I've got more strips, what's with that?

Wherever Ryu went, Sima was there.

Before long, the people in the territory came to recognize that.

In the village where Sima lived, he was famous for being an over-ambitious child, so his words and actions were something the people in the territory were aware of.

Sugo would be there when he was collecting on a loan, but basically, Ryu and Sima were treated as a single set.

“Sima-kun. You, you've been causing trouble for the lord..."

"Me? I've been in a few fights with the kids."

"Since you have [Taijutsu], you can't play with normal people."

"You mean fighting normal people?"

"Oh, I mean bare-knuckle brawls with civilians."

"Oh, I've changed my mind. I won't do that anymore!"

"I hope you've washed your hands of delinquency."

"Washed my hands?"

"Oh, I mean quitting."

“Ryu-bochan sometimes uses strange words, don't you?"

Sima questioned.

"Never mind, it's just an industry jargon."

"I-Industry Jargon?"

"If someone hears a conversation, if you use words that only your people understand, they won't know what you're talking about."

"I see. As expected!"

No, the truth was that he was simply stuck in the habits of his previous life.

This was something that could not be said, so Ryu left it up to Sima's interpretation.

There was a town and two villages in the territory, one of which was called Daichi village.

It was where Sebastian, the butler, and Sima's family lived.

Sebastian and Sima lived with the Landmark family, so Sima would not have been home for a month.

He asked Sima, "Do you want to visit your home?" but he simply said no. He said he would hold out until he was on his own.

"Yes, but it's awfully close, though, from our house to Sima-kun's..."

In the midst of this exchange, he and Sima had arrived in Daichi village to collect the interest on a debt.

“Well then, I have indeed received the interest for this month."

As Ryu was receiving the money from the villagers, the village chief appeared.

"Ryu-chan, may I have a word with you after this?"

"?"

As they were led, Ryu and Sima were guided to the village chief's house.

"It's about Nidai village. I was going to ask my lord about it, but I heard that Ryu-bochan was involved."

""?""

Ryu and Sima exchanged glances, unable to figure out exactly what was going on.

“Some of our villagers have heard that some farmers are growing new crops at the behest of the Landmark family, and that the family is providing funds to support them. There is no such thing in our village, and some of the villagers complain about it."

Okay, so that was what it was about...!

Maybe he was talking about the cultivation of Coffee beans, and it certainly looked like favoritism from the outside.

"Um. I'm sorry if we gave you the wrong impression. ...... Originally, I asked some farmers who couldn't pay their debts to give them jobs as a way to help pay off their debts."

“Repayment ..., you mean?"

"Yes. I'm asking them to do that because it's an experiment, and I'm not sure if it's going to take off yet. If we succeed in harvesting, we have a good chance of selling them, but we are still exploring."

"So there's a chance?"

The village chief bit into that part.

“Yes. But it will take years to grow and harvest from scratch, so it's just an experiment."

Ryu, thinking that the village chief might raise his hand at this point, reminded him.

“Please let us grow it in our village fields!"

The village chief in front of him decided it sounded like a good deal and made an immediate decision.

"No, no, the Landmark family can't afford to pay any more money right now, so wait."

"Part of my field is available right now, so it's fine!"

"No, it's not that, we don't have any more money to support you!"

"No, let me grow them for now! I will not bother the lord because I will grow it on the land he is letting me use!"

If they said so much, there was no reason to refuse.

The crop yields won't go down, so that was fine, now he just had to talk to his father, Farza, to find out what else he could do...

"I understand ... I will talk to my father then."

"Thank you!"

Either way, it was Ryu who thought it was probably a good thing that he didn't have to go through the hassle of convincing him since he was planning to increase the number of strips (producing farmers) once the result was achieved.

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