We left the village in the wasteland for the meantime, and began our way back home. Even now though, I still couldn’t help but think that everything was just a dream.
“Those two magnificent layers of stone walls; those fields with gigantic crops; those hundreds of villagers all healthy and happy; the clean houses everyone seemed to have; those public bathhouses; and that church…”
And to top it all off, those monsters.
Apparently, it has become a common occurrence for them to have certain villagers go into the forest full of monsters and hunt those very monsters.
“That seriously gave me a fright. I was almost jumping for joy when I saw that beautiful girl, but then I
saw that orc behind her… all that being said, she truly was beautiful…”
“…you’re twice that girl’s age, in case you haven’t noticed.”
In the village we live in, it would take considerable effort from us to chase away just a single aru-mirage.
Should an orc ever show up, I fear our entire village would be destroyed.
And then, there was also that great boar.
I heard that to take down that pig-like monster, over a hundred soldiers would be needed.
Yet their village took it down with only a few people.
It was all a bit ridiculous, to be honest.
Not least of which was that their village was founded just half a year ago.
Is that true? Wait, in the first place, can that place still be called only a village?
“They say it’s all because of that boy chief’s Gift, but…”
That only made it all the more unbelievable.
But perhaps the most unbelievable thing was that they said they were going to accept everyone from our village.
“We’re supposed to return to our village and tell this story, but will anyone even believe us?”
“I doubt you’d convince more than a few, Dad. Not many looks up to you that much.”
“…and whose fault do you think that is, you idiot son of mine!?”
◇ ◇ ◇
Sometime later, people from Mao village arrived here. This included Mack-san and his son, of course.
“It-it’s true…”
“Who would have thought that there was a village in this wasteland…”
“See, just like I told you all, isn’t it?!”
“I was half-sure Chief Mack was going senile, saying all those crazy things…”
It would seem they had to see to believe.
“Welcome to you all. I am Luke, the chief of this village.”
“A boy’s really the…”
“That’s Lord Albert’s son?”
“H-hey, what’s that over there? That giant thing beside that house.”
“““~~~~?”””
I came out to welcome them, but their attention was less on me and more on the thing beside my house.
“That’s the skull of a great boar.”
I wasn’t sure if it was because she was so delighted by their success, but Selen wanted to display the skull somewhere conspicuous.
It seemed overbearing, so I had asked her to place it somewhere else—like at the edge of the village—but she still seemed intent on placing it here.
“““G-g-great boar!?”””
“We still have some of its meat left, do you want to try some?”
It wasn’t as great as orc meat, but it was delicious nonetheless.
There were too much for us to eat, so we were thinking of preserving the rest. We haven’t decided on whether to smoke the meat or use Selen’s magic though.
“““……”””
“Ah, I think it’s time to build where you will stay.”
I decided to build the terrace houses right in front of them.
They were bound to see me suddenly adding or changing something in the village, so I figured it was better to explain it to them now rather than later.
“A…house…in an instant…”
“Is this a dream?”
And like that, the 92 people from Mao village became our villagers.
The increase in population didn’t stop there though. I had asked everyone to tell me if they knew of a nearby village that was in trouble. After some additional steps, people from those villages came here.
For them to leave their homes, the tax hikes must have truly troubled them.
Curiously, the first ones to bring troubled people here were the former bandits.
Despite that contribution as well as the fact that they were now completely reformed thanks to granny and Millia’s efforts though, I still couldn’t treat them the same as the other villagers due to the various crimes they had committed.
As such, while everybody else lived within the inner walls, they lived between the inner and outer walls. They still lived in terrace houses like the others though.
Another distinction they had from normal villagers was that we made them monitor, in shifts, the wasteland from atop the outer walls.
((Chief Luke, another group of people wanting to migrate are here.))
((Ok, understood.))
Satin was proving particularly helpful.
Back then, he used his [Telepathy] in an attempt to trick me, but now that he has changed, he was using it to send me reports.
“Not all of them has been rehabilitated though. Two are still in the jailhouse…”
We left the village in the wasteland for the meantime, and began our way back home. Even now though, I still couldn’t help but think that everything was just a dream.
“Those two magnificent layers of stone walls; those fields with gigantic crops; those hundreds of villagers all healthy and happy; the clean houses everyone seemed to have; those public bathhouses; and that church…”
And to top it all off, those monsters.
Apparently, it has become a common occurrence for them to have certain villagers go into the forest full of monsters and hunt those very monsters.
“That seriously gave me a fright. I was almost jumping for joy when I saw that beautiful girl, but then I
saw that orc behind her… all that being said, she truly was beautiful…”
“…you’re twice that girl’s age, in case you haven’t noticed.”
In the village we live in, it would take considerable effort from us to chase away just a single aru-mirage.
Should an orc ever show up, I fear our entire village would be destroyed.
And then, there was also that great boar.
I heard that to take down that pig-like monster, over a hundred soldiers would be needed.
Yet their village took it down with only a few people.
It was all a bit ridiculous, to be honest.
Not least of which was that their village was founded just half a year ago.
Is that true? Wait, in the first place, can that place still be called only a village?
“They say it’s all because of that boy chief’s Gift, but…”
That only made it all the more unbelievable.
But perhaps the most unbelievable thing was that they said they were going to accept everyone from our village.
“We’re supposed to return to our village and tell this story, but will anyone even believe us?”
“I doubt you’d convince more than a few, Dad. Not many looks up to you that much.”
“…and whose fault do you think that is, you idiot son of mine!?”
◇ ◇ ◇
Sometime later, people from Mao village arrived here. This included Mack-san and his son, of course.
“It-it’s true…”
“Who would have thought that there was a village in this wasteland…”
“See, just like I told you all, isn’t it?!”
“I was half-sure Chief Mack was going senile, saying all those crazy things…”
It would seem they had to see to believe.
“Welcome to you all. I am Luke, the chief of this village.”
“A boy’s really the…”
“That’s Lord Albert’s son?”
“H-hey, what’s that over there? That giant thing beside that house.”
“““~~~~?”””
I came out to welcome them, but their attention was less on me and more on the thing beside my house.
“That’s the skull of a great boar.”
I wasn’t sure if it was because she was so delighted by their success, but Selen wanted to display the skull somewhere conspicuous.
It seemed overbearing, so I had asked her to place it somewhere else—like at the edge of the village—but she still seemed intent on placing it here.
“““G-g-great boar!?”””
“We still have some of its meat left, do you want to try some?”
It wasn’t as great as orc meat, but it was delicious nonetheless.
There were too much for us to eat, so we were thinking of preserving the rest. We haven’t decided on whether to smoke the meat or use Selen’s magic though.
“““……”””
“Ah, I think it’s time to build where you will stay.”
I decided to build the terrace houses right in front of them.
They were bound to see me suddenly adding or changing something in the village, so I figured it was better to explain it to them now rather than later.
“A…house…in an instant…”
“Is this a dream?”
And like that, the 92 people from Mao village became our villagers.
The increase in population didn’t stop there though. I had asked everyone to tell me if they knew of a nearby village that was in trouble. After some additional steps, people from those villages came here.
For them to leave their homes, the tax hikes must have truly troubled them.
Curiously, the first ones to bring troubled people here were the former bandits.
Despite that contribution as well as the fact that they were now completely reformed thanks to granny and Millia’s efforts though, I still couldn’t treat them the same as the other villagers due to the various crimes they had committed.
As such, while everybody else lived within the inner walls, they lived between the inner and outer walls. They still lived in terrace houses like the others though.
Another distinction they had from normal villagers was that we made them monitor, in shifts, the wasteland from atop the outer walls.
((Chief Luke, another group of people wanting to migrate are here.))
((Ok, understood.))
Satin was proving particularly helpful.
Back then, he used his [Telepathy] in an attempt to trick me, but now that he has changed, he was using it to send me reports.
“Not all of them has been rehabilitated though. Two are still in the jailhouse…”
