Spring had arrived, and with it, Tia’s return.
Along with her were three members of the Angel Race and fifteen others whose faces were reptilian and whose bodies were covered in tough, hardy scales.
These newcomers were bare-chested, wearing nothing but loincloths, and most of them carried rucksacks that looked far too large for their frames.
According to Tia, they were Lizardmen. Apparently, they lived as a sort of attendant race to the Angels, so she had brought them along to help.
"I am Granmaria."
"I am Kudel."
"I am Corone. We look forward to working with you."
The three Angels were clad in suits of armor and carried heavy spears that resembled lances. For a moment, the image of Valkyries flashed through my mind.
In terms of hierarchy, they were Tia’s subordinates. However, since they looked quite similar to her, seeing the four of them standing together made them look like a group of high school girls—blonde hair, wings, and all.
I had assumed they would move into my house with Tia, but they requested separate living quarters. The Lizardmen were to live with them as well.
Because of this, we began construction in the Southwest Area, where Ria and the High Elves had their homes. Having grown used to the process by now, we mobilized the High Elves and finished the project in about five days.
Since the houses built later inevitably turned out better than the earlier ones, I wondered if I should rebuild the house I had first made for Ria and the others. Their outhouse was still outside, which had to be inconvenient in various ways. I offered to rebuild, but they were too modest to accept, so we settled for some simple renovations instead.
"I am Daga. It is an honor to meet you."
The representative of the Lizardmen was named Daga. I felt bad about it, but I honestly couldn't tell the individual Lizardmen apart. They all looked the same to me. Even when I was told that five of the fifteen were female, I couldn't spot the difference. Tia and the others couldn't distinguish between them either, though they didn't seem to think it was a problem.
Still, I wanted to at least be able to recognize Daga. I thought about having them wear clothes to differentiate them, but it turned out that Lizardmen found it physically uncomfortable to be anything but naked. In the end, I had Daga tie a scarf around his right arm so I could identify him.
Along with their mountain of luggage, Daga and his group brought the chickens Tia had mentioned. They were primarily hens, intended for egg production. They had even been laying during the journey here, so they said we could start getting eggs immediately.
However, the numbers were small. We had forty chickens in total—thirty-five hens and five roosters. I’d always assumed that chickens laid an egg every single day, but according to Daga, that wasn't the case here. I didn't know if my knowledge was simply wrong or if the chickens in this world were different, but a healthy bird here laid only one egg every two days. That meant we could only expect about ten eggs a day for the whole village.
Whether that was a lot or a little depended on your perspective. To me, it felt like far too few, considering we had dozens of residents now. For the time being, I decided our main goal would be to increase the flock's size. I didn't know how to distinguish between fertilized and unfertilized eggs, but with roosters around, I figured it would work itself out.
I considered setting up a dedicated Chicken Area, but if it were too large, collecting the eggs would be a nightmare. We decided to raise them near the house for the time being, specifically on the north side of the great tree. I built a chicken coop for their shelter and tilled the soil, focusing my intent on growing grass that would serve as feed.
I assumed chickens ate grains like corn or wheat, so I knew I’d have to look into expanding the fields soon. For now, I just focused on the grass. I also made sure to tell Zabuton and Kuro’s group that the chickens were strictly off-limits.
We also added a new building near my house: a dormitory for Ann and the other maids. Between Lu, Tia, Flora, and the twenty maids, we were seriously running out of room. Up until now, they had been using converted storehouses as sleeping quarters, and I felt terrible about the lack of proper accommodations.
So, while Lu, Tia, Flora, and Ann stayed in the main house, we built a dormitory to provide private rooms for the other nineteen maids. Much like the High Elves' housing, it was finished incredibly quickly—only three days.
The interior work was still ongoing, but the house already featured nineteen private rooms with space to spare. The common areas included an outhouse, a simple kitchen, and a living room with a fireplace. The private rooms were basic, each containing a bed and a single shelf, with tables and chairs to be added based on personal preference. Since they were mostly just for sleeping, most of the maids stuck to the basics. However, they were surprisingly particular about their curtains and sheets, and they were already consulting with Zabuton to have custom linens made.
The three new Angels came to see me once they had settled into their new lives.
"Your orders, sir."
"Please leave the vanguard to us."
"I will do my best at reconnaissance."
...
The atmosphere was entirely different.
I had the air of a simple villager—or a Village Head, perhaps—focused on farming. The aura they carried was that of true warriors. I suppose wearing armor and carrying weapons helped create that impression, but still...
"Tia?" I asked, looking for clarification on their roles.
"I’m thinking of having them patrol the forest as a mobile unit," she explained.
"A mobile unit?"
"Yes. During the Wyvern attack, we were too slow to respond initially. I summoned these three to ensure that doesn't happen again."
"...I see."
"Even if a Wyvern like that one appears again, they can draw its attention and prevent any damage to the village, even if they can't bring it down alone."
At Tia’s words, the three Angels nodded with confidence.
"So they’re like our security force."
It made sense. Until now, we had relied on Zabuton’s web-alarms and the wolves' autonomous patrols, but with monsters like Wyverns around, we needed something more proactive. The village was getting quite large, after all.
"Understood. I’ll be counting on you three."
They gave me a vigorous, disciplined response.
"I have something I want to discuss with everyone."
I gathered the representatives—Kuro, Zabuton, Lu, Tia, Ria, Ann, and Daga—in the hall of the main house. The slimes, bees, cows, and chickens weren't included, for obvious reasons.
"I want to officially name this place," I told them.
"A name for... this place?"
"Yeah. At first, it was just my house, but now it’s become a real village."
Since Ria and the others had taken to calling me "Village Head," I was certainly starting to feel the part.
"So, I want to give the village a proper name. Does anyone have any good ideas?"
I didn't have the slightest clue how to name a village, so I turned to them for suggestions.
"Wouldn't the Village Head’s name be appropriate?" Ria suggested.
I thought about it. My name is Hiraku Machio. Machio Village? Hiraku Village? Neither really felt right.
"How about naming it after this forest?" Ann proposed.
The name of the forest... Come to think of it, I hadn't really asked if this place already had a name. It stood to reason that it did.
"What is this forest called, anyway?"
"The Forest of Death," she replied.
...
That was significantly more ominous than I had anticipated.
"Uh... then what about the name of this general region?"
"The Land of Death."
...
So that was where I’d been living all this time. For a place called the Land of Death, it felt like there was quite a lot of life here. In any case, if we followed that naming convention, we’d end up as the "Village of Death," which was definitely out of the question. Even naming it after myself sounded better than that.
The discussion grew quite heated as everyone threw out ideas, but nothing seemed to click. Just as I was about to give up for the day, Zabuton tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out the window at the massive tree.
...
"The Village of the Great Tree."
The name came to me naturally. And so, it was decided. Our home would be known as the Village of the Great Tree.
One square is approximately 50 x 50 meters.
□□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆ Cattle ◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Orchard Orchard ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Field Field Chicken Field ○○○○○○○○ ━ Upper Waterway ━━━━━ Pond Pond □ Field ◇◇ Field ○ Dog ○○○○○○○ ━ Drainage System ━━━━━ Pond Pond □ Field ◇◇ Field ○○○○○○○○ □□□□□□□□□□□□ Field House House Dorm ○○○○○○○○ □□□□ ▼ Bath ▼▼▼▼▼ △△△△△△△△ □□□□ ▼▼▼▼▼ Southwest ▼ △ New Field △△△△△ □□□□ ▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼ △△△△△△△△ □□□□ ▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼ △△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□ △△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□ △△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□ △△△△△△△△ □□□□□□□□□□□□ △△△△△△△△
<- River about five kilometers in that direction.