Elf Tensei Kara no Cheat Kenkoku-ki - Book 4: Chapter 5-1

I now found myself preparing to leave again after loading large amounts of food, salt, hemp varieties, and weapon prototypes into the carriage. Who would have thought that I would have to be on the move so soon after getting back from Erin?

I was even going to prepare for the wedding, but those plans were ruined.

「Why did【I】restrict so much of my knowledge？」

I mutter to myself while getting ready for departure.

One of these preparations included loading the new weapon into the carriage. I wouldn’t have been able to make such an invention in the past.

One of the pieces of knowledge that I got ahold of again was something called the Haber-Bosch process.

To put it into simple terms, by solidifying the nitrogen in the air, you can use water, quicklime, and the air as ingredients to make a nitrogen compound……in other words, niter.

If I were to try such a method without using magic, then it would require an exceedingly high level of industrial technology, but making tools with the dwarf Kuiro and then reverting back to Cyril and using wind magic with the help of those tools, this process suddenly became a walk in the park.

Nitrogen compounds serve many purposes. In wartime they transform into gunpowder and explosives, and in daily life they become chemical fertilizer.

Back when I was still relying on natural niter, a war broke out over mining rights and the economy of a single country was able to be sustained simply by exporting this expensive and precious material.

If I had known this from the beginning, I sincerely believe that I could have fought an easier fight against the Empire as well as not struggle so much with making compost.

「Cyril, we’re finished on our end.」

At some point Lucy had approached me from behind.

「Lucy, I’m sorry. It looks like I’m going to be late to the wedding.」

「You don’t need to apologize, Cyril. I mean, yeah, I do think it’s a bit of a shame. Just finish up quickly so you can get back here, okay?」

Lucy said with a joking expression on her face.

「But it is weird. They were thoroughly beaten and now they’re suddenly on the offensive again.」

「It wasn’t just the letter, but also a report from the Nettle members I had stationed in the vicinity. The Empire is legitimately trying again. They number around a thousand, but thanks to that, their speed will be faster than before. I imagine they’ll get to Belle Erucy in around three days.」

This amount of speed wouldn’t allow the same scale of manpower as last time.

In addition, according to Nettle, the soldiers lacked power and their equipment wasn’t even all together—they didn’t even have the necessary siege weapons to topple the fortress. Without some sort of crazy strategy, the Empire could forget about destroying Erucy—they probably couldn’t even take down Belle Erucy, the old Empire’s supply base.

This action of theirs is more than reckless—I can only define it as suicidal.

Those at Belle Erucy’s gates could simply close the entrance and drop stones or shoot arrows down at the intruders for an easy victory.

「Cyril, I’ve been wondering about this for a while, but isn’t Bell Erucy a terrible name？」

「Don’t worry about it. Only educated elves would understand the meaning, and it would be difficult to grasp the meaning if I were to attach a name to it that differed too much from reality.」

Bell Erucy. That was the name I gave to the village in charge of Erucy.

Bell is one of the characters that comes up in elven folklore、 saying 『Leave this to me and go on ahead！ I’ll be right behind you!』 as he charges at a large group of enemies.

「Cyril, sometimes you say very scary things.」

「But it’s a fact that I invested food for 300 as well as my time. I need Bell to protect itself. That’s going to be our lifeline、 you see. Erucy wouldn’t even stand a chance if it were invaded, after all.」

The elf village is surrounded by nothing but trees, and the workshop that the fire foxes live in is outside of the enclosure. The moment the imperial soldiers arrived would spell our downfall.

We have to make a proper outer wall, but there aren’t currently enough people to handle that.

Once the spring sowing ends, I want to begin construction and make something practical by the time the harvest comes up in autumn.

When that time comes, the selection of personnel at Belle Erucy will have ended and they should be able to lead a group of respectable people who can help with labor.

「Cyril-onisama! Sorry for being late.」

Yukino rushed over, out of breath.

This time, we set off with every member of Nettle, in addition to Kuu and Yukino.

Belle Erucy always had four members per team, so I called over members who weren’t in the bracket.

「Yukino, you don’t have to wear that clothing outside of work.」

「No. I’ll always wear it unless I’m washing it.」

Yukino decided to go against my words for once and shook her head.

She was wearing a combination of a navy blue dress and a frilly apron, aka an apron dress. I had sent out very specific orders for the right articles of clothing so as to suit both the performance as well as my tastes. I made this clothing for whenever Yukino would help out with housework.

The contrast between the navy blue and the silver hair and tail was absolutely fantastic.

「Wow, didn’t know you liked it so much.」

「That’s because Cyril-nisama was the one who picked out and bought the clothing.」

Yukino has taken a real liking to the apron dress since the day I presented it to her、 wearing it all the time. Even after washing it, she would immediately dry it with magic and wear nothing until the drying procedure was complete.

「But it might get dirty or tear. Are you sure?」

「If it’s dirty then I can just wash it, don’t worry. It won’t tear either. Yukino won’t ever let it get caught on anything or let anyone touch it. I vow this by the honor of the silver fire foxes.」

Those words had quite the intensity to them, leaving no room for contradiction.

But she’s right. When Yukino gets serious, I doubt there’s anyone who can so much as touch her.