Chapter  23 Let’s Make a Bath

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After her brother’s explanation, the refugees seemed to understand why they needed this job.

The food is provided, and the wages are paid. In fact, this is the only work they can do, so they have no choice but to agree to it.

As Anton said, even if we make them slaves, it costs a lot of money to feed them, and if we suddenly “commercialize” them in large quantities, the price will collapse. And as I mentioned earlier, there are no jobs in our territory at the moment. It’s difficult, isn’t it? It costs a lot of money to ship them out.

When this happens in our territory, labor is lost, and when it happens in other territories, it becomes a burden.

It takes a little time, but if they have the skill, they can register as adventurers and head to the front lines, or worse, organize a refugee town and expand the city. There are not many people in our territory. Adventurers and merchants make up most of the population.

I suppose the resources from the Demon Forest are that valuable. It’s dangerous at the same time.

There’s no other way but to think of it as a chance.

There’s no way we can send them back. It’s just a question of whose going to pay for it. I doubt that they will pay for it.

If we just turn them away and be done with it, they’ll turn into wild thieves in our territory……In other words, the only option we have is to let our own people deal with them as soon as they arrive.

It’s a good idea to take a look at a few of the things that are available in the marketplace. As a result of the gradual clearing of the forest, the front line is now much further away, so there will be little chance of a large-scale demon invasion of this city. Even without the wall, there will be no problem.

Their job now is just to lightly sort the garbage that’s brought in and gather it in a designated place. The Slimes will do the rest. Food waste, wood, and stone are the basic categories. Wood is handled by Green, and stone is handled efficiently by Soil Slime.

Food waste is processed immediately, but wood and stone are decomposed and stored for a certain period of time. This is because they may be used for something else.

If we actually do this, we can see that we need a lot of labor.

But still.

“They’re rather dirty, aren’t they?”

“I guess they can’t even wash themselves properly.”

My brother replies to my whisper as he looks ahead.

The surrounding people now are all people who know me, so there’s no problem in speaking normally.

The refugees’ clothes are quite dirty. They will probably get very dirty during the work, and sending them home with dirty clothes will probably spread a plague.

This is what Chiyo-sama was talking about, the concept of hygiene. Filthiness brings disease, and in fact, it can turn into something unknown and spread. Scary stuff.

It was documented that disposal of garbage reduced the mortality rate of the people, but I never thought that cleanliness was important. I, for example, only thought that cleanliness is making me feel more comfortable and pleasant.

“Do they have a well?”

“Yes, there is one on the property.”

I asked them to show me around, and there was a well poking out of the ground.

“I heard there used to be a warehouse, but it was torn down.”

The ground surrounding it is made of dirt. The water from the well doesn’t seem to have dried up either.

“That’s about right. We should make a bath.”

Even well water will keep them somewhat clean if they can wash themselves.

“Hmm. Can you do that?”

“Probably. Cover them up, please.”

I instructed the knights and covered the surroundings with cloth. It would prevent them from seeing what I was about to do, and it would also serve as a cover for the bath.

Originally, I had prepared the tent in case I needed to do something. The knights did a great job, and the cloth wall was up in no time at all.

I removed the white slime from the mask and put it on the ground.

The earth slimes slowly split from the mask and begin to cover the ground.

“I’ll let you dig a mortar-shaped hole and harden the edges with a Slime ball. Make sure the water doesn’t leak out.”

The Earth Slime fluids mixed with grinded stone dust, and although the Slime fluids dissolve in water, the Earth Slime ones seem to be less soluble. It’s not fully verified, but it’s probably good enough to prevent water drainage.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen them eating soil with all their might. The tension of soil Slime is great.

It’s like they were screaming, “Whoa!”.

“Hmm. So, all that’s left is for them to replenish the water from the well?”

“That’s right. I’m sure it’ll be hard at first, but They’ll have to work hard.”

“What if the water gets dirty?”

“The Slimes will always keep the water clean. No problem.”

“Hmm, that’s good.”

All we have to do is throw a few Slimes into the bath at all times. All that’s left is for the Slime to repeatedly suck in and spit out the water to clean it.

“It’s just that winter is coming. We need to take measures before then.”

Right now, it’s somewhere like the middle of autumn. Do we call in someone who can do magic, or do we think of some other way to do it? ……I need to start thinking about that now.

“Yes, you’re right……. Shall we save the waste materials that can be burned and process them into fuel as part of the work?”

“That should be a good idea. If we assign priority to refugees, they’ll be more motivated.”

The two of us pondered about the future projects as we watched Slime making a bath in a circle.

“But this efficiency is really good, I never thought Slimes would be this useful.”

Big brother observes Slime tirelessly.

“But other Demon Beast Users and Wizards can do this as well, right?”

“Well, I’m sure they can, but……. It’s not without its difficulties.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes…… Demons like dogs and bears are capable, but they wouldn’t be able to make such an elaborate circular bath, and they wouldn’t be able to deal with the problem of water drainage. A wizard wouldn’t have enough magic power to begin with, and it would take a long time.”

“I see, so that’s how it is……”

In terms of versatility, the Slimes can certainly do a lot, though. It’s just making a bath, you know.

I’d really like to do something bigger than that. It’s a bit predictable, though.

“That’s just the way it works. That’s why I see a lot of potential in the Slimes. I’m looking forward to the future.”

“Yes. Because the work here will directly show the usefulness of Slimes. I’ll do my best as well.”

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