"Are you sure you don't want to temporarily stay at our humble abode?"
"It's fine, I'll build a temporary shack up there. I want to finish building everything as soon as possible."
"I understand the need for a home. How about I round up some of the stronger villagers to help. We also have a village carpenter who can help you professionally."
"No thanks, I already have my plans. I can handle the rest."

That would speed up my building plans. However, I am going to set up some defensive countermeasures for anything I can think of.

Those things will be security measures and it is best if I am the only one who knows how they work.

"I see, then how about having a tour of the village before you go up and start building. It's more convenient if you know where to go if you have something you want."
"Hmm, I guess that would be nice to know. However, I don't really have anything prepared to give as an introduction gift."
"Ah, Don't worry about something like that. None of the villagers here are petty enough to hate you just because you didn't bring them anything. ha ha ha"

Perfect! I get to tour the village empty handed without feeling the guilt. Normally, I won't be feeling any guilt at all for not bringing any kind of introduction gift. That kind of thing should be given voluntarily after all. However, this is my means to an end, so I feel guilty not having it prepared up front.

"Well, then let us start with that house over there that's close to yours. They are the neighbors closest to yours after all."

I'm living on top of a volcano, so even if you say they are my neighbors it still feels like they are outside my area of perception. However, they will probably be the villagers I will see the most. Every time I enter or exit my volcano home, I would meet them.

I still don't know what life in this village is like. Are the villagers lively? Are they noisy? Are they too friendly or are they the quiet type?

There are a lot of things I don't know which can only be answered by spending some time here in the village. Also, even if I slowly became familiar with them, I will slowly recede in my home as my fame soars. I guess I can still socialize with the villagers even when I become a hermit blacksmith master but only during my free time.

"They are a farming family that has roots in this village since its founding. Most of the food for the village and feed for the animals comes from them. However, they only sell crops four times a year, every 4 months, so make sure you are ready when that time comes. Otherwise, you would need to travel to the town and get some food. They are kind people, so if you missed the sale I think they can share some of their stockpile to you."

Ah, farming. How I missed doing it. Sow a handful of seeds and watch them grow as the dirt is slowly painted over by different colours of the crops.

If possible, I wanted to be a farmer again in this life. It's a very relaxing life but the time it takes for them to grow is too long. I also need to expand my skills, so I can adapt depending on the situation of my next life.

"Hmm, it seems like they are out on the fields. It's too bad but let's go to the next house."
"Field? This place is surrounded by volcanoes. Where could a field possibly be?"
"Ah, that is actually a fairly funny story. You see, some time back we had a lot of people, things were progressing forward, and we met the requirements to upgrade to a town."

Is there really a benefit to upgrading to a town? Do they receive a subsidy from the elders or something for being a city, or something like a lower tax?

"The only thing we needed is an expansion of the commercial and living area. As you can see, the area around here is limited. We do have some room but it isn't exactly inviting to new residents. We also want to keep the people in this area as little as possible. It makes it easier to evacuate in case a great disaster happens, ya know."

I was thinking in the direction of reclaiming the nearby area by clearing the lava rocks around. I would then set up a large ditch and a protecting wall around the village to protect it from the lava flow. The only thing I would need to worry about then is the ash fall and mini asteroids from the eruption.

However, it does make more sense that they want to expand their village outside the volcanic area, or at the very least outside the venn diagram of the volcano's.

"We cleared up a bit of land a bit away from here. It's that way a bit away from the road connecting us to the rest of the continent. Unfortunately, a volcano erupted at the center of it, so the plan was cancelled. I think it was during the time of my grandfather when it happened. All of the foundations for the buildings we planned to build were ruined. Their family at that time helped evacuate the workers building there and helped in salvaging whatever materials the villagers at the time could find. The expansion was scrapped and the village went into a deficit thanks to what happened. The land was unusable after that but their family wanted to keep working on it, so the chief at the time gave them the land...at a discounted price."

So they got charged for the land after all!!!

"That became the start of their farming lineage. They cleaned the land, worked on the soil until it became suitable for planting crops. Their farming business became profitable to the point that they have relatives in the town that help them sell their crops there."

They have relatives in the town? Hmm, I heard one of the onlookers talk about that. It seems that they really are rich. Even if they are splitting the profits for their crops to their relatives, they should still be raking in money.

I still have to see how big their field is but if they are selling part of it to sustain the village and the rest to be sold in the town, then they are earning great profits.

I am only assuming what kind of output their farm can produce but the fact that they can compete with local goods means that the crops they produce should have enough appeal in the town. It must be that volcanic soil doing its magic on their harvest.

"Let's continue your tour. The next should be the family that does most of the carpentry in the village. Most of the villagers have a general knowledge about basic carpentry, so they don't get much business here in the village. They usually travel to the nearest town or village and do their work there. They are the ones with the largest amount of contacts among the villagers, so if you need to ask about something that can't be found in the village ask them about it and they would most likely point you to an acquaintance of theirs."
"That's useful to know, thanks."
"Alright, let's see if they are here today. Their schedule changes from time to time, so visiting their house is always a gamble of whether or not they are there."

That is a useful acquaintance, and I know just what kind of gift they are going to appreciate. Brand new tools would be a good bet but if they are travelling to other villages and towns, a nice suspension and new set of wheels for their transportation would be great. Either of those choices are very cheap and easy to do, so this worked out very nice for me.

"...And that is everyone. It's too bad some of them are not here in the village today."
"Thank you for the tour. It was nice but I need to get started with building my own place."
"It can't be helped. I understand that you want a place to call your own. Take care, and if you ever need help, you know where to go."
"Thanks, I'll probably be cooped up at the top of the volcano for a week or so. You might hear some odd sounds here and there but I should be alright. Don't mind me and please don't let anyone approach the volcano. I will be terraforming the volcano to make sure my foundations are good, and remove my worry about the volcano erupting right under me. It would be dangerous to approach the place carelessly."

I would use magic to take care of the work to be done, so it would be dangerous if some of the villagers wander around while I'm laying the framework for the volcano.

If someone dies because of my construction work, that would stick with me throughout my life here.

"I see, that would indeed be dangerous. I'll let everyone know. I'm sure they would help inform the others that aren't here. It would still be hard to keep the kids from wandering in though. These mischievous tykes are always curious about everything."
"That would be troubling. How about this, I'll temporarily put an '[Earth Wall]' surrounding the volcano until I finish building it. At what height do you think is enough to keep them from climbing it?"
"Oooh! You even know magic! Graduates from an academy really are different. That's good, that's really good. Ehhh, about the height, I think somewhere around twice my height should be enough. They will surely try climbing it by standing on top of each other's shoulders but they shouldn't be able to reach the top at that height."
"Thanks for everything. Well then, I need to start building."
"Yeah, good luck and remember to take breaks from time to time. It won't do, to overexert yourself from rushing things."

Finally done! I should start with taking the cargo somewhere near the volcano. It would have been preferable to have them somewhere far in case I mess something up and lava starts to flow but if I am building a wall, I need to have the building materials inside that wall. I have all of the important building materials inside my storage but I still have to show them some of the materials, so as to not make it suspicious about where some of the things came from.

However, others don't really pay too much attention to what kind of materials you use in your home. They only notice the surface materials, so I left some of the similarly coloured materials outside to fool them into thinking that is what I have. It's not like they are experts in the field and can tell what kind of materials something is from just a glance.

As it is, the volcano is very solid but if I start placing my workshop and home at the crater, it would be like plugging the hole of a hose. The magma would escape on the weakest part of the volcano, so I really need to plan out what I am going to do. This might take me some time.