Among the refugees,
In the office, Yuria was writing on the chalkboard with a piece of chalk, glancing at the paper in her hand.
The board was made from two types of wood; the chalk was crafted from a material known as Laim stone.
The Laim stone produced the usual white chalk—but during Nina’s experiments, mixing in a mineral called Kalsmi had confirmed it could turn red.
With the prepared board and the two-colored chalk, Yuria was drawing a graph.
She finished, set down the chalk, and looked at me.
“This is the current demand for food, clothing, and shelter.”
“Good work.”
I praised Yuria, then looked at the graph.
My basic principle has always been securing the essentials—food, clothing, shelter. I’ve lived by it so far, and I’ll keep doing so.
The principle hasn’t changed. But since the scale’s grown, she was asked to make it clearer. So she did this.
This is why Yuria’s the one.
--------------------------
Clothing ■■■□□
Food ■■■■□
Housing ■■□□□
--------------------------
The graph on the chalkboard was incredibly clear—just a glance and you got the gist.
"Split it into five levels, huh?"
"Yep."
"Clothing and housing are fine, but food demand is way too high. Is it really that scarce? What’s the stock of Pusini?"
"It’s fine. This includes demand for... well, nicer things to eat."
"Nice things? Like tasty food, or dessert after a meal?"
"Uh-huh. People are asking for that."
"Then don’t bother with that. Just think about eating to survive."
I don’t make luxuries.
"Then it should look like this."
Yuria rewrote the graph.
--------------------------
Clothing ■■■□□
Food □□□□□
Housing ■■□□□
--------------------------
Food demand dropped sharply—vanished entirely.
Yeah, if we’d started with this, I’d have bought it.
Pusini’s easy to make, so we’ve got plenty. Shouldn’t be running short at all.
If anything, it’s probably overproduced—since that’s how we’re making it.
“So we just make what’s needed—clothing and housing? Yeah, makes sense. Hey, can we pull up demand per town too?”
“Wait a sec.”
Yuria said that, flipping through her notebook-like thing at lightning speed.
I peeked over. Words, numbers, all gibberish to me.
I gave up and just waited.
After a moment, she started drawing a new graph on the blackboard.
Rebeck, Kazan, Beisk—she wrote the names of the towns in the domain, then below each, sketched graphs for clothing, food, housing.
Finished writing all the towns, she set down the chalk.
“Done.”
I looked at the new graph.
You can tell the needs vary by town—Kazan needs food a little, Beisk barely needs housing at all.
Just looking at it, you can tell where to put what.
"Good job. Good girl. One more."
I ruffled her hair and handed her a folded-paper medal.
She gave a slightly satisfied look, but no surge of magic.
Yuria shrugged. That was normal. No big deal.
"Keep this updated at all times."
"Got it."
Yuria nodded. I looked back at the graph.
Something caught my eye.
--------------------------
Bermi
Clothing ■■■■■
Food ■■■■■
Housing ■■■■■
--------------------------
The town liberated from Maxium had all its metrics maxed out—somehow.
☆
Boarded the train with Lissa, heading toward Bermi.
Checked the status in DORECA. The population count now read 8,888.
—Couldn’t say that, huh.
“Grew all at once. So all this extra is Bermi’s, huh? No wonder demand’s exploding.”
“What do we do about it?”
Lissa asks.
“First thing when we get there—start producing Pshinyi. You know how, right?”
“Dig a hole and put soil in it, yeah?”
“Right. High mana cost, but two thousand-unit magic arrays. Should hold us for now. Lissa, just make them. Afterward, distribute them. Yuria said most of the new ones are refugees, so it’s easy to figure out where to send them.”
“Yeah.”
“If you can’t figure it out, come ask.”
“Ah—master?”
Lissa rephrased it. Still not used to treating me as her master.
I ignore it.
“Making other stuff we need. Plenty to do.”
I brace myself.
Full capacity. Looks like a major job ahead.
☆
“Welcome! We’ve been waiting!”
Arrived at Belmi. Stepping off the train, a man was already waiting, ready to greet us.
“Wait a moment.”
I made him wait, then set up a mana circle just at the edge of Ilya's Spring, on the outskirts of town.
Two thousand Pshinyi mana circles—just for now, two of them.
I gave Lisha a nod, and she got to work, doing exactly what I’d ordered earlier.
Turning back to the man, I asked:
“You’re Valram?”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
I’d heard about him from Yuria. His name is Valram—the mayor of this town.
Back when things were just starting, Meya used to double as Belmi’s leader, but once the town had recovered and settled into routine, they’d chosen this man from within the town to be mayor.
“I heard you’ve got a sudden influx of humans,” I said.
"Yes. Heard from somewhere—refugees just poured in all at once. We were like that not too long ago, and with the Emperor’s policy, we took them in. But it’s just kept growing... we were about to collapse."
"Is that so. What about the ones that came in?"
"About a thousand, I’d say."
"And the ones already here?"
"Roughly five hundred."
"Ah."
Twice as many refugees as the town’s own people.
Either they’ll have to give up their eaves and lose their main house, or the whole house gets crushed flat.
...Well, that’s how it’d go normally.
"Anyway, we’ve got enough food for today, at least."
I jabbed a thumb behind me toward Lyssa.
"Feed them, then gather up the men who can work. We’ll need hands for all sorts of things."
I said that, then stepped into the town, glancing around to see where we’d build.
☆
I set up a hundred wooden house magic circles on the town’s edge.
Stopped at a hundred—still not enough for the number of people.
Magic power’s fine. Problem’s the materials.
According to what Valram said, the materials stockpiled in Bermy will run out in a hundred days—just like that.
It’s unavoidable, since the town’s just been rebuilt and the reserves haven’t caught up yet.
I returned to the center of town.
There was Lisya.
She was handing out freshly made Pshiny to the refugees.
Our eyes met. I waved her over.
“Anything happen?”
“Finished distributing?”
“Yes.”
“Good job.”
—— Magic power charged: 1,000.
“Sorry to trouble you right away, but I’ve got one more task. Go to Rebeck.”
“Rebeck? Why?”
“The materials are short. Tell Yuria to send over the stockpiled supplies from her end.”
“Um…”
“What’s wrong? Don’t understand the order?”
“No, no—got it. That… might be arriving soon.”
“Huh?”
What’s that supposed to mean?
“Said they’d send the rest later—told me when they set out.”
“Ah. No surprise, really. Yuria’s always on top of things.”
Guess she’s got a handle on the kitchen situation in Bellmi, too.
So we just wait, then.
I took a breath, scanned the surroundings.
In the town center, refugees had gathered, eating freshly made pshiny.
Some had already finished, looking bored.
“Mira.”
“Yes?”
“Gather the ones with free hands. Start with three hundred. Take them to the magic circle outside town. Bring them back and help finish the houses.”
“Got it.”
Mira led the able-bodied men off.
At first, there were complaints—then, once we explained the houses would be theirs, they lined up fast.
Watched them leave. Now, on to clothes.
“—!”
She’d planned to move to a more open space, saying it couldn’t be done here—but stopped dead the moment she started walking.
She sucked in a breath—whirled around, sharp and sudden.
Felt like I spotted a familiar face among the refugees.
Once, full of confidence, a striking face.
It's the holy night.
She stared at the refugees, searching for the shape of Saint Night.
"Not here..."
She looked, but couldn’t find it.
I gave up and moved to a new spot to start making clothes.
Still, I can't help thinking about Saint Night.
"Did I misread it...? No. Menu open."
Open the menu in Doreca and check the status.
Number of subjects—8,887.
The one-eyed had become two-eyed. One less.
"Already left the town, or... "
Something about the refugee crowd—it was definitely that one.