Problem

In the end, the bandit uproar was crushed in one sweep by Nadja’s sand bandit unit (which she was currently giving the tentative name Sandstorm).

Right now, Shekuri-san was giving sermons while the Sanctuary’s purifying power cleansed them of their wickedness.

Among the villagers Jinga-san had brought, there was a woman with the aptitude of Nun, so for now the two of them ran around together to handle things.

Thanks to that, we even had to make new housing facilities using House Trees.

Considering the food for the new people joining the village, our current production clearly wasn’t enough, so I used the points we had saved to greatly expand the orchards.

With the bandits now undergoing reformation included, the population of the village had surpassed one hundred.

I’d been planting trees furiously as well, so it looked like my Tree Planting level would soon rise.

After those miscellaneous tasks were done, I finally managed to take a breather.

But there was still something left to be dealt with.

“The bandit issue has been settled. The absorption of villages is finished for now. That means what we have to consider next is…”

“How to deal with the refugee villages that came from the kingdom.”

“Exactly, that’s the problem.”

The ones we had absorbed so far, based on Ran-san’s information, were people who had always lived in the desert.

Since they had endured harsh lives, they were grateful to me, giving me smile points, and since they had no ties to any part of the kingdom, I could help them freely without restraint.

But the newly forming refugee camps in the desert, located relatively close to the duchy’s lands, were different.

Recently, people had become unable to endure the oppression, heavy taxes, and conscription imposed by my father, Duke Conrad. These people had fled and set up makeshift refugee camps in the desert.

Life there was harsh, but still, they preferred it to staying in the duke’s domain, where everything would be stripped away.

How we should respond to them—this was a very important matter that would affect Tree Village’s future.

Now that we had some breathing room in the village, it was time to finally resolve this issue we had been putting off.

So I called together Simurg-san, Shekuri-san, Jinga-san, and the other key members of the village to discuss it.

“And that’s the situation. I’d like for us all to share opinions on what should be done.”

“Excuse me, may I ask a question?”

When I finished explaining and opened the floor for opinions, Shekuri-san was the first to raise his hand.

Meanwhile, Aira was busy mixing different flavors into Fruit Tea Resemble, and Nadja was half-asleep, perhaps because she already knew everything being said.

You two… aren’t you being a little too relaxed?

“Go ahead, ask me anything.”

“Wouldn’t it be fine to simply let them live in Tree Village as we have with the others?”

“That’s an excellent question.”

I gave a gentle smile like a teacher explaining patiently.

Shekuri-san looked puzzled.

It was understandable—this issue fell into the realm of kingdom politics, something he wouldn’t know much about.

“The simple answer is this. With these particular villagers… if we bring them in carelessly, it could later escalate into problems with the kingdom.”