Stardew Valley of Gensokyo

According to the Civil Engineering Kappa, Kawashiro Nitori usually works here.

The black metal hull standing next to the tent looked strange, with three antennas on top flashing with azure lightning.

The kappa has so many strange and wonderful devices.

With a sigh, Akina Sawa shook his head and prepared to lift the curtain and go inside.

But before he could even lift the tent flap, Kawashiro Nitori's voice came from inside.

"No matter how much you like the wind, don't climb to the top of the tower crane!" Her voice was crisp and clear, perfectly befitting her identity as an engineering kappa.

But the sound insulation of this tent isn't very good. Doesn't Kappa have any high-tech tents?

However, since there were still people inside, Akina Sawa planned to wait a while before going in, but Shameimaru Aya didn't care about that and strode in, lifting the curtain.

There was nothing he could do, so Akina Sawa shrugged and followed him inside.

As soon as he entered the tent, the light that greeted him made Akina Ze's eyes widen; the long corner lights at the four corners of the tent were incredibly bright.

Rubbing her eyes, Akina Sawa noticed that Kawashiro Nitori was scolding the part-time kappa standing in front of her with his head down, acting like a little adult with his hands behind his back.

However, more than that, Akina Sawa was more concerned about Kawashiro Nitori's slightly curled hair, which was still very noticeable despite her hat covering it.

Is it because his afro hairstyle from the Patchouli incident hasn't fully healed yet? That was the only possibility he could think of.

It has to be said that Kawashiro Nitori looks really cute with her slightly wavy short hair, even though it wasn't intentional on her part.

But Akina couldn't help but laugh, because the first time he saw the man with the afro was really memorable, and he immediately remembered it when he saw him again.

However, Aya Shameimaru's face was dark. Why wasn't she smiling?

By analogy, Akina Sawa also suddenly realized the truth.

Yes, it seems that Aya Shameimaru also had her hair turned into an afro by Patchouli when she was enraged.

He looked at Aya Shameimaru's smooth, short hair and recalled the scene from that time.

"hiss!"

Suddenly, Akina Sawa also felt a sharp pain in his toes and couldn't help but cry out.

He looked up and saw that it was Ayashiro Shameimaru who had turned around and was glaring at him fiercely. The foot wearing wooden clogs was directly stepping on his foot and grinding it.

Having your toes stepped on is no pleasant experience, so Akina Sawa quickly clasped his hands together and begged for mercy. Only then did Shameimaru Aya snort and move her foot away.

"Does she have mind-reading abilities?" Akina Sawa wondered to himself, but he didn't dare stare at Aya Shameimaru's hair any longer and decided to look away for the time being.

Kawashiro Nitori, who was talking to a kappa inside the tent, noticed the two people who entered. "You stinky tengu, and Mr. Akina, what brings you here?"

Worried that Kawashiro Nitori's comment about the "stinky tengu" might anger Shameimaru Aya and cause the conversation to break down, Akina Sawa quickly stepped forward and said, "Miss Kawashiro Nitori, I'm here to talk to you about something."

"You need something from me?" Kawashiro Nitori looked puzzled. He first waved for the part-time kappa to leave, and then said warily, "Let me make this clear first. If there's a problem with the electrical system in your house, it's definitely not our fault. It must be caused by your daily use. Let me clarify, we kappa don't offer warranties."

"..." Upon hearing this, Akina Ze also had a black line on his face. He suddenly felt that there were too few streetlights in the Human Village.

Suppressing the urge to jump to conclusions, Akina Ze also said, "It is indeed related to my house, but not the electricity."

"I heard that all the kappa who can do the work are in this area. I'd like to expand my study. Could you spare some people to move over there?"

"So you came to me for expansion. I thought it was because of the thin insulation on the wires," Kawashiro Nitori said with a sigh of relief.

"What?" Akina Ze was stunned when he heard the shocking news. The power lines in his house should be high up, and Nikua and the others shouldn't be able to reach them, right?

"Nothing! Nothing! Let's talk about the house expansion." Having inadvertently let slip, Kawashiro Nitori quickly changed the subject.

“I think what you just said was the key point,” Akina Ze said to Shameimaru Aya beside him. “Aya, did you hear that? The Kappa cut corners on the electrical wires. That’s big news.”

“Yes, I heard that.” Aya Shameimaru took out her notebook from her bag with interest, intending to make a note of it.

"No!" Seeing this, Kawashiro Nitori pleaded, "I'll have them redo it when we expand later!"

“That’s more like it. Let’s continue discussing the expansion of my house.” Akina Ze nodded in satisfaction. “I want to finish the expansion of my house today. Can you do that?”

"How could it be that fast!?" Kawashiro Naritori looked distressed.

"Wenwen?"

"No problem! I have a Kappa's latest exoskeleton technology. With its help, I can definitely do it!"

"Is it the one I saw on the road?" Akina Ze asked curiously.

"Although I don't know which one you're talking about, there's only one exoskeleton. It's currently being tested at the construction site, and what you're seeing is probably that one."

“That’s fine.” Akina Ze nodded.

According to his observation, the kappa equipped with an exoskeleton, despite its small size, could lift logs that were many times heavier than its own weight, which would definitely make it much more efficient to use.

"Let me talk about the specifics of how to expand." Having lost ground in the previous conversation, Kawashiro Nitori was determined to turn the tide.

"The Scarlet Devil Mansion reconstruction project is indeed very tight right now. I can only give you three kappa at most."

"Just three kappa? Even with the exoskeleton, you can't finish them, can you?" Akina Sawa asked doubtfully.

“Three isn’t enough?” Kawashiro Nitori counted on his fingers. “One is the commanding kappa, one is the safety kappa, and one is the dust-beating kappa.”

“Isn’t that enough?” she countered.

There was only one person actually doing the work...

"Can I just have one person to do the work?" Akina Ze asked weakly.

“No, this is stipulated in the Kappa Heavy Industries manual.” Kawashiro Nitori shook his head.

The conversation inside the tent continued, but people outside were already preparing to stop them.

At the entrance, Izayoi Sakuya held a thick notebook filled with dense writing, detailing the kappa who had been caught slacking off every day and the things they had done.

Sakuya Izayoi had intended to give the notebook to Nitori Kawashiro to have it deducted from her daily wages, but she unexpectedly overheard this.

Although she felt sorry for Mr. Akina, Izayoi Sakuya still intended to stop them, relying on her position as the person in charge of the client.

The reconstruction of the Scarlet Devil Mansion is under extremely tight deadlines. In order to complete the reconstruction before the New Year, Sakuya will not allow anything to hinder the progress, and even Mr. Akina can only apologize.

Just as Izayoi Sakuya was about to lift the curtain and go in to stop them, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Sakuya, you're not allowed to go in and disturb Akina-nii."

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Izayoi Sakuya sighed and stopped what she was doing.

"Okay, Miss Second."

“Very good, Akina-nii is doing things for me now, so you can’t disturb him.” Flandre said with a smile, holding a rag doll in her arms.

"May I ask if I may? What is he doing for you, Miss?" Izayoi Sakuya asked, bowing.

"Pudding~ Pudding~ Of course it's pudding~" Flandre held up the doll in her hand and spun around, her red dress fluttering in the air, making her stand out. "It's all my sister's fault for eating all the pudding."

"Okay, I understand." After a moment of silence, Izayoi Sakuya bowed slightly and disappeared from the spot.

She couldn't refute it... because Remilia had really eaten all the remaining pudding in the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Chapter Seventy: Throw it into the river?

The negotiations with Kawashiro Nitori were successful, and Akina Sawa not only received help from the three part-time kappa, but also a set of experimental mechanical exoskeletons as a friendly gift from her.

But as soon as Akina Ze stepped out of the tent, he was stopped by Flandre, who was asking for pudding.

Having no other choice, Akina Sawa had to ask Shameimaru Aya to buy a pudding from the locals before Flandre let him go.

After returning from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the sun had already moved away from the central axis, and the ground was gradually covered with a layer of shadow. It was already afternoon, but the expansion of the study in the Akina mansion had only just begun.

With three kappa and a tengu by his side, standing in front of the woodpile, Akina Sawa wasn't sure if he could complete the expansion in a single day.

But with this exoskeleton, it should be enough, right? He stroked the metallic shell of the exoskeleton, stuffed the pickled cucumber into the energy pod in his chest, and Akina Ze felt that he was now terrifyingly strong, capable of uprooting even a large tree with lush roots.

He tentatively clenched his fist, and the exoskeleton's hand gripped it simultaneously. He then kicked his legs and jumped several meters high, which can be described as a comprehensive enhancement.

Feeling this overwhelming power, Akina Ze couldn't help but think how efficient he would be if he wore this exoskeleton to plow and dig holes on a regular day.

Perhaps even the expansion of farmland can be put on the agenda. He didn't do it before because he couldn't take care of so much farmland by himself.

Now with the help of mechanical exoskeletons, expanding by several acres at once is not a problem. Moreover, Akina Sawa has already asked Mokou, and the nearby vacant land can be cultivated at will. As long as you cultivate it, it belongs to you. You only need to pay a management fee later.

The plan is great, but there's still a problem: the pickles that will power the exoskeleton.

Don't ask why pickled cucumbers are the energy source for mechanical exoskeletons. Akina Sawa was also shocked when he first heard the news, but then he thought, this is Gensokyo, so everything makes sense.

Although Kawashiro Nitori later explained that she used pickled cucumbers as a starter, she actually used something like "zero-point energy," Akina Sawa didn't understand either, just thinking she was babbling. Meat

Whether pickled cucumbers are the catalyst or exist as an energy source, the problem ultimately lies with them.

A juicy pickled cucumber can only last for one day at most, and then it must be replaced with another one to keep going.

However, buying directly from the kappa is far too expensive, and cucumbers in the human village market have already become very pricey because of the kappa. If the soil in the human village weren't unsuitable for cucumber growth, there would probably be cucumber farms everywhere.

But Akina Sawa is different; he farms with a whole bunch of buffs, so growing cucumbers in saline-alkali soil is no problem for him.

So he plans to build his own cucumber garden specifically to power his exoskeleton.

Feeling the weight of the exoskeleton on his body, Akina Ze decided that he would use this cucumber exoskeleton to cultivate a cucumber field. But those were plans for later; right now, expanding the bookstore was more important, otherwise he would have to share a bed with Wenwen again at night—personal privacy was still important.

Upon arriving at the Akina residence, the three kappa began to divide the tasks.

After carefully examining the site, the kappa in charge quickly drew a structural perspective drawing, which was a detailed design of the newly expanded bookstore, including details such as the placement of the beams.

Only after this diagram was completed did the kappa officially begin their work. Akina Zeya, dressed in his exoskeleton, also started working under the guidance of the kappa.

Thanks to the timber left over from the previous construction of greenhouses, the project did not need to start by cutting down trees.

Wearing the exoskeleton, Akina Sawa picked up the snow-covered piece of wood from the ground, shook it vigorously to remove the snow, and then placed it in the designated location as instructed.

Strangely enough, the commander of the kappa brought a projection ball. As long as the blueprint was placed in it, a virtual image could be projected onto the area to be built. After that, all that was needed was to place the materials in the same way.

With the powerful drive of the exoskeleton and the projected blueprints, the project proceeded rapidly, and the study was completed just as the sun was setting behind the mountains.

A room with a triangular sloping roof was built behind the original house. The door of the study leads directly to the living room, making it convenient for people to walk around inside.

The current Akina residence can be described as one large and three small buildings: a central living room, a kitchen on the right, a bedroom on the left, and a newly built study at the back—where Aya Shameimaru's bed and printing press will be placed.

The kappa, having completed their work, did not stay but left immediately. The Scarlet Devil Mansion project was still waiting for them; how could they stop to rest?

Even though the exoskeleton was out of power, Akina Ze still clung to it tightly. Now he was completely inseparable from the exoskeleton. If the bed wasn't too small and there weren't too many people, he would even want to hug it while sleeping at night.

Seeing that Akina Sawa was also so concerned about the exoskeleton lying limp in his arms without electricity, Aya Shameimaru inexplicably had the idea of ​​throwing the exoskeleton back to Nitori Kawashiro.

...What am I thinking? It's just a bunch of machines. Turning to look at the newly completed bookstore, Aya Shameimaru shook her head, dismissing the thought.

"Miss Wenwen, would you like your bed made of oak or birch?"

Carefully placing the powerless exoskeleton on the table, Akina Ze also took out an axe from his belt, intending to go into the forest to cut down a tree on the spot to make material for the bed—all the remaining wood had been used up.

“I see it’s not completely dark yet, why don’t we go and move the newspaper’s printing press down first? We can still use it tonight.” Aya Shameimaru replied, not wanting to go to bed too early.

"What about your bed?"

“The printing press is important. You don’t want me to have to go up the mountain to work at night, do you?” Aya Shameimaru said, blinking.

...But I still want to sleep with the exoskeleton at night.

It seemed the only option was to move the printing press down from the newspaper office on the hillside. Akina sighed, but as he looked at the exoskeleton on the table that was out of power, an idea suddenly popped into his head.

He tentatively asked, "I'd like to listen to you, but your printing press is too heavy. Without the help of an exoskeleton, it might be impossible to lift it down smoothly. How about..."

"I'm going to buy pickled cucumbers right now, you wait!" Before he finished speaking, Aya Shameimaru spread her wings and disappeared from the spot.

Less than a minute later, Aya Shameimaru returned, carrying a jar of pickled cucumbers.

It seems Aya Shameimaru is serious. There's nothing he can do but take the pickled cucumber from her and stuff it into the exoskeleton's energy pod—the green light on his chest lit up again.

But when Aya Shameimaru saw Akina Sawa restart and put on the exoskeleton using the pickled cucumbers she bought, a strange feeling welled up in her heart...?

...Or maybe we should just throw it into the river and say it got lost.

In the setting sun, the silver-white shell of the mechanical exoskeleton glittered.

Chapter 71 The Speed ​​of Farming

I stayed up all night last night, and when Ji Haitangguo woke up again at her desk, it was almost noon.

She quickly washed her face with cold water, tidied her slightly messy hair, changed her pigtails into a purple bow, grabbed her binoculars, and hurriedly went out the door.

Flying to a familiar tree, as usual, Ji Haitangguo picked up her binoculars to check on the newspaper office halfway up the mountain in the distance.

Today is also a day of looking for opportunities. If she can confirm through the binoculars that Aya Shameimaru is not there, she can sneak in and find out from the clues in the newspaper office why Aya Shameimaru is always able to write eye-catching news headlines.