Consulting the Village Chief

"Lend us some money."

What came out of Gozoh's mouth was a surprisingly mundane request.

"Hey Gozoh, that's a bit…"

"Hm? Not to me personally. To the village."

"… Oh? I see. So it's for village operating expenses then? What are you using it for?"

The fact that he said lend rather than give showed some conscience, at least.

The store owner grinned.

"Yeah, it's a big help that you catch on quick. Food for winter, fuel, there's plenty to buy. I've secured the supply route, and Kuusaan will build a communal storehouse for the village at a discount."

"… Hey, why not just go back to where you came from for the winter?"

The situation was getting troublesome, so I accidentally let that slip.

As for me, I wouldn't be getting DP, but it's not like I particularly need it. Taking my time in the hot springs without anyone bothering me wouldn't be bad either. After that, dozing off in the massage chair would complete the set.

… Hm? Everyone's frozen with expressions like that idea never occurred to them. A moment of silence. The one to break it was the store owner.

"No way, the iron golems here are high quality! I can't do something like throwing away winter production!"

"Y-Yeah, that's right. Some people have already moved their livelihoods here. Right, Kuusaan?"

"Yeah! I'll follow Kehma-san anywhere!"

Gozoh quickly backed him up, and Kuusaan declared with a determined look. Why are you so enthusiastically pledging yourself to me? I don't recall doing anything special.

"Well, whatever. But wouldn't it be a waste of money?"

"There's a good chance we'll make it back. Both Tsuia and Pavera are always short on iron. Plus, there's supposed to be even bigger demand coming soon. During the winter, no less."

"Big demand, huh. What, is there going to be a war and they'll need iron for weapons and armor…?"

I said that while recalling hearing about such stories. The store owner looked surprised.

Wait, did I actually hit the mark?

"W-Well, yeah, that's why. I don't want to stop operations here right now."

"So rather than lending money, you're saying I should invest?"

"Exactly! Ahh, Kehma-han really is the best, you catch on so fast! I absolutely won't let you take a loss. How much can you put up?"

The store owner slammed the table with a bang and flashed a broad grin.

Hmm, I have no idea what the going rate for something like this is. But this might be a good opportunity to use the gold coins I've just been hoarding with no use other than converting to DP.

I used my [Wallet] skill to pile gold coins on the table.

One, two… ah, forget it, around a hundred should be fine. That's one month of Wataru's debt repayment.

"Is a hundred gold coins enough?"

"A h-hundred?! Y-Yeah, that's more than enough. Sure, doubling it by spring would be a bit difficult, but I'll return about a hundred fifty!"

"That's reassuring. In exchange, I'm leaving all village fund management to you, Store Owner. Show me some profits… I'll be checking the ledgers, so don't embezzle anything, got it?"

"I never thought you'd just plop down a hundred gold coins like that… Fine, my Dine Trading Company will give it everything we've got!"

So the store is called Dine Trading Company. First time I've heard that.

By the way, apparently ten gold coins would have been enough. Well, what's done is done. Better to have too much than too little. While I was at it, I decided to leave all fund-related matters to him. He seems motivated, which is good.

"When did you come into so much money… But isn't that too much? Aren't you worried about him running off with it or being scammed?"

Receptionist-san spoke up.

Sure, if he took off with it, losing 100,000 DP would hurt, but demanding it back now would be a pain and would make me look weak. My ideal as village chief is "just sit there looking imposing, push all the tedious details onto others, and sleep soundly."

Right, in order to push the troublesome stuff onto everyone else, I should project an air of importance here.

"Well, I trust him. Including the fact that a guild receptionist is present here as a witness… Besides, if a merchant runs off with just this much, it would only prove they're that small-time of a merchant. Right?"

"Hell yeah, don't look down on me! If I screw up and lose your money, I'll do a dogeza, seppuku, whatever you want!"

Not just dogeza but seppuku too? Ah, if you do that, make sure it's somewhere it'll turn into DP, okay?

"That's unexpected… To have the role of village chief suddenly thrust upon you and still make decisions this quickly."

"Fufufu, this is my first time seeing Dine-san so flustered."

I received rare praise from Receptionist-san. Next to her, the dandy mustachioed older gentleman… the bar master was grinning meaningfully. It's probably because he's enjoying watching the store owner get flustered.

But you're next.

"While we're at it. If something happens to me, I'd like the bar master to take over as village chief. So please do your best as the Deputy Village Chief."

"Oh my, me? … Hmm, Kehma-san is an adventurer too, so who knows what might happen… Understood, I'll accept."

Hehehe, he looks capable. I'll push most of the work onto him.

"Then, as you probably understand, let me summarize the instructions. First, the policy. This is winter preparation… More specifically, preparation for mining Iron Golems during winter."

I looked around at everyone and assigned each person the minimum necessary tasks.

"Kuusaan, start building the warehouse first thing tomorrow. Kantara, prioritize making necessities like nails. Receptionist-san, please put out a request for lumber collection through the guild… Consult with Dine Trading Company about the funds. Also, Dine Trading Company handles material procurement and financing. For materials, you can use the inn's warehouse for the time being. Deputy Village Chief, the Master, please review Dine Trading Company's proposals for any gaps. I'll leave the detailed instructions to you. Now, Gozoh."

"Yeah, my other job is hunting Iron Golems in the dungeon, right! Leave it to me."

"That too, but I'm giving you an even more important job."

"Hm? What's this important job?"

As Gozoh tilted his thick neck with an almost audible crack, I told him with a grin.

"Come up with a name for this village. I'm counting on you."

"Huh?! You're dumping that on me?!"

Just as expected, Gozoh let out a bewildered cry.

"It's just a suggestion, so think about it casually. If you come up with something stupid, I might as well just call it Gozoh-Roppu-Love-Love Village. So think carefully."

"What the heck?! F-Fine, I'll think about it, I'll think!"

And so I assigned all the work to everyone, leaving none for myself.

… Perfect. These guys will be busy remembering what they need to do, so they won't notice that I have no work left.

"Looks like it's going to be busy… I'll do my best as a figurehead village chief too. Well, I'm going home to sleep. Good night."

Now then, time to go home and sleep.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

After Kehma left, the village leaders ate the karaage he'd brought while discussing Kehma as village chief.

"Man, what a piece of work. He just rattled off instructions like that right after having the village chief role pushed on him."

"As expected of Kehma-san! I'll follow him for life!"

"Good grief. I've been made Deputy Village Chief, have I?"

"My shop's basically the finance department now… To just casually put out a hundred gold coins, he's really something."

"When did he even get that much money…? And he's only a D-Rank adventurer."

"Oh, I heard Wataru lost 2,300 gold coins gambling with him. He's making him pay back a hundred gold coins a month."

"… Against the Hero? He's practically a hero himself."

For now, the consensus among them was "Where's the figurehead in that?"

Listening to opinions, setting policy, giving instructions, and granting discretion.

That was the work of a proper village chief.

Originally, they had planned to ask him to put in a good word with the inn to borrow money after he declined becoming village chief.

They never imagined he would not only accept becoming village chief but immediately offer to provide money himself—and ten times the maximum amount they had expected, at that.

Thanks to that, they had completely lost the initiative.

"I thought I might be able to repay Kehma-san a little for the slot machine rental and the snack recipes he provided."

"Really. Thanks to Ichika-han coming to work part-time, my shop's been saved."

"The guild has also had him handle rescue requests several times…"

"Hahaha! We're no match for our village chief."

By the way, regarding Ichika, she was actually working part-time at the shop during her free time and days off on her own initiative to earn money for food and slot machine expenses. But everyone thought she was being sent by Kehma.

There were even those who thought her squandering money on slot machines was Kehma's way of distributing wealth.

"He completely saw through the profitable opportunity too…"

"He must have his own intelligence network. He's not the secretary of an A-Rank adventurer's favorite inn for nothing."

"Furthermore, when he said we could use the inn's warehouse, he obviously meant we should hurry and stock up before prices rise. And with this much cash, we can buy even more than I had originally planned to secure."

The bar master was astounded that he had predicted that far.

Meanwhile, Gozoh poured apple wine into Silia's cup.

"… Hey, Silia-chan. What rank is Kehma now?"

"He just took the exam recently and became D-Rank. In fact, weren't you the examiner, Gozoh-san?"

"I know, I just wanted to ask… D-Rank, huh. He's a lower rank than me, despite all that… Isn't he good enough for C-Rank already?"

"As expected, it hasn't even been a year, so he doesn't have enough achievements for C-Rank."

The guild receptionist said this while picking at the karaage and taking a sip of apple wine.

Also, Kuusaan was going "Delicious, so delicious!" while stuffing his cheeks with karaage, his respect for Kehma rising even further.