"It's cold. There's still about a month until the New Year, but the snow's already started piling up."
Snow began falling right after we departed Seigen, and by the next day, a thin layer of snow had started to accumulate on the grasslands.
It didn't feel like it would turn into a full-blown blizzard, but we decided to search for a resting spot with plenty of extra time and prepare for the night.
"I can understand it snowing in the Royal Capital, but it's unusual around here. This winter might get pretty harsh."
Even for Grandpa, this year's cold seemed abnormal. He shivered as he pulled a thick coat out of his Magic Bag and put it on.
"Looking at this, we probably shouldn't camp outside. And we should shorten the intervals for switching drivers too."
As the sun went down, the temperature kept dropping. If we camped outside, we could very well freeze to death, and we'd need to be careful while driving too or risk catching a cold.
We had surrounded ourselves with earthen walls tall enough to conceal the carriage and set up a barrier to keep the snow out, but it couldn't block the cold seeping up from the ground, so it was only marginally better than being outside.
"Let's try to stay inside as much as possible at night and leave the guard duty and lookout to the Golems."
"That sounds good. Besides, it could serve as an experiment to see how well the knight-type Golems can function in the cold."
As expected, Grandpa clearly didn't want to spend the night outdoors either. He was using the Golem experiment as a pretense to avoid going outside.
The other three let out sighs of relief at Grandpa's and my decision.
"However, I'd rather not use fire for cooking inside the carriage, so we'll be stuck with ready-made or really simple meals. What do you think?"
I wouldn't mind making soup, but I'd rather not cook something smoky like grilled meat. Since we'd be sleeping in the carriage tonight, I wanted to keep ventilation to a minimum.
We could always step outside just for cooking when using fire, but nobody wanted to go out in the cold if they could help it. Everyone seemed to share that sentiment, and there was an unspoken atmosphere in the carriage of nobody wanting to name a fire-cooking dish and end up being assigned to make it.
"Why don't we each make our own today? I'll be fine with just miso soup and rice. Store-bought side dishes are good enough for me."
Since there was no point in just glaring at each other, I decided to bow out of the standoff early. Then—
"I'll have the same."
"That works for me too. Then I'll prepare three servings."
Grandpa also got off, and Jeanne got off too. Then Jeanne began preparing miso soup for the three of us.
"Tenma! Do we have any grilled meat among the pre-made stuff?"
"We do, but... it's only the unseasoned kind meant for Shiromaru and Solomon. The problem is there's not much of it, so if Amour eats too, there won't be enough left for the two of them tomorrow."
By the two-creature standard, that worked out to roughly three and a half servings, so even if today was fine, there'd be nothing for tomorrow morning.
"If Amour promises to take responsibility and grill the meat early tomorrow morning, I'll try to persuade the two of them."
The moment I mentioned that tomorrow's supply might run short, Shiromaru and Solomon had already planted themselves between me and Amour, starting to menace threateningly.
"But what if, hypothetically, we wake up tomorrow to a blizzard...?"
"You'll grill it for us."
"What if heavy rain puts out the fire...?"
"I'll build you a roof, so you'll grill it for us."
"...Jeanne, add my portion to that too!"
Considering the possibility of bad weather tomorrow, Amour gave up on Shiromaru and Solomon's meat and decided to go with the same menu as me. As for Aura, who hadn't said a word this whole time, she had started helping Jeanne while Amour was locked in a staring contest with the two of them.
After finishing our meal like that, we killed time with card games and went to sleep at some reasonable hour. We disagreed on how to arrange sleeping quarters, but in the end we settled on putting up a partition to split the wagon in two, with the area in front of the bathroom serving as a shared space. And then, the next day—
"If it was going to be like this, we could have just grilled the meat..."
The weather outside was splendidly clear, and the snow had begun to melt.
After eating breakfast, we demolished the earthen wall and set off. The sunlight made it warmer than yesterday, but the wind was still cold, so jackets were a must.
"The ground's muddy, but Raiden can handle it easily."
If things got really bad, we'd have to stow the wagon in the Dimension Bag and ride on Raiden instead, but for a little mud, both Raiden and the wagon could manage just fine.
As we made our way along the main road, I saw more and more horses and wagons that couldn't move, and adventurers trudging through ankle-deep mud. I thought about that as I drove Raiden forward. Occasionally, merchants or adventurers tried to get a ride on my wagon, but they'd quickly realize whose horse (model Golem) Raiden was and give up. Well, some still tried to approach, and when they did, I completely ignored them and had Raiden bolt at full speed to shake them off.
After repeating that for a few days, we finally made it back to the Royal Capital.
"Well... being picked up by Tenma was really quite lucky. If that had kept up, it might have taken another two or three days at least."
Picking up an acquaintance along the way.
"Be grateful, Rani!"
"That's exactly what I'm doing—thanking Tenma. So why is the young lady puffing out her chest and acting all proud?"
I was the one who owned the wagon, the one who found her, and the one who gave her permission to ride along, so Rani was right about everything. Amour shot Rani a glare when she was called out, but when Rani didn't back down, she tried to play it off by petting Shiromaru.
Rani had been discovered early this morning, shivering by a fire just a few kilometers ahead of where we'd been camping. Apparently, she'd tried to hire a wagon along the way, but the unusually early snowfall made that impossible, so she'd been forced to travel on foot. We just happened to pass through that spot.
"Come to think of it, you seem to be here earlier than usual. Did something happen?"
When Rani traveled between snow-prone regions, she usually operated from late winter to around the end of autumn, spending the winter months focused on the snow-free areas of the south. So I figured she must have had some business with me, but—
"Well, I did hear a rather interesting rumor... Tenma, might you by any chance be planning to get married?"
I wondered where that information had leaked from, but if I let it show on my face it'd give me away, so I tried to mask my surprise with a look of confusion—
"Your reaction tells me just about everything. It probably isn't marriage right away, so engagement, then?"
Rani, being the intelligence operative she was, saw right through it.
"Oh, just to be clear, I wasn't able to confirm anything from your expression. You've gotten much better at hiding it compared to the old days. However..."
Saying that, Rani shifted her gaze to what was behind me—
"All I had to do was look at the young lady, Jeanne, and Aura, and it was obvious at a glance. Merlin was harder to read, of course, but I'd already expected that one of the three would change without needing to read Tenma's or Merlin's tells. What I didn't expect was for all three to make the exact same face."
Hearing Rani's words, I turned around—and all three of them turned their faces away at the same time. For the record, since Aura was acting as the driver, she'd been peeking at us through the small window.
"Actually, one of my colleagues heard an unconfirmed rumor that Tenma might be marrying into the Duke Sanga family soon, so I was sent to verify it. I expected to have to work much harder to get to the truth... I certainly didn't expect to have it confirmed this quickly."
Apparently, when one of Rani's associates visited Gunjou City, they reported to Hana that I had served as the MC for Sarna's wedding and had named Primera as my partner there, which—combined with prior rumors and our existing relationship—suggested it was a real possibility. Upon receiving that report, Hana had hastily assembled Rani and dispatched her to investigate.
"Well, gathering intelligence was the primary objective, but I've also brought the usual trade goods and something separate for Tenma, so rest assured."
I wasn't sure what exactly I was supposed to feel reassured about, but since I trusted Hana not to misuse that information, I neither confirmed nor denied it. Still, if all three of their reactions had given me away like that, maybe I should have a word with Aina to make sure it didn't happen again.
Maybe she read my mood, because Jeanne brought tea and Amour set out tea cakes, placing them before me and Rani.
"Jeanne, get me a cup too."
Until now, the old man had been sitting still as a stone, but once the engagement had been exposed, he finally started to relax and had Jeanne bring him tea. Probably because he no longer felt it was his responsibility, he was relieved.
"Here is the payment for the yuzu pepper."
As soon as we returned to the manor, Rani wasted no time pulling various items from her Magic Bag and arranging them on the table.
What Rani had brought this time was Nanao-produced sake and sake lees, miso, soy sauce, mirin, and the like. She figured these would make me happier, and sure enough, they were exactly the kinds of things I loved.
The quantity was more than I expected, so when I asked about it, she told me that yuzu pepper was a massive hit in the south and was turning a considerable profit. On top of that, the fact that I—someone well-known even in the south—had used southern products to create the condiment served as effective promotion, which had contributed to the sales as well.
"As for what I've brought this time, it's mainly pickled plums, natto, kusaya, and other items with strong flavors, along with spices. There are also products made in Sarna's workshop. And since they were well-received last time, I brought a small quantity of yuzu as well."
It was a different lineup than usual, but since it was rare, I intended to buy everything. However, I would have liked more yuzu, but apparently the yuzu pepper boom had caused a shortage, so she could only prepare about ten kilograms this time. Well, I still had yuzu pepper left, and if I ran out, I could just have her bring more from the south. But the jams, tea, and yuzu liquor were running low, so the real question was how to divide things up.
"Ten kilograms isn't much when you factor in what goes into the bath."
"I'm sorry about that... If it helps, I can bring more yuzu in early spring, so please bear with me this time."
It would have been nice if our own yuzu trees had borne fruit, but since we had only planted them this past spring, they were still in the branch-growing stage. So I was hoping they might produce fruit in about two years.
"Well then, I'll take my leave."
After finishing her business at our manor, Rani promptly departed. I thought she could have stayed a little longer, but apparently she was heading to the Royal Capital for more procurement and then returning to the south by early morning the next day. She was probably rushing to report my engagement to Hana.
"Rani... She didn't even say 'congratulations' to Tenma. Reni would be thrilled to hear that."
"Well, isn't it just because I neither confirmed nor denied it?"
Personally, I didn't particularly care that Rani hadn't congratulated me (or rather, I hadn't even noticed), but apparently it was plenty of ammunition for Amour.
"I need to write a letter to Reni right away!"
Even if she wrote one now, it would be several weeks before it reached the south, and Rani would likely have already moved on somewhere after reporting to Hana. Well, Reni might tease her about it when she got back, but that wouldn't be for several months.
"See, that's exactly why you should stop—it'd be a waste of money. Someone will probably come to verify whether it's true, so just tell them then."
If anyone were to come, it might be Reni rather than Rani, but since Reni had just returned to the south, there was also a chance Hana herself might show up under the guise of delivering New Year's greetings.
"More to the point, Mom is the most likely candidate!"
"Then let's prepare on the assumption that Hana will come. It's hard to imagine the baroness of the south showing up for New Year's greetings, but Hana was effectively granted the title of baron, so she might come to check on things while calling it a New Year's visit. Well, someone will probably show up one way or another, so we might as well be ready."
Even if nobody came from the south, Albert and those three idiots would certainly drop by for a visit. And this year, Primera would surely come as well, along with Duke Sanga and Marquis Samons paying a visit. And without question, some member of the royal family—or rather, practically all of them—would be coming.
"That means we'll need something like a waiting room for the guards."
It was going to be even busier than usual, and since most of the visitors would be royals or high-ranking nobles, if they didn't prepare a guard waiting area, the escorts might not fit inside the estate and would end up waiting out in the cold.
"It's going to be a rush job, but maybe I can manage with magic… Grandpa, come here a moment!"
He called over Grandpa, who had been relaxing in the dining hall, and told him about building a guard waiting area outside. Grandpa made a thoroughly exasperated face, but in the end he gave a reluctant, resigned agreement.
"So, what exactly are we building here?"
"First, we level the ground where it's going to go, then put up a few pillars, surround them with earthen walls… something like that? For the roof, I was thinking we could raise pillars to form a triangular shape and nail boards across them…"
It was an off-the-cuff idea, so he had his doubts, but if they made the walls sturdy and kept the roof light, it should hold up for about a month.
"Then maybe it'd be better to put the roof on last, at the very end. Actually, it might not be a bad idea to replace the roof every month or two."
As far as walls went, he'd built plenty before, and he believed he could construct something every bit as strong—or even stronger—than what a seasoned craftsman would make. The roof, however, was another story. He'd never built a proper one before, so it would probably end up looking like something an amateur weekend hobbyist would throw together.
"When it comes time to build the roof, just call for Mark and the others. Back in Kukuri Village, quite a few of them had at least some carpentry skills. They're not professionals, but they'd do a better job than us."
When in doubt, lean on the uncles—so that's how they decided to consult Uncle Mark about the roof at a later date.
"We'll leave the roof to Mark, so that just leaves the pillars and walls. For the pillars, I think covering them in packed earth should work. If you pack it on solid, the bugs won't be able to eat through, and the strength should increase too."
That raised a concern—the wood might rot from the moisture—but Grandpa said that if they used wood that had been dried out with magic, it should last until spring. Grandpa intended to tear the whole shed down once spring arrived and have a professional builder make something new. Indeed, if they were going to keep using it going forward, having a proper craftsman do the job was best.
"Well, it should hold for the emergency, so even if the workmanship is a bit rough, it shouldn't matter. We'll start tomorrow—Tenma, could you go gather some earth? I'll take care of leveling the ground and setting up the pillars in the meantime."
Grandpa casually dumped the harder job on him, but since this whole idea was his to begin with, he accepted it without complaint.
And so the next day,
"Tenma, pick clay-heavy soil if you can."
Grandpa just leisurely sipped his post-meal tea as he saw us off.
Since it would clearly be tough going alone, I'd put out a call for volunteers the day before... but the only one who showed up was Slarin. Jeanne and Aura both turned me down with "We've still got cleaning and laundry to do..." while Amur made excuses about "Tama and the others need their walk..." Amur was completely lying, of course, but since Jeanne and Aura's reasons were at least half true, I had to let it go... In exchange, I decided to bring Shiromaru and Solomon along, the two of whom had been pretending to be asleep.
The two of them put up quite a bit of resistance, but after Slarin talked them around, they reluctantly agreed. Tonight's dinner really should be whatever Shiromaru and Solomon like best. In other words, a meat feast was in order.
With tonight's menu decided, I handed the meat over to Jeanne and Aura for prep work, and we headed for the forest a short distance from the Royal Capital. We'd been there plenty of times before, so even with the snow, I had a pretty good idea of where to dig.
"Slarin, have the Golem collect soil for us. I want something as sticky as possible. Also, gather up the dried grass while you're at it. Put the grass in your Magic Bag, and for the soil, load it into the Magic Bag first, then transfer it to the Dimension Bag. Shiromaru and Solomon, you two keep watch on the perimeter. I'll go collect soil somewhere else."
We rode Raiden to the forest (though Slarin and the others had traveled inside the Dimension Bag), and upon arrival we immediately split into two groups to start gathering soil... but the snow had frozen the ground solid, making it hard to tell whether the soil was clay-like without picking it up and feeling it by hand.
"I thought having the Golem would make this easy... my hands are freezing."
After feeling each clump of earth the Golem dug up to check its texture, I loaded it into the Magic Bag to filter out any living creatures (since living things basically can't enter a Magic Bag, worms and the like get expelled), then transferred everything into the Dimension Bag. However, eggs didn't register as living creatures, so they had to be killed with fire before they could be used in the walls. Otherwise, hatched insects could end up chewing the wall to shreds.
Since I had no idea how much soil we'd need for an earthen wall, once we'd collected roughly one Dimension Bag's worth between my share and Slarin's—probably somewhere around twenty to thirty tons—I called a halt and divided it evenly into two portions. I put each into a separate Dimension Bag along with dried grass and set them both on fire. I had a vague memory of doing something similar before, but if we'd be needing more soil going forward, maybe it'd be worth making another trip out here sometime when we had a chance.
"Slarin, gather some more dried grass—separate from what we're burning."
I asked Slarin to set aside some dried grass from the batch she was collecting for burning. This batch was to be mixed into the soil when building the wall. I'd heard that doing so would create a binding agent and increase the wall's strength, so I had her gather it up. Of course, whether we'd actually mix it in would depend on what Grandpa had to say about it—but there was no harm in being prepared. If it turned out I was wrong, we could always use the grass for Juubei and the others' bedding instead.
"Should be about done, right?"
After we finished collecting the binding grass, I tossed the soil back into the Dimension Bag and lit it again to keep cooking out the bugs. We might not have killed every last one, but it was already the time of day when it'd be dark in another hour or so, so—
"We've got our souvenirs, and it's way too cold to stay out here any longer."
While Slarin and I had been cutting dried grass, Shiromaru and Solomon forgot all about keeping watch and threw themselves into hunting instead. They came back with four wild boars, two horned rabbits, and—
—a lump of meat equivalent to three more horned rabbits.
That's what they'd brought home.
Slarin said she'd handle the mincing, so I handed it all over to her as-is. The rest was still in the butchering Dimension Bag, going through the blood-draining process.
"Alright! It's freezing, so let's head straight home and get in the bath!"
The ones who responded to my call were Slarin and Solomon. Shiromaru, apparently unwilling to take a bath even in this cold, turned away and ignored me.
"Shiromaru, you're filthy clean through — and you don't want a bath? That means you're planning to sleep over at Juubei's place today, right?"
Shiromaru (and Solomon too, for that matter) was caked in mud from running through snow-soaked meadows and forests. In this state, there was no way I could bring him into the manor. So if he refused the bath, Shiromaru would have to stay outside until — whenever that might be — he got cleaned up.
When I laid that out, Shiromaru kept glancing at Slarin, trying to get some message across... but Slarin ignored him entirely and perched on my shoulder. He'd probably been trying to tell her that if she cleaned him up, he wouldn't need a bath. But since Slarin had rejected him and sided with me, Shiromaru reluctantly seemed to decide he had no choice but to bathe.
And so, what awaited us when we got back to the manor was...
"Hmm... I may have gotten a little too carried away."
"Great workout, though!"
Pillars had been erected in an area nearly twice the size we'd planned. They all looked like stone columns at first glance, but they were actually special wooden poles coated in packed earth. And there were more than four times as many as we'd originally intended. Sure, doubling the area meant more earth for the walls too, so quadrupling the pillars wasn't exactly unreasonable... but there was no way the soil we'd gathered would be enough. So,
"Grandpa, Amour — I'm counting on you to procure the shortfall tomorrow."
I decided to leave the excess to them. I'd finished the work assigned to me, so I resolved to pretend the rest was none of my business.
"What we brought back isn't going to cut it, and if you add it in later the quality won't be uniform. So how about we mix the soil you guys gather with ours before building the walls tomorrow? Right then — we're going to go take a bath."
As I said that and started walking off, I could hear Grandpa and Amour saying something behind me, but I didn't look back and headed straight for the bathhouse. Halfway there, in the corridor —
"So you've finally made it back!"
Lyle was lying in wait. Apparently, one of his subordinates had spotted me leaving the Royal Capital that morning, and a report had been filed from there. Which meant that Lyle being here signaled —
"If you're going to come back, the least you could do is send word. And on the day you return — or the next day at the very latest — you should go see Primera. If you don't, she'll lose interest in you before you're even married."
Maria was there too. And beside her, Primera sat looking visibly tense. I'd wondered where Tida and Luna were, but apparently the two of them had exams coming up and were studying back at the royal palace under watchful eyes. The thing was, only Luna was being watched — Tida was studying of her own volition, aiming for the top spot in her class.
"I'm sorry. Primera, I'm sorry for worrying you too."
The two of them accepted my apology, and then —
"I know I'm late reporting this, but we successfully conquered Seigen's dungeon."
I promptly delivered my report on the dungeon's conquest.
"Congratulations. With this, Tenma has officially conquered two dungeons single-handedly. What a history-making feat!"
Conquering even a single dungeon was already considered a remarkable achievement, and yet here I was with two under my belt. One was an undiscovered dungeon that boosted the economy of the southern region, and the other was one of the largest dungeons in the country—while my conquest was technically the second, it had been done almost entirely single-handedly. At the very least, no one in the kingdom's history had ever achieved anything comparable, hence the phrase "history-making feat." Though come to think of it, perhaps Maria was the one making history, not me.
"But I digress, Tenma. You look absolutely filthy, so you'd better go take a bath first."
As I was idly picturing Maria gleefully writing me up in her history book, she pointed out how dirty my clothes and body were. She was right—I had been meaning to bathe before she called, so I excused myself and took my leave. In the hallway, Lyle was waiting and followed me all the way to the bath. According to him, this was about men bonding through shared nudity—but to me, it just felt like gaining an extra pair of hands to wash Shiromaru, so I gladly accepted his help.
A short while later, Grandpa showed up too, adding yet another pair of hands to the mix.
That said, it was Lyle's first time washing Shiromaru, so he wasn't exactly a seasoned contributor. In his place, Slarin more than made up for it, taking on the real heavy lifting.