Published: January 15, 2026
Let me start with the conclusion. Talga was exceptional. No, I had always thought he was capable. After all, he was entrusted by His Majesty with an important defensive base. He couldn’t be just someone who excelled in bravery alone.
Of course, if I were to quantify his abilities, it would be something like magic at thirty, swordsmanship at fifty, noble power at ten, and lordship at ten. Even so, his level of understanding was higher than I expected. Although, if asked what exactly “lordship” means, I wouldn’t be able to answer.
“Lord Van, why were these facilities arranged in this particular way?”
“This? I considered the flow of people and logistics.”
“The flow of movement, huh?”
Talga mulled over my words as he stared at the Seato Village tourist map. Recently, due to the war with the Yelinetta Kingdom, many traveling merchants, noble families, and members of the knight order had come to the village. So, for future reference, I had created the Seato Village guide map. In the upper left corner was a charming, stylized illustration of an apcaluru’s child.
Pointing at the map, I briefly explained the village layout.
“The lord’s manor is at the center. First, near the main gate facing the highway, shops and inns are concentrated. Since there are materials and supplies from demonic beasts hunted by adventurers in the Wolfsburg Mountains, large warehouses are also located near the entrance. Behind the shops and inns are related residences and storage buildings. Across the street, there are districts for blacksmiths, carpenters, and tailors, and further inside, there’s even a Dwarf’s forge. On the opposite side, there’s a residential district where villagers live, and at the back, we created a large lake to prepare for droughts.”
“You even made a lake?”
“Yes, that’s right. Because the apcaluru wanted to live here, we even built houses where boats can dock.”
“I see... Whether it’s the Dwarf’s forge or something else, providing what the residents want has led to such rapid development...”
“Eh? What residents want...?”
I tilted my head at Talga’s impressed words. Now that I think about it, I feel like I’ve been making whatever they ask for all along. Maybe I’ve spoiled the villagers too much. Come to think of it, even though their standard of living seems richer than in the capital city, I haven’t raised taxes. Actually, the tax payments from the Bell Rango Trading Company have been so large that I’d forgotten about it.
With that in mind, I suddenly realized just how extraordinary the living standards in Seato Village are.
First, housing is free if you settle permanently in Seato Village. A house is built for each household, and furniture and daily necessities are sold cheaply by the Bell Rango Trading Company. If you want something a bit nicer or more unique, the Mary Trading Company and the commerce guild also sell them. The same goes for clothing.
Furthermore, basic foodstuffs are sold at low prices. Even luxury food ingredients are much cheaper than in other territories. On top of that, there’s a monthly barbecue festival where you can enjoy premium meat, bread, and fruit wine for free.
One more thing to add: there’s no shortage of jobs. There are many territories with terrifyingly high unemployment rates, but in our Seato Village, we’re struggling with a shortage of workers. Including the adventurers’ town, the population has expanded to about four thousand, yet there aren’t enough knights in the order, nor enough merchants in the Bell Rango Trading Company. Well, it feels like the Bell Rango Trading Company is self-sabotaging, but even so, they keep hiring people who can calculate or have merchant experience, yet it’s still not enough.
These days, the Bell Rango Trading Company operates four large stores and two inns in Seato Village, and similarly, four stores and two inns in the adventurers’ town. In the future, we’ll have to operate one store each in fortress city Murcia and Fortress City Cayenne as well. Since we also buy up materials, we need staff who can cut and sort demonic beast materials.