The harvest season had finally arrived.
By all accounts, it was the most bountiful crop the village had seen in a decade. The farmers were all smiles, their exhaustion forgotten in the face of the literal tons of produce.
"With this, we're all set for this year's protection money¹," Sato Ryu said, nodding at the fields.
"Protection money? What's that, Young Master?" Shima asked. He tilted his head, confused by the strange terminology his young boss used.
"Ah, my mistake. I meant tax revenue,"
"I see, sir! Are we not harvesting the Kohin beans² yet?"
"That'll be in about two months, I think. I'm looking forward to that, too," Ryu replied.
The Kohin bean processing shack had been built using the profits from the handcarts Ryu had introduced. It sat at the edge of the village, a small monument to his burgeoning industry.
"More importantly, once the harvest settles down, we need to clear the forest to expand the Kohin fields," Ryu said. "I'm planning a major expansion for both Daichi Village and Nidai Village."
"That sounds like a hell of a job, Boss-ssu! I'll give it everything I've got!" Shima shouted, his enthusiasm practically radiating off him.
Ryu nodded, feeling the weight of leadership. If his subordinates were going to work this hard, he had to lead from the front.
* * *
The day of the forest clearing arrived under a clear, sharp sky.
"There's no need to fell the trees one by one," Ryu announced to the assembled villagers. "I'll handle that part. You guys focus on hauling them out, trimming the branches, and leveling the ground once I'm done."
"Wait, what? We don't have to chop them down or dig out the stumps?" one of the farmers asked, looking skeptical.
The villagers were baffled. The most back-breaking part of pioneering was being treated as an afterthought. And by a seven-year-old, no less.
"Alright, let's get started," Ryu said quietly.
As the villagers watched in stunned silence, Ryu held his hand out toward the base of a massive oak. He channeled his mana, feeling the familiar hum of the earth magic.
"Earth Thump³!"
CRUNCH.
With a heavy, subterranean thud, the soil at the base of the tree heaved upward. The ground buckled, forcing the tree out of the earth until its thick roots were exposed and dangling. As the trunk began to tilt -
"Storage!"
The massive tree vanished instantly, sucked into Ryu's palm as if it had never existed.
It was Magic Storage. He couldn't store a living tree while it was rooted, but by using earth magic to turn it into a "loose object" first, he bypassed the system's restrictions. He immediately turned around and "unpacked" the timber in front of the waiting villagers, the heavy wood hitting the grass with a dull boom. Then, he turned back to the forest.
"Earth Thump!"
He repeated the process over and over.
At first, the farmers stood there, slack-jawed at the growing mountain of timber. They quickly snapped into action, however; they couldn't just stand by while a child did the work of a hundred men.
Ryu worked in silence, his movements clinical and repetitive. Shima stood by his side, clutching a bottle like a loyal cornerman.
"Shima-kun,"
"Right here, Boss-ssu!" Shima handed him the bottle.
It was a Mana Recovery Potion. Ryu was still only seven; his mana capacity was a shallow pool. He needed to refuel before he hit "mana-bottom" and collapsed, so he had Shima on standby as his personal supplier.
The potion was a home-brewed concoction. Ryu had gathered the herbs himself in the forest, realizing that selling raw materials to the Apothecary Guild was a sucker's game. He'd spent weeks of trial and error refining the recipe.
The taste was absolutely foul - like liquid rot and copper.
"Disgusting..."
He drained the bottle, his face twisting as if he'd swallowed a mouthful of bile, and went back to work.
In what felt like no time at all, the forest line had been pushed back dozens of yards. The farmers worked with a mix of shock and frantic joy, clearing the branches from the trees Ryu provided. Meanwhile, Ryu's gut was a sloshing, gurgling mess from the sheer volume of liquid he'd consumed.
"[NOTICE: MAGIC STORAGE CAPACITY HAS REACHED ITS LIMIT. ACTIVATING GOKUDO⁴ ABILITY: LIMIT BREAK. CAPACITY EXCEEDED. MAGIC STORAGE VOLUME HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY EXPANDED.]"
The clinical 'Voice of the World' echoed in his mind.
"Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" Ryu pumped his fist, his waterlogged stomach sloshing with the movement.
He tried putting several logs into the storage at once - something that had been impossible minutes ago. He didn't feel the "wall" of the limit anymore. The expansion was massive.
He wanted to test exactly how far he could push it, but he was still on the clock. He stuck to a few trees at a time to keep from overwhelming the workers.
Though he had to take several breaks - mostly to keep from throwing up the potions - the forest clearing was finished ahead of schedule. The rest was up to the farmers. Ryu rubbed his bloated belly, watching the villagers level the ground, and felt a deep surge of satisfaction.
Territory expanded. Just like the old days.
Trivia:
- The Kohin beans are a separate crop from the main harvest and take longer to mature.
- Ryu creates his own mana potions because the Apothecary Guild pays too little for raw herbs.
- The 'Voice of the World' only intervenes when a specific ability-related threshold is met.
- Ryu's handcart business is the primary source of capital for the village's infrastructure
Character Insight:
Ryu shows a transition from a simple reincarnated child to a territorial leader. He is focused on efficiency and 'expanding territory,' a direct carry-over from his previous life's motives, showing that his Yakuza nature is the engine for the village's growth.
Behind the Scenes:
The term 'Mikajime-ryou' is a very specific Yakuza term for protection money, emphasizing that Ryu still views the world through a criminal organizational lens even when doing good.
TL Notes:
1 ↩ Mikajime-ryou: Traditional Yakuza term for protection money or 'street tax' collected from businesses.
2 ↩ Kohin: Likely a fantasy equivalent or transliteration of 'Coffee' (Kōhī) beans.
3 ↩ Tsuchi-Boko: Literally 'Earth Bulge/Thump.' A magic spell that manipulates soil density to displace objects.
4 ↩ Gokudo: A formal term for Yakuza or 'the ultimate path' of the underworld.
Notes:
• Ryu - Formerly Yokohama Ryusei, a yakuza. Reincarnated as the third son of the Landmark family. Has red hair and blue eyes. Possesses memories of his previous life and the ability to see names of objects.
• Shima - Ten-year-old boy with brown hair and brown eyes. Grandson of the butler Sebastian. Hired as a servant and training to be a future butler.