Kaina Village, the 25th of April.
It was the season of early summer when the rays of the sun grew stronger and the days became more cheerful.
The mountains were completely covered in green leaves and the ears of the wheat in the fields had also grown long. The season when blowing winds were no longer cold and had a pleasant feel to them.
Extension work to Martha’s house was underway.
The workshop Jin had been using was originally used by Martha’s late husband who was a smith, so it was only the size of around six tatami mats.
Jin figured he’d double the size to 12 tatami mats along with adding a second floor to serve as a living space.
As it had been arranged that Elsa and Mine would live in Martha’s house, Jin decided to use the chance to properly make a place where he’d fit in.
“Hey Jin, I’m here to help… Wait, aren’t you half-done already?”
The men of Kaina Village came in turns to help with construction during the breaks from their work.
For putting up the supports and such Jin had Gon and Gen along with Reiko who insisted on helping, so the supports were placed in a heartbeat and they continued with constructing the floor.
In the morning, far from just the framework, nearly 80% of the work was fully completed.
Jin had lunch and in the afternoon it was time for the interior design.
“Magi Craftsmen really are amazing, huh.”
Everyone who came to see the house that was built in an excessively short time was similarly surprised. However,
“Well, it’s Jin after all.”
Accepting it with just that was sort of the way Kaina Village worked.
Its outward appearance was a two-storey house with a one-sided slanted roof. The first floor had the workshop and the second floor had the living space.
The front of the first floor was wide and had a long, so-called porch roof installed. When the weather was good he could also work under it.
He also decided to dig a basement some other time and store materials there. Of course he’d also secretly install a small Warp Gate.
The second floor was divided to two rooms each six tatami mats large. Immediately after going up the stairs was the living room, and Jin’s bedroom-cum-study was at the back.
Since no soft rush grew around Kaina Village he wasn’t able to make a tatami-matted floor, but as his bedroom had a wooden floor Jin was, as a Japanese person, still fussy about taking the shoes off when entering the room.
“Onii-chan, can I come up?”
Hannah called out to Jin from downstairs.
Hannah had clung to Jin since morning and watched him work. Right now she was looking around the rooms. She must’ve found it curious since only the village chief had a two-storey house.
“Sure you can.”
As he was done with sweeping the second floor and had confirmed that no wood chips or anything dangerous had been left lying around, Jin replied to Hannah.
“Yay~”
Hannah happily came up. And promptly glued herself to the window.
“Wow, what a view.”
The view of the village from the second floor was a little different.
“Ah, I can see the water well. And that’s the hot spring’s roof~”
Hannah was in high spirits.
Incidentally there was no dining room or kitchen, as Martha had firmly insisted,
“I won’t forgive you if you’re going to tell me you’ll eat separately from us!”
Jin had then gladly agreed.
“Father, the roof is finished.”
Reiko, who had been entrusted with the task of tiling the roof as she was the lightest of them all came down.
“Reiko onee-chan, good job.”
“Thank you, Hannah-chan.”
Reiko smiled at Hannah, then said to Jin,
“Next is the desk, chairs, and the bed, am I correct?”
Jin gave a nod and said,
“Yeah. Linus said he’ll make them for the housewarming party.”
One of the men in village, Linus, was unexpectedly good at woodworking. He had made half of the chairs and the tables used in the village.
“I’m no match for you, but it’s the thought that counts.”
That’s what Linus had said. Jin also emphasized that to Reiko so she wouldn’t be nitpicky.
“Jin-nii, I saw Linus-san.”
This time Elsa’s voice came from downstairs. They looked down from the window and saw Linus with a trailer that had a wooden bed on it.
Jin quickly went downstairs and,
“Linus, thanks for taking your time to do this.”
He thanked Linus. Linus laughed, waved his hand, and said,
“What the heck are you saying, this doesn’t amount to even a tenth of the work you’ve done for us.”
“First is the bed. I’ll leave this here and go fetch the table and chairs.”
“Thank you very much. Reiko, could you please carry it. ”
“Yes.”
Reiko nodded, easily picked up the bed and carried it out. Linus watched her leave and,
“Not just Jin, but Reiko-chan’s incredible too, huh.”
He pulled the trailer and turned back while voicing his admiration.
In the end, the exterior and interior were both complete in a single day and, although modest, they had a celebration for the completion in the evening.
Although the line-up was just the organizer Jin, Reiko (who didn’t eat or drink), Hannah, Martha, Elsa, and Mine.
Jin planned to gift boxes of Citran to the people who helped tomorrow morning.
“And so, thanks for everything you’ve done today!”
“Jin, congratulations on finishing the house!”
“Onii-chan, congratulations~!”
“Jin-nii, congratulations.”
“Jin-sama, congratulations.”
Everyone was smiling and cheered in unison.
They then enjoyed the food Martha and Mine had considerately prepared. Actually,
“Jin-nii, this soup, I made it.”
Elsa had apparently also done her best.
“Mh-hm, it’s tasty. You’re also doing your best with cooking, aren’t you.”
“Mm.”
“Onii-chan, onii-chan. I chopped the vegetables and peeled the Citran too!”
Hannah also showed off.
“Ah, thank you Hannah. It’s delicious.”
“Ehehe~”
Martha’s house was calm, and gently Kaina Village grew dark. It was a day you’d want to continue forever, as if all was right in the world.
After dinner, Mine had something to tell Jin.
“Jin-sama, we’ve decided to hold a study group from tomorrow on.”
Mine explained that she had talked about it some time ago and decided to teach reading, writing, and mathematics.
“We’ll borrow the chief-san’s house as the location and I was thinking about starting with two or three hours a day.”
“Ah, because the chief’s living room is large, I see.”
Because the village head’s house was also used to hold the village meetings, it had a large rooms. She had arranged to borrow them, Mine said.
“That’s good, isn’t it. Keep it up. If you need help with anything feel free to ask me.”
Jin said, then Mine smiled and gave a bow.
“Yes, thank you very much. As Elsa will also be with me it’ll be alright.”
“I see, Elsa too. Do your best.”
“Mm, Jin-nii.”
Even though it may not look like it, Elsa was fond of children. Jin who knew that thought that it might unexpectedly be good encouragement for Elsa herself too.
“Oh yeah, let me prepare the materials to use for writing.”
Jin proposed after something popped to his mind.
“Could you? I was thinking of using slates and writing with water at first though.”
If you dribbled water on a slate that had been shaven smooth, its color would change. Apparently she had been thinking of using this, but,
“No, I’ve got something much better. I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”
Jin said and took on the task.