By the Grace of the Gods: Volume 12 (eBook)

Roy (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-6920-7 (ISBN)

Infos

With the help of the Jamils and volunteers throughout the city, Ryoma's ventures in city management and defense come to full fruition to combat the sinister forces plotting to bring down Gimul. The conflict reaches its boiling point as fires and violent attacks break out all over the city! Ryoma jumps into action, coordinating with each department of his enterprise, but then discovers that his enemies are after him personally... Now Ryoma must fight to protect the city of Gimul and all the friends he's gained in this fantasy world.

Textauszug

Chapter 7, Episode 41: A Calm Afternoon

Once morning had turned to afternoon and we had finished the day’s shoveling, Hudom and I found ourselves at the church.

“Hello,” I said as we walked in.

Bell, one of the sisters in charge of Gimul’s church, greeted us. “Welcome, Takebayashi, Hudom. Thank you for providing space, and all that food...”

“Please, you’re doing important work. Besides, the produce is all surplus from my experimental farm,” I explained.

Behind her, the children from the orphanage, which was attached to the church, were maneuvering bags upon bags of cookware, potatoes, and beans, using wagons and wheelbarrows of all sizes.

Our job for the afternoon was to help the church operate their soup kitchen, which would double as our lunch. From what I had been told, the soup kitchen had been set up on church grounds until this point. However, the influx of laborers had drastically increased the number of people lining up at the soup kitchen, to the point where the overflow had become a cause of strife in the neighborhood. When I heard this, I offered to provide a place to run the soup kitchen, help move the food and equipment to the new location, and help cook the actual meals.

I turned back to Bell. “I would love to get started, but...”

“Is something the matter?” she asked.

“I had planned to transport everything with space magic...but when I was discussing my plan to do so at the security headquarters so we could adjust our schedule, I had some volunteers who wanted to help.”

“I think that’s them coming now, chief,” Hudom said.

I followed his gaze. “Yes, that’s them.” Even from afar, I could see them. A two-line formation of well-built men, all a head or two taller than the others on the street, were headed towards us in a rhythmical jog.

“You can definitely pick them out of a crowd,” said Hudom.

“You can say that again...”

“Those are the volunteers?” Bell asked, sounding a bit taken aback at the hulking frames of the men en route.

I tried to console her. “They may look intimidating, but you’ll find them friendly.”

“Even I can feel overwhelmed by them sometimes... I can’t fault any lady for feeling that way.”

By the time Hudom had said so, the team had arrived at the church.

“Thirty-eight Brawny Boys, reporting for duty!” one of them announced.

“Thank you.” I turned to Bell. “These are the volunteers. We call them the Brawny Boys at security. As you can see, they’re all very muscular. They’ll take care of you.”

“Yes, that’s plain to see...” Bell said.

At this, the brawn at the front of the pack puffed out his chest and said, “Thank you. If it’s lifting, you can leave it to us.” He made a show of flexing his biceps, and the rest of the squad struck poses behind him.

“Well, if you don’t mind jumping right in,” I said, “can you carry all this stuff to the new venue? And if you could help with everything we haven’t brought out yet too—over there.”

“We’re on it!” they answered.

“All right, boys! Split up and get to work!” their leader called, and the Brawny Boys got right to work.

The children were shocked at first by their size, but soon realized from their uniforms and my presence that they were there to help. They began to show the men where to go.

“I’m sorry if that shocked you,” I said.

“Oh, no. It was rude of me, when they came out here to help... I notice the children recognize a few of them,” said Bell.

“Yes. They’re rather notorious...”

“Do you not get out much, Bell?” Hudom asked.

She nodded. “That’s fair to say. My days are usually spent managing the church. Even when I need to buy food or supplies, the older kids take turns going out for me.”

“It’s no wonder you don’t know them, then. They usually patrol the city, don’t they, chief?”

“That’s right,” I answered. “Like you were saying, they look strong and intimidating. I have them on patrol duty most of the time, as a deterrent for crime.” While someone’s stature didn’t correlate entirely to their strength in combat, muscle mass was a considerable factor. Besides, their looks alone provided a sense of security; these men had found their calling in crime deterrence. That being said... “Their team wasn’t formed with that in mind.”

“Oh? I would have thought so, from what you’ve told me,” Bell said.

“Well...it was supposed to be just a group of people who wanted to bulk up.” The Brawny Boys were participating in trial uses of the protein powder I was developing with Tint, one of the residents at the hospital. That was how they’d met, but they had actually been assigned to different teams at the security company. In fact, some of them worked at the trash processing plant. I had concocted the official title of the Bodybuilders’ Club for the group, but both the public and the members themselves preferred the Brawny Boys. The thirty-eight members who’d shown up today were only a portion of the Brawny Boys. Truth be told, I didn’t know how many there were now, because they accepted new recruits on a daily basis.

There were a few reasons for their popular demand. First, the supplement we created exceeded expectations, showing more drastic results in a shorter time frame than we’d expected, especially in ape or bull beastkin men, who’d had a very muscular build to begin with. Second, it’s common for beastkin to find muscular frames attractive—or they’re at least looking for a mate who does. Some members had even attributed new relationships to the protein supplements. Finally, with proper nutrition intake and physical care in addition to taking the supplement, many subjects reported that they felt less tired or sore after exercise. Word of this spread, and nowadays people often asked to join the trial to attain those practical benefits. The trials had always involved physical exercise, but the Brawny Boys had turned into a sort of workout gym where members pursued looks, health, and even romantic connections. There was even a gallery of housewives watching the proceedings. I had put some serious thought into just building them their own gym at this point.

“All cargo has been brought out!” reported Captain Brawny, the one who’d led the troupe here.

With the last of our supplies and the children in tow, we made for the venue where we’d host today’s soup kitchen.

When we were right down the street from it, Bell noted, “This area’s been cleaned up quite a bit.”

“You’ve been here before?” I asked.

“Not often, but occasionally, when I need to run an errand for the church.”

“I see.”

We were walking down what looked like an average residential street in what had once been the slums. Bell seemed to notice the newly built houses and newly paved roads: fruits of the zone improvement, a joint project between us and the government.

When I explained as much, she asked a little nervously, “Forgive me for my ignorance. What do you mean by ‘zone improvement’? What happened to the people who used to live in this neighborhood?”

“Don’t worry, we didn’t force them out. A local leader by the name of Lible helped relocate them into one of three different living arrangements—with the residents’ approval, of course.”

Those who didn’t have a proper home in the slums, those living on the street or squatting in abandoned structures, were moved to a group home that the government had asked me to build. Out of those who’d owned a home in the neighborhood, those who were willing to relocate moved to the newly developed areas—this was similar to the process of urban land pooling on Earth. For those who’d adamantly refused relocation, I had merely demolished and rebuilt their homes on the same plot. There was the occasional conflict or disagreement, but Lible’s mediation and governmental aid had smoothed things out. For many who’d been unenthusiastic about moving at first, it had been for a specific reason—for example, a leg injury that had prevented them from walking up or downhill—so we had been able to make note of their needs and cross reference the zoning plans to move them to an appropriate location. The clerk’s office had even opened a department dedicated to this aspect of the process; many residents had come forward to say that their new homes were in more convenient locations than their old ones.

“That sounds wonderful,” said Bell. “Does that mean that you’ll soon be building a house on the land we’re using today?”

I was taking us to one of the empty lots that had come as a result of the rezoning, but...

“Maybe down the road,” I replied. “We can’t feasibly turn every open plot of land into a comfortable residential area, and there are other construction projects that have higher priority. So we have a few empty lots on our hands that we haven’t decided what to do with. We’ll be going to one of them today, and you can run the soup kitchen there for the foreseeable future.”

Before rezoning, I’d bought each resident’s old land and the land they would move into, and afterwards I’d sold the land back to the new residents to make things easier. That...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 19.6.2023
• Reihe/Serie: By the Grace of the Gods
• Reihe/Serie: By the Grace of the Gods
• Illustrationen: Ririnra
• Übersetzer: Adam Seacord
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: Adventure • Isekai • Light Novel • Magic • Reincarnation • Slice of Life • slimes
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-6920-4 / 1718369204
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-6920-7 / 9781718369207