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On the other hand, the apprentices hadn’t even mastered the basics yet, so I literally could only teach them the foundation. But I didn’t interfere much. I think it’s better to let them work hard while facing problems so they could think for themselves. But if there’s anything they didn’t understand or if they had ‌questions, I would answer it properly. I also praised them if they did well. After all, I’m the type of person who improved with praises.

For the novice… Honestly, I had nothing else to do but to watch him. All he did was just forging the same sample sword repeatedly. But that didn’t mean I was ditching him.

He should be able to forge something else too for a change, right? Then I could ‌monitor him properly.

When I tried recommending that to him, he forged a different sword he had in his mind. Then his precision when he forged a sample sword after that increased at once. I guess he learned something when he made that sword.

Later, I secretly checked his skill with [Appraisal]. His [Blacksmith] level remained the same, but his [Metalworking] level had risen. That means his understanding of handling metal had deepened, I guess? Hmm.

Eh? I was supervising them better than I thought, even if I was unmotivated? Well, I already took the task, so I would do it properly, okay? Motivation and job were two different things altogether!

With that feeling, I spent the end of the year supervising them every two days. On the last day of this year, I secretly stayed up late to make and eat soba, celebrating the New Year’s Eve.

Ah… This is it. Japanese custom!

I couldn’t find buckwheat flour since I stayed deep in the forest last year. But since the memory of my previous life had returned, I would like to get a hold of it soon.

By the way, I didn’t invite anyone to the workshop. Sorry.

And the workshop didn’t operate on the first day of New Year, so I spent that entire day sleeping.

First shrine visit? This world also had the custom to go to the church and pray for the first time to celebrate the year, but I didn’t go since I wasn’t that religious. In the first place, I didn’t have any plans to go.

Yeah, that’s the plan, but Triela and the others came on the second day of New Year and forcibly took me away. It’s cold, and it’s going to snow, so could they leave me alone? No? …Seems like they wouldn’t let me go, so I gave up and followed them.

Ah, don’t worry since Norn and Bell were also with me. And as usual, the way I behaved to boys and girls were different.

By the way, the state religion of this country was the God of Wind, making our destination the temple of the God of Wind… Not really. We’re going to a church in another place. Most people also prayed in the square in front of the temple during New Year, but I wanted to try praying in the church.

The chapel of the church was surprisingly empty, as everyone else went to the temple. Nobles used the chapel of the temple, so commoners couldn’t enter it. F̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g privilege!

After praying in the church’s chapel, we received the vegetable soup prepared in the square in front of the church. We ate them before going home and talked about what we were doing these days.

Triela and the others ‌earned small money by doing chores in the town. They were mainly scraping snow.

They used a lot of preserved food on our way home from O’Neill, so they were worried that the winter food they had prepared might not be enough. Yet in reality, they had considerable savings thanks to the sale of the orc.

That being said, buying food in the middle of winter was expensive. The profit from the sale of the orc was enough for them to spend this winter with no problems, but having more money wouldn’t hurt. That’s why they were devoting their time to earn some pocket money.

Also, Triela and Rico trained their magic skills by practicing magic circulations. Only both of them could supply magic power to the hot water supply magic tool, so they seemed to have it rough.

Since I advised them to take a bath every day to avoid hygiene problems, they had been trying to follow my words to their utmost effort. Being careless about hygiene during winter was especially bad. They would easily catch a cold, plus the recovery would take longer than usual. It’s better to keep the environment clean so they wouldn’t catch a cold in the first place. Getting sick would cost them a lot of money.

Regarding the water heater, I thought ‌I might have to teach magic to the boys. But they apparently had done a lot of things. Triela and Rico also had the intention to teach them.

However, Cain and Maricle were planning to take goblins’ subjugation requests starting from the beginning of the year, so all the boys had been practicing in the mornings and evenings every day.

Hmm, I didn’t know if this was good or bad.

Hunting one goblin would generate more income than a day’s chores done by eight people. This was ‌better in terms of income.

However, only Cain and Maricle could take subjugation requests. It’s scary to think about how they might get injured. And it would cost money, too.

However, Maricle had mastered the shield. His skill was exceptional considering his age. Thanks to the equipment I made for him, it’s unlikely that he would get any fatal injuries.

In that case, the problem was Cain. But even if his equipment was inferior, Cain was a genius when it comes to using his body.

Triela told me ‌he was getting stronger at an amazing speed in his daily practice. Also, he sometimes went to the inn where Neil was staying and trained there… Since Neil had returned to the capital, that means Vector also had returned as well… Did the demon cleaning-up operation go well? …Oh well. It didn’t concern the orphanage, so I didn’t care.

…That’s that. But did Vector also get involved with Cain and the others?

Well, it’s up to him to decide if he wanted to take these kids to his team… I didn’t want them to get involved with him too much, but they would get more opportunities by sticking with Vector. Hmm…

No, no. Cain, Maricle, and Triela were the ones who decided on the party. Maricle and Triela would definitely not agree if they didn’t think it was safe. Cain also was able to think a bit after receiving Maricle’s preaching on our way home… right?

Kuro was wrapped in a blanket and curled up in the bed since she disliked the cold. She also put a board on the bathtub and rolled up on top of it. Is she a cat!? …Well, she is.

Arle studied cooking when she had time. Boman joined her after he finished practicing. That being said, he didn’t waste any food materials, so there was no problem. Should I go ‌look next time?

How about me, you ask? I didn’t really have anything to say… I hadn’t stepped out of the workshop until today, and I didn’t really have to tell them about supervising the apprentices, right?

We talked about those things and dispersed before noon.

Hmm, let’s go home quickly and eat something… The stock offered by the soup kitchen wasn’t enough at all. There were no food stalls during New Year holidays, so I couldn’t take a tour of eating too.

In the midst of the light snow, I returned to the workshop in quick steps.