And so, while the silver wolfdog who went out to work was involved in the tussle with the Valley Ants, frost was falling on the turnip and kale fields, and as the weather got colder, the cat-eared Werecat craftsmen came to Viel village  

During this time of the year when the cold weather is in full swing and the lumber is prepared, a carpenter is invited from the mother town of Zelgra to repair the waterwheel, roofs, farming tools, and such, but…

This year, the usual carpenter whom they had always asked for was seriously injured during late summer, and his apprentices were also falling behind on work, so the village was in a pinch.

And so, it was six days ago that the acting village chief Maril sent someone to the village of Lucua which it had trade relations with to send for a carpenter, and Grimer, a Werecat carpenter, accepted and came to the village with Barrack who acted as his helper and bodyguard.

The two of them worked on plastering house walls to keep the draft from entering through the cracks and repairing the farm tools that had been overused during the harvest season and in the fields for planting autumn vegetables.

However, replacing the slide bearings of the watermill was a labor-intensive task, so the villagers whom Maril had approached gathered by the waterwheel shed to help.

After they had dammed up the river with a pile of reasonably sized stones, they lifted the waterwheel which had become a small rocking wheel and Grimer worked quickly to replace the worn wooden bearings.

“Alright, now slowly place the arbor back on the bearing.”

“Okay, heave-ho!”

“Even though it’s a wooden frame, it’s still pretty heavy…”

“Keep it up, everyone～♪”

With the support of Maril who was merely watching as she cheered for them from the sides, the villagers steadily lowered the waterwheel and placed the arbor on the newly constructed wooden bearings.

When the semi-circular depression on the bearings and the groove carved onto the arbor meshed, Grimer meticulously examined if the two curved surfaces matched up.

If the discrepancy was huge, then the axis of the rotation would slightly shift, and minute loads would accumulate on the slits of the waterwheel thus shortening its usage life, so a great deal of precision was required.

“Hey, Barrack! I think it’s already fine, but can you come check it out for a minute?”

“Alright, give me a second…”

Barrack, the Blacksmith’s son from Lucua village who had joined the villagers in lifting the water wheel earlier, approached Grimer and scrutinized the condition of the area where the water wheel arbor and the bearings meet.

“It’s perfect, just as I would expect of you.”

“Nothing will come out of it even if you flatter me, you know? Besides, it’s all thanks to the precision of the circular saw I asked your father to make.”

When Grimer bragged about the tool while proudly patting it as it hung on the tool holder on his waist, Barrack couldn’t help but chuckle as he recalled the smug look on his father’s face when he showed him how to make a fine-grained, black finish which is a delicate process that was difficult to pull off.

Seemingly satisfied with his work, Grimer oiled the joint of the waterwheel with rapeseed oil and covered it with a roof shingle to keep it from being washed away by the rain.

“I guess that’s about it… Ms. Maril, instead of oiling the waterwheel every other day, it would be less damaging if it is oiled every day.”

“Uu, we’ll make sure to do that… at least the local guards will.”

“Us!?”

Although Zeno, the leader of the local watch, objected when the oiling of the water wheel was added to their list of activities by the young village chief who was decreasing her workload while the others were distracted, all of the needed repairs had been finished according to schedule.

“Well, all that’s left to do is collect the payment and go back to Lucua, right?”

“About that, what do you say about dropping by the dog people’s settlement first?”

Grimer nodded at Barrack’s suggestion of dropping by the dog people’s settlement since it was nearby and the Elves who were residing there could serve as their means of communicating with the others even if Archer was not around.

“Not bad, I guess we could visit Smith while we’re at it.”

“Yeah, I’d like to see how much he’s improved too!”

When they parted ways, Grimer and Barrack had given the small, floppy-eared Kobold some carpentry and blacksmithing tools, and based on the wear and tear on his equipment, it was evident how serious he was about his work.

While the two Werecats were talking about their plans, Maril and Zeno stopped squabbling and listened in on their conversation. But aside from the two, the other villagers were also looking at them with interest.

“Hey, do you cat people also interact with the Kobolds in the sanctuary?”

“Well, they helped us when the Goblins attacked our village.”

“Oh, I wonder if that’s the silver High Kobold’s pack…”

“It’s probably them. The last time we saw him, he didn’t seem like a Kobold anymore though.”

I’ve never seen a Werewolf before since they’re a rare species and don’t live in the central part of Easteria forest, but… Remembering Archer who had sharp fangs peeking out of his mouth while he smiled and whose body was more toned than before, Barrack suddenly thought that that must be the case with the said Kobold.

Inspired by Wallace who had self-trained after the Goblin raid, the Werecat warriors also trained, but the huge skill gap between them and the Kobold warriors remained the same.

(Well, there are several others who are as unique as him after all…)

His tail softly wagging, Grimer devotes his attention to his thoughts for a while. Meanwhile, the villagers, including Maril and Zeno, had begun talking amongst themselves and approached him when they noticed Grimer watching them with suspicion.

“Excuse me, but, the forest where the Kobolds live is a sanctuary, so the place is off-limits to people other than the villagers here…”

“Hmm, well, we are forest people… And even though the Duke Ferias recognizes Lucua village’s existence, we are not part of the fiefdom and we worship the “Primordial Elf”, you see.”

Since the Elves have influence over the woods extending beyond the “Guardian’s Forest” where the Werecats, Lizardmen, and other subhuman races live, most of the forest people, including the residents of Lucua village, worship Arthy, the goddess of the forest and fertility, who is believed to be the ancestor of the Elves. So for them, the sanctuary designation by the Holy Church is meaningless.

Meanwhile, unless they openly deny the authority of the State or the Holy Church, the humans refrain from interfering with the affairs of the subhuman races living in the area to avoid conflict.

“U~, we can’t keep them from going if that’s the case, but… this may be an opportunity.”

Maril nods to herself after thinking about something. After a brief exchange with Zeno, they face the two Werecat men again.

“Hey, can we come with you?”

“We have a rough idea where they are, but we don’t exactly have much contact with them, you see…”

“It’s no problem for us, but… What do you think, Grimer?”

“Well, there are a fair number of other people who know about them anyway.”

When Archer dropped by Lucua village to shop previously, Barrack had asked about the Kingdom’s currency in his possession, so he told him about the events in the Royal Capital and how it all began with the Magic Knights, so both of them knew about how the Kingdom knows about the existence of the Kobold settlement in Easteria Forest.

The two Werecat craftsmen decided to accept their request. The next morning, the four of them, including Maril and Zeno, left Viel village and crossed the grasslands, and headed for Easteria forest.

This translation is brought to you by Nocturne Translations.