Amazing Village Building

“Good morning, Dant-san! Did you manage to sleep well last night?”

“Ah, Luke-sama, good morning. Yes, thanks for the accommodations.”

Dant-san seemed refreshed this morning, like a weight was lifted off his shoulders.

He didn’t look so well yesterday, but it was probably just because of the long journey he had.

Similarly, Dant-san’s guards who looked even worse than him yesterday were now also looking better.

“Luke-sama, there were so many things that surprised me yesterday that I forgot to tell you something…”

Dant-san suddenly put on a serious expression.

Naturally, that made me wonder what he wanted to say.

“For taking in the people of the North, I sincerely thank you.”

“Oh, okay…actually, I think I should apologize for that. I mean, I did take away some of your citizens…”

“No, please don’t. It’s entirely my fault for allowing their living conditions to deteriorate to the point they’re forced to leave their homes. So, rather than reproach you, I would rather thank you.”

Thank goodness he’s not angry for that.

“And…I realize this is awfully shameless of me, but can you perhaps sell some of your food to us? To be frank, the North is currently suffering from famine…”

Apparently, they weren’t able to harvest many crops this year.

Add in the taxes and…

In my opinion, now just wasn’t the time for wars.

Many people have managed to take refuge in this village, but they were only a small fraction of all the people suffering from the famine.

“Yeah, of course. We actually have more than we can consume right now, so you’ll be saving us from wasting good food.”

“You really don’t mind?”

“Yeah, definitely. If it turns out that we need more food, we can simply increase the number of our fields. Plus, given the nature of our fields, we’re able to grow crops even in winter.”

The majority of our over 1000 villagers worked in agriculture, so workforce wasn’t an issue either.

“I’m really glad to hear that. However, the North lacks coin right now…if possible, may we offer goods instead?”

“Sure. Our village was made just recently, so there are so many things we still lack. We’d prefer it to be that way, to be honest.”

“Thank you, Luke-sama!”

Dant-san said so and then bowed his head repeatedly.

His family was the noble house that ruled this place before the Albert house took over, so unlike most governors who came from outside the territory they were assigned to, Dant-san truly and deeply cared for his people. This probably made his inability to oppose my father’s directives even more vexing though.

“Alright, so, how are we going to exchange goods? Should we send someone?”

“I think it’ll be more convenient for the both of us if I ask a trusted merchant company to send their merchants here to give you our goods. The merchant company I have in mind has branches all over the North, so procuring what you need and also distributing the food to our people should go smoother than if our own government offices were to do it.”

“I see. Alright then.”

One of the things I wanted out of this deal was clothes.

At the moment, we had no way to make clothes in the village, so everyone was washing and re-wearing the same clothes over and over again.

If possible, I would like to have completed several deals already with Dant-san before winter really kicks in. Snow and other things would hinder travel, after all.

Afterwards, Dant-san notified me that they would be departing as soon as possible.

I asked him to stay a little longer, but he wanted to go back and notify the merchant company right away.

And so, I traveled with them up to the outer wall’s gate to send them off.

“Please come visit again.”

“I definitely will…I look forward to what this village has become by then.”

“Haha, it’ll probably be the same.”

When Dant-san boarded his carriage, I suddenly thought of something.

“Ahh! Traveling though this wasteland must be tough, right? I’ll make a road for you.”

“…excuse me?”

I made the road in the village stretch all the way to the end of the end of the bumpy wasteland. I couldn’t see all of it, but I somehow knew that it reached that far.

Like this, even the merchants who would come here wouldn’t have to suffer a bumpy journey.

“Thank you, Luke-sama…(so much for remaining the same. The village has changed before I even left!)”

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