Amazing Village Building

I decided to take the Gobaldo Republic envoys to the palace in the center of the village for the meantime.

“Ahh, it’s mister village chief!”

“Mister village chief!”

“Let’s go play again!”

The ones to say so and rush toward me were the village’s children.

I was about to tell them I was with guests so I would have to play with them later, but then one of the children boasted about something.

“Mister village chief! I’ve grown taller again! I might just be taller than you now!”

“Huh?”

A girl who was still just 10 years of age said so.

While the girl was certainly taller than the other kids her age, there shouldn’t be any way for her to be taller than me, a 14 year old.

“See?”

“!?”

The girl stood face to face with me. Our eyes were at the same level…no, is mine a little bit lower…?

“It, it can’t be…”

Despite me being utterly shocked and unable to accept the truth, the other children began uttering the cruelest of words.

“Ahh, you’re right! Mister village chief is shorter!”

“You’ve already outgrewown him!”

“Yeah, you’ve got a whole centimeter on him already!”

Gah…and it’s a whole centimeter…?

“Ahhaha, at this rate, I’d be towering over mister village chief soon enough!”

“I, I’m still growing, you know!? I could still become taller than you!”

“You say you’re still growing…but mister village chief, have you grown at all this last 2 years?”

“Ack…”

The girl was among the earliest groups of refugees to move into the village.

Back then, I was clearly, obviously taller than her, but now…

“No, that can’t…”

“Aw, don’t be sad, mister village chief! After all, the way you are right now is the cutest!”

“Gah”

A 10 year old girl calling me cute made me stagger for a bit.

“I’d rather be manly…so why…”

While I was being crushed by reality like that, Ian-san spoke up.

“Don’t worry, Luke-sama! You’re surely going to grow taller!”

“R-really…?”

“Yes. Unlike girls, boys tend to reach the peak of their growth much later! If you’re 14, then there’s still a good chance for you to take the lead in height!”

There’s still a chance…that’s right, it’s still too early for me to give up!

“You’re right! As long as I do my best, I’ll surely grow taller!”

“Exactly! *(it would seem Luke-sama has a complex about his height…I managed to get quite a valuable piece of information!)*”

After entrusting a body double to play with the children, I resumed guiding the envoys toward the palace.

There were floors within the palace for occasions such as this to accommodate guests.

“Ahm, Luke-sama…I might be mistaken, but earlier, it looked like another you appeared out of nowhere…”

“That is a body double made with my Gift. They can move autonomously, so they’re quite useful.”

“……”

Standing in front of the palace which towered over the other buildings, the envoys were shocked for a good while. After a moment, I took them inside.

“And that’s the gist of how we use each floor. By the way, you will be staying in the 10th floor.”

After I gave a brief explanation of the floors in the palace, Ian-san asked a question.

“Which floor is the audience chamber?”

“I don’t have one…? I’m not a king after all.”

We did have a spacious room which the king could use as an audience chamber though.

But since I was but a village chief, guests could talk with me in an ordinary conference room. And for those I was a bit more familiar with, we could use the top-most floor of the palace that I used as my residence.

“Ahh, I almost forgot! Please accept this gift from us. It is one of our nation’s specialty products.”

Ian-san said so and then presented handicraft items such as jars and tableware.

Given their captivating vivid colors and exquisite shapes, they were likely high-class items made with a considerable level of craftsmanship.

I considered refusing to accept such expensive items for a moment, but doing so might actually be the more impolite course of action.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Please take it as a token of appreciation for readily accepting our request to observe your city. If anything, we worry that this might not be enough…”

“Ahh, no, this is plenty generous of you. …I won’t call it compensation, but do allow me to prepare some of our village’s specialty dishes for you.”

“““It’s so goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooodddd!!?”””

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