lacking in the chest department and has an androgynous face though so you can’t tell whether she’s a man or a woman」

B: 「So she doesn’t have b.r.e.a.s.t.s, huh? As for me, I prefer big ones」

Kitsune: 「He also has another one you know?」

A & B: 「「What did you say!」」

Kitsune: 「He has another one who is as bright as the sun. She has white hair, a bit shorter, and has a pretty sizable chest」

A: 「Maou-sama looks pretty average but he’s actually pretty capable, isn’t he?」

Kitsune: 「I heard that she fell for him at first sight and after relentless persuasion, it seems like she was able to get permission from the first wife」

B: 「Haa…… That’s a great wife that he has」

Kitsune: 「Well, I’ve heard that the first wife set some restrictions for the second one though. It seems like she hit her so hard in the stomach that she almost vomited」

B: 「That still makes her amazing. Is he a whipped husband?」

Kitsune: 「No, she’s completely enamored with Caam. It’s just that she’s scary when she’s angry, although I haven’t seen it myself. By the way…… I hate to admit it but she’s stronger than me. She could split bricks in half like a cookie with just her fingers, and when she gripped it tightly, it ended up getting pulverized」

A & B: 「「That’s not true, right?」」

Kitsune: 「It is. Caam’s wife is so strong that when giving birth to their child, the pole that they used to help her in pushing was crushed」

A & B:「「What the h.e.l.l? That’s scary」」

Kitsune: 「That’s why you better not mess with her when their family comes to the island」

A: 「I-I won’t do something like that. I don’t want to die after all」

B: 「Y-yeah. Me too」

And with that, Kitsune-san told the others of Suzuran’s terror.

-Dangerous Magic-

「Maou-sama, can you use this magic for attacking?」

「It’s dangerous you know?」

「In what way?」

「If you don’t press it down, it will just fly off」

「Eh?」

「I guess it would be easier just to show you. Please step back」

Once I made sure that they were quite far from me, I shot the rotating blade towards the stone. The instant the blade that was rotating at a high speed hit the rock, it got knocked back and sent flying.

「See? When you throw it straight ahead, it will just get repelled once it hits something. If you throw it towards the ground, it’s fine if it just embeds itself but at worst, it will roll back to you. It would be better to just use a blade of wind instead, especially if you’re hitting a softer enemy. Well, you can still expect an attack using this to do some damage since it has some weight to it but it requires a lot of mana so it’s much more efficient to use something else. Even if you say that this blade can cut stone, if you get attacked by magic that launches stones at you, you would be killed while you are trying to cut it with this.」

「Haa…… I don’t really get it ssu」

「I see. Just think of it like using a saw to strike a nail. There are other magic that are easier to use depending on the situation」

「Ah, I get it. It’s easier to understand if you put it that way ssu」

Hmmー, that’s making me worried about the level of knowledge in this world… I might be getting ahead of myself but I wonder if I should get them to take some cla.s.ses in some kind of outdoor cla.s.sroom.

I’ll still prioritize my children though. Well, I should just take it one step at a time I guess.