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The Reincarnated Thirty-Something Woman’s Otherworldly Reform Life

Let’s Clean Up the Slums

Translated by: ME

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

*****

「Also, I intend to hold Magnolia’s debut on her birthday next year.」

At Servas’s words, the workshop members looked on blankly, while the two Guildmasters donned grim expressions. Lily and Dean, who were attending as servants, stiffened their postures.

「...Magnolia has not had a noble debut due to her family's intentions. From now on, no matter how much we try to hide her, her presence will only grow. It seems Magnolia herself wishes for a peaceful life, but frankly, I believe that will be difficult.」

Hearing that she wished for a peaceful life, everyone looked at Magnolia with eyes that screamed, "You've got to be kidding!?"

( ...What’s with those faces! ) Magnolia shot a deadpan look back at them.

To be told so definitively by Servas, who always doted on her, that it was "difficult" (meaning impossible)... the despair was real.

「The Margrave’s house has no intention of forcing Magnolia. I want her to live as freely as she can. That said, inquiries and such will likely start coming your way as well. To keep danger at bay, please tell them to direct all inquiries to the Margrave’s house without giving an answer yourselves.」

Realizing that things were expected to get more dangerous than they had imagined, everyone solemnly signaled their agreement.

「...A year of preparation? You intend to make this a very grand debut, then.」

「Indeed. The event itself won't differ much from tradition, but this period is for increasing Magnolia’s own value and, conversely, making it harder for others to interfere with her.」

Servas replied confidently to Victor's question.

Increasing her value...

The workshop members tilted their heads, voicing their doubts.

「...With all due respect. In that case, wouldn't it be better for her to step forward as the Chairman?」

「No. It is better for someone with such achievements and ability to remain modest and stay behind the scenes.」

「...Well, that's more or less the truth, isn't it? It's just a slightly different way of framing it.」

"Yeah..." after saying that, everyone looked at Magnolia with conflicted expressions. Magnolia herself tilted her head doubtfully.

The debut.

( It’s finally happening, huh... I really don’t want to. ) ...Once it was over, would she be forced to dedicate herself to social circles?

「You will be busy with the paprika pickles for a while, but once things settle down, we'll be making a big move with the handicraft team. Also—is "farming unit" the right term?—I want you to produce a lot of fertilizer. Of course, it’s fine as long as it doesn't interfere with your regular work. I want you to use it freely as before and I'll buy up the excess.」

The representative for the farming unit snapped his back straight and bowed hurriedly.

「Understood! ...By the way, is there anything in particular you require?」

「Let’s see. Shells or bones would be good, wouldn't they? Since they're in powder form.」

Servas nodded, recalling the various fertilizers he had seen before.

「Understood!」 Replying in a loud voice, he wore a serious expression as he repeatedly muttered, "Fertilizer, shells, bones..."

「Things will get busier and busier, but I'm counting on you all.」「...Yes.」

At Servas’s reinforcing words, everyone offered a respectful bow while turning pale. ...Victor’s red hair had gone limp once again.

***

The zoning and redevelopment began immediately. Far from being reluctant, the people of the slums welcomed it with joy and celebration. The slums had originally begun when people started squatting in houses that had become vacant during the war.

They had been used continuously without ever being repaired, and the aging was quite advanced. Furthermore, despite being close to the main street, the patchwork of added building materials made them dangerous and unsightly, making them a secret headache for the administration.

Even with the mindset of leaving things untouched for future generations, there was no hesitation in cleaning up this area.

It was decided that it would be best to first create a place where the residents could live, and then rebuild the high-priority areas.

「We say "a place to live," but what kind of place should it be?」

「Wouldn't shomething like the roomsh where the knightsh at the fortresh live be fine? We could make sheparate onesh for small groupsh and for familiesh, and give each one a short of kitchen area.」

The image was like apartments, condos, or housing complexes on Earth.

Magnolia explained with simple drawings to her two guardians, who seemed to have only ever lived in mansions (even if they had slept outdoors). She had Gai look over and correct them, narrowing down the general floor plans of this world.

「A water supply... it would be difficult to have one for each house.」

「For now, let’sh build a well for each block. But the shewage shy shtem needsh to be proper to prevent disheashesh from shpreading.」

Once the basic plan was decided, things moved quickly. Thinking it would take some time to recruit apprentices, the knights—who were on their days off—were once again summoned from all over.

It was decided to start rebuilding from the block at the very edge, and the people living there were temporarily moved to rented rooms in the fortress.

A few minutes after the knights arrived, clouds of dust were billowing before their eyes. In no time at all, the dilapidated houses were pulverized by them.

「Oh, we'll ushe wood that sheemsh ushable later! Pleashe put the onesh that look no good over here.」

She had the orphanage children carry them. The unusable pieces were intended to be used as firewood. Bricks and stones were also sorted and piled up.

By the time the apprentices were selected, nearly half of the blocks' (buildings) had already been pulverized.

( ...Is it really okay to rely on them this much? )

Magnolia wondered if this wasn't an abuse of authority. Shouldn't they issue a formal request, or at least provide a reward bonus?

「It’s fine! This is part of our independent training!」

The knights replied as if reading her mind with bright smiles... but independent training? True, the way they lifted and carried giant pieces of scrap could be called weight training, in a sense...

Furthermore, the knights lined up in a row on the cleared earth, picked up thick logs, and began to hammer and pack down the ground all at once... the earth rumbled with every strike.

「「「「Uoryaaaaaaa!!!!」」」」「「「「Doryaaaaaaa!!!!」」」」

Along with growls that crawled along the ground, the sight of bulging muscles and flying sweat with every downward strike was intensely overwhelming. ...Was this a human-powered press machine?

「「............」」

Dean’s face twitched as he averted his blue and ink-mixed eyes. Magnolia decided to believe that the species known as "knights" was basically the same species as her grandfather.

While she was very grateful to them for helping without a word of complaint... she felt like she had never seen the kind of "cool knight" that appeared in stories. Was it just her imagination?

The gathered apprentices were also completely put off by the sight of the knights' demolition work.

However, when they heard the knights were helping for free (with meals provided), they were deeply impressed and inspired to work hard themselves, so she decided to consider it a good thing.

In this way, the residential area was completed in the blink of an eye. Next up were the commercial facilities like shops and workshops... just as she was thinking this, a sound like distant thunder could be heard. ...Looking back fearfully, there they were.

Our very own G-I-L-M-O-R-E K-N-I-G-H-T-S!!

Like a squad of superheroes, they were neatly lined up, each holding logs or sandbags. —And for some reason, the few in the back were carrying large iron rollers.

( Eh? Are those land-leveling rollers?? ) They were those incredibly heavy "rollers" with iron or concrete drums and handles like a handcart, used on Earth for leveling school grounds.

( ...What do the knights use those for? Could it be for training? )

As Magnolia watched suspiciously, a representative knight spoke to her.

「My Lady, which areas are to be finished like cobblestone?」「Um... over here and over there.」

When she pointed, everyone there nodded.

「Logs, ready!」

「「「Oryah! Oryah!」」」

They hammered the earth with logs as they had done the other day, packing it down.

「Sand scattering, ready!」

「「「Sa! Hoi! Sa!」」」

「Stone team, line up!」 At the signal, they began lining up the stones salvaged from the scrap to fit the gaps.

As Dean and Magnolia watched in stunned silence, Gai approached, swaying his head happily from side to side.

「They're fast. They have big frames, but their work is meticulous.」

They bent their large bodies and carefully lined up small...-looking stones with their thick fingers. They even sorted them neatly by color.

Without minding the three onlookers, the "cobblestone making" (a.k.e. training) proceeded.

「Rollers, start!!」

「「「Wassoi! Wassoi!」」」

Two knights stood on top of an iron roller that looked like it weighed several hundred kilograms, rolling it over the stones the other knights had placed. As usual, the fact that they were monster-like was probably just unavoidable (?) at this point.

「Water scattering, ready!」

「「「Sa! Hoi! Sa!」」」

And so, this time as well, a pseudo-cobblestone road was finished in no time. The knights moved on to the next block, which was almost the same shape. *Rumble, rumble, rumble.*

Dean and Magnolia quietly watched their sturdy backs as they left. On the other side, the working apprentices were staring in wide-eyed shock.

Yeah, I get it.

In the meantime, the earth began to rumble again. They were leveling the ground with logs. Dean muttered in a small voice.

「...I'm starting to feel like I'm not cut out to be a knight.」

( Yeah. Tell me about it. ) Magnolia offered a silent affirmation.

I’m starting to feel like it’s impossible for an ordinary person... I mean, isn't this only the Gilmore Knights!?

*****

Note: Sweaty muscle train.....

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