Thereafter of An Exiled Magician - CH 66

“I knew I’d find you working.”

“Lain!? T-this isn’t…”

Inside the workshop, Kili was currently working on the intellect-increasing bracelet.

When I woke up this morning, I saw that everyone other than me had left the bedroom.

In the dining hall, my share of breakfast was laid on the table.

Probably Unconvinced of me finding my own food, someone ended up making my share out of concern.

Since refusing it would also be wrong, I gratefully accepted the meal.

After that, as I wondered where everyone went, my first thoughts went to the workshop.

There I found Kili alone, but she was doing [Work] on our specialty product (scheduled) bracelet.

“Taking a rest is important too, you know. Otherwise your efficiency will go down.”

“…I know, but I can’t help it.”

Saying that, Kili peeked inside the pot.

I have to put a stop to this.

“…What would you do normally before I came here?”

“Before Lain came? I used to go pick wild-herbs with everyone. It’s not as good as what’s found inside the forest, but you can find it growing around this village as well.”

“Hee-, and what do you do during winters?”

“You can find it growing even in the winters, so we had planned to pick it at this time. That reminds me, there’s a herb that grows below the snow called “Snow Strawberry”. It’s supposed to be delicious so everyone said we would go and pick it, but we haven’t gone yet.”

“Then, shall we go now? It’ll be a nice walk.”

“…Fine. Let’s go together.”

Kili reluctantly wrapped up her alchemy set-up.

Now that I looked closely, there were quite a few failed batches lying around.

It seems that she was working here for quite a while.

I wasn’t expecting any better from the rest of them either.

***

“So? What were you doing here, Aria?”

“Umm, I was just measuring how much land we’d farm on when spring arrives.”

As we stepped outside the village, we encountered Aria carrying measuring tools poles.

They didn’t look like toys for playing in any which way.

As I called her out, it turned out to be work in anticipation for spring, as expected.

“You promised not to work today, didn’t you?”

“B-but, if I get it done with now, it’ll be that much more easier during spring–“

“Do it tomorrow.”

“…Yes.”

Aria returned to put the tools back in the village.

Kili and I went with her to help with storing all the tools.

“Are there other things you have to get done for spring?”

“Let’s see. We have to measure the land, estimate our harvest, and report all that to Lady Margravine. If we don’t do that properly, we won’t get the right amount of seeds, and will face increased taxes.”

It seemed that pioneering villages required a lot of documentation.

I didn’t know about this at all.

“Sounds like a pain.”

“It is. This country is currently at war with other ones, so it wants as much taxes as it can squeeze out. Depending on who succeeds the throne between the second prince and the third prince, it might even lead to civil war.”

“So something like that was happening. I had no idea.”

“I don’t know the details either. But, I was told by the Margravine, “Act proper and do not display weaknesses”.”

I didn’t know about this country’s situation at all.

Well, I doubt that the ‘situation’ would affect an outskirt village like this, so I guess it’s fine.

“That said, it might be better to discuss this properly tomorrow.”

“What do you mean? It’s the village head’s job, so I’ll do it alone.”

The correction factor of magic extended to many fields.

Having a higher intellect due to their focused training, makes those two a lot more smarter than Aria.

In reality, it depends more on how much knowledge and experience you have, but when that’s not required, it might be better to leave it to someone with higher intelligence.

“B-but…”

“We can’t go exploring if all 5 aren’t present, and requesting that without being stubborn is in the interest of everyone.”

“…Fine.”

“Then let’s decide with everyone tomorrow.”

Kili’s words became the decisive factor, and it was decided that the work would get divided.

It might also be a good idea to set out a time where everyone could just sit and talk.

There might be other jobs which they might be hiding from each other.

Even if there weren’t, hearing out everyone’s requests or suggestions didn’t sound like a bad idea.

I went back to the village thinking of suggesting this to everyone.