I just remembered a manga from very long time ago. I haven't seen it in a long time so am having trouble remembering the title.

At the start of the manga, a woman and an old man (probably a mentor) are having a discussion. When the woman told the old man that she would like to visit a strange village of people that no one has seen before, he questioned her sanity. Then he handed her the logbook or diary of her last predecessor. In his logbook, when he met them he was fed steak and wine daily. The woman shut the book with an exasperated expression. The old man said something like "He died of cirrhosis of the liver".

When she arrived in the village, she was surprised to find the people who looked like gnomes or dwarves, playing around like happy fools without worry.

I also think the old man was a professor. I think the woman was a researcher studying or working in a college.