Nurturing the Hero to Avoid Death

Translator: mii

Editors: ASplashOfMusic, sleepchaser

The busy days pass by quickly.

Before I know it, the weather has now warmed enough that wearing a cardigan without a coat already suffices.

I feel like the days when the rose blossoms were in full bloom just happened yesterday. But now, I can’t find even a smidge of their crimson color in nature anymore. The trees are currently completely green.

Time sure passes really fast. Like seriously.

Since I’ve had so many things to do recently, I feel this all the more strongly.

There’s also that very regrettable time when I tried to make cherry blossom rice cake using pickled rose blossoms, fresh leaves, and some other pickled ingredients. It ended in complete failure.

I thought that as long as I made the scent lighter, it would work out well… I was too optimistic.

From that bitter experience, I have reached the conclusion that I need a flower with a similar scent rather than one with a similar look to properly reproduce the rice cake.

Marie and the kids told me that the cake was delicious, but I can’t tolerate this. This won’t do at all.

Cherry blossom rice cake must have a refined scent that is reminiscent of warm spring!

So in the future, I’m going to look out for any vegetable that has a similar scent to cherry blossoms.

Also, the steamed rice cake around the bean jam should be a little chewier. It’s quite difficult to remake that special coarse rice powder that creates this soft and glutinous texture when cooked.

…Hm.

My thoughts are getting off track. Let’s return to the main topic.

My progress on the village defense plan is steadily increasing. Each part of the plan is being completed one by one.

The second demon-deterring line of defense or the Blazing Electric Iron Wire fence was especially installed along the western border of the village. This is the second time we’ve made a fence, so the work is progressing even more smoothly than when we built the first fence.

With this progress, we should be able to complete it sooner than my expected completion date. I’m very grateful to the workers and villagers who have helped.

Also, the new defense line proposed by Schwede Scherzer, who came to this village at the end of last year, is now completed. We only started the project at the beginning of the year, but we managed to finish it at a crazy speed.

Well, that’s because the work itself isn’t very difficult as long as we have the Holy Stone Pillar of the Holy Mountain.

In other words, once we get the holy stone pillar, we just have to drive it into the ground, measuring the distances to maximize its effective range. To be honest, it’s a very easy task.

After all, all of the materials will be prepared by the church. I just have to wait for the materials to arrive.

But every time I think about the acquisition of the holy stone pillars, which is the core material we need… The resulting mental fatigue I get isn’t even a joke anymore.

…Setting that aside, since I can obtain the stone pillar without any delay, I try not to think about whether this is right or wrong. I’m already suffering mental agony. My stomach also hurts.

It’s not good, but I can think about it later on. I can just bury it in one corner of my mind and ignore it for now.

Other than that…

Following my original plan, the third defense line is also in its final stage.

The third line of defense will display its power once the demons have crossed the second defense line, the Blazing Electric Iron Wire. It’s called the Holy Water Tile.

As you may be able to guess from its name, this trap is a landmine. If a monster steps on it, the large bottle of holy water buried in the ground will break.

Holy water is as versatile as the series of alarms I’ve made, and they can be used in many ways.

Aside from burying it in the ground, if we tie some bottles onto tree branches, it will break once the flying demons touch it.

On some occasions, we can also throw it directly at the demons.

If the holy water works as well as I expect it to, it should be able to purify and repel most of the tiny demons. There’s a big chance that the demons will feel scared and run away.

And it’s not just the tiny demons. The medium-sized and large demons will surely take some damage too to some extent. It doesn’t matter if the damage caused is significant or only minimal. Either way, I can expect them to be somewhat weakened from being hit by the holy water. In particular, if it’s their legs that take the damage, then it will not only slow down their movement speed but also stop them on their tracks.

Holy water may have a lot of advantages, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have any disadvantages. A large amount of holy water is absolutely essential for making this trap.

Just like the Holy Stone Pillars of the Holy Mountain, the holy water is also provided by the church… Again, there’s that headache-inducing offering problem.

Since I need it in large quantities, the amount of offerings needed makes me tremble just thinking about it.

However, that’s actually not a problem anymore.

Because the Holy Maiden is here!

Now, it’s possible to locally source holy water and mass-produce it in a short period of time.

It pains me to ask Marie to do this, considering the time and physical strength needed to purify water… But Efa has plenty of time and physical strength. And like Alfred, she has too much magic power and divine power, making this task possible for her.

Just like when Alfred charged magic stones until they’re full of magic power for me before.

Once she’s done making it, all that’s left is to infuse it. So now, I’m planning to create and install the holy water in sequence.

I’m not only using the protagonist’s strength but also the Holy Maiden’s ability.

I will use whatever I can use. After all, I’m betting on everyone’s and my life. In this situation, I can’t keep caring about trivial things like my feelings and pride. That kind of thing has to be thrown in the trash.

I will definitely protect them, no matter what kind of measures I have to take.

Definitely.

So I look for a suitable time to ask Efa to make holy water as a part-time job. Thankfully, she immediately accepts my request, telling me it’s an easy thing to do. Moreover, she reduces the price I offer to her for the job. She even wanted to do it for free at the beginning, saying that I’ve always been taking care of her. But I decline since I feel apologetic for making her do something without any compensation.

From the story I heard from Marie in the past, making holy water requires the maker to take clear spring water from the mountains in the morning, dip paper with written scriptures into the water, and pour a lot of prayers into it. And before that, it’s necessary to cleanse the maker’s body with the spring water. That sounds tough.

Considering the effort and time, making her do it for free is too painful for me.

With Efa accepting the job of creating holy water, I don’t have any more problems in that matter.

After that, as soon as she finishes her work, I simply have to strategically place it around the divide, completing the third line of defense.

The Leis village defense plan is progressing more smoothly than I initially thought.

…Well, there have also been a few concerning cases that give me headaches and stomachaches just thinking about it.

It started at the end of last year, when Efa and “the knight who shouldn’t have come here” came to this village… Sometimes, I’ve experienced situations or events that never happened in the game.

…Every time I’m faced with such unexpected situations, I get confused, panicked, upset, and troubled.

For example…

…For some reason, Efa is usually among the group of kids that always run towards me whenever I visit the church.

I mean, she’s mixing with them so well that I don’t feel any sense of incongruity from that sight. Just like the kids, her cheeks are flushed as she says, “Play with me! Pay attention to me!” with a big grin on her face.

I feel like she’s getting too attached to me. Or maybe I’m just thinking too much?