Chapter 73

This is how the new additions greatly helped.

In particular, Plat was the one who benefited the most.

In reality, she had been solely responsible for the production of fermented foods and medicines, and it was clear that she was overworked.

On top of that, from her position as my wife, she had been taking care of everyone and managing coordination, making her schedule brutal.

Since I would dart around the site following my interests, supporting me was even more challenging.

I should have noticed and made improvements earlier…!

With the increase in personnel, Plat began to delegate the work at the brewery to the new people and focused on supporting me.

She became something like my secretary.

She accurately grasped my schedule and where I was at any given time, and reported the intentions of the other residents.

Thanks to her, there were no departments lacking in manpower, and everyone seemed very grateful.

And with Plat leaving her main role at the brewery, a new master was appointed.

That was Paffa.

For example, when I visited the brewery to pick up a gift for the teacher, she glared at me with a clearly unhappy face, saying, "Huh?"

When I explained my purpose, she reluctantly took out several pickled radishes from the pickling barrel, more than I had requested.

"If you're coming to ask for something, don't be so stingy."

She scolded me.

"I heard from the princess that Gara Rufa has completed a prototype. Could you taste it for her? And tomorrow, we'll start the pickling process, so could you call back the Lamp Eye who is outside? We need more hands. Also, tell the princess to come back occasionally. She's still technically the top here."

She gave instructions briskly.

On the surface, she seemed like a delinquent, but in reality, she was a capable committee leader type.

"Also…!"

Paffa fidgeted and said,

"When is Lady Arowana coming next…?"

And she was cute.

I'll add a note about the other three new girls.

Lamp Eye, who was a royal guard in the mermaid kingdom, said the other day,

"Could I also be allowed to do hunting work?"

"I have no complaints about my duties at the brewery, but I, due to my personality, need to move my body regularly, or my condition deteriorates…! Farm work would be fine, but if possible, I would prefer hunting work to regain my combat skills…!"

I wondered what she planned to do with those skills, but I wanted to fulfill the residents' wishes as much as possible, so I sent her with the orcs heading to the dungeon.

She apparently performed quite well.

The results were as expected from her previous job as a royal guard, and as befitting her nickname "Inferno Witch," her handling of fire-based magic potions far surpassed Plat.

She would dart in and out of the monsters' midst, throwing fire magic potions and incinerating them instantly, to the cheers of the orcs.

…However, by incinerating them one by one, the value of the defeated monsters was completely lost.

She could only deal with completely harmful monsters that had no usable parts.

And then there was Gara Rufa, the "Plague Witch." She was the most formidable of them all.

She spent a whole day with me, extracting all the knowledge I had about bacteria and fermentation.

"Amazing! Bacteria are amazing! I never thought they were involved in the process of milk turning into butter and cheese!!"

It seems that dairy products exist in this world too.

I want milk too, but there are no cows to provide it.

I searched both the teacher's and Vier's dungeons thoroughly, but found no cow-like monsters that could replace cows.

Moreover, if the creature is as large as a cow, it can't be kept as casually as Yosshamou or Kinjou Kaiko.

I want it, but it's another challenge for the future.

There are still many things I want but can't make, like waterways, rice, kilns for pottery, and baths.

And here, there is someone even more greedy than me.

"Saint! Bacteria are also involved in making alcohol, right!?"

"Y-Yeah…!"

"I want to make alcohol! I want to observe and experience the process of bacteria breaking down sugar into alcohol!"

Gara Rufa's passion for bacteria is unparalleled.

Alcohol.

I do want it.

At the welcome party for them the other day, there was plenty of food, but without the crucial alcohol, it would have lacked excitement.

Prince Arowana brought some from the mermaid kingdom, which helped to maintain the appearance.

Next time, I want to entertain everyone with homemade alcohol.

Speaking of the ingredients for alcohol… grapes for wine, rice for sake, and barley for beer.

…None of them are available.

No, they are.

Barley for beer.

We still have a lot of wheat in storage, both as whole grains and flour, which we cultivated for making bread.

But can beer be made from wheat?

Barley isn't just one type. I've heard of barley and rye.

What type is used for beer?

I don't know.

Well, it's fine. I can leave it to Gara Rufa to research thoroughly.

Even I can give some rough hints, and they are so competent that they can find the right answer with just a few hints.

They are the Six Mad Witches, after all!!

…Sorry.

They dislike being called the Six Mad Witches and get angry when they are.

However, if we start making alcohol, will they work together at the brewery?

That doesn't sound good.

Prepare a dedicated brewery for making alcohol.

Appoint Gara Rufa as the master there, and let her conduct her recent research to her heart's content while making alcohol.

…The possibilities are endless.

But then.

We'll have to build a new facility on the same scale as the existing food storage and brewery!

The waterways, baths, and kilns for pottery are not even completed yet!

The list of things I want to make just keeps growing!

Someone, stop me!

This endless overflow of desires!!