"Baaaaaaa!!"
"Good morning, horn basher. Looks like you are injured again. How far did you go this time?"
"Baaa!"

This little rascal has gotten bolder as of late. His territory reached all the way to my dumpsite for my excess magma. I sometimes enter the tunnel to make sure it isn't blocked but I found him there fighting a group of magma hippos, and he was actually winning. Though, he did the cheeky strategy of hit and run over and over again. I guess that is only natural for a ram.

It has been a year since I bought him but I think he may be the best purchase I made. His horns have some scratches here and there but somehow it became tougher from his everyday fights. It did break a couple of times but somehow it grew back after a week of rest, and some medicine from an alchemist. I thought it was a waste of money since I only needed him to pull my carriage but it is hard to say no when you hear 'baa' 'baa' throughout the day sounding outside the door.

"Good morning, brill!"
"Good morning village chief."
"Are you going to the town today?"
"I still have to finish the commissions for this month. It might take me a couple of days then I will go back to the town."

My business has started to climb ever since I finished the commission for the town defence force. I didn't even need to tell people that I did those. I couldn't exactly keep all of the items in my item box. It was 80 heavy shields, so the amount of storage bags that I would need is ridiculous. It would also be a better attention grabber if I have a huge waggon full of heavy shields on display as I approach the town.

I wanted to bring the cargo all the way to the marketplace at least but the defence force intercepted me at the gate. It can't be helped that they can see me coming from far away because a lone gold ram was pulling five waggons. I guess they couldn't wait when they saw me coming with their commissioned goods.

"Is that so? Hmm, I was wondering if I could come with you."
"Come with me? Sure, I don't mind. Is there anything in particular that you need to do in the town?"
"I have to talk to the town mayor, it's official business that us village chiefs need to do once a year. I also want to observe the market and get a feel for the merchandise."
"That's fine, I will tell you when I am leaving for the town the night before."
"Good, Thank you. Well then, I need to settle some things before I leave the village, so I better get to it."

Even though this is only a village, and even if this is on the remote edge of the dwarf continent, it is still under the rule of the elders. The village chief is still someone who holds an official position. They must have some kind of official meetings that deal with politics and stuff of that nature.

Anyway, things have been smooth for me ever since that commission. I still have that small stall in the back alley. People are still buying my wares and I do ‘sold out’ most of the time. However, the bulk of my business is the work commissions. It has been very successful but not to the extent that people crowd over the alleyway. They always sporadically come over the week.

I met the branch manager of the Orange Shield Mercenary group again. The interactions with her have been normal but she never raised the idea of recruiting me again. I still have the 10% discount and I don't really plan on joining them, so I didn't bother to bring up the topic.

"Don't wander around now. We might be leaving for the town soon."
*Baa*

The town defence force never did make any request about a new armour for all of them. I was heavily recommending it though, along with pointing out how impractical, ugly, and disastrous their current armours are, which may be the reason why they never did. Oh well, they will change their minds once the situation turns dire.

"Good morning brill. Out for a stroll this morning?"
"Good morning to you too, bron. Yeah, I love working in the workshop but being cooped up there all the time will get to you."
"I can imagine. I can't stay still inside the house. It makes me feel trapped. We have the vast sky right above us, it is such a shame to not feel it everyday."
"That is only because you have livestock to take care of. Of course you need to be outside, I keep telling you that you took in too much of a herd."
"Nonsense, If nothing else, I think I still have too few of them. I won't argue with you. Here, just taste this and feel the fruits of taking care of this lovely group."

*Toss*

"Thanks as always. I'll walk around some more."
"Yeah, take care."

Yeah, I don't think having almost a hundred animals counts as 'not enough' for anyone. This is a small village and you barely make money because you need to keep feeding and taking care of that many animals. Well, I guess it is fine since there are some that he butchers and sells for meat in nearby towns.

It's hard to understand those that raise animals since they do care for them but they still need to kill them when the time comes. I can't really argue though since the meats he sells are really of the highest quality that I have tasted so far. The only exception is that all-meat beastkin-run restaurant at the central island.

Also, if I argue with him too much, I won't be given this milk that became a part of my morning meal. Even though he has that many animals, the only thing he needs to do is care for them when they are sick since the pasture that he developed near the village pretty much grows a lot of the food the animals need. Of course it is not enough and sometimes he needs to feed them something to boost their health.

He is also a part of the village defence force since he feels responsible for expanding the range of the defence patrol thanks to his pasture. He is a very busy guy but as he said, he likes to enjoy the outdoors, so I guess the main reason that he is busy is because he makes himself that busy to stay outside.

"Good morning, Brill!"
"Good morning!"
"Hey, Morning!"
"Good morning to you too!"
"Hey, Brill! Are you going to the town? Can you bring me some new history books!"
"I'll try to find some!"

This is a nice village. Everyone is friendly. I guess I can only say that since I unconsciously compare this village to the one I had in the human continent.

I didn't have any connections to the village then other than a few hello here and there. Even though I have a farm, I only provide for myself and sell the excess to the merchants. Part of it is because the other villagers are pretty much self-sufficient. There is also the fact that my house borders the forest where monsters sometimes lurk and it is somewhat separated from the rest of the others.

Here, I am actually part of the community. I provide a service and they provide me with theirs. We help each other and it just works.

Speaking of work, I need to finish up some commissions, so I can visit the town. I made a special something that I want to auction.

The commissions that I have been getting are good. Sometimes I get weird requests but somehow I am able to pull through those requests with a bit of creativity. I complete about 70% of the commissions that are given to me. Some things are still impossible for the present me, so there is nothing I can do with those 30% but go tell the requester that I can't deliver, give them a refund and apologise.

However, the requests that I have been getting these last three months have been boring. They either want some starting gear for their children as they are starting school at the academy, or some 'I love you' daggers. I don't know where that trend came from but apparently daggers with both sides etched with the names of you and the one you love counts and sending that to the person counts as love letters.

They ask me to make some elaborate decorations and it has been interesting at first since it was a good opportunity to practice precise work but it got boring when I received 20 commissions for those kinds of daggers a month.

I am hoping that the auction will bring attention to my work and bring in a new crowd of people other than horny students that think a decorated dagger is a great way to show your love.

"Good evening, brill. Isn't this a surprise this late at night. What brings you to my house? Is there anything that I could help you with?"
"Ah, sorry for the late visit. I just want to tell you that I am done with my work and will be going to the town some time tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Hmm, I guess I can be ready by then."
"If you want more time then I can delay it for another day or two. I am not really in a hurry."
"No, it's okay. I already have everything prepared. I just want to make sure that everything is in order at the village before I leave. Is it alright if I go around doing my usual routine in the morning before we leave?"
"That is fine. You can just visit my place last when you are ready to go."
"Good, that is very good. I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for agreeing to my selfish request."
"No, no, no. A request from the village chief is always welcome. Well, have a good night. See you tomorrow."
"A good night to you too. Please take care of me for the journey."

Well, I pulled a no sleep marathon for four days but I am done with all the commissions. Those 'I love you' daggers are the ones that really slowed me down. I think this month's request is the most I received for them. I actually needed to make 40 of them and the level of design that they wanted is crazy.

One guy wanted me to fit in their whole 'love' story from when he met his sweetheart as children all the way to the present. He actually gave me a book on what happened, noting down famous events that he thinks is the foundation for their relationship.

I really need a fresh market and new customers, unless I want to be known as the 'I love you' dagger blacksmith.