The Bustling Settlement

Thanks to the help from two classes, the farm work became livelier and more enjoyable than ever.

Monaka and Kotone worked the soil earnestly, not minding getting dirty.

Then Maachan and the other members of the Merchant Union came over.

“Leopin-kun! We came to help with the farm work! …Huh? The field looks pretty lively, doesn’t it? So there were other people helping besides us.”

“Yeah. They heard the rumors and came all the way here. They might be a bit stiff and formal for you lot, but get along with them.”

“Heheh! Leopin-kun’s already surprised us so many times that no matter who’s here, nothing surprises us anymore! There’s no way anything could shock us more than seeing you slap Lord Payper!”

Looking completely at ease, Maachan led her classmates toward the field while rolling up her sleeves.

But the moment they saw the guests spread out across the field,

“Eh… EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!!?”

The Merchant Union collapsed all at once like dominoes, falling onto their backsides in unison.

“W-Wh-Why!? Why are the people from Class 1-02 and Class 1-19 here!?”

“A-And Monaka-sama and Kotone-sama are here too!?”

“I knew those two were close with Leopin-kun, but I never imagined it was to this extent…!”

“Aaaaah! How can this be, how can this be!? Those two, those two who are promised to become a Great Saint and a Princess Miko in the future…!”

“Doing farm work of all thingsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!?!!?”

“Uwaaaah!”

The members of the Merchant Union rolled even farther back and skillfully dropped into full prostration.

They looked up at me in awe, trembling all over.

“L-Leopin-kun! No, Leopin-sama! S-S-S-Sorryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

“I-I had no idea, no idea at all that Leopin-sama was someone important enough to command Monaka-sama and Kotone-sama!”

“P-Please forgive our repeated disrespecttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt!!”

I felt oddly embarrassed.

“Everyone, raise your heads. More importantly, stop prostrating yourselves. I’m just unemployed. I’m not important at all.”

“N-No way! That has to be a lie! There’s no way someone who’s just unemployed would be acknowledged by Monaka-sama and Kotone-sama!”

“That’s right! At this academy, the only students who can talk with Monaka-sama and Kotone-sama are Sages-sama and Heroes-sama!”

“No, Monaka and Kotone don’t change how they treat people based on status or class. They treat everyone equally.”

I called out to the two of them.

“Hey! Monaka, Kotone!”

“Th-That can’t be! Calling those two over like they’re dogs…!?”

Some of them cried in shock.

Far from minding, Monaka and Kotone happily came running over to me with the eager energy of puppies.

“Monaka, Kotone, these people here are the ones from Class 1-09, the Merchant Union.”

As soon as I introduced them, the members of the Merchant Union pressed their prostrations even lower.

For some reason, Monaka and Kotone sat neatly down on their knees beside Maachan.

“You were all about to thank Leo-kun, weren’t you?”

“In that case, please allow us to join you as well.

We could thank Master morning, noon, and night, three times a day, and it still wouldn’t be enough to express our gratitude.”

“Then everyone, please join us!”

“Master, thank you always for guiding us!”

Following Monaka and Kotone’s lead, a large group of boys and girls bowed deeply toward me.

“This is getting out of hand…”

I scratched my head.

Then the wall around my house beside me began shining once again like a golden folding screen.

My base had finally become an Ordinary Settlement.

“Though the only actual resident is me. Everyone else is just a guest.”

The moment I muttered that, I heard voices of protest.

“Kwon!”

“Pyaa!”

“Sorry, sorry. You two are fine residents too.”

When I looked, Mark and Tom were in the field.

Mark was copying Monaka, smoothing the soil with a rake, while Tom was copying Kotone, digging up the dirt with cat punches.

There had been several times when Mark and Tom shared some of their hunting spoils with me.

“But this is the first time they’ve actually helped with work like this. Could it be the effect of the base skill Bonded Beast Support is already showing? If those two can handle farm work, they might become a huge asset.”

I immediately started crafting to put that idea into practice.

I made two things, and both were simple woodcraft items.

I attached the completed plow to Tom’s body.

A plow is a broad farming tool, almost like several hoes attached together, and by pulling it, a wide area can be tilled.

Normally it would be pulled by a cow or horse, but Tom seemed to have strength on par with livestock and kept tilling the field at a rapid pace.

Then I handed the rake to Mark.

In the Eastern lands, a rake is called a “bear hand,” and true to the name, it looked like a farming tool made from an oversized bear paw.

Mark quickly mastered the rake too, carefully leveling the soil Tom had dug up.

Their coordination was so perfect that they looked like a married couple who had spent many years together.

“At this rate, maybe it’d be fine to expand the fields.”

Right now, this base had three fields.

The Sweet Potato Field, the Wheatgrass Field, and the Black Sesame Field.

“If I want to distribute crops to the residential district, I’ll need to grow a lot more than this.”

I instructed Mark and Tom to head for the grassland.

I was worried they might not understand my intention, but the two replied with cries of “Kwon!” and “Pyaa!” as if answering me.

The beasts began clearing land in the grassland right beside the field.

Then I suddenly noticed around ten classmates lingering near the front gate of the house.

Since every one of them had a small animal on their shoulder, I could tell at a glance that they were from Class 1-03, the Tamer class.

I went over to them and called out.

“What’s wrong? Need something?”

Then the trainee Tamers all bent at the waist toward me and said, “We’re sorry, Leopin-kun!”

“Good grief, people sure are bowing to me a lot today. I don’t know what you’re apologizing for, but raise your heads already.”

When they straightened up, they began speaking all at once in obvious excitement.

“Sorry for making fun of you before! We really wanted to apologize!”

“To make it up to you, please let us help with the farm work too!”

“Though I guess only we can help. The pets can’t!”

That was apparently meant as a joke, and the Tamers laughed, “Ahahahaha!”

But I took it seriously and asked back, “Is that so?”

“Leopin-kun, you didn’t know that? Farm work isn’t part of a pet’s instincts, right?”

“No matter how skilled a Tamer is, they can’t order something that isn’t in an animal’s instincts!”

“I see… Well, either way, I’d appreciate the help. My companions are clearing land right now, so could you go help them?”

The members of Class 1-03 casually replied, “Okay!” and headed toward the field.

I worried that, just like the Merchant Union, they might lose their minds when they saw Monaka and Kotone in the field.

The Tamers certainly were surprised by Monaka and Kotone, but not enough to keel over.

But the instant they saw Mark and Tom doing farm work,

“Eh… EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!!?”

The Tamers collapsed in a flurry as though reliving déjà vu, falling onto their backsides all at once.

“W-Wh-Why!? Why are a bear and a black panther doing farm work!?”

“The bear is even skillfully holding a rake!?”

“N-No way!? Making pets do farm work is harder than training circus tricks, people even say it’s impossible!”

“Y-Yeah… Leopin-kun really isn’t ordinary! He’s a legendary Tamer!”

“Le-Leopin-sammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaa!!”

“Again…?”

I scratched my head.

Then the wall around my house beside me shone for the third time as though it had turned into pure gold.