The next day, we left Kett Sith Village early in the morning and arrived at the Birdman Village without any particular trouble. Of course, although there were no troubles, I left early in the morning and moved all the way until the afternoon, so I was exhausted.
Elmina-san will accompany her acquaintance, a merchant of the birdman tribe, so the other three will be able to rest for a while. There was a cape overlooking the precipitous cliffs, so when I walked steadily, there were several penguins. Do you live around here?
Looking at the cliff from the cape, I didn't move even the slightest movement, so I decided to sit right next to it and look at the cliff that the penguin was looking at.
"Oh, is that the village of the birdmen?"
There were many holes in the precipitous cliff, and I was able to predict that those holes would be the residence of the birdman tribe. The precipitous cliffs with countless holes have many steps carved out of the rock, and it seems that they have been put in place so that they can safely climb up from the sea surface to the top of the cliff.
When I looked at the cliff with admiration, a black shadow jumped out of the hole in the cliff.
The shadow that jumped out stretched out its black wings with its legs together, stretched out its beak straight, and stuck straight into the sea.
Perhaps because of that action, black shadows jumped out one after another from the hole in the cliff, glide a short distance, and pierce the sea.
"Adults are a mess.
"Is that so? You can afford it."
"Aren't you in the bottom row? Second row from the top."
"That's a mess."
The penguins around me suddenly started talking.
Yeah, it was a big penguin that jumped out of that hole in the cliff. I expected it.
"What a strange thing!"
"What is this guy? Elf?"
"Elves look thinner and smarter. Also, they have long ears."
"This guy certainly has a stupid face. So, what are you?"
I was dissed by a penguin I met for the first time. Who are you who are talking even though you are a bird? No, I guess it's a bird race.
"Human"
"Ningen? Humans are like that. Are you going to kidnap those guys in the forest?"
"""Uwakowa, where can I get closer?"""
Penguins toddled away from me. These guys have foul mouths but are cute.
"Don't kidnap me. Today I came to do business with the elves."
"With elves? Elves hate humans."
"Is that so? I heard that elves and humans sometimes mate."
"Seriously. You're an elf."
What is this... what is this. This situation that the penguin speaks in a fake Kansai dialect.
"More importantly, what did you bring in your business? Another piece of cloth?"
"Would you like some firewood?"
"No, this time it's Behemoth's meat, skin, fangs, horns and bones."
"Behemoth? What is Behemoth?"
"I know it. It's a huge monster. It seems that the meat is delicious."
"Seriously? Elves can kill you like that. It's a mess."
"We're the strongest in the sea. We can't win on land."
"Because we have short legs. We can't run."
"Gathering firewood is exhausting."
"Meat, do you want to try it? If it's just a little bit, I'll share it."
"Seriously? Brother, you're generous."
"Taste it and if it's delicious, ask your parents to buy it for you."
Take a block of salted Behemoth meat from the treasure box and slice it with a knife.
"Oh, it looks delicious"
"I eat fish all the time and rarely eat meat."
"Hello, brother."
"It's salted meat, so it's salty as it is, isn't it?"
"Isn't it good if you remove the salt? It's easy."
The sliced meat is wrapped in a water ball the size of a volleyball, and inside it rotates in a complicated way as if it had been put in a washing machine. After a while, the water polo split into the same number as the penguins and flew towards its mouth.
The penguins stick their beaks into the water polo and peck at the scraped meat.
"Delicious!"
"This feels like meat. I feel like it's going to come out."
"I'll have my father buy it for me."
The penguins shook their heads and flapped their fin-like wings. What is this cute creature?
"You guys are skillful... water magic right now, right?"
"Let's go? I'm not good at exercising on land, but there's no one better than us at water magic."
"Adults can make ice on land and slide on it.
"Well, I can't use anything other than water magic. Even an adult can barely light a fire."
The bird race seems to be a race that specializes in water magic. It seems that the dwellings and stairs dug into the cliff are carved with water magic. I will also make a water ball with water magic and show it to you.
"You can't do it at all, brother."
"It's a little better even if it's half a year old."
"It's too low density."
"Seriously. How about this?"
Increase the amount of magical power in the water ball to make it more compressed.
"It's worse than before"
"Too much waste"
"Only the amount of magic power is huge."
Not good at all.
"More image! Let's solidify the image!"
"Too much wasted magic power!
"Burning tightly!"
"What the fuck!"
Elmina-san hasn't returned yet, so she's surrounded by penguins, and while she's half being teased, she proceeds with her water magic training. She was tired and the content was rather unreasonable, but for some reason her water magic skill improved a little. I don't understand.
☆★☆
"Sashimi Ume!"
"Brother, you know!"
"This shoyu is good too! Next time I'll order it from Kettsey's place."
I broke up with the birdman tribe with a quick attack. It's easy to get along with people who share the deliciousness of food.
"Eating it raw... disgusting"
"You don't know if your stomach hurts, do you?"
While eating grilled fish, Rifana looks really disgusting, and Elmina-san looks a little worried. Breeder was silently sipping on the seaweed-infused broth. Her sashimi served on her platter is cancer-defying. I don't understand.
"Even though it's so delicious... Of course, grilled fish and boiled fish are delicious, but I think sashimi is the best."
"Let's see. If it's a small fish, it's delicious to dance and eat."
"The squid and octopus are also delicious."
"People on land don't eat squid and octopus."
"I like squid and octopus sashimi. Anything other than sashimi is fine."
"Brother, are you serious?
The surprised faces of the birdmen――they stare at me with an expressionless expression. The expression doesn't change much, it's a penguin. By the way, an adult birdman is about 150cm tall and quite big. I'm not good with my hands, so I use water magic like my hands and feet. The food for the banquet is like a hand made with water magic, or rather like a tentacle, so I brought it with me.
To be honest, I can't help but feel the potential for magic in this strange sight. I only had an image of the combat magic that I used as a skill, but I guess magic is originally something freer.
"It's delicious. You can't taste that unique texture anywhere else."
"I understand! Hey, bring squid and octopus!"
"Why is he so familiar with the birdman tribe?"
Amidst the applause of the tribe of tribesmen, new dishes were brought to the platter. It seems that not only squid and octopus sashimi, but also boiled octopus legs are on top of it.
"Hey, do you want to eat that!?"
"Taishi-kun, that's a bit..."
"No, no, don't be deceived by the way it looks. It's chewy and delicious. Squid has a crunchy texture and a sweet taste that's different from octopus. At least that's what I know. So were the octopus and squid."
Start with octopus sashimi. This is live octopus sashimi. The smooth texture, the taste and aroma of the tide, and the unique texture that goes down your throat when you swallow it. Everything is delicious.
Next is squid sashimi.
The crunchy texture is followed by a faint sweetness, and the umami of the soy sauce is combined to create an indescribable pleasure that spreads in your mouth. I prefer octopus, but squid is also delicious.
And boiled octopus legs. This is gorgeous and sticks to it as it is. delicious. I feel that the original flavor of the octopus is brought out to the maximum.
"Extremely delicious"
"You have a lot of good food!"
"This is the first time I've ever met someone on land who eats so deliciously!"
"Seriously, it's so delicious."
When I turned my eyes to Elmina and Rifana, I shook my head with all my strength. Breeders are determined to ignore cancer. I don't understand. It's not good to be picky about food, right?
☆★☆
It seems that they will stay in the village of the birdman tribe for about three days. Due to the high volume of transactions this time, the inventory of salt is not enough, and it seems that the bird race will also allocate a certain amount of personnel to refine the salt. They use water magic to purify it, but to be honest, I didn't really understand what they were doing even when I was given a tour.
It is said that simply removing the water from the seawater leaves a bitter taste, and it is said that it is a skillful skill to separate it well. The bitterness is probably bittern. I don't know what the ingredients are. The only thing I know is that if you put it in warm soy milk, it will harden and become tofu.
That's why I'm waiting until the salt is ready. I'm shopping time
"Blacksmithing tools?
"Is there anyone who deals with such things?"
"Metal products will rust in the sea."
"Hey, it might be in the junk warehouse."
"Oh, it might be over there."
"A junk warehouse?"
"Hey. I get a lot of things from the salt kata, but there are some things that can't be used. I don't even use them in the forest, so I'm going to put them away in a junk warehouse."
"If it's over there, take it. It's a junk that nobody uses."
"Well, I'll study the topic."
"You guys, did you guide my brother to the junk warehouse?"
Guided by a child of the birdman tribe, go down the stairs made on the cliff. This staircase is for the bird race, so honestly it's a little small for me. And the handrail is too low to use. If you lose your balance due to strong winds, you're headlong into the sea. Koee.
"Brother, get down on your waist and jump."
"It's chattering."
"Unlike you guys, my center of gravity is high because my legs are long."
Well, I don't think I'll die even if I fall, but I don't want to feel pain or fear.
Go down to the middle of the cliff as guided by the penguins, then walk through the passage to the edge. At this time of day, there aren't many birdmen around here, so I didn't pass by other birdmen.
However, the view of the sea from the cliffs is quite spectacular. The sparkling sea surface that reflects the sunlight stretches all the way to the horizon. An adult birdman tribe drifts and sways on the surface of the deep blue sea, and they seem to be constantly diving and doing something. Are you fishing too?
"Huh? What are you guys saying?
"I'm just here to guide this older brother because he told me to."
"Huh? Isn't he human? I haven't seen him in a long time."
At the edge of the cliff, at the entrance of a cave that was much larger than the rest of the houses, there was a lone bird—no, an old birdman tribe. A birdman who has scars all over his body and has lost an eye. It feels like a veteran soldier.
The kid penguins who guided me this far have gone away. Well, it seems like I'll get angry if I enter, so I guess they thought it wouldn't be helped if they waited for me. Talk to the old soldier penguin while looking away from the child penguins walking around.
"Are there any blacksmithing tools here?
"Blacksmithing tools? Ah, I think there was a rusty anvil in the back.
"Then take your word for it."
Enter the junk warehouse and look around.
In terms of size, it seems to be considerably larger than a typical residence of the Birdmen tribe. The inside of the warehouse, which was carved out of whitish rock, is cool and cold, and it feels a little damp because of the sea breeze.
There is a wide variety of items in this warehouse. All of them must have been left behind as compensation for the salt, but there are many things that you can't immediately tell what they're used for at a glance. It seems that many things that can be understood immediately are not practical.
"There are a lot of weapons and armor that are overly decorated..."
There are quite a few swords, spears, and armor decorated with jewels and gold and silver. However, if you look closely, it seems that there are many armors that are only for appearance. Other than that, there are only weapons that are too fragile and break easily, or conversely, weapons that are too big and hard to use. The ones that seem to be easy to use will be replaced soon.
Weapons and armor aren't the only items on display. Something like a jewelry box or something like some kind of experimental equipment. There is also something like a mysterious machine. In general, it seems that there are a lot of items that fit the name junk warehouse.
As I pushed my way through the junk, I found a rusty anvil lying on its side on the ground under other junk. I also found another rusty hammer and pincers nearby. The anvil and the hammer seem to be usable once the rust is removed, but the screw part is rusted, and it won't budge even with light force. Is this bad? Well, if you try it and it doesn't work, let's melt it and use it. I borrowed a few other iron accessories that could be used by melting them.
There were also things like black steel and mithril, but it's impossible to handle them with a makeshift self-made furnace because you can't finely adjust the temperature. disappointing.
I look around the junkyard to see if there's anything else I can use. It's kind of exciting, like a treasure hunt. In my original world, I quite liked looking around thrift shops.
There may have been treasure if someone saw it, but at least I've never seen anything like that. Well, in this junk warehouse, as usual, I couldn't find anything useful other than the rusted blacksmithing tools.
"I found what I was looking for. Thank you."
"It's good. It's helpful to have a little less junk."
As I leave the junk warehouse, the veteran penguin shakes his scarred fin. I also climbed the frightening cliff while waving back at the old soldier penguin. I'm not particularly afraid of heights, but climbing narrow stairs without handrails is scary.
☆★☆
"Hmm..."
While polishing the anvil and hammer I got with the whetstone, I thought about what to make. I have very little material on hand. I might be able to make a sword just barely, but I don't feel like making it because the materials for making the hilt and scabbard are scarce. If so, what are you going to do?
"Can you make a throwing knife?"
If I throw it with my physical strength, even a stone can be a fine weapon, but since a stone breaks easily, it lacks lethal force against monsters. However, iron throwing knives and pebbles can easily give effective hits to hard-skinned monsters. Magic is fine, but throwing weapons have the advantage of being quieter and less noticeable.
If it is decided, first of all, we have to remake the pliers. But the hinge part is rusty. Shall I try to move it by force? Gugg-gugg, I pushed it a few times and the rusted pincers slightly opened and closed. Once it starts moving, it's here. Rub Behemoth's tallow on the part that needs to be screwed and patiently open and close it. It took a while, but I was able to restore the functionality to the point where I could use it.
Since I have the minimum tools, I set up an anvil with the rust removed, and solidify the foundation with earth magic to fix it. Reserving water for quenching in a vessel made with earth magic, making a simple refining furnace with earth magic, throwing charcoal made in advance with mochi iron and scrap iron, using fire magic and wind magic. to dissolve.
After cooling down the melted iron, the furnace was destroyed and taken out, and the iron was finally made by refining it with earth magic. Cut the refined iron ingot into pieces with a bush knife coated with magic power, put it in a furnace made for heating and heat it with fire magic. This method is definitely not a normal blacksmith, but I don't have enough equipment, so I use whatever is available.
Make a throwing knife by striking hot iron and shaping it. Well, rather than a throwing knife, would it be more appropriate to describe it as a stick shuriken? I'd like to make something a little larger, but I can't say that I have a lot of materials, so the best I can do is make about five pieces that are about the size of my middle finger.
If this is the case, should I have picked up more iron ore in the leather near the Kett Si village?
It was getting dark by the time the fifth stick shuriken was made by polishing it with a whetstone. It seems that time passed by while he was immersed in his work. When I suddenly raised my face, there was Rifana staring at me with a stigma. She looks a little surprised and leans back.
"What? What happened?"
"What's wrong with this line? I was wondering what you're doing, but you're imitating a blacksmith?"
"Imitation is rude.
"Really? It looks like a strange stick I made."
While saying that, Rifana held the stick shuriken I made in her hand and frowned. I was surprised that it was heavier than I thought.
"What is this?"
"It's a stick shuriken. It's a throwing weapon."
I grabbed one and threw it at a nearby tree. Scone, with a good sound, the stick shuriken stuck halfway into the tree. If you throw it seriously, it seems like it will penetrate. Throw the remaining three in a row and hit the same tree one after another.
The point of impact is somewhat off, but it seems that the throwing skill is not completely lost.
"Phew, I'm not very dexterous."
Rifana also threw a stick shuriken at the same tree as me, but it didn't stick well because it rotated strangely. Feeling frustrated, she silently goes to pick up the stick shuriken. I followed after him and pulled the stick shuriken out of the tree.
The tip isn't chipped or curled, and it seems like it was made well, which is a relief. If I had a tool for carving magic letters, I could work a little more.
While thinking about that, I grabbed the stick shuriken that Rifana offered me.
Gui.
For some reason, Rifana won't let go of the stick shuriken.
"...?"
"I don't like it because I feel like I lost."
"Eh...?"
"I'm going to practice for a while, so please lend it to me."
"Yeah... well, that's fine. I made five and I'll do two."
I can't practice if I fly away with just one. As long as I have the materials, I can make as many as I want in the future.
I push another stick shuriken onto the rifana, collect the tools, and bury the ash from the workshop with earth magic. After finishing the work, she raised her gaze and was startled. Rifana was giggling with stick shuriken in both hands of her. Like this, with an expression that forcibly suppresses her smile.
Our eyes meet.
"W-What's going on!?"
"No, I'm glad you liked it."
"What!? What!? Ah!?"
Oh, this is so bad. let's run away Sensing danger, I dashed away. Wind pressure bullets flew from behind along with cursing. What is it?
Even if you hit it, it won't work!