Chapter 10

"Good morning."

As usual, I woke up in my room just before the sun rose, and I greeted no one in particular. I then absorbed a large amount of magic from the outside through my daily routine of magic stimulation and circulation.

If left unchecked, the absorbed magic would gradually dissipate over time, so I controlled it, mixed it with my own magic, and compressed it. This way, I could retain the magic within me without it overflowing.

Since no one else was awake yet, I quietly headed to the bathroom. I filled the bathtub with hot water, washed my face, and rinsed my mouth with water, much like using a jet washer in Japan.

Then, I took a piece of bread and headed to the new land alone.

◇◇◇◇

"Development, development, today and tomorrow, development—"

I hummed a casual tune, summoned a bone figure, and practiced magic while tilling the land as if striking a hoe. I was getting used to moving the bone figure without looking, so I was considering increasing it from one to two. Just then, the sun rose.

I looked at the forest and the new land illuminated by the sunrise, recalling yesterday's events.

"Hmm, did the appearance of the monster cause any delays in the plan?"

It wasn't really my concern; it was my father's job. But for some reason, I felt the urge to get the development done.

This new land belongs to the Margrave, and from my memories of my previous life, he is a great noble, practically a king of the region.

Since my father is the person in charge of this development project, which the great noble has high hopes for, any delays in the development plan would mean disgracing the noble and possibly facing severe consequences.

—Perhaps the vague sense of urgency I feel is because, deep down, I'm thinking about such things.

"Wait, didn't I have some kind of appointment yesterday?"

"......"

"Ah, well, it doesn't matter. I need to get the development done..."

I hummed "Development, development" again and raised my hoe with the bone figure.

◇◇◇◇

After a while, as the sun rose higher, my father and the development team arrived. Half of the members were dressed in their usual short-sleeved shirts and shorts for farming, while the other half were in proper exploration gear, equipped with bows, arrows, and large machetes.

"Good morning, Father. Good morning, Roger and everyone else."

"Hey, good morning. But, Luka, weren't you supposed to go to the priest's place today?"

"Ah!!"

Right, I only remembered when Father mentioned it. That's strange; I thought this body's brain was excellent, but to forget something like this...

"Right, yeah. I, I need to go..."

Seeing me panic, Father sighed, scratched his head, and looked at me. I thought he would look disappointed that I forgot yesterday's promise, but instead, he looked a bit sad.

Maybe he felt sorry for his own son? I felt a bit guilty.

"Sorry, Father, I need to apologize to the priest too."

"Ah, no, you don't have to go."

"Eh?"

"Before I left, a sister from the priest's place came and said they had an emergency and canceled. She also said it was our fault for calling you."

Oh, I see. I felt relieved hearing Father's words.

But then, why did Father look sad?

Was it just my imagination?

"Anyway, but—"

"Yeah, what is it, Father?"

Father placed his large hand on my head and continued.

"You wouldn't have had to deliver this message if you had gone to the church from the start!"

"That hurts, it hurts, Father."

Father rubbed my head in a circular motion and then messed up my hair.

"Also, Luka, a monster appeared just yesterday. Didn't you think it was dangerous?"

"Ah..."

—I didn't think about it at all. Right, a monster did appear yesterday. I should have been more cautious, but I acted as usual.

Seeing me feeling down, Father patted my head to comfort me.

"Come on, let's get back to work. Wake that one up too. It looks like a skeleton when it's lying there, which is a bit scary."

"Ah, yeah. ...When did it go out of control? I don't remember."

After learning the set technique, the bone figure doesn't fall apart when control is lost; it just lies down as if sleeping. I muttered "inexperienced" to myself and stood the bone figure up.

◇◇◇◇

"Here's breakfast. Make sure you eat it."

"Okay, thank you."

Before leaving home, I usually get one piece of bread, but by this time, I'm usually hungry, so Father always brings breakfast on behalf of Mother. He handed me a piece of bread with some of yesterday's monster meat and vegetables inside. I took a bite, and the fresh vegetables and rich meat flavor spread in my mouth.

"Delicious."

"Yeah, monster meat is really good."

"I think it's my first time eating it."

"No, you must have eaten it before. ...But you were still little then, so you probably don't remember."

He laughed, adding, "And you're still little now."

I'm only ten, after all.

Probably, during the years when I was four to nine, I was so exhausted from working to my physical limits that I ate dinner in a daze.

"Ed."

"Oops, sorry. Well, I can't leave this place. The forest is up to you, and Roger will be the leader as usual."

"Got it."

Roger and the others, who were dressed in exploration gear, were the same members as yesterday's archery team. They occasionally leave the development team to investigate the forest.

I remember Father saying at dinner last night that they needed to investigate because a monster appeared.

"Again, don't go deep into the forest. Only investigate the shallow areas, and gather information by following the Forest Wolf's route."

The exploration team members responded with "Understood" to Father's call, but he scolded them, saying, "This isn't the military, stop saying 'understood' and laugh."