Translator Corner
Minasan Oidemasu! This is Yukkuri demasu!
Should have release it faster, but real life hates me…
Also, I need to go outside town tomorrow, so there might be no updatetomorrow.
As always,
DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100%correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.
Author:
すずの木くろ (Susunokikuro)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan
Editor, Proofreader:
TheDefend
Chapter 85: Looking at the Tomorrow
Several hours later.
Kazura returned to Valin’s residence just before thesunset and ate dinner together with Valetta.
The dinner menu was thick fried omelette and vegetablesoup, plus the leftover from the lunch.
Valetta made quite a large amount of lunch today, sothere was still a third of the food remained.
Since the humidity of this world was lower compared toJapan, if the leftover food was put into a wooden box and placed in the groundfloor corner that had a lower temperature, it could be preserved for about oneday.
As always, Valin was going to night patrol and quicklyleft as soon as dinner was over, so right now only two people remained in theroom, Kazura and Valetta.
「So, for the time being, you plan to perform farmland expansion and city sanitaryimprovement, right?」(Valetta)
「Yes, at the current situation, if the population keep increasing and theother province cut out their food aids, then the food production wouldn’t beable to catch up, so I plan to expand the farmland into the area that wasn’table to be cultivated before. But, before that, we must dig wells and massproduced hand pumps, so it will take a bit more time until the farmlandexpansion could begin.」(Kazura)
「How long until the farmland expansion could begin, then?」(Valetta)
「Let’s see…… Considering the city’s craftsmen situation, it looks like itwill take quite some time until hand pump mass production could begin……Perhaps, I could ask the blacksmiths, but they already had their hands fullproducing armaments and daily necessities. I need to slot in the hand pumpproduction somehow in between their schedule, but just how long until theproduction could begin……」(Kazura)
Kazura was explaining his work plan that he wanted toperform in Isteria while Valetta inquiring it.
Since Valin left the residence some time ago, Valettawas asking Kazura about his Isteria’s work plan in this fashion.
「Since it will be difficult to do everything at the same time, how aboutdoing the farmland expansion in the spring next year? Since you also need tomake the machines for the craftsmen and the icehouse, if you start every workat the same time then there could be not enough hands in the future projectsand this could be a great problem.」(Valetta)
「Ah, certainly…… Perhaps it’s safe that we only stop at digging wells andinvestigating new farmland location for this year. About the tools, perhaps weshould focus on producing the machines.」(Kazura)
「Also, when do you plan to begin the flood control work?」(Valetta)
「I had called the construction firm through the phone not long ago, it seemsthat it will take another month until the construction plan to reinforce each past-floodprone area finished. Since I also need to arrange for the personnel and preparethe work construction site until that time…… Ah, the thing that I needed to dois so many that my head hurts……」(Kazura)
When he inquired the construction firm’s director, whoundertook drawing up the construction work plan, through the phone not longago, the work plan was progressing well.
However, since the investigation for the constructionprocedure and technique took time, it seemed that he needed a month until the constructionwork plan to reinforce the priority flood prone area could be delivered.
In the phone, the director was saying with excitedvoice, 「This is the first time I have a work this enjoyable.」
「But, if you get the construction work plan after a month, it still could bein time for the rainy season on May next year. Even at the quickest estimate,the construction would need half a year.」(Valetta)
「I see. The problem after that is to improve the whole river length, butwhen should that begin? …… Since the subject of the work will be to improve thesanitation and living environment condition straightaway, the city’s appearancecould have a complete changeover.」(Kazura)
「That means, even using mortar to put sewer service in every city district?」(Valetta)
「I will use the mortar, but even then, it won’t cover every district. Thatscope is too big, so even if I perform it, then it will be waterworks like publicwater source or washing place. I still don’t really know about creating asewer.」(Kazura)
Kazura finished his meal while answering Valetta whoasked even to the minute details as the emptied tableware was moved to thewashing place on the ground floor.
Even if it was called as washing place, it was just asimple low wooden rack where a large oblong tray was placed.
On top of this tray there was a scrubbing brush madefrom plaited rope to clean the dishes, then the scrub will be washed from the filthinside a water bucket, and repeated, which was the sequence of how thedishwashing go.
If there was a leftover, then it will be placed in thetray. When the dishwashing completed, the tray will be taken outside togetherwith the bucket, where the leftover food and the water will be thrown togetherinto a hole dug for this purpose.
Since Grisea Villagers had known deeply how precious afood is, they rarely produce any leftover from their meal, and what remainedbehind was just the inedible part like vegetable’s hard stem or rind.
In Nelson’s estate, any leftover food will be eaten bylivestock like Myagi and the likes, so depending on the place, the method in dealingwith kitchen waste is different.
Both of them were standing side by side and conversingin the washing place while finishing the cleaning. After the waste water in thebucket was discarded outside, they returned back into the living room onceagain and sat down.
「That’s right, I had bought a souvenir for Valetta-san.」(Kazura)
Kazura took out a plastic bag from the travel bag placednearby. And took folding mirror and several beauty care products like handcream from it.
「Waa, what a beautiful box……」(Valetta)
Valetta received it from Kazura and leaked out her admirationfor the beauty of the box design.
Until now she had repeatedly seen the box for LipoDand canned food, but she never saw a box which had such lovely design like thisbeauty care product.
「The content is more beautiful. It’s a beauty product to be used for skincare, so please try to use it if you don’t mind. It could be said as a medicinehand cream, you used it when your hand gets rough from cleaning and before sleepingyou also use it with moisturizer gel and face lotion. There are also daytime creamto be used during the day.」
Valetta quickly opened the box that had 『Medicinal Collagen Gel White』 written on it, took out the instructioninside and started reading it.
Kazura didn’t really know much about beauty productsso he was thankful that there was instruction included.
「…… W-what an amazing promotional phrase. 『Don’t be afraid of spots and wrinkles! The supreme brilliance is yours‼』is what written in here.」(Valetta)
「Ah, it seems that those lines make the impression greater, don’t just believeit blindly…… No, in this world, I’m not sure if this will be true or not.」(Kazura)
When he considered the current situation where thenutrition from LipoD and the food granted extreme physical strength, the beautygoods that contained a lot of beneficial ingredients like collagen, perhaps wouldexhibit an astounding effect on the people of this world.
Nonetheless, since it will be troublesome if there aresome bad effects on the skin, before using it for real, it might be better touse it a little on the back of the hand and see the response.
If the beauty goods that he gave had any bad effect ona girl’s skin, just apology won’t be enough, it’ll be harakiri.
「Tonight, let’s use a bit on the skin and see what happen tomorrow morning. Sincethere is a possibility it doesn’t suit your skin.」(Kazura)
「That’s true.」(Valetta)
In the first place, not only Valetta is still young, butthanks to the effect of the food that Kazura brought, her skin and hair were ina very good condition, so it might be difficult to confirm the effect of thesebeauty products.
However, it would be a different matter aboutmaintaining her condition, there might be a long term difference.
Valetta was still a young girl, so she should have aninterest in this kind of products.
After both of them read the instruction of the beauty product,Kazura took out a shampoo from vegetable source and conditioner from the badand explained briefly how to use it to Valetta.
Afterward, Valetta asked once more about the plan inIsteria next time and he spent dozens of minute to explain it.
After he explained almost every plan that he likes todo at the current point of time, they took a break while drinking a warm chamomileherb tea.
「Ano, Kazura-san.」(Valetta)
Kazura was fully relaxing while enjoying the herbscent, when Valetta who sat beside him took out a small cloth bag from herwaist and presented it to Kazura.
「What’s this?」(Kazura)
「Please open it.」(Valetta)
Kazura opened the cloth bag and inside there was asmall woodcraft cylinder pendant.
On the face of the pendant there was a pattern carvedin it, it was a carving of what looks like an image of a lavender flower.
He didn’t know what is used to carve the pattern out,but it was an amazingly skillful carving.
「Ah, there is a scent of lavender……」(Kazura)
That necklace had a faint scent of a lavender.
Kazura’s nose twitched at that scent and Valetta madean embarrassing smile.
「I tried to make an aroma pendant. I made it hurriedly during the day, so itmight not turn out well……」(Valetta)
「How should I put this, this is so good that it could even be sold in themarket. To carve this so beautifully, your finger is really skillful….. Anaroma pendant, right? The one with hollow in the center?」(Kazura)
An aroma pendant was a pendant that was hollow in thecenter where a cloth soaked in aroma oil inserted into, it was a pendant thatcould be enjoyed on the design and the scent.
Since Kazura had given several books aboutaromatherapy and oil to Valetta, she might have read about the pendant in thosebooks and tried to make it using wood for Kazura.
The dimension of the cylinder pendant was about 5centimeters long, while the diameter was about 2.5 centimeter.
There was a wooden stopper lid at the bottom so therewas something soaked in aroma oil inserted through it.
「Yes, inside it there is a cloth soaked in lavender oil. I wish that youwear this during your trip in Isteria……」(Valetta)
Valetta said it while being embarrassed, so Kazuranodded with a ssmile.
「Thank you. When I’m there I will wear it close to me.」(Kazura)
「……That’s good.」(Valetta)
When Kazura replied so, for some reason, Valetta brokeout a complicated smile just for a few moment.
But he quickly fixed her expression and then took outa machine blueprint from the file folder placed nearby her and then started toask Kazura about how the machines mentioned in it were used.
✦✧✦✧✦
Noon, the next day.
At Grisea Village’s entrance, Kazura was exchangingfarewell with Valetta and the other villagers.
In the end, Valetta’s barrage of question continueduntil late night, the time when they went to sleep was close to 2 o’clock inthe night.
Nevertheless, since Kazura slept until 8 o’clock inthe morning, his body was in a good shape.
Several carriages behind Kazura was fully loaded asthey were transporting the electronic appliances that he received this morning inJapan’s mansion and the water turbine generator that he transported to thevillage yesterday, then the cardboard containing the large amount of groceries hepurchased in the supermarket this morning and the cooler box packed with frozenfoods. The content of the cooler box was frozen vegetables, meat, and seafood.
Since last time the ice completely melted up, thistime he put a lot of ice until there wasn’t any gap that could be seen betweenthe frozen food.
He put quite an amount of dry ice this time, so hewouldn’t see a disastrous scene where everything melted when he reachedIsteria.
「I plan to return in one month, but if something happened or there issomething important, then……」(Kazura)
「Yes, we will immediately inform you, right? Kazura-san too, if there isanything we could do then please say so. Since everyone will come in haste toassist.」(Valetta)
Valetta answered with a cheerful expression, so Kazurafelt a relief inside his heart.
Last time when he was leaving Grisea Village, henoticed that Valetta had an expression as if she was trying to hold back hertears.
However, seeing how she was this cheerful, it seemed shewas fine with the parting this time.
Until Kazura returns next time, she ought to pass herday in the village lively.
Kazura waved his hand while Valetta and the villagerssent him off as he boarded the carriage and left Grisea Village.
✦✧✦✧✦
After sending Kazura off, Valetta returned to theresidence with Valin and carried every book that had been left in the livingroom to her own room.
She took a book titled 『History of Metal Smelting』 from the pile and flipped thepages.
「The photos are certainly…… There. Perhaps this will going to be fine.」(Valetta)
She found the page that had the color photo of her objectiveand put a cloth on the page as a substitute for a bookmark.
She put the book inside the sack placed in the room,in addition she also put one cloth towel into the sack.
Furthermore, she wrapped the leather belt placed atthe corner of the room to her waist where she inserted a short sword at herback.
After she got her equipment ready, she took the sackand left her room into the living room and step down to the ground floor.
In the ground floor, Valin was washing the dishes usedfor lunch.
「Hm? Leaving out?」(Valin)
「Yes. I will go to the mountain with Lodurr-san and return at dinner time.」(Valetta)
At Valetta’s answer, Valin made a confused expression.
「To the mountain?」(Valin)
「Yes. Perhaps when I return, it will already dark, so I’ll leave the dinnermaking to you.」(Valetta)
Valetta answered so and quickly headed towards theresidence’s entrance.
「What are you planning to do there? Furthermore, I believe the mountain is quitefar……」(Valin)
「I want to search for iron ore. If I run then I think it won’t take muchtime, it will be fine.」(Valetta)
Valetta answered Valin’s question with a smile andthen after saying 「I’m off」 she left the residence.
「…… Iron ore? What’s that?」(Valin)
Valin who was left alone, inclined his head inconfusion while still holding the rope brush in his head.
✦✧✦✧✦
Valetta exited the residence and then headed towardsthe village’s entrance where she had just parted with Kazura not long ago.
In the village’s entrance, Lodurr had been waiting forher.
On his back was a hatchet and empty backpack tiedtogether. Other than these, he didn’t carry anything else.
「Lodurr-san, thanks for waiting. I will be relying on you for the guidance.」(Valetta)
Valetta bowed her head to Lodurr and took out the aforementionedbook from the sack before she opened the page with the bookmark.
Lodurr went hunting every autumn on the mountain thatcould be seen in the distance, so he knew the mountain terrain really well.
Since it will be an immense effort to search themountain around for the iron ore by herself alone, Valetta seeked thecooperation from Lodurr who know the area well.
「I want to search for this kind of stone. Have you ever seen it?」(Valetta)
「Ah, I often saw this red one beside the mountain river. I also often findthis black one in riverbed…… By the way is the picture in this book really apicture? It had been drawn really well.」(Lodurr)
「This is called photograph, it’s a drawing produced by a tool that couldcatch and reproduce a true image of a scene. Kazura-san had informed me so.」(Valetta)
「Oh, that’s amazing.」(Lodurr)
Valetta explained about the photograph and Lodurrnodded with great interest.
The reason why he wasn’t that surprised might be becausehe had gained tolerance from seeing the many tools that Kazura had brought.
After seeing something with a great impact like theagricultural tractor, perhaps he already wouldn’t be surprised that much anymore.
「Then, shall we go now? We will be running.」(Lodurr)
「Yes.」(Valetta)
Lodurr saw Valetta nodded and then began runningtowards the distant mountain.
Valetta also running with the sack in her hand andlined up beside Lodurr.
「Are you fine?」(Lodurr)
While running at the speed that could surpass thefirst place runner in Hakone-Ekiden long distance relay running, Lodurr askedValetta who was running beside him.[1]
「I’m still alright. Let’s increase the speed a bit more. Since I need toreturn before dinner, let’s hurry.」(Valetta)
「I understand. Here we go.」(Lodurr)
Lodurr nodded at Valetta’s words and increase thespeed even more.
Valetta also matched with Lodurr, increased her speedand lined up with him.
While raising a cloud of dust, both of themaccelerated, and now reached a speed of 40 kilometers per hour.
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
Next chapter will beafter this infomercial…
Just kidding. Justclick the next chapter.
Let me say again: Iwill be out of town tomorrow so there might be no updates.
[1]Hakone Ekiden (箱根駅伝), isone of the most prominent university ekiden (relay marathon) races of the yearheld between Tokyo and Hakone in Japan on 2 and 3 January. It is a popular spectatorsport that draws large crowds (a million or more) along the whole route andreceives full network television coverage nationwide over the two days. This ekiden event was so great that many universitystudent runner describe it as the peak of their life.Takarakuji de 40 Oku Atattanda kedo Isekai ni Ijuusuru. Chapter 84