It was my younger brother Raoul who’d suggested I reclaim the land. Of course, the land’s awful conditions meant reclamation was impossible, so his suggestion was just an excuse to exile me.
Nevertheless, no one opposed the idea. I’m sure they thought a miserable death would be fitting for a disappointing, useless person like me.
“Luke, reclaiming the land will be a piece of cake with your Village-Making gift! Bwa ha ha!”
With our roles reversed, Raoul had begun to look down on me. I could still hear his laughter echoing in my ears.
Apparently, growing up in my shadow had turned him into a pretty twisted person. I suppose someone like Raoul was better suited for times like these. It was an age of chaos, after all.
Honestly, I never liked fighting. Father forced me to train with a sword. I’d taken to it quickly, but deep down, I never wanted to actually kill anyone. My sword instructor had always told me I was too kind for my own good.
House Arvale was a long-standing military family. My father loved the battlefield, and Raoul had been bellicose since childhood. Why was I the odd one out?
Well, I had an inkling as to why, but I couldn’t say for sure.
“We’re here.”
The carriage’s sudden stop pulled me out of my reveries.
We’d left the capital a week ago, and we’d only arrived at the borderlands now. It had been a long journey.
“This,” I muttered, looking ahead, “is even worse than the stories.”
It was barren wilderness as far as the eye could see. There was hardly any greenery at all, just rugged, rocky hills scattered across the land. A vast forest stretched toward the north, and a mountain range towered in the east. Both were considered monster-infested zones and were completely off-limits.
Fortunately, monsters from those areas preferred to stay in their territory and rarely ventured into the open plains. But rarely wasn’t never, so it was more than a little unnerving...
After we unloaded our luggage, the carriage quickly drove off, leaving me all alone. Well, not completely alone.
“There’s really nothing here at all, Lord Luke.”
Only one person had accompanied me to this desolate land: Myria, a maid from the Arvale estate. She was a tall, striking woman with beautiful black hair. Every time I asked how old she was, she dodged the question. But if I had to guess, I’d say she was just shy of twenty.
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“But please don’t lose hope, Lord Luke.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, hm. Is it just me, or do you not seem all that discouraged?”
“Well, sulking won’t change anything,” I said.
“How wonderfully optimistic, even in a place like this! I’d expect nothing less from you, Lord Luke!”
“Are you certain about this, Myria? You could’ve been the head maid, you know.”
She’d been my personal maid, but she was highly capable and an essential member of the castle staff. There’d been absolutely no reason for her to come here with me.
“What do you mean, Lord Luke? When I became your personal maid, I swore an oath to serve by your side always, no matter what. That promise remains unchanged. I’ll follow you wherever you go, through fires or floods.”
“Myria...” I began. Knowing someone cared about me so much moved me. It felt like she’d really seen me for who I was, not my status or position.
(He he he... Are you wondering why? It’s because I’m a sucker for cute boys! Lord Luke, in all of his adorable glory, is exactly my type! He he he...)
I blinked.
Huh? Was that a chill that just ran down my spine?
Nah, I’m sure it’s just my imagination... It’s only the two of us out here, after all...
“Well then, Lord Luke, let me be frank.” Suddenly serious, Myria held up two fingers. “You have two options.”
“Options?”
“Yes. The first is to do everything in your power to develop this barren land. We have enough food to last us a month. Growing and harvesting crops between the two of us in a place like this would be nearly impossible. Of course, we could always hunt or forage in the nearby forest, but either way, the path ahead won’t be easy.”
She was right. Even a glance at the soil made it painfully clear how difficult it would be to cultivate.
“The second option is to run away with me and settle down in a city somewhere. No one’s watching us, after all. It wouldn’t be hard.”
It was obvious which choice she preferred. And honestly, her plan did sound far more realistic than the first option. Now that I was forced to choose, I hesitated.
But there was something I wanted to try before making my decision.
“I was granted the Village-Making gift, but I still have no idea how to use it, or what I’m supposed to do with it...” I said.
For some reason, however, I suddenly felt like I could use it.
Then, out of nowhere...
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This location is suitable for village creation. Create a village? ▼ Yes / No
“Huh? What is this?” I said, squinting at the line of text that had appeared in front of me.
“L-Lord Luke?”
(N-No way... Did my face betray my thoughts?! This is bad! If he saw me grinning like a creep, he’s definitely going to think I’m some kind of weirdo!)
Myria was clearly panicking about something, but that didn’t matter right now. The odd phenomenon I’d just experienced came first. The weirdest thing was that the text was written in a language that didn’t even exist in this world, but somehow, I could read it.
“Wait... Is this from my previous life?”
I had memories of a life I’d never lived—memories of a world completely different from this one. They were hazy, though. I couldn’t remember who I’d been or what kind of person I was, but I did remember the language, the customs, and the knowledge with surprising clarity.
And that’s why my values had never quite aligned with those of this world ever since I was little, and it often left me confused. That’s probably where my aversion to fighting came from too.
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This location is suitable for village creation. Create a village? ▼ Yes / No
“So if I move this arrow, I guess I can choose an option?”
I remembered this kind of prompt from video games in my previous life. The difference here was that I didn’t need a controller. I could interact with it just by thinking about it.
“Lord Luke, are you talking to yourself? Oh, no... Could this extreme situation have finally driven him mad?! Lord Luke! Please don’t worry! I’ll stay by your side, no matter what!”
“N-no, I’m fine!” I said quickly, realizing how panicked Myria looked. “I swear I’m fine! I think my gift is just finally activating!”
Maybe I hadn’t been able to use my gift until now because I’d always been on land that already had an owner.
“I’m not totally sure how it works, but I guess I’ll try creating a village for now.”
I selected Yes from the prompt.
The moment I did, the ground beneath us flattened until it was perfectly level, forming a circle with a radius of about a hundred meters. Nothing else changed in the surrounding area, but a new bit of text appeared in my vision.
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Luke’s Village
Village Level: 1
Village Points: 50 (Gains 10 points daily)
Villagers: 0
Village Skill: Facility Construction
It looked like a status window. I wasn’t sure what Village Points or Village Skill were, but there they were. When I moved the cursor over them, short explanations popped up.
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Village Points
>>Points required to develop your village.
Village Skill
>>Skills currently available for use.
Well, those tooltips weren’t exactly groundbreaking.
At the bottom of the window, I saw a section labeled “List of Constructible Facilities.” When I selected it, a new window popped up right away.
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Hedge (10)
Hut (10)
Watchtower (20)
Storehouse (20)
Moat (20)
Earthen Wall (20)
Waste Incinerator (20)
Field (20)
Well (30)
Small House (50)
I wondered if the facilities would appear in the real world if I selected one. It reminded me of one of those city-building simulation games. Or in this case, a village-building game. I guessed that the number in parentheses was probably the number of Village Points needed to build each facility. The cost varied depending on the structure.
“Well, the first thing we need is a place to sleep. A hut should do the trick, right?”
A hut cost ten points, and a small house cost fifty, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to spend all my points on that right away. I still wasn’t fully convinced this would even work, but I moved the cursor over to “Hut” just in case.