57-To wolf hunting
Five days have passed since then, and it has been fifteen days since I arrived here.
I've been exploring the labyrinth for exactly two weeks.
It's only been less than half a month, but what I've accomplished in that time is quite impressive.
The first change in the village is .......
The biggest change is the improvement of the villagers.
The current population of the village is sixty-eight.
Nearly half of them, 32, are now at level 15 or higher in their initial occupations.
Of these, fifteen were warriors, led by Heimo, the blacksmith.
A group of ten archers led by the hunter Etan.
Five members of the Mage League, led by Mia, the tavern owner.
And two healers, the village chief and his wife.
The remaining fifteen, excluding children under the age of ten and elderly people such as Grandpa Eugen, will be trained in the next few days.
The villagers who have been upgraded are now able to move as if they were different people due to the increase in their physical strength.
This will allow them to make much better progress in physical labor.
If things continue to go well, they will become a group that is no match for any mercenary group in the world.
However, they do not have much experience in combat, so they still need to be careful in that area.
Speaking of the contribution to the improvement of physical strength, the improvement of the food situation is also significant.
Salt, oil, and meat are now plentiful, and even mushrooms are now on the table.
In previous years, the cold season was a time of chronic food shortages.
This year, however, if you go to a tavern, you can get meat and other food without much effort.
The biggest effect of this is the increase in smiles.
I am reminded of how people can become surprisingly cheerful when they are freed from the pressure of a tight budget.
So much so that the village was filled with the sound of laughter.
Incidentally, the soft worm meat is easy to mince, and hamburgers are very popular among children and the elderly.
Bat meat, which is similar to chicken meat, is light and is popular among women for being grilled on skewers with only salt.
Rabbit meat is firm and crunchy, and stewed rabbit meat is a firm favorite among men and women of all ages.
However, the most popular are the meat of giant crabs and sea turtles.
Even though they were simply boiled in salted water, they were swarmed by everyone.
However, since we want to secure enough meat for the goblins, meat in general is becoming a little scarce these days.
So we had high hopes for the new menu item, antler steak. .......
The steak was very well received, but the shipment was easily cancelled.
Unfortunately, it turned out that antlered deer are a large species and do not spring up very often.
In addition, we have been experiencing some difficulties in hunting them, and the supply of new meat is an issue for the future.
Another big change was the improvement of the water system.
A well has been completed in the center of the village, and the water in the river has been dramatically cleaned.
They were very happy to have safe water to drink, but they also welcomed the fact that the labor of fetching water was greatly reduced.
Another thing that should not be forgotten is the spread of lights.
With the spread of white light, we can move around without worrying about the sunset.
Thanks to this, tomorrow's Sakataru-tei will be in full swing until late at night.
A more interesting fact was also revealed.
白照石は点灯に魔力を必要とするため、普通の人では点けることは叶わない.
けれども日が落ちると、村のあちこちで煌々と光が漏れ出す光景を見ることができる.
実は白照石を灯していたのは、驚くことに子どもたちであった.
綺麗な石を気に入って何度も触るうちに、魔力が顕現した子がかなり居たらしい.
汎人種の魔力持ちの割合は十人に一人と言われるため、これは異常な数値である.
こういった感じで村は今、迷宮を中心に強く結束し始めていた.
それに伴い、頼りとなる団体が続々と発足する.
まずは村の女衆たちによる裁縫チーム.
浮いた時間を活かしゴブリンの集落まで出かけて、協力して作業に当たってくれるようになったのだ.
裁縫が苦手な方たちは、代わりに家事や子守を受け持つ役割分担がちゃんとできているらしい.
それに合わせて、十代から二十代の男衆が集まり青年団を立ち上げた.
主な仕事は新たにレベルアップに挑む村人をフォローしたり、魔物を釣ってきてくれたりと、迷宮での戦闘関連だ.
裁縫チームを護衛してくれるのも彼らである.
中には魔物退治を専業にしたいと言い出す少年らも出てきているとのことだ.
あとはヘイモとゴブリンの弟子たちも、関係は良好なようである.
なかなかに見込みありらしい.
他にも目を引くチームが一つあるのだが、これに関しては迷宮内の変化で語らせてもらおう.
その地下迷宮での話であるが、こちらも探索は順調である.
大量に取れるスライムの皮袋は便利なため、村人たちやゴブリンに行き渡り何かと使われているようだ.
さらに使い回しの利く黒毛狼のマントや、コウモリの羽帽子やケープも増えており、装備の面でも安心である.
特に安定して集まるコウモリの翼やうさぎの毛皮は手袋や帽子、靴などにどんどん加工されている.
そして五階の畑だが、なんと迷宮大蒜が発芽したのだ.
村長の話では普通は一ヶ月はかかるとのことだが、わずか十日足らずと恐ろしい早さである.
魔素が豊富な特別な土であることが要因と思われるが、コウモリの糞尿石もおそらく効果があったのだろう.
石灰石と同化して完全に固まったこの石は、肥料として優秀であると前世で聞いたことがある.
回収する時は、あまり気持ちいいものではないのだが…….
それと畑の周りでは護衛と呼べるか怪しいが、新たな住人がうろつくようになった.
八階からわざわざ連れてきた枝角鹿のエダちゃんだ.
使役魔の枠が圧迫されるため<従属>はすでに解かれているが、もとより非好戦的な魔物のため襲われることもない.
のっそりと歩き回っては、オリーブの葉をむしゃむしゃと物憂げに食べて回るだけである.
その枝角鹿の唾液だが、外傷治療薬の錬成で説明した通り細胞を活性化させる成分が含まれている.
それが植物の成長にも著しい効果があるらしく、実験として畑のそばに連れてきたというわけだ.
本当ならこんな手間を掛けず、回収した唾液腺から植物成長薬を作りたかったのだが、妖精からの反対が多くて諦めたのだ.
そのため中級の外傷治療薬も、ストックは現在三個しかない.
もっともこれは、高級素材である一角馬の角の粉末がなくなったせいも大きいが.
巨木が立ち並ぶ八階では、すでに十五匹の妖精たちの移住が完成していた.
その妖精たちだが、なんと大人しい枝角鹿を次の乗り物に定めたらしい.
その枝分かれした角にまたがって、ゆうゆうとキノコを齧る日々を過ごしている.
いざとなればお腹の下や、垂れ下がる喉の肉に隠れることもできるとのことだ.
そしてそれら妖精たちと樹人種のエタンさんは、なぜかすっかり意気投合してチームをいつの間にか結成していた.
「見つけました. ここから北東へ百五十歩先です」
It seems that the forest crows that were acting as scouts for the black wolf were caught in the search net of the fairies that was deployed in units of fifty paces.
If they were that far away, they would have had to shout loudly to get through, but that would have been noticed by the other party.
However, the fairy and Mr. Ethan did not make any noise at all.
What they do, then, is actually communicate with each other using light signals.
I didn't know this until Mr. Etan told me, but it seems that the fairies use their own language by flashing their luminous wings.
Mr. Etan, who had quickly read the flickering fairy signals, quietly led the way.
As soon as we were within range, he nocked and shot an arrow without a sound.
The forest crow fell soundlessly to the ground, pierced through the neck by a shadow that had flown in from outside its perception.
He was a skilled sniper, having been trained by years of living in the forest.
The pack of black-haired wolves, having lost the ability to see the ground from the sky, is now being watched by a large number of fairies scattered over a wide area.
Those five are a little bit far from the others, aren't they?
All right, let's make this quick. Come on, Yol, Kuu.
Hence!
Woo!
Yoru jumped into the middle of the five and disrupted their control with his sharp claws.
When they were distracted, Kuu swooped down and kicked them in the head.
Another one, shot in the leg by Mr. Etan's arrow, cowered and became motionless.
The tip of the arrow had the claws of a forest crow, a paralyzing poison.
I'll stop the front, Mia.
Mia! I got your back!
With the blindness of the fairies that had gathered, and the unassuming but highly effective attacks of the blue slime that wrapped around their feet, the black wolves that had their mobility blocked easily fell to the ground.
I quickly collected their pelts and fangs and hurried away from the scene.
The wolf meat was not originally stored in the list of items, and when I tried feeding it to Yoru and Kuu, they gobbled it up without expression until the end.
It doesn't taste terrible, but it doesn't seem to be the kind of thing they would happily devour.
While defeating them individually like this, we steadily filled in the map at the back of the eighth floor.