Checking on the Village

Let's set aside [Summon Gargoyle] for now.

What about the other spells? Like [Healing], for example.

"Oh light, heal my headache—[Healing]."

A soft light enveloped my head… Ahh, that's nice.

"Goshujin-sama? Shouldn't ya have used that sooner?"

"I think so too. When you're not used to it, you can't use it in a pinch… I need to rely on magic more."

"Nah, I think ya rely on it plenty already. Though I forgot about it too since I just learned it."

Just one spell though. I've only been using [Create Golem].

Anyway, my mana seems fine, so let's resume the investigation.

Setting aside [Ice Bolt] since it's offensive magic, let's look at [Grow Weed].

Frankly, spells that help with daily life are more worthwhile to modify.

I headed to the field with Ichika. When it comes to plants and growth, it's obviously for speed-growing vegetables.

"… Oh tomatoes, grow and bear fruit—[Grow Weed]!"

The incantation had been modified beyond recognition, but the tomatoes shot up, bloomed, and bore fruit… Did they get pollinated in that instant? I briefly wondered, but decided not to worry about it.

I picked one of the fresh red tomatoes and took a bite.

"…… Blech!"

It's a tomato, but it's dry and sandy on the tongue. The flavor is also extremely weak. It's like eating sand.

The appearance looks perfectly ripe though…

"This is no good. It's only usable for emergency food at best."

"Let me try too, Goshujin-sama… … Ah, yeah this is bad. I'd say lower-middle."

"Not rock bottom?"

"Goshujin-sama. There's way worse than this out there, ya know?"

When Ichika, who has extensive experience with food, says that, it's convincing.

"You can have the rest."

"… Seriously? Gonna bite into 'em?"

"Hm? Bite into what? The tomatoes, right?"

I had Ichika deal with the bad tomatoes for now and moved on to the next test.

Maybe tomatoes turned out bad because they're fruit. What about leaves?

"Oh cabbage, grow—[Grow Weed]."

I cast [Grow Weed] on the half-grown cabbage to make it harvest-ready.

… I peeled off two or three outer leaves and tore off one layer that looked edible.

I bit into it with a crunch—ah, amazing. This is paper. I'm eating paper. I feel like a human shredder. Or maybe a goat.

"[Grow Weed] doesn't work for vegetables either. This is rough."

"That's too bad～"

"Well, you can have the rest, Ichika…"

"… Seriously? … Gonna bite into it?"

"It's just this cabbage, you can do it. I'll give you lots of curry bread later."

"… Understood, I forgive you!"

What am I being forgiven for?

"I'm not saying you have to eat it all raw, you know? You can have Kinue-san season it somehow. You could even try curry powder."

"Wish ya'd said that first. I already ate the tomato…"

"Ichika's strong point is that you don't waste food. Seriously, you're a good woman."

"If that's the case, I'd appreciate it if Goshujin-sama helped deal with this cabbage too. One whole head is a bit much, ya know?"

Can't be helped, so I decided to help out. I had Kinue-san put the paper-like cabbage into a stew… When it's seasoned, it's surprisingly edible. That surprised me.

While I was at it, I decided to ask Kinue-san for her opinion.

"[Grow Weed]… it seems like a spell that could be useful for lawn maintenance. I think it would be quite useful for things other than eating. For example, hiding pathways with grass."

"Oh, that's a good idea. Maybe I'll use that."

A room covered in vines where you can't proceed without pushing through the grass would be nice. For the dungeon we're building now with the flooding, seaweed or kelp would work too.

Fufufu, didn't expect Kinue-san to be such a tactician.

"Oh, by the way, I haven't seen Rei around. Did something happen?"

"Rei is off duty right now, so I believe she's comparing options in the catalog to decide how to use the 50,000 DP she received from Master."

She hasn't used it yet? Well, it'll be her first subordinate after all.

Go ahead and think it over—wait, hold on. The whole reason we gave her that DP was to make up for the shortage of personnel while we're gone for the Dungeon Battle. Why hasn't she used it yet?

"… Is the inn going to be okay? In terms of staffing?"

"Yes, it's fine. There's nothing for Master to worry about."

"If you say so, then alright. I trust you all with this. And tell Rei to use that DP soon."

"Understood."

She said it's fine so firmly that I'm a bit worried if it's actually fine… Well, I did leave it to them, so I won't say too much.

At worst, as long as there are no problems with the dungeon, we'll be okay.

"Is everything else besides the inn okay? Aren't there issues that can't be handled without the village chief?"

"You've said that anything besides the inn can be approved if the Deputy Village Chief gives the okay, and the Dine Trading Company handling the funds has been working hard to increase them, so there are no problems. As for the new development and highway maintenance, it's progressing smoothly as a public works project in cooperation with the Adventurer Guild."

"… Um, what? Development? Are we getting more people?"

"Yes, the dungeon territory has already been expanded in line with the development plan."

"Oh, I see."

Come to think of it, I did give them menu access with those permissions, didn't I?

So we're getting more people… DP income's going up.

It was a bit late, but when I asked about the garbage situation, apparently "garbage disappears on its own if you leave it in the dungeon." Oh right, that's how it works. Trash, including corpses, is all food for the dungeon.

A settlement attached to a dungeon has perfect garbage disposal.

I haven't done anything, but there don't seem to be any problems.

If I had to point something out, maybe I'm a little worried that we're getting big enough to attract attention?

As for food problems, there are Jellies wandering around inside the dungeon for emergencies, and we have plenty of flour stored up anyway.

… If we're getting more people, maybe I should add more Iron Golem spawns?

"How do I put this… I'm glad to have such capable subordinates."

"Thank you for your kind words, Master."

Well then, time to focus on the Dungeon Battle.

Let me mass-produce Golem Blades to bring along.