Ch.45I Did It, Mister (3)

“Oh my goodness, my legs.”

It was late evening, long after sunset.

I entered the shop groaning in pain and immediately collapsed into the chair at the counter.

“Hey, Mirella! Where are you?”

“You’re back?”

When I called out, Mirella came down the stairs from the second floor.

“Give my legs a massage.”

“Huh? So suddenly?”

“I walked around too much today and my legs are killing me.”

“Ohhh, really…? Wait just a moment.”

Mirella went back upstairs with a meaningful expression.

What’s that girl up to? I just asked for a massage.

These days, with the opener buff and the natural steroid from her growth phase combined, she’s incredibly strong.

It would be way more refreshing than any massage chair.

The reason my legs hurt is simple—I’ve been walking around all day.

Right now, I’m the Acting Administrator of Starting Village.

The entire village is under major construction to meet the conditions for upgrading to a Level 3 city, and I’m supervising all of it.

With nearly two thousand people scattered around working on various projects, I have to cross the village multiple times a day.

On top of that, the town hall is filled with matters requiring my approval.

The Administrator keeps talking about resigning or getting married, trying to figure out how to get fired, so I can’t trust him with anything.

He’s clearly planning to make some huge mistake on purpose, get fired, and then cling to me afterward, but I’m not going to let that happen.

I already have enough trouble managing the people I have now.

Just then, the door opened and Brasya walked in.

“Jack!”

“Anything unusual at the pig farm?”

“Nope! They’re all growing nice and healthy. Well, I’m off to take a shower.”

Brasya headed toward the back door, casually stripping off her clothes. Doesn’t she have any shame?

She sometimes walks around the shop without clothes on. I need to have a serious talk with her about that.

“Hey, Brasya. You—”

Before I could finish, the back door closed.

A moment later, Adelheid and the 2nd Squad Captain entered the shop side by side.

Upon seeing me, Adelheid flinched, averted her gaze, and quickly went upstairs. The 2nd Squad Captain followed her, calling out “Captain!” pitifully.

Those two are good at their training duties, but they completely avoid socializing with others and keep to themselves.

I wonder if they’ll ever change. Well, probably not.

“Guardian Angel.”

Liberone returned to the shop with a clanking sound and stopped in front of me.

“What are you doing?”

“My legs hurt, so I’m sitting. I’ve been walking around all day.”

“Then I shall perform holy healing. It’s especially effective for muscle fatigue.”

Liberone manifested her holy power and gently touched my thighs.

The warm energy characteristic of holy power spread through my body, making my aching muscles feel wonderfully relaxed.

“Does that feel better?”

“It feels great.”

“What the?!”

Just then, Mirella’s scream came from the stairs.

“What are YOU doing?!”

I shouted back when I saw Mirella’s outfit.

She was wearing a short, see-through sleeveless shirt and panties, holding a bottle of some transparent liquid.

“Mirella. Such attire is inappropriate. Consider others’ perspectives and wear more decent clothing.”

At Liberone’s stern advice, Mirella became angry.

“I was going to give him a massage!”

“What do you mean?”

“I was going to massage Jack’s legs! Why did you have to interfere?!”

“The Guardian Angel said his legs hurt, so I simply provided holy healing.”

“I don’t care! You’re impossible!”

As Mirella stomped back upstairs, Liberone watched her and asked:

“Why is she acting like that?”

“She wanted to massage my legs herself, but you healed me first.”

“Then couldn’t she still give you a massage now?”

“That’s not the point.”

“I don’t understand what the issue is.”

“Neither do I.”

But actually, I do know.

That Mirella was definitely planning to rub oil all over our half-naked bodies and get all touchy-feely.

Geez, tsk tsk. She needs to get her head straight.

With my body feeling much better after the holy healing, I went to my room.

I had an overwhelming urge to throw myself onto the bed, but I resisted and decided to take a bath first.

As I rummaged through the drawer for underwear, something felt off.

Why do my clothes seem to have shrunk? And what’s this?

I pulled out something strange—a bizarre piece of fabric made of black strings.

I unfolded it with both hands and dropped it in shock.

It was a pair of panties made entirely of strings.

There was a mesh patch about the size of a band-aid to cover the important parts, but it was practically meaningless.

What on earth is this? Did Mirella’s laundry get mixed up with mine?

Judging by the waist size, it couldn’t be Mirella’s.

Then Brasya?

But as far as I remember, Brasya has never worn anything like this.

Not that I deliberately looked, but I’ve accidentally caught glimpses under her skirt a few times when she was bouncing around.

Hmmmm, then Liberone…?

That can’t be it. According to my knowledge of the original work, Holy Knights use only supplies provided by the church from head to toe.

They’re all blessed by prestigious high priests, so using non-priestly items is unimaginable.

And something this indecent? Impossible.

Then I suddenly remembered something.

The Administrator knew there were spare rooms on the second floor of our shop.

I was suspicious at the time but didn’t think much of it. Now that I think about it, he might have sneaked up here when nobody was around.

Did he leave his underwear here and steal mine?

Has he worn these, or did he bring them separately? No, that’s not the important part.

I searched the room thoroughly, but fortunately, apart from a few pieces of underwear, nothing else was missing. Not that it’s fortunate at all.

First he suddenly appeared at the pig farm, and now this—is this crazy woman stalking me?

Hmm, what should I do about this?

The village is just starting to take off, and we can’t have the Administrator distracted.

We barely have enough manpower between the two of us, and he’s doing this nonsense.

I need to teach him a serious lesson.

After much deliberation, I went downstairs and quickly made a potion.

I applied the ominous, dark green glowing potion to two pairs of my underwear and hid the rest in a safe.

If the Administrator tries to steal my underwear again, he’ll be in for a nasty surprise.

* * * * *

The road paving project has been completed.

Since the village isn’t that large yet, it didn’t take long to redo all the existing roads.

Now we won’t have to worry about mud on our shoes or cargo spilling from carts due to bumpy roads.

The palisade construction is also nearing completion.

Our village has four entry points, with roads at each cardinal direction like most villages.

We’ve installed zigzagging palisades at each entry point and built a watchtower behind each one.

The plan is to extend the palisades to the left and right from these four points until they eventually encircle the entire village.

Any buildings constructed after that will be built outside the palisades, and then we’ll create another perimeter.

Most territories have this structure.

The inner area contains the lord’s castle and important facilities, the outer area is where the residents live, and beyond that are farmlands and pastures.

It’s extremely efficient for defense and management.

I’ve arranged with Sir Hostante to have knights stationed in the watchtowers.

From the towers, they can monitor both outside and inside the village, and we can install bells to quickly deploy the knights when needed.

So what’s left now? Various commercial and public facilities.

Construction is ongoing, and I’ve already created a list of craftsmen and a personnel plan to place everyone in appropriate positions.

“Jack!”

As I stood watching the construction site with my arms crossed, Brasya came bouncing over.

I thought only the Administrator bounced like that when running, but Brasya does too—or rather, I can see it.

Several pigs followed her, grunting.

“What? What’s going on?”

“The pigs are pregnant again, ta-da!”

Brasya introduced the following pigs with the brightest attitude.

Looking at their bellies, they did seem swollen with pregnancy. Already?

“I cheered them on sooooo hard. It’s coming soon, very soon. We’ll have five million pigs in no time!”

“Haha, sure. I thought something was wrong.”

“Jaaaaaaack siiiiiiiir!”

Just then, I saw the Administrator running toward us from a distance, bouncing all over the place.

What’s she making a fuss about now?

“Potion! Give me a potion! Hurry pleeeease!!”

The Administrator jumped up and down frantically right in front of me.

“What is it?”

“Potion! Quick! My crotch is burning!!”

I knew this would happen. She stole my underwear and is wearing it right now!!

Instead of giving her a potion, I raised my finger with a stern expression.

“Administrator! Why are you stealing other people’s belongings?”

“Eek!? I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please give me the potion! It’s burning!”

“Promise me, Administrator. From now on, don’t enter other people’s rooms and take things without permission. Understand?”

“I understand! I understand, so hurry!”

As I was taking out a potion from my waist, a scream came from the distance.

“Aaaaargh! It’s hot!!”

Adelheid ran at incredible speed and threw herself into the river.

“Captain! I’ll save you!!”

The 2nd Squad Captain followed her, wailing pitifully as he also jumped in.

What’s going on now? Oh my, my head hurts.