Yamada , a 35-year-old single man, wants to build his ideal second home in the village of another world. A life that combines the best of both the other world and reality - Episode 6

When Ruri reported that the old man had died, the village chief and the blonde-haired woman looked shocked.

“Is that true? That Sir Tadashi…?”
“Yes. His health had been failing for some time…”
“Now that you mention it, I recall him saying something like that the last time I saw him.”
“Yes. Because of that, I’m sorry I couldn’t bring the medicine sooner.”

Ruri bowed her head.

“Ah, no, if that’s the case, it can’t be helped.”
“That’s why today I’ve brought Tadashi-sama’s grandson, Tatsuya-san.”

Ruri said this, then looked up at me.
I had been waiting near the entrance, but now I walked up to the village chief.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Yamada Tatsuya, Tadashi’s grandson. I understand you looked after my grandfather when he was alive…”
“Not at all! It was us who were indebted to him. And I am Daril, the village chief of this settlement.”

The village chief bowed his head.

“Village chief, first, please take this.”

Saying that, I used spatial magic to take out the medicine and handed it to him.

“What is this?”
“It’s medicine for back pain. Yesterday, I heard the circumstances from Ruri and Miriam, so I prepared it right away.”

Well, actually, I’d just made it earlier.

“Village chief, Tatsuya-san will be succeeding Tadashi-sama. We’ve come today to formally introduce him.”
“Truly?”

When Ruri explained, the village chief looked to confirm it with me.

“Yes, that’s my intention. However, I’m still inexperienced and only in training when it comes to magic.”

More like a complete amateur, really.

“No, no. The fact that you have magical talent is wonderful enough. I see… so, a successor…”

The village chief began to ponder.

“Is something wrong?”
“Ah, no—it’s just that I was discussing something similar earlier with this person here.”

He glanced at the blonde-haired woman seated nearby.

“And this is…?”
“The inspector of this village.”

Inspector?

“Village chief, allow me to explain. I am Monica, the inspector assigned to this village. You can think of an inspector as someone sent from the royal capital to oversee and report on the village.”

The blonde-haired woman answered.

“An overseer?”
“Yes. I report on whether there’s any misconduct, the progress of development, and so forth, to the capital. That said, it’s mostly in name only—since magic is indispensable for frontier development, I’m actually here to help as well.”

So, she’s a mage then.
Quite a burden for someone so young.

“A magic user, I see. That makes sense…”

I had thought her robe looked mage-like.
I couldn’t look too closely though, since a certain part of it bulged quite prominently…

“…You could tell, then?”

Well, yeah.

“So, about this similar discussion…?”
“Yes. As you can see, the village chief is elderly. On top of that, his back problems have gotten so bad it’s difficult for him to carry out his duties. He was consulting me about that.”

Indeed, he looked old—about the same as my late grandfather.

“You’re going to retire?”

I asked the village chief.

“Yes. I don’t know when I might keel over. If I were to suddenly die, it would cause trouble for everyone. So I want to hand over the role while I’m still well enough to ensure a smooth transition.”

That certainly would be smoother.

“I see. That sounds like a good idea.”
“Yes, and so—I have a favor to ask. I would like you, Tatsuya-dono, to succeed me.”

…Huh?

“Sorry, me?”
“Yes.”
“Uh… this is so sudden I can’t keep up with the conversation here.”

This was even more abrupt than Ruri’s proposal last week.

“Not just anyone can become the village chief. There’s one crucial requirement.”
“And that is?”

Magic?

“Literacy. And arithmetic.”

Ah… I think I understand.

“Could it be that you’re the only one in the village who can do that, chief?”
“That’s right. Of course, Monica here can as well, but she’s an inspector—she can’t become the chief.”

So the literacy rate here is low…
Or maybe frontier work mostly draws uneducated folk to begin with.

“Couldn’t you bring someone from outside?”
“We discussed that, but we’d rather have someone from the village. After working so hard on this development project, it feels wrong to hand it over to an outsider—and the villagers wouldn’t take well to it.”

I could understand that…

“But wouldn’t I be the same? I only just arrived today.”
“No, you are the grandson and heir of Tadashi-dono, the great mage who made enormous contributions to this village. The people would accept you.”

Great mage…?

“Uh, really?”
“Yes. Please, I’m asking you.”

Even so…
I have a job, you know…

I’ll talk it over with Ruri and Miriam when we get back.
In situations like this, an adult response is to withhold a decision for now.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer immediately. I’ve only just succeeded my grandfather’s position.”
“Of course, there’s no rush. I’m not planning to die just yet. Wahahaha!”

Not exactly funny…

“Village chief, we only came today to deliver the medicine and give our greetings, so we’ll take our leave here.”

Whether she could read my mind or not, Ruri brought the meeting to a close.

“Very well. Thank you for the medicine.”

The chief said this and placed a golden coin on the table.

“What’s this?”
“Payment. One pill is worth two silver coins.”

So ten silvers make one gold coin, huh.

“All right, I’ll accept it then.”

I took the coin, then left with Ruri and Miriam.
Looking over the village, I saw people doing various jobs—most of them fairly young.

“Even children, huh…”

Two boys were chasing each other around.

“The young ones are more common because frontier work is so demanding,” Ruri explained.
“Yeah, you need folks like the chief, but it’s mostly a job for people with stamina, nya,” Miriam added.

“What about that Monica girl? She’s a mage, right?”

I figured magic would make logging work a breeze.

“The inspector’s main job is putting up barriers—or treating the injured and sick.”

I heard an answer from behind me, and when I turned, Monica was standing there.

“Barriers?”
“To keep monsters from entering the village. It’s dangerous otherwise. That’s why the capital sends us.”

So she was from the royal capital.

“I see… Impressive for someone so young.”
“Not really… to put it bluntly, only the dropouts get assigned to remote frontier posts like this.”

Ah…

“Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. Having work at all is better than nothing. And after living here for a year, I can say the people are good. I want this place to thrive. Well then.”

Smiling, Monica said this and walked off somewhere.
We watched her go, then left the village ourselves and headed home.