Chapter 267: …Is That Not Allowed?

When we came up to Fearea dorm, Aurora and the others were waiting.

I held Aurora and the others lightly and we smiled at each other. They noticed Erika’s state and tilted their heads.

Erika had her cheeks a little puffed, and Hiero and Pafa were stroking her head from both sides.

...Could you not make such a cute reaction?

I was the cause of Erika ending up like that. When I explained to Aurora and the others, who were tilting their heads, they smiled wryly, came up to Erika, and started comforting her.

Is it my imagination? I feel like the word Handful is being chanted over and over...

I feel sorry for Erika, but if she gives me flat trembling eyes at half of what I thought of, I am in trouble.

If I do not say the rest I will feel sick too, and if I do not say it and then say it suddenly I will get yelled at.

I smiled with a troubled face and rubbed the back of my neck with my right hand. Hiero noticed my look and stared at me.

Then she shook Erika’s body, pointed at me, sighed as if fed up, and started talking to Erika.

Do not point. Do not point... it is unseemly for a woman, you know?

"Erikaaa! I know that face! It is the face that is still hiding something! He is being a Handful, I am sure!"

"Fu... fufufu! I will hear it. Having come this far there is nothing to be afraid of!"

"Ah~. This is... I also want Croana’s opinion."

The instant I said Croana’s name, Erika kept smiling, looked into the distance, and gazed at the sky.

Hiero went, "See eeeeee!!" and pointed. Pafa smiled in that troubled way. "Raide, go easy?"

From Aurora and the others comforting Erika I received wry words in order. Aurora, "Raide-san." Win, "This is terrible~." Rain, "It is Raide-san..."

As an aside, after this we headed to the academy and invited Relia and Tia, who had just gotten down from a carriage, because it concerned them too.

At that time Erika kept looking into the distance, grabbed my clothes, tilted her head a little, and smiled thinly. "Whyee?" It was scary.

The place is the principal’s office.

I sat on the sofa with Erika beside me. On the sofa across, from the right, sat Croana, Relia, and Tia.

Karinal waited behind the sofa. Fia and Lea were out.

Hiero and Pafa had something to look up in the library. After getting Croana’s permission they headed there.

Hiero and Pafa’s request had been that they wanted to look something up in the academy library.

I am very glad the two of them get along, but setting Pafa aside, is there something Hiero’s knowledge does not know? I cannot help wondering.

Something catches. If you ask what, I am stuck...

"So you said you wanted my opinion. What kind of talk is it?"

"Raide-sama said it was for us too, and honestly... there is something frightening."

"Relia-ane-sama, the answer is Erika-san’s look."

I was thinking when Croana smiled and asked. Relia and Tia looked at Erika and smiled with troubled faces.

From the corner of my vision Erika had been letting out small breaths and looking at me with flat eyes.

I smiled while rubbing the back of my neck with one hand and asked Croana.

"With earth-attribute magic, can you make stone from nowhere?"

"No. You cannot make it from nowhere. I think Fia-ane-sama explained before, but magic cannot create. To make stone you need earth. And without a little training it might be hard."

Croana smiled in that troubled way at my question, shook her head, and answered.

Aah. No good after all. Battlefield mages also used things that already existed as their power.

Only... producing fire with magic is not creation? Strange...

"Hmm... then, is hardening the earth of the ground easy?"

"That is easy. The hard part of earth magic is how much of earth magic’s unique support you put on others, and whether you converse with the land."

"If it is just hardening earth, even Filim Academy students can do it easily?"

"Of course. Rather, hardening earth is where earth magic training starts. If they cannot, it might be a little troubling."

I folded my arms, rubbed my chin with one hand, and thought a little.

I asked Croana to confirm. It was no different from the game’s specs. I was a little relieved.

Leave the mystery of magic. If hardening earth is easy, it should work, right?

I looked at Relia and Tia. I felt like they drew back a little... imagination, probably.

"Relia, Tia, why do you not pave the highways?"

"Raide-sama, the cost of working that much stone is enormous."

"And personnel as well. The war is over, but the people we lost are still being trained. And using funds that have only just started to recover for highway paving is difficult."

"No. Hardening earth with magic, is that not allowed?"

"...Eh?"

"...Eh?"

I almost burst out at their blank faces, but Erika’s flat eyes in the corner of my vision were scary, so I held it in.

Right. Laughing at princesses is rude... so Erika, could you not pinch my side?

I cleared my throat, put on a serious face, and explained what I had thought of, as a consultation.

Preparing cobblestones would cost money in processing, personnel, and all sorts of things.

But as Croana explained, could you not pave by hardening earth?

I had tasted the strength of earth magic during the war. Plenty of people had taken sword blows with earth magic.

Making stone is a little hard according to Croana, but if even Filim Academy students can harden earth, soldiers should find it easy.

And they said personnel training. If they use that much earth magic, Mastery should rise too.

When I explained that far Relia and Tia looked into the distance like Erika, smiled, and murmured.

"I may understand Erika-san’s feelings..."

"This is... a bit, our heads are not working... we cannot decide this."

"I understand how both of you feel."

Erika spoke as if comforting the two of them. Croana smiled wryly and put her mouth to her tea cup.

I had been curious about it for a long time. To be exact, from before I reincarnated.

The highways have the grass pulled, but the ground is still bare. There are plenty of wagon ruts.

If I think only of myself, remodeling a wagon would be faster.

But looking long, I choose paving for my own safety too.

I have the remodeling method in my head, but it is too dangerous to hold as a private technique.

In an Overworld world where war can start at once, it would be especially dangerous for a commoner to hold.

If someone holds it, a duke-class noble, or royalty.

If a country’s representative rides it no one will say anything, but if a citizen holds it I only see a future of being killed and robbed.

Compared to that, other countries will care about highway paving too, and there should be many mages who can use earth magic.

We could even pave jointly with other countries, or work under the name of magic training for adventurers and students.

More than anything, riding a wagon, the bumps hit the hips... now there are pillows the church makes so it is fine, but during the war my hips really hurt.

I glanced at Relia and Tia consulting, smiled at Croana, and started talking.

"Also, if you harden earth, repairs should be easy, right? You just harden it again. Croana, will it get hard enough that a wagon can ride it?"

"Mmu. I have not tried. Strength-wise it should work, but how long it lasts will need testing."

"Hmm. Then how about experimenting in front of the capital gate? Plenty of traffic there, perfect for a test, no?"

"Raide-sama, please wait a little. This needs a meeting at the castle."

"Please do not go further first. This is beyond our domain. It is the domain the country handles?"

Relia and Tia put a wait on me. I smiled wryly and rubbed the back of my neck with one hand.

Maybe because I had talked Magic Bag transport, Erika had been shaking my body for a while, having guessed various things.

I leaned toward that Erika and said in a low voice, "It will be good for us too, right?" She looked up with flat eyes. "The scale is large!"

The scale may be large, but we might be able to secure work for adventurers, you know?

I do not know if adventurers will do it... well, that is for the country and the guild to think about.

In conclusion, Relia and Tia would take the paving matter back to the castle and discuss it seriously.

That day, after hearing Relia and Tia’s report, the Chancellor held his head and said, "Does that idiot mean to kill me!?"

King Adom saw that and laughed like a fool, and for some reason it became talk of my reward. Sharle and the others told me later.

I had Sharle and the others tell King Adom I declined the reward, but I will only say it was ignored.