Chapter 4

Today is a rest day, and there's no cultivation work, so I'll explain about this settlement.

This village is almost surrounded by mountains and forests on three sides, and on the other side, there is a vast plain where the horizon can be seen. There is a village chief, but it turns out that my father is the overall person in charge of this settlement. I only found this out recently.

We cultivate the open plain, mainly growing wheat and various other crops. I used to help with this from when I was about five until a little while ago. Recently, I've been helping my father with the cultivation work, and it seems that this is the most important task in the village.

The mountains and forests are quite far from the village, but beasts and monsters do sometimes come down. My father's job is to cultivate the land between the mountains and forests and the village. To do this job, one must have abundant magical power, be able to maintain self-enhancement from morning until the end of the work, and still be able to fight or escape from beasts that come down. Only those with such magical power can engage in this work. For the villagers, being able to do this job is a matter of pride.

My father always emphasizes that magical power is a resource and a lifeline, and he often tells me not to waste it and to leave some in reserve. That's why we couldn't build a bath. My father believes that even if a child has a lot of magical power, it's hard to believe, and it's out of the question to let them use it for a test. Children are still in a period where their sense of danger is thin, and if they stubbornly use their magical power beyond their limits, they could die from magical power depletion or reduce their maximum magical power capacity. Once they get used to using their magical power to the limit, they might easily exceed it. After I reached my limit and created a bath, I lost control and ended up making a mess. When I came to my senses, my father lectured me about this.

Now, the reason for the cultivation is that the soil between the village and the mountains and forests is suitable for growing magical herbs. Cultivating this land is difficult, unlike the flat land, as the soil is abnormally hard and requires strong reinforcement with each swing to dig it up. On flat land, the soil is as soft as tofu and can be easily turned over, but here, it takes several swings to dig up the same amount of soil.

Despite the difficulty, magical herbs are highly valuable, and the cultivated fields are very important. Even if a drought or other disaster causes the wheat and other crops to be destroyed, as long as the magical herbs are safe, the taxes can be covered by them alone.

"Hey..."

Water is also important for cultivation. There is a river, but it's narrow and doesn't have much water, so all of it is used for the crops, with priority given to the magical herbs. For daily use, such as drinking water, the women and children left in the village use water magic to provide it. An important task is to replenish the water in the well in the center of the village, which doesn't have a water source, after it has been restored in the morning.

To ensure this lifeline, the village was established by recruiting people with more magical power than other villages. The land here, which can cultivate magical herbs used as ingredients for magic potions, is highly expected by the border lord, who owns it. The border lord also arranged for the mages who built the houses to come here. I've never met the border lord, so I don't know what kind of person he is.

"Hey, Luka!"

The village has about 200 residents, mostly farmers, with a few blacksmiths, barkeepers, and church workers. We also keep livestock similar to cows.

Everyone has roughly the same status, with the village chief and my father being slightly more important. However, people don't really care about this outside of work. The priests are a bit different; while they are considered part of the community, they are officially sent by the church headquarters. Those who can use healing magic are valuable and respected.

On rest days, the priests teach the villagers about the world's common sense and various things, which is very helpful for creating the world's setting. Recently, Alice has also been participating and often says, "The stories you tell are more interesting."

"Wow, you suddenly have a creepy grin, you know!"

Suddenly, a loud thud echoed in my head, and sparks danced before my eyes. I also heard something collapse next to me.

"Ouch, what are you doing, Dad?"

"It's not 'ouch.' When called, you should respond properly."

The cause was my father's knuckle, and he mimicked me a bit while saying it. I thought he looked creepy, and he must have noticed because he showed me his fist.

"Do you need another one? Huh?"

"No, I don't. ...So, do you need something?"

"You haven't been listening, but I've been asking what that thing is!"

My father pointed to the source of the collapse. There, in the yard, were a hoe and a pile of sticks and circles.

Ah, I was shocked by the knuckle and lost control, so I returned it to its original form and stood it next to me. It's the same size as me and is a stick figure. However, unlike the stick figure I made the other day, this one has all the joints reproduced, and I made it using earth magic. I named it a bone figure, from "stick" to "bone."

Imagine a polygon model made of lines to see the movements captured for motion capture.

When I raise my hand, the bone figure does the same. If I do squats, it does squats. I'm not making it follow me; I control it each time. The purpose is not to mimic my movements.

Originally, it couldn't follow at all.

The goal is to perform natural movements while doing other tasks and maintaining magical control, and to create joints similar to those of a human. Of course, it's also for practice in controlling it. Before my father hit me, I was practicing moving the joints, the overall strength, and using tools the same way I do.

I tried it a few times just now. First, I raised the hoe and tilled the ground, and the bone figure did the same, but the hoe rotated and didn't properly dig into the ground.

"What do you think, Dad? What's wrong?"

"Well, the strength and joint movements of the right and left sides aren't synchronized, so the hoe rotates. ...But, what is this thing!?"

My father, with a serious face, pointed out the problem but then remembered the original purpose and asked me to explain. I told him it was the next version of the stick figure.

"Is this the one you showed Alice to get her attention, and which made her happy, but was also a cheap trick?"

As usual, when Alice is involved, my father doesn't hold back his sharp words.

"Yeah, Alice said she wanted to show it to you and Mom. When I showed it, you all laughed and called it 'gross.'"

"Stop, don't say any more—"

My father turned pale, sensing something bad, and tried to stop me, but I continued.

"When Alice got angry because something she liked was mocked and said, 'I hate you, Dad!' and didn't talk to you for seven days, this is what I showed her."

"A-a-a-a-a!!—I remember—"

After shouting and mumbling, my father collapsed to his knees as if his strings had been cut. He had buried the memory of being ignored by Alice deep in his mind because it was too shocking. I brought it up to get back at him for laughing at me.

"...I understand... for Alice... do your best."

He didn't seem to care much about the explanation, got up unsteadily, and walked out. He probably went to the bar to complain to Uncle and drink to forget.

"...And... the neighbors... are looking at you strangely... so be careful..."

"Huh?"

I looked around and saw that the neighbors were indeed watching me from a distance, quickly averting their eyes when I met their gaze.

Among them was my childhood friend, Renaer.

"Hey, hey, Renaer, good morning."

"Good morning, Luka. I heard your uncle shouting. What were you doing? And that—"

Renaer, who had just arrived, didn't understand the situation but was curious about the bone figure.

"Ah, this is—"

I explained that it's an evolved version of the stick figure, a bone figure, and that I'm practicing to make it move naturally.

Renaer's mother passed away, so she helps at my house while my father and I are out cultivating. She's the only one who knows we have a bath. I lend it to Renaer at noon and to her father on rest days, not as a bribe but to help them. Her sister also likes the stick figure.

The reason I lend the bath is that Renaer, though not as much as her sister, is showing signs of becoming a beautiful girl at ten. The village's top beauty, you know. But, you know, no matter how beautiful, if she doesn't bathe and just wipes her body, she'll smell. I couldn't stand it, so I found a way to get her to bathe without saying it was because of the smell.

"That's more complicated than I thought, impressive."

"No, this is a bone figure, the next step. The one I showed my sister is this."

To avoid strange looks, I hid it from the neighbors and used water magic to create two stick figures on my palm, making them do a mock sword fight. I made them jump and attack, perform high-speed thrusts, and then made them disappear.

"How was it, Renaer?"

"Amazing! Amazing, Luka! Does Alice always get to see such cool things!?"

Renaer, usually quiet, was excited and jumping around. I realized this would work even when she's ten, but I need to keep improving to avoid getting boring.

"Yeah, I want Alice to always have fun."

"Next time, can you do it for me too?"

Renaer, excited by the puppet show, blushed, held my hands with both of hers, and smiled, asking me.

"Sure, I'll think about it when I have time."

Now that the explanation is over, I want to practice. But with the neighbors and even some troublemakers watching, I decided to return the bone figure to the earth. I'll practice in my room with a smaller version.

If I increase the number of bone figures, it might also help with processing practice. As I thought about this, my mind was filled with how to improve my skills.

"Um, sorry?"

"Ah, sorry, I held your hand for too long. See you, Renaer."

I let go of her hand and went back inside. Renaer looked a bit hurt, but it was probably just my imagination. I hadn't done anything.

As I started practicing in my room, I forgot all about Renaer.