Isekai Nonbiri Nouka
Chapter 967: Rubber Goods

Sandwiches.

A dish where ingredients are placed between slices of bread.

Because of its simplicity, it’s hard to mess up as long as you don’t choose the wrong ingredients.

Maybe that’s why, when asked about their specialty dish, many villagers answer with “sandwiches”.

Well, that’s understandable.

The oni maids, on the other hand, name far more complex dishes.

How nostalgic.

Back when I first came to the village… ah, right.

Let’s not go down memory lane.

That’s all that matters.

-0-

The sandwich with roasted big boar has become wildly popular among the children.

That roast really is delicious.

It’s perfect whether eaten alone or in a sandwich.

Even the oni maids praised it.

I’ll ask them to teach me the recipe sometime.

Second most popular among the children are the fruit sandwiches.

But these tend to divide them into factions depending on the fruit used.

Strawberry, kiwi, orange, mango, and melon seem to be the most dominant.

Some kids prefer a fruit mix sandwich made with a variety of fruits.

Yeah, yeah, they’re all delicious.

No need to compete.

But still, fruit sandwiches alone aren’t enough.

I’d like them to eat cutlet sandwiches and ham sandwiches too.

There are plenty of options out there.

-0-

Rubber can be harvested from rubber trees.

We planted rubber trees during the early days of the village, so by now we’ve managed to collect quite a bit.

The harvested rubber is processed and used for things like carriage and wagon tires.

To make it suitable for tires, additives need to be mixed in to harden the rubber, but until now, we’d just thrown in whatever and it worked well enough, so no one really researched it seriously.

That changed recently….a few research-minded angels finally took it on.

And now, new rubber products have arrived.

Rubber gloves and rubber boots have been a huge hit among those who work with water.

Rubber soles are also well-received for being slip-resistant.

Rubber gaskets might not get much attention, but the mountain elves are all smiles.

Then there’s rubber clothing.

It doesn’t slip even without being tight, making it easy to wear, and more importantly, not uncomfortable!

The women in the village were overjoyed.

Even Zabuton and her spiderlings were thrilled by the surprise new material.

They modified old outfits and made entirely new ones using rubber.

And finally, rubber balls.

We’d tried making rubber balls before, but we never quite got the balance right between bounce and durability.

They used to shatter easily.

But that issue’s been solved now.

I’m glad.

This means more variety in how the kids can play.

For reference, the balls we’ve been using to play fetch with the kuros were made by wrapping beast hide around a wooden core.

We tried different things, solid wooden balls and such, but the ones wrapped in hide were the best for biting, apparently.

As for rubber balls…

We tried them, but the kuros managed to chew through them in just a few tries.

Their fangs are sharper than I thought.

-0-

We made a giant ball about fifty centimeters in diameter.

The purpose was to create something usable for the larger-bodied minotaurs and titans.

The regular balls we use are just too small and hard for them to handle.

The children of the minotaurs and titans were thrilled.

The first game they played with the giant ball was dodgeball.

It was quite a spectacle.

Then they started trying out different kinds of ball games, and eventually they arrived at…

Basketball.

But since the ball is made of rubber, it bounces a lot, and when played outdoors, the bounce is inconsistent.

The ground is uneven, and with the minotaur and titans moving around, it gets even worse.

So we built a dedicated basketball court.

Of course, the court’s size and the height of the ringposts are adjusted for the minotaur and titans.

The floor is entirely wooden, made from processed forest trees.

Under the floorboards, we used a rubber base layer to help control the bounce of the ball.

The ringposts are made of wood, but reinforced with metal at key points.

At first, we thought that would be enough, but we realized we needed walls to stop lost balls from rolling off.

Also, I felt we needed a roof to deal with the rain.

In the end, what we built was a full-scale basketball stadium for the minotaurs and titans.

-0-

Inside the stadium, a close match is unfolding between the Minotaur’s First Team and the Titan’s Third Team.

With players on both sides standing over four meters tall, it’s an intense and overwhelming sight.

Oh, the titans steal the ball.

After two quick dribbles, they gently pass it toward the ringpost.

Another titan catches it midair and slams it into the hoop.

An alley-oop, I think.

But the minotaurs aren’t backing down.

They swiftly bring the ball down the court and go for a shot…. only for two titans to leap up and block it together.

Seeing that, the shooter pulls back and passes to an open teammate.

The player receives it and smoothly sinks a three-pointer from deep.

A back-and-forth, evenly matched game.

-0-

I always thought sumo was the most popular sport among the minotaur and titans.

But it turns out, not everyone excels at those kinds of head-on strength contests.

In that respect, basketball involves far less physical collision.

There’s still some physical contest, but more emphasis is placed on ball handling and passing.

For those minotaurs and titans who aren’t fond of brute-force clashes, basketball has been a huge hit.

-0-

A titan spins midair to avoid a defender and lands a dunk.

The minotaurs respond with a clean three-point shot.

Since a normal shot is worth two points, it might seem like the minotaurs have an edge with their frequent use of three-pointers.

But there’s a reason they’re worth three, they’re hard to make.

The minotaurs’ three-point shots fail about one in every three attempts.

Just as I was wondering if this would hold them back, their team made a move.

They faked a three-pointer to draw the defense, then passed the ball to a player who had slipped under the basket.

The shot went in clean.

But the titans remained calm.

Without hesitation, they launched a swift series of passes and drove toward the opposing ring.

The minotaurs held a tight defense, but each titan player handled the ball with skill.

They dodged defenders with feints and took solid shots.

After confirming the shot landed, they quickly ran back to defend their own side.

The titans seem to have a strong grasp on switching between offense and defense.

Ah, the referee just blew the whistle.

Looks like the sand in the hourglass has run out.

Hmm, we’ll need a clearer way to track time.

Right now, there’s no injury time or time-stopping for fouls.

The hourglass doesn’t stop.

We’ll need to figure out how to adjust for that too.

Timekeeping is an important part of the game in basketball.

It would be nice to have something that keeps a consistent rhythm.

-0-

As a side note, the minotaurs and titans have spent most of their reward medals on basketball-related items.

The main basketball stadium was built in Big Tree Village, but the minotaurs’ Village Two now have outdoor courts with rubber flooring and even half-courts.

In the northern dungeon where the titans live, they created a court inside a large open space, with ringposts set up throughout the cave system.

Each group has also traded for about ten new balls.

It’s proof that their lives have become stable enough to invest in these kinds of things.

That’s a good sign.

-0-

Clock.

As for measuring time….

We didn’t need to overthink it.

Just replacing the hourglass with a water clock solved everything.

The water clock was made with a large, easy-to-read display of the water level to show the current time clearly.

To stop time, we close the sluice gate.

To add time, we pour in a set number of cups of water.

It was Glatts who came up with switching from sand to water.

As expected of him.

Glatts is now serving as something like a coach for the Minotaur basketball team.

「Keep your stance low on defense! Spread your arms wide! Don’t just try to stop them by colliding, focus on keeping them from moving freely!」

He’s passionately coaching, which is great, but…if he puts too much energy into this, won’t the Deputy Chief of Staff warn him again?

Is this okay?

You want to propose basketball as a recreational activity for the military?

I don’t mind, but it’ll cost some money…

Although, if you don’t insist on a proper court, all you really need is one ringpost and a ball.

Alright.

As long as you pay, I’ll provide the ball.

-0-

Anyway, that’s a beautiful sandwich.

Made by Ronana?

No, no, you don’t need to hide it. I’m not trying to take it.

I was just curious about what kind of food Ronana specializes in.

It’s been a popular topic around the village lately.