Chapter 67: A Day in the Life of a Village Chief

Day 157 of my life in another world

Yesterday and the day before, despite the interaction with the heroes in the south, the village and everyone’s attitude did not change much from the usual.

It will be different once they join the village, but for now, they think of us as good neighbors …… at most.

The beastmen’s feelings toward the Japanese are more or less not so good. But I have explained to them about the braves. I think they have a good impression of me.

“How are you doing, Rudrug?”

“Oh, it’s been a long time! I’m finally getting settled. We’re going to start building houses for the people in the village.”

“If there’s anything missing, just order it from Merrimus.”

“Well, nothing so far. The lumber is coming along nicely, and we’ll be able to build something decent from now on.”

“That’s great.”

The houses they had built so far had been built with lumber that was not dry enough. The shrinkage has caused cracks and deformation in some areas.

It was possible to drain the water out of the wood using Sakura’s water magic method, but doing it all at once would result in cracking and bending. Therefore, we had the water in the stored wood removed little by little every day. It seems that this has finally reached a moisture content suitable for building materials.

Now that we have the craftsman’s seal of approval, we can expect higher quality buildings from now on. The amount of logs stored in the village is also as large as a mountain. For a while, there has been no shortage of building materials.

There is now room for more construction work. Even if the number of villagers increases in the future, I think we will be able to cope with the situation for the time being.

–With the peaceful state of Rudrug and the others at my back, i now head toward the blacksmith shop.

“Hey, I’ve come to take a peek at how everyone is working.”

“Hey, Village Chief!”

“Welcome, chief!”

“Hey, you guys, even if it’s the village chief, aren’t you being a little too casual?”

When I arrived at the blacksmith shop, Natsuki, Beritoa, and Bears responded in a friendly manner.

“Even Bears-san said ‘Hey’ …… that’s more rude, isn’t it?”

“I wonder?”

“I’m sorry, ……. But I’m just trying to look out for the village chief.”

“Thanks, Bears. I appreciate your concern.”

“Oh, I’m in trouble. I really am.”

However, they exchanged smiles the whole time and I felt that all three of them were doing well.

“So, chief, is there anything you want?”

“No, I was just wondering if there was anything missing.”

“No, I was just wondering if there was anything in short supply. Well, we have some iron and copper in stock, and we’re getting some good quality stuff from the mines, too, in small quantities.”

“Oh, how does it compare to what we have in town?”

“Pretty good. The smelters say the purity is high and the extraction rate from the ore is good.”

“That’s good to hear.”

The ore content of the northern mines is said to be higher than that of the mines in the city. The conversion efficiency of the smelting tools is also higher, so it seems that they are able to produce higher purity ingots.

(Perhaps the blessing of the earth god is working in the mines as well?)

“What about you, Beritoa and Natsuki?”

“I’m still concentrating on making furniture. Lately I’ve been working mainly on beds, tables and chairs.”

“I showed you my work the other day.”

“What about Beritoa?”

“Hmm, especially? We have a lot of leather materials in our warehouse.”

“Speaking of leather, Beri-chan made a large backpacks the other day. It was very well received, wasn’t it?”

“It was a good one, indeed. It was a big hit with the dungeon team, and they were very pleased with the progress it made in their search.”

“Hehehe, thank you very much!”

“Thanks to you three, life in the village is getting richer and richer. I look forward to working with you in the future.”

When I said this, all three of them responded proudly. I told them to call me if they needed anything and walked on to the next place.

“Oh, it’s the chief!”

“Uncle is here!”

“It’s true. Tsubaki-nee san, the village chief is here.”

“Good day, Village Chief!”

As I leave the blacksmith shop and come to the front of the rice field, a group of children, all covered in mud, notice me and wave to me while shouting.

I also saw Tsubaki, some beast women, and Melissa, Merinard’s wife. They were all covered in mud, too.

“Hey, guys, you’re doing a great job, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, it’s great! We’re just now stepping in the rice paddies!”

“Tsubaki says this is very important.”

“She’s putting air in the soil.“

“I see. You are doing great.”

It seems that they are now stirring the watered rice fields. Even the children are helping, and they understand why.

“Melissa was with you, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she was. Learning is important, but I thought I would start by getting to know the children. I’m participating with them.”

“I see. …… I think it’s a great way to learn about society as well.”

“Thank you.”

“Thanks for all your hard work, everyone else, and please take it easy until you get used to it.

“Yes!”

The faces of the rabbit people, as well as the dog people, cat people, wolf people, and bear people women, are lively. They don’t seem to be dissatisfied with life here. For the time being, I hope they will get used to it little by little and live a peaceful and enjoyable life.

-But I was surprised that so many people are able to devote so much time to farm work. There are seven children, but there are a total of 21 people working here now.

“Thank you for your hard work, Keisuke-san.”

“Ah, Tsubaki, I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I just wanted to check on you.”

“No, I’m just teaching today too. Was there anything that bothered you?”

“No, nothing like that. I was just thinking that the number of people has increased a lot.”

“Yes, that’s right. The number of people engaged in farming has increased so much that I thought it was time to expand the potato fields.”

“I see. The sweet potato is the village’s greatest weapon.”

“Yes. We plan to expand gradually so that there will be no overlap in the harvest season.”

“I’ll leave it to you, Tsubaki, to do as you wish.”

“Leave it to me.”

According to the schedule, we will be planting rice tomorrow. As soon as that is over, it seems that they intend to start expanding the potato field, but with this many people, that too will be done in no time at all.

After parting with Tsubaki and the others, we went to see the two lumberjacks, peeked at the threshing operation at the water mill, talked with the weavers, and so on. I spent the day touring the village.

Most of the work was out of my hands, and all I did was talk to people, but I was very satisfied because this is the kind of system I had originally wanted to establish.

I know it’s inappropriate to say so, but it has given me a sense of freedom, to the point where I can think, “This is like a simulation of developing a territory.”

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