Chapter 135: It’s easy if you search for the watermelon’s presence

Despite the incident that dyed the pool’s water red, the fact remains that we have managed to build a new recreational facility.

Factoring in the summer’s heat, it was definitely popular among the villagers.

I had anticipated the requests for a pool where even small children could play in, so I also built a shallow one.

The thought of making heated pools when winter arrives has also crossed my mind.

I was getting ahead of myself though. Other than the pool, summer-related food has grown in popularity as well.

A great example were the gigantic watermelons harvested in the village’s orchards. And thanks to being preserved in a refrigeration facility, these watermelons could almost always be eaten cold.

<<Refrigerator: a facility for keeping the temperature of things like food low, and thus preserving them. It’s possible to adjust the temperature.>>

I obtained the ability to build a refrigerator when my village level became 9. In terms of default physical size, a refrigerator was as big as a storehouse.

Because temperature inside the facility could be changed depending on the occasion, it could also be used as a freezer.

“Mhm, this watermelon’s so sweet, so juicy, and so delicious!”

Selen said so while the corners of her mouth were drenched with the watermelon’s red juices.

“(*If I can have just one of the seeds that Luke-sama spat out…haa, haa…*)”

For some reason, Millia hasn’t eaten a single bite out of the watermelon piece she had in her hand.

Does she not like watermelons?

At that moment, a certain game came to my mind.

“Do you guys know about watermelon splitting?”

“What’s that? I’ve never heard of it before.”

Selen replied so with a blank look on her face.

“It’s a game where you have to smash a watermelon with a stick while blindfolded, making you needing to rely on hints that others will be giving you.”

“Ohh. Sounds fun.”

Selen replied so, sounding interested.

“Ok, let’s do it!”

Like that, we blindfolded Selen.

I placed a watermelon about 20 meters away, and then went a bit closer before shouting. I did so in order to avoid giving away the location of the watermelon.

“The watermelon has been set!”

On my signal, Selen drew out the two swords hanging from her hips.

“H-hey, those are real swords! That’s dangerous!”

“It’s fine. I’m used to this.”

Even if she says she’s used to it, the fact remains that it’s dangerous to hold real swords while blindfolded.

However, contrary to my worries, Selen walked directly toward the watermelon without a trace of hesitation. It was as though she wasn’t blindfolded at all.

And then…

*Slash!*

“You smashed, or rather, cut the watermelon so cleanly…”

“Nothing to it.”

“How were you so sure of where the watermelon was though?”

“I sensed it.”

“You sensed where it was!?”

Maybe she was just pretending that her eyes were covered and could actually see perfectly…?

“Hmm, that looks like fun.”

Philia-san, who had watermelon seeds around her mouth, said so as she approached.

“I see, so that’s watermelon splitting, huh. May I give it a go?”

“Sure. Here’s a stick you can use.”

“No, I think I’ll use this.”

She said so while holding up a bow.

“Wait, hey, that’s so dangerous!”

“There’s no need to worry.”

Like that, a blindfolded Philia-san confidently drew her bow and let her arrow fly.

In the next moment, the arrow pierced the watermelon that was 50 meters away right in the center.

“Eeeehh…how did you do that?”

“It’s easy if you search for the watermelon’s presence.”

What does ‘search for the watermelon’s presence’ even mean…?

At any rate, watermelon splitting soon became another hit in the village.

Curiously, the villagers have begun competing among themselves to see who could split watermelons in the flashiest way possible.

In another attempt, Selen managed to slice a great number of watermelons floating in the pool in an instant.

Philia-san also tried again, this time shooting an arrow through a watermelon that was a kilometer away.

Of course, it wasn’t just the two of them who tried.

The spearman Rando-kun demonstrated a technique that was able to skewer 10 watermelons seemingly all at once.

The strongman Goate-san simply swung his hand down toward the ground, and the watermelon nearby was smashed by the shockwave that emerged from his chop.

The adventurer Hazena-san used fire magic to slice a watermelon in half. It was extremely hard to hold the flames back from burning the watermelon to ashes. Or so Hazena-san said after she succeeded.

Also, Manta-san from Mao village boasted that he could split a watermelon with his thing and proceeded to undress. Understandably, the guards arrested him for that. Thanks to Mack-san, Manta-san’s father, pleading for him, it was decided that Manta-san’s punishment would only be to enter a rehabilitation facility for a while.

Contrary to my expectations of this being a one-time-only event, watermelon splitting has already become so synonymous with summer for many of the villagers that most of them were saying that they would like to do it again in the years to come.

“…but can it still be called ‘watermelon splitting’ at this point?”

※No watermelons were wasted in any of these events. They have all been eaten afterwards.