Isekai Nonbiri Nouka

Chapter 826: More Floating Gardens

Night of the day I returned to the village.

Loo pointed out to me the danger of voting.

She said that even if there is a difference in votes, it is like quantifying the difference in power between nobles and commoners and that it will surely cause trouble.

To put it simply, it would be “Nobles are awesome after all” and “Areh? Is that how the nobles want to play? Can the commoners be defeated if we bond together?” factions.

「Even so, the nobles of the Demon King’s Kingdom are often powerful so it won’t be easy to start a riot.」

But, we’re talking about voting on alcohol, right?

Will the difference in power be quantified in that?

「It will. The alcohol lovers of nobles and the alcohol lovers of commoners will compete.」

…..hmm.

I thought it would be easy to make a ranking but it turned out to be a bad idea.

「It wasn’t that the ranking was a bad idea. It was that you tried to make a ranking by putting nobles and commoners together. By the way, Michael said he will fix it, right?」

He did.

「Then, there’s no problem. I’m sure the demon king will know what to do too.」

I’ve caused them trouble, haven’t I?

「Just think of it as a price for using Tiselle so you don’t have to worry about it. However, for both the Goroun Company and Dalfon Company to offer you bad alcohol……」

I’m not going to make it big for something like an offering so don’t worry about it.

「It doesn’t work that way. Besides, it would help if they got punished too. Well, we’ll take care of that.」

Will they be alright?

「We’ll go easy on them. It doesn’t look like they did it on purpose.」

I was surprised when I came back to the village and found that the investigation was already over.

「Friend or foe, that’s what’s important.」

The Dalfon Company aside, the Goroun Company will be fine, right?

We’ve known each other for a long time.

「However, that doesn’t mean that mistakes will be tolerated.」

So, it’s right to criticize them for their mistakes.

Understood.

I’ll leave it to you.

「Yeah, leave it to us. Now, let’s talk about the other side.」

Is the “other side” you’re talking about the expansion plan of Village Four?

「Yeah. We were doing a lot of things there and it got too big…..」

Too big?

「Yeah. We’ve made some modifications to the floating gardens to make them bigger…..also, the number of them is much higher than planned. Turning them to fields will be a lot of work, are you fine with it?」

I don’t really mind but……

Won’t the sky be a mess then?

「I’m constantly using visual deception magic so all you’ll see up there is the Sun Castle.」

That’s convenient.

Are there any complaints from Gou or Bell?

「None. On the contrary, they’re delighted.」

If that is the case, I don’t mind.

I am actually more than happy to plant on a bigger field.

I’ll talk to the civil servant girls tomorrow and see what we should plant there.

But first, I have to go and see it in person.

I’m kind of looking forward to it.

-0-

Noon the next day.

We arrived at Village Four.

Some of the kuros who had come with us as escorts looked like pets that had been tried and taken to the hospital.

They were afraid of heights.

However, I didn’t mean to trick them.

Yeah, I called out to them and said I was going out for a walk. They should have noticed it when we boarded the universal ship, right?

Was it my fault?

They barked at me saying it was my fault.

If you’re afraid of heights, you don’t have to get on the ship.

When I tried to appease them by saying so, they sulked and said that was not the point.

It looks like I’ll need to take another walk tomorrow.

-0-

Well.

I went to check on the situation in Village Four with the civil servant girls who had come with me.

The main island, the place where the castle is located, was expanded a while ago but not much has changed.

What has changed is the existence of around 30 big and small floating gardens floating around the main island…..or rather, to the south.

The original plan was to add four of them but the number has indeed increased.

The small and big disks are floating individually but there are ropes and suspension bridges connecting them to the nearby disks and the main island.

Hmmm.

The scenery changed drastically.

The floating gardens still looked bleak since they were all covered with soil. However, I was surprised to see that floating gardens of various sizes are floating in places where there had been nothing around before.

Some of the floating gardens are almost as big as the main island.

Come to think of it, is there a reason why they are placed on the south side?

Is it for sunlight or something?

I ask Bell, who has taken the role of a guide.

「That’s part of it but we don’t want them to interfere with the arrival and departure of the universal ship. Tou made a lot of noise earlier.」

Ah, I see.

Tou, the captain of the universal ship, requested that.

Since the floating garden has visual deception magic, it is dangerous if you don’t decide their permanent position.

「Not all of them though. Sometimes, we need to place them under the shadow of the Sun Castle.」

Saying so, Bell pointed to the north.

There is a big floating garden there…..no, it’s not a floating garden.

It’s a floating cylindrical tank.

「It is a special floating garden for water storage that was developed by Loo-sama. It is equipped with circulation function to prevent water from spoiling. Each floating garden stores water but in case of emergency water can be supplied from that to other floating gardens.」

Heh.

Emergency water huh.

Then, what about the water plants growing at the bottom of the tank?

「We’re planning to put fishes there to stir up the water.」

Water plants for fish?

And they were using the shadow of the main island to adjust the water temperature.

Well thought out.

Ah, wait.

Won’t the fish jump out?

「They can’t jump from the side. However, there is a possibility that they can jump from the top so we’ll have to adjust the amount of water.」

I see.

Fumu……good.

「Fufu. We already expected you to say that so Loo-sama prepared a small aquarium. We thought you might want a private aquarium of your own.」

Whoaahhh!

It’s small but it’s about the size of a four and a half tatami room.

The height can be adjusted so I can keep fish as long as they are not too big.

Personally, I prefer to have an aquarium full of small fish rather than a aquarium full of big fish.

I want to enjoy making the layout of the aquatic plants too.

This is something I’ve always wanted to try but couldn’t.

By the way, can I turn it into an aquarium…..

「Yes. Didn’t you plan to make an aquarium in Shashaato City before? We are already planning to exhibit fish. 」

There is no date yet but Loo is getting it ready.

Thank you.

I would like to……make this aquarium immediately but let’s do what I came here for first.

Right now, I’m inspecting the floating gardens and am considering how to use them.

-0-

There is no problem using the floating gardens as fields.

They are big enough.

As for what to cultivate, seasonings.

They are in high demand.

Then, there are fruits, coffee beans, and tea leaves too.

「If you don’t plan to turn everything into field, can you turn some into places where people can exercise……」

Of course. That place is necessary.

It’s a garden after all.

Ah, and if it’s this big, we could even move houses in.

Bell and I discussed with the civil servant girls what we would do with the floating gardens.

-0-

The total number of floating gardens, big and small, is exactly 34.

Three of them are water tanks.

Of the remaining 31 we decided to use 20 as fields and the remaining 11 as facilities for the residents of Village Four.

Since floating gardens can be expanded in layers so those 20 are big enough.

Specifically, the calculation shows that the yield of Village Four will be 15 times greater than before even without adding layers.

……

15 times?

Eh?

Won’t harvesting be a problem?

Harvesting in Village Four was done by the devils and dream demons but as expected, they will be short on manpower.

We need to think about a system to help with the harvest.

-0-

Night.

When I returned to the village, I found that a large amount of foodstuffs had arrived from the Goroun Company and Dalfon Company as an apology for the alcohol incident.

They are ingredients from the sea and mountains.

I was glad to see such delicious looking foodstuffs though I think they didn’t have to go this far.

However, as a return gift, Loo had sent a small barrel filled with gold coins to the Goroun Company and Dalfon Company respectively.

Gold coins, wouldn’t that be the price rather than a return gift?

「It’s alright. With that money they will work to make sure that good alcohol will be made.」

Is that so?

「It is so.」

-0-

Michael: I sent them an apology and they gave me a heap of gold coins.

Ridley:……doesn’t that mean we have not been forgiven?

Michael: N-no, I assume they want us to use this money to make good alcohol!

Ridley: I see. As expected of the president of the Goroun Company! I’ll fully cooperate with you!

Michael: Umu. Please!

-0-

Gou: Loo-sama, I’m happy with the territory expansion but, wasn’t the plan said only four units will be added?

Loo: When I was experimenting, I ended up making……

Gou: I don’t think anyone will “accidentally” make this many……well, did village chief say anything?

Loo: I’m using visual deception magic so he hasn’t found out yet.

Gou: W-w-w-w-w-w-what did you say!

Loo: Don’t worry, we won’t be scolded. Well, I feel that the number of fields has increased too much……

-0-

Bell: Why don’t you just be honest and say that you are researching on making aquariums that’s why it increased a lot?

Loo: T-that would be embarrassing.