Bannou “Murazukuri” Cheat de Otegaru Slow Life ~Mura desu ga Nani ka? - CH 276

At the moment, we were flying over the sky of the Barste kingdom.

As to be expected of traversing through an entire kingdom, our journey was taking quite a while.

“Have some bento, everyone~”

We sat on the grass in the ground and ate some bento.

“These are cooked by Coch-san, by the way!”

“““Ohhhh!”””

Everyone’s shouts reverberated in the sky.

Coch-san, who possessed the [Cooking] Gift, was one the best chefs in the village.

The exquisite dishes he makes were so popular that to eat at his restaurant, one has to book at least half a year in advance.

Fortunately, thanks to my position as the village chief, he lets me eat his cooking whenever I asked…

……yeah, I’m abusing my authority, aren’t I?

“…but eating together like this on a lawn, it’s quite like a regular picnic, isn’t it?”

Moreover, what lied before us were the endless sky as well as the nature below that seemed to stretch for a great distance.

What great joy it was to be able to enjoy such a picturesque view while eating a wonderful meal.

I had thought for sure that our main activity for this trip was going to be swimming in the sea, but we somehow managed to check off having a nice, somewhat traditional picnic as well.

“““So goooooooooooooddd!”””

However, everyone else was too engrossed on their meals to appreciate the scenery.

Maybe next time, I should bring some ordinary bento instead of ones made by Coch-san.

“Luke, over there! There’s a large city!”

After finishing our meal and lying on the lawn a bit, I heard Selen excitedly shout so.

I looked from the edge of park at where she was pointing and immediately saw a grand city that could rival our Celtia kingdom’s royal capital.

Near that city was a large river that probably flowed into the sea.

“The Barste kingdom probably would never have expected that people from the neighboring country were flying right above their capital…”

“If we wanted to attack, it would be so easy…”

Smiling wryly were the brothers Belrith-san and Balrath-san.

“Huh? Why are there houses built outside of the city walls?”

I was confused when I saw that there houses both inside and outside of the walls that surrounded the city.

“That’s probably the slums, Luke-sama. It is not uncommon for people who couldn’t get the necessary permissions to live within a city’s walls to settle outside of it and form a district of their own.”

Millia informed me so.

Now that she mentioned it, each of the houses outside of the city’s walls were rather shabby.

Moreover, not only were the houses built in an obviously unorganized fashion, they were also built so closely to each other. The result of which was a labyrinthine townscape.

“But there isn’t one in our capital, right?”

“A long time ago, there was. Apparently though, the royal court nobles detested the mere sight of it and drove everyone away.”

And those driven away had to find new places to live in.

People living near the capital weren’t exactly safe, but since soldiers periodically hunted the nearby monsters, they were safe enough. And in case of an emergency, they always had the option of running toward the capital.

Thinking of it that way, slums could also act as a sort of necessary buffer.

“Obviously, I shouldn’t get involved in the affairs of a foreign kingdom…but maybe I can give them at least a source of clean water as well as some toilets.”

Like that, I built water wells and public toilets at various points in the slums.

“While I’m at it, why not add a public bathhouse as well?”

Finding a spot for the public bathhouse was hard since the houses in the slums were too close together, so decided to build it on the outskirts.

Seeing the strange buildings appear all of a sudden, the citizens were understandably surprised.

That said, I chose to not tell them how to use those facilities or even inform them of what they were. They would probably figure it out by themselves sooner or later.

“And just to be safe, I’ll use Facility Customization to improve the facilities’ automatic cleaning features.”

Even if people used the facilities messily, the facilities would be able to clean itself up without anyone doing anything. Needless to say, it was truly a convenient function.