“Ruo, guau vii…” (The snow’s already begun to fall this year, huh…)

I shivered as the cool morning air blew in, and when I opened one eye and looked outside from the entrance of my den, white crystals were softly falling. Two months had already passed since we came home from the Ancient forest, and during that time, the village saw a huge improvement thanks to the efforts of Asta, Smith, and the others.

One of these big changes was the waterwheel which was installed in the Steele river where multiple wooden barrels that are attached to a rotating wheel scoop up water one after another and empty into a wooden channel as the difference in weight propels the wheel.

The water channel branches out once it reaches the forest area just at the edge of the settlement where one leads to a water reservoir which is a dug-up hole lined with gravel and the other leads to the lower reaches of the river. At the junction point, there is a sill plate that serves as a sluice gate, and we can choose whether to let the water into the reservoir or discharge it directly into the river.

As a precaution, we usually close the gate leading to the reservoir to prevent it from overflowing and only open it when the water level drops. However, we’ve only begun to use it so there’s still no need for that.

And so, the water stored in the reservoir was not only used by everyone in the village but was also used to water the autumn-sown wheat fields nearby. However, due to sanitary issues, we don’t use the reservoir water for drinking but draw the water directly from the canal leading downstream instead.

(Hmm, I hope the water doesn’t freeze in this cold weather…)

As I recall, freely flowing water is harder to freeze than water that has been stored in a tank, so the water in the reservoir is sure to freeze first.

Thinking that it didn’t make sense to worry about such things, I stifled a huge yawn and untangled myself from Selica who clung to me as she slept and stood up.

“Agh… Urgh, my head hurts…”

Last night, she came over with some liquor and we chatted while drinking, but… I never expected her to get so wasted with just fruit liquor…

(Isn’t that to be expected though?)

I glanced at the empty bottle that had rolled nearby.

The wine was an excellent product created by fermenting the wild strawberries and apples Mira picked during the fall together with some honey from Ax’s stock.

It was unknown how strong the drink was, but looking at the hungover wheat-skinned Elf beside me, I guess it was pretty strong. I then proceeded to leave my burrow and headed into the village square where a nice smell was coming from.

As I approached the square, the full-scale building Asta was working on came into view, and it blended in with the simple houses that were sparsely built around the site. The structure’s exterior walls were made of a wooden frame carefully covered by soil and finished off with some lime mortar.

It seems the mortar was made from firing some limestone taken from the limestone cave in the upper reaches of the Steele river to produce quick lime and adding water to the mix.

“Wogaru guoruaooauu.” (Looks like it’ll be completed soon.)

As promised, Smith and the other Kobolds are cooperating with Asta, and day by day, the structure is gradually taking shape. With their progress, it seems all that’s left to do is to bake the sun-dried bricks, lay them on the roof, and set up the floor.

However, in the process of building the house, we needed high-precision tools such as fine saws, planers, and wall-painting trowels, so I had to shift into human several times and go to the nearby town of Zelgra to obtain those tools.

(All those things cost quite a lot, but… It’s a good opportunity for Smith and the others to learn as many skills as they can.)

This would raise the standard of architecture within the pack, so there’s no point in having second thoughts. Also, it’s a secret that I’ve been enjoying meals at the local tavern every time I visit the town…

Speaking of which, the mouth-watering smells coming from the village square lured me in, and I followed it to find the droopy-eared Kobolds who were huddled in a corner of the square while roasting some potatoes. As usual, my huge, blue-furred childhood friend stood out among the smaller Kobolds as he enjoyed eating the roasted red potatoes that are doused with honey.

“U, wofu vooa ruoauu, kuruaauh.” (Th-this is such a wonderful discovery, these potatoes are so yummy!)

“Wauuwau, guruaan…” (Brother Ax, can I have some too…?)

“Garuuo~, kuruaouu gauaruou♪” (Of course~ delicious things should be shared with everyone after all♪)

I approached Ax who was holding onto a roasted potato covered in honey after he happily handed Smith the honey jar with one hand.

“Guaaoou.” (Can I sit with you?)

“N, waoon.” (Sure, go ahead.)

I sat down on a spot slightly off to the side and used a stick to stab through the pile of dried leaves and coals and picked up one of the warm red potatoes.

“Wofu, guruau.” (Have some, Boss.)

“Woan, garuu.” (Oh right, thanks.)

I took the jar from the group of droopy-eared Kobolds gathered around, brushed off the ashes from the potato, and poured some honey over the peeled potato before handing it back to Ax.

“Auu~” (Awwh~)

Ax looked sadly at the now empty jar of honey, but we all knew that he still has several jars of honey from Aristia hidden in his lair.

Anyway, after a rather late breakfast, I brought out the saddlebags that I bought along with some tools. The two large cloth bags are attached to leather harnesses on both ends which function to balance the weight, and Smith refitted it to fit me for when I became a beast.

After putting my bow and arrows, scimitar, leather armor, water bottle, and other necessities inside the bags and securing them in place, I focused my consciousness on shifting.

“Fuuuh.”

After a short exhalation and the occasional cracking sound of bones, I turned into a large silver wolf, crawled under the leather harness, lifted the saddlebags, and had my sister attach the clasps securely.

“Kuon, woan!” (All done, big brother!)

Well, I’ll definitely stand out with this, but…

“N, gurua, vo gaoaru guruauu?” (Hey, Chief, are you going to the human settlement again?)

“Wafu, voruguan.” (Yeah, I’ll be back in a few days.)

For the past two months, I had been going to and from the nearby town as needed, so everybody had gotten used to my appearance.

However, my destination this time was Warren, the core city of the Ferias territory!

I just hope there are more attractive jobs I could take than the ones around here.

Actually, I had registered as an Adventurer in the guild in Zelgra to secure some funds for our expenses,  but… due to supply and demand, it seems that the town is nearing the upper limit of the number of Adventurers it can accept, making it difficult for a newcomer like me to obtain a legitimate commission. 

That’s why the only choice was to go to the largest city in the territory to find some work.

Meanwhile, my sister, whose curiosity was stimulated by new and unknown things, transformed into a little fox using her illusion magic, Size Reduction, and jumped up with her enhanced leaping ability.

“Kyuu!”

Poof

And so, with the little fox on my back, I sprinted toward the north.