Isekai Nonbiri Nouka

●Character Refresher

Metora – An impure dragon who used to take care of Ursa and the others. Currently newly married.

Toshira – Metora’s younger sister and a subordinate of Raimeiren.

-0-

The cold winter still continues, but fortunately the daytime weather is good.

I bundle myself up and make the rounds of the village.

With me are Hakuren and Guraru.

There is a reason why this turned into a rather unusual combination.

First, Raimeiren is stuck with work and cannot move freely.

Last night, Metora’s younger sister Toshira arrived in the village and handed Raimeiren a large stack of work documents.

Raimeiren has been staying in this village for quite a while recently.

And Hiichirou is in the middle of making sweets.

After trying it, it seems he found it quite interesting.

I thought Guraru would be making sweets together with Hiichirou, but instead she separated from him and went to Hakuren.

Yeah, the pairing of Hakuren and Guraru really is unusual.

「That’s not true at all. She helps out with all sorts of things」

Oh really.

When I look at Guraru……

「She is my future mother-in-law, so building a good relationship is important」

I see.

So she is carefully filling in the outer defenses.

Thinking about it, Quon, who felt destined with Domaim.

She also gained the approval needed to marry Domaim from Raimeiren, Domaim’s mother, and from his sisters Hakuren, Suiren, and Sekiren.

She had properly filled in the outer defenses as well.

Domaim’s father Dors, his older brother Doraim, and his brother-in-law Maxbergak were apparently more on the neutral side.

In any case, it is a good thing that this is not being forced through by sheer power.

……

Come to think of it, what happened to Helze, who felt destined with Hikaru, Hakuren’s other son?

Helzenark.

The daughter of Suiren, Hakuren’s younger sister, and Maxbergak.

I have not seen her around lately.

「Raimeiren-sama asked her to handle deliveries, so she should be flying all over the place」

Guraru tells me.

I see.

I thought she would stay in the village, but is Helze also in the middle of filling in the outer defenses?

No, if that were the case, would she not approach Hakuren like Guraru does?

If she stayed close to Hakuren, Hikaru would be there too.

「Mother was being considerate. She said if she fussed over him too much while he is still little, Hikaru would start seeing her as a mother instead of a wife.」

I see.

Hm?

But I heard that when it came to Domaim, Quon took care of him starting from the egg stage.

「At that time, mother had a lot on her plate.」

Hakuren says this while looking away, so it is probably from a time when she was causing some kind of trouble.

Maybe when she had run away from home?

In any case, unlike Hiichirou, Hikaru is still very young.

We should watch things for a while longer……

?

Huh?

At some point, I have started thinking that Hiichirou will probably end up with Guraru.

Has Guraru already filled in my outer defenses?

As I was thinking that, something rustled inside my clothes.

Then Aegis, the phoenix chick, poked his face out from my chest.

「Ah, warming up with Aegis, that’s unfair.」

It is not unfair, not unfair.

「Unfaiirrr」

Hakuren pulls Aegis out and passes her to Guraru, then sticks her hand into my chest where Aegis had been.

Cold!

-0-

When I looked up at the winter sky, the universal ship and an airship were flying side by side.

Judging by the timing, they were probably returning from Village Four.

Normally, either the universal ship or the airship alone would be enough for transport capacity, but I guess the universal ship did not want to operate alone.

After a short while, Bell, who had been riding the universal ship, arrived at the mansion.

Since preparing a room for Bell in the mansion, this was already her nth visit.

「As expected, when I stay at this mansion, the amount of information that comes in is completely different」

When she is in Village Four, it seems that anything outside Village Four inevitably falls outside her considerations.

「But I did think properly about the Big Tree Village」

That is good to hear.

Ah, you do not need to focus only on the Big Tree Village.

You can use the teleportation gate and look around Village Five or the royal capital as well.

The auction was the only time Bell went out, was it not?

Is there anywhere you want to go, or something you want to see?

「Let me think. I would like to see how Miyo is working in Shashaato City」

?

Is there something about Miyo that concerns you?

「There are reports from Miyo that are delivered to you, Village Chief, right?」

There are.

「She is cutting corners. I need to point it out」

Is that so?

「Yes. She probably has more leeway now that she has taken the Kissinleys, whom she worked with at the auction, as a subordinate. Miyo is capable, but when she gets comfortable, she relaxes too easily……」

I see.

「Do not worry. I will not use violence」

Y-yes, that is good.

I am counting on you.

「Yes. However, I will go check on her at a later date. Today, I will head to the hot spring area」

Alright, go and relax.

「Though with Yoru there, I am not sure how relaxing it will be」

Hahaha.

If she does anything strange, please scold her.

Well, Yoru has become much calmer since Klim arrived.

「I hope so……」

There there.

Ah, if you are going to the hot springs, should I have you take some alcohol or food with you…… would that be a burden?

「It will be fine. I can carry it easily with a small floating garden」

I see.

Then, I will leave it to you.

「Yes」

-0-

A motorcycle was moving along the snow-covered road of the village.

This motorcycle was a copy made by the mountain elves after they went through the teleportation gate to inspect the one Maa had developed.

「Maa is outstanding when it comes to mechanisms like this. But there is still plenty of room for improvement」

The mountain elves did not seem satisfied with the motorcycle’s performance yet.

Well, that figures.

The motorcycle produced a powerful dodd dodd dodd sound, but its speed was only slightly faster than a person walking.

To someone like me, who knows motorcycles, it was extremely slow.

I could roughly guess the reason.

The tires were wide.

Very wide.

About sixty centimeters, I would say.

They might even be wider than truck tires.

The overall size was not that big, though.

The tires were probably too heavy, preventing it from gaining speed.

Also, because the contact area with the ground was so large, I was worried that steering this motorcycle would require a lot of strength.

The one operating the motorcycle right now was Fuuma.

The mountain elves apparently wanted this motorcycle to be used as transportation when they served as Alfred’s guards.

……

Alfred might be pleased, but at this speed, would not a carriage be better?

As an idea to increase speed, how about making the tires thinner and increasing their number.

「Maa begged us in tears to never increase the number of tires」

Why was she so obsessed with two wheels?

Well, I guess without that kind of obsession, nothing new would be born.

Alright then, how about making the tires a bit thinner.

「If we do that, it will fall over while moving, you know?」

No, if it is moving fast enough, it will not fall.

「…………I see! So it moves forward before it can fall!」

That is basically how it works.

「But what about when it stops? It will fall over, right?」

Attach a stand. A stand.

「A stand?」

Ah, a leg you put down when it is stopped.

「Ooooooh! As expected of the Village Chief, a genius of ideas!」

No, I just know the finished version.

Still, this motorcycle was very different from the ones I know. This one runs on firewood.

Ah, that explains it. That fear of tipping over is why they chose such thick tires.

Fuuma was feeding firewood into the stopped copy motorcycle.

Oh, it also needs water.

Huh?

Was this not an internal combustion engine?

A steam engine is an external combustion engine, though.

Are they using an external combustion engine as a supplement to an internal one?

I see.

Either way, tipping over is not acceptable.

Sorry.

Let us forget about the tire width idea and the stand idea.

「Eeeh」

-0-

Guraru 「Do you understand how I feel when you openly show off your flirting, Village Chief and Hakuren-san?」

Hakuren「S-sorry…」

-0-

Bell 「This is a home visit」

Yoru 「I-I’m behaving properly」

Klim 「 Yoru stays up late making ammunition」

Bell 「……」

Yoru 「……」

-0-

Village Chief 「What about lining up thin wagon tires, maybe four side by side? Eight wheels total, front and back」

Mountain Elf 「Maintenance would be an issue… but stability would be unchanged, and off-road performance would improve, so maybe?」

Maa 「It has to be two wheels」

-0-

Fuuma 「(Hoping the bike might transform)」