Chapter 26

"Hmm, what should I do..."

Every day, I continue to expand the fields by deforesting.

However, another problem has started to arise.

As the area grows, it has become increasingly difficult to move around, a problem that was bound to happen.

In my previous life, people often used phrases like "the size of several baseball domes" to describe how large something was.

To be honest, fewer people probably know exactly how big a dome is.

But, it was still an interesting way of speaking that allowed people to get a vague idea.

Now, the fields in front of me have expanded to the point where I think the number of domes would exceed the fingers on one hand.

Is it really okay to destroy so much forest?

As someone who has taken classes on environmental destruction in my previous life, I do have some concerns.

However, when I checked with the village chief, he said there was no problem.

It turns out that the area I have developed this time was once a village field.

After the boom in development ended and the population decreased, it was reclaimed by the forest.

Moreover, the forest itself is much larger.

I was even told that it wouldn't be a problem to expand the fields even more.

Well, if I'm going to raise a serval beast like Valkyrie, it might be better to think of it as a pasture rather than a field.

In that case, having a larger area would be better.

With that amateur conclusion, I decided to continue expanding the fields.

However, walking around such a large area is tough.

In this natural environment, without streetlights, it's not impossible that an unexpected situation might arise where I can't return home if it gets dark for some reason.

Considering fatigue and safety, it's probably time to start thinking about a means of transportation.

"Alright... let's try riding Valkyrie."

And so, I decided to challenge myself with riding an animal, something I had never experienced before.

***

When it comes to riding, it's naturally horseback riding.

Valkyrie has a body shape similar to a horse, except for the large antlers like a reindeer.

Of course, her fur is longer than a horse's, so there are some differences.

However, I thought that equipment used for horses would probably work just as well.

But I immediately hit a snag.

I couldn't obtain horse saddles or stirrups in the village.

This is because serval beasts, which didn't exist in my previous life, are the norm here.

Serval beasts, which can be born from eggs with completely different appearances, are used to transport goods in this world.

Some of these serval beasts are bipedal reptiles.

More commonly, they are harnessed to pull carts.

On the other hand, riding on the back of a serval beast is a special case.

To do so, you would need to specially order a saddle that fits the specific serval beast from an expert.

Naturally, there is no one in the village with such specialized skills.

When I mentioned wanting to ride Valkyrie for transportation, I was only met with the response, "Why not just use a cart? What's wrong with that?"

But still.

I wanted to learn riding skills now, just in case.

This is because I might be called to war someday.

In this world, it's likely that cavalry is much stronger than infantry.

At the very least, some of the people from our village who were called to war went with farming tools instead of weapons.

Being able to ride Valkyrie would definitely give me a significant advantage.

For managing the fields, a cart would certainly be useful.

However, that doesn't mean I can't learn to ride.

If that's the case, there's no other choice.

Even without a saddle or stirrups, I have to try riding.

So, I wrapped a rope made from Hatsuca stems around Valkyrie's mouth as a makeshift rein and climbed onto her back.

Thank you for reading.

I would appreciate it if you could bookmark and rate this.