Spring arrived.
News from various regions reached me via the small communication wyverns.
Howlin Village requested grains, just as they always did.
Michael-san from Shashato City sent word regarding the specific crops he wanted to purchase.
Beezel, writing from near the Demon King’s Castle, sent over an order form along with New Year’s greetings; his list included items for Royal Princess Yuri as well.
After consulting with Frau and the Civil Official Girls, I sold off whatever surplus crops we could spare.
I placed orders with Michael-san for several items I wanted, but even then, I couldn't spend it all. Quite a bit of money had started to pile up in the village. I’d have to sit down with everyone eventually and discuss what we should actually do with it.
I set to work creating new fields.
Given the high demand this year, I decided to expand our operations. First, I prepared a soybean field specifically for making soy sauce and miso. Next, I cleared a space to grow the rare trees and plants I had received from Dos last year.
To keep up with the trade with Michael-san, I needed to increase our harvest volume. Even with the Universal Farming Tool, I was the only one who could work the soil this way, so there was a limit to how much I could handle alone.
I expanded the existing sixteen-by-thirty-two-section field toward the east, bringing it to twenty-four-by-thirty-two sections. I moved the four-by-four-section herb field further east and doubled it to four-by-eight. The fruit area was also expanded northward, growing from eight-by-eight to eight-by-twelve.
Thinking back to the beginning, the farm had certainly grown massive. I found myself wanting to try growing even more varieties.
I distributed the Reward Medals to the villagers.
Each individual received three medals. I gave them to Kuro’s group as well, but since I couldn't give one to every single wolf, I gave his pack a collective allotment of thirty. I did the same for Zabuton’s family, providing them with thirty medals to share.
As a sort of position allowance, I distributed ten additional medals to each racial representative:
Kuro, representative of the Inferno Wolf Race. Zabuton, representative of the Demon Spider Race. Lu, representative of the Vampires. Tia, representative of the Angel Race. Ria, representative of the High Elf Race. Ann, representative of the High Ogre Race. Daga, representative of the Lizardman Race. Sena, representative of the Beastman Race. Donovan, representative of the Dwarf Race. Frau, representative of the Demon Race and the Civil Official Girls. Rusty, representative of the Dragons. Ya, representative of the Mountain Elf Race.
As for the other groups, the bees declined through Zabuton. I failed to reach a proper understanding with the slimes. And Rusty's attendants from the Devil Race told me that the three medals given to every resident were more than enough for them.
Finally, I set aside one hundred medals for myself as the Village Head. These hundred weren't for my personal use; they were a pool for additional rewards, bonuses, and event prizes. Since I was the one minting and distributing them, I didn't strictly need to "secure" a stash like this, but I did it to maintain their value—and to keep myself from over-issuing them on a whim. I decided to see how things went by limiting the annual "discretionary" pool to those hundred medals. I still wasn't sure if this system would actually work, after all.
I told everyone they were free to trade medals amongst themselves, but I wouldn't compensate them for any lost ones. Theft, extortion, or the exploitation of one's position would be met with severe punishment. To be fair, those things were already subject to strict penalties even without the medals.
"What exactly constitutes a 'severe punishment'?" someone asked.
"Wouldn't expulsion from the village be appropriate?" I suggested.
"T-That is certainly severe. I don't expect it will come to that, but I will make sure the rules are thoroughly understood," the representative replied.
"Please do."
Next, I announced the list of items that could be exchanged for Reward Medals. As a rule, each item cost a single medal:
- One piece of furniture of your choice.
- One plaything of your choice.
- One tool of choice.
- One weapon from the storehouse.
- One piece of armor from the storehouse.
- One piece of jewelry from the storehouse.
- A requested facility or improvement.
- Sake (Medium Barrel).
- Honey (Small Bottle).
- Expansion of a requested crop field (only if the request is approved).
- Improvements to the residential area (only if the request is approved).
- Other (requests subject to consultation).
I had listed a variety of things, but the item everyone lunged for was the sake.
"A medium barrel of sake for just one Reward Medal?"
"That's right."
"Is it any kind of sake?"
"As long as it's from the stock I've set aside for exchange, you can pick whichever you like."
This effectively allowed the villagers to drink whenever they pleased. A medium barrel held about four liters. If shared during a meal, it was probably enough for about eight people. I’d have to think about whether that was too much or too little later, but since we already had all-you-can-drink banquets regularly, it seemed fair.
The next most popular items were furniture and playthings. Up until now, communal living meant that things were equal in both good and bad ways. For example, if someone wanted to sleep on a proper bed instead of a grass-stuffed futon on the floor, it was hard to make that happen unless I could provide beds for every single person.
However, the Reward Medals allowed for individual desires to be realized. This was a significant change. Requests for shelves, beds, tables, and chairs started coming in, along with games like chess and reversi.
The Reward Medal system quickly ran into its first few hurdles.
First, the vast majority of villagers immediately traded their medals for sake. I thought they were going to drink it right away, but they were actually storing the barrels in their homes or rooms. Apparently, just knowing they could drink whenever they wanted was the appeal, but I felt they didn't need to trade all three of their medals for it instantly. For a moment, I considered if I should have just used sake as the currency instead of medals, but I dismissed the idea because barrels are a nightmare to carry around. In any case, it likely meant the medals weren't fully trusted yet. That was something only time and a proven track record could fix.
Next, gambling broke out. Chess, shogi, Go, mini bowling, golf, and mahjong were all being played for stakes. I didn't ban gambling itself, but I strictly prohibited debt—no borrowing or lending medals. I had no desire to see my villagers fall into ruin over a string of bad luck. I also suggested they play for smaller stakes so they could enjoy the games for longer.
There were also far more requests for furniture and playthings than I had anticipated. The problem here was that I had to be personally involved in the production. While I only needed to provide the lumber for simple furniture, I had to handle the intricate parts of the playthings myself. Using the Universal Farming Tool was the only way to get them done quickly; I couldn't justify tying up several villagers for days on end just to make toys.
I worked hard to fulfill the orders, but it bothered me that the medals were supposed to make my life easier, yet they were currently doing the opposite. For the next round, I decided I would prepare a stock of items in advance rather than doing made-to-order production.
Then there were the "other" requests.
The biggest surprise came from the "Other (Subject to consultation)" category. One of the Beastman girls asked me for a child. Immediately after, several others started following suit.
I had to shut that down immediately. Aside from the obvious moral hurdles, it would be far too heart-wrenching for a child to grow up knowing they had been "exchanged" for a medal. Besides, the fact that I hadn't laid a hand on any of the Beastman girls other than Sena was a personal line I wasn't ready to cross. I begged them for a break.
After some intense negotiation, we settled on different rewards: things like spending a full day acting as my assistant or having me prepare a special home-cooked meal for them.
My workload increased yet again.
These Reward Medals were tricky. They weren't working quite the way I had envisioned, but I resolved to stick with it for at least a year.
For now, I started planning an event where medals would be the prizes. For the first one... I think a Sports Day would be perfect.