Kousuke, having finished creating a large number of bricks, began working on the foundation for the house.
He made the fairies work through the spirits as if using heavy machinery, creating the necessary parts one after another.
However, no matter how many spirits he used, he couldn’t create everything at once, and it still took a considerable amount of time.
Kousuke estimated that it would take about a day to complete the planned foundation.
He had decided yesterday that the house would be about the size of a small mansion (about two Japanese houses), so he accepted that it would take time.
The reason the house’s size wasn’t decided until the last minute was that he had been considering what functions the house should have until the very end.
Now that he had finally decided, he was beginning construction on the foundation, a crucial part of the house.
Kousuke found joy not only in the process of creating magic tools (in this case, a house) but also in contemplating what to make, which was typical of his way of spending time.
After all, he wasn’t working on commission for someone else, nor was he inconveniencing anyone, which allowed him to do as he pleased.
While the Nores were working, Kousuke had nothing else to do.
However, the Nores only worked because Kousuke was nearby; if Kousuke left his side, the Nores would also leave after completing their given instructions.
If any sudden situation arose, the same would happen, so Kousuke couldn’t leave the construction site while it was in progress.
So, what did this mean?
“…I’m bored.”
Mitsuki, who was accompanying him today, overheard Kousuke’s mumbling and chuckled.
“Shall we stop construction for a bit and go do something to pass the time?”
Knowing that Kousuke would never do such a thing, Mitsuki asked him anyway.
As expected, Kousuke responded with a displeased expression.
“…I won’t do that.”
Kousuke wanted to see the completed house as soon as possible.
To achieve that, he was prepared to sacrifice other tasks and focus on this one.
He had considered playing cards or games to kill time, but playing against Mitsuki, who could do everything at a high level (except cleaning), didn’t seem very fun.
When she held back, it annoyed him, so it wouldn’t last long.
Mitsuki, who saw through Kousuke’s feelings, didn’t let her smile fade, and there was a good reason for that.
“Oh? If you say so, that’s fine. But it seems you can have something to do to pass the time right away.”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
Intrigued by her words, Kousuke narrowed his eyes and looked at Mitsuki.
Mitsuki shrugged, taking his gaze.
“It’s nothing major. Nana is coming this way with Colette.”
Following Mitsuki’s gaze towards the Teleport Gate, Kousuke looked in the same direction.
“Ah, I see.”
Kousuke nodded in understanding, but then he chuckled.
“It’s not Colette bringing Nana, but the other way around.”
“Oh? That’s not wrong, is it?”
“Well, that’s true.”
If someone else had heard them, they might have gotten angry, but unfortunately, no one else was present.
Furthermore, even if the person in question had heard this, she wouldn’t have gotten angry; she would have just laughed or given a bitter smile.
Colette had never been to this place before, and it was true that Nana was guiding her, but the fact that such a statement didn’t feel out of place for Nana was quite something.
***
Unaware of Kousuke and Mitsuki’s conversation, Colette arrived about five minutes later, led by Nana.
“I heard about it… but you’ve really done something quite unconventional again.”
Colette said as soon as she arrived, pressing a hand to her temple as if to steady herself.
Hearing Colette’s words, Kousuke deliberately averted his gaze from her.
Even so, she hadn’t stopped petting Nana, which was quite characteristic of her.
Colette had heard from Shurein, Silvia, and Floria, who had been observing the land-leveling work, and had decided to come and see for herself today while she had free time.
“…Nore is incredibly skilled, isn’t he?”
Kousuke tried to deflect the conversation by attributing the feat to Nore’s abilities rather than his own.
However, his plan was easily foiled.
“Normally, one can’t control a fairy as powerful as Nore.”
“Ugh.”
Kousuke, finding himself in an even deeper predicament, gave up on arguing, realizing it was pointless.
Mitsuki, watching from the side, wondered what the point was in struggling pointlessly when he knew from the beginning how this would turn out, but Kousuke didn’t notice at all.
Colette, not wanting to interrupt Nore and the others’ work, approached Kousuke while looking at the completed foundation, tilting her head.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“I understand you’re using spirits for the work, but you can’t do it with just earth spirits, can you?”
Although her words were in the form of a question, Colette’s statement, which indicated her certainty, was met with a small nod from Kousuke.
“Yeah. Just earth would make the surface rough, so I’m asking the wind to smooth it out.”
“It looks like only the earth spirits are moving right now?”
Colette had expected that wind spirits were being used for shaping the foundation, but she came to Kousuke to confirm because only earth spirits were currently working.
“Ah. At first, I had them work together, but it didn’t go well. They didn’t exactly fight, but their efficiency dropped when they worked together, so I decided to give them separate instructions.”
Initially, Kousuke thought it would be more efficient for the earth and wind spirits to work together, but he discovered that they could finish the work faster if they operated separately.
Therefore, he now had the earth spirits create the base of the foundation, and then had the wind spirits do the final shaping.
“Of course, there are times when they need to work at the same time.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Colette nodded at Kousuke’s explanation.
However, although Colette had initially accepted his explanation, she still had something bothering her and tilted her head.
“Still, I’ve never heard of earth and wind spirits not getting along.”
It wasn’t just earth and wind; even elves knowledgeable about spirits would have never heard of spirits being on bad terms.
It was natural for Colette to wonder about this.
“Hmm. As I said earlier, it’s not that they’re on bad terms… How should I explain it?”
Kousuke tilted his head in the same way Colette did as he spoke, but then he clapped his hands together.
“Ah, that’s it. It would be better to say their coordination isn’t good.”
“Coordination… Ah, I see what you mean.”
As expected, Colette immediately understood what Kousuke meant and looked convinced.
To use many spirits, one must issue proper instructions.
If the task was something that could be completed in an instant, like an attack, or something that maintained the same state for a long time, like a barrier, the spirits would move with a single command.
However, for tasks like the one Kousuke was currently undertaking, detailed instructions were often necessary.
When multiple spirits were involved in such tasks, their efficiency inevitably decreased.
As a result, it turned out to be faster for each spirit to complete its individual task before passing instructions to the next.
Furthermore, the idea of using spirits for such work was unheard of, so it hadn’t become apparent until now, which was why Colette hadn’t understood.
By the way, although the foundation building appears to have been done easily, it actually took several days.
This was also a period for Kousuke to hone his skills in controlling the spirits.
