My name was Hiraku Machio.
I had worked in Japan, then died... Luckily, a kindly god had guided me to another world.
I had also become younger, received a "healthy body" that would never get sick, and obtained the "Almighty Farming Tool" to help me farm.
Thanks to my "healthy body," I had not caught so much as a cold since coming to this world.
The "Almighty Farming Tool" was especially amazing. It could change shape freely, becoming a hoe, a saw, an axe, a shovel-anything.
On top of that, anywhere I tilled with the Almighty Farming Tool's hoe would sprout seedlings without even needing seeds. That had been an enormous help.
With so much help from the god, it felt as though I had been entrusted with some sort of mission, but apparently there was no particular task I needed to complete.
According to the god, I could live however I pleased. But was that really all right?
I could not let that go to my head. I had to remember to remain grateful at all times.
I had begun a new life in this world.
My name had stayed the same here, except that, since my given name had to come before my surname, it became Hiraku Machio.
That said, very few people called me by my name. Most called me the village chief.
That was right. I served as chief of the village I had carved out myself.
Its name was "Big Tree Village."
I had not intended to establish a village at first, but things had naturally turned out that way. Was that another blessing from the god?
Only recently had I learned that the village stood in the very center of a vast forest called the "Forest of Death."
That was because I had asked the god to let me live "somewhere with few people." If anyone was to blame, it had to be me.
It was inconvenient... but I did not think this place was so barren that it deserved to be called the "Forest of Death." It had water, salt, and plenty of animals to hunt. I thought it was quite abundant.
Before I knew it, I had spent six years living here. This was my seventh.
Of course, I had not been working away alone.
I had met many people here-about a village's worth.
Kuro, Yuki, and Kuro's descendants.
At first I had thought they were dogs, but they were actually magical beasts called Infernal Wolves.
That was not a problem, though. They were adorable members of my family, too.
Their main duties were guarding the village and hunting.
Recently, they had also taken to playing with flying discs and balls.
I could not deny that they seemed to be gradually losing their wildness.
Zabuton and Zabuton's descendants.
They were giant spiders, but they were also members of my family.
Using the thread they spun from their rear ends to make clothes and other silk goods, they played an active role as the village's tailors.
Zabuton's descendants were not all the same species. Each had their own strengths.
They each worked hard in the fields they excelled at.
Generally speaking, they all seemed to like potatoes, but some preferred them raw, while others preferred them steamed.
Ah, never mind. Everyone could eat them however they liked.
Lu.
She was supposed to be a vampire, but she did not really seem like one. Was she being considerate of me?
Her height... or rather, her body, could freely switch between an adult's appearance and a child's.
During the day, she maintained a child's build-or perhaps I should say that of a middle schooler. At night, she usually took an adult form. Everyone probably knew why.
She was now one of my wives and had given birth to my eldest son, Alfred.
She normally kept busy looking after our child and helping me handle things, only researching magic, pharmacology, and the like when she occasionally had time.
Tia.
She belonged to the Angels, a race with wings on their backs.
She had originally come in pursuit of Lu, but after a lot had happened, she became one of my wives.
Lu alone would have been enough for me... Uh, but since I had already laid a hand on her, I had to take responsibility.
Tia was currently pregnant.
The High Elves.
I could not really tell how they differed from elves, but they seemed to be incredibly capable in all sorts of ways.
At the very least, their wildness was very different from my impression of elves, and they were unexpectedly skilled at construction.
Ria, who had been appointed the High Elves' representative, had originally lived with her people in the Forest of Death, but they eventually joined us. Once they settled down, this place instantly began to feel like a village.
I was very grateful to them.
However, because of that wildness, at some point they had become involved with me...
They had even called the other High Elves living in the Forest of Death to the village, and that was quite a sizable number.
Yes, I knew they were all older than me, but doing it with every one of them was a bit much.
Calm down. Stay composed and talk things over with them... Ah, we're taking turns. I understand. In that case, please go discuss it with Lu.
Flora.
Like Lu, she was a vampire, and the two were cousins.
Apparently, she had always been the type to shut herself in her room doing research. Even after moving to the village, she stayed in her room, busy with all sorts of things.
I knew she had plenty to do, but what was with only showing her face at mealtimes?
The Oni Race were a race with horns on their foreheads.
Apparently, Lu and Flora had already employed them as maids before coming to the village.
After coming to the village, the Oni Race continued serving as maids and did a great deal of work.
However, while they were good at cleaning and laundry, their cooking had initially been pretty terrible... Fortunately, their culinary skills had quickly improved a great deal after coming to the village.
Their poor cooking was due to this world's culinary techniques being undeveloped in general, not a lack of effort on their part.
As someone accustomed to good food, I ought to take responsibility, too. I passed on what I knew about cooking to them, and their culinary skills were sure to keep improving.
This was also to improve the village's diet, so I hoped they would keep working hard.
Their head maid, Ann, had been appointed their racial representative.
Gran Maria, Corone, and Kuudel.
The trio of Angels.
They were Tia's friends-or perhaps I should call them her subordinates.
But could subordinates who were always acting separately from her really count as subordinates?
Making use of their race's ability to fly, they kept watch over the village's surroundings from above.
Unlike Tia, all three wore full suits of armor and carried weapons, which made them seem very dependable.
"Hm? What's wrong, Lu?"
"Uh, I know you can fly, too. There's no need to compete with them. Look, Alfred is looking for his mother. Please come down."
"You can't either, Tia. You're pregnant."
The lizardmen looked, at first glance, like lizards walking on two legs.
They were said to be a race whose fighting strength equaled that of ten humans.
But from what I had seen, it was not ten-they had the fighting strength of about a hundred... Were the humans in this world stronger? I left any jobs requiring strength to them.
Their racial representative was Daga.
The Beastmen had animal ears and tails.
If you headed east from the village, you would reach a mountain range. Good Forest Village lay partway up the mountains, and that was where the Beastmen had emigrated from.
The immigrants consisted of girls around middle-school age and little boys who could have passed for kindergarteners.
Hunting was simply too difficult for them, so I had to ask them to do various small jobs around the village.
Their work included processing harvested crops and looking after the village's horses, cattle, goats, chickens, and so on.
Sena, the oldest among them, served as their racial representative.
Even if she was the oldest, she was still a middle schooler... Uh, perhaps she could just about pass for a high schooler?
As the daughter of Good Forest Village's chief, she had a strong sense of responsibility befitting her position.
I knew she was responsible, but I also hoped she would not push herself too hard. Working within her abilities was enough.
I entrusted the care of the Beastmen to Ramurias of the Oni Race.
The dwarves.
To be precise, they were Elder Dwarves, but as with the High Elves, I did not know how Elder Dwarves differed from ordinary dwarves.
Just as I had imagined dwarves would, they loved drinking and devoted themselves to brewing alcohol in the village. Yes, when it came to alcohol, they were incredibly dependable.
Their racial representative was Donovan.
The problem was... were their numbers growing without my knowledge? Was brewing alcohol more important than saying hello?
Rasuti.
She was a dragon girl.
She could take on human form, but apparently she still could not hide her tail and horns.
Our first meeting had caused a bit of a commotion... but she was now living peacefully in the village.
Two Demon Race servants named Bulga and Stifano lived with her and attended to her daily needs.
Although she looked quite young, she was apparently far older than me.
Since she was very familiar with etiquette and such, she handled the village's outside negotiations.
Frau.
She was a member of the Demon Race and the daughter of Beezel, the Demon King's envoy.
Although she was of the Demon Race, she seemed no different from an ordinary human with more magic power.
However, her body apparently changed according to the amount of magic power she had.
For example, her skin color might change, or she might grow scales or horns. Having more magic power also apparently extended her lifespan a little. Ah, and her appearance could be maintained along with it. I see... Huh? I wasn't questioning your age.
"You're still only in your teens. I know."
Despite appearances, she was the village's local administrator.
She had been just a student not long ago. She really had her work cut out for her.
There were also Doraim of the Dragons, Rasuti's father; Beezel, who, like his daughter Frau, was of the Demon Race; Guraru, a Beastman from Good Forest Village; and Mr. Michael, a merchant in Shashaato Town.
Those were the people I had gotten to know during my time here.
I had experienced a lot here.
Though almost all of it had involved farming or hunting.
We had also been attacked by a wyvern... That was an unpleasant memory. I absolutely could not forgive something like that. It made me furious.
I was truly glad to have met Mr. Michael. Although transporting goods took some time, I now had a way to obtain seafood.
Compared with when I had been alone, the village had expanded tremendously, its population had increased, and the fields had... yes, grown to an astonishing size.
With such vast fields... I was not sure of the exact schedule, but we probably planted in March and harvested in May for the spring harvest, planted in June and harvested again in August for the summer harvest, then finally planted in September and harvested in November for the autumn harvest.
However, I could not say for certain that it was so consistent every year. Sometimes it was a little earlier or later, and some crops did not take a full three months to grow. Some could be harvested in a month.
Whatever the case, being able to harvest three times a year was entirely thanks to this Almighty Farming Tool.
I had originally thought that plants in this world simply grew faster, but crops grown without the Almighty Farming Tool apparently still grew at the commonly understood pace.
In any case, I currently had no need to worry about food.
I offered my thanks to the god once more and began the day's farmwork.
I carved a rough account of the above into wooden boards.
Hmm, this really was inconvenient. Carving took a lot of time, making corrections was a pain, and the wooden boards were hard to hide.
I should have written it on paper. Paper was precious, but this was not the time to be stingy.
Next time, I would use paper instead.
"Anyway, Lu, Tia, Ria, Ann, Daga, stop peeking from beside me."
"I should use more flowery language? Uh, don't expect that kind of literary talent from me."
"What's wrong, Tia? Huh? Your section is too short?"
"Uh... I'm really sorry."
I had wanted to leave a written record for the village... but it seemed I should stop here for now.
I hoped a new resident with literary talent would come to the village.