Dream Life Chapter 28.1: “The Shadow of Demons”

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　February 14.

　The year has begun and a month and a half have passed.

　Here in Rathmore Village, it is completely covered in snow and a silvery-white world.

　The soap had been distributed to all of the 80 houses in the village, and education had begun with Kate’s classes for adults.

　The blackboards were made by Craig, a craftsman. He polished the surface of the 1m x 0.5m wooden board so that it would be portable, colored it black using paint made from charcoal and oil, and managed to make something that looked like it. I wanted to make it green, but there were no good green paints available, so I stuck with black.

　As for the chalk, I made it from finely ground limestone that I baked and hardened.

　It is more brittle than I expected and not as comfortable to write with, but it works for the time being.

　I tried making dried pasta using flour, which I cut by hand without a pasta machine.

　Using Combination Magic of the wind and fire attributes, I stretched and cut the noodles and dried them.

　Because I stretched them quite thinly, they were dried after a short time, but I think they are a little over-dried.

　At any rate, I asked Molly to boil water and boiled them in salt water, but the texture was delicate.

　It was too much trouble to make a pasta machine, so I kneaded and stretched it like udon or soba noodles, and then cut it with a knife. Of course, a four-year-old could not do this with his physical strength, so Walt and Molly did it for me. The noodles were dried in the sun during the sunny days of winter and then dried for about 10 days with the help of magic.

　The noodles dried well and were ready to eat when boiled, but the texture was not good.

　The reason for this was that the thickness of the dried pasta was not uniform, and the boiling time could not be adjusted properly.

　Eating them is also very difficult, as there is only a knife and a spoon to eat them. I modified a wooden spoon to make a simple fork and served it to my family with a sauce flavored with salted pork and chili peppers, but it was not well received.

　My father commented, “It’s not only a hassle to make, but it’s also hard to eat. And I don’t think it’s very good. It may be good for outdoor eating, but I don’t think it will sell well.”

　Since other people’s impressions were similar, we decided that the dried pasta was a failure.

(After all, we’ll have to ferment the overproduced wheat into liquor, too. …The fact that the pasta didn’t work out may have been the result of a deeper psychological need to make liquor…) (Zack)

　The year 307 in Castle Hill is going to be a baby boom.

　After the announcement of my mother’s pregnancy, I found out early in the year that Sharon’s mother, Claire, was also showing signs of pregnancy. She, too, was found to be in her third month of pregnancy, and the baby was expected in July.

　Soon after, we found out that Mel’s mother, Polly, was also pregnant. My grandfather laughed and said that this summer would be filled with the sound of crying babies.

　I didn’t know this, but Mel had a younger sister, born three years earlier. She was born three years ago, but fell ill and died when she was only two months old.

　And Nicholas and Kate’s daughter, Jean, who is newly married, is showing signs of the same thing, so we’re keeping an eye on her.

　Every time I heard this story, I was reminded of God’s story.

　I wondered if the “fated child” is among them.

　As for myself, my training is going well and I am up to level 4 in both Sword Arts and Magic.

　I feel that my body is also growing, albeit little by little.

　However, for the past few days, my grandfather’s and father’s faces have been clouded, and there is a heavy atmosphere among the squires.

　Guy and Hector are patrolling the forest with the hunters, and they are not happy with the state of the forest. They found traces of bears, which are not seen in this season, and snow leopards, which are supposed to be deeper in the mountains.

　They also found goblin-like footprints in the snow, and they were wondering what was going on deep in the forest.

　Grandfather and father decided to send the village patrol into the forest.

“We’re going to do a big search of the forest, just to be sure. Hector, lead about thirty men to follow the trail. Guy, take the hunters and check further into the forest. I hope nothing is wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this” (Govan)

　Grandfather orders Hector to lead 30 village patrol members to investigate the forest.

　It was also decided that Guy, a former adventurer, would go up the Woodford River with three hunters and extend the scope of their investigation to the foot of the Aquila Mountains.

　February 15.

　Early in the morning, Hector’s team heads for the forest.

　Guy’s team would take three days, so they loaded their supplies onto a sled and departed from the village.

　In the evening, Hector’s team seemed to have come up empty and returned without any particular result.

“The bear and leopard tracks were heading north. The goblins’ tracks once headed west, then north. Apparently, they fled from the southeast.” (Hector)

　After Grandfather gave Hector and the others words of encouragement, Grandfather and Father discussed how to proceed.

　In the end, they came to no conclusion and decided to wait for the results of Guy and the others.

　Three days later, just before noon on February 18, a tired-looking Guy returned home.

“We found a large number of footprints about five kilometers upstream on the Woodford River. They are orcs and ogres.” (Guy)

　My grandfather exclaimed, “Orcs and ogres, you say…” while my father crossed his arms with a look of distress on his face.

“Yes, there are nearly a hundred orcs and more than a dozen ogres just from what we have been able to ascertain. Fortunately, they are moving from east to northwest, crossing the Sirin River, a relatively large river that flows about five kilometers north of the Rathmore Village. …We have scouted up to the point where they crossed.” (Guy)

“Ogres and orcs… Are the ogres chasing the orcs?” (Govan)

　Guy shook his head quietly.

“I don’t know, but at least I don’t think the orcs’ tracks were disturbed in any way if they were running away.” (Guy)

　His grandfather looks incredulous.

“…Did the orcs and the ogres travel together? Well, there’s no trace of them coming back here, right?” (Govan)

“Yes, we have returned from the Sirin River along the foot of Mount Schiehallion, a small mountain north of the Rathmore Village, but there is no sign that they are headed this way, at least not yet.” (Guy)

　My father asked, “Do you have any other information to report?”

“There were many tracks older than the ogre tracks, heading north. Wolves, deers, bears, a lot more, seem to have entered Mount Schiehallion.” (Guy)

　Guy’s opinion was that the animals and weaker monsters had fled in fear of the ogres.

　Grandfather gathered Walt and the other squires to discuss the future.

　However, they could not come up with any effective countermeasures other than to increase the security around the village because they had too little information.

　After the squires left, I was summoned by my grandfather and father.

“It’s about the ogres. I want your opinion.” (Govan)

　I was surprised at their words,

“I am an amateur in military affairs. I don’t know enough about the military to give you an opinion.” (Zack)

　My grandfather shook his head and said, “Whatever you think is best. Tell me what you think,” he asked me again for my opinion.

　To be honest, I had never seen an ogre or an orc, and without knowing the strength of the village patrol, I could not decide what to say.

　Orcs, by the way, are about 1.8 to 2 meters tall, with hard hair all over their bodies, their bellies protruding loosely, and their legs short. They are demonic creatures with a short snout, fangs several centimeters in length protruding upward from the lower jaw, and a small horn on the forehead about two centimeters in length.

　On the other hand, ogres are powerful demons with a colossal body over three meters tall, thick arms, and a mouth with two pairs of sharp fangs, one above and one below, and with the physical strength to match their massive body.

　Both of these demons have low intelligence, but they are belligerent and greedy and are most hated by the people because they eat humans and take away women for breeding.

“Is it possible for our village patrol to fight a hundred orcs and ten ogres?” (Zack)

　My grandfather immediately replies, “It’s impossible.”

“Is it possible for orcs and ogres to be in the same pack?” (Zack)

“At least I haven’t heard of it. Matt, how about you?” (Govan)

“… No … Well, I don’t think so, but Demonfolk should be able to use them as their own familiars.” (Matt)

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