One of the lords of the Union of Frontier Small Cities, who had previously received a letter of intent, came to the village once again.

　When I met her in the reception room of the town hall, she told me her name was Chrome.
　She told me that she's a subhuman fairy, and that there are many races like her that are classified as fairy in her small frontier city of Pickus.

　The cat fairies (ketsies) who live in my village used to live around her city in the past.

　I greeted Krome with Foldente.

　She had come with ten or so attendants, but she had come alone for the meeting with me.

'I'm sure you were offended by the irreverent attitude of our Union of Frontier Small Cities at the recent meeting.
　I would like to apologize to the flat.
　As he said that, Krome suddenly bowed deeply.

　Indeed, although I had quite a few thoughts about the attitude of that middle-aged male lord who was always looking down on me, I didn't have any particularly bad feelings towards Chrome himself, and when I told him that honestly, Chrome had a relieved expression on his face, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

　And so, finally, Chrome got down to business.
　The reason why she had come this time was still to consult with them regarding the frontier city of Batcombe.

　According to her story, the small frontier city of Pix, which had many fairies, had always not liked to fight, and had always signed peace treaties with neighboring cities and villages, keeping them neutral.
　However, the frontier city of Batcombe, located to the north of Pickus, invaded the settlements to the south of its territory one by one, and rapidly expanded its territory to the south.
　It is said that it now borders the city of Pyx.

We have an alliance with Geghemorse, a small city on the western border, and Eads, a small city on the western border, but if possible, we would like to form a friendly alliance with Liberty Village to the south.
　As he said this, Crome bowed his head again.

　By the way.

　Gehmose, a middle-aged male lord, Geldos, the head of the Federation of Frontier Small Cities
　The small frontier city of Eads is a small Elven female lord, Raymuris.
　These two men, each as a lord, manage their own frontier small cities.

　As I pondered what to do with Pix's offer, I turned my gaze to Foldente beside me.
He shook his head as if to say, "I think it's okay."
I understand. With that kind of friendship, I'll accept.
　As I said this, I held out my right hand.

　Perhaps relieved by my words, Crom held my right hand with a smile and bowed his head many times.

　After Crom left, I returned from the reception room to the lord's room, and Foldente
Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a friendly relationship, now would it?
　As he said this, he chuckled as usual.

　To that, I agreed with him.

　If I had accepted the offer of the last middle-aged male lord, Geldos, and joined the Union of Frontier Small Cities, there was a strong possibility that I would have been treated as a lackey for sure, and forced to guard the frontier city of Batcombe at all times as a precaution against them. Besides, in the unlikely event that a conflict broke out between them and Batcombe, they would have been the first to be put in charge of the front line.

　However, with a friendly relationship like this one, there is no need to worry about being forced to make such a one-sided offer, and there is a high possibility that exchanges in the field of trade and the like can be conducted on an equal footing.

　The fact that it is impossible to trade on equal terms with a small, out-of-the-way city of a higher rank is a big advantage for us to accept this offer.

　I've decided to prioritize the building of friendly relations with Pyx regarding trade, and in the near future, I plan to go and say hello.

◇ ◇ ◇.

　Recently, the production of magic stones had increased dramatically.

　The magic workshop processes the bones of skeletons that have been left over from excavation work to create magic stones, but the only person in Liberty Village who can do this is Eldena the Elf.
　It's possible for me to do this too, but I'm too busy with my work in the village right now to go and help out.
　Although Yome, the Owl People, has been helping Eldena, she is unable to use magic, so she is solely engaged in the task of transporting the bones.
　Because of this, the production of magic stones hadn't increased very much, but recently, it had increased at a significant rate.

　What in the world had happened.......I looked into the magic workshop while wondering what had happened.......and there, as usual, Erdena and Yome were busily working.

　

　After trying out my practiced alter ego magic, Eldena seemed to have a very good affinity for this magic, and not only did she easily succeed in plurality of bodies, but she also quickly succeeded in moving each body with a separate consciousness.
　Erdena immediately utilized this magic, and thanks to the fact that she continued to work with multiple selves, the number of magic stones produced increased as a matter of course.

　Just the moment I entered the magic workshop.

　And it took me quite a while to understand the scene when I was approached by 20 Erdena's at once.

　Incidentally, the magic stones that Eldena is manufacturing are finished to a very high degree of purity, and we are thinking about converting them into drop items in the underground labyrinth (dungeon).

　I'm thinking of converting it into a drop item in the underground dungeon.

◇ ◇.

　The next morning, the guard's dog people, Googus, came to me with a puzzled expression on his face.

''No, no...well, I have to tell you about your daughter...''
　He then turned to Lil Pop, the Beast Demon, who had recently been assigned to him as a guard.

　He said that Lil Pop is a very serious worker.
　If I tell you to patrol the village, you keep going until you're told to stop.
　If I tell him to guard the forest, he says he'll do this as well, and he'll do it exactly the same way, but the problem is that there's something else going on.


　I was worried, too, when I heard that story.
　I've been listening to that, and Foldente begins to chuckle as usual.
It's a good thing that you don't usually know anything about demons.

　According to Foldente's story, a mage is a man-made humanoid machine that is created by the hands of a top-level mage with advanced magical skills and enormous magical power.
　Since the machine is powered by magical stones created by compressing the vast amount of magical power held by the mages, it basically does not need to eat or sleep.

''What is it then?　If that magic stone's magic power runs out, that little girl will die?
　That's the reasoning behind this.
"Theoretically, that's true, but if that magic stone were to expire.......it would be at the earliest 10,000 years or so before that happens.
　At these words, both me and Googus can't help but look surprised.

.........well, I've never heard of a magic stone with such a powerful magic power!

　By the way, it seems that there are a lot of mages and demon kings in the demon world who are aiming at the magic stone, which is the core of these mages, and most of the older generation of mages were destroyed and their magic stones were taken away.
　By the way, it seems that these mages are what we would call wizards in our world.......well, I've heard that their abilities are far superior to ours.
It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.
　That said, he chuckles.

　It's not just a matter of time before you get your hands on it.
I wonder if that's the way it is...
　The best I could do was to say, "I don't know.


　With that said, Googs went back.

　Even though Googs had military experience, he said this was the first time in his life that a woman had been assigned to a subordinate, and he realized that he was making me feel a lot of trouble, and I felt sorry for him, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
I don't think it's anything like that. I think it's more like a feeling of being attracted to the opposite s*x.
　Foldente chuckles as he says this.
'Consciousness as the opposite s*x?'
Well, it's kind of like the way Eldena feels about you, isn't it?
　Saying that, Foldente presses his index finger against my nose.
　I was so impressed with Foldente.
Does that count as friendship?
　And when I returned the words.
You're going to have a hard time, Eldena.
　As he said this, Foldente sighed.

...Did I say something strange?