Chapter 182 – Recreation Room

Once the interior and decorations were finished, all that remained was arranging the furniture.

In the meantime, I needed to work on things only I could do. In other words, I’d be focusing on the entertainment room and the Japanese-style room.

First up was darts. I colored a cork board, wrote numbers on it, and placed it as a dartboard in the corner of the entertainment room. I created a partition and made sure no one could enter the throwing area from the side.

I laid down flooring with different colors as distance markers for throwing.

I wrote down just 501 as one example of how to play on paper and posted it on the wall. It’s a game where you start with 501 points and subtract the numbers of the sections you hit, aiming to reach zero.

Well, I’ve heard there are quite a variety of dart games, similar to cards, so if they play however they want, I’m sure everyone will find their own way to enjoy it.

“You throw these arrows by hand?”

Perhaps because it’s a game involving arrows and falls within her area of expertise, Irmhild looked at the posted instructions with interest.

Marlene and Sheila, who were with her, also seemed very curious. Seraphina, who was perched on Marlene’s shoulder, was too.

“Oh, is this for me?”

Seraphina let out a happy voice.

“Yeah. The big arrows seemed like they’d be hard for you to throw.”

I had prepared a set of miniature darts, so Seraphina could also play normally by throwing them. Since it’s a game about competing for scores, it should be fine.

“You play by… throwing them like this and hitting the target. Want to give it a try?”

“Really?”

The four of them looked delighted. The darts had arrived, so they could play already.

“Sure. I still have work to do, so I’ll be working, but I’d appreciate it if you could share your impressions.”

When I suggested it, everyone started playing darts. Their throwing form was a bit awkward at first, but as they threw, they seemed to reference my form, and gradually they got the hang of it. Every time someone hit the target, Marlene, who was sitting in a chair, would applaud, and they seemed to be having fun. And, as expected, Sheila was good at throwing darts. Irmhild, perhaps because she was used to aiming at distant targets, was also quite skilled.

“Hmm, hitting the target isn’t that hard, but the way to play written on the paper uses your head quite a bit.”

“But it’s interesting, isn’t it?”

At Sheila and Irmhild’s words, Marlene nodded repeatedly. I’m glad they liked it.

While watching them out of the corner of my eye, I proceeded with making the billiards table. Using Wood Magic and Earth Magic, I formed the billiards table and cues. The billiards table was completed by stretching cloth over it. Apparently, the key to billiards is how evenly the cloth is stretched… I’ll have to play occasionally and see how it goes.

I used Orc leather for the cue tips. For the ferrules, I processed monster fangs, but both the leather and ferrules might be areas that need further research and improvement. I also attached cork to the grip part and prepared chalk for better grip, so the cues were ready for now.

I made the billiard balls by purchasing monster fangs recovered from the Labyrinth and processing them. Like with darts, I posted a paper explaining the rules of billiards.

“Lord Alfred has arrived.”

Grace and Ashley, carrying a tea set, along with Cecilia and Mihaela, and then Alfred, Viola, and Talcott from the workshop group entered the entertainment room. The savory aroma of baked sweets wafted through the room.

It seemed Grace, as the senior apprentice, had been teaching Cecilia the locations of various tools. It appeared they had all been making baked sweets together.

“The various things you requested are finished.”

It seemed Alfred and the others had come to deliver the Humanization Spell Rings and the coats for the Blazing Fortress.

“Thank you. But that was pretty fast.”

“I guess we got a bit carried away,” Alfred said with a wry smile. I hope he didn’t pull another all-nighter or something.

“No, you both did great work. Thank you.”

“Mhm. Thank you. You’re doing something interesting again, I see.”

The workshop group looked with interest at the posted instructions for darts and billiards.

“That one over there is a game where you throw arrows and accurately hit a target. This one here is a game where you poke and bounce balls like this. The details are written on the paper, so I’d be happy if you tried them out and shared your impressions.”

“Well now, that’s a perk.”

“I tried to stretch the cloth evenly, but if there are any strange bumps or dips, I’d appreciate it if you let me know.”

“Understood. The way to hit it is… like this, right?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Before long, the distinctive, crisp sound of billiards began echoing in the entertainment room.

“This is fun. The sound feels… nice, somehow.”

“So you hit it off the rails, make it bounce back, and hit them in numerical order? It’s quite deep, isn’t it?”

Viola and Talcott also seemed to be enjoying themselves quite a bit.

“If you like it, you’re always welcome to come and play. It could be a way to interact with everyone in the monster village too.”

“That sounds good. Hmm. Should we put a carbonated drink Magic Tool and a shaved ice machine on the entertainment room counter?”

“Indeed. Let’s make them and bring them over.”

Hmm. Alfred and Viola seem to be getting excited about making things again.

Next up is… the tatami mats for the Japanese-style room. For these, I modified the Magic used for making paper and Wood Magic to form a structure similar to rush grass. I manipulated a Golem to weave them together.

“What kind of game is that over there?” Ashley asked.

“No, this is just something like flooring. I’m planning to lay it in the newly made room.”

“Is that so? It smells nice.”

Ashley closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the tatami.

“It smells like grass.”

“Yeah. Oh, that reminds me, what happened to the Evil Weed?”

Since the topic of grass came up, I was curious and asked.

Evil Weed is a monster weed. It was supposed to be potted and taken care of by Ashley, so it must have grown somewhat by now, right?

“Ah, those children? They’ve become attached even without crossbreeding. I’ve been giving them water with Water Magic and providing nutrients… When they become attached, they’re surprisingly cute, you know.”

“Oh? Water Magic, huh. There was that story from Claudia about how a monster’s nature becomes fixed when it’s young.”

Unintentionally, that story has been substantiated.

When I had her bring the flowerpot, sure enough, it was sitting quietly in Ashley’s hands.

I gently stroked its head too, and it showed no sign of trying to bite me. Seeing it like this, it might be quite cute.

“Theodore. I’m finished.”

Claudia also peeked her face in at the doorway. Somehow, it feels like everyone has gathered in the entertainment room.

Claudia had been working on installing a transport stone tablet for moving to the basement. Apparently, once Claudia teleports a villager to the basement using it, they’ll be able to travel back and forth between the village and the basement.

“Good work. I see. Once the furniture is in, we can finally invite them, right?”

“That’s right. The children who expressed interest first will be coming.”

“Mhm. Well then, shall we take a short break?”

While watching everyone engrossed in the games out of the corner of my eye, we took a break with baked sweets and tea.

“Wow, this is interesting. The cards, and this too, they’re really well made.”

Alfred, having finished one game of billiards, shared his thoughts. It seems Alfred really took a liking to billiards. Whether it’s darts or billiards, they are games that developed over many years, after all.

“Aren’t you going to sell things like these? It feels a bit wasteful to keep them exclusive to this place.”

Viola tilted her head slightly.

“They might sell… but it’s the increase in miscellaneous tasks. I wouldn’t be able to handle it all.”

“If that’s the case, I do have some trustworthy connections,” Alfred said.

“How so?”

“Well, before I met Theo-kun, I was trying to find people who could handle items made in the workshop, so I built connections with various merchants who seemed reliable. But the things Theo-kun makes are Aerial Combat Gear, Communication Devices, and so on, all things not really suited to entrusting to those kinds of people.”

“Ah…”

That’s true. Both Aerial Combat Gear and Communication Devices are treated more like classified information, or something like that; they’re not things you can just put into circulation and be done with.

But then again, lately there have been many items related to entertainment, so maybe for those kinds of things, it would be fine to have merchants handle them?

Given that we have to pay salaries, more income is definitely better.

“In that case, could you arrange an introduction?”

“Then I’ll try to set up an opportunity for you to talk with Theo-kun. Whether you decide to entrust them or not will be up to Theo-kun after meeting them.”

“Understood. Once the schedule is set, just let me know.”

Hmm. Things have really piled up lately.