Chapter 46: Each home here has a bath

I met him only once before, but I was certain the boy in front of me was none other than Luke Albert-sama.

“Welcome. I am Luke Albert, the chief of this village.”

“…and I am the appointed governor of the North, Dant.”

I introduced myself and knelt down.

“I deeply apologize for not greeting you sooner.”

I didn’t even know he was sent here, so it was naturally impossible to greet him any sooner. Even so, for the sake of appearances, I decided to apologize to him.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Please don’t worry about it. More importantly, I hope you enjoy your stay here.”

Luke-sama said so with a kind smile.

From then on, I was back on being surprised again and again.

First, there was the array of buildings that I have never seen before.

These buildings were tall and wide at the same time, and were cubic in shape.

They weren’t built with wood, but they didn’t seem to be built with stone either.

According to Luke-sama, these buildings were the homes of the villagers.

“We’re calling them apartment buildings, by the way.”

“Apartment…?”

We continued going around.

I couldn’t help but notice how clean the village was.

In frontier villages, it was often the case that no proper waste management system was in place. They typically just dig holes and throw their wastes there. Needless to say, the area around such pits reeked.

In this village, however, the air seemed so pure. Not a whiff of foul odor anywhere so far.

At the very least, it smelled better here than in the city of Riesen.

Apparently, this was because each home had its own “flush toilet”.

“What a great waste disposal system…”

It wasn’t just the village, the villagers themselves were so clean.

It wasn’t rare for frontier villagers to lack a reliable water source. The scarcity of it made cleaning their bodies not a priority, resulting in the villagers to smell.

In this village though, the villagers were able to wash themselves every day. So, despite their worn-out clothing, they were actually very clean.

“Each home here has a bath. Not only that, we also have two public bathhouses.”

“Each home? And two public bathhouses??”

I also noticed that on top of their cleanliness, the villagers were also quite healthy.

It might be obvious after seeing the fields, but not one of the villagers I passed by were suffering from malnourishment.

After a while more of walking, we reached the village chief’s home.

The elite troops I brought with me were surprised at each point as well, but what made them make a commotion was the adornment on Luke-sama’s home: the skull of a certain monster.

“That can’t be a giant boar…can it?”

“It is. Our hunters have hunted it down in the forest over there.”

“You’ve hunted down a great boar…? Sorry if this is rude, but is it possible that your hunters just chanced upon a corpse and bring that here?”

“Haha, it’s alright, I understand. Well, I didn’t see it myself, but I think they really did take it down. I mean, I saw the giant metal shield they said they used to stop the great boar’s charge, and it was crushed in a way only a creature like the great boar can.”

I cautiously looked at Bazara and tried to ask through my glance if our elites could do such a feat. To that, he simply shook his head left and right.

“…m-maybe they’re bluffing…”

“I hope so…”

More and more, I was regretting coming to such a crazy place.

◇　◇　◇

I guided Dant-san’s group and went around the village.

I’ve shown them all that I should, right?

“Yeah, I think that about covers it.”

“Ahm, Luke-sama, I’m sorry to ask this again, but…but is this village really built just half a year ago…?”

“Uh, yeah, it is. When I came here half a year ago, it was nothing but a wasteland.”

Dant-san showed a face of disbelief.

“Well, you see, it’s mostly thanks to my Gift [Village Building].”

“[Village Building]?”

“Yeah.”

I then began to explain my Gift.

Because Selen has warned me to not mention my village skills and the fact that I could do more things as my village levels up, I omitted those points.

“What an incredible Gift…I see, so that’s why Lord Albert sent you here…?”

“No, I don’t think so. I myself only found out what my Gift can do exactly when I got here.”

I wonder what would have happened if I found out back then though? I think I could have prevented my banishment…but then again, I like how things turned out. I enjoy my leisurely life here and I don’t think I’d want it any other way. …yeah, like I thought way back then, I’m not suited for this age of war.