Chapter 127: This is the True Imozuru-style

306th Day in the Parallel World – Faith Points: 1455

6 days after the Lord’s Meeting

It had been two weeks since we started exploring. The land development was progressing smoothly, and the surrounding scenery was expanding.

In the center of the settlement, rows of large tenement houses lined up tightly. Each tenement could house about 30 people, and already 25 of them had been completed. Of course, we were still expanding at a rapid pace.

“Is it okay to have so many buildings when there are no people to live in them?”

That’s what most people would think. However, here’s the twist: yesterday, the first people who wanted to move here arrived.

The trigger for this was placing a teleportation magic circle in the city. The villagers started using it to go to the city whenever they pleased. Whether it was for shopping or sightseeing, having the ability to go there safely and instantly naturally made them want to go.

Moreover, the residents’ levels had significantly increased. Confronting local ruffians was a piece of cake for them.

Boosted by these factors, they began to head to the city during their free time in the afternoon.

And when they went to the city, they naturally interacted with the locals. Whether it was visiting clothing stores or eateries, and even some who went to taverns. In any case, there were plenty of opportunities to talk to various people.

That’s when the old man had a brilliant idea: “Can I attract the city folks with Potatoes?”

Despite the surveillance by Ryuunosuke’s faction, the Lord was on our side. Now that the situation had changed, there was no issue with discussing the village and potatoes openly.

So I had the villagers who went to the city spread such rumors.

“If you become a settler of Nanashi Village, you can eat the legendary potatoes. Moreover, you can have your fill every day.”

I promptly asked the villagers who returned from the city to tell me how it worked, and the effect was outstanding. The rumors quickly spread everywhere, even though it had only been a few days.

And yesterday, at noon, early birds who wanted to settle here had already arrived.

Yesterday, eight people visited the settlement. Two families, known as the impoverished district residents, came with their belongings slung over their backs. Although they were somewhat skeptical, they appeared here.

However, when they witnessed this sight firsthand, they showed expressions of relief and volunteered to become settlers.

Today, the second day, there were quite a few people who came for settlement, even though it was still before noon.

“Hey, another two people have come. With them, we now have ten people today. Tsubaki, please handle the reception.”

“Yes, right away.”

At the entrance of the settlement, they were conducting inspections and resident registration for the settlers. We had placed village guards on duty and also installed the “Goddess’s Crystal Statue” for appraisals.

===

Goddess’s Crystal Statue: 300 Points

A goddess statue that allows for ability appraisal by touching it.

What was great about this crystal statue was that it was both affordable at 300 points and it displayed the appraisal results above the statue’s head. If only the person who appraised it could see the results, they could falsify their abilities as much as they wanted. I never thought it had such a function; I was extremely grateful for this convenient development.

(However, we need to build a proper checkpoint soon. Although there are village guards, the current setup is far from sufficient. Additionally, someone needs to handle the record-keeping…)

I never imagined that settlers would arrive so quickly. While asking Rudrug to build a checkpoint, I pondered the system for managing the residents.

◇◇◇

In the end, we had 12 settlers today, more than yesterday.

The construction of the gate was completed on the same day as the checkpoint, so we didn’t have to worry about illegal entry during the night. If the gate was ever broken, that would be the end of it, but we could build a more robust gate in the future.

“Phew. Good work today, everyone. But, we should think about what to do with the gatekeepers.”

We were currently in the midst of a meeting with the main members. Considering that more settlers would continue to arrive in the future, we needed to make a decision promptly.

“Village Chief, you can leave the entry management to us. With the Rabbit beastmen’s sense of hearing, we can quickly detect the approach of visitors.”

“I see. If Rado and the others are going to handle it, , I can rest easy. I would have asked you for help if there were no volunteers.”

“We can take turns, so we can still work on the colonization tasks and hunting. Besides, we’ve been training for times like these. Please let us handle it.”

“In that case, Merry Company will be responsible for supporting the various departments. We will handle everything from entry inspections to resource management.”

“Alright, I would like you to do that.”

“All of us at Merry Company are honored to be of service to the Village Chief.”

“Tsubaki, I’ll leave the role of summarizing the reports to you.”

“Of course. Please leave it to me.”

“Thank you, everyone. Now I can rest easy. By the way, we’ve been talking about entry management, but it doesn’t mean we’re creating a country or anything, right?”

I didn’t anticipate it would grow to that scale. “At most, we’ll just be a city,” I thought. However, that’s when Natsuki said…

“Well, you never know. We used to talk about it back then. Nanashi Country might be established.”

“That was just a joke, right? No matter how you look at it, we’re not going that far.”

“Having lots of people doesn’t automatically make it a country, does it? With a secure territory, abundant food, and strong soldiers at our disposal, all that’s left is to have a ‘King.’ Then it’s a perfect country!”

“Hmm, now that you mention it, that does make sense… But even so, I have no intention of becoming a king. I’ll leave it to someone here when the time comes.”

“Why? Being a king is cool, you know? You should do it, Village Chief.”

“Even if you ask why… There’s no way. Being a king doesn’t bring any benefits. Right, Drago?”

Regarding the United Nations, I asked the person who was effectively the head of the country.

“Yeah, it’s not a job that’s all about freedom. The work just keeps piling up, one after another… (and I can hardly go to the dungeon).”

“See? Well, aside from the last complaint. It’s not something you do willingly, and it’s not something you can easily do.”

“Is it really that way? It seems like you can do anything you want.”

“If that were the case, it would be more than enough as it is. As you gain more to protect, your freedom diminishes.”

Managing a country is an impossible task. Winning the loyalty of all citizens is absolutely impossible. I’d rather not die in my sleep.

“But Village Chief, if the number of settlers continues to increase, we won’t be able to say such things, right? We need to determine roles firmly.”

“Oh, Akiho. Do you have any good ideas?”

“At the very least, we absolutely need a representative and an assistant. Plus, we’ll be in trouble without a security team and a distribution department.”

“Yeah, anything else?”

“Since the village bonus effect doesn’t apply to the settlement, we also need to handle illnesses and injuries. And… the conditions and rules for living in the settlement must be clearly defined.”

“I see… We should probably establish the rules sooner rather than later, especially.”

For now, I’ll handle the role of the representative, and I need to appoint several assistants. I also have to create organizations for security maintenance and distribution. Above all, the main purpose of settlement is to turn immigrants into villagers. We need to establish rules based on that premise.

The village is already stable. Everyone acts autonomously, and it should be fine to allocate resources to the settlement…

“Alright! I’ll make the decisions regarding the departments and personnel. Of course, I’ll need everyone in the village to cooperate. If you have a job you want to do, let me know within a few days. I plan to decide on the rules for the settlement with my assistants.”

Everyone here nodded at me when I declared this. Our time spent together and the support of loyalty made us unafraid of betrayal.

In this world, for approximately ten months now…

From the village to the city, and eventually to the country…

My life in the parallel world transitions to the next stage.

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