Chapter 252: A Peaceful Afternoon (1/2)

By the time the snow cleaning job ended, it was already afternoon, and Yurdum-san and I went to the church.

“Good day.” [Ryouma]

“Welcome, Takebayashi-san, Yurdum-san. I really can’t thank you enough. Not only did you provide a venue for us, you even provided so much food.” [Bell]

“Please don’t mention it, this kind of activity is important too, after all. And besides, the ingredients we brought are all just leftovers from the fields I’m using for my experiments.” [Ryouma]

One of the sisters managing the Gimuru church, Bell-san, bowed deeply. Behind her, Children from the orphanage next to the church could be seen pushing carts of various sizes full of cooking utensils and bags filled to the brim with potatoes and beans.

This afternoon we’re to help with the soup kitchen of the church, and we’ll be having lunch with them too.

Normally, the soup kitchen would be held in a corner of the church, but because of the mass migration of laborers, there has been more people looking for food, and the venue they were using couldn’t accommodate them all anymore, causing the people to spill over into the streets and become a nuisance to the neighbors.

When I heard about that, I took it upon myself to offer them a bigger venue. I also offered to help with the transport of ingredients and tools, as well as provide the ingredients themselves.

“Now I’d love to start now, but…” [Ryouma]

“Is something the matter?” [Bell]

“I’d originally planned to bring everything with me using dimension magic, but when I mentioned the matter at the security company, there were some people that offered to help.” [Ryouma]

“Boss, they’re here.” [Yurdum]

“Ah, you’re right.” [Ryouma]

When Yurdum-san said that, I turned around to see a group of men one or two sizes bigger than your common man lined up into two rows jogging toward us. They were still a long way away, but I could easily tell it was them.

“They stand out as usual.” [Yurdum]

“Yep…” [Ryouma]

“Umm, those people are?” [Bell]

Though the men were still some distance away, the size of the men made it easy to see just how strong and muscular their bodies were, and Bell-san couldn’t help but ask that question nervously.

“I understand they look scary because they’re all so big, but please don’t worry, they’re not bad people.” [Ryouma]

“It’s understandable, though. I mean even a guy like me finds them intimidating, so what more a girl like our sister here?” [Yurdum]

While saying that to calm Bell-san, the group of muscle men arrived.

“All 38 members of Macho Squad at your service!”

“Glad you could make it. Bell-san, these are the guys who offered to help. They’re known as the Macho Squad back at the security company. As you can see, they’re a bunch of macho men proud of their strength, so I’m sure they’ll be a lot of help.” [Ryouma]

“My, everyone looks so strong…” [Bell]

“Thank you for the compliment. Just leave all the physical labor to us.” [Macho Man 1]

The large man at the head of the group happily said that as he flexed his muscles.

In fact, most of the people behind him were posing too.

“I’m sorry to ask this so suddenly, but can I have you carry everything here to the venue? It would be a huge help too if you could help out with the unfinished tasks there too.” [Bell]

“Yes!　Please leave it to us!” [All Macho Men]

“Well, you heard the man. Split into two groups and get to work!” [Macho Man 1]

“Yes!” [Macho Men]

At the behest of the head macho man, Team Macho mobilized.

The children were initially surprised by the sudden appearance of Team Macho, but knowing I was here and seeing how they were dressed, they were able to put two and two together to realize that they were here to help, so they went ahead and helped guide them along their work.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to surprise you.” [Ryouma]

“Please don’t apologize, if anything I’m the one being rude. After all, you went out of your way to help me. And the children seem to know some of them too.” [Bell]

“Ah, well, they are kind of famous.” [Ryouma]

“Bell-san, could it be that you don’t go out to town much?” [Yurdum]

When Yudam asked her that, Bell-san nodded.

“Yes, I spend most of my days managing and working in this church, and even the shopping is taken care of the older children, so I rarely go out.” [Bell]

“In that case, it’s normal that you don’t know them. These guys have been tasked with taking care of most of the town patrols. Right, Boss?” [Yurdum]

“Yes. As Bell-san has mentioned, they’re big and strong-looking. That makes them a good deterrent against crime, so they’ve been put in charge of the patrols.” [Ryouma]

Although physique and muscle strength aren’t the only factors in combat, there’s no denying that they play a large role. There’s also a difference in the sense of security that a muscular security personnel could offer to the people compared to an out-of-shape one. That’s why as far as security and deterring crime goes, their physique and muscles make them perfect for the job.

Moreover…

“Their team wasn’t created just because of that, though.” [Ryouma]

“Really?　It sure sounded like that to me.” [Bell]

“Well, originally, they were indeed meant to just be a group of muscle-men, but…” [Ryouma]

That’s right, the Macho Squad is also helping me with my research with one of the residents at the hospital, Tint-san, on protein and its effectiveness. The members of the team mostly belong to the security company, but they’re assigned to different teams, and there are employees from the garbage processing facility too.

I was going to name the group the “Body Building Research Group,” but before I knew it, the “Macho Squad” had caught on, and the members themselves started calling themselves that.

Also, the 38 people the man at the head of the group, a.k.a. “Captain Macho,” was referring to meant that only 38 people were able to participate today, but that didn’t mean that the Macho Squad only had 38 members. In fact, I don’t even know how many they are anymore with how many apply to join everyday.

But that’s only to be expected because…

“The nutritional supplements we were researching turned out to be a good match with the participants, especially those of the Big Monkey Man Tribe and the Minotaur Tribe, who were naturally large people, and their physique visibly changed in a much shorter time than I was expecting.

Moreover, and this is also a trend particularly common among the beast tribe people, is the appearance of participants participating because they want a muscular physique or because they want to interact with a member of the opposite sex that has such a physique. This has inadvertently led to the development of new relationships.

Finally, many of the participants reported less fatigue and muscle pain after exercise or work due to the proper nutrition provided by the supplements.

Because of that more and more people have been applying to participate in the research program.” [Ryouma]

In a sense, the Macho Squad has already turned into a sports gym for people to improve their aesthetics, health, and find people to date. Moreover, and I haven’t the slightest idea where they even got the rumor from, but apparently, some of the house wives quicker on the uptake have shown interest in the program. At this rate, the Macho Squad really might become a sports gym. In fact, I’m actually starting to consider it.

“We’re done moving everything!” [Macho Man 1]

Oh, it looks like they’re done.

With Captain Macho and the children coming to report the completion of their task, it was time to head to the venue of today’s soup kitchen.