The settlers

1 Settlers and Death

The newcomers were ten couples, twenty people in all.

Since they already had partners, there probably wouldn't be any conflicts over romance. That was a real blessing.

For now, I sent everyone to the guesthouse.

A lot must have happened to wear them out, because many had lost consciousness. Although some seemed to have fainted from fright...

It couldn't be helped if some people couldn't handle Kuro's descendants and Zabuton's children. But since they were moving here, I could only ask them to get used to them.

That evening, we held a welcome party in the banquet hall on the guesthouse's first floor.

I had invited Fushu's group as well, but they apparently had to hurry back. Being an important figure in the religious world sure was hard work. Would the unconscious people be all right? Oh, the Progenitor was taking them home.

But having the guards cover their eyes... was that because their rank was too low to be allowed to see the Progenitor?

I gave souvenirs not only to Fushu, but to the guards as well. I hoped they would keep them for themselves and enjoy them.

The Progenitor apparently had to go back too. It really seemed like hard work. I gave the Progenitor some souvenirs as well. You wanted a little more alcohol? Here.

The welcome party... first, we had to calm down the settlers, who were shaken by the sight of the food.

This wasn't their last supper. The food was just a little nicer than usual! Look, everyone else was eating it too. No, of course we weren't going to use you as ingredients! Kuro and the others weren't scary. You could pet their heads, and their bellies too... Zabuton and the others were fine too, right?

Huh? That wasn't it? They'd already given up on that front? It was the high elves they were afraid of?

High elves were scary? "Man-eaters"? What was that about?

"That's a misunderstanding. There's no need to worry."

Ria persuaded them in my place. Apparently, the actions of others of her race had led to those rumors spreading.

"Please don't lump us in with those weaklings."

Wasn't that last line unnecessary? The settlers had been convinced, but now they were scared again, weren't they?

I was a little tired.

Once they started eating, they were full of praise, which felt very nice. Their table manners were quite good too. They seemed like good people.

They'd probably just been nervous about being in a new environment earlier, right?

Um... Lu? What were you doing?

Lu was about to take one of the settlers outside.

Huh? Treatment? Was she sick? Her partner looked very worried.

"It's not life-threatening. But I think it would be better to treat her as soon as possible."

"What kind of illness is it?"

"Um... it's a little hard to explain."

I-I see. In other words, it was something hard to talk about with a man like me...

"The treatment will be over in no time."

With that, Lu took her to another room.

Strange. Why did Ursa have to go with them?

The treatment was over quickly. Really quickly. They hadn't even been gone a minute. Was it healing magic?

The girl who was supposedly ill certainly seemed more cheerful than before. Her partner was happy too, so that was something to celebrate, right?

Come to think of it, what was with that expensive-looking sword in Ursa's hand? If they were going to give her toys, I wished they'd give her something more suited to a girl. Like a stuffed doll.

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As I thought that, the clay doll made its presence known.

There was you too.

The clay doll was in charge of guarding Ursa's door. Rather than a doorkeeper, though, it was more of a room cleaner, working hard with its little body.

That was fine, but it was also why Ursa never tidied her own room.

Don't do everything for her. Let Ursa do it herself sometimes.

You were saying, "It's all right. I'll follow her until I die"? Maybe that was true.

...This wasn't good.

Was I drunk? I'd left the settlers, the stars of the party, to their own devices and spent all my time talking to the clay doll.

I looked over at the settlers... they seemed fine.

Some were of mixed beastkin and human ancestry, but Gutt and his wife were keeping them company.

Frau and the Civil Servant Girls were taking care of the people with a noble air.

Then the dwarves were talking about alcohol, and the oni maids were talking about cooking...

One of the girls among the settlers kept getting distracted. She was preoccupied with a particular direction. What was over there? That was... my house, right? Beyond it was the ranch?

"No, that little girl is concerned about the dragons."

Death was the one who answered me.

...Death? Huh?

"Is it so strange for me to come congratulate my daughter on her pregnancy?"

"Um, didn't Raimeiren forbid you from coming?"

"That's why I haven't met her directly. I've only been watching from a distance. We can discuss that later... that girl is a Dragon Shrine Maiden."

"A Dragon Shrine Maiden?"

"To put it simply, she's a descendant of a clan that drank dragon blood. They served as a bridge of communication between us and humans."

"A bridge of communication... can't you talk normally without a go-between?"

Like we were doing now.

"Don't worry about the little details. That role is a thing of the past. I thought they'd died out long ago, but it seems there are still survivors..."

"So? Is she concerned about my house because of Hakuren and the others?"

Hakuren hadn't attended the party and had stayed in the house.

She wanted to relax with Raimeiren and the others, who had come to congratulate her.

Honestly, I'd been worried that if Hakuren attended the party, the other dragons would probably attend too, and then we wouldn't be able to celebrate the settlers' arrival.

"If she notices Hakuren and the others, why doesn't she notice you, Death?"

Death was closer, wasn't he?

"Because I'm concealing my presence. Watch."

As Death spoke, the girl who had been preoccupied with my house suddenly started and stared at him.

"See?"

"I get it."

Once he saw that I understood, Death probably concealed his presence again.

The girl kept her attention on us for a while, but then went back to watching my house.

"Do Dragon Shrine Maidens only notice dragons?"

"Hmm... I remember hearing that their singing might have some effect on calming a dragon's anger."

"That's awfully vague."

"Even I've only met two of them. The first... who knows how many centuries ago that was."

"Are they harmless?"

"To us, yes."

"Does being a shrine maiden cause any problems?"

"No, not really. If I had to name something, at most the girl might grow... human-sized dragon scales."

"Isn't that rather sad for a girl?"

"It increases her defense, you know."

"Extra defense isn't much use to an ordinary person."

Still, descendants of people who drank blood...

"Oh, that's only a legend. In reality, simply drinking a little blood won't do that."

"Huh?"

"If eating dragons gave you power, we'd have been eaten out of existence long ago."

"That's true."

If eating something gave people power, some would probably use any means necessary to get their hands on its flesh and blood.

Especially dragons, which were considered powerful beings. I could picture crowds of humans swarming them.

"Just leave that girl alone. She's probably only confused because dragons she's never encountered before are so close. She'll get used to it soon."

Death told me that the Dragon Shrine Maidens of the past had been the same.

"That's enough about Dragon Shrine Maidens... ahem."

Death cleared his throat and looked at me seriously.

"Hakuren is pregnant. Well done."

I felt a little embarrassed.

But, right... did that make Death my father-in-law?

"Please keep taking care of my daughter."

Seeing Death's fatherly smile, I smiled back.

"Leave it to me."

"Ha ha ha. And, if possible, I'd like you to look out for me too..."

Death suddenly looked very pathetic. Raimeiren stood behind him in human form.

She'd probably discovered him when he'd briefly stopped concealing his presence.

My father-in-law mattered, but so did my mother-in-law.

Smiling, I watched Raimeiren drag Death away. Since she was dragging him toward the house... she probably wouldn't refuse to let him see Hakuren.

After all, it seemed he'd only gotten carried away from being too happy.

This banquet, called a welcome party, was also a gathering for everyone to get to know each other.

Especially from the settlers' perspective, they were probably anxious about their future lives. Although they ate a lot, they were restrained with their drinking. Though some seemed unable to restrain themselves...

They tried to learn all sorts of things from the people they talked to.

The main subject... was probably personal relationships. Who was in charge, who they shouldn't offend, and who they could turn to for help.

The people being asked weren't simply providing information either. They were also trying to learn about the settlers' personal details and relationships.

Whether that went smoothly or not, as a welcome party, it was probably a success.

The girl who had been too distracted by the dragons to concentrate on the party also seemed

very happy after drinking... she was already so drunk that her speech was slurred. Was she escaping through alcohol? Death had said she'd get used to it with time, so I hoped she'd work at getting used to it.

Well, anyway...

"So, who should we go to when we need help?"

"Miss Lu, Miss Tia, Miss Flora, and Miss Frau... those would be the ones, I think. If you want someone easy to talk to, Miss Frau is your best choice."

"I see."

Why wasn't my name among the people they could turn to for help? No, it wasn't that I wanted my name on the list, but I was the village chief, after all. They could come to me for help, couldn't they? It wasn't that I wanted praise, but surely they could praise me a little and say I was dependable?

I eavesdropped for a while, but all that happened was that I drank more.

The clay doll thoughtfully came to comfort me. Thank you.

2 Confirmation and moving

I had the settlers live in Village One.

That arrangement presented a few problems: choosing someone to take care of them, and deciding what to do about the tree spirits who had been managing Village One.

For now, we'd discussed it before the settlers arrived. Including me, there had been four participants.

Ig, the tree spirits' representative. As always, she was in the form of a tree stump.

Mam, the beastkin in charge of the tree spirits. As always, she gave it her all.

And the Alcohol Slime, which was sitting on a chair in the meeting room for some reason. I'd wondered whether to count it, but three people seemed a little too sparse, so I'd included it.

Though I called it a discussion, I'd basically just listened to Ig and Mam's requests.

"In that situation, we'd like this," and "At a time like that, something like this." I'd imagined all sorts of possibilities and listened to their wishes.

Incidentally, the Alcohol Slime had gotten bored halfway through and fallen asleep off to the side.

Now that the settlers had arrived, we'd already decided what to do.

All that remained was to tell them the decision and take questions.

The venue was the banquet hall on the guesthouse's first floor, where we'd held the welcome party. The participants were the three of us-me, Ig, and Mam-and the twenty settlers.

All the settlers were attending at their leader's request. First, since it directly concerned their future lives, the leader wanted everyone to hear it; second, someone might have an opinion to offer.

Since there was nothing to hide, I'd agreed. After introducing ourselves again, we officially began.

"As some of you may have learned at yesterday's welcome party, we intend to have you live in another village west of this one, Village One."

Mam was presiding. I'd originally intended to do it myself, but she'd smiled and said, "Please don't."

"Village One has many empty houses, so each family can have one."

At Mam's words, the settlers let out impressed cries of "Oh!"

"The tree spirits here live in Village One and manage it. Originally, that duty was supposed to end once people moved into Village One. However, we decided that twenty residents would still be too few, so the tree spirits will continue living there."

"Um... does that mean we'll be living together?"

One of the settlers raised a hand and asked.

"It's not wrong to say you'll be living together, but the tree spirits' way of life is very different from humans'. Simply put, they prefer living outdoors to moving into houses."

"I'm sorry, I don't quite understand."

The questioner answered apologetically.

That was partly because tree spirits were rare, but apparently there hadn't been many demi-humans where they'd lived before, either.

"My apologies. Then, do you know what chickens are?"

"Yes."

"What about cows?"

"Of course."

"Think of chickens and cows being raised in the same pasture."

Was that supposed to be an easy-to-understand explanation?

"You mean they live in the same place, but the cows live like cows and the chickens live like chickens?"

Oh, they seemed to understand. Impressive.

"That doesn't mean either side is the cows or the chickens. You're simply different races, so your ways of life differ. Please do your best to adjust to that."

Though somewhat bewildered by Mam's words, the settlers answered that they understood.

"As for your liaison... put simply, the person you bring your requests and complaints to. I'll be filling that role. I look forward to working with you."

When Mam bowed her head, the settlers bowed theirs as well.

I'd been a little troubled over who to put in charge, but Mam had volunteered. She said that since they would also be living in Village One, she wanted to take responsibility for this group of settlers too.

The dryad Ig agreed, so I gave my approval.

"For now, we'll supply your food... but can you all cook?"

Mam's question left the settlers looking a little troubled.

When we asked why, we learned that although they could cook reasonably well, there were apparently too many unfamiliar ingredients, and they didn't know how to prepare them.

"I understand. Then let's borrow a few people who can cook for a little while. Chief?"

And so we lent them several oni maids and high elves. The dryads ate, but they couldn't cook.

"Then, for the time being, everyone will live together. Is everyone fine with having your leader continue as your representative?"

Mam worked through the announcements and things that needed confirming one by one.

It took quite a while.

"Those are all the announcements. Are there any questions?"

"I-I have one."

The settlers' leader raised his hand.

"We mostly know... no, understand how we'll be living in the village. What sort of work will we be doing?"

"We're hoping you'll take up farming, but we don't believe everyone is suited to it."

Fushu hadn't said that all the people she'd gathered were farmers, either.

"We thought you could try a variety of things and decide on your individual jobs by next spring."

"Will we be driven out of the village if we choose the wrong work?"

"We wouldn't do that... would we?"

Mam looked at me, so I answered, "No."

But freeloading wasn't acceptable. Those who didn't work wouldn't eat.

"Don't overthink it. This year, please prioritize getting used to life here."

After a few more questions, the briefing and question-and-answer session ended.

But everyone stayed together. We still had to head to Village One.

We set off for Village One.

For various reasons, there was some distance between the two villages. Walking there took quite a while, and the settlers had luggage.

Fushu had told them beforehand that we would provide furniture, tableware, cooking utensils, and the like, so their luggage was little more than changes of clothes. Still, I felt bad making them walk while carrying it.

The problem was transportation.

I'd originally planned to ask Rasuti to carry everyone over, but Mam had rejected that idea.

She wanted them to get a feel for the distance between the two places.

That was where the wagon came in.

We'd already returned the wagon we'd fitted with suspension over the winter to Michael, but he'd since brought three more wagons to the village.

We'd finished installing their suspension and only needed to return them to Michael, but we'd discovered Hakuren was pregnant right around then, so we'd put that off.

Use those wagons? No, no, we couldn't just help ourselves to goods we were supposed to deliver.

This time, we would use a wagon the mountain elves had built in the village after seeing those.

I'd expected them to make an exact copy, but they'd made all sorts of modifications to their homemade wagon. It was light, sturdy, and performed exceptionally well.

However, since the suspension system was fitted to the wagons Michael had commissioned, they hadn't used it, opting for leaf springs instead.

Simply put, these leaf springs used the elasticity of wood. The technology apparently already existed, but Michael's wagons didn't use it.

Did having magic make it harder for technology like this to spread? Surely there weren't patents or anything? I didn't remember Frau or Michael ever mentioning anything like that, either.

In any case, we had a wagon fitted with leaf springs. Including the driver's seat, it could carry only eight people at most.

So we attached something like a trailer behind it. It was made to carry cargo, with an emphasis on capacity.

Unfortunately, it had neither suspension nor leaf springs.

Still, it could probably carry ten people. I found four centaurs to pull it.

For those who still couldn't fit, I turned to a horse and the centaurs.

In other words, the twenty settlers were divided into eight in the wagon, ten in the trailer behind it, and two riding centaurs.

They held a spirited rock-paper-scissors tournament.

Since they were right in front of the centaurs, they didn't openly show their disappointment... but they couldn't hide the tears at the corners of their eyes.

It wasn't that scary.

I rode on the centaur Gruwald. Mam and Ig, who was in stump form, shared the horse.

Kuro's children surrounded us as guards, and we set off in that formation.

The wagon and trailer were heavy, so we proceeded at a leisurely pace.

Wouldn't it be convenient to connect the villages by wagon and make travel easier? A regular wagon service, in other words.

Ah... but the minotaurs couldn't ride, and the centaurs would be faster running themselves,

right?

Even if we did it, it would only be between Village One and Big Tree Village.

Who would ride? The settlers wouldn't travel that frequently, would they? Really, it would mostly just be Mam. In that case, we could simply lend her the horse. I'd shelve the regular wagon service idea for now.

While I was thinking about that, we arrived at Village One.

There were many houses in the village that looked more than spacious enough for a family of four.

I could sense the settlers growing excited at the sight. But the moment their gazes shifted downward, their excitement cooled.

That was because beside the village's dryads stood Kuro's descendants and Zabuton's children, who guarded Village One.

Seeing them all lined up, even I thought there were quite a lot of them.

"Let me introduce everyone."

Smiling, Mam began introducing the two sides.

"You're free to choose whichever house you want, but please don't fight over them. If you want the same house, discuss it and come to a decision."

Next, she showed all the settlers the square that would serve as their meeting place, as well as the locations of the well and toilets.

Though I thought they would be fine, she also explained how to use the well and toilets.

"Always use the toilets to relieve yourselves. Always wash your hands afterward. This is the most important thing."

From a hygiene standpoint, that was only natural.

I certainly didn't want most of the villagers falling ill.

"The large tree in the center of the village is this village's symbol. Don't play pranks on it. And make sure to teach that to any children you have in the future."

"What's that over there?"

"That's a shrine. A place to pray."

"The God of Creation! Who's the other one?"

"That's the God of Agriculture."

Once Mam had finished her general explanation, the settlers set off in pairs to choose their homes.

Some decided immediately, while others chose carefully. Their personalities really showed.

Oh, they could pray later. If they didn't hurry and choose, the better houses would be taken. Well, every house should have been quite nice, though.

"Chief, was that all right?"

Mam asked me. She looked quite anxious, but there was no problem.

"That should be more than enough. I'll be counting on you from now on, too."

"Y-yes. I'll do my best."

"And Ig. You were a tremendous help managing the village before. I'll be counting on you going forward, too."

"Leave it to me."

She looked very dependable, even in stump form.

Gruwald and the others who'd brought us left the wagon behind and took only the trailer back to Big Tree Village.

This was to bring over the settlers' food for the immediate future and the people who would teach them to cook. I asked them to bring a few slimes as well. Dryads didn't excrete, so Village One didn't have many slimes.

Eating without excreting was rather mysterious... but they switched between trees and people, so their very existence was mysterious. I didn't dwell on it and simply accepted that that was how things were.

"Is that house the dryads' home?"

We'd already explained that one particularly large house was the dryads' shared residence.

"Yes. Although the dryads prefer living outdoors, they need a house to store their belongings."

The dryads had belongings to store?

I was puzzled at first, but a moment's thought made me realize she meant reward medals and the things they'd exchanged them for.

Without a house, they wouldn't have anywhere to store them.

"And their clothes, too."

That made sense.

Dryads were naked when they took human form. That would cause problems when living in the village, so I'd asked them to wear clothes while in human form.

Though some had gotten into the habit of wearing clothes, most found it bothersome, so they generally stayed in tree form or the stump form they used to move around.

They were such beauties in human form, too...

About an hour later, Gruwald and the others returned.

Were they so fast because they didn't have the wagon, or because they didn't have to be considerate of anyone else...?

The slimes looked lively, but the two high elves who would teach cooking looked a little weak.

I'd consider fitting the trailer with suspension or leaf springs too.

While we unloaded, most of the settlers seemed to have chosen their homes.

They were all beaming. I hoped they could keep smiling like that.

As Mam had said, our current goal was to help them get used to life here.

Today's schedule called for a welcome party in Village One that evening.

At yesterday's welcome party, they'd still been guests.

But from today onward, things were different.

I called over the pairs who'd chosen their homes and handed them nameplates. I'd prepared them for today after asking everyone's names at yesterday's welcome party.

By accepting these, they became residents of Village One.

It would likely be hard, but I hoped they would all do their best.

3 Various attempts

The settlers of Village One had previously lived in a town.

However, they hadn't held particular occupations, and we didn't know what they could or couldn't do.

So we had them try a variety of things.

First was hunting.

Even fully armed, all of them together couldn't defeat a single rabbit with fangs. That surprised me, but Kuro's descendants guarding the village were the most surprised. Shocked might have been a better word.

Their eyes asked me how such fragile creatures had managed to survive this long.

No, no, I was much the same.

We immediately doubled the number of Kuro's descendants guarding Village One. After all, a single fanged rabbit getting into the village could wipe everyone out.

Their expressions seemed to grow a little more serious. Sorry for adding to your burden.

We also increased the number of Zabuton's children.

Four individuals that had grown to the size of pillows spun webs to guard the village in all four directions.

I was counting on them.

The two lizardmen in charge of combat instruction-or perhaps I should say strengthening defenses-would also be stationed here for the time being.

For the settlers' safety, I hoped everyone would do their best.

Next was construction-related work.

The settlers had never done this sort of work and were complete amateurs. They weren't particularly strong, either, so they had a very hard time.

The high elves teaching them to cook also taught them construction, but there was little progress.

Even when I prepared fully processed building materials that they only had to assemble, it still took them quite a while.

Incidentally, their first building collapsed within half a day.

Brewing.

Under the dwarves' enthusiastic instruction, everyone gave up.

When it came to alcohol, the dwarves were stubborn to the extreme, just as people generally imagined them. And they were scary.

They probably wouldn't let anyone participate without an ironclad resolve not to waste even a single drop of alcohol.

Extracting sugar and pressing oil.

They weren't strong enough.

They lost to the beastkin boys in strength...

No, we'd improve the press. It would be fine. Don't be so discouraged.

Making small items.

Some of them showed talent in this area.

They were still quite unpracticed, but with some training, they should get reasonably good.

Making fermented foods.

Everyone could do this work. They seemed less bothered by the smells.

Letting them taste the finished products first might have been one of the keys.

Smithing.

Smithing required a kiln capable of melting iron.

Building a kiln took a lot of time... The high elves and Gutt the beastman cheerfully built one.

It was a huge help, but wouldn't doing that keep the settlers from developing their skills?

Even so, when it came to smithing... the settlers soon couldn't keep up, and the high elves and Gutt the beastman took over the kiln.

Wouldn't the kiln in Big Tree Village do? They couldn't use the one in Big Tree Village at night?

True, I remembered telling everyone not to work at night because of the noise. For the same reason, they shouldn't do it here either.

They had to work at night to judge the fire's temperature? Was that how it worked? Hmm.

In the end, we decided to build a large smithy on the outskirts of Big Tree Village.

For now, the settlers were using the kiln in Village One to make pottery.

Since it had been designed to fire pottery, they probably hadn't intended to keep it for themselves in the first place.

Pottery.

As with making small items, some people showed talent.

This batch of settlers wasn't very strong, but they seemed good with their hands.

Farming.

Everyone was a complete amateur in this area. Even their knowledge only amounted to, "Don't you just scatter seeds and let them grow on their own?"

So, for now, I had them tend the fields I had cleared with the Almighty Farming Tool.

The fields weren't large, so even they could manage them.

Also, we made something like a kitchen garden behind every house. As much as possible, the crops there were chosen according to each household's wishes.

First, they needed to learn the joy of growing and harvesting crops.

The hard work could come later.

We tried plenty of other things too.

They worked hard at everything, but lacked

experience.

That couldn't be helped. Even I hadn't known how to do everything from the start.

On the other hand, if they had done well right after arriving, I would have felt discouraged myself.

The aim wasn't to do things well, but to learn what they could and couldn't do. And if they found something they wanted to do among all those attempts, so much the better.

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No need to overthink it.

I did the cooking today.

The settlers chose their representative again.

It was Jack, the man who had been serving as their leader.

I supposed a vague consensus had become explicit recognition.

And so, their lives in Village One settled down. They also got along well with the tree elves living in the same village.

As for anything resembling trouble... it was all little things like, "A tree elf accidentally walked around outside naked, and the men who saw her got a beating from their wives."

There was no need to take those matters outside the village, and Mam could handle them.

Recently, they had also begun interacting with the minotaurs in Village Two and the centaurs in Village Three. At first, even having a conversation had been a problem, but now they seemed to be actively striking up conversations.

That was a good thing.

I had my own work to do.

Unfortunately, I couldn't focus solely on Village One.

I left the rest to Mam and the tree elves and returned to Big Tree Village.

The dragons who had come to congratulate Hakuren on her pregnancy went home.

Death stayed until the very end, but Raimeiren dragged him home.

I would be the same... if Tiselle got married...

No. I was about to cry. Better not think about it.

It would be a while before the fields were ready to harvest.

Until then, I decided to do some finer work.

First, fitting leaf springs to the trailers... The mountain elves had already taken care of that. I thought theirs probably performed better than anything I could make.

So I decided to take care of the smithy the high elves and Gutt wanted. The site had already been chosen, south of the residential area.

First, we built a large kiln.

This wasn't the main kiln, but one for making the bricks the main kiln would need later.

After making a large quantity of bricks using various kinds of magic, we let them air-dry.

Meanwhile, we built a kiln for making charcoal, which would serve as fuel, and fired some charcoal.

And so, we completed three large kilns.

Unlike the previous kilns, these were specifically for melting iron. I supposed they should be called furnaces rather than kilns.

But why three? Because the temperatures and materials used were different? Ah, right. If they needed them, there was no helping it. They had even brought out their reward medals, after all.

We lit the fires.

Gutt looked the happiest.

Gutt was the son of Good Forest Village's chief. Alongside mining, Good Forest Village had a thriving metallurgy industry, after all. I figured Gutt would probably end up in charge here. No, he already was.

"Village Chief, first I'll make a fire god."

A fire god was an iron ornament symbolizing flames. According to Good Forest Village's customs, apparently they had to make one first to pray for the smithy's safety.

Gutt melted down an iron ingot purchased from Good Forest Village and finished it in no time.

It had a simple appearance. It looked like a long, narrow iron plate with some twisting patterns worked into its center. The edges of the plate were bent so it could stand upright.

It looked like modern art.

"Village Chief, next comes our first piece. What should I make?"

I felt he could make whatever he liked, but Gutt's gaze was serious, so I gave it some thought.

What came to mind when I thought of a smithy was forging blades.

"Then make a katana... no, a sword."

"A sword?"

"Hmm? Is that a problem?"

"No, I just hadn't expected you to suggest something like that yourself, Village Chief. Understood. I'll forge a sword, then."

A sword.

Not a bad symbol for a smithy, was it?

Would it make people think of a weapon shop? Personally, I would have preferred a katana, but I didn't really understand things like folding, soft iron, and steel.

I'd try mentioning what theory I knew another day. After that, I'd leave it to him.

We'd already had a smaller smithy, but with this large facility built, getting iron goods became much easier.

Repairs became easier too. Iron tools were indispensable, after all.

However, although we were buying more iron ore, we were purchasing fewer iron goods from Good Forest Village.

If we didn't find some way to compensate Good Forest Village, it might affect people's livelihoods there.

For now, we would still keep ordering carriage springs from Good Forest Village...

I'd discuss it with Gutt another day.

And so, the time for the first harvest arrived.

We had a bumper crop again this year. Along with the joy, I could feel that the weather really had grown hotter.

It was nearly festival season again. What should we do this year?

Side story: Jack, part one

My name was Jack.

I was the leader of the settlers Fushu had gathered.

I knew nearly all the settlers. Some could even be called good friends, and others were acquaintances of my wife.

I hadn't become their leader because everyone had elected me. It had just been the mood. Before I knew it, that was how things had turned out.

I didn't mind.

Still, I felt the others could show a little more ambition. I'd been wondering for a while-what was with their reluctance to stand out?

Oh well. As their leader, I'd look after everyone.

The place we moved to was full of surprises.

The others were surprised because they had never seen demihumans before, but for me, it was the inn.

It looked like a wooden house from outside, so I hadn't expected much, but the rooms were luxurious. There were beds inside, and even curtains. The chairs didn't wobble when you sat on them, either. The tabletop was flat, without any bumps or hollows. Incredible.

And each married couple got a room? We could even have individual rooms if we wanted? What extraordinary treatment.

Normally, you could squeeze about ten people into a room this spacious. Some of the worse places would cram in nearly twenty.

There were even beds... So soft! Was this all right? Someone like me, near a bed like this...

I looked at my wife. She looked back at me. She seemed to feel the same way.

Until they came to get us, we sat on the floor in a corner of the room.

They said it was a welcome party.

But all I felt was despair.

What was all this food in front of us? A buffet? We could take as much as we wanted of whatever we liked?

I had no idea what they meant. We were done for... They were going to kill us.

This had to be our last meal.

It wasn't our last meal.

It was delicious. So delicious it moved me. Apparently, these weren't even their finest dishes. They said they'd rushed to make everything because they were short on time, and bowed their heads in apology.

When I thought back on what we'd eaten in the past... I nearly cried.

Night came.

We slept in our room. The bed frightened me, so I slept on the floor.

My wife did the same. We slept well.

After waking up, I lay on the bed for a little while.

It really was soft. Amazing.

After I lay on it, my wife lay on the bed too. She liked it quite a bit. Ah, falling asleep like that might be a little... because she drooled.

I got hit.

Breakfast and lunch were delicious too.

Even though I warned myself that food this good couldn't last forever, I still looked forward to what we'd eat next.

But things weren't that easy. We wouldn't keep getting fed while doing nothing. They were feeding us because they expected us to become productive members of the village.

I understood.

First, we had to get used to things. The residents here were all strange, but they probably weren't bad people.

Fushu had said so too. We just needed to start a normal new life here.

We finished listening to the explanation.

Each married couple would receive a house. They explained plenty of other things too. It was all stuff I wanted to know, but I hadn't heard the most important part. I couldn't help asking.

"We more or less know... no, understand how we'll be living in the village. What kind of work will we be doing?"

Exactly. Work. What should we do? Tell us.

But I didn't get the answer I'd expected.

All they said was, "For now, get used to life here."

They told us to get used to it... but you could get used to any sort of life in three days.

It seemed we were going to move to the place where we'd be living.

A carriage? Which noble did that belong to? Hey, hey, was it all right to attach something strange to it without permission? I certainly didn't want to walk, though.

Huh? Two people had to ride on centaurs?

Leader's privilege.

I'd take the carriage... no, that strange thing behind it would do.

It came down to rock-paper-scissors.

That was probably the most seriously I'd ever played rock-paper-scissors in my life.

That being the case, why was I riding on a centaur?

Because my wife had lost. As her husband, I had no choice but to trade places with her.

"P-pleased to meet you."

I bowed very politely to the centaur giving me a ride. This was etiquette I'd learned from

Fushu.

The centaur wasn't frightening. Not only did they walk slowly, but they chatted with me quite a bit along the way.

Maybe this was better than the carriage or that thing behind it.

We arrived.

It was a beautiful village. And an astonishing one.

The wolves and spiders of Big Tree Village... the village with the inn, lined up to welcome us.

Their ranks were perfectly straight. To think they could make wolves and spiders so obedient...

Even without a display like this, we would never defy them.

No, was saying that not enough? Did we have to prove it through our behavior from now on? I would do my best.

They said we could choose whichever house we wanted.

I decided to discuss it with my wife first.

Actually, I had already taken a liking to one.

My wife had one she liked too?

Then we would say them at the same time.

It would have been wonderful if we had chosen the same one, but we hadn't. So we compared the two houses, talked it over, and chose one.

Which of us had picked that house would remain a secret.

The house was fully furnished.

Chairs, a table, and shelves. Beautiful furniture.

There was a bed in the bedroom. I had been expecting something soft and fluffy, but there were only boards. It wasn't quite that nice...

Just as I was feeling a little disappointed, Miss Mam, the beastwoman looking after us, brought the soft and fluffy parts. She even handed out enough for everyone.

C-could we sleep here? We could, right? It was like a dream.

The night we chose our house, there was another welcome party.

The dishes on the table were different from yesterday's. They were just as delicious.

Had we perhaps come to a very wealthy village? If so... I wanted to stay here. No, I wanted to live here.

I would do my best.

Together with my wife, I hung the nameplate the village chief had given us on our door.

Side story: Jack, part two

We were given weapons and armor, presumably so we could fight if something happened.

At first, they gave us iron armor, but we couldn't move properly in it, so we asked them to exchange it for leather.

Even the leather armor was beautifully made. I thought it was probably as good as the equipment of the adventurers I had seen in town, though I didn't know much about such things.

There were many kinds of weapons.

At first, I chose a sword because of how it looked. The others seemed to do the same.

But after a few practice swings, I understood. Using a sword required a certain amount of skill.

I honestly asked the lizardman managing the weapons which one would be easier to learn.

I was given a spear.

He advised me not to swing it around, but to focus on thrusting. My old self probably would have resisted, but now I could humbly accept his advice.

I tried thrusting with the spear two or three times. Yes, not bad.

Perhaps I was simple, but I felt several times stronger, and it felt great. Did those thugs carrying weapons around town feel the same way?

But I was different from them. I would use this weapon to protect the village and everyone in it.

They told us to fight a rabbit with fangs.

A rabbit with fangs meant that thing, right? A Killer Rabbit. A rabbit that heralded death. A famous monster that made even seasoned adventurers tremble.

I looked at the faces of the others around me. Pale. Yes, apparently I was right.

We hadn't won, but I thought we had done our best. We were still alive, after all.

We rejoiced in one another's survival. Our bonds seemed to have deepened.

And we understood just how strong those wolves were. To think they could finish off a rabbit like that in one blow...

We absolutely must not defy them.

Afterward, they had us do all sorts of work.

They were probably trying to see what we were suited for. That was much better than making us do unsuitable work.

At any rate, I gave everything a try with all my might. All my might. I really, truly gave it everything I had. I had never worked this hard in my life.

But the results weren't good.

The hut we built collapsed within half a day.

When brewing alcohol, we got drunk on the fumes and passed out.

We weren't strong enough to do the work of pressing sugar and oil, either.

It was disheartening.

Watching the village chief build a bathhouse and storehouse in no time made it even more disheartening. It was frustrating.

I worked hard at making small objects.

I was praised. That made me a little happy.

Making fermented foods.

The smell was strong, but I could endure it. Besides, though it smelled awful now, it would turn into something so delicious.

They let us eat some trial batches. They were delicious. All I could do was work hard.

Whenever I felt close to passing out, I remembered that Killer Rabbit. Compared to fighting a Killer Rabbit, the smell was no problem at all.

Because I didn't feel that my life was in danger.

Smithing.

It was too hot. And it was heavy labor.

I pushed myself to the limit, but collapsed in the end.

When I woke up, I got scolded.

Not for collapsing, but for pushing myself too hard. I was told there was no need to rush.

Perhaps I had been rushing too much. I reflected on that a little.

That was right. Both the village chief and Miss Mam, who was looking after us, had told us to get used to life here first.

Even after doing so many things and spending so many days here, I still couldn't say I had gotten used to it, not even if you killed me.

No, I couldn't get used to it.

Three meals every day, morning, noon, and night, and we could eat our fill. Some days, we could even have seconds. We didn't have to worry about bandits at night and could sleep straight through until morning. The toilets were clean, water was close by, and it was all free.

Life while learning letters and manners from Fushu had been quite extraordinary too, but this was even more so.

It was so different from my previous life that my head was full of confusion.

I see, so first I had to get used to it?

All right, I would show them I could get used to this life.

Oh, was tonight's dinner risotto? Killer Rabbit meat? It was delicious.

I would go work hard now and make room in my stomach.

Now then.

Although I had done many things... sometimes I still couldn't help remembering.

Not this village, but that night in the village Fushu had taken us to. After the welcome party, we had all gone to our rooms, only to be called back out. We obediently followed and found that all the settlers were being gathered where the welcome party had just been held. I didn't know what was happening, and I felt uneasy.

After all, more people were waiting there than there had been at the welcome party.

There were also absurdly large spiders and imposing wolves. The village chief, however, wasn't there.

It was very unsettling.

Presiding over the gathering in the village chief's place was his wife. A young woman so beautiful it was startling.

Her name was Rurushi.

She even had the same name as the legendary Vampire Princess, which made me laugh despite myself. Perhaps that was meant to ease our anxiety? But that wasn't the point.

The village chief's wife wore a very serious expression as she told us several things to keep in mind.

There were three things we needed to know to survive in this village:

First, no playing in the fields.

Under no circumstances were we to waste crops.

Second, keep the toilets clean when using them.

Above all, we must not forget to wash our hands afterward.

Third, do not make an enemy of the village chief.

It was fine to act spoiled with him. It was fine to be a little strict with him. Causing him trouble... though she hoped we would avoid it as much as possible, that was fine too. But we must never act against him.

Each point was emphasized repeatedly.

They were all reasonable.

Of course we shouldn't play in the fields. Anyone who ruined food had no right to complain even if they were killed.

I understood keeping the toilets clean too. It was to prevent illness. Getting sick because I hadn't washed my hands after using the toilet would be too stupid. There seemed to be plenty of water anyway, so I resolved to always wash my hands afterward.

And the last one... well, that probably meant respecting the rules? It was the same everywhere. Nothing good came of defying the boss.

Act against him? How could we possibly do that?

"I'm cooking dinner tonight!"

The village chief dragged over a headless boar about the size of a hut.

"Did... you hunt that, Chief?"

"Yes. These guys led it over to me, then stood around slacking off while I took care of it. Honestly."

There were several wolves around him, and the village chief patted their heads.

In other words, it took this many wolves to deal with that boar, right?

Before our eyes, the village chief drained the headless boar's blood, butchered it, and cooked it... His cooking was delicious.

Act against him? How could we possibly do that?

Side story: The new dog

I was an Infernal Wolf belonging to Lord Kuro's pack.

With my strength, I could serve as leader when about ten of us moved together. Yes, I was reasonably strong. Not enough to boast about. There was always a stronger wolf, after all.

My current assignment was to lead several packmates in searching the forest.

Our purpose wasn't hunting, but

marking our territory.

The area was quite far from the village, about two days' run at our pace. We had to travel in a circle centered on the village, which took about twenty days in total.

Everyone hated this assignment because it meant being away from the village for so long.

But it did have its advantages.

We could eat any prey we killed during the assignment on the spot. It was a long way to carry it back, after all, and we would get hungry if we didn't eat while working. The drawback was that it tasted bad.

There was one more.

Finding a mate.

When we traveled this far from the village, there was a small chance of encountering Infernal Wolves that didn't belong to our pack.

The aim was to invite those fellow wolves to join us.

Of course, we didn't let them join unconditionally. They had to become the mate of an Infernal Wolf in the pack.

As for me, I wanted to find a mate within the pack, but the normal females... ahem, pardon me.

There were so many rivals that they wouldn't give me a second glance. What was wrong with looking for my ideal partner on an assignment like this?

About ten days passed like that.

While continuing our assignment and killing Fang Rabbits along the way, we discovered a strange creature.

A puppy.

A puppy?

It wasn't an Infernal Wolf cub. I could tell by its scent.

A puppy in a place like this? And it was lying on the ground. It was still alive, but probably didn't have long, did it? What should I do?

It was only about half the size of my face. Should I pretend I hadn't seen it? No, that wouldn't do. We had been instructed beforehand to either bring back anything strange we found or leave a marker.

Hmm... no choice.

I called over a colleague and handed command over to him.

I would take it back.

If it couldn't survive the trip to the village, that would just be its bad luck.

I could have ordered someone else to take it back, but for one thing, I didn't know whether I would be praised for this, and for another, I knew my colleagues were looking for mates too, so it was hard to give that order.

I was the one who had found it, after all.

I left the rest of the work to my colleagues and headed back to the village with the puppy.

At first, I carried it in my mouth, but I nearly bit it, so I switched to carrying it on my back. Keeping the puppy from falling off was quite a struggle.

Along the way, I stopped several times to rest, drink water, and eat.

I let the puppy eat and drink too. It was still alive, after all.

Hmm? Was it hard to chew like that? What a bother. All right, I would soften it up for you...

I reached the village.

The puppy had barely survived.

I went to find the boss.

"Woof. (Boss, boss. I found something strange. What should I do with it?)"

The moment Boss saw the puppy, he hurriedly called someone who could heal.

That was Boss for you.

"You saved a puppy? Good job."

Ohhh! He praised me. And he even patted my head... mmh~

Huh? Belly rubs too?

Good thing I put my search for a mate on hold.

Three months passed after that.

"Woof. (Big Brother, Big Brother.)"

The puppy stayed by my side.

Uh, though at that size, I couldn't really call her a puppy anymore. Actually, she was bigger than me now. About twice my size.

Boss looked after her at first, but perhaps because I'd taken care of her on the way to the village, she was very attached to me.

And that was how looking after her ended up becoming my job...

Maybe she hadn't shaken the habit from her puppy days, because she kept bumping into me with her now fully grown body. I was stronger, so I could withstand it, but those impacts packed quite a punch.

"Woof. (You're going hunting, right? I'll come with you.)"

She still couldn't beat me, but she was already quite strong. When it came to magic, she was even more proficient than I was.

"Woof! (Big Brother, I got the rabbit!)"

Did you just breathe fire?

You said, "I tried really hard and managed it"... but I didn't think that was how it worked...

Yeah, you probably weren't a dog. That was the feeling I had. Dogs didn't seem to grow that big, after all.

No, an ordinary puppy couldn't have turned up in a place like that either, could it?

If she wasn't a dog, what was she?

Fluffy silver fur. Her face, which had originally looked like a dog's, now looked like a wolf's.

But there shouldn't have been any wolves around here other than Infernal Wolves. I'd heard there were other kinds of wolves on the outskirts of the forest... was she one of those?

Well, even if she wasn't a puppy anymore, I'd still call her Puppy.

Boss seemed to have given her a name, but I was jealous, so I wouldn't use it.

Mating season arrived.

Having failed to find a mate, I found staying in the village a little painful at this time of year.

I decided to quietly head to the orchard, eat some fallen apples, and take a nap.

"Woof. (Big Brother, Big Brother.)"

Puppy followed me.

Come to think of it, I needed to help you find a mate too.

I didn't mean to complain, but Puppy was partly to blame for my failure to find a mate.

Whenever things were going well between me and a female, she would barge in. Almost as though she timed it.

She probably meant no harm, so I wasn't angry, but... sigh.

Oh well, she had protected me from those ferocious females too.

"Woof, woof. (There's a fallen apple here.)"

Oh... what, just one? Maybe the other wolves had already been here.

"Woof. (Here you go, Big Brother.)"

It was fine. You could eat it.

"Woof. (B-Big Brother.)"

Though a little bashful, Puppy began eating the apple with relish.

Mmm... that smell of apples.

I shouldn't have tried to act tough... no, no, that wouldn't do. Sigh.

"Woof. (Big Brother, are you going to sleep?)"

Yeah, so don't disturb me.

"Woof. (Yes. Then I'll lie down beside you...)"

Hey, too close.

Honestly... this would only happen this year, so I'd let it slide.

Next year, Puppy would have her own mating season. She probably wouldn't have time for me.

...Hmm, did I really need to find others of Puppy's kind for her?

No, no, you should find your own mate. Other people shouldn't arrange one for you.

"Woof? (Big Brother, did you just say something?)"

No, I hadn't said anything.

Sigh... couldn't mating season end already?

A conversation between the village chief and the high elf who often looked after the Infernal Wolves-

"She's grown."

"Yes. I was a little worried at first, but she hasn't fought with anyone and gets along well with them. Especially..."

"The descendant of Kuro who brought her home, right? Would that make him her adoptive father?"

"At that size, she would naturally become independent. But no matter how I look at them, they seem..."

"Hmm?"

"Like a male and female couple."

"Huh? That one's female?"

"She looks frightening, but she's female."

"Really? And I gave her such a mighty, masculine name."

"There's nothing wrong with a mighty, masculine name, is there?"

A conversation between the vampire progenitor and the vampire princess-

"That's a Fenrir, no matter how you look at her, right? And she's behaving herself among the Infernal Wolves? What's going on?"

"This is a village where the vampire progenitor strolls around carrying a teacup, after all. I think it's best not to worry about it."

Side story: Gutt

My name was Gutt.

I was the son of Good Forest Village's chief, and its intended next chief. Yes, intended.

Had marrying a woman from a human village been a mistake? Not at all. Nacy was human, but she was also a wonderful woman. She'd simply been unlucky enough to catch miner's cough.

The night I decided to divorce Nacy, I cried so much I couldn't sleep. That was how much I loved her.

A lot happened afterward, but I was able to be with Nacy again. I'd had absolutely no idea that Nacy had given birth while we were apart.

The child born to me, a beastkin, and Nacy, a human, had a human appearance, but she was a beastkin no matter how you looked at her. She was unmistakably my child. My daughter.

She had grown quite big. Apparently, she was already four.

I regretted not abandoning my position as the village chief's son and leaving with Nacy.

But having a child made me incredibly happy. I would protect my daughter Nat, no matter what. Uh, Nacy too, of course.

We would be together from now on, after all.

Now I was in Big Tree Village, which had done so much for Good Forest Village. Not as a guest, but as a member of the village.

Honestly, it was frightening.

Ever since I was little, I'd been told to stay away from the Forest of Death. Even Guraru, Good Forest Village's greatest warrior, said a moment's carelessness there could cost you your life.

Big Tree Village stood right in the middle of that forest.

And there were Infernal Wolves and Demon Spiders... magical beasts and monsters that, if you encountered them, didn't just require you to prepare to die-you had to flee in the opposite direction from your village to keep everyone else from being dragged into it.

There were heaps of them here. Yes, too many to count.

It was fine. I could work at it. I could do this.

In contrast to my frightened self, Nacy was

taking action enthusiastically. Nat... was having fun riding an Infernal Wolf.

H-hang in there, me.

In this world.

As long as the food and drink were good, most things could be settled.

I pulled myself together.

I couldn't stay cooped up at home forever. My younger sister Sena was working hard too. I had to do my best as well.

The first thing my wife and I had to be mindful of in Big Tree Village was our relationship with Sena and the others who had moved here before us.

In Good Forest Village, my position had been higher, but things were different here.

I ranked below Sena.

First, I had to impress that upon myself. She might have been my younger sister, but she was my senior here.

It was fine. Watching Sena and the other beastkin work was enough to make me bow my head without reservation.

I had helped Sena and the others with their work, and it was all hard. Sena, in particular, was also taking an earnest part in the women's war.

While I admired how much she'd grown in the time we'd been apart, I also felt sad about my own lack of progress. No, it wasn't that I hadn't improved at all. I considered my smithing skills among the best in Good Forest Village.

But skills like those were no use at all in Big Tree Village... wait? Was that the sound of hammering iron? Huh?

The high elves had a kiln for working iron.

It was smaller than the one in Good Forest Village and quite crude. But to my eyes, it shone.

I bowed to the high elves and asked them to let me use it.

Only a few of the high elves did smithing, and only as a hobby. My skills were better.

Naturally, I became Big Tree Village's blacksmith. That said, making it my sole occupation would probably still be difficult.

Judging by the kiln's size, I could only repair iron tools or make small items such as iron sleds and arrows.

But that was fine.

I could do work that suited me.

Spring came, and I had grown used to greeting those terrifying Infernal Wolves and Demon Spiders in the mornings.

Humans moved into Village One, west of Big Tree Village.

New settlers.

I heard they would be taught various jobs, so I took charge of teaching smithing.

Skilled craftsmen kept their techniques secret, but even revealing every skill I possessed wouldn't repay what Big Tree Village had done for me.

Merely teaching others was nothing. Besides, learning didn't mean they could become blacksmiths immediately. It took at least five years to finish an apprenticeship. And I was confident that even if they came to the smithy every day, catching up to me would take about twenty years.

Well, I didn't mind teaching... but how was I supposed to do it? It would be difficult without being beside a kiln. Should I have them come to Big Tree Village? Seeing me ponder this, one of the high elves who worked with me said,

"Why not build a smithy in Village One?"

Good idea. I went with it.

I built an excellent kiln in Village One.

The high elves' construction skills were incredible. A kiln that normally would have taken months was finished in only about ten days. Drying it with magic was a great help too. It was an excellent kiln. It could hold its own against the one in Good Forest Village.

Oops, this wouldn't do. My purpose was to teach the settlers smithing. Then I would give teaching everything I had-I knew being that enthusiastic would only frighten them.

Many people in Good Forest Village wanted to take up smithing, but only a limited number actually joined the trade. It might have sounded odd coming from someone who did it, but that really was because the work was hard.

A workplace that was hot no matter the season. Heavy physical labor.

Looking back, why had I entered this trade? For the sense of achievement when I finished something, and the joy of having people use what I made!

Letting them experience those things would be quicker... but I couldn't have them start hammering iron right away.

First, they watched from the side and helped with odd jobs.

No one could keep up.

One man worked hard, but fainted from the heat.

I should have watched him more carefully. A lesson learned.

Still, since the kiln was already built, I might as well put it to good use.

It was a new smithy, after all. Yes.

It was easier to use than Big Tree Village's kiln.

But this made me want a kiln specifically for melting iron... no, a furnace.

No, no, I would work hard in this new smithy first.

Here, I could hammer away at night without holding back.

The heat during the final stage of smithing was extremely important, and the temperature had to be judged by color. Since the colors were difficult to distinguish during the day, that work was usually done at night.

But in Big Tree Village, I'd been warned about making too much noise. The kiln was close to the residential area-or rather, it was right inside it.

The warning was only natural, so I had given up working at night. But here!

I got a warning here too. What a shame.

I consulted the village chief about working at night.

The high elves joined the discussion, and we eventually decided to build a new kiln just outside Big Tree Village.

What was more, the high elves offered five reward medals and asked the village chief to improve the facilities.

I would contribute too... sorry, I only had one left, but take it! I'd exchanged all the others for presents for my wife and daughter.

Three excellent furnaces. We made many modifications using the experience we had accumulated.

A more spacious work area, and a place to display our work.

If my fellow smiths back in Good Forest Village saw this place, it would be no surprise if they volunteered to move here. I was truly moved.

First, I would light the first fire... and make a fire god, the guardian deity of the smithy.

I had done this when we built the smithy in Village One too, but I was still nervous.

After the fire god came the first piece.

I asked the village chief.

"Then forge a katana... no, a sword."

A sword?

I was surprised.

Since it was the village chief, I had expected a farming tool... I never thought he would ask for a sword.

Could he know that forging blades was my specialty? No, perhaps it was for the settlers in Village One.

To give them better weapons.

In that case, wouldn't they prefer spears?

Was it simply symbolic? Since this was Big Tree Village, I thought a farming tool would suit it better.

Come to think of it, Ursa had been playing with a sword. That sword was excellent. I would aim for a sword like that.

Fortunately, this village had mountains of unusual materials.

"Is that a problem?"

Oh dear, I seemed to have spent too long thinking. I bowed my head.

"Understood. I will forge a sword, then."

A sword worthy of being called a famed blade.

Some time later.

With the new smithy in place, the village chief consulted me about trade with Good Forest Village.

He said it was about compensation for buying fewer iron goods...

The village chief was more concerned about Good Forest Village than I was.

...I needed to reflect on that.

He was right. To Good Forest Village, Big Tree Village was a major buyer of iron goods. If I started smithing in earnest in Big Tree Village, I would become a competitor to Good Forest Village.

I would try to avoid making the same things they did.

If we were to do something for Good Forest Village, we could regularly purchase the ore they mined, and...

I had left apprentices there. Could I call them here? There were two of them. Their genders? A man and a woman... yes, they apparently planned to marry once they could stand on their own.

The village chief agreed to let me bring my apprentices over.

Why bring my apprentices here?

Because I had no intention of giving up smithing here.

If I worked here, our purchases of iron goods from Good Forest Village would inevitably decrease.

In other words, there would be too many smiths there.

If that happened, those who lacked skill or were still too inexperienced would have to give up the trade... I thought the two apprentices I had left there would be the most likely to give up.

It was partly because they were my apprentices, but my main reason was that I wanted to keep as many people who knew the joy of smithing in the trade as possible.

Those two apprentices would surely be delighted to see this smithy. I also wanted to show them the sword I had forged.

But I would probably have to teach them how to get along with the Infernal Wolves and Infernal Spiders first.

Remembering what I had been like when I first came to this village, I couldn't help laughing.

Chapter 4: Alcohol, the Festival Executive Committee, and Walnuts

A certain lover of alcohol said:

"If you leave something sweet alone, it will naturally turn into alcohol. In other words, the gods want to drink."

Hearing this, a dwarf said:

"You're too loud. Just drink quietly."

That dwarf was Donovan, wasn't it?

"No, no, I have nothing against making a little noise while drinking."

Donovan and I had come to the experimental site in a corner of the residential district.

Just as that lover of alcohol had said, sweet things would naturally turn into alcohol if left alone.

That was because sugar turned into alcohol when it fermented.

That was the principle, but fermentation depended on luck. Of course, things could rot instead. Still, knowing a few tricks could make things go more smoothly.

Those tricks were controlling the temperature and adding yeast to help start fermentation.

Apparently, yeast could be obtained by fermenting grapes and other things, but I handled that with the Almighty Farming Tool. Thank the gods.

All sorts of experiments were carried out at the experimental site, such as testing whether the fruit harvested in the village could be used to make alcohol.

The reason I had come here was to decide whether the alcohol they had made should

be produced from now on.

That said, Donovan and the others had already done some screening, so I was only responsible for the final check.

"From the right, they're pomegranate, tomato, and watermelon."

These seemed to be Donovan and the others' recommendations. I sampled a little of each in a small cup.

To be honest, I wasn't picky about alcohol. All I could say was whether it tasted good and whether I liked it.

As expected of the drinks Donovan and the others had selected, every one tasted good. In terms of preference, pomegranate was probably my favorite, while watermelon was a little... that was about how I felt. Tomato was fine too, but it wasn't a flavor I would want to drink every day.

There was no point in offering empty pleasantries, so I told them honestly. As for production, I told them they could go ahead.

Donovan nodded in satisfaction and held up three fingers.

"We'll start with three large barrels of each. Sorry for the trouble, but please set aside the fruit."

"Understood, but we can't increase the pomegranate harvest right away. We'll grow more tomatoes and watermelons starting with the next crop."

"Mm."

"Watch the market's response and adjust production accordingly."

"With this flavor, we have nothing to worry about. The question is the price."

We would have to consult Michael about pricing.

"Mm. Also... village chief, there's actually another reason I asked you to come all the way here."

Beaming, Donovan held out a small cup.

It was even smaller than the cups I had just used for tasting.

"You look pretty confident."

I took a sip of the alcohol in the little cup.

"This is incredible."

"Right?"

"Is this... mead?"

"Yes, made with the village's honey."

"Didn't Michael tell us we absolutely shouldn't do that?"

Mead was a prime example of naturally brewed alcohol.

All you had to do was leave harvested honey alone. However, while it was easy to make, securing honey wasn't easy, and it was quite expensive.

Moreover, even among expensive honeys, the honey harvested in our village was apparently of the highest quality. Michael had begged me to sell it directly to him rather than turn it into alcohol.

That was why we had always used honey bought from Michael to make the village's mead.

"As long as we don't sell it, there's no problem, right?"

"I think once he drinks it, he'll want us to sell it to him."

"That may be true, but the problem is how much we can make. Honey is used in cooking too, so we'd be fighting those young maids over it."

"True. If we're thinking of turning it into alcohol to sell, we wouldn't have enough honey..."

After all, besides Michael, we also sold honey to Beezel, Doraim, Death, the Progenitor, and the others.

"Mm. I made this batch with honey I exchanged reward medals for."

So he had funded his own research, then let me taste the result?

In other words...

"What's your request?"

"I'd like you to let us make enough for drinking in the village."

"How much?"

"One large barrel a year."

...Hmm. That was quite a lot.

But the flavor was superb.

It had a taste I could hardly imagine coming from alcohol.

"All right. I'll arrange the honey for you, then. But keep this secret for a while."

"I know. Those women can't resist sweets, after all."

There was a faction in the village that favored "making sweets rather than alcohol."

So we would proceed in secret for a while...

"We'll shut them up with the flavor."

I nodded in agreement with Donovan's words.

"By the way, is there any more?"

"Hahaha. With something this good, do you think we'd leave any?"

"True. You did well to save my share."

"I told them we needed it to persuade the village chief. Actually, it was originally a bigger cup..."

"You drank it?"

"...Th-the gods would want some, wouldn't they?"

Hahaha. Well, then there was nothing for it.

We had to share with the gods too, so Donovan and I took the three drinks approved for production to Big Tree Shrine as offerings.

Donovan apologized for shifting the blame onto the gods.

Incidentally, the Alcohol Slime drank all the alcohol we offered.

"Village chief, please sentence the Alcohol Slime to death."

"Now, now. This proves the drinks taste good."

When faced with fine alcohol, dwarves and the Alcohol Slime were equally unable to resist.

I did at least warn the slime that those drinks were for the gods, so it mustn't do that next time.

But I didn't know whether it had listened.

We held a trial run for this year's festival.

The event we tested was the "Tower."

Competitors would stack logs they had cut themselves in a designated spot and see who could build the highest pile. This contest apparently came from a village where forestry flourished.

This year's event had also been chosen by drawing lots.

"We can't do it."

Since I normally cut down trees with the Almighty Farming Tool, I hadn't realized that cutting trees in the Forest of Death was actually hard labor.

It took the high elves half a day to finally fell a tree about as thick as a human waist. The Civil Servant Girls couldn't even leave a scratch.

"They're hard to burn, so even burning through them with fire magic would be a lot of trouble... we probably can't hold this contest, can we?"

Because of that, we switched to preparing logs that had already been cut.

We focused on the stacking part.

But that would give an advantage to whoever grabbed the big logs first...

"Unless we prepare a mountain of them, it'll turn into a scramble for logs."

"Big logs have the disadvantage of being hard to carry... but that probably wouldn't bother the minotaurs, would it?"

"We're allowed to stack the logs, right? In that case, wouldn't it just become a showcase for the high elves?"

Our conclusion was that it would magnify the differences between races.

Besides, in a contest like this, the harpies, whose hands were wings, wouldn't be able to participate.

In that case...

After repeated trial and error and much consideration, it became a balancing game.

It would be a team competition. The staff would stack up a pile of logs and place a marker on top, then the teams would take turns removing one log at a time. The side that made the marker fall would lose.

In other words, it was a game of "Mountain Collapse" played with logs. (Note)

Note: The original game involves piling up shogi pieces and taking turns removing one piece at a time. Whoever knocks over the pile loses.

But there was a problem.

"Will it get the crowd excited?"

It was a serious problem. After all, it was Mountain Collapse.

"Should we add another event?"

"Then how about that one? The one we rejected during discussions."

"Understood. We'll use that to warm things up, then hold the main 'Tower' event... but it doesn't resemble the original anymore. Please give it a new name."

"Why not just call it 'Mountain Collapse'?"

"Understood. Next, then... the shape of the logs and how to stack them."

"There really is a lot to think about."

"There certainly is."

The Festival Executive Committee continued its work preparing for the festival.

Walnuts were nuts known for their hard shells.

There was a trick to cracking them.

No luck. These must have been an especially hard variety.

A high elf taught me how to crack them by holding two at once.

I see. So you knocked the hard nuts against each other.

If that was the way... no luck.

Thinking about it, I probably just lacked the grip strength. But humans had ingenuity.

Tools for cracking walnuts.

There were wrench-like ones, plier-like ones, and ones that dropped an iron ball straight down. With a little thought, I could come up with all sorts of nutcrackers.

That was probably proof of humanity's long battle with walnuts. There were even crafts like nutcracker dolls, after all. Not that I had ever used one.

Anyway, I asked Gutt to make me a tool for cracking walnuts.

After I explained, he handed me a hammer.

I see. Fair enough.

Rather than making a special tool just for cracking walnuts, I could use a tool we already had.

Whatever the process, as long as I achieved my goal of "eating what was inside the walnut," that was enough. No need to worry about the details.

Oh, the wrench type sounded interesting, so he would try making one later? What about the plier type? Small screw holes were hard to work with? I see.

Incidentally, everyone other than me simply crushed the shells with their bare hands and ate the nuts.

The mountain elves and dwarves were particularly quick.

"If you can't crack them, someone could die."

"They go great with alcohol."

Seeing them crush the walnuts that had given me so much trouble as though they were tofu made me sad about my own weakness.

Some time later.

The nutcrackers Gutt made proved popular in Village One.

"Comrades."

"Huh? No, Chief, you're... well... different, aren't you?"

I felt a little lonely.

Chapter 5: Spirit Magic and Various Matters in Village One

Moti was the wife of Jack, the leader of the settlers in Village One.

She knew something a little unusual: Spirit Magic.

Normal magic used one's own mana and the mana in the surroundings to produce the desired effect, but Spirit Magic apparently accomplished things by getting spirits to do them.

It was hard to understand from the explanation alone, but I understood after she demonstrated it.

"This is a fire spirit."

Something resembling a fire salamander appeared, set the tip of a rice stalk alight, and disappeared.

"It's powerful in places where there are spirits, but its weakness is that it doesn't work where there aren't any."

"So as long as there are spirits, you can use magic endlessly?"

"In theory, yes, but talking to spirits is tiring."

Apparently, it wasn't quite that convenient.

"Anyway, here in Village One... wood spirits and water spirits are relatively strong."

I could more or less understand that, but...

"What about earth spirits?"

"Their response is very faint around here... but I can feel them gradually growing stronger."

"Earth spirits growing stronger... does that mean there's going to be an earthquake?"

"No, it isn't like that. It feels as though they're regaining their original vitality."

I couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.

"Come to think of it, I can imagine fire spirits and water spirits, but what can wood spirits do?"

"Things like hiding you in the forest. Something like this..."

She concentrated... just as she had when calling the fire spirit earlier.

But nothing happened?

"Did it fail?"

"That's strange. I can definitely feel a spirit nearby."

As we puzzled over it, a tree spirit shaped like a stump strolled over.

"Did you call me?"

Come to think of it, someone had indeed said they were something like wood spirits.

Really? So I had already used Spirit Magic without knowing it.

Incidentally, Moti's Spirit Magic apparently only served to make everyday life a little more convenient.

"The residents of Village One seem to be settling in fairly well."

I asked Mam after she returned from Village One.

"Yes, they're using up their food properly now."

At first, we prepared and distributed the Village One settlers' three daily meals, but we couldn't keep that up forever.

After teaching them how to cook, we switched to delivering food regularly.

Giving them a year's supply all at once would have made both sides uneasy, so we first gave them thirty days' worth of preserved food. This was an emergency supply, just in case.

With that preparation in place, we delivered the ingredients they were actually meant to use every ten days.

The plan was to watch how things went, then give them a year's supply at once if all went well.

Unexpectedly, once we left them to manage things themselves, they suddenly stopped using up their food.

It wasn't that they weren't eating, but that they were consuming extremely little.

To give an example...

Breakfast: soup with salt. Lunch: nothing. Dinner: two steamed potatoes.

I decided to send someone to keep an eye on them for a while. We would have a problem if they didn't eat properly.

It wasn't that they couldn't eat. When we cooked, they ate and even asked for seconds.

Eventually, I managed to get them to explain why they were consuming so little food.

It turned out they couldn't yet proudly say they were being useful, so they felt bad about using up food.

People did say that those who didn't work shouldn't eat... but did they not understand the idea of an "investment"? As far as I was concerned, it was enough for them to live peacefully in this village...

That peaceful life was probably the problem. They were aware they weren't useful yet, after all.

I didn't expect them to be useful as soon as they arrived, either. But I couldn't tell them that to their faces.

There was nothing for it.

I couldn't let them collapse from malnutrition. That would be letting Fushu down, too. Reluctant as I was, I had no choice but to resort to drastic measures.

"It'll spoil if you don't eat it~"

We switched to distributing mostly food that wouldn't keep. It worked wonderfully.

That had happened a little while ago.

Now, the settlers seemed to have each decided what work they would do, and they were eating properly. It was a real relief.

While searching for work they could each do, they revealed many skills they had previously kept hidden, one of which was Spirit Magic.

I thought it was probably because they had become able to open up to us.

As an aside, the new residents of Village One mainly worked in farming, making small crafts, and papermaking.

Both men and women farmed.

They worked during the day, and although it was still only on the scale of home vegetable gardens, they were working hard while asking the minotaurs for advice.

The men mainly handled the small crafts. After trying various things, we found they were particularly good at bamboo handicrafts, so we left those to them.

I was currently establishing a bamboo grove near Village One.

Also, one of them had become obsessed with knitting and apparently often went to Zabuton for advice. He even gave me some clothes he had finished, but... wouldn't a long-sleeved sweater be hot at this time of year? Summer was almost here.

I didn't think his wife needed to force herself to wear one. Though I knew it was a labor of love from her husband.

The women mainly handled papermaking.

Papermaking wasn't something we had suddenly started, either. We had arrived at it in stages.

Before moving to Village One, they had apparently learned to read and write at Fushu's place.

Thinking about what work they could do to put those skills to use, or rather, keep them from going to waste, they settled on copying books. In other words, making new books by transcribing them.

Seeing them do that reminded me of movable type printing.

I cornered a mountain elf, pressed for the method, and after some trial and error, we got it working.

Put simply, movable type printing just involved making character stamps and stamping them. Although the basic idea was simple, it was technically quite difficult. The character stamps, in particular, wouldn't print neatly unless they were all the same height. Making a uniform set of stamps by hand was a specialized skill.

We had originally planned to make the character stamps out of iron for durability, but ultimately chose bamboo because it was easier to work.

The women made them at first, but the men were faster, so it became the men's work. However, we needed quite a lot, so the full set wasn't ready yet.

While waiting for the character stamps, the women worked on papermaking.

Although we had a considerable stock of paper, once printing began, it would disappear in no time.

Even buying it from Michael would cost quite a bit, so we concluded that we should make our own.

When I had received a gift from Death before, I had wondered whether we could make it ourselves, so I had been growing plants for papermaking.

The method I knew was for making Japanese paper, but that probably wouldn't matter, so I shared the technique.

The women of Village One began making paper.

At first, it was all trial and error, so they had one failure after another, but now their work was starting to look respectable. Though they would have to keep making it if we were going to start printing.

Besides papermaking, they were also experimenting with making ink suitable for printing.

Perhaps one day we would be able to say that printing was Village One's trade.

However, I had also heard that some people made their living copying books.

Mass-producing books through printing would affect those people's livelihoods.

Although we hadn't officially started yet, we would probably have to voluntarily limit how much we printed.

For the time being, the tentative plan was to have everyone print books for the children's lessons in each village.

As far as outside use went, printing flyers seemed more useful than printing books, but ordinary people apparently weren't very literate.

I had considered how to improve literacy, but that was a matter for those in power. There was nothing I could do.

At most, what I could do was donate printed books to the orphanage Beezel had established earlier.

If they could serve as a starting point for learning to read, that would be more than enough.

With Village One working so hard, Big Tree Village couldn't fall behind.

First, we needed to prepare for the festival.

With everything that had happened, the number of villagers had grown, too. If we invited people from Village One, Village Two, and Village Three... would that make around four hundred? Though it wouldn't be possible for everyone to attend.

I got anyone who was free to help repair and reinforce the venue, add toilets, and increase the number of places where we could cook.

The oni maids seemed to have come up with some new dishes.

Once preparations at the venue had progressed to a certain point, I played with Kuro's descendants and Zabuton's children.

Although I was playing, I wasn't slacking off.

The children in front of me were all scheduled to guard the villages on the day of the festival. Since they couldn't attend, I was making it up to them in advance.

I played Frisbee and ball with Kuro's descendants, and we went hunting.

As far as the hunting went, my role was more like a supervisor's. They each showed off their abilities, then received my praise.

They pounced on and killed a long-fanged rabbit in an instant. Four of them tackled a large boar together and finished it off. Honestly, I thought they were quite strong.

This took several days, with everyone taking turns.

In the end, we secured quite a lot of ingredients for the festival.

As for Zabuton's children, I did all sorts of things with them.

There was an event like a fashion show, and we also went hunting.

What took the most time was carving life-size sculptures with them as models.

Since I really couldn't carve every one of them who wanted one, I made a selection. Then I tried to faithfully repro-

duce the poses each representative had carefully considered.

I displayed them in my house. If someone who didn't know about them saw them... would they be startled?

Incidentally, I titled the last piece I carved "General Zabuton Commanding While Drinking Coffee."

Chapter 6: Festival: Landslide + α

Although I had heard that pregnant dragons became irritable, there were no signs of that yet. Hakuren was taking life easy. Well, what I meant was that she ate, slept, woke up, and ate again.

I remembered when she had first come to this village. Come to think of it, she had been like this back then, too.

But she was pregnant. Everything was allowed.

Having breakfast with a table set up on her bed. Allowed.

Sleeping during the day. Allowed.

Sleeping in the evening. Allowed.

Sleeping was part of a pregnant woman's job, too.

Getting up at night to play. Thumpity-clatter, thumpity-clatter...

"Go to sleep!"

Look, if you stayed awake, Ursa wouldn't go to sleep, would she?

You were pregnant, so please keep a regular schedule.

No, wait. Were dragons nocturnal?

"No, not at all."

Rasuti answered.

I see, I see.

She stayed awake at night because she slept during the day.

Then I could stop her from napping... but that was hard to do to a pregnant woman. Hmm!

How could I fix her reversed sleep schedule? I had no idea.

There was nothing for it. In that case, I would have to consult Raimeiren... Hakuren grabbed my hand.

She shook her head, then gave me a radiant smile.

"I'll sleep properly at night. All right?"

She couldn't manage it immediately, but after about ten days, we finally got it sorted out.

Even though they were mother and daughter, was Raimeiren still that frightening?

Festival season arrived.

The participants from Village One, Village Two, and Village Three had started arriving several days earlier, and everyone was here as of today.

We prepared places for the early arrivals to sleep, but there weren't enough rooms, so we hastily put up tents. It really looked like that excited atmosphere before a festival.

That was probably why.

"I never expected the tents to be more popular."

I understood how they felt, but they needed to be careful not to catch a cold.

Parents with children seemed to be sensibly sleeping at the inn.

We had plenty of guests, as usual.

First was Michael. He arrived several days before the festival with plenty of merchandise.

Doraim, who had brought Michael here, arrived with him. Apparently, Death and Raimeiren had told him to check on Hakuren. But after barely exchanging a few words with her, he went off to enjoy a leisurely bath.

From the Demon King Kingdom came Yuri, Beezel, Glatts, Randann, and one other person.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Hou Leg. I look forward to getting to know you."

Hou was a woman.

She had a pair of scarlet wings on her back, but she wasn't one of the Angels.

"I've greatly enjoyed this village's alcohol. Especially the kind made from sugarcane... it's truly wonderful."

"Ahahaha... that stuff?"

It was rather strong liquor, and I couldn't drink it straight.

After greeting me, Hou headed toward the stalls serving food. Ah, no. She was looking for alcohol.

"Sorry. Hou's weakness is her love of drinking..."

"Hahaha, she should get along well with the dwarves."

Beezel greeted me after Hou. Glatts greeted me at about the same time, then went to find Rinona of the minotaur tribe. Randann nodded to me and immediately headed for the stalls.

"The Demon King didn't come this time?"

"Dad has quite a backlog of work, so he couldn't make it this time. We'll enjoy ourselves enough for him too."

After answering me, Yuri headed to the guest seats with Beezel.

The Progenitor and Fushu arrived next.

Although the Progenitor visited for various reasons, he had many things to do and simply couldn't stay long.

"I wish I could abandon everything and live here forever."

Fushu looked troubled when she heard him say that.

Explaining how the Village One settlers were doing to Fushu and taking her to where they were... I left that to one of the Civil Servant Girls.

The next guests had arrived.

They were Death and Raimeiren.

They had visited to congratulate Hakuren on her pregnancy, so it didn't feel as though it had been long. After exchanging greetings, they went over to Hakuren.

If they were coming themselves, didn't that mean they hadn't needed to send Doraim? Well, that was parental concern for you.

Guraru also visited from Good Forest Village.

Rather than visiting, she had come along with Gutt's two apprentices. Rasuti had brought the apprentices, so I understood that traveling was easy... but weren't you the strongest warrior in Good Forest Village? Was this all right?

Apparently, relations with the human village had improved.

Well, if she said there was no problem, she was certainly welcome.

Besides them, four lamias came from the Southern Dungeon, two giants came from the Northern Dungeon, and the Death Knight came from the hot springs.

Doraim had gone to the hot springs after hearing about them, and the Death Knight had accompanied him on the return trip.

Had Daga and Guraru, who had accompanied Doraim as guides, invited him? He was looking forward to it, so it should be fine.

Noon approached.

The festival officially began. This year's theme was the landslide game. Before that, though, we had a warm-up event.

"Question one. Jack, who lives in Village One, has a wife named Moti. If you think that's correct, please move to the area marked with a circle. If you think it's incorrect, please move to the area marked with a cross."

A quiz contest.

Although it was a quiz, none of the questions were difficult. They were all things you would know from living normally in the village. The guests might have been at something of a disadvantage, but we had written the questions hoping this event would help everyone learn more about the village.

The questions were prepared beforehand and selected at random. The game would end when only one participant remained. One of the Civil Servant Girls was the quizmaster.

Magic made the questions audible throughout the venue.

Everyone participated in this event... or so I would have liked to say, but with pregnant women and small children present, participation was voluntary.

Rather than merely allowing the guests to participate, we hoped as many of them as possible would join in.

"Question three. The first resident of Big Tree Village was Kuro."

The answer was false.

I had been the first. I hadn't expected anyone to get it wrong... but a surprising number of the settlers did.

"Question ten. The village chief's name is Hiraku."

The answer was true.

...Very few people knew. That shocked me a little.

"Because the village chief is the village chief."

I supposed that was one way to put it... Maybe I should wear a name tag sometime?

"Well, there aren't many participants left. Or rather..."

Only a few of Kuro's descendants, a few of Zabuton's children, and the Alcohol Slime remained.

...None were humanoid.

I looked at Lu.

"I haven't memorized all the Village One settlers' names yet..."

I looked at Tia.

"I hadn't heard that there were more than fifty dwarves now."

Ah, right. I hadn't known that either.

Then came the final question, or rather...

"Question seventeen. Michael, who visited the village today... Oh, he's waving. Thank you. He has two grandchildren, both boys."

After hearing the question, all the remaining participants moved to the circle.

Michael invariably talked about his grandchildren whenever he visited. Kuro's descendants were one thing, but even Zabuton's children and the Alcohol Slime knew? Impressive.

Just as I thought everyone had answered correctly and the outcome would have to wait until the next question, the answer turned out to be false.

What was going on? While I was still wondering, an explanation came.

"Apparently, he gained a granddaughter last month."

Oh! That really was something to celebrate. Thunderous applause filled the venue.

And so...

"Everyone got it wrong. What a shame. That means everyone is back in!"

The quiz contest was a great success.

The winner was, of all participants, Yuki. Apparently, the questions after everyone returned favored her.

She proudly wore the Quiz Champion crown I had made.

Her tail wagged even harder than usual.

"The quiz was more popular than we expected."

"Yes. Children can participate, and race doesn't matter much either. Including introductions in the questions also gives people something to talk about with the new residents... I think we could make it a regular warm-up event at future festivals."

One of the Civil Servant Girls agreed.

"Right. It would be nice if it helped everyone get to know each other. Now... after a break, it'll be time for the main event, but..."

I looked up at the sky. It was already evening.

The quiz contest had gotten too lively...

But considering that every question needed time for thought and movement, we had probably underestimated things.

The wood was already piled up in the venue, waiting for the event to begin.

"Should we just stop worrying so

much and start, or wait until tomorrow...?"

We would wait until tomorrow.

The festival entered its second day.

Would the guests' schedules be all right?

And there were Kuro's descendants and Zabuton's children guarding each village.

Sorry.

The night of the quiz contest

We held the banquet that evening as planned. However, with the main event tomorrow, we needed to show some restraint.

None of the guests went home. I felt bad about making everyone change their plans at such short notice.

After taking a closer look at Hou, our guest from the Demon King Kingdom...

She struck me as a serious woman of few words. Her age... I couldn't tell. She looked to be in her twenties. Compared to the scarlet wings on her back, her clothing was unremarkable. When Beezel introduced her, he said she was one of the Four Heavenly Kings and handled finances.

Come to think of it, was it all right for all Four Heavenly Kings to be here?

Hou sat at a table occupied mainly by dwarves and silently drank. There was no conversation. No, perhaps there was? Only through their eyes rather than words.

Illustration p007

She was drinking rather quickly. Was she all right? I brought over some food and reminded her not to do nothing but drink.

Glatts had gone to Rinona's table, which was occupied mainly by Village Two residents.

They really had grown closer.

Beezel was at a table occupied mainly by Village Three residents.

After all, Beezel had introduced the centaurs living in Village Three to us. Although he visited occasionally and probably knew what had been happening, he hadn't had time for a proper chat with the villagers.

Wasn't this a good opportunity?

Speaking of which, how was that request to find acquaintances of the Village Three residents going? I would ask him after the festival.

Just as I was thinking that, Beezel came over, so we discussed it.

Apparently, he had found about twenty people, but only around half wanted to move here. Even those who did still had their current lives to attend to and couldn't come immediately.

He asked whether it would be all right for them to come in separate groups. I told him that was perfectly fine.

I would give final permission for them to move after checking with Gruwald, Village Three's representative.

Yuri was with Frau and the Civil Servant Girls... eating and chatting.

Their conversation... was mostly complaints, I supposed. I pretended not to hear, so I would skip over it.

To shift the balance toward eating, I brought out dessert. Would bringing dessert at night make them angry? No worries, they wouldn't mind that sort of thing.

Frau and the Civil Servant Girls would be busy tomorrow too, so they shouldn't stay up late.

Randann... was drinking and playing chess with Michael.

Their conversation wandered everywhere. Or rather, it was a conversation between two drunks, and I couldn't tell how one remark connected to the next.

Their chess game was a mess too. Neither king was on the board!

I brought them ice water. The main event was tomorrow!

Fushu was at a table occupied mainly by Village One residents.

She didn't join the conversation much, but Jack, the leader of Village One's residents, directed questions her way to keep things lively.

They were talking about tips for combat? Was it all right to ask Fushu about that? Wasn't she a high priestess? Still, she was probably very knowledgeable. And Fushu was happily sharing what she knew with everyone.

Doraim, Death, Raimeiren, and Rasuti sat around a table.

Was Hakuren not joining us tonight because she was forbidden to stay up late?

They were discussing whether Hakuren would have a boy or a girl, and what to do about a name.

Also... the daughter of Giral, the dark dragon who had visited Death's nest. She was unusually well-behaved for a dragon, which worried them, and they feared she might never find a husband.

I would stay away from that table.

The Progenitor... was relaxing with the peculiar combination of the Death Knight, the cat, and the Alcohol Slime.

Yes, he really was relaxed.

I decided to leave them alone.

Guraru joined the beastfolk and ate and drank as usual.

After seeing Gutt's sword, he even offered some comments... Playing with swords while drinking was dangerous, so please don't do that.

Although the lamias and giants lived in different territories, both lived in labyrinths, so they were exchanging stories.

Speaking of which, what did the lamias think of bloody vipers? Oh, they said they didn't mind them at all.

Just as wolves wouldn't consider cows and pigs their own kind simply because they all walked on four legs. That made sense.

Now, looking back on the day... There had been a few oversights, but things had gone fairly well on the management side.

Especially when it came to food.

The dining area run by the oni maids was as popular as ever, and this time, we had also asked Village Two and Village Three to provide one dish each.

Of course, Big Tree Village provided the ingredients.

We wanted the other villages to take part in running stalls, and we also wanted to learn about the minotaurs' and centaurs' home cooking.

The minotaurs of Village Two served stir-fried greens. The oil gave them a somewhat unusual flavor, but they weren't bad.

Since they had specially ordered the oil from Mr. Michael, that flavor was probably the point. Though using too much of it was a problem.

Glatts monopolized the stir-fried greens Rinona made.

As for the centaurs, they went all out with whole roast cows.

These weren't cows from the village; they had also been ordered from Mr. Michael. Since the centaurs had specified how many days should pass after slaughter, that part apparently mattered.

They split the cows open so the centers would cook more easily, then ran poles through the entire cows and turned them on racks. Apparently, they normally seasoned them only with salt, but this time they used soy sauce and miso to make them even tastier. They were delicious.

They had prepared six cows, but all of them disappeared that evening.

I thought Kuro and the others probably ate the most.

They lined up neatly and waited with their tails wagging, leaving the centaurs a little at a loss.

We hadn't asked Village One to run a stall.

Partly because they still weren't fully accustomed to village life, and partly because this was their first festival.

I told them to focus on getting used to the atmosphere this time and run a stall next year.

The residents of Village One understood, but felt bad doing nothing, so they put on some entertainment.

Their entertainment was a play.

The story was apparently famous, but I had never heard it. Still, it had a well-rounded beginning, development, twist, and conclusion, and I could have watched it several times.

Those who already knew the story knew where and how the climaxes would be staged. Was it like those long-running TV dramas, "The Vice Shogun of the Realm" and "The Firefighting Freeloader Shogun"? They seemed to have practiced quite a bit, and their acting was pretty good.

However, the performance... Or rather, they were dressed as usual, and there were no backdrops or background music, so it was a little hard to picture the setting...

Then the mountain elves and lizardmen set out barrels and boxes to serve as scenery.

Zabuton and the others quickly made costumes for the actors to wear, and with music from the high elves and beastfolk added in, it ended up being quite a proper production.

Progenitor, wasn't illusion magic going a bit too far? Though the rainbow that appeared onstage at the end was beautiful.

Still, it was a splendid play.

The story was about a human hero challenging a dragon, though, so Death and the others wore rather awkward expressions.

"That's the story about my father, isn't it?"

"Then doesn't that make you the one who got beaten earlier?"

"Then it isn't. I've never lost to a human."

Death spoke with complete confidence in front of Raimeiren.

However, the entertainment contest that began with this play and the quiz contest afterward took up so much time that we couldn't hold the originally planned Mountain Collapse Game. That was a problem.

Our estimate of how long the quiz contest would take had been completely wrong. I had thought it would be over in an hour...

It looked like we needed to adjust the difficulty of the questions...

It was getting late.

The festival would continue tomorrow. It was about time the children went to bed. The adults should try not to stay up too late either.

Arm-wrestling and board game tournaments were fine, but tomorrow was the main event, so remember to save some energy. And please, no mock battles.

I felt bad for Kuro and the others, but I asked some of them to keep watch.

Me? I was going to get a good night's sleep.

After all, I had spent the whole day running around, and I still had to put Ursa, who was on my back, to bed.

Ursa had been full of energy all day, but as soon as she finished dinner, she fell asleep as though her battery had run out.

She was a child, so that was only natural, but did she really have to jump onto my back before falling asleep?

Oh well, I would take it as a sign of trust.

So, Lu and Tia, stop looking at me so enviously. Once I put Ursa to bed... Ah, never mind. I wasn't offering to carry you.

Chapter 8: The Mountain Collapse Game

Morning.

Although the festival had suddenly been extended to two days, there wasn't much confusion.

Everyone began preparing, pushing those who had drunk too much and were still sleeping out of the way.

Once space had been cleared at the venue, the festival began!

"Sorry for the wait, everyone! This year's competition, the Mountain Collapse Game, begins now!"

The mountain prepared in the very center of the venue consisted of about twenty wooden poles, each ten centimeters in diameter and two meters long, standing upright with a square board one meter on each side laid over them. It looked like the poles were holding up the board.

We placed the markers on that flat board-three round cushions about a meter in diameter, made by Zabuton-and preparations were complete.

It was a team competition, with the two sides taking turns removing poles. If any of the cushions fell while a team was removing a pole, that team lost.

There were a few other detailed rules... The important one was that a team had to remove as many poles as the opposing team rolled on the die.

Although the die was a regular six-sided cube, it was a special one with two faces each for one, two, and three. For example, if the die came up three, the team had to remove three poles before the other team's turn began.

Although the announcer would call out the numbers, the die was still made quite large so the spectators could see it too.

"Now, let's introduce the competing teams!"

Team Kuro, Team Yuki, Team Zabuton, the vampire team, the Angels team, the high elf team, the lizardman team, the oni team, the beastfolk team, the dwarf team, the mountain elf team, the harpy team, Team Civil Servant Girls, the Demon Race team, Team Village One, Team Village Two, Team Village Three, the dragon team, Team Four Heavenly Kings, the lamia team, the Giants team, the special team, the village boys and girls' team, and the village chief's team.

Twenty-four teams were participating in total. The teams seemed to have been divided by race and village.

The dryads were on Team Village One. I had thought the Progenitor would be on the vampire team, but he had joined the special team.

The special team's members included the Progenitor, Fushu, the Alcohol Slime, the cat, and the Death Knight.

The village boys and girls' team consisted of Ursa and the beastfolk boys and girls.

Alfred and Tiselle were still too young, so they weren't participating.

As a result, the village chief's team consisted of just me and the earth doll.

We were definitely taking first place! The earth doll and I shook hands firmly.

With twenty-four teams, the field would narrow to twelve, then six, then three.

Now, how would the matches go?

Match one: Team Zabuton vs. the harpy team

Zabuton captained Team Zabuton.

However, she only gave instructions from the rear, leaving the actual work to her children, including Makura.

Both sides played it safe in the early stages.

But it came down to bad luck with the die: Team Zabuton kept rolling high numbers, and the harpy team lost.

The collapse made a loud noise, so the spectators enjoyed it quite a bit too.

Still, I hoped everyone would be careful not to get hurt.

Match two: the lizardman team vs. Team Village One

While the lizardman team removed poles aggressively, Team Village One proceeded cautiously.

With luck on their side in the dice rolls, the lizardman team won.

Match three: the vampire team vs. the lamia team

While the vampire team thought carefully before acting, the lamia team relied entirely on intuition.

The winners were the lamias.

Rather than bad luck, the vampire team probably lost because they thought too much.

Match four: the mountain elf team vs. Team Yuki

Team Yuki couldn't roll the die, so the referee did it for them.

The referee kept rolling threes, leading Team Yuki to victory.

However, that wasn't all there was to it. Yuki and the others calculated their pole removals very carefully...

Match five: the dwarf team vs. Team Four Heavenly Kings

Perhaps putting on a show, the dwarves chopped down the poles with axes.

I wondered how Team Four Heavenly Kings would respond, but they discussed things seriously before acting.

"Beezel, sorry. Could you keep your voice down a little... My head hurts."

"A hangover, Hou? You drank too much."

"I know... Hmm, let's take that pole over there. It doesn't look like it's supporting much weight. What do you think, Glatts?"

"It should be fine."

"Understood. Randann, please go remove the pole."

"Yes, yes. You know, I'm the leader."

Team Four Heavenly Kings won.

Incidentally, Yuri wasn't on Team Four Heavenly Kings; she had joined Team Civil Servant Girls.

Match six: the Demon Race team vs. the Giants team

The Demon Race team consisted of Bulga, Stifano, and Gucchi, who had arrived at some point without me noticing.

"I got swept along into participating... But do you know something? I hate losing."

"Yes, we shall dedicate our victory to you, Lord Gucchi."

"Without fail!"

Perhaps they were too fired up, because they ended up bringing about their own defeat.

"I feel like I could destroy the world right now."

Gucchi muttered something dangerous.

The Giants team won.

Match seven: the special team vs. Team Civil Servant Girls

At some point, the Progenitor, the Alcohol Slime, the cat, and the Death Knight had become quite close.

Fushu looked a little lonely. Ah, no, apparently she was astonished to see the Death Knight.

Team Civil Servant Girls was well coordinated, with Yuri and Frau at its center.

"Let's win this match."

"Yes!"

Both sides fought fiercely until only four poles remained.

Team Civil Servant Girls rolled a one.

The special team deliberated for a while, but the pole the Alcohol Slime decisively removed caused no trouble. That proved to be the key to victory.

The special team won.

Match eight: the beastfolk team vs. Team Village Three

Guraru, Gutt and his wife, and Gutt's apprentices had also joined the beastfolk team.

"Guraru, you understand, right? Don't stand out too much."

"I know. Sena and the others are the stars. I'll just quietly follow instructions and remove the poles."

Team Village Three was centered around the centaur Gruwald.

"I'm not good at delicate things like this. Is anyone here good at them?"

"For now, we can just start pulling them out from the right, can't we?"

"...We'll go with that."

The beastfolk team won.

Seeing how casually they approached this, was the farmwork in Village Three being done properly? I felt uneasy.

Match nine: Team Village Two vs. Team Kuro

Team Village Two studied things over and over before acting.

In contrast, Team Kuro pulled out poles with sheer momentum.

"This one?"

"No, shouldn't it be this one?"

Team Village Two spent too much time deliberating and lost because they failed to remove the number of poles shown on the die.

Team Kuro won.

Match ten: the Angels team vs. the oni team

The Angels team consisted of Tia, Gran Maria, Kuudel, and Corone.

Perhaps because they were a former superior and her subordinates, they adopted a system in which Tia made the decisions and the other three followed her orders.

In contrast, everyone on the oni team discussed which poles to remove. I had thought they would be like the Angels team, with Ann making the decisions and everyone else following her orders, but apparently not?

"It is a festival, after all. I thought it would be better for everyone to enjoy this sort of activity together."

That made sense.

In the end, the Angels team won.

"It's all because you made the wrong call."

"No, if we're going to get into that..."

The oni team seemed to be fighting among themselves. Were they going to be all right?

"I won't let it affect their work tomorrow, so please don't worry."

"No violence, okay? This is a festival, after all. We need to have fun."

Match eleven: High Elf Team vs. Village Boys and Girls Team

With Ria at their center, the high elves carefully pulled out the wooden pieces while checking the center of gravity of the board above.

The village boys and girls, led by Ursa, relied on intuition.

The outcome came down to the luck of the dice.

The high elves won.

"Go easy on them? We wouldn't do anything so rude."

Match twelve: Village Chief Team vs. Dragon Team

All right, it was my turn.

Our opponents were the Dragon Team.

Their members were Death, Raimeiren, Hakuren, Doraim, and Rasuti.

Although Hakuren participated, she stayed somewhere safe and only gave instructions. She was pregnant, after all. Safety first.

"But... dragons give the impression of being careless... yet you're surprisingly cautious."

"We can be cautious when victory is at stake."

Doraim was the most serious of them.

We weren't going to lose, either. The earth doll and I worked hard as a pair.

The matches so far had mostly revealed two approaches to pulling out the wooden pieces.

Start from the outside and leave the inside, or remove the inside and leave the outside.

Starting from the outside was easy at first, but things got tricky once the pieces grew fewer. Also, unless you anticipated the center of gravity of the board above, you could easily lose.

Starting from the inside was simple, since the outer pieces held everything up. You could say the real contest only began once all the inner pieces were gone.

This was where the battle of wills came in. If the other team removed an inner piece, should you do the same, or start on the outside?

The number of pieces you removed depended on the other team's dice roll, so there was no absolute answer.

After discussing it with the earth doll, we started from the outside, the opposite of the Dragon Team.

And rather than removing them evenly, we concentrated on one side.

Time to settle this.

Our opponents' gazes sharpened.

I wasn't going to lose.

We lost with embarrassing ease.

The Dragon Team won.

"W-why?"

"Wasn't it because you misjudged the center of gravity?"

Hakuren's calm answer stung.

The first round ended.

The second and third rounds followed.

Round two.

Zabuton Team vs. Lizardman Team

The Zabuton Team won.

Lamia Team vs. Yuki Team

The Yuki Team won.

Four Heavenly Kings Team vs. Giants Team

The Four Heavenly Kings Team won.

Special Team vs. Beastkin Team

The Special Team won.

Kuro Team vs. Angels Team

The Kuro Team won.

High Elf Team vs. Dragon Team

The Dragon Team won.

Round three.

Zabuton Team vs. Yuki Team

The Zabuton Team won.

Four Heavenly Kings Team vs. Special Team

The Four Heavenly Kings Team won.

Kuro Team vs. Dragon Team

The Kuro Team won.

The three remaining teams would compete in the semifinal.

Zabuton Team vs. Four Heavenly Kings Team vs. Kuro Team

For the semifinal, we used a larger board than before and increased the number of wooden pieces supporting it.

There were also ten round cushions on the board now.

They were all stacked together.

The losing team would be eliminated, and the remaining two would compete in the final.

The three teams fought fiercely in the semifinal, with the Four Heavenly Kings Team ultimately eliminated.

The Four Heavenly Kings Team removed a wooden piece in a rather precarious position, trying to force a showdown.

Even if the Kuro Team survived the next turn, the Zabuton Team should still have been knocked out on theirs.

However, both teams rolled ones.

The Kuro Team and the Zabuton Team barely survived, and everything collapsed when the turn came back to the Four Heavenly Kings Team, who had started the fight.

The final.

Zabuton Team vs. Kuro Team

It had become a showdown between the village's oldest members.

As expected of them, perhaps, even after quite a few wooden pieces had been removed during the final, the markers on the board still hadn't fallen.

Finally, four pieces remained: two inside and two outside. The four were positioned almost diagonally opposite one another.

Then the dice came up two. The Kuro Team had to remove two pieces.

The Kuro Team thought long and hard before making their decision. They pulled out both outer pieces at once.

It wobbled, but it didn't fall!

The markers on top didn't fall, either.

That settled the outcome. With seemingly nothing the next team could do, the Kuro Team rolled a one.

The Zabuton Team pulled out a piece, half resigned to defeat.

...Huh? It hadn't fallen? Just as I thought that, the board above lost its balance, and the round cushions fell.

The champions: the Kuro Team.

The runners-up: the Zabuton Team.

Third place: the Four Heavenly Kings Team.

After the awards ceremony, things turned into a banquet.

I supposed the festival had been a success?

At least, I felt like the earth doll and I had become closer.

"We'll win next time."

"Yeah..."

"Losing really is frustrating."

"We really did pull out the wrong piece back then."

Everyone shared their thoughts and enjoyed the festival night.

Ah, no pushing yourselves if you're pregnant. I'd be going to bed early, too.

9: Reflections and the villages

The festival was over.

Cleanup lasted from morning until noon, and everyone headed home.

Death, Raimeiren, and Doraim left after noon.

"Please take care of Hakuren."

After Raimeiren said goodbye on behalf of the dragon family, they departed in different directions.

Michael rode on Doraim's back, heading for Doraim's nest.

Apparently, his subordinates were waiting there, and afterward they would escort him by carriage.

Guraru of the beastkin also accompanied him as a guard. Apparently, she wanted to visit Shashaato to broaden her horizons.

Since Guraru had helped me quite a lot, I gave her a little spending money as a token of my thanks.

The Demon King Kingdom's Four Heavenly Kings and Yuri also left after noon.

Hou had become quite friendly with the dwarves. The dwarves even quietly gave her a barrel of alcohol as a gift.

Glatts and Rinona were reluctant to part, while Beezel said goodbye to Yuri, Frau, and the Civil Servant Girls.

Randann... was saying goodbye to the lizardmen.

I was glad they had enjoyed themselves.

Since some were for the Demon King too, I gave them extra gifts to take home.

After sending Fushu off with teleportation magic, the Progenitor headed to the hot spring with the Death Knight.

In other words, he intended to recuperate there.

Ursa waved goodbye to the Death Knight.

The lamias and giants stayed another night before returning home.

The lamias also asked if they could take on more work in the fall.

The giants wanted the village's crops too, and asked if there was any work available.

I would have to give it some thought.

The people of Village One, Village Two, and Village Three also set off.

They traveled as a group.

Kuro's children and Gran Maria and the others accompanied them as guards, so they should be fine.

Then, with fewer people left in Big Tree Village, the Festival Executive Committee held a review meeting.

"The quiz tournament took longer than expected."

First, this was an important point to review.

Although it had been well received, there were many participants, so moving around took time.

While gender and age played a part in how long it took, racial differences had the greatest impact. Just as some races moved quickly, others naturally moved slowly.

Also, when the larger races moved, they inevitably inconvenienced the other races.

Some races had moved along the outer edge of the venue on their own initiative, but... well.

Would it be better to move the quiz tournament somewhere spacious... like the racetrack?

But that would be difficult when we considered the eliminated contestants watching and getting food and drinks.

Also, rather than deciding the question order randomly by drawing lots, it might be better to make some adjustments.

The easy questions being concentrated in the second half, leaving the number of contestants unchanged for quite a while, was another key reason it had taken so long.

"The guests suggested adding more questions related to them."

I didn't know whether there would be a second quiz tournament, but we would think of countermeasures anyway.

The next point for review was the mountain collapse game.

"Wasn't forming teams rather meaningless?"

"We might need to add a little more strategy."

"Instead of using dice, perhaps we could let each team decide how many pieces to remove."

"I think we could set up trap pieces connected to the board above. The early stages always lack tension."

"It might also be good not to place the markers so securely."

There had been almost no problems with running the mountain collapse game. It had gone quite smoothly.

Perhaps our experience with past festivals had helped. So rather than a review, this was more like improving the event itself.

Although we likewise didn't know whether there would be a second time, we would think of countermeasures anyway.

Afterward, everyone discussed points for review concerning the evening banquet and the morning cleanup, and the review meeting ended.

"Thank you all for your hard work on this year's festival."

The end of the review meeting didn't mean we were dismissed.

"Now, next up is the situation in each village."

Although I felt bad making them discuss work when they had come for the festival, I asked the representatives of each village to report.

"There are no major problems with farming in Village Two and Village Three. It won't be a bumper harvest, but the yield should be quite good. As for Village One... well, they haven't started yet. We look forward to seeing how they do next year."

There didn't seem to be any problems.

When the people of Village Three headed home, I had told them that new centaur settlers would be coming.

Since those coming were people on their missing-person list, everyone was delighted. However, Beezel, who had helped search for them, said he wanted a list of Village Three's residents.

"Sorry. The people I found asked who was looking for them, but I couldn't answer."

I had thought Beezel already had a list, but it seemed he had only recorded the names of their representative, Gruwald, and a few others.

At first, I wondered whether managing things that way was all right. But on second thought, our village had no register either. I needed to reflect on that.

If we compiled a list and gave it to him, perhaps we might get more settlers.

There was one more thing concerning that.

Apparently, a few centaurs who weren't on the list wanted to move here. They probably wanted to live with their kin.

I thought that would be fine, but I had already put Gruwald in charge of Village Three. I would leave it to her to decide whether to accept them.

Although Gruwald seemed a little uneasy, I trusted her.

However, whoever came, Gruwald would remain the representative of Village Three. I only told her that she must never forget that.

After some more discussion, things ended up with Beezel taking Gruwald along to interview the applicants.

Fushu had a request for the settlers in Village One.

Apparently, someone was worried about the people who had moved to Village One and wanted to hear from them, even if it was only by letter.

A letter posed no problem, so Jack, the settlers' representative in Village One, took charge of writing it.

"Village Chief, how much can I write about this village?"

"I'm not hiding anything. Write as much as you like."

What a strange question.

We had originally planned to send the letter a little later, but since the festival had been extended to two days, Jack finished it on the first night.

The recipient was an acquaintance of Jack's. It said things like, "We're doing well in the village."

No, you don't have to show it to me, do you? Was I supposed to check it? Um... it looked fine. Spelling mistakes... there were some, yes. Here, and here.

I offered no comments on the contents.

I offered no comments... but he had only written about Jack himself.

Shouldn't he write more about his wife and the other settlers?

I didn't need to worry about that?

He only needed to tell the recipient that they were alive...

I see...

Incidentally, the paper used for this letter had been made in Village One.

The conversation continued, revolving around these matters.

"How do people handle letters in towns and places like that?"

"Messengers deliver them. After all, writing letters is itself a means of communication for the wealthy."

"Is that so?"

"Paper is expensive, and few people can read."

Until Village One could produce it, we had received all the paper we used in the village from Death...

Come to think of it, Beezel and Michael used parchment to contact us, while we used wooden boards to communicate with Good Forest Village.

Never mind printing; it seemed paper alone could become a business.

"It's also troublesome that contacting Fushu is difficult without the Progenitor acting as an intermediary."

Other methods.

For example, even if we gave it to Michael, it would take many days to arrive. Two months at the earliest. In the worst case, it might get lost along the way.

"When sending letters far away, the usual practice is to send several copies through different channels."

I see.

On another note, the matter of the centaur settlers prompted us to start compiling a village register.

Our population had grown, after all, and we would probably need it for all sorts of things.

I wanted a systematic process. Simply greeting me wouldn't be enough; settlers would have to be entered in the register before their move was complete.

Huh? Entering them in the register was my job? Didn't that seem more like work for the Civil Servant Girls? They would handle the details, but it would still have to be submitted to me in the end?

All right. I would do my best.

Thinking about the village's current population made me a little gloomy.

"Now then... today's topic is the third martial arts tournament."

One of the Civil Servant Girls enthusiastically began the preparations.

I thought it was still early...

"Village Chief, if you let your guard down, it'll be here before you know it."

...True. We'd better get to work ahead of time.

The meeting continued into the night.

I had hoped to at least take it easy the day after the festival.

I worked hard while stroking the cat sleeping on my lap.

Side story: The letter's recipient

My name was Hashishimu. However, everyone around me called me Hashimu, so that was what I called myself too.

Every country had orphans. It was also common for those orphans to disappear.

However, that was very rare here in the Rewight Kingdom.

That was because the Korin Religion's headquarters were here.

Even for orphans who couldn't enter an orphanage, an organization had been established so they could help one another. That was why one rarely heard of orphans disappearing in the Rewight Kingdom.

I was proud to be a member of that organization.

And yet, there were twenty.

Twenty people had disappeared all at once. And it had happened in my district.

I panicked. How could this happen? It was impossible.

But no matter how hard we searched, we couldn't find them.

At first, I suspected a large-scale conspiracy. Perhaps some organization had abducted a large number of orphans with ill intent.

I didn't know what anyone would abduct orphans for, but it wasn't impossible.

In that case, there should have been other missing orphans. I checked with my colleagues in the organization.

But there were no other missing orphans.

Had it only happened in my district?

In that case... perhaps they had stumbled onto something they weren't supposed to see and been silenced... ugh, my head was full of terrifying thoughts.

Still, it wasn't impossible.

I enlisted my colleagues' help and investigated the places the twenty missing people frequented, but found no clues.

Time passed like that.

A month had passed since the twenty disappeared. Perhaps they were already dead.

There were nearly three hundred orphans in my district. Only twenty of them had gone missing. I shouldn't dwell on it. Protecting the remaining orphans was more important.

Besides, all twenty of the missing people were fifteen or older, old enough to be independent. Perhaps they had gone somewhere to work.

I thought about these things as I drank, trying to forget the missing orphans, but I couldn't.

I couldn't forget.

Jack was among the twenty who had disappeared. I had looked after him before.

Was that it after all?

A phrase flashed through my mind.

"Fushu's human hunting."

Fushu was one of the Korin Religion's high priests, known to everyone as Fushu the Ruthless. However, she was only merciless toward her enemies; she was compassionate toward her own people.

When rumors of human hunting spread, I had dismissed them as slander from people hostile to Fushu.

After all, Fushu hadn't actually been hunting humans.

But things were different now. After those twenty people disappeared, the rumors of Fushu hunting humans had stopped too.

Was that a coincidence?

I made up my mind, rushed into the Korin Religion's headquarters, and demanded to see Fushu.

It would take time? That was fine. I would wait however many hours or days it took. Let me see Fushu.

I never expected them to make me wait half a year.

No, I knew Fushu was extremely busy. I also knew she worked very hard.

That was because a member of the church had taken pity on me for visiting every day and secretly brought me to where Fushu worked.

Rather than dedicated, Fushu worked as though possessed. It was truly admirable.

I intended to speak to Fushu when she took a break. But I had no opportunity that day.

Fushu took no breaks. She was always working.

She was so busy that even I, with no connections to call upon, felt that waiting half a year was unavoidable.

Besides, I felt that someone so busy would have no time to hunt humans.

In my heart, I no longer suspected Fushu... no, Lady Fushu. But I still wanted to hear her directly deny it. That was all.

When we met, I told her that twenty people were missing and apologized for having suspected her.

"I'm truly sorry. But all I wanted was to find those twenty missing people..."

Huh? Lady Fushu? You look rather pale. Ah, could you be tired?

"I'm terribly sorry."

Fushu apologized to me.

Huh?

A failure in communication. That was all.

Apparently, the twenty missing people were doing well in the place Lady Fushu had recommended they move to.

Lady Fushu was supposed to contact my superior's superior, who would then pass the word to me, but something seemed to have gone wrong somewhere along the way.

Several nobles had been purged around winter. Could the resulting confusion have been responsible?

No, I bore Lady Fushu no resentment.

As long as those twenty were doing well, that was all that mattered.

Yes, ah, um... it wasn't that I doubted her, but if I could have a letter telling me how they were doing in their new home, I could rest easy.

Among the twenty missing people, there should have been one of the few orphans who could read and write.

Summer.

Had about half a year passed since the uproar over the missing orphans?

Jack, the representative of those twenty, sent me a letter.

The letter opened with a proper greeting, which pleased me.

Come to think of it, one of that group had been surprisingly well brought up. Had Jack learned from him?

They had been given houses there? Hahaha, that was an exaggeration.

I had never heard of giving houses to settlers.

He had probably written it wrong. They must have been given rooms.

Still, even that was plenty.

As long as they had somewhere they could sleep in peace, they could manage the rest somehow.

Food... oh! They had eaten rabbit? That was delicious.

But rabbits were small. With twenty people eating, it would have been gone in no time.

A rabbit had nearly killed him? What an exaggeration. Rabbits were livestock that even women and children without much strength were put in charge of slaughtering.

Still, even a rabbit would fight with all its might when it was about to be eaten. They couldn't let their guard down.

Yes, they seemed to be doing very well. What a relief.

At the end of the letter was the mark the orphans used. There was also the mark for my district.

Not that I doubted anyone, but it seemed this wasn't a fake letter prepared by Lady Fushu.

I felt much better.

I certainly felt better... but I had a question.

This letter was written on paper, wasn't it?

I had expected it to be written on a wooden board or bark. But paper? And it wasn't parchment... could this be actual paper? Wasn't paper a luxury item? The letter said Jack and the others had made this paper... had he written that wrong too?