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Chapter 16: Gathering War Potential Without Even Knowing It

 

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「I wonder how we should use the first floor」

I was thinking while I ate Sakura’s homemade apple pie.

「Use it as you please Master」

Even if you say use it as I please….
Anyways it is a 2LDK.
I’m not used to living in a large space so I don’t really know how to use the extra room.

「For now, it’ll just be a storage place for wood golems and apples.」

It’ll be good for helping to preserve both the apples that are picked and the wood golems that are made from the trees.
Besides, the good smell of the apples will seep into the surroundings and make the first floor nice and aromatic.

「Moreover, our apples seem to not rot easily….」
「It’s because they’re filled with magic. Although they will slowly lose that magic day by day.」

A while ago we tried it out and saw that when we left the harvested fruit alone for a while, the magic within them decreased.
Having them fresh is best.
They only gather magic within themselves when they are attached to the trees, once you remove them they’ll lose half of it by the next day.

Even so, they still don’t rot. I wonder if I should still be calling them apples because of this…

「Even if I were to use it as a room, I still need to get furniture hmm….」
「For that, why don’t you gather some materials to make some? Why don’t we ask the wolf people to go gather and buy it?」

That might be good too.
The wolf people seem almost just like peddlers anyways.

And for the money to buy the stuff,

「Oh, she’s back again today」

Outside the window I see the witch princess Dianeia approaching the entrance.
As usual she’s carrying a leather bag.

「Hmm well, I’ll go out to say hello Sakura」
「Alright, I’ll have dinner ready and waiting.」

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When I went out to meet Dianeia, she seemed awfully nervous.
She seemed unable to calm down, like she was seeing something new and strange.

「Yo, what’s up Dianeia? You seem to be awfully fidgety.」
「Ah, haa, it’s you. Thank goodness. The shape of the house changed so I was wondering if you moved or if the house had just changed.」

Ahhh I see. She didn’t know about the second floor growing.

「Well, never mind it. Actually nowadays you come pretty often don’t ya?」

Has it been about three days since she came here last?
She’s a princess but she has quite a bit of free time doesn’t she?

「Y-yeah, it’s because thankfully the area’s public order has gotten better.」

You mean to say that the public order was bad before?
Certainly, I was just living here normally and I got attacked by dragons, witches, and wolf people.

At first I didn’t really think that much about it due to the headache and hangover, but now that I think back, it was quite a dangerous region.

「Ugu…..I-I’m really sorry about that. I’m reflecting. But thanks to that my workload has decreased. These past two days I haven’t even had to stay up all night.」
「Do you usually stay up all night?」

Now that I look more closely, she has dark circles underneath her eyes. It seems like it’s pretty exhausting work.
I wonder if the princess is like someone doing unpaid overtime?
Though I too understand the feeling of not being able to go to sleep or leave due to remaining work.

「Coming here is something that has meaning to me. Therefore, please receive this.」

And then, just like always she hands me a leather bag.

「This time there are 1000 silver coins.」
「I don’t really need such payback though…」
「No, I’d feel bad if I was the only one getting something. More so that the only reason this land has such rich and abundant magic power is because you and your house are here.」

Huh? What do you mean?

「You never heard about this? The Earth Vein and yourself are filled with magical power and at the same time that power overflows from you.」

I now that there was a lot of magic being generated, but does something good happen when there’s that much magic?

「First of all, crops and life grow better. Because it’s the source of life energy.
Therefore, animals and raw materials become higher in quality and richer.」
「Huh, sounds amazing.」
「In other words, just by you casually going out for a walk or using magic how you please, my country becomes wealthier. The money that I bring over is a form of my thanks. It’s the country’s way of saying, Thank you for living near the royal capital, or something.」

I see, it’s to thank me.
This witch princess is really conscientious.
To keep giving me money even without me knowing the reason for it.

…..well this witch princess was the reason I got summoned to this world in the first place though.

I felt some inexpressible emotions welling up within my chest.

「Well, magic does become more like poison if it’s too deep and powerful so there’s a need for caution. I may have gotten used to it, but if a normal person got close to this Earth Vein then they’ll faint.」
「This is the house where I live normally, don’t talk about it like it’s some poison swamp!」

As one would expect that’s too impolite.

「Ugu……I-I’m sorry. I spoke improperly.」
「That’s for sure. But……seriously why have you been looking all around since you got here? I thought you said you’d gotten used to it.」
「N-no, umm, I was used to it before…..but since I got here I’m really anxious to know what is that room?」

She pointed at the first floor.

The room has a big window.
Through that window you can see the room is completely packed with golems.

Ahh, I see, without curtains they’re in full view aren’t they?

「It’s just my golem storehouse.」
「Just your……? Just by looking at them I can feel that the golems have quite a bit of magic power in them……what are they used for?」

Purpose? They don’t have one now.
They’re in there because I’m not using them yet.

I said so and Dianeia looked amazed.

Then she broke out into a cold sweat and opened her mouth.

「Ummmm…….I’m wondering if I should ask but…….are you thinking about invading my country?」
「Huh?」

What kind of bombshell are you dropping on me witch princess?

「W-wait, please don’t get angry at me. Those are, in our eyes, an excessive amount of war potential.」

Excessive military might? Why are you so scared? They’re just apple trees you know?
I wonder if she’ll understand if she gets a better look?

「Hey, come here golem」

I called one over to let her have a look and,

「Hi…….wai, no, Don’t come any closer! How overwhelming!」

She retreats with all her might.
It’s just an apple tree that I made into cute golem though…
She seems to be unbelievably frightened.

Weren’t you asking about the golems in the first place?

「Uuuu…….I’m sorry. But I felt instinctively scared for my life.」
「Though it’s nice that you have a rich imagination, I don’t have any thoughts about invasion.」

I don’t even think I want to.
I’m completely satisfied with my home and garden.

「…..I see. In that case thank goodness.」

Dianeia let out a relieved sigh and gave a wry smile.

「Well, with your power, you don’t even have to make these preparations, you could take down the royal capital just like that. Saying these things was a waste of breath.」

I already said I’m not going to!
Didn’t you hear what I said just a little while ago?

「…..I’m sorry. I might be a little tired. I can only think of bad things now.」

Certainly being tired makes it easier to think of negative things.
In that case you didn’t have to come here today!
And, as I was simultaneously shocked and sympathizing with her,

「Oh….?」

On the golem’s back there was one apple stuck to it after the harvest.

……this might be perfect.

「Hey, Dianeia. Take this as a delivery fee.」

I grabbed the apple and handed it to Dianeia.

「An apple?」

At first Dianeia looked confused as she took the apple.
But then she started to stare at it intently.

「…..this has a large amount of magic packed inside it….what is this!?」
「You’re a magic user right? Then, if you’re tired and you eat this then you’ll regain your energy.」

If it’s like that, then she should be able to eat it.

「W-well, certainly with this much power I’ll certainly recover…..is this really alright?」
「You’re tired right? Then eat and recover and stop your negative thinking.」

If you do that then you’ll stop having weird thoughts like me invading.

「O-ok I see. Th-then I’ll eat it. This favor, I will once again repay you.」
「I already said that it’s fine.」

Then after giving Dianeia an apple as a present, she left.

Ok, I’ve got the money, so I’ll also get back to my house.
I think I’ll give the wolf people the money to order some curtains, and in the meantime I’ll eat the meal that Sakura made for me.

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