It was a little past noon, a quiet time just after the harvest when the only thing left to look forward to was the martial arts tournament.
I was currently at Yoko’s Mansion in Village Five.
We were holding a meeting to discuss reports concerning the village. Usually, sessions like this took place in the Village of the Great Tree, but we had moved to Yoko’s place today due to the sheer volume of documents.
I had expected it to be just Yoko and myself, but we were joined by Miyo, who had traveled from Shashato City, and Malbit. The four of us sat around the kotatsu, snacking on French fries and potato chips spread across the table. Both were freshly made—by me, of course.
While I had seasoned them primarily with salt, I also provided nori-salt, plum-salt, and mustard for some variety. The nori and plum salts were actually developed while I was brainstorming new dishes for Village Five. I figured if everyone was tired of eating the same things, simply changing the flavor profile would help.
They were quite popular. In fact, the High Ogre Maids had already begun incorporating them into a wide range of recipes.
Mustard was a common enough seasoning in this world, too. However, it was treated as an expensive medicinal herb and didn't really circulate among the general population. I had been cultivating it with the Universal Farming Tool at Lu's request, though I felt quite foolish for not realizing it was mustard for the longest time.
Now that I knew what it was, it was being used in all sorts of cooking and was being produced in every village. The Village of the Great Tree had the largest output for now, but Village Four would likely take over soon. The floating gardens there had significantly increased the amount of land available for cultivation. The Civil Official Girls were also hopeful about its potential as a high-value export. Judging by the reception here today, it seemed they were right.
...
Yoko, Miyo, and Malbit showed no signs of stopping their snacking. Perhaps we should actually start the meeting?
"Wait a little longer," they said.
Well, if you insist...
Oh, I forgot the ketchup and mayonnaise. I’ll go grab those.
More French fries? How many more do you want? About the same as the first batch? No, double it?
Right. The first batch was meant to be a small sampler, after all. I understood. I spent the next while churning out more fries and chips. And no, I wasn't just being soft on Yoko and the others. The children of Zabuton guarding the mansion wanted some too.
Finally, once everyone’s cravings were satisfied, we turned our attention back to the meeting.
"Nori-salt is truly the pinnacle," Yoko declared.
"The plum-salt wasn't bad, either," Miyo added.
Malbit weighed in as well. "Combining mustard and ketchup creates a dangerously addictive flavor. It’s becoming a habit."
I take it back. It seemed they still hadn't quite pulled themselves together. I decided to serve some warm drinks to help them settle down. Since they were eating salty snacks, green tea seemed like the right choice.
They wanted a cold drink instead?
Maybe it was still a bit too early to bring out the kotatsu. If they wanted something cold, how about carbonated lemon juice? It was fizzy but non-alcoholic. I had come up with it during my recipe experiments.
To be clear, I didn't create the carbonation itself. Lu had invented a magic tool that extracted carbon dioxide from the air and released it at high pressure. Magic really is incredible. Since the tool was a massive, immovable machine, we had to produce carbonated water in the Village of the Great Tree and transport it to the other locations for flavoring.
"This is... quite something," Yoko remarked.
"It's lovely," Miyo said.
Malbit looked intrigued. "This is a very strange experience."
The reception was... decent, I suppose. Perhaps it wasn't sweet enough? Carbonated water isn't sweet on its own, so I probably should have added more sugar. That seemed to be the consensus. I was asked for refills with extra sugar.
Understood. Finally, we actually began the meeting.
Malbit, now in her serious mode, gave her report.
"We have opened a private school in Village Five with ten members of the Angel Race serving as teachers. Its reputation is quite good. We’ve even received requests from several merchants who want to hire them as private tutors for their households."
The school was established as a way to rehabilitate the Angel Race’s reputation within the Demon Kingdom, which had proven worse than expected during the spring parade. We started in Village Five because the resistance there was minimal. In a few years, we planned to open similar schools in Shashato City and the Royal Capital.
"This is the list of merchants seeking tutors," Malbit said, placing a wooden board covered in writing in the center of the kotatsu.
Yoko and Miyo both frowned as they looked it over.
"These are all merchants from outside the village," Yoko noted.
"Indeed," Miyo agreed.
None of them were from Village Five or Shashato City.
"I suspect they are looking to curry favor with us, hoping to eventually use the tutors as a bridge to the Village Head," Malbit explained.
I see. I wished they would just visit me directly if they wanted to talk. Then again, I didn't show my face in Village Five very often.
"So, did you turn them down?"
"No. Since we know what they’re up to, we’ll use that as bait to keep them useful to us."
...
I couldn't help but wonder if that sort of behavior was exactly why the Angel Race had such a bad reputation. Furthermore, if the merchants weren't local, where would the teachers be going? An inn?
"No, they would be sent to the cities where those merchants are based. Some of them are quite far away."
"Is that safe?"
"We'll send them in groups of several people. It’s an excellent opportunity for them to travel openly and collect information."
"Well... just keep it in moderation. If there's anyone I absolutely need to meet, I'll figure something out."
"No, no. We won't trouble the Village Head with such trifles. Rest assured."
I heard what she said, but... I didn't know. Malbit in serious mode was dependable, but I found it hard to relax around her. Unlike Tia, I simply hadn't known her long enough.
Seeing my worried expression, Yoko offered some encouragement.
"Village Head, this woman is the leader of the Angel Race. She guided the Garlet Kingdom for a long time. While I can't say she's perfect, she'll make sure no harm comes to you or Village Five, even if she has to do so out of pure spite."
"I’d appreciate it if she protected the Demon Kingdom as well."
"I will do my best," Malbit replied.
Please do. Next was Miyo.
"As of this autumn, Village Five’s naval fleet consists of three large ships, eight medium ones, and sixteen small ones. All of them are currently leased to Shashato City and its merchants."
As a way to invest Village Five’s excess funds, we had spent the last few years building ships and leasing them out. The plan was that by boosting trade in Shashato City, Village Five would prosper by association.
The results were already showing. Goods that had never reached us before were now in circulation. I thought this would be a simple 'all is well' report, but Miyo continued.
"What are our plans for shipbuilding moving forward?"
"Moving forward?"
"The shipwrights asked me to check. If we intend to keep up the current pace of orders, they’ll need to expand their docks. They want to know if the current volume will be maintained."
I turned to Yoko.
"We have no funding issues," she said. "And we aren't having any trouble finding people to lease the ships to. I think we can maintain the current pace for at least a few years. Actually, I’d like to increase it if possible."
"Unfortunately, we've hit a bottleneck with the shipwrights," Miyo countered. "We also need time to train more sailors. The current pace is our limit."
"But you're expanding the docks, aren't you?"
"They're proposing the expansion precisely because the current workload is so high. Besides, Village Five isn't the only client. If we monopolize the shipyards, we'll build up a lot of resentment."
"Hmph."
So, we decided to stick with the current status quo.
"Understood. I'll relay that to them."
"Please do."
Finally, it was Yoko's turn. She dumped a massive stack of documents onto the kotatsu table—the reason we had to meet here in the first place.
"These are all petitions addressed to the Village Head."
"...All of them?"
"Indeed. To summarize, they are all asking for your patronage."
"They want funding?"
"Some might, but for most, being recognized by you seems to be the main goal."
"Recognized by me?"
"Yes. They want the prestige of a title like 'Officially recognized by the Village Head of Village Five.' As I've said before, I cannot make this judgment for you. I must leave it to the Village Head."
I looked through the stack. It seemed the requests came from every profession imaginable: carpenters, painters, cooks, engineers, inventors, apothecaries, mages, and even novelists.
"Has this been going on for a while?"
"No, it only started this summer."
"Summer? Did something happen then?"
"What happened was the parade in the spring. You participated in the Demon Kingdom's parade, didn't you?"
I still didn't quite see why simply being in a parade would lead to this mountain of petitions.
"Believe me, you stood out quite a bit. And as I said, people want your endorsement. Oh, and don't worry—I've already filtered out the obvious scams and suspicious characters."
It apparently took so long to sort through them that she hadn't been able to bring them to me until now.
"I did try to bring it up periodically, but you kept putting it off," Yoko reminded me.
"My apologies."
"We really need to start processing these, or we'll have kept them waiting far too long. The ones here are the ones I’ve already deemed worthy of consideration."
If that was the case, I was half-tempted to just approve them then and there. Still, having the final say felt like a heavy burden. I needed to read them carefully and make a proper evaluation.
...
"For now, let's implement a star rank system."
"A rank system? Where did that come from?"
"It’s a way to measure my endorsement. To be honest, I can't make a final judgment just by reading these. If they’ve already produced results, I can tell, but if they haven't, I’m just guessing."
I proposed the following: Anyone who passed Yoko’s initial screening would get one star. If they produced actual results, they’d get two stars. If they continued to perform consistently, they’d get three stars.
"Oh, that's very straightforward," Yoko said. "It also gives them something to strive for. If we make it clear that one star is just a trial period, we can prevent people from abusing the title. Honestly, when you apply yourself to things like this, you’re quite dependable."
"I’m just trying to make my own life easier."
"Fufufu. We'll adopt the system. However, don't think you can just leave the one-star evaluations to me. As I've said, they want your recognition. You have to be the one to judge them."
"Aww..."
"Come now, it should be much easier than before. We'll go through them one by one, with Miyo and Malbit offering their opinions."
Miyo and Malbit nodded. Since they had filled up on my snacks, they were willing to help out. Even the children of Zabuton offered their assistance. I suppose they had eaten their fill of fries and chips as well.
"All right then. Let's get through as many as we can."
And so, I spent the rest of the day in Village Five, evaluating who was worthy of my patronage.