“You’re not surprised, are you?” “To be honest, I didn’t think you were actually living in this village. Not only your clothing, but everything about you didn't seem like someone living in the forest. The super fertilizer is a given, but even the tools you brought were clearly not from around here, either.” “The tools, too?” “Yes. For one thing, they’re too well made, but more importantly, they’re made of the wrong material. They don’t look like they’re made of iron.” That’s because they’re stainless steel. “I see. So you thought I came from somewhere else?” “Yes, I assumed you had come from another country using some kind of teleportation. That’s why I thought you didn’t show yourself very often.” That’s pretty close to the truth. “That’s right. I have a life and a job there, too.” “Is that so…? I’m sorry for asking you to be the village chief when you’re so busy.” Even though it was actually Darryl who had asked me to be the village chief, Monica bowed her head to me. “No, it’s fine. I have my own goals, too.” “And one of them is to live a slow life?” “That’s right. A slow life is a simple life. When I lived in the city, all I did was work, and I couldn’t do anything else. It was just a repetitive cycle of working to survive.” It made me wonder what the point of living was. To make money? To work…? “Ah… I think I understand. Retiring soldiers and nobles return to the countryside to live out the rest of their days, right?” “That’s kinda the idea yeah.” “That’s why you’re not interested in developing the village further or becoming a king or a hero.” “I’m sorry, but that’s right. I just want to live a peaceful life.” I’ve had enough stress in my life. “I understand. The villagers feel the same way, so let's go with that plan.” “Thank you.” “Also, I have a few questions.” Of course she has questions. “What is it?” “Is this some sort of other world?” “That’s right. My grandfather and I are natives of this world.” “Were the fertilizer and farming tools from this world, too?” One would think so. “The tools we bought here. As for the fertilizer, we bought some, but my grandfather’s machine improved it. Even in that world, it’s impossible to grow crops that quickly.” “I see, so that's the case with the fertilizer...” “How did you know?” “I could tell from your reactions, Tatsuya-sama.” Ah… how surprising. It was pretty obvious, I guess. “That’s right. It’s amazing.” “Yes, it is. Is the apple from this world, too?” “Yeah. Miriam said she liked apples, so…” Miriam, the apple loving cat.

They show up as our dessert a lot. “I see…” “Monika, the reason I called you here today was to discuss what to do with the village and how to achieve a slow life. I wanted your advice.” “Advice... In that case, I need to know what this world is like, what it has, and what it lacks.” I guessed as much. “Ruri, can you teach her how to use the internet?” “Understood. Come this way, Monika-san.” Ruri led Monika to the computer and turned it on as she explained how to use it. “Should we get takeout? What do you want to eat?” “Monika-san prefers bread over rice dishes, so let's go with pizza. I like the seafood one,” Ruri said. Ah, so Ruri wants to eat pizza again. We had it yesterday... but okay. “Okay, let’s go with that then.” I took the flyer from yesterday, consulted with Miriam, decided on the pizza, and called to place the order. After a little while, the pizza arrived, and we all began to eat. “This is delicious. I understand that there’s cheese and toppings on top of the bread, but the flavor is completely different.” Monika complimented the pizza as she ate. “It's delicious, isn't it?” “It's delicious.” “It's delicious, meow.” We all nodded in agreement. “It seems like this world is quite advanced. It must be because science has developed instead of magic. In my world, people rely on the convenience of magic, so their education and curiosity have declined.” With healing magic, medicine wouldn’t develop, and with attack magic, weapons wouldn’t advance either. On top of that, only a limited number of people can use magic. “What about educating the villagers?” I asked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I hate to say it like this, but if you give the common people knowledge, they’ll develop, but they’ll also become discontent and cause problems. If you're aiming for a slow-paced life, I think it's best to keep things the way they are right now. Though, I do think it would be good to raise the literacy rate a bit.” Yeah, they should at least be able to read and write… “Shouldn’t we teach the children at least?” I inquired. “I think so... Thank you for the meal, but now please excuse me. I'd like to continue looking around the web for a bit longer.” After finishing her pizza, Monika went back to the computer and resumed her intense research. Once she was done as well, Ruri began teaching Monika, so I cleaned up and then Miriam and I went to read grandpa’s books. “Is there any other magic we should learn?” “Hmm? Defense magic might be a good place to start, meow.” “What kind of defense magic is there?” “You can use wind magic to deflect arrows, or earth magic to create walls, meow.” Walls, huh…? “For the forest we have a magical barrier, but what if we made a wall out of earth at the front of the gates?” “That sounds good, meow,” Miriam agreed. “All right, let’s learn that magic, then…” Under Miriam's guidance, I began studying both the wind magic to block arrows and the earth magic to create walls.