Ding! “To maintain a moat, a water source is necessary. ‘Thick fog’ and ‘poisonous swamp’ cannot be selected as the current area is dry.”
Got it. Makes sense.
“You may also make more detailed requests for your environment. For example, if you were to choose a ‘palace,’ you can adjust the internal structure, place gatekeepers, and set traps,” Gruszka said.
To create an open and free city, it’s probably best to not set anything, but monsters are everywhere in this world. Some defenses are required. I’ll choose the ramparts and moats.
Ding! “{Ramparts} and {Moats} have been selected for your surrounding environments. Please set a design for your ramparts.”
The map of the city and its surroundings was displayed on the ground. A red line was drawn, indicating where the rampart would be built. Wait, this would make the city too small. I’d like to make it wider... Oh! The line moves according to my thoughts! Convenient! Okay, let’s do this...
✦ ✦ ✦
All right, done! This village should now be super convenient and nice to live in. Probably.
“They really were picky about the details, weren’t they?” Datil said.
“It was kinda fun though!” Fresa added.
It sounds like you guys enjoyed it, but I didn’t really understand all of the options and kinda just added some random stuff too. Will this be okay?
“I’m terribly sorry. I never selected most of these settings either,” Gruszka apologized.
Nah, not your fault. For stuff like this, you just need to roll with it.
“You haven’t changed, Furutsu!” Grida said, giggling happily.
Don’t worry. At the very least, it’s an improvement from before. All we have to do is explain this to the villagers and...
Ding! “Congratulations. The stocked organisms have now been placed inside the Nursery.”
Huuuh?! Hello? Wait! Hey, management system, you idiot! Why don’t you show yourself so that you can get a stern talking to, huh?! They’re gonna be completely flabbergasted if you just release them there out of nowhere!
“With this, the post-battle arrangements have been completed. Thank you for your patronage, and I hope to see you again.” As the announcement ended, the lights all went out.
Ignored again, eh? Man, the villagers must be surprised.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I know it’s a bit too late to be saying this, but do you think we went too far, Apple-san?” Datil asked.
“Wooow! I can’t believe this!” Fresa gasped.
The village previously enjoyed its environment of green nature and mountains. Now, the new and improved Rhuvae Village was surrounded by large ramparts, and stone houses were lined up in an orderly fashion. The roads were paved with stone as well, and it felt a lot more modern.
Gruszka looked around with awe. “Wonderful. It looks completely different!”
The Nursery ran on a point-based system. Points were required for renovations, and could be obtained every month based on the number of citizens associated with the place. To start, I received 20,000 points—which I used to create rivers, wells, fruit trees, livestock, and roads. I used what was left to add buildings.
“Man, isn’t this more like a town than a village now?” Datil said.
“But it’s not like the number of people changed, riiight?” Fresa said.
I figured that houses were a necessity, and made more than required just in case. As a result the place started looking more like a city, but a lot of those houses were empty. Back in Japan, I think your population needed to hit a certain number before a place technically became a town or city. You also had to have certain public institutions, and some other stuff too, I’m pretty sure. How can a village become a town in this world?
“Apple-san, you look like you want to know the difference between a town and a village,” Fresa said.
What kind of look is that?! Tell me! I don’t have a face!
“If I recall, you need at least two hundred houses with people constantly living in them and approval from the king to become a town,” Gruszka explained. “Towns get a street connected to the royal capital free of charge, and an adventurers’ guild and barracks are built as well.”
Judging from what you’ve said, it sounds like only good things can occur from becoming a town, but doesn’t that just mean that you’d be under the surveillance of the kingdom? If that’s the case, we can remain a village.
“And now you look like you’re thinking, ‘That sounds like a pain, so let’s leave it as a village.’ Right?” Fresa said.
Again: no face! I’m begging you, please stop with the perfect readings of my nonexistent facial features.
“Jeez, Fresa-san. Apple-san’s thinking that it’s even more of a pain now,” Datil said.
And you’re getting better at reading my thoughts too, Datil. Anyway, past this residential area is the heart of the village.
“Furutsu, these houses look wonderful! Oh? Are there big and small ones?” Grida asked.
Ah, very observant. There’s over fifty building types with different designs. Based on the materials needed, each house ranges from 10 to 5,000 points. With 5,000 points, you can create a palace.
“A palace?! That’s amazing! I want to live in one of those!”
So you wanna be a princess? Then when we’ve got enough points, let’s make a palace for ourselves!
Grida gasped. “A-Are you p-p-propos—? Waaah!” I heard a fizzling sound.
H-Hey, are you okay, Grida?
“Mmmmm, I-I’m okay... Oooh...”
You sure? All right then. A lavish place wasn’t necessary this time around, so I made fifty houses that were each around 20 points, and fifty 30-point houses. One hundred in total there. Half of them are for smaller families of around four, and the other half can house up to ten. If anyone has more than ten family members, it might be inconvenient, but they’d need to use two houses. I also made a large building over there. I thought it’d be good for meeting places and stuff! 200 points for that one.
“Wooow, I like your style, Apple-san!” Fresa said.
“I guess good-looking guys can only do cool things,” Datil said.