Delinquent Shima

Wherever Ryu went, Shima was there with him. Without realizing it, they had become recognized by the people of the territory. While Sugo was also present when collecting loan payments, Ryu and Shima were becoming a pair.

"Shima-kun. You caused trouble for the people of the territory, didn't you...?"

"Me? I only had some fights with the kids."

"Since you have the 'hand-to-hand combat' skill, you shouldn't be getting into fights with ordinary people."

"Getting into fights with ordinary people?"

"It means fighting people without weapons."

"Oh, I understand. I've changed my ways, so I won't do it again!"

"If you've quit being a delinquent, that's good."

"Quit being a delinquent?"

"I mean, quit doing those bad things."

"Ryu-sama, you use some strange words sometimes."

Shima voiced his doubts.

"Don't worry about it. It's just jargon used in our industry."

"Jargon?"

"If we use words that only our family understands, people won't be able to understand what we're talking about, right?"

"I see. You're amazing!"

Ryu let Shima interpret it however he wanted, but in reality, he couldn't shake off his habits from his past life.

In one of the two villages and the town in the territory, there was a place called Daichi Village, where Sebastian, the butler, and Shima's family lived. Since Sebastian and Shima lived in the Landmark family's residence, Shima should not have gone home for a month.

"Hey, Shima-kun, want to go home?"

But Shima declined right away, saying he would endure it until he became independent.

"Well, it's really close to my house, though..."

As they were having that exchange, they arrived at Daichi Village, where they had come to collect interest on debts with Shima.

"Now, we have received this month's interest."

As Ryu received money from the villagers, the village chief appeared.

"Ryu-kun, may I have a word with you?"

"Huh?"

Led by the village chief, Ryu and Shima were taken to his house.

"I'll get right to the point. It's about Nidai Village. I was planning to ask the lord, but I heard that Ryu-kun was involved."

"Huh?"

Ryu and Shima were puzzled, exchanging glances.

"Our village heard that some farmers are growing new crops with the support of the Landmark family, and some of our villagers are dissatisfied because we haven't heard anything like that in our village."

Ah, so that's what it is... It's probably about the cultivation of coffee beans. From the outside, it may have seemed like favoritism.

"If I have caused a misunderstanding, I apologize... I asked them to work as one of the repayment options for farmers who couldn't pay off their debts. Since it's still experimental and we don't know if it will be successful, I'm asking those people to help. We do have a chance of selling the harvest if it's successful, but we're still feeling our way through it."

"There is a chance of success?"

The village chief was interested in that part.

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

"Let us grow it in our village too!"

"No, no, we can't afford to give you any more money from the Landmark family right now."

"Some parts of my land are empty right now, so it's okay!"

"That's not it, we don't have any more money to support you!"

"Well, please let us grow it anyway! We won't cause the lord any trouble by using unused land!"

There was no reason for Ryu to refuse the village chief after he said that much. As long as the harvest amount of other crops doesn't decrease, it's fine. However, he still needed to talk to Father about it.

"...Alright, I'll talk to my father."

"Thank you very much!"

In any case, Ryu was planning to increase the cultivation of coffee beans if the result was good, so it was good that he didn't have to go through the trouble of persuading them.