Chapter 7 – Heaps of Problems, or how Trouble Keeps Haunting just Me

 

 

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The people, who had taken refuge from the attacking serpents, had lived on this island for more than 10,000 years. After they were discovered by the exploration team, which I was spearheading as its commander, we were currently in the process of evacuating the island residents, who couldn’t leave their island so far.

While I was staying on the island in preparation for potential serpent attacks during the evacuation, I’ve been taking care of Lulu, the southern girl who had been single-handedly charged with the defense of the island as a five-year old.

Moreover, probably because they’ve been living on this small island for a very long time, the design, color, and fabric for their clothes was simple, or rather, plain. Most likely, they haven’t been able to get their hands on better materials.

Lulu is a girl, so I should consult with Elise or Amalie-san about proper clothes for her, I suppose. The big shell hair decoration is pretty as it totally yells “Southern Girl” at you, but it seems this is a memento from her mother.

For the time being, I must do something about a wand for her…

“Which reminds me, Lulu, you don’t have a wand, do you?”

“Wand?”

“The magicians outside this island all possess wands.

Once you become a high-level magician, a wand mostly turns decorative, but right now Lulu needs one.

“I didn’t know.”

I heard that Lulu’s ancestors weren’t able to bring any wands to this island. And because they didn’t have any magic tool crafters, it remained impossible for them to make a wand locally, so there’s no way for Lulu to have one nowadays.

If she had possessed a high level of mana from the start, Lulu wouldn’t need one, but at present, not having one becomes a drawback for her while using magic. Or rather, it’s quite amazing that she continued to repel serpents by herself without a wand.

She could only chase them away, but even that is quite an achievement, I believe. Enough so that even someone like Doushi pays respect to Lulu who’s still a little kid.

『Regardless of her being the only magician in the village, no average person would be able to face serpents for the sake of others at her age!』

However, she didn’t like Doushi all that much because of his appearance. Children like Philine are rare and few between, so the affection unfortunately remains one-sided on Doushi’s side.

At the same time, she has taken quite a liking to me, but considering her circumstances, I find it hard to reject her too strongly. Besides, it’s been fun to take care of her over the last few days.

Because I have a calculating personality, I don’t feel too bad about being adored by a cute little girl. The exploration team had no women who could substitute as mothers for her…and since all of them are dudes…I took care of her well-being.

“Lulu, I will give you this wand as a gift.”

I retrieved a wand from my magic bag. It’s one of the items I inherited from my Master. It uses the bone close to a flying dragon’s magic stone as core and its surface is covered by the wood of an evergreen oak with an age of several thousand years. It’s a somewhat simple wand, but it’s still a fairly decent wand and it’s pretty much perfect for practicing magic. Because the mana is passed on straight into the wand, it’s ideal for a beginner. Master mentioned that he also used this wand to train in his younger days.

“You will practice with this and once you become an adult, I’ll give you a new wand.”

“Thank you. Receiving a wand is like getting an engagement ring from you.”

“……”

However, probably because of her responsibility to keep the village safe from a very young age, this girl has some oddly adult aspects to her… She thinks that me giving her a wand is the same as me asking for her hand in marriage. This troubled me quite a bit, alongside the surprise about a village, which was isolated for 10,000 years, knowing the concept of engagement rings.

“Hahaha, you’re really popular, aren’t you Wend? Though I don’t know how you’re going to explain this to Elise and your other wives.”

“…”

“Oghyaah!”

Because Erw teased me in passing once again, I quickly created a pitfall on the beach with my magic along the way he was walking. As he didn’t look ahead of him properly, he fell into the pit just like that.

“Is something wrong with Erwin-san?”

“Everyone is busily running around to prepare for the move, so maybe a hole has opened up on the beach? That guy often fails to look where he’s walking.”

“I see.”

I tricked Lulu with a suitable lie.

“Damn you… How about you go back home for the time being? You memorized this island, haven’t you?”

Erw told me while crawling out of the hole. He’s telling me that it’d be smart to inform my wives about Lulu early on.

“She’s a girl, so it’d be best for those of her gender to take care of her, right?”

“You do have a point there.”

Following Erw’s advice, I teleported to my mansion in Baulburg together with Erw and Lulu.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“Wend…dear…”

“Ina, I think you’re completely misunderstanding something.”

 

 

Once we got back home, Ina put on a grave expression after spotting Lulu. Her eyes clearly showed that she doubted my dignity as a human while embracing wrong suspicions.

“This girl is…”

“Did you bring her back because she’s cute?”

“NO!”

Don’t treat others like kidnappers!

“Wendelin-sama, is Lulu an unwanted child?”

“That’s not it. Lulu, you’re a good and cute girl.”

Lulu became teary-eyed when she heard me yelling, so I ended up consoling her so that she wouldn’t start crying.

“Eh? So it’s like that after all?”

“We’d only go in circles, if I yelled NO! again, right…? As a matter of fact, this girl…”

We moved to the living room where I explained Lulu’s story to everyone after they had gathered. Knowing the circumstances, my wives understood where I was coming from. Lulu was a precious magician without any relatives. The nobles would start an ugly contest over her, so I had no choice but to shelter her myself.

“Having said that, she’s no kitten. Since thou plan to take care of her, go all the way.”

“Therese, phrasing it like that makes it sound as if I’ve regarded Lulu as a puppy or kitten…

“What do you mean by all the way?”

“Usually, in situations like this, it’s common sense to entrust her to an elderly woman of the family or a widow.”

Once the girl grows into an adult after being raised by another woman, she will have several options. She can serve the noble house to repay the favor, and even if she doesn’t marry the noble who took her in, she also has the option to marry his children or a retainer.

But, I have been taking care of her personally for several days. Many villagers and sailors witnessed this. So how will they look at the relationship between Lulu and me?

“As always, thou are very careless in matters unrelated to magic. Thou have to properly take care of her to the end.”

“Lulu will become a good wife for Wendelin-sama.”

“I see, devote yourself to that and work hard.”

“Yes.”

“That’s a nice answer.”

Hey, Therese…don’t instigate a small girl like Lulu, okay?

“Even without asking, I can tell that she has quite a mana capacity, considering her age. She’ll become a great magician once she grows up. It’d be one thing if she hated this place, but don’t thou think it’d be silly to not take her in?”

Having this pointed out by Therese, a noble among nobles, I couldn’t object at all.

“Lulu-chan adores you, so you must rise to the challenge of taking care of her as Earl Baumeister.”

Given that Elise has been a priestess to begin with, she didn’t feel any reluctance to take care of a child without relatives. She seems to assess Lulu’s declaration to become my wife as the babbling of an innocent child.

…Right?

“But you know, before that…”

“Yep, that’s right.”

“Eh? What is it?”

Luise and Katharina looked at me with pitying expressions, but I couldn’t understand why.

“Wend-sama, those three.”

“Which three?”

Once I cocked my head as I didn’t comprehend, Agnes, Betty and Cindy rushed into the room.

“Sensei! Is it true that you have taken a five-year-old girl as your wife?”

“Sensei, you turned the order around!”

“Was this the reason for you not having taken us along on the exploration? Sensei, you like small children and so you headed out to search for such girls while leaving us behind…”

I ended up overwhelmed when my three students attacked me like this.

“If five-year-old girls are okay, I’m already 15 years old! You don’t mind this at all, do you!?”

“Agnes, what sort of misunderstanding is this?”

“Sensei, you gave up on me because you found a younger girl with more talent!”

“Why would I do that?”

Agnes, aren’t you still in training? There’s no way that I’d give up on you just like that.

“Sensei!”

“You too, Cindy?”

“I’m not as young as that girl, but I’m the youngest among us three!”

It’s not like I like women more the younger they are. Please stop thinking of me as a lolicon.

“Sensei, sorry. Even if it might be unreasonable, it’d be better for us to accompany you. Your wives aren’t with you and so your eyes immediately get drawn to some young girl…but, sensei, you’re a guy after all.”

Betty, please could you stop yelling out stuff that’s completely based on your misunderstanding of the situation?

Elise and my other wives were laughing with their shoulders shaking…

“It’s just as Betty says. We will also join the exploration team.”

“If you continue the exploration with guys alone, you will pick up girls all over the place!”

Cindy, I don’t have a hobby of picking up girls.

“Sensei, you’re just too kind. Please don’t worry! We will become a wall for you!”

“Isn’t that great, Wend? Agnes and the others say they’ll protect you.”

“…(Ina…stop saying such things while holding back your laughter…)”

Elise and the other women laughed heartily at me thanks to the misunderstanding by those three.

“This has been a blast for the first time in a while! Wend, popular guys have it tough, don’t they!?”

Erw was the one laughing the loudest at me, but currently we’re inside my mansion, so I cannot punish him with magic. As such I had no option but to simply sigh at the absurdity of this world.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

 

When I finished explaining the situation to my wives, it earned me roaring laughter, but in the end, they accepted Lulu, allowing me to continue my exploration. The residents of that island had all moved to the sugar cane plantations located on the southern archipelago under my House Baumeister’s control.

As it was planned to construct sugar processing facilities over here, they would be working as sugar cane farmers or workers at the sugar plants. Sugar is quite expensive, so it allows us to pay them a reasonably high salary. They can also fish in the ocean and they’re even allowed to cultivate small fields to feed them and their families.

Given that their lives would become a lot more prosperous compared to before, they were all overjoyed.

As for the island with 90% of its territory occupied by a monster domain, we plan to hire high-ranking adventurers and confirm the items that can be harvested and hunted there. If we run in some rare materials, we’ll build an adventurer guild and a town around it on the site of the village, and just turn it into an island for adventurers.

If the number of adventurers going there increases, I plan to regularly send magic airships over.

But, all of this has to wait for now. Currently we’re going to explore the uncharted terrain.

The magic airship had departed the island and was steadily heading southwards. And as a result of Agnes, Betty, and Cindy getting all fired up, or rather, running berserk due to a misunderstanding, I brought them with me, as they argued it’s only lead to troubles if just guys were going on this exploration.

It’d have been best if my wives had forbidden them to go, but since they gave their permission while thinking that it’d be interesting, the three girls were currently standing at my side. As always, Lulu was glued to me.

Given that they didn’t have anything to do during the flight, Agnes’s group taught Lulu as many spells as they could. This is something my Master told me, but teaching magic to others isn’t just for the students.

『Teaching others gives you the opportunity to logically organize your own magic and might give you hints you didn’t notice thus far. As such, it’s also for your own sake』

Agnes and the other two should also be able to gain something out of teaching a person with a huge capacity like Lulu. Once I explained all this to them, they diligently started to teach magic to Lulu.

And because Lulu is still a little girl, I also brought Amalie-san with me to look after her. She experienced rearing two children already, so I can leave Lulu to her without a worry.

“Personally I’ve only brought up boys, though. I wonder how to handle a girl?”

“Even then, it’s still much better than leaving all of it to me.”

I mean, I have barely any experience in raising children to speak of. Moreover, the other party is a girl. As a matter of fact, I still don’t understand how to handle her best.

“Nevertheless, she really dotes on you, doesn’t she?”

Certainly, Lulu’s idolization of my person has reached incredible levels. It’s not like I’m being particularly loved by her, though.

“You don’t understand?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Lulu-chan is quite level-headed for her age, but that’s only because she had no other choice but to adopt such a stance.”

As sole magician, she shouldered the lives of several hundred villagers, despite being merely five years old. She likely had no option but to become an adult.

“But, I think that has become a big burden for a five-year-old girl.”

That sounds very reasonable. I don’t even remember my time as five-year-old in my previous life because I was such an idiot.

Oh, right!

I boldly announced in my kindergarten that I want to become one of the transforming heroes from TV.

…Men sure are idiots, aren’t they?

“Just when she thought that she wouldn’t be able to defend against the incoming serpent attack anymore, you gallantly showed up in front of her, Wend-kun. Moreover, you easily defeated the serpents which she struggled to barely repel. I think it’s only natural for her to idolize you.”

“But, Doushi also participated in the serpent clean-up.”

“Doushi-sama is kind to women and children, but since he’s slightly unpopular among them…except for Philine-san, that is…”

Amalie-san explained why Lulu didn’t like Doushi while remaining evasive with her words. In short, she’s scared of him because he totally looks like a villain. And I guess that’s why Lulu attached herself to me alone instead.

It might be similar to Stockholm syndrome, but she’s still young and has no family. So I must take care of her until she grows into a proper adult.

“Lulu is a girl, so there’s a lot of parts to her I don’t understand as a man.”

What I don’t understand the most is her attire. Currently she kept the shell hair ornament because it’s a memento from her mother, but the rest of her attire was the dress for small girls which Amalie-san had bought from Candy-san. It was a dress a girl from a slightly wealthy family in the capital would wear, so its colors were more vivid than the plain clothes they made on the island with the few available materials. It had lots of decorations such as frills added to it, earning her the envy of the village children.

 

＊

 

『Lulu, that looks so niiice!』

『So many pretty colors』

『I want a set as well』

『Me too』

『Lulu is going to become Earl Baumeister-sama’s wife in the future and Lulu’s child is going to become our village chief. For this reason, restrain yourself for now』

The vice-village chief told the girls, who were jealous after seeing Lulu’s new outfit, to give up since Lulu now had a different standing. It was a fairly pragmatic approach.

『Then I’m going to become Earl Baumeister-sama’s wife as well!』

『Me too!』

『I will do it as well!』

『Hey…』

However, once only the little girls started to kick up a fuss about becoming my wife, I couldn’t let this go on any longer and complained to the vice-village chief.

『Please forgive them. They went with the flow…but, we do need a village chief or town mayor』

Even as he apologized, he didn’t forget to object that they’d need a village chief to keep the people together.

『We’ll be able to buy clothes, once the village settles down. Candy-san’s clothes aren’t that expensive』

Something like that happened, but she, err, he had a top-notch ability as fashion coordinator, resulting in Lulu looking even cuter in his clothes. The village girls were probably jealous of that.

Even though it’s his specialty to doll up women, Candy-san himself looks rather special…or, somewhat eccentric…

Almost as if he was a tender-hearted robot who didn’t look like it at all.

『Well, this girl is lovely and she’ll definitely become a beauty in the future. Isn’t that great, Earl Baumeister-sama, you playboy?』

『Argh!』

Candy-san accurately chose everything else for Lulu, like her shoes, spare clothes, underwear, and so on, but when he hit my back with his ridiculous strength as usual, I thought I might stop breathing then and there.

His strength was on par with Doushi’s.

 

＊

 

“She’s a girl, so I will assist you on the parts that are hard to handle for a guy like you, Wend-kun. I always wanted to have at least one girl myself as well.”

While having such a conversation with Amalie-san, the magic airship flew across the southern sea. Other than the archipelago situated at the southern tip of the Baumeister Earldom, we didn’t find any other big islands thus far.

The biggest island to date was the pleasure garden of monsters and serpents, where Lulu lived. Given that it’d be difficult for ordinary people to live there, we’ll probably develop it into an adventurer island.

Other islands were mostly small and uninhabited. They didn’t show any signs of previous colonization either. Because the surroundings of those smaller islands were infested with serpents, one wouldn’t be able to live on them, unless they’re quite confident in their own strength, so it’s only natural for them to house no people.

“Earl Baumeister, it would be best to abort the exploration soon!” Doushi offered me his opinion.

This was an exploration to establish the sphere of influence and rule of the Baumeister Earldom. As such it’d bear no meaning to take control over islands which are too far away.

It’d increase the costs for governing those places and the Kingdom should be planning to launch a southern expedition with the Lingaia, too.

If I extend the Baumeister Earldom too much, the Kingdom might become wary of me, so it’s better to stop and claim everything up to here as my territory.

Doushi gave me this opinion because he understands His Majesty’s line of thinking.

“Around three days with a magic airship. I guess it’s time to turn around.”

“Indeed. I want to see my wife and daughter,” Burkhart-san agreed as well.

But, just when we were about to do a U-Turn, a young lookout shouted, “I see a huge island in front!”

“Wh-!?”

No way! For us to find a big island in this place…would it have been better to have turned back a bit earlier?

“Anyway, we’re going to investigate the island.”

I also tried to observe the island which gradually grew bigger as we approached, and I must say, it’s unexpectedly big. Moreover, it isn’t uninhabited either.

The island has a port. It’s small but several small wooden ships are moored there.

It looks like serpents don’t appear that often around here. Most likely the residents of this island haven’t made contact with House Baumeister yet because the area north of them was teeming with serpent nests and turfs.

“Are they living on this island alone or is there another country further south?”

We probably won’t know the answer to that unless we ask the islanders. Either way, this place was going to be the last stop, so we started our reconnaissance and investigation.

“It is unknown whether they will actually listen to us!”

Just as Doushi says, they might be dangerous people who will immediately try to remove the outsiders. We should probably be very careful in our approach.

“Captain, we’ll postpone the landing. Investigating the entire island from the sky is more important for now. Please be mindful of ranged attacks such as spells and arrows.”

“As you command, Milord!”

“Earl-sama, it’s a fairly odd island, I gotta say.”

We checked the island with binoculars, but it was extremely different in nature compared to the islands thus far. The island was surrounded by precipitous cliffs for the most part. The places where you could build ports were few and far between.

“Is it just rocks? No, wait. I can see greenery on the island too.”

As we gazed from high up, we found forests, huge fields, towns, and a luxurious mansion that seemed to be the dwelling of the ruling class.

“Earl-sama, isn’t this whole place a volcano’s crater?”

“Now that you mention it, it certainly looks like it.”

“It seems to not have erupted for many years though. Well, if it had, people probably wouldn’t be able to live here.”

Rather than an island, the tip of a volcano was protruding out of the ocean here. Nature and people had taken residence inside its crater. Going by the island’s state, the volcano should have erupted for several thousands of years, Burkhart-san speculated.

“Earl Baumeister, it is just like Mizuho!”

“True.”

The mansion, houses and fields on the island; the longer you look at it, the more it seems like the Mizuho Dukedom. It doesn’t appear as though they developed technologies as far as Mizuho did, but since the houses, which seemed to belong to farm families, used thatch roofs, I could only think of Mizuho when looking down on the island.

“Are those the people Duke Mizuho previously mentioned as companions, who were separated from them?”

“Maybe.”

As a matter of fact, it’s something I previously heard from Duke Mizuho. The Mizuho ancestors possessed a protectorate, or rather, something like an autonomous, self-governed country, in the Savage Lands. That place became uninhabitable as an after-effect of the Ancient Magic Civilization’s collapse, and they moved to the current Mizuho Dukedom while searching for a place to move to.

It was a truly great migration, but several groups apparently broke away from the main group and chose different options.

『Now then, I wonder if those people managed to safely migrate to a new land. So far, we couldn’t confirm the existence of our brethren inside the Lingaia Continent』

In that case, they had to have left the continent. West doesn’t work because of the demon country over there, but north, east, and south are possible options. And now we’ve found people who look like Mizuho in the south.

“Even if we only learn this much, it’s already worth something, but what are we going to do, Earl-sama?”

Yep, it’s great that we found another island, inhabited by people we deem to possibly be Mizuho people, but how should we proceed here?

“The island lies within the Baumeister Earldom!”

“No, let’s have the Kingdom take care of this place.”

If this place had been uninhabited, it’d have been fine to claim it as my territory, but this island is quite big. The population might be bigger than that of the Baumeister Earldom. If we take in the island and its people, it’ll have a big impact on the rule of the Baumeister Earldom.

“How about the Kingdom goes with the Mizuho style of government?”

Just like the time when the Mizuho Dukedom used to be the Earl Mizuho Country, we would make them obey the Kingdom and only take the profits from trading with them. I think this is the method with the least effort for the highest yield.

“I think His Majesty would consider that option as well, but first we have to find out about this island’s governmental system! It is not necessarily said that there must be one ruler!”

If the island is divided by several powerful lords, and in case these lords frequently fight each other, we won’t know who we will need to win over to make the island yield to the Kingdom. Doushi suggested investigating that part first.

At times like these, Doushi is a very capable representative of His Majesty, I have to say. I’d like him to consider using at least 5% of his current capability under normal circumstances as well.

“Fortunately, many people have gathered!”

“People? Bah!”

What Doushi found were two armed groups of around 200 to 300 people who were glaring at each other. In short, they were about to start a battle with small military forces.

At that point, I guessed that this island wasn’t peaceful.

“Doushi, that’s obviously a battle…”

“It seems so, but it is the perfect time because there are two groups already gathered there! We will have two sources for information!”

“Wait, you think they will honestly tell us what we want to know?”

Burkhart-san was at his wit’s end because of Doushi’s extreme optimism. No matter how small their forces might be, he was talking about meddling with those groups which were about to fight any moment.

“There are no strong magicians among them! Either army only has one magician at intermediate level!”

I also tried to probe the battlefield and came to the same conclusion as Doushi. Both sides had one magician each. And Doushi probably plans to overpower them with brute force, if they’re hostile towards us.

“It is no problem for us!”

“We can win, I think, but shouldn’t we have a proper talk first? Things will become troublesome if we draw too many grudges on us.”

I doubt that we need to worry about getting killed, but I thought we could ask for a talk in a more peaceful and suitable place than a battlefield.

But, Doushi was high-handed and was trying to get in-between both armies while dragging Burkhart-san and me along. It looks to me like he also aims at trying to stop the conflict, but we’re talking about Doushi here, so I feel like he’ll rout both armies.

“Sensei! I will go as well!”

“”Me too!””

Next, Agnes, Betty, and Cindy declared that they’d come with us.

“It’s dangerous, so you better stop.”

Our adversaries are groups who cannot use magic, but I’ll be in a bind, if we’re taken by surprise and something happens to the girls. As such, I rejected their request.

“Sensei, we’ve been diligently training up until now.”

“We also consider the possibility that we’ll need to deal with such a situation someday.”

“And that possibility is now.”

Agnes and the other two aren’t children anymore. They declared that they’d follow me because they’ll become combat assets as magicians. As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s still too early for them, but…

“Earl-sama, you seem to be very soft on your own pupils. If we’re speaking about their abilities, the girls are already full-grown adults. You should take them along. I’ll back them up as well.”

“Got it.”

Persuaded by Burkhart-san, I decided to bring the girls with me.

Am I making my cure pupils go on a trip…or into battle?

“Don’t let your guard down.”

“””Okay.”””

“Okay, let’s go then.”

Because it’d be dangerous to land the airship, we tried to get in-between both armies with Flight.

“A flying ship!”

“The ship is floating in the sky!”

Spotting the airship in the sky, they were surprised while pointing fingers. It looks like they haven’t even seen any magic airships thus far, despite possibly being Mizuho people. Maybe their technological level dropped during the last ten thousand years.

“You people! Stop your dispute right away and listen to me! I am Earl Baumeister.”

Given that it’d be problematic if they ignored us and started to fight anyway, all of us landed between the two armies and I loudly introduced myself.

“Magicians?”

“They ain’t from this island. That much is sure.”

“A flying ship…that means they came from the outside?”

The soldiers continued to whisper amongst each other while looking back and forth between us and the airship. On a closer look, it became clear that they weren’t regular soldiers. Their commander wore extravagant armor with a helmet like it was worn by generals during the Warring States period, but the rest mostly wore plain equipment. They were scattered all over the place, unable to keep proper ranks. Their commander has likely gathered the peasants and organized them into this riff-raff.

“Who are you people?”

“”””””Eh?””””””

The commander and someone appearing to be their second in command appeared from one of the armies, but we got surprised.

“Women…?”

I don’t know whether she’s their lord or general, but one of them was a girl in a shrine maiden outfit whose long, black hair was pretty as it extended all the way down to her knees. Not only was she beautiful, but she had an aura about her that made clear her noble descent from just looking at her. She was holding a halberd in her hand.

The other woman, who appeared to be the girl’s second in command, wore armor and helmet as a male military commander would.

“My name is Akitsushima​ Takaomi.”

“She is the person who has been ruling Akitsushima​ Island!” The pretty warrior girl declared. ¹

Ms. Second-in-Command looks a bit inflexible, but she’s quite a beauty nonetheless. The short-cut fits her nicely, making her look energetic.

“She is the ruler of this island?”

“Indeed!”

“Why are you fighting against an army of similar strength then?”

I thought Doushi had butted in without thinking anything, but he immediately pointed out the contradiction in Ms. Second-in-Command’s claim.

Still, the shrine maiden has a male name despite being a woman?

I got that this island is called Akitsushima​ Island, but what’s the point in naming it while using island twice in its name? (T/N: Akitsushima​ contains 洲 (shima), which can mean island)

“Akitsushima​-san, why do you have a male name?”

“Earl Baumeister-dono, do you know about our race despite coming from the outside?”

“I guess you could say I know people similar to you.”

I gave Ms. Second-in-Command a simple explanation of the Mizuho Dukedom.

“Oh my god! For our old comrades to have developed to such an extent…”

Hearing about the details from me, she couldn’t hide her surprise about her comrades having established a country in the north of Lingaia Continent.

In my eyes, the Mizuho Dukedom seemed to be overwhelmingly ahead in population, national power, and technological development. As a result of having lived for more than 10,000 years on this island alone, the islanders fell behind drastically.

Moreover, there existed another concern.

“You’re making the ruler of this island laugh! You can’t even muster more troops than I do!”

A young man in full armor showed up from the other army. He was almost as big and forged as Doushi. Anyone could see that he was a brave general. He appears to be the general of the other army.

“Sensei, isn’t Akitsushima​-san’s side at a disadvantage?”

It’s probably just as Agnes says. If the army strength is more or less equal, the strength of the supreme commander becomes a key factor.

Moreover, the big guy was a magician. Akitsushima​-san was a magician as well, but no matter how you look at her, she doesn’t give me the impression of being suited for battle. If they fight, Akitsushima​-san’s side is very likely going to lose.

“Ugh, all of you guys are magicians, eh…? Moreover…”

Agnes, Cindy, and Betty had finally managed to join us in the advanced ranks. No one among us would get defeated by the young man. His mana capacity was that of an intermediate magician, so even if he did a handstand, he wouldn’t be able to win.

Knowing that, he tried to not agitate us as much as possible.

Different from his appearance, he seems able to think things over calmly.

“You may name yourself!

“My name is Shichijo Kanenaka!”

As soon as I thought I heard that name somewhere, it seemed to belong to a Warring States commander…the same name despite a different world? Is this coincidence?

“By the way, why are you fighting?”

“It’s because we don’t have any water…”

According to Shichijo Kanenaka, it hasn’t been raining on this island recently and since there’s few rivers on top of that, they’re troubled as their crops aren’t growing.

“The Akitsushima​ Palace owns a spring with a lot of underground water. If we had this water, we wouldn’t need to worry about our crops withering away either.”

“Don’t say such selfish things! We’re also just barely managing with the water we have!”

 

 

I won’t know unless I ask for the details, but Akitsushima​-san’s ancestors must have had a status similar to that of Duke Mizuho. And now they’re only ruling over this small patch of land. On top of that, Shichijo Kanenaka, who might be the descendant of a former retainer, is targeting their water source.

“Isn’t it possible to peacefully split the water?”

“NO! We even went as far as praying for rain, but at this rate, the crops will wither away until the harvest! Once that happens, many residents might starve to death. Even if I must become a villain and steal the water source from the Akitsushima​ family, I need to secure the water!”

I suppose it’s not like Shichijo Kanenaka started this war because he wanted to. On the other hand, everything can be resolved if they get their water.

“I understand your feelings, but if the residents of the Akitsushima​ family run out of water because of that, they will also die from starvation!”

“Even so! I told you, didn’t I? I shall become the villain! With our current amount of water, only half of our people are going to survive!”

Shichijo Kanenaka took another step forward and glared at Doushi, his eyes clearly telling him that outsiders shouldn’t run their mouths about things they don’t understand.

“There might exist another means. If you go to war, it will be difficult to keep the casualties to zero! Think about it calmly while you still have time!”

“Outsider, stay out of this! Hand over the Akitsushima​ Palace!”

Shichijo Kanenaka tried to challenge Akitsushima​ while ignoring Doushi. But, with his strength he wouldn’t be able to win against Doushi, no matter how much he struggles.

Because he understood this very well, he stressed the part about Doushi being an outsider and made sure that he wouldn’t meddle in the battle.

He probably thinks that his chance of victory is high, if his opponent is Akitsushima​-san.

“Won’t you have a duel against me? As fellow magicians!”

“You bastard! O-Ryou-sama is a healing magic practitioner! She isn’t suited for fighting!”

O-Ryou-sama? Is this Akitsushima​-san’s real name or something?

“Humph! What about it? It’s different during times of peace, but being weak under the current circumstances is a sin! Hosokawa Fujitaka!”

The real name of the second-in-command girls seems to be Hosokawa Fujitaka. Another male name for a woman?

But, given that Shichijo Kanenaka is a guy, I suppose it’s not like all named military commanders are women. Do they have a custom of naming their family heads like military commanders, regardless of gender?

“Doushi, it sounds like they have various complicated problems going on.”

Or rather, must I really rule over such a troublesome island? When it comes to getting my hands on Japanese produce and interacting with a Japanese-styled culture, there’s the Mizuho Dukedom, so it’d be best to yield this island to the Helmut Kingdom.

Yep, let’s do that.

“Doushi, the Kingdom can manage this island.”

“No!”

“Haaah?”

What does Doushi hate about this? Is he saying that it’s better to entirely leave this island, which is quite far away from the capital, to me while considering the costs to rule it as representative of His Majesty?

“Just as previously promised, this island is set to become part of the Baumeister Earldom! One must always uphold one’s loyalty when it comes to managing a state!”

“Doushi, only at such convenient times…”

Upholding loyalty? Isn’t stuff like that just a front anyway?

It was pretty clear that he was trying to push this troublesome island on us.

“Earl Baumeister-dono, what are you people talking about?”

“Err, you see, Hosokawa-dono, as a matter of fact…”

While Doushi and I were pushing the rule of this island back and forth between us, Burkhart-san explained our situation to Hosokawa-san.

“What!? The Lingaia Continent has been ruled by two great nations over the last 10,000 years and the land, which used to be our homeland, became part of the Baumeister Earldom? Moreover, you say you’re extending your hands for the rule of this island as well?”

Hosokawa-san seemed quite flustered. While they had only lived on this island for the last 10,000 years, a major power had approached them from the outside without them realizing.

“Having said that, it looks like the Kingdom would be bothered with this as well, so how about turning the ruler of this island into a noble of the Helmut Kingdom…? As long as you do trade with us afterwards…”

I still got enough land to develop myself, so I don’t need to rule such a problematic island. We’ll have them bow their head to the Kingdom, so wouldn’t it be okay to give the local ruler the rank of Earl? As for the trade, we’ll provide the necessary magic airships.

Because the seas around here are swarming with serpents, that’s the best method. I’m definitely not thinking about monopolizing the trade network to make a huge profit. Definitely not.

“Hey! This island has no ruler.”

At this point, Shichijo Kanenaka butted into our conversation.

“Really?”

“You think we’d quarrel over water to such an extent, if we had someone like that? Though you can see the family of the former ruler over there.”

“You mean Akitsushima​-san?”

“Yep. In the distant past, the Akitsushima​ family was a distinguished family with a long history, succeeding the Mizuho family.”

I see. 10,000 years ago, the Mizuho and Akitsushima​ families split up. The Mizuho family discovered its new home in the continent’s north inside the Great Akitsu Basin. Influenced by the Empire, they changed their names to katakana, but they preserved a big part of their magic technology and expanded their influence.

The Akitsushima​ family, which fled to an isolated island in the distant south, probably collapsed since they were treated with contempt by people like Shichijo Kanenaka. I guess nowadays they have a small patch of land left.

“In the past the Akitsushima​ family ruled over this island. Nowadays, us lords have become independent and continue small skirmishes. There are a lot of conflicts with neighboring lords over territory, rights, and water sources.”

No one is clearly ruling over this island. And thus I cannot make anyone bow their head to the Kingdom either in order to bring the whole island under royal rule either.

There’s also the matter with the demons…so I don’t need any more troubles.

“I see… Then we’ll have them join the Kingdom once someone rules over this island. We’ll endorse that person as well. Okay, bye then.”

“That is impossible!”

While praying for the appearance of a hero who would unify the island, I decided to leave the island to its own devices for the moment, but Doushi rejected that idea with all his might.

“Since the Kingdom is going to start its southern exploration from this island, we cannot leave things unsettled like this!”

I guess the Kingdom wants to use this island as a base camp for its southern exploration. And sure, it’ll affect the exploration, if this island remains in a state of constant battles.

“But, it seems quite a bother.”

I don’t know how many separate powers exist on this island, going by these people’s names, I cannot shake off the bad feeling that they’re in the midst of a turbulent war period. If I make a move here, I’ll obviously get dragged into all these troublesome matters…

“That means we will have Akitsushima​-san unify this island and get her a peerage in the kingdom…”

It’s great that I found an objective. All that’s left is for her to do her best with her own power.

Me?

I’m going to pray for her success in unifying the whole island.

“Unfortunately the Akitsushima​ family is the weakest power on this island. They don’t have more than 500 residents.”

I don’t know how many people live on this island, but it’s not that different from my parent’s family. Looking closely, there are children and old people in the military force of the Akitsushima​ family.

It seems like they gathered as many people as possible to stop Shichijo Kanenaka from stealing the water.

“Hahaha! The fallen Akitsushima​ family is going to unify this island!? There are dozens of big lords, who exceed us in power, on this island! Outsider, you use big words! Even the existence of that Kingdom of yours is shady at best! You guys are in the way!”

“Who’s in the way, you muscle-headed idiot!?”

“Evil bastard who’s stealing the water of others!”

“In the first place, you’re way too stuffy!”

Agnes, Betty, and Cindy had stayed silent so far, but now they insulted Shichijo Kanenaka for stealing the water of others.

At times like these, women are much stronger than men, aren’t they…?

“Shut your flaps, lasses!”

Shichijo Kanenaka couldn’t win against my pupils, but losing his cool, he tried to grab the three.”

“Hey, don’t assault my pupils!”

“What!? You act all braggy despite not understanding our circumstances! Earl Baumeister, right? You’re certainly an incredible magician, but if it’s close combat…!”

Shichijo Kanenaka apparently judged that everything would be resolved if he could swiftly defeat and constraint me. Suddenly he switched his target to me.

“If I catch and use you as a hostage, I’ll be able to demand whatever I like!”

“It’d be nice if it was that easy.”

He’s one of the few, valuable intermediate magicians. So I guess it’s only natural for him to get carried away.

I think it’s a good idea to restrain me, who’s the leader of our party, but that only applies if he succeeds.

Doushi and Burkhart-san didn’t move at all as they had apparently decided to leave everything to me.

“Good grief, just for the record: this is legitimate self-defense. You started this, so it’s your own fault.”

“Shut it! Being weak is a sin on this island!”

Shichijo Kanenaka charged his arms with mana and grabbed my shoulders, but he immediately let go of me after feeling a powerful electric shock. I had improved 『Area Stun』 and now it numbed the hands of anyone trying to touch me.

“Wh-!? My arms!”

“Your arms shouldn’t be usable for a while. There’s no way that an intermediate magician like you can win against an advanced magician like me with a simple move.”

“We won’t know unless I try!”

Next Shichijo Kanenaka charged his leg with mana and kicked at me.

“Ouch───!”

However, because I deployed a strong Magic Barrier, Kanenaka’s leg broke with a nasty cracking sound. Due to the overwhelming pain, Shichijo Kanenaka rolled around on the ground while screaming.

“Now then, a message for everyone following Shichijo Kanenaka!”

I created a huge Fireball and released it at a nearby rock. The fireball hit precisely, turning the rock into syrupy goo.

Witnessing that, Kanenaka’s soldiers all became ghastly pale.

“I’d like to discuss matters peacefully. All of you, could you stop fighting?”

“”””””””””…””””””””””

Seeing that their own lord was no match for me at all, they all threw their weapons away and surrendered. It’s truly great that I got them to listen to my very sincere persuasion.

Because of this, the pointless dispute finally settled down.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

 

“Are you going to heal him, Doushi?”

“Mmh, that is a good idea!”

“A───ah, it was nice to have you…”

“Eh? What do you mean, Burkhart-dono? Guuuoooaaa───!”

In the end, Shichijo Kanenaka surrendered after getting injured and thus the pointless battle over water came to a close. It’s nice that there have been no casualties.

It was decided that Doushi would be healing his wound, resulting in Shichijo Kanenaka screaming while being hugged by Doushi, but everyone pretended to not hear it.

After all, it’s nothing new for us at this point.

“Earl Baumeister-sama, thank you very much for sparing Kanenaka-sama.”

The army of Kanenaka dispersed, but his retainers thanked me for not having killed their lord. Apparently this guy is more popular among his fief’s population than I thought. He’s someone who can make the decision to steal another fief’s water source without minding being labeled as villain for the sake of not allowing his people to starve to death. Deciding to take the blame yourself isn’t as simple as it may sound.

“Kanenaka-sama is a reckless idiot, but he is a good lord for us.”

“Kanenaka-sama is somewhat like a wild boar, but he is a decent lord who doesn’t ask for high taxes and doesn’t indulge in luxury himself either.”

“Kanenaka-sama isn’t all that smart, but he goes out to hunt and shares his haul so that the residents of his fief won’t run out of food.”

It’s certainly true that they like him, but it sounds like they consider him to have a slight problem with his brain. While getting treated by Doushi, Kanenaka became teary-eyed due to being treated like an idiot by his retainers, but everyone pretended to not see this.

Him not being betrayed despite that is a proof of him being a good lord.

“By the way, what are you going to do from now on?”

We stopped a battle between two powers from happening, but just as Hosokawa-san says, we haven’t yet decided on a plan on how to proceed from here.

“As long as we can live on this island, we won’t mind entering under the rule of the Helmut Kingdom.”

“Are you sure? Akitsushima​-san, you have no problems with that?” I asked about the opinion of Akitsushima​-san who was standing next to Hosokawa-san.

“Originally I didn’t even possess territory for my own. Fujitaka has been supporting me for the reason that her family has been serving our family for generations. It’s true that the Akitsushima​ family ruled over this island in the past, but I don’t harbor any such ambitions or even the ability to do so.I’ll be fine as long as everyone can live happily.”

Unfortunately, she lacked the ability as statesman, despite having enough charm to be idolized by her people. Hosokawa-san was in charge of politics, meaning she’s like Roderich for our house.

“Akitsushima​-san, you’re a magician, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I can only use healing magic, however.”

I don’t think that this is the reason for her to wear a shrine maiden outfit, but I guess she’s an expert at healing.

And Kanenaka, whose healing had finally finished, possessed talent as a brave general.

“I lost to Earl Baumeister and because of that, I’ll obey you. But, we’re truly troubled because we lack water. I wanted to avoid a war, but I’m the lord. I couldn’t stand by and watch my people starve to death. Even if it meant that the residents of another fief would have to starve in exchange. I don’t care about being treated as a villain. Not being able to make such a decision would disqualify me as lord.”

It’s not like Kanenaka wanted to attack the Akitsushima​ fief out of fun. He chose that option while thinking of his residents.

“But, in the end you’re still an idiot.”

“I can’t deny that…”

Being insulted as an idiot by Agnes, Kanenaka became teary-eyed. He seems to be unexpectedly worried about his lacking smarts.

“Water, huh…? Does this island have a river or ponds?”

“Those exist in the center of the island, but they’re naturally part of other lords’ fiefs.”

I guess arbitrarily drawing the water would be out of the question then. No matter the world and era, the conflict over water rights is always relentless. I hear that it often leads to huge numbers of victims.

“What have you done so far?”

“We store the rain water in a reservoir. Though it’s empty because it hasn’t been raining for a while…”

If they don’t secure water somehow, the residents will very likely start stealing water from each other.

“Can’t you dig wells?”

“That’s impossible. The underground of this island is covered by a thick rock layer.”

“And you can’t break it with magic?”

“It was impossible for me. The rock didn’t break as I lacked power.”

“Wouldn’t it work out if you chipped away at it bit-by-bit every day?”

“I’d do that if I could. Let me show you directly, rather than standing around here talking.”

Kanenaka guided us to the huge reservoir in his territory. The whole thing was completely empty and the reservoir’s bottom was covered by a mysterious, black rock.

“That’s a weird color for a rock, isn’t it?”

“If it was normal rock, I’d reach a water vein someday, if I kept breaking it slowly. But, this rock didn’t budge, even when I used my whole force on it.”

“This is 『Black Hard Rock』, isn’t it? In that case, you won’t be able to break it.” (T/N: Black hard rock as in basalt, most likely)

According to Hosokawa-san’s explanation, most of the underground water veins on this island are covered by this 『Black Hard Rock』 and because of that, the entire island lacks water. Underground water exists, yet they don’t have any means to get to it.

“Doushi, how about it?”

“I will give it a try!”

The black rock doesn’t get chipped when struck by average power. This piqued Doushi’s interest and he declared that he’d strike the rock with all his power.

“Will you be alright?”

“Do not worry, Burkhart-dono! Even nowadays, my mana is still rising! It will be fine if I use all my power!”

The 『Black Hard Rock』 is tough and on top of that, it’s a layer of more than ten meters. Or rather, the majority of this island’s surface consists of 『Black Hard Rock』. Soil has simply gathered atop of it over tens of thousand years.

“Does that mean this island is actually abundant with water?”

“Yes, it’s a different matter whether you can actually use the water, though.”

“You can’t break the rock with magic?”

“Magicians of the distant past were able to do it, but…”

Probably as a side effect of having been secluded on this island, it’s become rarer for magicians to appear among the humans living on this island for the last hundreds of years. Moreover, advanced magicians have stopped appearing altogether. In exchange, their abilities as magicians have apparently become easier to be inherited within families for some reason.

Although it’s just intermediate level, Akitsushima​-san and Kanenaka come for families with generations of magicians.

After such an explanation, I asked, “So your abilities as magicians gradually deteriorated in return for them becoming hereditary?”

I guess it means something is different here, compared to the Lingaia Continent. However, some great scholars can later research what exactly is causing this difference. Right now, we don’t have the time to bother with this.

“Well then, I will get to it right away!”

Doushi immediately took action. He flew up in the sky with Flight and after covering his body with a firm Magic Barrier, he dropped towards the ground at full speed like a cannonball.

“Man, doesn’t he know any better ways to get it done…?”

Burkhart-san was appalled by Doushi’s way too straightforward approach, but I think it’s a good method. He’s trying to smash the black hard rock by turning his huge frame into a projectile and even using the fall speed to his advantage.

Though, personally I wouldn’t have chosen this way. I mean, it’d hurt a lot, if I failed with it.

“Is that gentleman going to be alright?”

Akitsushima​-san was worried about Doushi. She seems to be a very kind woman. But, I’d like her to not worry about Doushi. There’s no way something would happen to Doushi from just this much alone.

As soon as he crashed on the ground, we could hear the sound of an explosion and something cracking while a large amount of fragments were scattered all over the place. Burkhart-san and I calmly deployed our Magic Barriers, protecting Akitsushima​-san and the others.

“Thank you kindly, Earl Baumeister-sama.”

It doesn’t feel bad to get thanked by a beauty in a shrine maiden outfit. As I thought, shrine priestess clothes are really awesome.

“So? How did it go?”

Once Burkhart-san looked at Doushi’s impact site, he spotted a huge crater in the center of the reservoir’s bottom. It’s around three meters deep.

Still, the black hard rock is extremely tough, I gotta say. Doushi attacked it with all his power and yet he only managed to dig three meters deep.

“Doushi, are you able to do this one more time?”

“I would like you to wait for tomorrow!”

Unfortunately, this one blow used up most of Doushi’s mana. If it’s like this for him, I guess it’s only natural for Kanenaka to not have been able to dig even a centimeter into this.

He was lost for words while staring at the crater produced by Doushi.

“I suppose you’ll get through the bedrock in three or four days then?”

“Earl Baumeister, there is also Luise-jou!”

“I guess it’d speed up things, if Luise also joined in…”

Following Doushi’s advice, I went back home with Teleport, picked up Luise, and came back to Akitsushima​ island.

“O-Ryou-sama, it’s the legendary magic of movements.”

“It’s my first time to see it.”

Like the demons, the magicians of this island can’t use Teleport either. Akitsushima​-san and Hosokawa-san were staring at me with eyes full of respect.

“Whoa! You’ve really found an island! Also, they wear outfits like the people of Mizuho. I want to have such clothes as well. They seem to be good for seducing Wend.”

“Umm…this is a sacred outfit worn by those serving the gods….”

Luise was surprised after seeing this island and Akitsushima​-san’s group. She wanted a shrine maiden outfit for herself, but since he reason for it was impure, she got rebuked by Akitsushima​-san.

“We have a request for you, Luise. It’s about this bedrock over here…”

“Doushi attacked it with his full strength and yet he achieved only this much? What sort of rock is this?”

Luise was surprised by the black hard rock’s toughness.

“Please use your previous finishing move on it.”

“E───ehh!? That’s out of the question since I’ll become unable to move for several days. I’ll use my whole strength and dig around as deep as Doushi, so you do the rest, Wend.”

“Hm───m, no choice, I suppose.”

Luise refused to employ the 『Big Bang Attack』 which she used in the Herthania Valley, since it’d be too much of a burden on her body. Despite that, she went to the bottom of the crater, charged most of her mana into her fist, and punched the ground with all her might.

“This also has some amazing power.”

Once again, a large amount of fragments flew all over the place, so Burkhart-san and I protected everyone with our Magic Barriers.

“Next is my turn, huh…?”

As should be expected of the Magic Combat Style, Luise dug a deeper hole than Doushi. The crater has become even deeper, now being around seven meters deep in total.

“Seeing how the bedrock has a thickness of more than ten meters, my attack or tomorrow’s attack of someone else will reach the water vein.”

“You people are incredible. I couldn’t even crack it by hitting it with all my power, and yet…”

Kanenaka couldn’t hide his surprise over us outsiders breaking the rock no one on this island could damage thus far. But, if you aren’t an advanced magician at the very least, there’s no way you’ll be able to damage the black hard rock, I think.

Maybe this rock will be useful for something. Let’s take a small sample of it.

“Wend, you must leave a bit of mana.”

“Don’t worry. I don’t want to drown in the water that’s going to gush out either.”

If I completely break the bedrock while using all my mana, I’ll drown at the bottom of the deep crater. Just as Luise cautions, I must keep some mana to escape with Flight. (T/N: What about your mana stones?)

“Okay, I’ll get going then!”

I decided to charge my fist with mana and punch the bedrock like Luise did. The efficiency won’t be as good as the Magic Combat Style, but I’ve got more mana than Luise. I should be able to dig as deep as her, and even if I don’t break through the bedrock, water should come out of this place by tomorrow.

“A───alright! This is the last blow!”

I unleashed a third attack at the bottom of the crater. Rock fragments scattered all over the place once again, blocking my sight.

“How did it go? Oh? I guess it’ll have to wait until tomorrow after all.”

We should have passed the ten-meter-line by now according to my estimation, but there was still bedrock left.

Just when I thought that we’d need to finish the job tomorrow, the bedrock gradually started to crack. Those cracks slowly widened and then water gushed out of there. The amount of water gradually increased and finally the cracked bedrock gave way, resulting in water spraying out like a fountain.

I fled the crater’s bottom with Flight while I still had time.

“The water came out faster than planned.”

“Wooo───ow! You’re my Lord from now on───!”

 

 

Kanenaka seemed quite happy about the gushing water. He kowtowed in front of me while crying tears of happiness. His retainers followed his example, and even Akitsushima​-san’s retainers lowered their heads at me.

“Everyone, today is an auspicious day. A gentleman has appeared who is going to unify this Akitsushima​ island which has been divided and chaotic for a while now. Earl Baumeister-sama is going to become our new lord.”

“Eh? Me?”

Suddenly Akitsushima​-san started to talk about me becoming the new lord. Everyone except for us agreed with that and lowered their heads.

I just broke the bedrock and secured water to stop the dispute…

“With this the insufficiency of our harvest due to water shortage will become history. The Kanenaka and Akitsushima​ fiefs will be able to grow a lot of produce on new lands.”

“I’ll become Earl Baumeister-sama’s retainer. All of you are fine with this, right?”

“””””””””””Yes! No objection!”””””””””””

“Earl Baumeister-sama, you’re our savior.”

Because Akitsushima​-san, the one with the best pedigree here, announced her vassalage, no one opposed it. Instead people started to joyfully declare that they’d become my retainers or residents while lowering their heads.

I might not be able to escape my fate with this.

“Luise, what should I do?”

“It’s an island that would have been assigned to our fief by the Kingdom anyway. So you gotta subjugate it either way, right?”

“There’s also the matter with the demons…”

“Aren’t you in a hurry because of that?”

“Do you think I’ll be able to unify an island embroiled in a vortex of wars so easily?”

“You won’t know unless you try, will you? Everyone will help you.”

“It is just as Luise-jou says! I will cooperate as well!”

“(Then please unify this island by beating up everyone yourself. Once you’re done, you can become the residential lord since I’ll gladly appoint you)”

As might be expected, I couldn’t say this loudly in the current situation, but I had to unify this island as quickly as possible.

 

 

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Translation Notes:

1. Akitsushima​ is an old name for Japan and also a province of Yamato, another old name of Japan. Nowadays you’d define its location as Honshu, Japan’s main island. In the past this place was seen as Japan because that’s where the first humans landed, and later it became a province when people started to find the other islands around Honshu.