Isekai Nonbiri Nouka (Farming Life in Another World)

In the time between winter and summer, the number of residents increased again.

After discussing it with everyone, we decided to call this place The Great Tree Village.

And I ended becoming the mayor of this village.

Even though I'm the mayor now,

my day-to-day routine hasn't really changed at all.

Mayor!

A messenger from the Demonic Kingdom has arrived!

A messenger from the Demonic Kingdom?

When you open your eyes and see that pure white light, the story begins

Stepping forth into a new world, what kind of flowers will we make bloom?

Even if it's cloudy, even if we get dirty from a puddle

We continue on

There's a future we can't imagine waiting for us, I'm sure of it

Meeting, meeting, and connecting

If you smile, everyone around you will smile too

Let's plant a small seed and nurture it

One day it'll become a large flower

Turn regrets and failures into fuel

So that you're overflowing with colorful happiness

We'll join hands and share

Spread across the world, Flower Ring

My name is Beezel.

I'd like to have an audience with the person in charge here.

It's my first job as the mayor.

That's me.

You?

I'm the mayor, Hiraku.

Very well.

In commemoration of our becoming acquainted...

Please accept this gift.

Thank you for your kindness.

I have a message from the demon lord.

He would like to discuss the status of this settlement here.

I don't think anyone owns this particular plot of land or anything,

but I guess technically it's under the control of the demon lord.

Does he want me to pay taxes...

for all the time I've spent living on his land?

No wait, maybe he's going to tell me to get off his property?

Maybe it would be wise for me

to ask Lu and Tia for their advice before I do anything...

Alright, it's time for me to step up and handle my duties as mayor.

If the demon lord is willing to accept us living here on this land,

then I would be willing to offer part of our harvest as payment of taxes.

First, I need to show that I have no intention of rebelling against the demon lord!

As for the rate we pay...

I need to be strong for this part!

...how does 10% sound?

Was that too low?

Well then!

Are you satisfied with this arrangement?

Huh?

Y-yeah.

I'd like you guys to come pick it up every year before winter starts.

I-I understand.

That's how we'll proceed from now on.

Huh? Is it settled already?

The tax we pay will be 10% of our total harvest.

However, this is limited to what we grow in our fields.

We won't give them any of the milk, eggs, honey or alcohol that we produce.

If the demon lord's people are interested in anything else we produce,

then we'll enter trade negotiations.

I did end up feeling like I was too aggressive with my negotiations...

I bid you all farewell.

...so I sent him home with a present.

I hope I handled that all the right way.

I think you did a pretty good job.

Since we're paying them taxes,

we're technically under their protection from now on.

Indeed.

But still... 10%?

Usually the going rate is supposed to be 50 or 60%.

Wha?

Having them come here to collect the payment every year was a good decision.

It forces them to officially recognize our residence here.

And if they're only coming to collect once a year,

they won't be able to accurately measure everything we produce.

In other words, we just bought the protection of the demon lord

for a real tax rate of under 10%!

Well done, mayor.

R-really?

And to top it off, they brought this present.

The almighty medicine that works if you drink it or apply it directly to an injury!

Wow.

What?!

They're submitting to our military force?

Yes.

Even though they have the strength to defeat a wyvern...

Surely, they must have some ulterior motive?

I had the same suspicion,

but I had no choice but to accept their conditions.

But why?!

The vampire princess and the angel of annihilation were there.

What?!

The great sage Lulucy and the strongest of all the angels?!

No way...

And that's not all.

There was an army of high elves and a pack of inferno wolves.

That's absurd!

And the group that guided me to the leader was the trio of killer angels.

I thought my life was over.

If that's the case, then I can see how they were able to take down a wyvern.

After all that, he suggested that they be under the protection of the demon lord's army.

I couldn't refuse.

If I had, they would have immediately become an enemy force.

The silver lining in all of this is that we were able to negotiate amicably. No way... this can't be happening...

They even gave me a gift.

What is it?

I haven't looked yet.

Open it.

We need to consult the demon lord first. It's over... we're finished...

And what if it's something dangerous? It's over... we're finished...

Hey, wait!

Fruit?

They look kind of like appos, but the shape and color are much nicer.

Better check if they're poisoned.

Hey!

Wow, this is really good! It's great!

You can't just eat those!

This cloth... it can't be.

Is this from a demon spider?

No, a great demon spider?

What?!

Didn't one of those fight one of the previous demon lords to a standstill?

They have one of those, too?!

I'm resigning!

Randan?

Randan!

My name is Dryme.

I am the one true ruler of the dragons.

This is a present from us.

Please accept it.

Okay...

Wow!

It looks really expensive, but this seems like kind of a violent gift.

Th-thank you for the wonderful gift.

It's our pleasure.

So, what's the purpose of your visit here today?

Of course. My master, Lord Dryme,

has his lair located to the south of here.

There's quite a bit of distance between us, but we still consider you our neighbors.

We've come here to offer a formal greeting.

That's very polite of you.

By the way, is there a reason your master is bowing his head?

My apologies for that.

Master, please raise your head.

Huh? Okay.

Since you came all the way here, I want to invite you inside,

but that seems kind of hard given your size.

You're absolutely right.

Master, please change into your smaller form.

Now then, please introduce yourself again.

My name is Dryme.

I am the one true ruler of the dragons.

Did he memorize that line so he wouldn't mess up his introduction?

Man, this place is great!

This booze is great!

Ah, I'm not going home! I'm living here!

You can't do that.

There will be a lot of people who will get upset if you don't protect your home.

I'll be fine here. I can intercept any attackers!

I'm sure you could,

however it would be a nuisance for everyone here if you were to stay too long.

Now then, let's leave while they're still happy to call us their guests.

They were even kind enough to give us some gifts.

Yeah, they gave us those appo looking things.

They're called apples.

And don't worry, they gave us plenty of them.

Alright, I get it.

I'm heading home!

Don't transform until you're outside!

I know I should have thought of this sooner...

but I should really decide how The Great Tree Village

is going to handle visitors, welcome guests or otherwise.

Diplomatic relations, huh?

This is all getting really complicated really fast.

I've been thinking about a lot of things since then,

and I've decided that it's not good for us to keep visitors outside

by the village entrance when we're greeting them.

That said, I'm not comfortable inviting them into our homes.

So I've decided that we should build a guest house for visitors.

I was thinking that a house able to fit four people would be enough.

What do you think?

No, I think that would be far too small.

She's right.

Anyone coming to this village needs to climb mountains and make it through the forest.

Our visitors up until now have been servants of the demon lord and dragons, however...

normally whenever people come here, they'll be doing so in large groups.

Let's see.

I think we should play it safe

and build a house that can fit about 30 people comfortably.

I see.

Okay then. We'll make the first floor an open space designed to hold feasts.

And we can make the second floor into bedrooms for our guests to stay in

if they want to stay here.

Sounds good.

And that's how we got started building a guest house for any potential visitors.

Next, I wanted to work on how we are greeting new guests.

Granmaria and the angels are in charge of defending the perimeter,

and rather than finding visitors and guiding them here,

they would capture visitors and bring them to the village entrance.