kscans

Chapter 58 - The Mysterious Boy

He was the only person living in this "village."

Even Yuri had hesitated to reveal this fact.

Though he had been enjoying his solo life, he had given a great deal of thought to how he should act if he were to ever encounter another person. The first thing to consider was how much information to disclose, and to prepare a cover story for the information he chose to withhold. Drawing on the light novels he had devoured in his previous life, he decided it would be best to hide, or falsify, his status and skills. Fortunately, Yuri's unique skill, Status Board, had functions for concealing and falsifying his status. That should solve the problem, but if he concealed everything, he would face the inconvenience of not being able to use his skills openly. Also, the idea of a child with no skills surviving alone for so long seemed to lack credibility.

Considering all the various factors, he concluded that there would be no harm in revealing that he possessed Earth Magic and Water Magic… although he would need to think about what to say regarding their levels.

The real problems were Appraisal and Storage.

It seemed that possessing Appraisal itself was not uncommon, but Yuri's Appraisal, being that of a reincarnator from Japan, might be different from that of the inhabitants of this world. In that case, he should probably keep it a secret… or perhaps it would be better to falsify its level to be much lower. Related to this was the issue of whether to use Appraisal on the person in front of him. Using it would certainly provide more information, and if he had, he would have realized his own stats were extraordinary, but the problem was what would happen if the other person noticed they were being appraised. In that case, not only would it be revealed that Yuri had Appraisal, but it could also worsen their impression of him. It would be worst of all if the other person also had Appraisal. At the very least, he couldn't do anything rash until he confirmed how the act of appraisal was perceived in this country. That was Yuri's judgment.

The remaining problem was Storage. Hiding it seemed like it would lead to various inconveniences down the line. It was a vexing problem, but the Magic Bag he had found in the old village ruins had provided a solution. Yes, he could just attribute everything to the Magic Bag. It was probably an expensive magic tool, so it wouldn't be strange for him to refrain from showing it off carelessly. It was important that he had an explanation for if it was discovered, and more importantly, a reason for having kept it secret.

Thus, even though he had a general policy for disclosing information, other problems remained. For instance, what should he do after meeting people from outside? Should he continue to live alone here? Should he leave this place and go to a village or a town? Or… should he welcome new residents here? For the last option, he would also have to consider what to do if outsiders tried to take over this village. He didn't want to idly hand over the village he had worked so hard on to others. In that case… he would need to be prepared to use exclusion by force. …In the worst case, even if it meant killing all the villagers…?

Little did the grandfather and granddaughter know that the boy before them had made such a grim resolve. They were simply, and honestly, dumbfounded by Yuri's words.

Alone in this vast "village"? Maintaining all these fields by himself? No, more than that, surviving all alone in this demonic realm…?

It was a little over a four hour walk from End Village. This was already territory where magical beasts roamed rampant. Fortunately, the beasts disliked leaving the mountains, so End Village had not suffered the misfortune of being destroyed by a monster attack, but it was still a location that could be called the frontier's front line. And yet, a child was living alone in a place like this, a place that could be considered the middle of the mountains? A place where they wouldn't want to live even if you paid them? What on earth were the circumstances?

As the two stood there, stunned, Yuri briskly walked towards his dwelling. The two followed him, half stumbling, and soon found themselves in another area surrounded by sturdy stone walls.

"...What is this…?"

"Oh, this is my house. …Ah, you mean this wall? In the beginning, I couldn't wall off the entire village, so I started by just putting a wall around my house. It was a dangerous place, after all."

Old Man Audel had no argument with the fact that this area was dangerous… but normally, one wouldn't go so far as to surround even just their own house with such a sturdy wall… no, wait, what did the boy just say?

"I’m the only one living here" plus "I put a wall around the village."

The conclusion that could be drawn from this was…

"...This wall… and the wall around the village… you built them… yourself…?"

"Yes, but what about it?"

My abilities are at the absolute bottom of the barrel in this area.

Yuri, still dragging along this grand misunderstanding, assumed that this level of construction was something any ordinary earth magic user should be able to do as a matter of course.

On this very day, the person who would finally correct that misunderstanding had appeared before Yuri.