After breakfast, it was time to start gathering resources. First order of business: turn all the rocks surrounding the base into usable materials.
“Hiyaaaah!”
I dashed around the rocky slopes, mithril pickaxe in hand. Each swing shattered a boulder into dust or made it vanish entirely, depending on its size. This routine let me proceed with my work at a nice, steady pace.
“This never gets any less crazy, huh?” Shemel muttered behind me.
“Sure doesn’t,” Tozume agreed flatly.
“I’ll never get used to this,” Bela added, shaking her head.
The ogre girls trailed behind me as I worked. Even though I was running from rock to rock, every swing required me to stop for a second, so in the end our pace wasn’t much faster than a casual walk. Plus, they were big girls with long legs, so they had no trouble keeping up.
“Once I’ve cleared out this area, I’m gonna start digging.”
“Yeah, yeah. As you wish. Just don’t go digging up some giant worms or creepy monster nests while you’re at it,” Bela warned.
“Whoa, that’s terrifying. Those exist underground?”
Nobody had ever mentioned that before.
✦ ✦ ✦
“What a mysterious sight. Almost as though I’ve been bewitched by some sort of illusionary magic.”
“I feel the same,” Riviera murmured beside me.
“That’s what Kousuke does,” Gerda said brightly, watching him from afar as he was effortlessly swinging his pickaxe.
The tool gleamed, its entire body forged from mithril and enchanted with a gleaming magic jewel the size of a fist—a truly absurd creation. This meant that this one pickaxe alone could finance an entire country. And to make matters even more absurd, he supposedly had several valuable items like it.
“What a strange man,” I said, sighing as I looked down at the “binoculars” he’d handed me earlier.
Another mystery tool. According to him, they were an “optical instrument” made from several “lenses”—some kind of modified crystal. I didn’t understand a word of his explanation, but when I peered through them, distant objects appeared in sharp focus, which only served to delight me. I could use this to look out at the city from the castle balcony. Frankly, I wanted a pair for myself. But I couldn’t bring myself to accept any gifts from that man.
“What an interesting tool,” Riviera said, turning her binoculars toward the trees. She seemed to be rather fond of them as well. She wasn’t just using them to look at Kousuke, but everything around us. This tool even allowed you to clearly see small birds resting on tree branches at a distance. We could spy all kinds of birds that we didn’t see in Merinesburg, and it was quite fun looking for them.
“I’ll ask Kousuke if he’s willing to part with a pair,” Gerda said cheerfully.
“No, I shall ask him myself. Don’t worry,” I told her, thinking that it would be rude of me otherwise.
“All right,” Gerda smiled, clearly satisfied with that answer.
For a moment, I wondered if these “binoculars” could let me get a clearer view of Omicle and Lanicle. With that thought, I directed the binoculars up toward the sky. Omicle was large and bright today, but it didn’t look particularly different. Grr, how unfortunate.
“As far as I can tell, Omicle looks the same.”
Riviera, following my gaze, raised her binoculars too, coming to the same conclusion I had.
“Indeed. It is a bit clearer than with the naked eye, but its size hasn’t changed.”
“Kousuke might have ones suited for seeing stargazing if we ask him.”
I froze, aghast at Gerda’s nonchalance. If that man could so easily create tools like these, perhaps he could craft something that could allow us to see Omicle.
Omicle and Lanicle were celestial bodies that floated in the heavens above us and out of reach. Perhaps if we could see them both much closer and larger, we would be able to see something no one else had ever seen.
“…That would be so wonderful,” I murmured.
But no. It was too selfish, too brazen a request.
Even now, I understood. I knew that it was absurd to direct such malice his way. Logically, I knew he had done nothing wrong. He simply met Sylphy, lent her his strength after she asked him for it, and we were saved as a result.
I understood that he was in fact not only my savior, but my little sister’s savior, and the man who saved the people of Merinard. I knew in my heart of hearts that he was the very individual who fought back against our mortal enemy, the Holy Kingdom.
And yet…I still couldn’t bring myself to like him.
Our father had given his life to protect us, and this man—this stranger—came from out of nowhere and quietly took his place.
I couldn’t accept how easily Sylphy, Mother, and my sisters welcomed him into their lives.
Which was why I couldn’t bring myself to like him—he was the root cause of all these negative emotions swirling within me.
It wasn’t logic. It was entirely emotion. I knew he’d done nothing wrong. But it still felt like my father had been left out to dry. So, so sad.
“Then I’ll ask Kousuke to—”
“No,” I cut Gerda off. “That won’t be necessary. It would be far too shameless of a request. Besides, I would not be able to pay him adequately for such a thing.”
The warmth I’d felt a moment ago—dreaming of seeing Omicle up close—cooled instantly as I lowered the binoculars and looked out toward where Kousuke was working, this time with my naked eyes.