Elf Tensei Kara no Cheat Kenkoku-ki

「Recently you’ve been a Doctor in the morning and then you leave the village in the afternoon…did you finish the weapon?」

「Yeah, I did. I’m in the midst of mass producing it now.」

「If it’s finished then let’s hurry and see it!」

Lucy suddenly shouted as we ate our usual lunch of suiton soup.

Since our wheat was running low we didn’t have any bread to go along with the soup.

For bread you could use less wheat if you had yeast. It’d make the bread rise and make it more filling, however unfortunately yeast took time to make. I had secretly used some cranberries to begin making yeast two days ago. Unfortunately it would take at least two more days to finish.

「It’s not even the end of the fourth day. I have two days left including today.」

「Only two days left!?」

「It’s plenty. Plus using all of my time limit isn’t for nothing, I have a proper reason.」

「Un, showing them the weapon isn’t the end. In fact that’s where the real thing starts.」

The Village Chief never believed I could make a weapon that would pierce through the Empire’s armor and simply accepted my condition without much thought. Just because I had created a weapon that would allow us to fight the Empire didn’t mean he decided to fight them. In fact I suspect he’ll do his best to hinder me.

「Even when I show that I can pierce the armor many people will have objections and arguments. Until then I want to increase their approval of me as much as I can. I want to increase the persuasiveness and impact of my display. For this reason I need to take advantage of the full 5 days so I can make the villagers owe me and increase the amount of weapons I have. Just imagine…instead of one or two weapons, a big line-up of them will have much more impact.」

I said sipping on my mugwort tea.

Mugwort was a perennial plant that you could get year-round. It was usable as food, medicine, and other things.

I was really happy when I found it growing in the forest nearby.

「That’s just like you Cyril.」

「How do you mean?」

「You’re not looking just at what’s in front of you….you’re looking further into the future. A normal person like me just runs around fearfully.」

「It’s a matter of experience and familiarity. Before long you’ll be able to think in terms of the future Lucy.」

「I wanted to do my best and catch up to you Cyril, but it seems like my task keeps getting more challenging.」

Lucy was truly trying to become an existence that could walk shoulder-to-shoulder with me. She had been putting in the effort.

It seems like this conversation had frustrated her because she wasn’t able to predict my thoughts properly. I felt a certain pleasant feeling from watching her like this.

As we spent our happy times together in this house there was a knock at the door. It was a guest.

I stood up to open the door.

「Cyril this is amazing. My work has gotten much easier. I can get rid of the tough roots with a single pull. I should be able to plant more fields next year.」

Roleau, the village’s number one roughneck, displayed his hoe as he boasted. Occasionally I wondered whether or not a muscular, sweaty, and hyper-masculine man like Roleau was even an Elf.

Roleau had brought one of the village’s wooden hoes. If you looked closely, this particular hoe was made entirely of wood with only the tip being made with metal. Even this much reduced the work-load.

Yesterday I had made 5 of these hoes as samples and prioritized giving them to stronger villagers like Roleau.

The weaker women and children like Lucy maintained the fields and threshed the wheat. However, the men like Roleau plowed barren lands and deforested areas to provide more room for fields.

I had given them some help to aid them in their work.

「I’m just glad I could make things easier.」

「Well about that….everyone who saw kept saying ‘I want one’. We have 20 spare hoes that we aren’t using today. I brought them over in hopes that you could attach a metal blade to them.」

「Sure, I don’t mind.」

「Man, it feels like you can do anything.」

「I can’t do everything. I’m just a little more skilled than the average person.」

「And you won’t accept any repayment this time either?」

「Nope. This is all just good will. You don’t have to attach a price to it.」

「Thanks for everything. I will….no we’ll do anything if you need it Cyril. Just tell us if you need something.」

Roleau said and left the hoes behind as he returned to work.

Once again this would raise my value in the village. Whenever they swung their improved farming tools my face would probably come to mind.

Incidentally, only using metal on the blade of the hoe was to save metal.

My leftover iron was limited. If I had made them out of iron entirely my entire stock would disappear in moments.

「Hey Cyril you’re even doing that kind of stuff?」

「Well yeah. I have some other things too.」

「It seems like you were telling the truth when you said you had time. You’re being softhearted and helping everyone out…but you’re not escaping from reality because you couldn’t create the weapons right?」

It was true that I had extra time. During the past four days I had 12 hours between each time I could become a dwarf. This meant that while completing my target number of crossbows I could use the extra time to do other tasks.

「If I die it’ll make you sad, right Lucy? I won’t do anything to make you sad Lucy so you don’t have to worry about that.」

「Then please at least show me the weapon you made. I trust in you Cyril, but even so I’m scared. I’ll be more at ease if you could show me.」

「That’s no good. Just wait a little longer.」

I smiled wryly.

I needed to reassure Lucy soon.

For that showing her the crossbow would be the best method…but I had a reason I couldn’t do that.

To save this village I had to create a situation where my opinions would get through. For that reason I was gaining trust from the villagers…however that alone wasn’t enough.

The most effective way to do this would be to overthrow the current leader of the village. I couldn’t do it directly, but I could spread the poison around. I had failed to curry favor with the Chief by letting him skim off the top of the goods when I delivered them. However, I had left something inside there as insurance. Furthermore, this period where I made it seem I was unable to make the weapon was another type of poison.

Tomorrow I would debut the crossbow in front of everyone. Tonight I would take Lucy out late and allow her to practice with the crossbow while everyone slept.

Until then I wanted everyone to see how worried Lucy looked. They would see how worried she was. Since she was the closest person to me it would invite negligence on their part.

I felt sorry for her, but right now I needed her to endure.