It rained heavily today.
Of course, I was having reservations against going outside.
Because of that, it was the right time to hold another tournament to determine the ranking within the group. The method to determine the rough ranking quickly was somewhat convenient. Because there is a large difference in the basic abilities between hobgoblins and goblins, we will have two separate contests to decide the ranking.
The results, well, that is if you can call it properly settled, are thus:
The top was me, like always, the runner-up was Gobukichi-kun, next was the previous hobgoblin
leader, and after him was Gobumi-chan. The three goblins after her were generally at the same level of competency.
The hobgoblin mage Hobusei-san might have come after me if magic use is permitted, but that is not the case this time, so things were how they were.
As the tournament ended, we split into three groups: Gobukichi-kun's group who were continuing with practice, Gobue-chan's group who carried picks to continue with mining, and the group who were studying things, like the rules that I had decided, the ranks, the Continental Alphabet, and so on, with Gobumi-chan as the teacher.
Meanwhile, I had a chat about various things with Hobusei-san. I had an interest in what kinds of magic she can use.
Based from what I had heard, the three kinds of magic Hobusei-san could use seemed to be [Fire], [Water], and [Void]. I pretended that I understood, when in reality I had only read information from an incomplete source and in reality had no idea what she was talking about.
After that, having exchanged all kinds of information, we each moved on to our own tasks. Hobusei-san went to Gobumi-chan's place to study, while I went to talk to the human girls.
When I went to check up on the situation, having fire and water guaranteed by the Fire and Water Spirit Stones, Blacksmith's smithy was in the middle of producing tools out of the spirit stones and iron ore that we got as the result of mining. She could do that without any problems thanks to several sets of tools which were among the things we looted.
While I asked her if she had any complaints, I noticed that the smithy had been repaired recently so it was easy to use. Because she had become somewhat less frightened of me, I left satisfied.
Next, I went to the station where the two human sisters were.
Since the cooking utensils were looted goods, having the sisters use them did not incite any friction with the other goblins. With that, things progressed smoothly. Though, after looking around the station, I realized that with just two people, preparing everyone's food would be an overwhelming task, and so I decided to sit down and help them.
The sisters were still a bit afraid of me, and so I thought that if I were proactive and spoke to them more, they would begin to warm up to me. Once in a while I caught them smiling,
which was great. The smile of a beautiful woman is always a good thing. While we were at it, I taught them all the recipes that I knew.
After that I went to Alchemist-san who spent all day making potions.
The equipment had been assembled here like at the other places, so that was no problem. I inspected her completed goods with my [Appraisal], but so far it didn’t seem like she had made anything poisonous. I was interested in the creating process, so I stayed to observe.
Alchemist-san gave off an air of indifference, making me think of a disdainful ice queen. She didn’t talk at all while she was working, yet she was still a feast for my eyes so I had no issue with waiting.
After she finished we had a short conversation then I went to my own workshop.
While there I tried using the Black Wolf leather to make defensive equipment. I stitched the
leather with my thread, and using my practiced ability the crafting process progressed quickly.
Nevertheless, it was already late at night when I was done.
Before I went to sleep, I did some practice swings with my halberd in order to become used to how it felt. Because I had been fervently moving around all day, I’d become tired, and
I slept like a log.