Chapter 43

"Scatter Shot! Phew, I'll leave it at that for now."

After defeating the first giant boar, another one emerged from the forest and was ravaging the fields, and I managed to take it down.

I’m currently practicing magic attacks.

The reason is, I really want a long-range attack that can launch stones.

However, as someone who generally moves while riding Valkyrie, I have to say that aiming and hitting a target while riding is not just difficult but almost impossible.

It seems that the horse-riding people from my previous life used bows, but how did they manage to hit their targets?

So, I decided to practice with [Scatter Shot].

After trying it multiple times, I switched to a method of launching several hard, sharp, arrowhead-shaped stones at once, even though they weren’t made of metal.

They probably fly about 20 to 30 meters.

However, the power decreases with distance, so it can only be used when I’m relatively close.

It’s not exactly the long-range attack I was aiming for, but at least I can hit targets while riding.

For now, I’ll settle for this.

"But honestly, it’s a hassle."

While enchanting the [Scatter Shot] I adopted, I realized that it’s quite troublesome to go out every time a giant boar appears.

After all, [Scatter Shot] can’t kill a giant boar.

In the end, the only reliable methods are Valkyrie’s leap and a trap with a large, crevice-like pit.

If I’m asked whether I want to continue the tedious task of digging a big hole every time a giant boar appears and guiding it there, I would have to say no.

"I guess I need to think of a way to prevent the fields from being ravaged, rather than a way to defeat them."

I continued my patrol, muttering to myself.

***

I’ve heard the term "precedent."

It’s a useful concept that suggests it’s good to follow the wisdom of our predecessors in everything we do.

In short, I decided to use a method that someone, somewhere, had thought of to prevent the damage caused by the giant boars this time.

In other words, I decided to build a wall around the fields to prevent them from being ravaged.

Originally, the village was surrounded by wooden fences, and the town was surrounded by walls.

It’s probably true that the most effective defense against external enemies is a wall.

Moreover, the people working in the fields are worried.

If people can feel safe knowing they can always run to safety within the walls, that should be enough, right?

"The problem is how much to enclose..."

I looked at the land I had developed and thought.

From my hideout, or rather, my base, I could see the fields stretching to the horizon.

I’ve heard somewhere before that the distance visible at the height of a person’s head is about 4 kilometers.

I’m not sure if this rule applies in this world, but I think it’s probably about right.

And, from the back of Valkyrie, I think I can see about 5 to 6 kilometers.

I’m quite impressed with myself for having expanded this much.

No wonder giant boars come out from the forest.

"Well, I’ll just do it as I go. Maybe I’ll start by building a wall at the boundary between the forest and the fields."

Despite having developed so much land, I actually have some land left over.

The part-time worker is using the village’s spare hands to help with the farming, but if all the land I’ve developed were turned into fields, there wouldn’t be enough hands to manage it.

Therefore, some of the land that has been cleared of trees remains as it is.

Considering this, it should be enough to build a wall around the current fields and the land that could potentially become fields in the future.

If it’s not enough, I can always add more walls later.

The problem is the size of the wall.

A giant boar can be about 3 meters long.

Considering the possibility that it could charge at full speed, I want the wall to have enough defensive capability to buy time for people to escape.

I thought about this while remembering what happened when the giant boar hit the side of the pit.

"…They say that bigger is better, so I’ll make it larger just to be safe."

And so, I started building the wall.

I extended a wall that was 10 meters high and 5 meters thick, which seemed excessively thick for protecting the fields, from the boundary between the fields and the forest, stretching it toward the horizon.

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