"The use of ninjutsu within this village without permission is strictly not allowed. Aside from that, violence against a fellow villager is not allowed. Disputes will be solved through an investigation headed by the local peace keeping force. If you understand then please follow the attendant, he will take you to your quarters."
The village head of Takamagahara spoke to the dozen of families who wished to settle in their small village. Most of these people came in hopes of a life away from the bloodshed, some are civilians who heard from their relatives who moved here first, and some of them are even here to spy on this newly emerging village.
So far no one has been turned away from this village even bandits or missing nin are allowed inside. So except for those who violated the rules those who are looking for a new beginning came here in droves.
Toshi is one of the spies sent by one of the major villages. Like the others from other village, he did not have a specific mission in this village other than to mix in with the people and gather anything he could get his hands on before contacting his village if he was able to come upon key information that can be vital for his parent village.
He was assigned a huge room for himself in a common building for people who lived alone. In short, those single men and women without any other family members are assigned a room here in this one or in a similar building somewhere around the village.
He began to play with the bronze colored card in his hand that has his name and information. On the side of the card is the logo of a hand holding some kind of vegetable. Every newcomer is allowed to choose a department that he liked to work in, this logo means that he is part of the agricultural department. A map given to him along with the card gave him the directions to the building he would be working on from tomorrow onwards.
Yes he frowned, he frowned hard, his brain seems to have failed to register why the people of this village had to be so absurd as to house the plants they are cultivating inside a building that has at the very least thirty floors. But since he'll be seeing the actual deal in the morning of the morow he sighed and laid himself to rest.
He woke up at three in the morning fully revitalized. He looked at his hands in disbelief, he hadn't even brush his teeth and he is already feeling great. Accepting this mission seemed to not be as bad anymore. The room he had is simple yet spacious enough for him to live in, there are also alotted placement for the appliances he will require in the future, but those are things one had to work for.
That is to be expected, the village or the head can not be the one giving everything they needed. They are not imbeciles after all and would feel awkward if someone else is doing everything far them. Toshi came out of his room in order to walk around and get faimliar with the layout of the village since the village can't be easily observed due to the rocky mountanous terrain.
Much to his surprise people are already roaming the well paved brick roads of the village. There are restaurants here and there selling breakfast food that stirred his pallet. He sighed and chose one of the restaurants to satisfy his need for sustenance.
He ordered a 'traditional breakfast combo' and within ten minutes he was served with rice, miso soup, fermented soy beans, grilled fish, pickled vegetable, seasoned dried seaweed, and a serving of vegetable side dish. The tea is courtesy of the house which seemed to be the trend around here. This of course is common tea, if one wanted some other kind then payment will be required. Which is understandable, he's been to other places where they even sell water so this is actually quite a steal.
He paid for his meal with the card before leaving and once again marveled at how things work in this village. As promised his expenses are recorded by the card as credit and will then be deducted to his earnings from his future work. A harvester earned 300 points per day, to measure that, his breakfast cost him 10 points. This means that he could eat at most thirty times in that restaurant because what he ate is the cheapest combo.
Toshi stood in front of a building with a logo similar to his card below it is the number 16, this should mean that there are prior of 15 more buildings similar to this one, and there could also be more. Their guide soon arrived with unhurried steps as he flashed them with a lighthearted smile. The guy looked tough and ferocious but he scratched his head like a lamb as he apologized for being late. That is despite the fact that he actually isn't and the newcomers are just too early. His name Kaido almost fit him perfectly except for the imperceptible danger he radiated that affected not only Toshi.
"Yosh! Let's go inside? Don't worry too much, I was like you guys when I first came here. I didn't know anything about plants then... so I was really anxius but the manager at that time appeased me.
(The group came to a room with monitors and many buttons that stirred the anxiety of the newcomers. On a window a whole floor can be seen with automated farming methods.)
Welcome to the workstation, this floor produced leafy vegetables for export. Your role here will be to ensure that everything is working perfectly. Watch... everything is fully automatic and all you have to do is watch.
(In the monitors, seeds can be seen to have been deposited to the soil, then water was introduced, next the seed burst into a plant and grew to full maturity before it was harvested and safely packed for export. At this point those who are watching already have questions inside their head. Lots of questions.)
See that? You just have to watch that process for like a hundred times per day before someone replaces you in your shift. If there's a problem then an indicator will glow red and point the problem directly as well as give instructions on how to resolve the problem.
Now I'm ready to entertain questions."
As expected everyone raised their hand.
"How did that process happen as fast as it did?"
Kaido nodded his head in understanding. He had similar question when he arrived.
"The water is actually a secret formula invented by a village resident, his research recieved full support from the village head and here we are. And no, no one can know the components of the liquid and you guys are not allowed to take samples for there will be severe consequences. By consequences I mean D.E.A.T.H. hehehe well no one knows for sure but those who took samples never returned."
Kaido answered the best he could and assigned a two person team to take care of each floor. As the newly promoted manager, he will oversee their work from time to time in order to assist the performance of each employee.
After a month in the agriculture division Toshi applied for work in another department. He found close to nothing in the agricultural department, the monitoring is seamless and those who tried to steal water samples to send out vanished the day after. One curious thing is that nothing is done to those who did not make any attempt to send the water out of the village. He even tried it himself just to be sure and him being here proves his conjecture.
Aside from that, the life in this village is almost carefree. Actually, many citizens of this village did not have to go to work daily and so they focused more on their hobbies like woodworking, smithing, painting, fishing, mountain climbing, etc. This could be the reason why everyone smiled all the time and looked healthy. That was beside the point, there seems to be some kind of secret in this place.
'The secret to happiness?'
Toshi clicked his tongue. He has been diverging from his mission more and more these days.
'What mission? I just have to observe here don't I?'
"Yes that's right."
Toshi smiled as he paid for a 72 inch television with a free home theatre set. This was another box to cross from his list after spending 6,000 points. In reality this is not anything much as a normal person could at least earn as much as 9,000 points per month. Plus the fact that the work takes less than five hours of the day, extra work can be done for more points.
"Please confirm the delivery address."
"Thank you esteemed Sir. Please visit our store again next time."
Toshi nodded and went out. He just had an hour window before his shift in the fishery department. He walked noticeably slower than he did before as he looked at the trees sway as the wind blew its crown. He remembered Kaido slapping him in the back while laughing loudly when he asked for advise as he applied for a shift in the fishery department. He just reminded him to 'enjoy life more' before helping him apply for the job.
He had to reevaluate the guy. In a drinking session he said he used to be a bandit leader who chanced upon this place after his group was nearly annihilated by an unknown power. Anyway, he has long forgotten and left that life behind when he found this place. He now had a family with two sons and one daughter in this little piece of paradise.
'Maybe I'll find my own place in here.'
The manager of the fishery department waved at him from afar with a smile decorating his face. He is much older looking with graying sideburns but his skin glowed with youth.
"Good day I'm Akihiko Yamamoto the manager. Are you the one Kaido recommended?"
"Yes, I'm Toshi. I'll be in your care."
Toshi gave a polite bow out of courtesy, Kaido saved him time by recommending him here the least he could do is not embarrass the man and act polite. The two toured 'Hatchery 22' his job was explained to him by Akihiko as they walked, so far it only involved watching the spraying of a milky-white liquid solution to fish eggs before it got transported to the second floor for further processing and all he had to do is make sure that this process happened without fail. In the event of malfunction, he would have to fix the problem via the already existing procedures.
'Just what is this place? This isn't work!'
Toshi took out his phone after watching the manager leave.
[Welcome to Mobile Ninja!]
He smiled as he watched the percentage rise up to 100%.
'Now let's get trolling.'