Published: January 4, 2026
I took ゾーイ and started walking again.
There had been an unexpected accident, but as an inspection, I hadn’t seen much yet.
I decided to look around a bit more and walked on, with ゾーイ following behind.
A little further ahead, I saw a commotion.
By one of the cooking fires, around a pot of freshly cooked white rice, there was a middle-aged man and a young girl.
The man looked to be around forty, and the girl was probably just about ten years old.
The girl was holding a chipped teacup and was pleading with the man about something.
“Um… isn’t this amount too little…?”
“Huh? Are you making baseless accusations?”
“N-no, it’s not like that… It’s fine now…”
The girl, having been threatened, had tried to plead something but, unable to do anything, she could only retreat dejectedly.
She began walking slowly, still holding the steaming bowl of rice.
I quickened my pace to catch up with the girl.
Zoe followed as well.
“Hey there, girl.”
“Huh?”
“Can I have a moment?”
I called out, and the girl stopped.
She looked at us, somewhat frightened.
Seeing our appearance, she started to tremble.
Even if you do nothing, some commoners are afraid of officials.
Because of the authority tied to official positions, timid people are sometimes scared just by their presence.
This girl hadn’t done anything particularly wrong; she was just scared at the sight of well-dressed officials—me.
“Don’t be afraid. I want to ask you a few questions.”
“Y-yes. What is it?”
“It looked like you were having a dispute earlier. Did something happen?”
“Ah… um…”
The girl lowered her eyes.
After hesitating for a moment, she timidly began to speak.
“I asked someone to cook rice for me.”
“Cook it for you?”
“Yes. Well, my father and mother aren’t here anymore, so I don’t know how to cook rice.”
“I see.”
From behind, I felt Zoe’s presence change.
I sensed irritation, or rather, anger.
This was another consequence of distributing raw rice.
Cooking rice requires skill and tools.
Without tools, you need even more ingenuity.
Unlike the children from before who apparently knew not to eat raw rice, this girl, having lost her parents and probably her home in the earthquake, didn’t have the knowledge to cook rice herself.
Since she couldn’t cook it on her own, she must have begged someone who could to cook it for her.
“So, the rice was cooked, but they cheated you on the amount?”
“Probably… I’m not sure, but when others cooked rice, there was more…”
The girl said this, gazing sadly at the bowl of white rice she held.
“The one from before—”
“It’s fine.”
Zoe turned around, but I stopped her.
She paused and looked at me.
“More importantly, fetch some rice, and a pot too.”
“Yes.”
Without asking, Zoe took off running.
I looked around.
There was a small forest a little distance away.
“Do you have family?”
“No, it’s just me.”
“I see. Come with me.”
I said, and started walking with the girl.
She followed, still carrying the rice.
We left the cooking area and arrived at the forest.
In part of the forest, bamboo was growing.
I summoned Leviathan and cut several stalks at the base.
“Gather some dried bamboo.”
“Y-yes!”
The girl hurriedly followed my instructions.
Still holding the rice, she skillfully gathered the dried, brown bamboo with one hand.
While she did that, I processed the freshly cut green bamboo.
I used a single segment to make a tube shape and carved a lid that could open and close.
By the time I finished, the girl had gathered the dried bamboo.
“Is this alright?”
“Yeah, it’s nicely split and dry, so it should make good firewood.”
After confirming the bamboo she gathered, I used it to start a fire.
Many think that putting bamboo on a fire will make it pop loudly, but that’s only true for green bamboo.
If bamboo is dried, split, and has lost moisture, it won’t pop when lit.
I started a fire with the dried bamboo, nurturing the flames.
Bahamut was insisting in my mind that it was his turn, but I calmed it and let nature take its course.