After my long three-day vacation ended, it was finally time to start working.
And so, I happily went down the mountain and headed to Gimuru.
âGood morning!â [Ryouma]
I greeted the men guarding the northern gate, and then I headed to a corner of the slums.
Upon arriving in front of the large old building, I noticed that a crowd had gathered.
âExcuse me. Excuse me⊠Ah!â [Ryouma]
I pushed my way through the crowd, and when I finally reached the front, I saw the seven people dispatched by the duke. The president of the Morgan Company, Serge-san, was also with them, and even the head of the government office, Arnold-San, and the manager of the slums, Revel-san, were there too. Men who appeared to be their guards and their carriages could also be seen. As a group, they were clearly different from the rest of the crowd.
When I walked up to them to greet themâŠ
âRyouma-sama? Oh, please donât worry, itâs still some time earlier our promised time.â [Serge]
âWe were just early. The kids havenât finished their preparations yet either.â [Revel]
Everyone greeted me, and Serge-san and Revel-san gave me a brief explanation of the situation.
Also, the âkidsâ Revel-san was referring to were none other than the children living in the large old building. There were several buildings like this in the slums. Theyâre meant for children with nowhere to go and are known as a âchildrenâs homeâ.
ButâŠ
âThis isnât my first time seeing it, but it sure is oldâŠâ [Ryouma]
My remark might offend someone, so I made sure to choose my words.
âThatâs a given. According to the records, this building was used to store the raw materials when the town was being built. In other words, itâs even older than the town itself. The storehouses for raw materials are often expanded and relocated during construction, and the ones no longer in use are usually sold to the people.â [Arnold]
After receiving Arnold-sanâs explanation, a lot of things suddenly started to make sense.
The reason why this stone building was built so plainly with an emphasis on space and robustness was probably to make it easier to bring things in and out of it. There are two entrances and exits on the front and back of the building, all of which are big enough to accommodate a carriage.
Moreover, the doors to those entrances and exits were thick as though the makers wanted to take care to prevent theft. The windows were small, and they felt like they were made just big enough to provide ventilation and lighting. There were high walls surrounding the building too, and there were even traces of a thick gate that made sure to separate the inside from the outside. But whatâs more is that itâs so old it seems attempting even the simplest construction if done irresponsibly would cause the whole thing to crumble.
âŠBut of course, as far as Iâm concerned, itâs just an abandoned building, not fit for kids to live in.
âRevel-san. I just want to make sure, but once the kids are ready and they leave and weâre sure that thereâs no one left in the premises, we can start dismantlingă»ă»ă»ă» the building, right?â [Ryouma]
âThe sooner you work, the sooner youâll be able to reconstructă»ă» those kidsâ house, after all. Weâll take care of the kids while the house is being rebuilt, but itâll be a lot more reassuring to have it ready sooner.â [Revel]
Although his face was grim and his words were rough, he was thinking about the children. Thatâs why he agreed to my proposal in the first place, and talked with the owners of this building, the people supporting the children, and the children themselves.
My goal is the construction of a garbage processing plant and a factory, but he probably believes that cooperating with me would improve the living conditions of the people here.
Thatâs why Iâm able to dismantle this house today.
âThank you for your cooperation. Iâll be sure to build it well, so as to not betray your trust and expectations.â [Ryouma]
âIâm counting on you. Not just me, but this whole crowd of people as well â Iâm sure youâre well aware.â [Revel]
âOf course!â [Ryouma]
And then speaking of the devil, it was at that moment that the kids started leaving the building one after another.
All thatâs left now is to confirm a few thingsâŠ
âWere you able to prepare the helpers I asked for?â [Ryouma]
âI secured about 30 people. Theyâre waiting somewhere nearby, so I can call them anytime.â [Hyuzu]
âThank you very much.â [Ryouma]
Looks like we have enough for our first day. In that caseâŠ
âSerge-san and Rurunez-san. That thing I asked you.â [Ryouma]
âThe old clothes for the kids?ăWeâve purchased plenty. Theyâre inside my carriage. We washed them just awhile ago too.â [Serge]
âThe cleaner slimes you lent us are inside this carriage. The children and the contractor, Lilian, are on board. Iâll guide you.â [Rurunez]
âPerfect. Thank you for your help.â [Ryouma]
What Iâd asked the three maids was to prepare a full body cleaning service via the cleaner slimes for the children. Once the kids have been cleaned, we will be distributing the old clothes to them to compensate them for the trouble weâll be causing them.
âTheyâll be getting a new house just before winter fully sets in. Personally, I donât think theyâre troubled at all, but⊠Well, Iâll thank you for your concern anyhow.â [Revel]
âLikewise⊠Now then, itâs still a bit early, but shall we begin? Everything seems ready, soâŠâ [Ryouma]
âRight, letâs.â [Rurunez]
The children gathered by the entrance of the building ranged from a pre-schooler to a middle schoolerâs age. There were 50 of them all in all. Presently, the older kids were counting heads.
âIâll leave the kids to Revel-san, Serge-san, and your group, Rurunez-san.â [Ryouma]
âLeave it to us.â [Revel, Serge, Rurunez]
âHey.â [Hyuzu]
âLetâs make sure thereâs no one left.â [Ryouma]
I used my search magic and confirmed with Hyuzu-sanâs group that there was no one left inside the childrenâs home. After making doubly sure that there was no one left, it was finally time to start demolishing the building.
âIâll call the workers then.â [Zeff]
âAh, Zeff-san!â [Ryouma]
âYeah?â [Zeff]
âAfter you call the workers, please have them wait for a while. I discovered something that might be useful while playing with the slimes during my break, so I want to test it out a bit. The odds of success are pretty high, and if this works out, itâll be quite useful.â [Ryouma]
âA-Alright.â [Zeff]
âAs usual, you get really heated when talking about slimes, huh.â [Hyuzu]
âAh, my badâŠâ [Ryouma]
I did it again, but anyway, they agreed, so letâs start the experiment.
First, I got Hyuzu-san and the others to leave the premises too, then after confirming that there was no one left, I left.
Iâm sure it must be starting to get quite annoying hearing me drone endlessly about confirming that thereâs no one left in the premises, but safety is priority number one in construction work.
After leaving the premises too myself, I opened my dimension home and took out a large jar I prepared. With this, preparations were finally complete.
âHey, is our work not starting yet?â [Worker 1]
âWhat is that kid doing?â [Worker 2]
âI donât give a ratâs ass. I just hope we can get started alreadyâŠâ [Worker 3]
I could hear the unhappy voices of the workers from behind me, soâ
âFu fu⊠Since I have an audience today, I might as well put on a show!â [Ryouma]
âI put a lot of mana into the jar!
Liked it? Take a second to support Novels on Patreon!