Amakawa Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts With a Village Volume 2

1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3070-2
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band 2, 319 Seiten

Reihe: Fushi no Kami: Rebuilding Civilization Starts With a Village

Aided by his past-life memories, Ash went through strenuous efforts at his village to recreate the convenient and bountiful life recorded in the legends of the ancient civilization in this world. As a result, he obtained the right to study alongside Maika in Itsutsu city, where a vast collection of unseen books awaits him.
At his arrival, Ash is welcomed by the acting count Itsuki, as well as a girl disguised as the former's younger brother, Arthur. But more importantly, he is faced with the disappointing reality of the city's lacking resources and outdated technology.
Ash enlists Maika and Arthur to change that reality. They start by trying to figure out a way to use some supposedly poisonous crops and repurpose the dangerous compost. Meanwhile, the 'demons' responsible for the decline of humanity are lurking in the shadows.
This is the second chapter of the story about a young boy who sets out to revolutionize the world in order to rebuild civilization and create his ideal life!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Amakawa, Mizuumi

Weitere Mitwirkende

Okuma, Mai

Alesch, Maurice

Leseproben

The Page Will Absorb Your Tears

Finally, I, Ash, had arrived in the big city!

After having done so many things in the farm village, the village chief had praised me—or at least I took it as praise—saying, “Ash, you’ve already done so many amazing things. I wonder what you’ll achieve once you go to study in the city.”

My first impression of the city from a distance could have been summed up with the words “stone walls”—that was all you could see from the outside. Combined with its location on a hill, the city seemed to be well-protected. Indeed, it was a place in need of high-defense capacities. Just looking at those walls almost made me fall down a spiral of anxiety. Thankfully, the city was also the birthplace of my great benefactor, Mrs. Yuika, so I could more or less view it with a different perspective.

Right away, I noticed that the walls had several crooked parts, which I assumed to be hastily-executed emergency repairs after battle damage. This was alarming. I sensed that the inside of the city was much further away from the cultural standards of my past life—or even that of this world’s ancient civilization—than I had expected. Once I took care of the village, this city was going to fulfill the extremely important role of becoming my next base of operations in my quest to achieve a cultural revival, so I was worried about its condition.

You could say that the city was like a nest where I was going to incubate my dreams. First and foremost, there needed to be enough food in the surroundings of the nest. This was necessary before laying the eggs, while taking care of them, and after they had hatched. The nest itself required superior building materials and construction techniques to avoid the tragedy of it falling down. In my case, this meant all sorts of raw materials and technology. And last but not least, threats from outside enemies were of course a big problem for the nest. We had to be prepared to repel any predator eyeing the eggs, and depending on the situation, we would need appropriate defensive structures as well as enough food and raw materials to hold out.

Firstly, applying the average amount of food produced per capita at Noscula village, where I was born and raised, to the population of this city, there was no way that would adequately feed 50,000 people.

Secondly, considering that the stone wall had only undergone emergency repairs, it could be assumed that there was a lack of either raw materials or adequate technology, or maybe even both. That was seriously concerning, since this city also acted as a military base, which meant that it received preferential treatment in terms of budget and latest technology. I was a bit scared to learn about the actual conditions.

Lastly, on top of the defensive structures themselves being inadequate, it appeared that the only weapons atop the stone walls were ballistae. There were no traces of any chemical weapons. I could not see any gunpowder or muzzleloaders. The defensive system relied entirely on physical strength, and thus was unreliable.

Regardless, I was not going to give up, so it was not game over yet. I was determined to continue until I would win. The odds were stacked against me, but I was aware of that since my time in the village. If I could be stopped by that little bit of despair, I would not have come this far. I just had to do it myself! I needed to increase food and resource production, as well as improve technology and defensive structures until they met the standards necessary to hatch my dreams!

Even if my passion was burning as bright as the sun, it was hard to channel that energy with a single human body as an output device. So, what could I do?

I gave a fiery look to Lady Maika, who was standing next to me gazing at the city.

“Uhm... W-What is it, Ash?” She smiled and fixed her hair after noticing me.

It looked like the first lady of our village was embarrassed by the appearance of her hair, which was all messed up from the wind. This was a stark contrast to the girl who used to love playing in the dirt back in the village. She was making an effort to appear more ladylike.

“I am looking forward to continuing to work with you,” I said.

“To continuing to work with me?”

As I smiled at her with these thoughts in mind, she nodded in agreement with a bright-red face. “O-Of course! You can always count on me!” she said in a fluster.

That was the kind of enthusiasm I expected! I needed more helpers like her. If on my own I was limited, I just needed to rely on others. Rather than remodeling myself to have 100 arms, it was much easier to recruit the help of 50 other people. According to Mrs. Yuika, many talented people lived in the city. All the children who came to the city like Lady Maika appeared to be from influential families in the countryside. In that case, this was the perfect place to recruit and strategize with collaborators.

First, I needed to take care of food production. More food equaled more people, which in turn increased the potential for talented human resources whom I could drag in as collaborators. It was the perfect plan to turn this city into a safe and comfortable haven to live in.

As my flames of ambition were burning, a strong wind started blowing. Poor Lady Maika kept trying to fix her hair, but to no avail.

“My hair’s a mess!”

“The season of strong winds is almost over, but today it is still quite strong.”

From fall until winter, this kind of wind was common in this region. If only I could become a wind shield for Lady Maika... But unfortunately, she was taller than me; a body of my height could not really prevent any winds from messing her hair.

At that moment, Mr. Quid, who had promised to take us to the city, came to our rescue with his covered wagon.

“I finally caught up to you two,” he said. “Please stop going ahead by yourselves. After all, it’s part of my job to make sure you’re safe.”

“Ah, Quid. You have come at the right time. We are sorry for making you worry.” While apologizing, I took Lady Maika’s hand and guided her into the wagon. “The horse carriage is indeed a good cover. Let us use Quid as a wind shield until we reach the city.”

“T-Thanks, Ash!”

It seemed that Mr. Quid wanted to say something. “I mean, I want to keep you safe, but I didn’t expect you to treat me as a cover.”

“The wind is strong after all.”

“But it is also a sign of good luck,” he remarked. “It gives you a push when starting something new. The same wind was blowing when I changed my job to become a merchant.”

Oh, did I hear that correctly? It seemed that a lot of people started on a new path in the season between fall harvest and winter, the leisure season for farmers. People who came to make some extra money in the city, away from their home in the farm village; people who decided to change careers after obtaining some funds from the harvest; and people with development plans who had a surplus of produce and manpower.

If people who had succeeded in their ventures said that “The wind blew me into the direction of success,” it was no wonder that it had become a sign of good luck. There must have been just as many—if not more—stories of people who failed, but they usually stayed quiet. In other words, if you had fully developed wings, the wind would help you soar through the skies, but if your wings were still underdeveloped, it would just blow you off in a random direction.

“What’s wrong with Ash? He seems to have drifted off. Do you know what happened, Maika?”

“Oh, that’s just what he’s like when he gets fired up. I’m not really sure why he does that or what to do to bring him back.”

“Hm, I see...”

“But don’t worry! He’s invincible once he’s in this state!”

“Oh!”

And off we went to the still-disappointing city, which I was eventually going to turn into a place of my liking.

As expected, the inside was utterly disheartening. After passing through the gate, all I could see were wooden, single-story buildings. I was in shock. The houses were mostly likely single-story because of the stove, which acted both as a heating and cooking facility. They were constructed out of clay, so I could not imagine any scenario...