Mastermind Soto

Rokuko and I arrived at the village chief's residence, in the chief's office.

"We're back! What the hell is going on here!?"

"Ah, welcome back, Chief. I'm glad to see the Madam is safe as well."

Only Deputy Chief Wozuma was there.

"Safe? The village has turned into a town! Where's Amelia!?"

"Hmm? Isn't that Soto-sama's… Oh, now that you mention it, Amelia was acting village chief, wasn't she… Right, indeed."

Yes. I had secretly heard that Soto was pulling the strings behind the scenes—but I hadn't given any orders to Golen Village. Not even by letter. So Amelia should still be the one in charge.

"If you're looking for Amelia-sama, she's probably over in the Karisoto Ward building houses… Ah, the Karisoto Ward is a newly developed area. It didn't have a name, so Soto-sama named it."

"Why the hell is the acting village chief building houses…?"

Well, I did help build the inn and the village chief's residence, so I can't exactly criticize others—but ever since we became a village, most of the building had been left to Kuusan.

"What about Kuusan?"

"Kuusan is also constructing houses at a rapid pace. Here is the progress."

Wozuma handed me a map. It showed the Karisoto Ward—planned buildings were marked as rectangles, and completed ones were filled in red. If someone had purchased a building, their name was written on it.

… Roughly 70% of it was already built, and 90% of that had already been sold.

"Wow, it's pretty packed."

"Yes, Madam. Karisoto Ward is growing rapidly. It's likely due to the village chief's personal virtue."

"Mine? What do you mean?"

"Well, Chief, you're under the 'Dragon Tamer' banner, correct? You have ties to prominent figures in the Empire—the Four Heavenly Generals—and you're building a town with one of them as a subordinate. It would be strange not to attract people."

I'm not actually raising any dragons… Though I guess I could negotiate with them if any were to show up. I could even hire them if the reward was right…

Now that he says it, it really does sound like some legendary figure is building a town.

It's like that meme: "Gotta ride this big wave!"

Once momentum builds, it's nearly impossible to stop. The only way to stop it now would be to destroy everything and pretend it never happened—but it's far too late for that.

The town already exists. It exists.

"How did it come to this…?"

"My, my… I had no idea Soto-sama had been entrusted with development plans. If that were the case, you could've told me."

"I didn't entrust her with anything."

"… Pardon?"

"Soto acted on her own! What the hell is she doing!?"

I found myself shouting.

"… Wait. She built a town on her own? Soto-sama did?"

"Yeah! I didn't approve or authorize any of this…!"

"… Now that you mention it, she did assign Amelia-san to support her, and had her sign all kinds of paperwork, didn't she?"

"Show me those documents. All of them!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Wozuma pulled out the papers. While I had Rokuko go get Soto and Amelia, I started reviewing them.

… New District Development Plan: Proposed by Amelia. Site managers: Misha, Dolce. … Materials Procurement Plan: Proposed by Amelia. Site managers: Amelia, Misha. … New District Outer Wall Construction Plan: Proposed by Amelia. Site managers: Misha, Kuusan. … Resident Recruitment Plan: Proposed by Amelia. Managers: Amelia, Dolce. … Business Recruitment Plan: Proposed by Amelia. Manager: Dolce. … New District Budget Plan: Proposed by Amelia. External partner: Karini Soto. … Operational Staffing Plan: Proposed by Amelia. Managers: Dolce, Wozuma. … Development Request 1: Proposed by Amelia. Accepted: Adventurers' Guild, Misha. … Development Request 2: Proposed by Amelia. Accepted: Adventurers' Guild.

… …

…

Every plan was officially proposed by the Acting ChiefAmelia-san. The only place Soto appeared was on the budget plan.

I focused on that one.

… 5,000 gold coins? Where did she get that money? From our vault? If so, that's embezzlement—I can really let her have it—wait, it was all Soto's personal funds? No village money at all!?

Huh? She developed and sold construction techniques? Got discounts from experimental builds?

Ah, there's a notes and summary section.

Let's see… Summary: treantstone, slimecrete methods… That Basilisk thing Kantra mentioned—this must be it. Interesting…

Hmm, so this connects to the materials plan… Basilisk food, Slime costs…

Even payments to the Adventurers' Guild were covered this way…

Wait a minute. She's been putting profits from merchants and new residents into the village treasury. Even the surplus.

She built an entire town from scratch and ended up with a complete surplus budget!?

And it'll keep generating profit too… Not even including DP, which must be pure profit…

… This wasn't some impulsive idea—this was carefully planned!

"Papa! Mama! Welcome back!"

As I was reading the documents, the mastermind behind all this—Soto—arrived.

A pale-faced Amelia was with her.

"Oh, welcome back. Soto, you seem to have been doing quite well, huh?"

"Eheh. I did it, Papa!"

"Uh-huh. And who told you to do this much, exactly?"

"… Tehepero~!"

"You're getting punished later."

"Ehhhh——!? But I only made the village bigger for you, Papa!"

Total lie. That smug grin definitely has scheming behind it.

"U-Um, Kehma-san…"

"Amelia-san. My, you seem to have proposed quite a lot of plans for the village, haven't you?"

"… I just signed and stamped whatever she gave me."

Yeah, that's actually the biggest problem here. Everything was formally processed, so nothing is technically wrong.

"Papa, I didn't do anything bad! I just had Amelia-san do everything she could under her own authority! So you can't scold me!"

"You turned the village into a town! That's way too much!"

"Wow, the Four Heavenly Generals really are amazing! Especially Amelia-san—our Lady of Socks!"

"Eh? I didn't do anyth—"

"Unfortunately, Soto arranged things so that Amelia-san appears as the top contributor on all the documents… Hey, Soto, Haku-san's signature is on this one. That means the credit's been officially settled, right?"

"Yep! All credit goes to Amelia-san!"

Y-You little rascal. I failed to shift the credit to Wataru, but you pulled it off flawlessly!?

"Eeeeh!? I get the credit!?"

"Well, you were the one I appointed as acting chief, remember? Haku-san's probably going to praise you for this."

"Oh! Maybe she'll let me take off her socks as a reward! If so, please give them to me, okay!?"

"Eeep…"

Soto, that's only a reward for you. Amelia doesn't have a sock fetish, so it won't work on her.

"Oh, Papa. I haven't given the Four Heavenly Generals any special rewards yet, so please do that. I put all the profits in the treasury, so use that."

"Wait, you worked them this hard and didn't give them anything!?"

"Well, yeah. They were dispatched by Haku oba-sama. Watching over me—doing what I asked—is just part of their regular duties, right? So I couldn't give them monetary rewards. I did give them socks, though."

Apparently, giving them small, "child-level treasures" like pretty stones is fine—but high-value gifts would be a problem. So she didn't give them any money.

"If there's to be a reward, it has to come from their superior officer—you, Papa. I have no authority. I'm just the village chief's daughter. Fufun! Flawless logic!"

Y-You… You really intend to dismiss all of this as just "child's play"!?

And it's airtight—paperwork-wise, she's got me cornered.

However—

"If you made selfish demands, then it's only right for a parent to scold you when they go too far, right?"

"Ah—"

"You pulled something this big, so the punishment better be appropriate. Brace yourself."

"B-But we're running a huge surplus! No one lost anything! It's all smiles! Win-win deals for everyone! Total happiness!"

"You're right. This is a brilliant result—one even I couldn't match. I'll admit that. You did an amazing job, Soto. I'm impressed."

I patted Soto's head. She giggled happily.

"But being forgiven just because the result was good—that's how things work in the adult world. For children, it's the process that matters. Because no one expects results from them yet—they're still under protection."

"!? But if I can achieve this, can't I be considered an adult already!?"

"But you said it was a 'child's selfishness', right? You can't have it both ways, Soto."

Alright. Now that I've confirmed the results, I'll praise her thoroughly.

Then scold her properly.

Because I'm her father.