The village’s population started growing even faster once spring arrived. Rumors had spread through the entire March of Arvale. We were starting to see people moving in from farther regions now, not just the North.
Once we passed three thousand people, the village leveled again.
Da-da-daaan! Congratulations! Your village’s population has surpassed 3,000 villagers, and your Village Level has increased to Level 7!
You have received a Level-Up Bonus of 30,000 Village Points.
New facilities are available for construction!
Village boundary has expanded.
You have gained the skill “Villager Appraisal II.”
“The village area just keeps getting bigger and bigger...” I muttered.
The village’s range had expanded past the wasteland and now included parts of the northern forest and eastern mountain range too.
We still referred to the main, central zone where people lived as “the village” for simplicity’s sake, though.
The village had expanded in a circle, centered on where it was first founded. Every time the level increased, its radius doubled, which meant the area technically quadrupled.
Still, territory ruled by someone else didn’t automatically get included unless I specifically used Territory Takeover, so while it was a circle in theory, the actual shape was pretty wonky.
New facilities unlocked:
Restaurant (100)
Inn (150)
Clinic (200)
Orchard (250)
School (400)
Inn
>>A lodging facility for travelers. Increases fatigue recovery speed.
“That’s actually pretty useful.”
We’d been getting more and more people who weren’t actually residents, like merchants stopping in for business or travelers passing through. Until now, we’d been letting them stay in one of the apartment rooms, but we could have them use the inn instead now.
Orchard
>>A farm for growing fruit trees. Speeds up growth and improves quality of fruits.
Fruit, considered a luxury even in Arvale’s capital, was pretty much nonexistent out here in the wasteland. Merchants didn’t bother bringing fruit since the village never had food shortages either.
“Maybe I should ask someone to bring some saplings sometime,” I said.
Once the orchard was up and running, we could enjoy fruit whenever we wanted.
School
>>An educational facility for children. Improves teachers’ instruction ability and the speed at which children learn.
In the past, kids from noble or wealthy merchant families had been sent to school once they reached a certain age. But these days, most kids learned from private tutors. I was no different.
“Come to think of it, we’ve got a few villagers whose recommended job is teaching, and there’s not really any work here for kids anyway, so maybe school is the best thing for them.”
At the very least, they should learn to read, write, and do basic math.
“Let’s see... I also got the Villager Appraisal II skill.”
It seemed to be an upgraded version of the original skill I got back at level two.
Myria happened to walk by, so I decided to test it out to see what had changed.
Myria
Age: 21
Village Affinity: Max
Recommended Job: Priest
Gift: Oracle
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Dexterity: C
Agility: D
Mana: D
Luck: B
Height 166 cm
Weight: 52 kg
Bust: 91 cm
Waist: 58 cm
Hips: 93 cm
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”
“Lord Luke?”
I could see way more than before!
Former maid of House Arvale. Born into a low-ranked noble family. Highly competent and was on track to become head maid. However, due to her extreme attachment to a certain young boy, she threw away her career and was kicked out of her home. She now accompanies Luke Arvale, constantly scheming to steal his—
“Stop, stop, stop!”
The moment those words started pouring into my head, I freaked out and shut them out. Apparently, Villager Appraisal II gave me way more detailed info than I ever asked for. Even as the village mayor, snooping on people’s private lives like that didn’t sit right with me. I should probably avoid doing that again unless absolutely necessary.
“Is something the matter, Lord Luke?”
“Nope! Nothing at all!”
I quickly shook my head and tried not to look guilty under Myria’s curious gaze.
Seriously, though, her extreme attachment to a certain young boy?! I’m just gonna pretend like I didn’t read that... Yeah...
“So, uh... What did you want?” I said.
“Right! There’s something I’d like to show you, actually.”
“Show me something?”
“Yes, please come this way!”
She led me to the park we’d built at the village center. It was a wide-open plaza surrounded by kid-friendly stuff like swings, a slide, and so on.
And right in the middle of the plaza was something large hidden under a cloth, surrounded by villagers—including some of the dwarves who were usually in the dungeon.
I guess that’s what she wants me to see?
Myria had called everyone over.
“Now then... Behold!” Myria dramatically signaled to Gordy, who was standing off to the side. He stepped up, flexed his muscles, and yanked the cloth off in one swoop.
“Huh?”
Beneath the cloth stood a massive stone statue over three meters tall. It was a sculpture of a young boy standing with his legs slightly apart and his chest puffed out. He had his left hand on his hip and stretched his right arm dramatically out toward the horizon, striking the pose of some kind of heroic figure out of an old epic.
The only problem was...
It looked just like me.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ooooh!”
“Amazing! It looks exactly like Lord Luke!”
“It looks so dignified!”
The villagers cheered and applauded, losing their minds over the statue. I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Wait, hang on. Is this some kind of prank?
“We’ve been working on this in secret for this very day!” Myria said proudly. “The dwarves are particularly skilled, and they’ve done a phenomenal job capturing your noble form!”
I glanced at the dwarves, who beamed like they’d just created the greatest thing since sliced bread. It didn’t really feel like they were messing with me.
“But why would you make something like this in the first place?”
“Congratulations, Lord Luke! Today marks one full year since the founding of our village! It’s our glorious anniversary, and the beginning of the legend of Lord Luke!” Myria declared, her voice ringing out.
Oh, right. It’s already been a year?!
“That’s right! It was just the two of us back then. When I stood before that desolate wasteland, overwhelmed by despair, you looked out at it and said, without a hint of panic or hopelessness, ‘Yes, this land may be barren. But where others see only emptiness, I see opportunity! We shall build a village from this soil with naught but our bare hands and unbreakable will!’”
I did not say that! I definitely didn’t say that!
“Oooooh!” the crowd gasped.
“That’s our Lord Luke! His mind is truly great, on a different level from us ordinary folk!”
“He is a hero among men!”
The villagers freaked out again, practically drooling over Myria’s completely fictional retelling of the past.
Yeah, there’s no way I can correct her now. It’s way too late to be like, “Actually, I never said that...”
Seren was the only one giving me a look that said, Did you really say all that? She’d known me forever, so I could tell she wasn’t buying it.
I stood there with my head hanging in quiet defeat when Myria came in for the coup de grâce.
“We have prepared one more gift in honor of this fine day!” she said.
“There’s more?!” I practically yelped as she set a book down in front of me.
“This is a written chronicle of your glorious rise, Lord Luke!”
“Huh?!”
“It was penned by Totol, who possesses the Literary Talent Gift. Of course, this is only volume 1. There will be many more to come. The first volume even covers your childhood in great detail. It’s a must-read, if I may say so myself,” Myria explained proudly.
Just to clarify, I’m just a mayor. Not a hero, not a king. I’m just some guy! Don’t people publish this kind of stuff after the person’s dead?! And isn’t it usually written by their successor or someone else in the next generation?
“We’re currently preparing it for mass production. Then we can spread the word about you and our village even farther to gain more believe—er, more villagers!”
Was she just about to say “believers”?
✦ ✦ ✦
Deep within the Forsaken Forest, something enormous stirred.
Easily over fifty meters tall, this creature had dwelled here, undisturbed, for many years. It was truly the king of the wilderness.
Most of the time, it remained still, drawing nutrients directly from the earth and slumbering quietly, as if it were part of the forest itself.
But then something changed, and its massive body trembled in response.
There was a disturbance within its territory. A vague, creeping discomfort. Yet there were no intruders in sight, and nothing out of place stood nearby.
Still, this ancient being who had ruled the forest for millennia felt something it had never experienced before.
A sense of danger.
This presence was a threat to the creature’s existence, and that could not be tolerated. It needed to be eliminated.
Rrrruuummble...
The giant beast slowly began to stir as it began moving toward the south.
It didn’t know exactly why, but it could sense that the source of this discomfort lay in that direction. It pushed forward, flattening trees in its path, sending beasts and monsters scattering in panic as it made its way through the wilderness like a living avalanche.