Led by Meowth, Caleb quickly arrived at an area enclosed by a simple wooden fence. Inside the area stood several wooden huts built from timber and leaves, appearing extremely rudimentary from the outside.
'This must be my territory...'
Caleb roughly surveyed the surroundings and said to Meowth, "Give me an overview of the territory."
Meowth nodded, "Okay, nyaa~"
Over the next few minutes, Meowth explained the situation of the territory in detail. With each sentence it spoke, a notification popped up in front of Caleb.
Soon, the information gathered into a complete panel:
«Initial Territory (Unnamed)»
Lord: Caleb Chase
Reputation: 0
Population: 5
Food: 100 units
Wood: 100 units
Minerals:
- Stone: 100 units
- Iron Ore (Undiscovered)
- Copper Ore (Undiscovered)
- Silver Ore (Undiscovered)
- Gold Ore (Undiscovered)
Barracks: Locked
Medical Tent: Locked
Farmland: Locked
Mine: Locked
Lumberyard: Locked
Daily Food Consumption by Residents: 50 units...
{T/N: The Mtl labeled everything as 'Unlocked', but the context in this chapter suggests otherwise, so I used 'Locked' instead...}
After reading it, Caleb's first impression was how poor the territory was. The so-called 'territory' was actually just a tiny village with a population of five, and he was the new village chief.
He reviewed the panel again, his gaze landing on the mere 100 units of food. He asked, "Is that all the food we have?"
Meowth nodded, "We used to have a lot more, but a few days ago those Spearows stole it all, nyaa! You weren't here, and we didn't have any Pokémon strong enough to fight them…"
Upon hearing this, Caleb turned to look at the five Pokémon in the territory besides Meowth; An Onix, two Machamp, a Tauros, and a Bellossom.
Caleb: "…"
He recalled the scene just before entering the village, where Bellossom used Solar Beam to pick fruit.
'Are these just for show?' he thought.
That said, Caleb knew very well that these Pokémon were just ordinary NPCs created by Infinite World to serve as population. So they probably had no combat capabilities.
Meowth, looking worried, reminded him, "My lord, our food supply is low. If you don't replenish it soon, the residents may leave the territory due to hunger in two days… If that happens, our reputation in the world will suffer greatly nyaa. No new residents will want to settle here…"
'Oh? So if food runs out, the residents will flee?' Caleb got the gist.
"Anything else?" he asked.
Meowth paused, looking confused, "What, nyaa?"
"Is there anything else I should be aware of?" Caleb elaborated.
'Like how this game works.' he added inwardly.
Meowth suddenly understood and continued, "Also, my lord, you need to develop the territory quickly. Upgrading the territory will unlock the barracks, and then you can recruit soldiers to protect the territory. With more soldiers, we won't have to fear attacks from other territories!"
"...My lord, you can also issue commands to the residents living here! They can do many things, like searching for farmland, chopping wood, and mining stone ore. If resources are sufficient, you can also have them build facilities! Under your leadership, our territory will surely prosper soon!"
Everything Meowth said was basic knowledge from strategy simulation games. Caleb was no stranger to it. He thought it over and walked toward the Bellossom resting against a tree.
As he approached, a pale blue panel popped up over Bellossom, displaying glowing options:
[View Status], [Issue Command], [Dispatch], [Chat]
Caleb selected View Status, and the panel updated immediately:
«Bellossom (Resident)»
HP: 100/100
- Mood: Average (Note: Mood affects work efficiency)
- Status: Full (Note: Hunger affects work efficiency)
- Description: A fragile ordinary resident with a helpful personality. If only there was a medical tent…
Caleb got the idea and moved on to the next option. Upon selecting Issue Command, two sub-options appeared: 'Build Facility' and 'Move Location'.
As the names suggest, Build Facility lets them construct buildings, while the Move Location sends them to a designated spot to wait.
Caleb checked what buildings he could currently construct:
[City Lord's Hall (Lv1): A landmark building in the territory. Its presence boosts resident morale and motivation.
- Effect: Reduces dispatch and construction time by 20%.
- Required: Wood ×100, Stone ×100
- Time: 2 hours...]
[Barracks (Lv1): A magical building that recruits soldiers from another world. Increases territory security.
- Required: Wood ×50, Stone ×50...]
[Medical Tent (Lv1): Heals soldiers and restores HP.
- Required: Wood ×20...]
[Farmland (Lv1): Used to grow food. Periodically yields food resources.
- Required: Wood ×10...]
[Mine (Lv1): Used to gather minerals. Periodically yields mineral resources.
- Required: Stone ×10...]
[Lumberyard (Lv1): Used to gather wood. Periodically yields wood resources.
- Required: Wood ×10...]
Caleb clicked the third option, 'Dispatch', and a map appeared on the panel.
The map was large and covered by a thick layer of fog. Only a small area near his territory was visible.
Several resource points were marked:
«Farmland (Lv1): Dispatch residents to gather. The longer the time, the more food collected.
- Max: 300 units...»
«Mine (Lv1): Dispatch residents to gather. The longer the time, the more minerals collected.
- Max: 300 units...»
...
Caleb scanned the map and saw most resource points were level 1. The yield wasn't much, but they were still useful in the early stages.
He thought for a moment and split the five Pokémon into two groups; one to harvest wheat at the nearest farmland, the other to use the remaining wood and stone to build a barracks.
The five Pokémon lined up obediently. In the front row, Tauros pulled a cart, leading Bellossom and Onix to the resource point.
The two Machamp went to the storage warehouse, retrieved wood and stone ore, and began building the barracks by hand at Caleb's designated location.
Caleb watched the construction for a while and realized these creatures weren't real Pokémon.
Rather than calling them Pokémon, it was more accurate to say they were game NPCs created by Infinite World wearing Pokémon skins.
No... more precisely, in this world Scenario, aside from the players, everything was a game NPC created by Infinite World.
Upon realizing this, Caleb no longer felt guilty about ordering Pokémon around to do labor...