09 The Case of Abandoning City Immediately After Occupation

Author: Hatago Bunraku (旅籠文楽)
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n9799gr/9/
Translator: Lilia v3.0
Editor: AYA Translation

[1]

“Master. I think it’s better to abandon this city.”

It was in the morning, when Yuri left the room after getting up from bed and changing clothes, there was Hotaru, the captain of “Koubai” so she invited her to have breakfast together in the dining room.  Hotaru of <Tamayorihime> was wearing shrine maiden clothes, which can be said to be the uniforms of their profession (class), making a soft noise while fluttering their proud fox ears, which usually stand up. Said the words as if about to vomit.

“In the end you said that too Hotaru?”

The words  unintentionally made Yuri laugh. It’s been the third day since they entered Nildea, a key city occupied by Yuri, and started living in the lord’s building in the center of the city. Over the last three days, more than 10 people have suggested that Yuri do something similar.

The occupation of the city itself did not cause any problems. Yuri took control of the Nildea city, which (apparently) had absolute confidence in their defense, using the feared “Dragon”, which is called “disaster class” in this world as a knight. It seems that those are serious threats, and despite the change in the conquerors, all the citizens of Nildea promptly showed their willingness to the “Yuri Empire”. So far, no confusion has been seen in the city, and not even one fight has occurred in the city.

It’s very peaceful.

However, even if there is no confusion, there is another problem. It was about the severity of the “bad smell” that prevailed throughout the city of Nildea. It seems that Nildea is not the only city that has a special scent. Apart from small villages, large cities that are overcrowded to some extent usually suffer from the problem of “smell.”

In urban areas of the world, including Nildea, excrement and domestic waste are stored in jars in each household, and when they are full, a collection company is paid to dispose of the jars.  It seems that the collection company loads the jars in the wagon, carries them out of the city, dumps the jars at a distance, and buries them with earth magic.

This jar is basically installed outside the building in every home. It would be the same for everyone to think that they do not want to put something that gives off a foul odor in the house. It seems that the law says, “Make sure to put a lid on the jar that puts filth in,” but there is no way that the odor can be sealed with just a lid, and in the end, the bad odor leaks from somewhere in the city.

Moreover, some said that there are quite a few people in the city who are stingy about the cost of disposing of jars. Such a person disposes of a jar full of filth by leaving it in an alley a little away from their house. Most of the cities don’t even have street lights, so if they act at night, it’s easy to avoid the public eye and dispose of their jars.

As a result, especially in places that are dead alleys, a pile of filth has been created, overflowing with jars illegally dumped from various households.  The jars that had accumulated were exposed to the wind and rain and cracked, leaving them as a source of foul odors. That seems to be the cause of the city’s stench and it’s becoming more serious.

“In the first place, Hotaru doesn’t understand that a person can’t live without producing filth.”

“Ahaha …”

Yuri deepened her bitter smile at Hotaru’s  words, which she said in a straightforward manner. Everyone in the “Yuri Empire” does not need excretion to live. Because everyone including Yuri is a “game character”.

“Atros Online” has the concept of “hunger”, and if players don’t eat food, the character will gradually weaken. So Yuri will fall into a similar situation in this world if they don’t eat. Also, when logging out of the game, it is necessary to lie down on the bed at a base such as an inn, but if this state is not maintained for six hours or more a day, the character will fall into the abnormal state of “sleep deprivation”. So even in this world, they can’t stay healthy without sleeping for more than 6 hours a day.

However, there is no need for Yuri and co to excrete. They need food, but they don’t have to drink water at all. Even if they don’t sleep at all, read books and talk all night, they won’t get sleep deprived as long as they lie down in bed. The reason is that it is the game’s “specification”.

Except for Yuri, who has lived in Japan, it is natural that excretion is not necessary for everyone in the “Yuri Empire”. Therefore, it was unavoidable in a sense that Hotaru would simply say that they couldn’t understand it.

Fortunately, only the inside of this lord’s house is protected from the damage of “bad smell”. This is because the children of Koume, who are good at barrier magic, developed [Purification Barrier] immediately after the occupation. Everything in the barrier is always “purified”, so they don’t have to bend their nose as they spend in this lord’s house.

“Hotaru, I’d like to ask you a little. For example, can’t you put a [purification barrier] over the entire city?”

“Do you mean to wrap the whole city with a barrier? It’s not impossible, but …”

“Difficult?”

“I’ll do it if the Master asks me to do it. I don’t recommend it because I think it will consume a lot of ‘blue magic stone.”

“How much is a lot?”

“I don’t know unless I calculate it concretely. If it’s large enough to cover the entire city, maybe 20,000 will be consumed.”

[Purification Barrier] is a slightly higher rank category in the barrier magic. And, of course, in order to develop and maintain a barrier with a higher rank, appropriate materials are required.

Blue magic stone is a rare material that can be obtained with a probability of about 5% when defeating water-type monsters of level 120 or higher that inhabit “Leangard”. The amount currently stored in the “Yuri Empire” is about 50,000. The consumption of 20,000 pieces is less than half, but …

“It’s a bit unacceptable as long as it’s difficult to get it again.”

“That’s right ~”

In this world, it has not confirmed that there are the same monsters that lived in “Leangard” yet. Moreover, far from level 120, even monsters with half that level have not been confirmed. In other words, it may not be possible to secure a new blue magic stone in this world. There is a possibility that they may only have the current stockpile in the future, so they need to be careful when consuming.

However, that does not mean that the problem of bad odor can be overlooked. Yuri knows that she is still lucky if she only has a “bad smell” problem in the first place. In fact, anyone who has learned world history knows it. The stench is, after all, the problem that arises from the “unsanitary” of the city. If unsanitary conditions continue, it will definitely become a “hotbed of illness.” It is no longer necessary to say what kind of end the city of Paris, which once had the spirit of “throwing away filth,” has taken due to the worsening of unsanitary conditions.

―――― However, it is too extreme to think about whether to abandon the city or not.

(In such a case, I would like an opinion from a different perspective)

Even if an amateur has troubles, things that cannot be solved easily can be solved in an instant by an expert opinion. For the problems that cities have, it may be good to ask the owner of the technology to build the city.

“Meteora”

“Yes, Ane-sama”

“I’m sorry, but I wonder if you can come to the cafeteria. I want to hear your opinion.”

“I’ve acknowledged. I’ll come in 30 seconds. ”

When she called Meteora, the captain of “Kikyo” who was in charge of building “Yuri Empire” in the guild chat, she came to the cafeteria just 30 seconds later, as she declared herself. A girl with an innocent look, with a characteristic dwarf that reveals that the race is “Underground Species (Dwraven)”. She usually tied her hair up, but maybe because she was relaxing in the lord’s house today, she’s so cute to have the purple hair hanging down to the waist.

“Meteora What do you think we should do about this city?”

Yuri immediately asks the girl. Underground species (Dwraven) is equivalent to “dwarves” in other fantasy novels and games. Her race has a deep insight into “blacksmithing” and “architecture.”

“Yes, my sister. I think abandonment is the wisest thing to do.”

“…Yeah. You have the same opinion.”

Yuri was a little disappointed at the words of Meteora. Then Meteora continued to talk, saying that the reaction was out of her mind.

“I don’t know who has the same opinion, but … The problem with bad odors in this city is that the custom of collecting filth in jars is bad, and if you want a fundamental solution, you can do something else. I wonder if we should aim for a transition to the method.

To put it simply, it is a problem that can be solved by creating a “sewer”. Collect the wastewater that drains the filth generated in each household in one place, and develop a [purification barrier] only in that part. This will minimize the consumption of magic stone material associated with the development and maintenance of barrier magic. ”

“Oh … I’m sorry, it seems I’m too fast to jump into conclusion. As expected of <Gardore> you’ve been thinking about it. But why do you have a solution for the city that you propose to abandon?”

“It’s too hard to add a ‘sewer’ to an existing city. It’s better to build a new city with water and sewage from the beginning and relocate the citizens who currently live in Nildea… It seems easy for us “Kikyou”.”

“Well, it’s very helpful, but if we were to build a new city where 22,000 people could move in, wouldn’t that be a significant amount of resource consumption?”

When building a city or building, of course, wood and stone, and in some cases metal, etc. are also required. Unlike blue magic stone, this kind of resource could be procured in this world as well. Unfortunately, the stockpile of general resources is not very large.

“Well … I’m sorry to say that. First of all, regarding the population of Nildea, it has now decreased to about 20,400.”

“… Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry.”

The population of Nildea was about 22,000 before the invasion, but now it has decreased to 20,400 because 1,400 people who belonged to the military register were slaughtered and settled. The population is declining a little more because Nildea’s so-called “Sweeper Guild”, an organization that plays a role like the “Adventurer’s Guild” in light novels, also appeared as a guardian of the city. Because they were just mobs that did not have much strength, it did not hinder the invasion in particular. However it’s a little disappointing that they lost more human resources than originally expected.

“As for the consumption of resources, if we build a city mainly made of stone, we can reduce the consumption because the stone material can be gathered using Cockatrice.”

Cockatrice is a monster with a slow flight speed and low fighting ability, but there is of course a good reason why Kikyo dares to make such a monster a knight.

Demon rock gird, Cockatrice is a monster with “petrification ability”. Whether it is a living thing or an inanimate object, it is possible to “petrify” the desired object as long as it consumes magical power. Using this ability, they can make stones from earth and sand, so they can use stones as much as they want. However, petrification ability consumes a large amount of magical power when exercised, so the amount of stone that can be produced per day is limited.

“That’s a good idea. In that case, how long will it take?”

“Well … we can do it in a month if we just build it normally. Anyway, we’d like to build a city that is beautiful enough to be rumored by the world, so I’d like to take twice as long.”

“Okay, please do it. The place is right … The upstream side of the river that flows through this city is good. Anyway, I’d be happy if you could make it a beautiful city that skillfully used the river.”

“I did accept it. Can I have Rindo cooperate in the construction?”

“I’ll allow you. Let’s talk with Krone.”

“Thank you, my sister!”

The building unit “Kikyo” and the production unit “Rindo” that the “Yuri Empire” is proud of. If it was a collaboration, it would be of great interest to Yuri. She is really looking forward to what kind of city will be created in two months.

“…Then I have to endure this” stench “for the next two months ~”

However, in contrast to the Yuri that makes your eyes shine with expectations. The expression of the Hotaru, who realized that she had to fight the “bad smell” for another two months, seemed to be complicated.