Wozuma’s Explanation

“—And due to all of that, there is now a village on the other side of the tunnel…”

After being summoned for by Village Sub-Chief Wozuma, I heard about the village on the other side of the tunnel.

First of all, the village was entirely unrelated to Golen—is not exactly true, but they were definitely a separate village.

Its name was Draco. I got the feeling it was a bit similar to how Golen was named, but maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with a Dragon coming by? Who knows. Still though, this is Tsuia Mountain. We did have that whole Dragon thing happen.

The village’s Village Chief is the Pavuera lord’s son, Cid Pavuera. He was around ten years old, about the same as Maidence.

… Oh yeah, wasn’t he affected by Meat becoming Maidence’s fiancé? I can’t really remember. Wait, wasn’t there something about them borrowing my name? I forgot since I was having to deal with the Kukkoro elf girl, Shikina, times were busy! I should actually look into that… oh, wasn’t there also something about them lending the Godly Pillow to Beddhism?

Well, at least the dungeon side of things will have no issue with it. I mean, Draco’s already inside of our domain. The more they develop, the better it’ll be for us.

I suppose Rei not reporting to us about it was due to it not actually being an issue. It really isn’t. Rather than being an issue, as far as Rei was concerned, it was like someone else giving us a gift for our dungeon out of nowhere.

I agreed. It’s not like it’d be an issue for us monetarily either.

“I’m told they have also constructed an inn of their own.”

“Hooh, that’s good. It’d decrease how many people come to our inn.”

It’d take some of the work off our backs without affecting our DP income. It’s a win-win.

“…? Sorry, Village Chief. Did you just say that was good?”

“Yeah?”

“You also said that it would decrease how many people come to the inn?”

“Isn’t it a good thing there’s less work to do? I can’t see it as anything but a good deal for us.”

I mean, I only ever made the inn to have a place to sleep.

Now that I have my own residence as the Village Chief, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the inn’s served its purpose.

—Well, I guess it’s still good for entertaining Haku-san when she comes.

“… I suppose you have developed quite the range of businesses, Village Chief.”

“Have I? It should just be that religion. Was there something else?”

Letting out a sigh, Wozuma moved on to his next point.

“Fields, shops, even having a bar, they have mimicked many aspects of our village.”

“Hoh, really? What about having a dungeon?”

I waited for his response, knowing they wouldn’t be able to. A change on the level of creating a new dungeon isn’t just a Sure, go for it thing for dungeons.

“… No, they have not been able to mimic our dungeon.”

“I see… So there’s no problem then? I mean, our village is only here because of the dungeon.”

It’s existence is so significant that I’m surprised Draco even became a thing without one. Could they be antagonistic toward us?

“You said they’ve been copying us, do they have a church, too?”

“… They have shrines. Ones for White Goddess-sama, the Trade God, the Blacksmith God, and the Food God.”

Maybe I could make a Beddhist shrine… nah, sounds too troublesome. At any rate, we’ve got the founding church of Beddhism here. Let’s just say the the inn is the Beddhist shrine.

“Anyway, peddlers will like having a village there, too. They’ll be able to trade their wares even if they can’t make it through the tunnel, making it a good turnaround point. Wouldn’t it be good to promote trade between Golen and Draco?”

It’d be good for peddlers since they wouldn’t have to pay the toll and go all the way to the village on the opposite side.

The tunnel’s toll would then be paid by merchants ferrying goods back and forth.

“W-Wouldn’t… wouldn’t that only serve to please those in Draco?”

“… Huh? Is that a problem? It’s not like we’re enemies.”

“Not… enemies…?”

Was Wozuma thinking of them as enemies? I don’t know why he would… but maybe there’s a reason?

“What, is it better to think of them as enemies? Wouldn’t that just ruin public order?”

“Huh? Oh, no, public order is important. Draco’s Village Chief is the Pavueran lord’s son, so… if you say they aren’t our enemies, that’s good…”

“Even if they want to say something, they’re on the other side of the tunnel. The tunnel’s not something that’ll choose one side over the other, nor is it something they can just capture. It’s a clear separator between us.”

—Is how I explained it. It being part of my dungeon’s a secret.

“In truth, although they didn’t exactly declare war on us when they founded the village, they did say something about being our enemies.”

“Heeh, what’d they say?”

“That they wouldn’t lose to an upstart.”

…

I waited for him to finish, but that was everything.

“That’s all? I mean, that’s probably a summary, but still…”

“Yes, but many villagers heard them insult you, our Village Chief.”

“Did they say something that bad?”

“It’s permissible that you are an upstart and prefer little girls, but…”

I mean, it’s great that it’s permissible and all, but how is preferring little girls alright…

“They also said that you were frivolous, did nothing… and that you are nothing but a figurehead, of all things!”

…?

… … …?

Oh! Oooh, I see, yeah. I get it. So to Village Sub-Chief Wozuma, them figuring out that I’m a figurehead is a bad thing, huh. Man, I don’t know what I could even say to refute that. I mean, it’s a fact.

“Seriously, Wozuma, you’re so diligent.”

“No, no, I could never hope to match up to you, Village Chief Kehma.”

“Hahaha, sure.”

Still, Draco’s Village Chief’s quite cunning.

Maybe I should go check him out?

“Still, that declaration of war that wasn’t actually a declaration of war… have they harassed us? Like putting up a door to the tunnel or trying to charge taxes?”

“No, nothing like that.”

Right? If they wanted to harass our village, all they had to do was put up some barrier to entry to reduce the number of merchants coming through. They didn’t have to go through setting up an entire village.

“… Why did they make a village?”

“Perhaps you could find out by talking with each other as fellow Village Chiefs?”

“Right. Alright, Wozuma. Please arrange that.”

And thus it was decided that I would confer with Drago’s Village Chief in a few days.

I decided to relax under the pretense of being exhausted from my travels until then… oh, he saw through that, too? Oh well.