Observation Tour

Starting with the castle walls and the ballista, they heard the story of Dee, who cut off the head of a dragon with a single sword, and asked about swords.

After answering those questions, they now wanted to see the house, and we gave them a tour like a house show, apologizing to the villagers.

“What are the walls and roof made of?”

“They are made of processed wood. They are special and can only be found in Seat Village.”

“How durable and water-resistant are they?”

“You can think of it as rustproof steel.

“…Is this furniture made of ordinary wood?”

“Basically, they are handmade by the villagers.”

“And this moat?”

“We all did our best. Espada, the butler, was in charge of the moat, the river, and the foundation of the walls.”

“…By the way, how long did it take you to build all these moats and walls?”

“Five months…or actually four months?”

After answering the questions one by one, King Dino finally stopped and held his head in one hand.

“…Did you understand?”

“I didn’t understand it at all. What better way than to have him show me what he’s talking about?”

I looked at Espada and spoke.

“Is there anywhere we can make it?”

“How about the lake in the back that you’ve been talking about for a while?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

After a brief meeting, he looks back at the Dino kings.

“Let’s go to the lake in the back.

“The lake. You saw it from above a while ago. That looks like a nice view.”

The king is also interested in the lake.

We decided to go through the village and go to the lake through the back gate.

He had the bridge lowered and the gate opened. Then there was a beautiful lake and a peaceful scene of a farm with a boathouse and barn built on the water’s edge.

And at a rest stop pavilion next to the boathouse, old men were gathering to drink tea.

As I gazed at the scenery, I felt a startled presence behind me.

“This, this…!”

“No way…!”

Not only King Dino, but everyone is upset.

Yes, there were fifty to sixty adult Apkallu and others at the lake’s edge. At the center of the lake, there are about a hundred young Apkallu enjoying playing in the water.

“…ah, there are more of them!”

I was shocked to see that the Apkallu population was clearly increasing. Could it be that Apkallu have children who grow up to be around ten years old within three months of their birth?

“Isn’t that son-in-law?”

“Oh, Lada Priora’s son-in-law?”

“I haven’t seen your face in a couple of days.”

Apkallu notices us and begins to say something self-serving.

He approaches Lada Vesta and opens his mouth.

“Lada Vesta-san, I’m not your son-in-law, okay? I’ve told you many times, I am.”

“What, is there anything wrong about my daughter, Lada Priora…”

“I’m not complaining. But I still think that Lada Priora should marry a promising young man from Apkallu.”

As Lada Vesta and I were talking, the Dino kings approached us fearfully from behind.

“If my eyes are not mistaken, those people appear to be the phantom race called Apkallu.”

“That’s odd, Your Majesty. I seem to be seeing them as well.”

I answered Lada Vesta while listening to their conversation behind my back.

“There are more Apkallu-san around without my knowledge, are they relatives of yours or something?”

I ask, and Lada Vesta shakes her head from side to side.

“No, they are Aft people who live further up the river than us. They came to see me through tribal contact and managed to reach this lake. They liked it so much that they wanted to bring their tribe with them. They arrived last night.”

“They were going to live here?”

“Yes. Can we let them stay?

“Yes, the lake is still big enough for them.”

As we were exchanging these words, a fat Apkallu swam up from behind Lada Vesta.

“So you are Lord Van, son-in-law to Lada Priora and chief of this place. I am Avtovaz, chief of the Avto tribe, and Lada Vesta has told me of the splendor of this land. We too would like to live here.”

“Yes, yes. Good, but bring me some fish or underwater ore once in a while, will you? Then we’ll build you an extra boathouse.”

“Oh, yes. That’s no problem. I’ll get some ore right away.”

Avtovaz said and swam away.

Hmmm…if Apkallu is going to increase, we might as well build an island in the center of the lake. The lake is flooded so that when the water level increases, it returns to the river downstream, but it is possible to make the lake bigger.

In some cases, we should consider making it a larger lake.

“…Baron Van.”

“Yes?”

I turned around when I heard my name called, and King Dino’s cheeks twitched as he opened his mouth.

“You are friends with Apkallu…or are the Apkallu a resident here as well?”

“Well, things just happened.”

Aperta nodded as if he had seen something interesting.

“I see. So were you married to the daughter of Apkallu by chance…”

“No, I am not.”

I clearly deny Aperta’s misunderstanding. I am afraid that if I mince words here, there will be rumors in the royal capital.

“I’ve never seen Apkallu living in such a defenseless state… even I have never seen such a scene.”

King Dino is stunned, but as I don’t know what a normal Apkallu looks like, I would rather see such a modest Apkallu.

Well, anyway, let’s continue with the expansion of the lake and the addition of the city walls.

“Espada, let’s expand the lake a bit and build another higher wall at the back. The shape of the wall will be another star-shaped layer, so it will probably take another month or two to complete.”

“One more level, my lord? I am sorry. My imagination has not caught up with what you are imagining…”

Espada raises his eyebrows and says so, so I work a nearby piece of wood into a wood block on the ground and make a simple model.

“Now it looks like this. So, we can expand the lake on the outside and surround it with…”

“Hoh. Indeed, it looks like an overlapping star shape. The corners…I see. By being able to aim in three directions from this corner and three directions from that corner…wouldn’t it be better to build more walls on the remaining corners as well?”

“Yes, that’s right. We’re going to make it the strongest and most invincible huge fortified city in the end. But we don’t have enough materials to go that far. If we had the materials, we would be able to complete the project within a year.”

As they discussed, they added to the model and finally formed a giant star-shaped citadel with seven stars stacked on top of each other.

King Dino and Aperta, who were watching from the side, joined the discussion.

“Hmm, the more I look at it, the more I see a strange architecture, but it is beautiful and sophisticated…”

“If they advance on us, won’t it be hard for us to defend it because of the horns?”

“The ballista has a long range, so even if they target the horns, you can shoot from three directions. Besides, even if you destroy one of the corners, you still have to breach the walls afterwards.

I use the model to explain the defensive capabilities of the star-shaped citadel. It’s an empty theory on the table, but the two of them seem to understand it.

“…With that ballista’s range, even a first-rate four-elemental mage can’t attack?”

“Rather, a chanting mage would be the first to be targeted. And there is no way to prevent that ballista’s arrows. This… can be called an impregnable fortress.”

The two of them looked at me together after such an exchange. I nodded back at their gazes and opened my mouth.

“Of course, this form is our goal until next year, but the final form will be different. If I were to attack this fortress city, I would definitely be able to bring it down. Therefore, the final form of Seat Village will only be complete when it becomes a fortified city that even I cannot conquer.”

When I mentioned this, their eyes and mouths fell open, and they stiffened.