Mountain

Thanks to Maton, managing finances and governing the territory had become much easier.

I could now properly secure time for myself, and it felt like the narrow field of view I’d had until now had suddenly expanded.

Having escaped that drowning, barely-holding-on state, I could finally start paying attention to things I’d never had the leeway to consider before.

“Alright, let’s go together.”

“Yes.”

“Of course!”

By selecting trees guarded by Tree Guardian Beasts, it had become possible to use Tree-to-Tree Teleportation on people other than myself.

Thanks to that, even in Guinea, I no longer had to spend time alone, and traveling back and forth had become much more casual than before.

Together with Aira and Nadja, I teleported to Guinea Village—.

Guinea Village had developed in a completely different way from Tree Village, thanks to the power of Divine Rat Wheel-san.

In Tree Village, Simurg-san’s actions had created an oasis, greenery had sprouted, the barrier regulated temperature, and crops grew at a faster-than-normal pace.

So what about Guinea Village…?

“Oh… it’s grown enormous in such a short time…”

What Nadja was staring at was the mine, which had been no more than a small hill when the Sanctuary was first created.

Now, from nearby, you had to crane your neck to see the summit—it had grown (if that’s even the right word) to that extent.

Guinea Village was structured around an iron mine at its center.

The mountain was growing at an astonishing speed, rivaling the World Tree of Tree Village, and at its peak stood a World Tree, watching over the lives of Guinea Village’s people.

Mining had already begun, and I could see people heading inside.

According to Wheel-san, not only iron but various other metals would eventually be obtainable as well.

And it wasn’t just the mine.

The soil in Guinea Village seemed richer than in Tree Village, and crops grew faster as a result.

Possibly because of that, root vegetables like potatoes—which didn’t grow well in Tree Village—were thriving here.

However, perhaps as a trade-off for the growth of vegetables and grains, fruit grew more slowly here.

Each tree settled at about one fruit per day.

That was still incredibly fast compared to normal fruit trees, though.

Combining the harvests of Tree Village and Guinea Village, we could secure enough food production that there would still be surplus even if we sold some externally.

At the very least, I didn’t think food shortages due to population growth would occur unless something truly extreme happened.

“There are roads now. This is… concrete?”

Wheel-san’s boast that his ability to manipulate the Sanctuary surpassed even Simurg’s had not been exaggeration.

The main roads within Guinea Village had been paved by Wheel-san.

We were even talking about eventually connecting them to Tree Village.

Of course, since such roads could be used militarily if either village were occupied, that was still a long way off.

“But somehow… it feels very manly.”

“Well, Wheel-san himself is pretty hot-blooded, after all…”

Tree Village was bathed in the light of the World Tree and felt overtly fantastical, but Guinea Village looked plain by comparison.

On top of that, because of the iron mine, there was an unavoidable metallic smell, mixed with the sweat of many mine workers—creating a rather intense odor.

Recently, brothels had even appeared in Guinea, and its masculine atmosphere showed no sign of slowing down.

Apparently, Wheel-san himself often took the lead in excavating iron ore.

Thanks to that, he was said to be beloved as both a mascot and a dependable big brother figure… or so the rumors went.

“Alright, we need to accomplish today’s objective.”

The reason we’d come to Guinea Village was to determine how to handle the villagers with aptitudes living here.

Currently, Guinea Village’s defense relied on the Wood Golems I had created.

Because of that, people with combat-related aptitudes in Guinea Village were doing the same kinds of jobs as everyone else.

Among those with other aptitudes, there were also people who would likely be able to make better use of their abilities in Tree Village.

Thanks to my power making travel easy, I could now offer them the option of relocating to Tree Village.

There was a chance problems could arise if we placed them in Tree Village, which was closer to the kingdom—but if we worried about that too much, we’d never get anything done.

And it would be a waste to keep leaving valuable manpower underutilized.

Deciding how to handle them was today’s main objective.

With that, we immediately headed toward the meeting room where the aptitude holders had been gathered—.