Isekai Nonbiri Nouka Chapter 1065: Island House

I’ve been observing the island little by little, and the southern coast is a sandy beach.

The rest of the coastline is rocky.

The port is under construction on the western side.

There aren’t any dramatic sheer cliffs like the kind you see in movies.

The center of the island is mountainous, and my house is planned to be built halfway up the southern slope of the mountain.

I’d like to climb to the summit someday.

I add the details to the map I’ve drawn myself.

I don’t know the exact size of the island, but it takes more than three days to walk around the perimeter.

It takes me about five days, while the High Elves and Gulf can make the circuit in two days.

Yame-san said it took her about ten days to circle the island, but that’s probably because she had to look for food and places to sleep along the way.

Not every part of the coastline is easy to walk along, either.

Incidentally, I used Ancestor-san’s teleportation magic to return to the village or the inn base several times.

A little cheating.

-0-

I spread my hand-drawn map of the island across my desk, then took out the maps drawn by the High Elves that I’d been keeping hidden and laid them beside mine.

……

You could say my map captures the distinctive features of the island’s shape.

Yeah.

For an amateur like me, I think I did a pretty good job.

Self-praise.

However, my map can’t be used as an official map.

It would cause problems in an emergency.

So, my map…

I’ll display it in my room in the village.

That’s fine.

I’m satisfied with it.

-0-

There wasn’t a lighthouse in Shashaato City, but there was one nearby.

It was low, though.

Much lower than I had expected.

About three stories tall.

And it wasn’t even a tower.

It was shaped more like a pyramid.

Would this really work as a lighthouse?

It would be difficult if that were all there was to it.

But it had been built on fairly high ground.

So the lighthouse itself was still at a considerable height above sea level.

I see.

In the end, all that matters is securing enough height for the light.

Besides, a lighthouse is a navigational landmark, not necessarily something that has to indicate a port.

As long as it’s recognizable, it can be located anywhere.

In other words, we don’t need to build the lighthouse at the port on the island.

We can build it at a high point on the island.

And there’s no need to insist on a tower-shaped structure, either.

As long as it functions as a lighthouse, any kind of building will do.

If that’s the case, we should be able to build one.

I think I can give the Seakins a favorable answer.

Ah, but the lighthouse keeper is going to be a problem.

It’s not enough to install a magic device that automatically turns on the light at night or during bad weather. Someone needs to make sure the device is actually working properly.

At the lighthouse near Shashaato City, the keeper and his family lived there.

If we build a lighthouse on the island, we’ll probably need to assign someone to live there as its keeper too.

Should we leave it to a golem?

That’s a last resort.

We shouldn’t rely on golems for everything.

We can’t obtain large magic stones on this island, either.

Maybe I should ask the Seakins if they can provide someone to take on the job.

-0-

I boiled a large amount of seawater in a pot on the island’s beach.

What was I doing?

Extracting salt from seawater.

I know there are more efficient ways to do it, but I wanted to start with something simple.

Once about half the seawater in the pot had evaporated, I added more seawater.

What I was doing was basically the same as distilling water.

What I wanted was what remained, so this time I simply let the steam escape into the air.

I would make seawater with a high salt concentration, then eventually collect the salt.

Simple.

Apparently, though, the salt produced this way doesn’t taste very good.

But I’d only heard that.

I had to try it myself and taste it.

……

Yeah, it wasn’t very good.

It was bitter.

-0-

The house being built in the center of the island.

After experiencing the island’s rain and wind, the High Elves proposed a major change to the design.

Originally, we had planned to build a three-story house in a location with a good view, but that plan was abandoned.

Instead, they would carve into the mountainside and bury part of the house in it.

The idea was to improve the house’s durability by having it supported not only by the ground, but by the surrounding walls as well.

Not bad.

That’s what I thought, until someone pointed out that rocks could fall from the mountain above.

That’s a valid concern.

There was also the issue of security.

Someone could move from the mountain onto the roof of the house.

While I was wondering what to do, Yame-san said one thing.

「I think you should just put the house farther inside.」

Inside?

……Ah!

You mean bury the entire house, not just part of it!

I see.

Then we wouldn’t have to worry about falling rocks.

「But, Village Chief. If you do that, your house will only be visible from one direction. It would be rather difficult to tell which house belongs to the ruler of the island……」

Hmm.

It’s not like I don’t have some desire to have a mansion overlooking the island……

But I’ll save that for a more peaceful island.

We’ll bury this one.

Even if the house can only be seen from one direction, at least we’ll have preserved the island’s appearance……wait.

If it’s only visible from one direction, then that particular viewpoint will end up being emphasized.

Why not make it invisible from every direction?

We’re going to dig anyway.

There’s no need to show off the house.

A house inside a cave is good enough.

Besides, the public residence will be built near the expedition team’s base.

Yeah, I think this works.

It also means we won’t have to put as much effort into the exterior walls.

Though the amount of interior work will increase tremendously.

I managed to convince everyone, and that’s how it was decided.

-0-

Construction of the cave house began.

Well, the High Elves would design it, and I would do the digging.

Since I could reinforce the walls I dug with the 【AFT】, it was safe.

It could also keep out groundwater.

For now, the High Elves suggested having multiple entrances in case one of them was blocked by some kind of accident.

I agreed and adopted the idea.

Since it was inside a cave, we had to be careful about where we used fire.

We also had to consider airflow.

As for lighting……we’d rely on magic and magic tools.

Also, observation rooms were built in every direction around the mountain so we could monitor the island and the weather. They were connected by tunnels, forming something like an ant colony.

Honestly, I couldn’t help but think it was more of a shelter than a house.

-0-

We haven’t found any hot springs on the island.

So, we built baths that used either river water or seawater.

The bath attached to the inn uses river water, which is heated before being used.

The waterway is proving extremely useful.

The bath that uses seawater was built on the beach.

A small changing room was built alongside it.

For this one, we fill the tub with seawater and heat it by throwing in hot stones.

It’s a little more work, but that’s part of the charm.

……

Well, the beach is a little too exposed for comfort, so swimsuits are required in the beach bath.

No objections will be entertained.

「Excuse me. If possible, I would like a shower that uses river water.」

That was the request from Yuri after using the beach bath.

Ah, right. Since it uses seawater, you’d need to rinse off with fresh water afterward or you’d feel sticky.

And leaving your hair wet with seawater would damage it.

Having a bath at the beach and then using the bath at the inn afterward would also be a hassle.

I understood.

We connected a waterway from the river and built a shower room as well.

-0-

With Yame-san leading the way, we entered the island’s forest.

The kuros and the spiderlings accompanied me as guards.

Five High Elves came along as well.

The purpose of entering the forest was to have Yame-san teach us which plants were edible and which ones shouldn’t be eaten.

However, be careful. The plants Yame-san considers edible include some that are poisonous enough to make you sick, as long as they aren’t poisonous enough to kill you.

Isn’t the idea that it’s fine as long as it doesn’t kill you a little questionable?

Well, maybe she had no choice but to eat things like that to survive.

Tonight, let’s have a delicious hot pot with edible wild greens.

With that in mind, I gathered the plants that shouldn’t be eaten.

Not for eating.

They were souvenirs for Loo and Tier.

Poisons can also be used as medicine depending on how they’re handled.

As much of the root as possible.

Oh, and I made sure to wear thick gloves while collecting them.

Some could have an effect just from being touched, or could cause skin irritation.

Then I put each plant into its own paper bag and placed them in a basket.

The paper bags were products of the papermaking industry in Village Five.

They’re cheaper to produce than paper boxes, so demand has been increasing.

That said, they’re still pretty expensive.

I have invested in the papermaking industry, so I’ve managed to secure a decent supply one way or another.

-0-

I asked one of the High Elves accompanying us to record the plants we collected.

That way, they would be easier to find if we needed them again.

The records could also serve as reference material if we wanted to grow them with the 【AFT】.

The records included both illustrations and written descriptions.

Yame-san helped with the records as well, and she’s surprisingly good at drawing.

Her handwriting is beautiful, too.

I’m jealous.

-0-

Once we’d finished collecting all the plants that shouldn’t be eaten, we moved on to collecting the edible ones.

Remember to change your gloves.

And use a different basket for them, too.

Even with plants we’re familiar with, we can’t let our guard down.

There could be a different plant that merely looks similar.

Well, I probably don’t need to remind the High Elves or Yame-san about that.

Just in case.

I’m also partly reminding myself.

-0-

I brought a kotatsu to the inn the expedition team was using as its base.

It’s a little early to bring out the kotatsu, and I don’t know whether the island’s climate will even make it necessary, but having one can’t hurt.

Just like in my house in Big Tree Village, we built a raised platform in the common room, laid tatami mats over it, and set up the kotatsu.

The kuros were delighted.

But we’re not turning the kotatsu on yet, okay?

-0-

Yame-san, seeing a kotatsu for the first time……

She looked a little confused.

Well, you don’t understand the appeal of a kotatsu until it gets cold.

She’d probably appreciate it more in the village than on the island.

That’s what I thought, but then, late at night.

Maybe she couldn’t sleep, or maybe she got a little hungry. Yame-san crawled into the kotatsu and ate some ramen she’d boiled in a small pot.

She had a look on her face like she’d been caught, but I told her it was fine.

And I only got up to use the bathroom, so good night.

-0-

Village Chief「The island’s size is……maybe about the size of Miyakojima, with a circumference of around 100 kilometers? The soil and everything is completely different, though.」

-0-

High Elf「Let’s make the passages in the cave house zigzag so that no one can go straight through.」

Village Chief「Wouldn’t that make it more of a bomb shelter than a shelter?」

High Elf「It’s for security purposes.」

-0-

Oni Maid「Fire safety inside the cave is going to be an issue.」

High Elf「Perhaps using fire anywhere other than designated areas should be prohibited.」

Mountain Elf A「We’ll have to think about humidity control and various other things, too.」

Mountain Elf B「There is a river, after all, so the mountain itself must contain a lot of moisture.」

Village Chief「……I should have thought about why humans abandoned cave dwellings.」

-0-

High Elf A「I can’t read Yame-san’s writing. What language is this?」

High Elf B「Huh? Village Chief reads it just fine.」

-0-

Mountain Elf「Village Chief has naturally started staying overnight on the island, but is everything all right back in the village?」

High Elf「I heard there were various matters that needed to be handled. I wasn’t told the details.」