Chirp chirp… chirp chirp…
Morning sunlight streamed into the small mountain village.
The villagers squinted up at the bright sky, feeling the nice breeze as they got ready to start the day’s work… or so it should have been…
””””WHOOOOAAAH!? T-THE SUN! THE SUN’S UP!?!?””””
”””Quiet down, would you?! What’s all this noise at this hour… I…”””
””””KYAAAAAH! THE SUN, THE SUN IS-!?!?””””
Shouts and screams came from every corner of the village.
Yes, thanks to Mary blowing away the tallest mountain on the eastern side yesterday, the sun-which no matter how early you woke up never appeared before half past nine in the morning-was now clearly visible before six o’clock.
For those born and raised in this village, even if they understood it in their heads, their hearts could not quite catch up.
No one had ever seen the sunrise pour into the village like this. Everyone felt strange-and yet they were overjoyed, dancing with delight.
And with one mountain gone, the wind now blew freely through the village.
The heavy, damp air had somehow turned fresh and cool. Feeling it on their skin, the villagers broke into smiles, already thinking of how much easier laundry would be from now on.
Watching them, Alfred let out a breath of relief.
He had been worried that the villagers might be scared of Mary after she used such huge magic, but from the look of things, they would be fine.
Come to think of it, yesterday had been quite a mess after that.
After wiping out the mountain, they had returned to the village to find chaos among those who did not know what had happened.
Was it a big earthquake? A monster attack? Something falling from the sky? Or some unknown threat? Everyone argued back and forth without end.
Some had even started praying to the heavens, sure that the end of the world had come. The whole village had fallen into full panic.
Alfred had rushed to the front, telling everyone what had happened and trying to calm things down.
But after everyone finally settled down and went home, he had been yelled at by the carpenter Gardo, the stonemason Zeno, and the alchemist Grandma Luciola-told he should have explained first, that they had nearly had heart attacks, that this was not just a matter of shorter lives.
…But what was he supposed to do? He had not known it would turn out like this…
There was no way he could say that, of course. So he had just stood there and taken the scolding until well past midnight.
”””…Whoooa…”””
That day, Alfred gathered the village’s main people and went to see the spot where the mountain had been. Before them stretched a huge open plain.
The soil was dark and rich, and water bubbled up from several places.
Yes, water had never been a problem around here.
The snowmelt from the mountains had always given plenty of water, and the land was such that you only had to dig a little to find groundwater.
In fact, even during the moat-digging work, water had kept coming up in many places, slowing the work. Now that the moat was done, it was full to the top with water.
Gardo let out a low whistle. “…Well, I’ll be… that’s something else…”
Zeno nodded beside him. “Ain’t that the truth.”
Everyone was too surprised to speak.
The flatland before them was about the same size or even bigger than the whole Lindrott territory, and most of it had rich soil. Simply put, if they grew crops here, the village’s food would get much better. Maybe they could even build a pasture and raise animals.
The beasts and magical beasts in the area had all run away after yesterday’s noise. If they built a wall now, while things were still quiet before the magical beasts came back, they would be able to work safely from then on.
With that decided, from the very next day, they put other work on hold and focused on building the wall on the eastern plain.
With the land suddenly twice as big, everyone’s work had increased a lot, but for some reason, everyone was smiling.
Butler Brooks and Flora, led by Lady Elenora, gathered the self-defense corps and began making plans-careful surveys of the plain, land measurements, guard post spots, road placement, and the sizes of storehouses and fields.
The stonemason Zeno said they were running low on White Demon Stone and left early in the morning with his team for White Demon Mountain.
Head Maid Camilla was called by her father, the old lord Jade, and the two talked for a long time.
Alfred’s mother Margaret had gone to a meeting with the village women.
It was a meeting to talk about any problems from the recent quick increase in people, as well as everyday issues, questions, and requests. Since such women’s meetings were helpful, Alfred hoped they would share as many thoughts as they could.
His little sister Misha had again invited the village’s small children to the manor today to teach them Reversi. She had been doing that a lot lately.
The villagers were very thankful to Misha for watching the children-it was a big help, they said.
Maybe Alfred should think about setting up something like a daycare soon.
By the way, for some reason, the mage Mary always came to those Reversi classes too, going all-out against the children. When she won, she would puff up with a proud look, which had become something of a local attraction.
Rumor had it that when she lost to the kids, she would get so down she looked about to cry. At those times, they would pair her against Lina the maid, who was famously bad at Reversi, to cheer her up.
Alfred shook his head. …Mary… are you really nineteen? …
While everyone was busy like that, Alfred took a set of drawings and went to visit the carpenter Gardo.
Alfred spread the papers out on the workbench. “Gardo, I’ve got summat I want you to make…”
Gardo leaned in, squinting at the lines. “…Well, I’ll be. That’s a pretty interesting thing,” He traced a finger along the design. “Hmm, if you do this here, then it does that..,” His voice trailed off. “I see…”
He started talking to himself, staring at the drawings.
Once he got like that, there was no point saying anything, so Alfred left him alone for a while.
Gardo finally looked up. “…Hmm. I think I’ve got the idea,” He rolled up the papers. “Right then, Al, give me some time to make a first version.”
With that, Gardo got to work.
Next, Alfred dropped by the alchemist Grandma Luciola’s place.
Alfred sat down across from her. “There’s summat I’ve been thinkin’ about, and I wanted to ask you…”
He laid out the idea he had been thinking over.
It was something you often saw in light novels-a magic tool that used magic stones to make light. In other words, lights for rooms.
He sketched out lamp types, flashlight types, and ceiling types for lighting up rooms, explaining each as he went.
Grandma Luciola stroked her chin. “…Well now… in theory, I reckon it oughta be possible… but gettin’ the magic from that stone over to the lamp, that’s the tricky bit,” She frowned. “If only we had somethin’ that could manage that…”
Alfred’s eyes lit up. “Oh! What if we ground White Demon Stone into powder, mixed it with water, painted the lines with a brush, then hardened ’em with Earth Magic?”
She blinked at him. “…Hmm… might be worth a try,” Then she tilted her head. “But Al, how in the world do you keep comin’ up with things like this?”
Alfred rubbed the back of his neck. “…Well, it’s just sort of… like, wouldn’t it be nice if we had summat like this? …Ahaha!”
No way he could say it was from past-life memories and light novel knowledge…
But he had already made up his mind.
No more holding back. Instead, he would push forward, full speed ahead.
And he knew that doing so would bring bigger dangers.
Grandma Luciola said she would contact him when the first try was ready, and Alfred went back to the manor.
That night, just as bedtime was near, Head Maid Camilla came to Alfred’s room.
Trivia:
- Mary’s visible distress when losing to children contrasts sharply with her mountain-obliterating magical power, subtly hinting at emotional immaturity or loneliness beneath her formidable abilities.
- Alfred references “past-life memories and light novel knowledge” for his inventions, confirming the Japanese isekai reincarnation framework explicitly even as he internalizes it.
- The repeated specification of White Demon Stone for both construction and the proposed lighting conduit suggests the material possesses unique magical conductive properties beyond mere building stone.