Chapter 148 – The Diameter Of The Waterwheel? I Just Made It Up As I Went Along… by Smith

“Oh, it’s already noon… Come to think of it, I only had a few walnuts this morning.”

It’s typical that when one is focused on a task, they don’t feel hunger right away. However, my timing seemed to be just right, so the blacksmith Asta quickly put away his tools and straightened his back.

“Guruo garuoaan?” (What are you guys doing?)

“U~ wooaa waaou guafoon…” (Umm, well, our brothers haven’t come back from hunting yet…)

The “brothers” the two young male Kobolds were referring to were Ax and Knuckle, who take them along when they hunt as a small group.

In addition to the prey that their hunting groups catch, the fruits and other things they get from exchanging their manufactured goods support their daily necessities, so the droopy-eared Kobolds are always looking to improve their skills.

“Wau, ofuauu kurua “kuoruva” guruaou.” (Smith, while we’re waiting for them, let’s try making these “iron thorns”.)

“Waonn, guruo vagaruan!” (That’s a great idea! While we’re at it, let’s make saws for everyone too!)

“… Garua vorufaou?” (… Do we have enough pig iron for that though?)

My sister, together with Asta, extracted themselves from the circle of droopy-eared Kobolds who began talking enthusiastically. She then ran up to me and held out her hands.

“Gaurukuua~n♪ Kuon oau, guguvoaann.” (We’re having wild boar for lunch! Give it to me, big brother, I’ll prepare it.)

“Gaoruau worukuau.” [Be careful not to drop it.]

“Wafuh!?”

After our exchange, I handed her the hemp rope bag and Selica supported my sister who was swaying from the weight of the prey that was bigger than usual.

“… Guruu, kuuau.” (… Let me help.)

“N, waoan.” (N, thanks.)

They carried the bag to the straw patch at the edge of the village square. After that, they both took out their favorite daggers and examined the animal carcass in front of them, and glanced at Asta who was standing beside them.

“Guruo woaruooauu.” [Maybe we should go fetch some water.]

“Ah, yes, let’s do that.”

Since we were going to the river for water, I thought of bringing the leather canteens along, but when I went to fetch them from the Elves’ tent… Well, I don’t know what prompted it, but Lancer was currently learning basic magic lessons from Listy.

There was no need for me to unnecessarily bother the two girls who were currently focused on what they were doing, so I hurriedly took everyone’s water containers and went to the upstream part of the Steele River to fetch some water.

Along the way, Asta told me that we couldn’t just build a waterwheel without determining its placement first. It seems the diameter of the waterwheel must be decided according to the water flow and depth to ensure its smooth operation.

(I guess I got it wrong from the start… Sorry, Smith.)

After apologizing to the skilled, floppy-eared Kobolds at the back of my mind, I walked with the Bronze Elf Blacksmith who was measuring the water’s depth with a wooden pole by the riverbank.

“The depth of the water here is around 80cm… Basically, at least a quarter of the waterwheel must be submerged in the water and it should be able to float when fixed into the riverbed, so we could install a water wheel that’s at least 2m in diameter.”

“Wafu, guooon.” [Yeah, that should work.]

As I nodded in approval, Asta crouched down, dipped his hand in the water, and was deep in thought.

“This… It would be good to also make a stone weir in front of the waterwheel to create some elevation for the water drop.”

At this point, I decided to leave the specifications to the expert to decide so I refilled the leather canteens by submerging them in the water, but… I finished my task soon, so I had nothing to kill some time with.

“Gau, guoru gauruofau kuuaru oauruaan?” [Hey, won’t your wife get upset if we make them wait too long for lunch?]

“Well, she’s become sweet since we got married, but she’s actually impatient…”

I had a feeling that my sister would be the one getting angry for making her hungry from waiting, but our trek back should be peaceful.

After finishing the preliminary survey, Asta took some of the water bottles and walked back to the village. I did the same and carried the rest of the water bottles and followed him back, and distributed them to Selica and the others when we arrived.

When we got back, the girls had already finished processing the large wild boar and some of the carved meat was laid out on a flat stone. Beside them, iron plates were laid on four stones of similar size, and charcoal was stuffed into the gaps.

“Ruu, ruuoa, kuano♪” (Light it up, light it up, fox fire♪)

My sister held up her palms over the pit and dyed the charcoal red as her fox fire burned brightly. When the griddle was hot enough, she speared some of the boar meat with the tip of her stiletto dagger and began grilling.

“Mmm~ that smells so good”

Mira, who smelled of medicinal herbs suddenly appeared and sprinkled some finely chopped herbs and salt on the meat.

“And while I’m at it, I’m going to grill these too!!”

Mira took out a variety of mushrooms and added them to the iron grill plate. The mushrooms consisted of maitake that she had collected from the roots of beech trees during our travel back to the village, high-class white truffles that are mostly found buried on the ground, and cute and round field mushrooms.

(Well, those are all edible mushrooms, so it should be fine.)

I don’t doubt her judgment as an apothecary and an Elf who lives in the forest, but we were the ones who found and dug up those white truffles using our sense of smell…

When the boar meat was fully cooked and we started serving them on wooden plates, Listy and Lancer who were training in magic earlier came out of the tent after they were lured out by the smell. When I asked Listy about Lenaide, whom I hadn’t seen since this morning, she said she had gone out with Buster to look for an appropriate place to plant the World Tree seedling in the forest.

After I heard this, I casually looked in the direction of the forest and saw Ax and a bunch of the floppy-eared Kobolds who had just returned from hunting.

(Those are deer and badger meat…)

Anyway, it seems Ax is going to eat with the floppy-eared Kobolds, so I’ll save some for Lenaide and Buster and smoke the rest of the leftover meat.

(Now that I think of it, we gotta stock up before winter comes.)

While thinking of the things I had to do, I thrust my wooden fork into the herb-grilled boar meat and ate.

“Wofuworu kuruaou…” [Why these are quite tasty…]

“Kuruauu~” (So yummy~)

“Fuffu~, don’t be shy, you can praise me more~”

“This is delicious without a doubt… but I was the one who hunted it.”

Listy stopped nibbling on the piece of boar meat she was eating and smiled as she watched everyone happily eat the grilled meat and mushrooms.

“Fufu, it’s so nice to see everyone laughing together without minding their skin color or the clan they belong to.”

“Woan…” [You’re right…]

In a way, the Elves’ existing social infrastructure suppresses individual freedom. That’s why Listy, who is a reformist moderate who agrees with Queen Aristia’s ideals, somehow seemed to feel at home in the dog people’s village.

And so, the Elves from all three Elf clans and us Kobolds spent the rest of lunch in a lively manner. In the afternoon, Asta and the droopy-eared Kobolds went up to the river to build the waterwheel and the waterways while we waited for Lenaide and Buster to return from planting the World Tree.

The tree-planting ceremony was much simpler than I expected as the World Tree Priestess Listy ended the ritual with a prayer while pouring porcelain mead on the ground. I was told that this ceremony would have to be repeated multiple times until it sprouts from the ground.

Then, with the help of Ax, we cleared the southeastern part of the woods to create a field that would be used to plant the autumn-sown wheat and passed the rest of the season fighting squirrels and other forest rodents for the walnuts and chestnuts, and before we knew it, winter was almost upon us…