Published: August 25, 2025
The Next Day
Since I had already cast a curse to repel people on the rope that Mr. Sebas bought last night, today the goblins and I worked on making the road. As for the adults, from morning everyone was asked to work around the mountain, both to verify the effect and to set the territory.
The goblins were busy processing the felled trees far behind, so only the slimes and I advanced along the mountain path. Having gotten used to installing the earth retention structures, we leisurely passed the construction site on the huge scavenger’s back… and before long, we arrived at the foot of the mountain.
“The tree removal work still remains, but for now, the road is complete enough for carriages to pass through!”
From here, I wanted to do road surface paving and roadside maintenance, but there simply wasn’t enough time. Since it was a place I could reach immediately with spatial magic, for now I’d leave it at just removing the fallen trees. The other tasks could be handled gradually. After all, I planned to stay indoors for a few months until the curse lifted, so I could tend to the finer details during that time.
“Still, it’s hot today.”
Because we were felling trees ahead as we moved, there was nothing blocking the sunlight. Moreover, the sun was particularly strong today. This heat was different from the humid heat of the Tree Sea—it burned the skin. This was probably the effect of the mana recharge the gods had mentioned last winter’s snowfall.
“That lost magic... with this sunlight, the cursed items might burn before the curse lifts… depending on the object and time, they might even melt.”
Research into the lost magic hadn’t progressed. It had only been two days, and last night I had prioritized the rope, so naturally the time was short. We hadn’t even grasped a clue yet. Lord Rosenberg had said it would take time, so there was no helping it.
More importantly, I had to drink water frequently... I took out a water bottle from the Item Box and gave instructions to the goblins as well. Then it suddenly occurred to me: this was already the fifth day since arriving at this mountain. We had taken breaks but no full days off. Should we set a day off soon?
Personally, I enjoyed studying cursed arts and didn’t even want a day off, but there were people accompanying me.
“Should we finish work early today and maybe have some drinks tonight? Or would it be better to take tomorrow off? Or both? …Let’s discuss and decide.”
The rope was already stretched at the boundary between the highway and the mountain ahead. I didn’t know if they were to the right or left, but they must be somewhere there. Our work was done for now, so I would go check and suggest what I thought of.
After casting enhancement magic, I ran for about five minutes. Luckily, I was heading in the right direction, and I found everyone where the rope continued. As I approached, Miya noticed me first.
“Ryoma nya!”
“Good work, everyone. The path is connected here, so I came to check on things.”
“As you can see, we’re still working here. But since the amount of rope is limited, I don’t think it’ll take much longer, nya.”
“There was 15km of it, but this was faster than expected.”
“The quantity was large, so it took some time, but handling ropes is easy for adventurers. Mr. Sebas, the butler, places the ropes at fixed intervals, so there’s almost no need to carry them around, and if the remaining eight people split the work, it’s manageable. If we tie the rope directly to the trees, there’s no need for stakes or supports.”
“Besides that, everyone is efficient, so the work is proceeding smoothly. Since we don’t have enough rope to completely encircle the perimeter, we are prioritizing the parts closest to the highway where people pass.”
Miseria puffed out her chest, and then Eleonora pointed out the issues. The rope stock wasn’t surprising or a big problem. Since we weren’t in a rush, it was something we could handle gradually.