“I can’t believe you built all this in a single night……!”
“You think? I’ll admit I was expecting two or three days myself.”
I tilted my head as I said it to Alicia, who had gone pale.
The golems’ work had certainly come in faster than expected.
But was it really that shocking?
While I stood there puzzled, Misha spoke up with a look of exasperation.
“We’ve actually escorted other pioneering parties before, and just clearing out the forest and throwing up a cabin took them ten days. And that group had thirty people.”
“Is that right. Then I guess my golems are pretty capable.”
“Capable is one thing, but if you mass-produced them I think something terrifying would happen……”
Alicia said that, looking a little like she was backing away.
Hmm, mass-producing golems.
I’m the only one who can make them, and it takes time, so that’s a problem.
Hiring craftsmen would change things — but whether anyone would actually come out to a demon frontier was another question.
“……Whoa, what the——!?”
Just then, the door of a cabin a little ways off swung open.
Ganz stuck his head out and let out a startled yelp.
Same reaction as Alicia and Misha just now, to the letter.
“Ganz, you’re late! Even with the golems on watch, sleeping that soundly is too much.”
“Sorry, leader. The travel caught up with me. But still — a whole village in just one night……”
“We were just saying the same thing. Makina, would you mind giving us a tour of the village?”
“Of course. Please follow me, everyone.”
And so we started walking through the still-fresh village.
Village might be generous — it was land that had been cleared and a handful of cabins clustered together, nothing more.
As we walked, Makina stopped first in front of a small rough-hewn hut at the edge of the cleared ground.
“This is the toilet. Inside, a pit has been dug, and the accumulated waste is removed by a pump system.”
“Eventually I’d like one installed in each house.”
“Yes. Once a waterway is located nearby, I’d like to look into flush plumbing as well.”
Makina moved on to a cabin a short distance from the toilet.
It was sturdily built, with the foundation raised a bit off the ground.
“This is the storehouse. It’s intended for keeping grain and the like.”
“In that case, should I put a frost spell on it later?”
“That would be a great help.”
Oh — so Misha could use that kind of magic too.
She was an adventurer, but clearly not purely combat-focused.
“Next, this is the field I had tilled overnight. The wheat and vegetable seeds Lord Viktor brought have been planted.”
“Oh — it’s pretty big!”
Roughly fifty meters square, by the look of it.
There was something genuinely moving about seeing a corner of that densely overgrown forest cut open so cleanly.
Sunlight poured down brilliantly — almost blinding to look at.
“The field is still slated for expansion. It’s a little thin for feeding this many people.”
“True. Back in my village, everyone would have about three times this much cultivated.”
Ganz offered his opinion, apparently from a farming background.
So it seemed large to me, but for a proper field it was still small.
Now that he mentioned it, plenty of places had wide open farmland the moment you stepped outside town.
“Considering the Demeter-type’s capabilities, ten times this size would be no problem.”
“That should be enough to feed things even if the numbers grow a bit.”
“I’ve already built several extra cabins in anticipation of population growth.”
“As expected of Makina — always thinking ahead.”
“Yes. Even so, what we’re currently lacking is immense.”
Right now we were in a state where we’d need to be self-sufficient in absolutely everything.
Bare-minimum survival was one thing, but if we aimed for anything resembling a civilized life, we were lacking in just about every regard.
The houses ought to be built more solidly too, and when you started caring about clothes and food there was no end to it.
“The first priority should be gathering residents. The more people we have, the more we can do.”
“Right. People are absolutely essential if we’re going to function as a proper domain.”
Including Makina, our current population stood at five.
Less a village at this point, really — more like a family living in the middle of nowhere.
For it to work as an actual community, we’d probably need another fifty people at least.
……No, actually — this was a place that couldn’t rely on supply from other towns.
Thinking about long-term sustainability, several hundred people felt more like the bare minimum.
“That said, the question is how we bring people out here to a demon frontier. Once the village is reasonably established, about all we can do is bring migrants from the towns nearby.”
“And the problem with that is the demi-humans. The moment they find out humans have built a village in this forest, they’ll attack immediately. Small as we are now we might be fine, but expand our footprint and they’ll show up — guaranteed.”
“……Are demi-humans really that aggressive?”
I asked nervously, and Alicia gave a deep, deliberate nod.
Then she began to share from personal experience.
“Well, they’re the biggest reason the Great Forest has never been pioneered.”
“Indeed. I’ve fought Ogres before, and their ferocity……I’d rather not think back on it.”
“I mean, there are calmer races like elves and dwarves. But as a rule, it’s bad.”
“Hmm, so we’d need more combat strength than we have now to defend the village.”
Even with Makina and Sword of Dawn, it was far too few to defend a village.
Something more like a proper standing force would be necessary.
Though whether a small settlement in a demon frontier could sustain one was another matter entirely……
“Lord Viktor, may I make a suggestion?”
As I was turning this over, Makina quietly raised her hand.
Everyone’s eyes gathered on her naturally.
“What if you were to mass-produce golems?”
“That would be ideal, but my time is limited as it is.”
“That is why I propose having golems assist in golem production.”
“Hmm?”
I found myself cocking my head at the unexpected suggestion.