Jin was looking at the Citran left in Martha’s kitchen and reminiscing about what happened last year.
In early summer, around the time it had become warm. Jin had thought he’d make a refrigerator to preserve foods, but without yet having the means of returning to Hourai Island he abandoned the plan due to a material shortage.
But now.
“Hmm, anything that makes life easier is alright… No way that’s the case.”
Although he was no longer a wanted man, he had a problem with Kaina Village standing out too much.
“What should I do…”
Jin went outside and gazed at the spring scenery of the mountain range.
The snow on top of the low montains had already disappeared, but the tall mountains seen far away were covered in firn.
“Snow, huh… That’s it!”
Jin returned to the dining room and asked Hannah who was gulping down the Citran,
“Hannah, does snow fall in this village?”
“Eh?”
Hannah who had been eating Citran couldn’t understand what Jin was getting after and stared at him in puzzlement for quite a while.
“Jin-nii, ask a bit more properly.”
Somehow he ended up chided by Elsa.
“Ah, my bad. Hannah, I wasn’t here during the midwinter so I don’t know. I was wondering how much does it snow during the winters here?
This time he asked more clearly and Hannah also seemed to understand him.
“Well you see, until the year changes it doesn’t snow. But it snows in February and March. But in March the snow melts soon while in February it doesn’t melt so it’s a big problem.”
She told this to Jin.
Jin had been her until just before the end of the year. He hadn’t seen any snow piling up, but apparently it doesn’t snow that much before the year changes.
“But you know, because this year we had the horsies onii-chan made for us, everyone said that clearing the snow was easy.”
Jin heard that it apparently snowed so much that clearing it was necessary, and this solidified his idea.
“Alright. Let’s make an icehouse.”
“A nice house?”
Elsa who was next to him asked for an explanation
“Ah, an icehouse is a hole or some such dug in the earth which is filled with snow, which you can then use to preserve food. By filling it with snow in the winter it can be used during warm summers. The only thing needed to set one up is labour.”
After hearing that Elsa raised her voice in admiration.
“Amazing idea. Is that from Jin-nii’s world too?”
“That’s right. Let’s first get permission to do it. Hannah, I’m going to the chief-san’s place for a bit.”
Jin called out to Hannah. Hannah nodded. Elsa reseated herself next to her.
“Mh-hm, take care.”
Seen off by Elsa and Hannah, Jin went to the village chief’s house. Reiko silently followed after Jin, but seeing him have fun she also broke into a smile.
The village’s housewives were gathered at the village chief’s house.
“Jin! I hear you brought souvenirs? Thanks!”
“They seem tasty, don’t they? I’ll go home at once and try eating them with my children!”
“Come on, leave some for your husband.”
“I know, I know!”
And so on, the scene was bustling. Amidst all that the village chief Gheebeck came to Jin and asked,
“Jin, can I help you with something?”
Jin then told him how he wanted to make an icehouse.
“Hmm, an ice house, huh. We’ve been storing vegetables and such by burying them in the snow when there is some, but you’re talking about using it more proactively. Indeed, being able to conserve food during hot summers would be helpful.”
“Jin, you’ve got to make one! It’s a problem that meat and such don’t keep well during summers!”
“As expected from Jin! You’re so reliable.”
As not just the chief but the housewives who were there too gave him the approval, only thing left was deciding the location.
Although it would be little by little, nonetheless as the snow melted it would turn to water, so a place with good drainage or a low place in the village was wanted.
After a discussion, in the end it was decided that it would be built in the plaza where there was a storehouse for wheat. Because centralizing the food management would be convenient. Also, the drainage appeared to be good.
“Alright, Gon, Gen, Reiko, lend me a hand.”
“Yes, Father.”
Jin then headed for the plaza where the storehouse for food would be. It was on the east side of the village, and gently sloped downward towards the forest.
Jin decided to build the icehouse there in the southmost spot that was empty.
“Dig a hole over here similar to the shelter.”
He issued orders for Gon and Gen. As it was work they had already done once, they were rather good at it even without explaining the details.
Moreover as this area wasn’t rocky, work progressed quickly.
He had Reiko assist by using the [Dig] spell, enlargening the hole.
Jin used [Hardening] to reinforce the hole’s walls.
With their coordinated work, the ice house was finished in less than two hours.
The icehouse itself was beyond a passage sloping downward, and it was about as large as two elementary school class rooms.
He arranged stones to improve the flooring and drainage. The water would soak into the ground through the crevices in the stone.
It ended up being about three meters underground, and as a result was also well-insulated. An additional reason for the good insulation was probably the effect of the dug up soil which had been piled up on top of the icehouse. Later when grass sprouted there it would get even better.
“This is fine. Apart from installing the Magi Lamps which we can do later, snow is what’s essential.”
At this time of the year the snow of Kaina village had all melted by now.
“I guess it has to be brought from the mountains…No.”
Wouldn’t it be fine to make the snow using magic?
Right then Elsa and Hannah turned up together.
“Onii-chan, it’s lunchtime…So, what have you made?”
“Hey Hannah. So it’s that late already. I guess I’ll come back for now. I’ll explain along the way.”
Jin then left the icehouse for later and headed towards Martha’s house. En route, he explained it so that it was easy for Hannah to understand too.
“Huh, storing snow. That’s got to be cool! Food can be stored there then!”
“Yeah, that’s right. From next year onwards it can be filled with the snow that falls on the village. But it’s too late for that this year, so…”
Jin gave a glance at Elsa.
“?”
Elsa couldn’t understand the meaning of it at first, but she realized that Jin was having her think about it by herself. Elsa wracked her brain and pondered.
And around the time Martha’s house was in sight.
“I got it. It’s alright to just make snow using magic.”
She spoke the correct answer.
＊ ＊ ＊
After lunch, Jin asked Martha and Hannah to gather the villagers in the plaza with the storehouses.
The villagers who hadn’t heard Jin’s earlier explanation were confused.
“Hey, Jin! Just what is this?”
As it was lunchtime the villagers had all returned to their homes, and as Jin had once more made something they assembled at once. Once Jin confirmed most of the villagers had gathered he began explaining.
“This is called an icehouse, and it’s filled with snow. By doing that, even when summer comes there will be snow remaining. You can then use it to store foods that easily spoil.”
It was a simple explanation, but its usefulness appeared to have been conveyed.
“Huh! That’s great! Meat spoiling quickly during the summers is a problem, so we’ve been drying it or salting it, you see.”
“But, this year there’s not going to be any more snow or anything. Don’t tell me you’re going to tell us to fetch it from the mountains?”
Jin smiled and replied.
“I won’t. As from next year on you can fill it with the snow that falls on the village, this year…”
Jin then looked at Elsa.
“Elsa.”
“Yes.”
Elsa pointed towards the icehouse with her right hand and,
“[Snow Bullet].”
She cast a spell. It was an intermediate water attribute spell. Also, it was had the elementary level ice attribute (derived from water attribute) in it.
Along with her chant, small beads of snow went flying towards the icehouse.
“Ooh!”
“Amazing!”
“I’ve never seen anything like it!”
“As expected of Jin’s sister! She’s a real beauty!”
“Oi, isn’t being a beauty irrelevant here?”
The villagers who saw that were all impressed and raised their voices. Not one of them shirked or seemed to be afraid. Because everyone was already used to Jin being outside the norm.
Incidentally, Jin couldn’t use attack-type magic like this (except by using his bracelet). He could only reach the level of cooling overheated things with [Cooling] or creating ice with [Ice].
As [Ice] could only produce ice it wasn’t suited the use of for putting food into holes dug in it, and to have Elsa impress the villagers he had her do it.
Also thanks to the surplus Magic Energy stored in her bracelet, after about five minutes the icehouse was full.
“Alright, that’s enough. Elsa, good work.”
Jin thanked Elsa while Gon and Gen tramped down the snow.
Then he said to the villagers,
“Now you can use the icehouse whenever you want. If you want to cool something down you can also put it there. However, please make sure you always close the door.”
“Ooh, I understand! Are there any other things to pay attention to?”
“Let’s see. As you’re in the enclosed hole the air may turn bad so please pay attention to it. If you feel like you’re choking then immediately get out.”
While saying this, Jin thought that for now he’d leave an assistant golem behind as a countermeasure for oxygen deprivation. He’d have it pay attention to the health of the people entering, and also it could assist with putting in and getting out the food.
“I understand. It’s already usable, right?”
“Yes.”
“All right! Let’s get all the guys with nothing to do and go hunting in the mountains!”
Said Rock, one of the older men.
“Let’s leave some alcohol to cool down so we can have a few drinks when we return!”
“You! You’re not allowed to drink too much!”
Today too in Kaina Village things were going as usual.