01x07 - A Hospitable Heart

[bunniefuu]

[bright music]

[vegetable rustling]

- [Hiraku] In between

winter and summer,

the number of residents

increased again.

After discussing,

we decided to call this place

the Great Tree Village.

And I ended up

becoming the mayor.

But even though

I'm the mayor now,

my day-to-day routine

hasn't really changed at all.

[hammer tapping]

[bright music]

Huh?

- Mayor.

There's a messenger from

the Demonic Kingdom.

- From the Demonic Kingdom?

["Flower Ring" by Shino Shimoji

and Aya Suzaki plays]

[dramatic musical sting]

- Greetings, I am Beezel.

I'd like to meet with

the person in charge here.

- It's my first job

as the mayor.

That's me.

[Beezel scoffs]

- [Beezel] You?

- That's right.

I'm the mayor, Hiraku.

- Very well, in honor

of our acquaintance,

please accept this gift.

[Lu gasps]

- Thank you for your generosity.

- I have a message to deliver

from the Demon Lord.

He would like to discuss

the status of this settlement.

[Hiraku gasps]

- I don't think anyone owns

this plot of land or anything,

but I guess it's under the

control of the Demon Lord.

- Does he want me to pay taxes

for all the time I've spent

living on his land?

No.

Maybe he's gonna tell me

to get off his property.

Maybe it would be wise for me

to ask Lu and Tia

for their advice

before I do anything.

Enough.

It's time for me to step up

and handle my duties as mayor.

All right.

If the Demon Lord accepts us

living here on this land,

then I will offer part of

our harvest for taxes.

First, I need to show that I

have no intention of rebelling.

As for the percentage we pay,

I need to be strong

for this part,

how does 10% sound?

[dramatic music]

Crap, was that too low?

[Beezel grunts]

- Well, then.

[Hiraku grunts]

Are you satisfied with this?

- Wait, what?

I am.

I'd like you to come pick it up

every year before winter.

- Very well, I understand.

That's how we will

proceed from now on.

- [Hiraku] Huh?

Is it settled already?

The tax will be 10%

of our total harvest.

However, this is limited to

what we grow in our fields.

We won't give them any

milk, eggs, honey,

or alcohol that we produce.

If the Demon Lord is

interested in anything else

then we'll enter

trade negotiations.

[Beezel and Hiraku sigh]

I did feel like I was too

aggressive with my negotiations.

- I bid you all farewell.

- So I sent him home

with a present.

I hope I handled that

the right way.

- I think you did

a pretty good job.

Since we're paying them taxes,

we're technically under

the Demon Lords protection

from now on.

- Yes, indeed.

But even still,

[giggles] only 10%?

Usually the going rate is

supposed to be 50 or 60%.

- What?

- Having them come to

collect the payment

was a good decision.

It forces them to

officially recognize

our residents

in the forest.

- And if they're only coming

to collect once a year,

they won't be able to measure

everything we produce.

In other words, we just bought

the protection of the Demon Lord

for a real tax rate

of under 10%.

- Well done, Mayor Hiraku.

- Really?

- And to top it off,

they brought this present,

medicine that works if you drink

it or apply it to an injury.

- Wow.

- [Grattz] What?

They're submitting to

our military force?

- [Beezel] Yes.

- [Grattz] Even though they have

the strength to defeat wyvern?

- Surely they're

up to something.

- I had the same suspicion.

I had no choice but to

accept their offer.

- [Randan] But why?

- The Vampire Princess

and Angel of Annihilation.

- [Grattz] What?

The great sage, Lulucy, and

the strongest of all the angels?

- No way! [shivers]

- [Beezel] And that's not all.

There was an army of high elves

and a pack of inferno wolves.

- [Grattz] You're joking.

- And the group that

guided me to their leader

was the trio of k*ller Angels.

I thought my life was over.

- [Grattz] [groans]

If that's it,

then I see how they were

able to take down wyvern.

- Then he suggested that

they be under the protection

of the Demon Lord's army.

I could not refuse.

If I had, they would've

immediately gathered

to become an enemy force.

- No way.

- [Beezel] Silver lining

in all of this

is that we were able to

negotiate amicably.

They even gave me a gift.

- Oh?

What do you think it is?

- I haven't looked yet.

- Open it.

- [Beezel] We need to

consult the Demon Lord.

- [Randan] It's over,

we're finished.

- [Grattz] And what if

it's something dangerous?

[wrapping paper tearing]

- Hey, wait!

- Hmm, fruit?

They look like appos,

but the shape and color

are much nicer.

Better check if they're

poisoned. [munches]

- Hey!

- Whoa, this is really good.

It's great.

- You can't just go

and eat those.

[bright music]

Oh.

This cloth.

It can't.

Is this from a demon spider?

No, a great demon spider.

- You're joking.

Didn't one of those fight one

of the previous Demon Lords

to a standstill?

They have one of those too?

- I'm resigning.

- Randan!

Randan!

[leaves rustling]

- Uh.

[dramatic music]

- My name is Dryme.

I am the one true

ruler of the Dragons.

[light upbeat music]

- This is a present

from Lord Dryme.

We hope you will accept it.

- Sure.

Wow, it looks really expensive,

but it seems like kind of

a violent gift.

Thank you for

the wonderful gift.

It's lovely.

- [Gucci] It's our pleasure.

- So what's the purpose of your

visit

to the Great Tree Village today?

- Right.

My good master, Lord Dryme,

has his lair located

just to the south of here.

There's quite a bit of

distance between us,

however we consider

you our neighbors.

We've come here to offer

a formal greeting.

- That's very polite

of you, sir.

By the way, is there any

particular reason

that your master is

bowing his head?

- My deepest apologies

for that, good sir.

Master, would you kindly

please raise your head?

- What? Sure.

- Since you came

all the way here

I'd like to invite you inside,

but that seems hard

given your size.

- You're absolutely right.

Master, please change

into your smaller form.

[Dryme grunts]

[smoke whooshes]

[light cheery music]

Now, introduce yourself again.

- My name is Dryme.

I am the one true

ruler of the Dragons.

- [Hiraku] Okay, I wonder

if he memorized that line

so he wouldn't mess up

his introduction.

- Man, this place is great.

This booze is great.

I'm never going home.

I'm gonna live right here.

- You can't do that.

There will be a lot of people

who will get very upset

if you don't protect your home.

- I'll be fine here.

I can intercept any attackers.

- I know that, master.

However, it would be a

nuisance for everyone here

if you were to stay too long.

[Dryme groans]

Now let's be on our way

while they're still happy

to call us their guests.

They were even kind enough

to gift to us.

- [Dryme] Oh yeah.

They give us those

appo-looking things.

- They're called apples

and don't worry they

gave us plenty of them.

- [Dryme] Yeah, yeah, whatever.

I'm heading home.

- Don't transform yet

until you're outside, okay?

- [Dryme] Wee, I'm flying!

[wings whooshing]

- I know I should have

thought of this sooner

but I should really decide

how the Great Tree Village

is going to handle visitors,

welcome guests or otherwise,

diplomatic relations.

Ugh, this is all getting

complicated really fast.

I've been thinking about

a lot of things since then,

and I believe it's not good

for us to keep visitors outside

when greeting them.

With that said, I'm not

comfortable inviting them in.

So I've decided that

we should build

a guest house for visitors.

I was thinking a house

able to fit four people

would be enough.

- [Lea] No, I think that

would be far too small.

- Right, anyone coming

to this village

needs to climb mountains

and make it safely

through the forest.

Our visitors up until now

have been servants

of the Demon Lord or dragons.

However, normally when

people come here

they'll be doing it

in large groups.

- If that's the case, then I

think we should play it safe

and build a house that can

fit 30 people comfortably.

- 30?

- [Lea] We'll make the

first floor an open space

designed to hold feasts.

- And we can make the

second floor into bedrooms

for our guests if they

wanna stay a bit longer.

- Hmm, that works.

[bright cheery music]

And that's how we got started

building a guest house

for any potential visitors.

Next, I wanted to work on

how we greet new guests.

Granmaria and the angels

are in charge of

defending the perimeter.

[swords flicking]

And rather than finding visitors

and guiding them here,

they would capture visitors

and bring them to

the village entrance.

On top of that, when Zabuton

sounded the warning alarm,

everyone would

grab their weapons

and get ready for battle.

It's a long way off

from a proper welcome.

So we came up with a

new signal for visitors.

[bell ringing]

Lea and the elves made a bell.

Next, we discussed how

we treated our guests.

I suggested that Lu, Tia,

and I would be the ones

to greet the guests.

- I cannot agree with using

such a small welcoming party.

- She's right on that.

Enemies might take advantage

and sneak in

disguised as visitors.

- [sighs] My idea was rejected,

so we added a few high elves,

a scattering of ogre maids,

and lizardmen to

our welcoming party.

Flora wanted to be part of

our welcoming party as well,

but I asked her to keep

an eye on any visitors

that stay here until night fall.

- Understood.

Please leave it to me.

If you'd like,

I can keep watch the

entire time they're here.

- That's when I learned

that Flora and Lu

could go several days

without sleeping and be fine,

but I still told them

not to overdo it.

[bell ringing]

All the preparation

we did got put to use,

much sooner than I expected.

- My name is Garf.

We have traveled from

a place in the mountains

east of here called

Howling Village.

We want to establish

relations with your village.

- Let me handle this.

That must have been

a tough journey.

The Great Tree Village

welcomes you.

- We thank you.

- I would like to take you

to our guest house

so that you can rest.

Are these all of the

travelers in your group?

- Yes, they are.

- [Lu] I see.

Then we'll treat

the others as enemies.

- [Hiraku] What's she

talking about?

[canines growling]

- [Garf] Hmm, sorry about that.

It looks like we had

a few stragglers.

- Well, that was dangerous.

You should really make sure

everyone is together

before you enter the village.

And it would be wise of you

to behave yourselves

while you're here.

There are people that even I

need to watch myself around.

- I understand.

You have my word.

- Then follow me

to our guest house.

- Welcome to our village.

- [All] Welcome to our village.

[beastmen gasping]

- [[Hiraku] Great, we've

taken our first step

towards real hospitality.

- Stay here and enjoy

yourselves please.

[beastmen chattering]

[lock thuds]

- What are you doing?

It seems more like you're

trapping enemies

than welcoming guests.

- [Tia] Mayor,

haven't you noticed.

- [Hiraku] Huh?

- When visitors come to

establish relations,

they always bring some

sort of offering with them.

Even that dragon

brought something.

- You think they

aren't friendly?

- I can't say for sure exactly.

If they don't follow

the normal rules,

then they don't get the

normal visitor treatment.

- I see.

- I'm concerned about

them leaving

two troops hiding

in the woods.

That's why we knocked

our hospitality level

down a notch or two for them.

- Didn't Kudel or the other

girls spot those troops

while making their way

through the forest?

- They noticed them

but decided those troops weren't

a threat and ignored them.

I planned to

punish them all later.

- Go easy on them.

- I'll let them off

with a warning.

[food sizzling]

[Hiraku groans]

- [Anne] Is something

the matter?

- Oh, it's nothing.

It's just that the food

you made for Dryme-

- Do you think this

isn't up to par?

- Well, something like that.

- I'm sure that you've

realized by now,

but this is the treatment

for guests who bring nothing.

- I see.

Oh, so does that mean

you don't plan on

offering them any wine?

[Anne groans]

I see.

[beastmen chattering]

I feel terrible offering

them such a meager meal.

- Please erase yourself

of such emotions.

- She's right.

They're here for

important negotiations.

Our goal is to find out

exactly what they're after.

- Everyone besides you

was completely against

offering them any wine.

You forced us to

give it to them.

- [Beastmen] Cheers.

- And I'm glad that

you all let me do it.

That said, it's just

two cups per person.

[beastman retches]

Those were the restrictions

put in place.

The fact remains,

they came all the way here.

Until we determined

they're enemies,

I wanna show them kindness.

First, I wanna find out

why they're here.

Uh, I'm sure I'm revealing my

own ignorance in asking this,

but just what kind of place

is Howling Village?

- Well, some say

it's been around

for over a thousand years,

but in reality,

I think it's really only been

about 500 years or so.

Man, those older guys sure take

pride in the weirdest stuff.

- You got that right.

[beastmen laugh]

- What we call Howling Village

is a place

of five small settlements of

about a hundred people or so

and most of the population

are beastmen.

- You got that right. [laughs]

- Howling Village is

made up of people

who make their living

hunting or mining.

Up until now, they've managed

to survive by trading

with a human village

across the mountains.

But lately there's been

some trouble there

and the trade between them

has become unstable.

That's why they're looking for

someone new to trade with

and they settled on

our Great Tree Village.

So where did you learn

about our village?

- We got word from one of

the Demon Lord's people.

- Huh?

- Man, if we stayed outside

hiding the whole time

we would've missed

this great meal.

I'm so glad we didn't.

- Why were you hiding

in the first place?

- You need to be on guard

for the first visit.

Plus, if something were

to happen there

someone needs to go back and

tell the rest of the village.

- [Tia] Oh?

- [Hiraku] She's doing a good

job of gathering information.

I can count on her.

[bright cheery music]

[beastmen chattering]

It turned out that the beast men

from Howling Village

weren't trying to trick us.

They really did want

trade relations.

- Now then let's talk about

our trade agreement.

- Yes.

- Our trade's different.

We trade physical goods

in an open market.

After all, we don't use any

currency in our village.

- That's the same as here.

Currency, huh?

I'm sure we'll need to

create it someday.

- Normally I'd want to open up

a market in both villages

but, if you can, we'd like you

to come to ours to trade.

The truth is it was very

difficult for us

to even get here

with our goods.

- Oh?

- Carrying them here and

back would be too much.

- It would be pretty much the

same for us to travel as well.

- But you live here.

Aren't you able to navigate

the forest easily?

- [Hiraku] Now that

he mentions it,

maybe I can have Kuro and the

dogs carry the goods for us.

I understand.

- Huh?

- What would you like

for our first trade?

- Well, we have

lots of goods

made from the ore

that we mine.

We have things like paints,

silverware, glassworks,

and also metal works.

- I want them, I wanna

have all of that stuff!

- In exchange we'd like to get

some of the food you grow.

- Then we'll bring

our food crops to trade

at the open market.

- Ah.

- [Hiraku] And so began

our trade relationship

with Howling Village.

[leaves rustling]

- About the present thing.

- Hmm?

- The truth is,

until now I didn't know

people brought gifts

when visiting.

Our village doesn't have

a custom like that.

- Oh, that's okay,

don't worry about it.

- I'll bring

something next time.

With that being said,

our village is poor,

so we won't be able to

bring anything fancy.

- Right, that's fine.

What's important isn't

the value of the gift

but the thought behind it.

- Ah, hearing that from you

makes me feel better.

[bright music]

- I was planning on going

to the market as well.

- You can't,

it looks bad if we send

our top man there right away.

- Is that how it works?

- That's how it works.

We drew lots and based on that,

I'll be acting on your behalf

for the duration while there.

- [Hiraku] Originally it was

going to take 10 days

for them to travel,

but Dryme agreed

to take everyone there

in exchange for

a barrel of wine.

After his first visit,

Dryme started to come here

to hang out regularly.

[Dryme groans]

He always brings us gifts of

treasures or weapons with him

so no one complains.

Transporting everyone in

exchange for a barrel of wine

was actually Dryme's idea.

So I took him up on the offer.

- Okay then, we'll off now.

- Thanks for the wine, mayor.

- Sure.

[wings crashing]

[birds chirping]

- Are they really

going to show up?

Well, Garf worked out the

trade agreement with them.

They'll be here.

- We haven't even received word

that they've reached

the mountain range yet.

[wings flapping]

- Huh?

Is that?

- [Beastman] A dragon!

- Yeah, and it's coming

straight this way.

Look at that.

[upbeat music]

Good work, everyone.

How was it?

- We were able to exchange

everything we took

and they loved it all.

They seemed to be

hesitant at first

because they wouldn't go

near anything we brought,

but then I tried the free sample

stuff you told me about

and before I knew it, a crowd

of beast people had gathered.

- They sold the wine that was

supposed to be for me.

- Did they?

I guess you'll

just have to drink

even more at dinner tonight.

- You're the best.

You really know

how to cheer me up.

- In addition to that,

the mayor of Howling Village

wanted to know

if some of their people

could come and live here.

- [grunts] We need

more people to work,

so I'd be glad to have them.

- There are 20 people that

want to come live here

and they're all young women.

- The fact of the matter is

that right now

this village is in desperate

need of more men.

If this keeps up, I'm afraid

the village won't have a future.

Fine, but I have one condition.

If they can send

at least two young men,

then I'll happily

accept everyone.

- Understood, mayor.

[upbeat music]

- [Hiraku] Now the future of

the village is secure.

[Sena whimpering]

- Hello, my name is Sena.

We are all very grateful

that you have accepted us

into your village.

We're mentally prepared for you

to use us however you see fit,

just please don't

abandon us later on.

- Uh, I see you've gone

through a lot to prepare

for your move here.

Anyways, we've got

your beds ready.

Take your time and

get acclimated.

- You want us to take our time?

- Yes, please.

Once you're used to

daily life here,

you can make requests for

what kind of house you want.

You don't need to

worry about us

kicking you out

or anything.

- Thank you so much, mayor.

- Of course.

By the way, are

the men here with you?

- They are.

We have brought three

of them along with us.

[bright music]

[children gasping]

We brought you some young men

like you asked of us.

- [Hiraku] Okay.

No, wait, maybe five years,

or maybe 10 years from now.

I'm counting on you for

the future of this village!

["Feel the winds"

by Yui Hizuki plays]

[rustic music playing]