Chapter 57 (2/2)
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Fortunately, we reached Inner Village before the three new recruits fell over from exhaustion.
This being the smallest village with a population of 120, and added to the fact that it is the most isolated among the three, I had expected it to be quite poor.
In actual fact, the houses here look to be mere dugouts, but the people here have significantly healthier faces and bodies.
According to the Village Head, all of the hunters in this village are quite skilled, so n.o.body is troubled for meat and pelts.
“Conversely, we are short on vegetables and fruits…… and medicine as well……”
“I see. I’ll give it some thought. For now, just by building a proper road connecting this village to the castle, there should be some improvement.”
“Ohh, thank you very much.’
The Village Head is a black-haired buff man, as if to emphasize how pro of a hunter he is. Just like with Village of Medicine, I sent Irudo ahead to explain everything, so there were no misunderstandings here and the talks went smoothly.
“Eventually, after the road is finished and the village begins to have a bit of financial leeway, we will bring a portion of our hunted game to the castle as tax.”
“We would be thankful for that. Oh, also…… if there are any who wishes for it, we are looking to hire soldiers to work at the castle. Do you have any youngsters who might be interested?”
It’s not that I gained the taste for it after the incident at Village of the Pond. I’m asking because I’m sure that skilled hunters would definitely be of great help from here on.
“So this is not a forced conscription? I’ll call out to them…… but I think you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up too high.”
“Is that so. Well, this is not compulsory, so don’t take it to heart.”
Guess people in this village are living relatively satisfied lives. Though a side of me is relieved, thinking about how I now have the responsibility of protecting them makes my stomach feel heavy.
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Having learned our lesson from the trouble at the start, we decided to not stay at the village.
To that end, I quickly ended my negotiations with the Village Head and we immediately departed for the castle.
Right before we left the village, however, one young man rolled out in front of me, causing me to stop in my tracks.
“......”
“M-, my lord!”
“Speak.”
After gesturing for Leiha to step back from the position in front of me that she had wordlessly a.s.sumed, I called out to the young man who is prostrating on the ground.
“Thank you for your permission! I am called Nocks, and I live in this village! Please hire me at the castle!”
“Nocks…… is that so.”
When I take a better look, his skin is pale and he looks much skinnier than most of the others in this village. He is bowing repeatedly with a desperate expression on his face.
I look sideways towards the Village Head, as this was different from what he’d said, and I see him nodding as if he’d understood something.
According to the Village Head, this young man had sought shelter in this village ten years ago during the night, together with his merchant father. As the merchant had done a fair amount of trading with the village, they couldn’t decline his request out of hand and so agreed to shelter the two of them. However, the father soon died of illness, and the son has continued living in the village as somewhat of a freeloader.
“I tried to learn to hunt, but I don’t have the needed physical stamina. I’m currently helping the village out with miscellaneous tasks, but…… I don’t want to cause them trouble any further.”
“...... Well then, what can you do?
“Umm, I can read and write and…… do a little bit of math.”
“Alright, you’re hired!”
Yay.
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“I, I’m very sorry. To stand in the way of my feudal lord Margils-sama himself……”
“Hmm, don’t worry about it. It’s true that I’d felt bad about how much work there was that only Irudo could handle. I’ve made up my mind to hire you.”
“Thank you very much! I’ll work as hard as I can!”
Currently, Irudo is handling the negotiations with the dwarves on top of management of the castle and calculation of everybody’s wages, so his share of the work has been quite severe. Having an a.s.sistant who is a local should help lighten his load to some degree or another.
After all, even the Village Head also gave his guarantee, saying that “Nocks is absolutely hopeless at hunting and manual labor, but he is quite clever, so I’m sure he’ll be of use to you.”
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And with that, even the third village became mine both on paper and in actuality.
Though its size doesn’t give me much expectations in the way of tax return, well, I suppose that would depend on how well I manage it from now on.
For now, I’ve gained 3 soldier candidates and 1 a.s.sistant for Irudo, which was a happy miscalculation.
As for Irudo himself, he had immediately headed towards Lelis with young Nocks in tow. It’s for hiring soldiers to protect the castle, and also for procuring the equipment for said soldiers.
…… That guy really is quick on the uptake.
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On our way back, our steps have grown a lot lighter. But suddenly, we see a black shape approaching from the front.
The shape turns out to be the youngest of the 4 dark elf sisters that I had tasked with the protection of the castle, Sasara.
“My lord! Leiha-nee! …… Re-, I have a report!”
“What happened?”
This is bad news for sure. As I’d lost my voice from an overwhelming sense of foreboding, Leiha replies in my stead.
“At the moment, the castle is being blockaded by an unidentified military force. They number around 30. They called themselves wa-, ‘War Tribe’!”
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