“Almost there!”
I stood watching the road under construction, arms folded, murmuring with satisfaction.
A full month had passed since the Kobolds joined the domain.
In that time, the top development priority had been the road connecting Kobold Village to our base.
There had been some thought of simply relocating the base to Kobold Village — but unfortunately, the area around it had no large water source suitable for farming.
So the current base would stay.
And that made an efficient road between the two a necessity.
“Once this opens, we should be able to reach Kobold Village in under two hours.”
“Right. This’ll finally let us push the pioneering in earnest.”
Another half day and the road would be finished.
Satisfied with the golems’ steady progress, I headed back to base with Alicia, who was on escort duty.
The base itself had developed incomparably from two weeks ago.
With the Kobolds moving in, we’d had to build houses and facilities to accommodate them.
Before, there had only been a few cabins — now something that resembled a proper street had taken shape.
And on top of that——
“Lord Viktor! The village chief from Poppal Village is here!”
“Again?”
Popol met us and, barely pausing to say welcome back, delivered the news.
The Kobold settlements in this Great Forest extended beyond just the village we’d saved — there were several others.
Word had apparently reached them somehow, and they were coming forward one after another to ask to join under my banner.
“I’ll accept them as residents. But I can’t take in any more people at the base yet, so have them wait until we’re ready.”
“Understood. Also — the field expansion you specified has been completed. This should secure enough food for our current number of settlers for now.”
“Good. More people are going to keep coming, so let’s make it a bit larger while we’re at it.”
“I’ll add about one size more.”
With that, Popol hurried off.
……Man, the workload is exploding as the population here grows.
At this rate, it might even be harder than when I was posted to Alfado.
That town had been in a precarious spot with its main industry declining, but it had history behind it and was at least stable.
It didn’t have this particular frantic quality that comes with the early stages of pioneering.
“……The development is moving forward, but I feel like my ideal is getting further away.”
“Your ideal, if I may ask?”
“A life of doing nothing and lazing around with a maid.”
At that, Alicia froze on the spot.
Her mouth was hanging half-open — she looked thoroughly exasperated.
But she quickly collected herself and laughed it off.
“As expected of Lord Viktor. What a sense of humor!”
“No no, I’m completely serious.”
“That can’t be. Lord Viktor, you’ve been working nonstop for this entire past month. You’re a very hard worker.”
“Well……the Kobolds became residents, and Makina still isn’t upgraded yet.”
Makina, damaged in the battle against the Great Serpent, had been slated for transfer to a new body.
With the magic stone conveniently in hand, I’d decided to rebuild rather than repair.
But a high-performance golem on the level of Makina wasn’t something you could put together overnight.
I’d spent every evening for the past month on building Makina’s new body, and it still wasn’t finished.
Achieving specs that surpassed the old Makina simply took considerable time.
“When do you think Makina will be ready?”
“The body itself is mostly done, so now I just need to inscribe the formula on the core magic stone. I’ll work on it tonight — should be finished by tomorrow.”
“Oh, just a little longer!”
The genuine delight on Alicia’s face was plain to see.
These past two weeks without Makina, she’d been covering not just escort duties but all sorts of things in Makina’s place.
The unfamiliar work had probably been wearing on her.
“Right. But this next part is the hardest. Extremely precise work.”
“I see. Shall I bring you some coffee later?”
“No thanks — if anything I need quiet, so make sure nobody comes near the workshop.”
“Understood! I’ll tell Misha and Ganz too!”
“Alright, I’m heading in.”
Seen off by Alicia, I stepped into the workshop.
The first thing that met my eyes was Makina — reduced to just a head.
The corrosion had been severe, so everything from the neck down had been disassembled.
That, and having her directly assist me in the work was another reason.
“How are you holding up, Makina?”
“Being just a head, there is nothing particularly different. If I had to say one thing, I would very much like my new body soon.”
“I know. Alright — let’s get started!”
I went to the back of the workshop and took the magic stone out of its box.
The oversized one that had come out of the Great Serpent’s head that day.
The dense magical energy packed inside swirled with an eerie glow.
The quality was on a clearly different level from the Red Dragon’s stone, the Great Boar’s — anything I’d seen before.
“……Right. This is the hardest part of all.”
With the magic stone set in front of me, I pulled on the precision work gauntlets.
The surface of these gauntlets was laced with a mithril exoskeleton, and by having Makina control its movement, work of extraordinary precision became possible.
In a sense, from this point on it was a collaborative effort between me and Makina.
“Code connection complete. Makina — can you move the gauntlets?”
“No problems.”
The moment Makina replied, my hands moved on their own.
Good — I can trust her with the correction work.
I gave a thumbs-up to Makina, who was nothing but a head right now.
“Perfect. Let’s start inscribing the formula into the magic stone!”
“Yes.”
And so a session of precision work lasting more than half a day began——.