The Barren Territory
Satou here. Different positions mean different demands and ways of thinking. I think considering other people’s positions can help you figure out what you might be lacking or where the root of a misunderstanding might be, allowing you to take steps toward understanding each other.
“This area shouldn’t be visible from Labyrinth City or the mountain pass watchtower, right?”
“Yeah, and it’s near a side road. I’d say it’s good, no?”
“All right, then I’ll teleport us now.”
On our way across the mountains surrounding a basin, we put the carriages away in Storage and used the Space Magic spell Return to take a shortcut to a location close to the crossroads city of Kelton. While I generally prefer to enjoy the journey, we’ve gone this way enough times that there probably weren’t any new surprises in store.
The plan was to pass the crossroads city without stopping; take the central royal territory road north to pass through Zetts County, Lessau County, and Kageus County; then finally reach Yowork Kingdom, which had annexed Arisa and Lulu’s homeland, the former Kuvork Kingdom.
“We’re awfully deep in the mountains.”
When we emerged from the teleport point, a partially underground building, Arisa peered around curiously.
“I put the Return slate in an area only accessible by flying so we wouldn’t run into any hunters.”
We were near the peak of the mountain, looking down on the distant crossroads city.
We rode the golem horses (disguised as real horses) to descend from the mountain. On the way down, we secured some mountain birds and greenleaf boar for lunch. I’d heard that the latter tasted like delicious, non-pungent pork.
“Mountain grapes.”
“Sooour?”
Mia pointed out the wild fruit, and Tama popped one into her mouth, immediately puckering up her entire face at the strong sour taste.
“Those purple ones are no good, sir. These red ones are the sweet kind, sir.”
“You’re right. Nice one, Pochi.”
Pochi, the master of sniffing out sweets, easily picked out the ripest mountain grapes.
She always had a nose for tasty treats, just like how she found the thorn licorice back when we first started traveling.
“Let’s pick some for snacks.”
“Yes, let’s! We can dry any leftovers into raisins.”
We all enjoyed picking mountain grapes for a while, then resumed the journey once we’d gathered more than enough.
Since traveling long distances on horseback could be tiring, I pulled out a semi-floating carriage with a simple skypower engine to combat vibration and attached it to the horses. Since it carried six people, two others would remain on horseback in shifts to keep watch.
“These golem horses really are fast,” Arisa remarked.
Since they didn’t need to rest, and still traveled twice as fast as normal horses even while pulling a carriage, we could cover five or even ten times the usual distance in a day.
“Effie and Rye are fast, too, sir.”
“Oui, oooui”
Tama and Pochi spoke up to defend our original carriage horses, who we left at our Labyrinth City mansion.
Just then, Nana approached the carriage with a report.
“Master, there are many exhausted individuals on the road, I declare.”
Sure enough, there was a crowd of skinny, tired-looking individuals walking unsteadily toward the crossroads city.
They must be refugees from Lessau County.
“Master, many of them are sick or injured as well.”
Liza chimed in from the opposite window.
Some of the people resting underneath the trees alongside the road were green in the face or wrapped in bloodied bandages.
“Satou…”
Mia and the others looked at me.
Clearly, they didn’t want to ignore people in need any more than I did.
“Let’s take an early lunch break around here, shall we?”
I stopped the carriage on the side of the road and had Lulu and Liza start preparing lunch.
Of course, we made enough not just for ourselves but also for the nearby travelers, who clearly needed nutrients. In addition to the greenleaf boars and mountain birds we’d hunted earlier, I threw in some of our huge stock of monster meat so we’d have enough for everyone.
“Mia, use magic to heal the injured, please. Nana, you guard Mia. Arisa and I will heal the sick. Pochi and Tama, you head up the road and let people know that we’re giving out food. If there’s anyone too sick or injured to move, I’d appreciate it if you could carry them here.”
Once I finished giving orders, the group all sprang into action.
Realizing that some people might not believe Tama and Pochi alone, I had Nana make announcements, too.
“Attention, highway travelers! Viscount Pendragon, vassal of Muno County, is offering free food and healing. Please gather here if you are interested, I declare.”
Nana amplified her voice as she spoke. Arisa had come up with the phrasing.
It seemed like an obvious PR stunt, but I agreed to it when she explained that it would make the people more likely to accept our reasoning.
“Will we be healing the sick with potions?” Arisa asked.
I nodded. “Most of them only have colds or are sick from exhaustion and malnutrition, so I think the potions we have on hand should be fine.”
A watered-down cure-all should be enough for the handful of exceptions.
“My daughter’s fever won’t go down.”
“Granny can’t stop coughing. Please help her, mister.”
“My son isn’t waking up…”
I handed out magic potions to all comers.
“Master, are you sure we should use so many of these?”
“Yeah, there’s plenty more where that came from.”
This would barely make a dent in my potion stock. I used a giant Transmutation Cauldron in the Ivy Manor in Labyrinth City to mass-produce potions by the barrel.
If we ran out, I could always just go back to the Ivy Manor and make more. No doubt we’d be fully replenished by morning.
“Thank ye so much, sir. My daughter’s fever finally went down. How can I possibly thank ye? All I have are these straw sandals I made to sell in town…”
“Thank you, mister, thank you! Granny stopped coughing. Haven’t seen her lookin’ so lively since I first came to the village!”
“My son opened his eyes! Thank you, sir noble. I’m so, so grateful.”
The kids and parents we’d helped heal thanked us one after another. Their accents varied, depending on where they came from.
Some of them tried to offer what little items they could spare, which I politely and appreciatively declined.
“Mommy, I’m hungry.”
“Oh, my dear child…”
With their health restored, some of the kids’ appetites returned as well.
“Larvae. There is free food this way, I declare.”
“Everyone is welcome. Please eat and restore your spirits for the rest of your journey.”
Nana and Lulu started handing out wooden bowls of stew to the hesitant crowd.
“Mmmm!”
“This is so yummy, isn’t it, Mommy?”
“I’ve never had food this good, not even at the harvest festival.”
Tears rolled down their cheeks as they dug into the stew and meat skewers.
It had probably been a while since they had anything but the most frugal of meals.
“Please take your time and eat slowly, okay? There’s plenty more for seconds.”
“We’ll hand out preserved foods for the road later. Go ahead and clean your plates for now.”
Lulu and Liza went around reassuring the masses.
Thanks to the food-drying magic tools I made, I had tons of monster meat jerky and dried kraken tentacles to go around.
In particular, the squid and octopus sea monsters that I used to make the dried kraken were enormous enough to displace more than ten thousand tons of water. Even now that they were dried out, I still had a comical amount of meat. Honestly, I kind of regretted making so much.
“You’re a compassionate man, sir. If only our own young master would think of his own people more, like you…”
“If he was that nice of a guy, we wouldn’t’a had to leave our village in the first place.”
“Where is this Muno County? We should move there instead.”
“Yessiree. I’d rather have a kindhearted lord, even if the taxes’re twice as high.”
Even if it was overly high praise, it seemed mutually beneficial if people wanted to move to the underpopulated Muno County.
“I ain’t never heard of Muno County, though, eh? It farther off than the royal capital?”
“It’s right on the other side of the Fujisan Mountains.”
“The mountains?!”
“Welp, that ain’t gonna work, what with wyrms and wyverns livin’ in them mountains.”
The brightness that had briefly lit the people’s faces went dark again.
It certainly would be difficult to emigrate from the royal capital or the western part of the Shiga Kingdom to Muno County, I supposed. Maybe I should make a large airship for that purpose?
Once the immigration was done, the Echigoya Company could use it for foreign trade.
I’d have to bring this idea up to the managers next time I went to the Echigoya Company HQ in the royal capital.
“Nothin’ ever comes that easy, eh…?”
Whoops. The mood got pretty grim while I was lost in thought.
“Muno County may be far away, but the Echigoya Company in the royal capital is also looking for immigrants to move into their new farming village.”
“A new village, eh…? My gramps did one o’ them mining villages, but it were real rough work, and folks died over winter when there weren’t enough to eat.”
A few of the older folks repeated stories they’d probably heard countless times.
“Don’t worry. This village is already built and self-sufficient.”
“Already built? What’s the catch, eh?”
Clearly, this sounded too good to be true to most of the crowd.
“There is none. Nanashi the Hero of Shiga Kingdom founded the Echigoya Company, so it does philanthropic work as well.”
“A hero, eh!”
“Well then, that’s another story!”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh.”
Wow, heroes have serious name recognition.
That must be thanks to the previous generations of Saga Empire heroes.
“Say, I’d be a tenant farmer any day if it means we gets to eat.”
“This gives me hope that it’ll be worth it when we get to the royal capital.”
“Mm-hmm. Maybe we can make a brighter future for our kids after all.”
The young and old refugees alike had fresh fire behind their eyes as they spoke.
They’d actually be landowners, not just tenant farmers, but I didn’t correct them on this, since I doubted they’d believe me anyway.
As we continued our journey with similar acts of charity and good deeds along the way, we ultimately reached Zetts County in the northern part of the territory a little later than planned.
They didn’t appear to be taking in refugees here; would-be immigrants were detained outside the town walls.
“We’re not going to give out food here?”
“I don’t want to anger Zetts County. I’ll just donate some funds to the town temples and ask them to offer healing and charity instead.”
With that, we entered the town of Fau.
Our first stop was lunch at a restaurant where Hikaru’s and Nana’s sisters had apparently worked part-time for a while.
The little restaurant had a history that went as far back as the founding of the kingdom. Its signature dish was fried rice, purportedly a favorite of the ancestral king Yamato, with finely shredded mandarin orange rinds. Instead of pork, the protein was provided by small goat giblets.
We ordered the fried rice lunch special, which came with sides of grilled river fish and boiled veggies.
It was fairly delicious, if not quite the same as the fried rice I remembered. The white flesh of the river fish complemented the dish well, and the egg cooked into the rice made it nice and crumbly, with the orange rinds balancing out the goat offal for a pleasant aftertaste.
Once we were good and full, we explored the street markets of Fau.
“Mandarins.”
Mia tugged on my sleeve, leading me toward a cart full of mandarin oranges.
“Let’s buy a lot while we’re here. I’ve heard Zetts County citruses are delicious.”
“Mm, agree.”
In addition to the mandarins, there were several larger varieties that reminded me of Hassaku oranges.
“Citruses seem to be this place’s only special feature.”
“Well, the buildings are a little different from those of the royal capital.”
There were a lot of one- and two-story wooden houses, probably thanks to all the forests in the surrounding area.
As we wandered around, checking out the town, we heard a commotion across the street.
“Thief! Someone stop him!”
A stall owner shook his fist as an unhealthily scrawny boy weaved his way through the crowd.
Though he was already far away from the merchant’s reach, it seemed his escape was not to succeed.
“Got you, you little brat!”
A guard who’d been slacking off at a chicken skewer stall used the butt of his spear to trip the boy, then pinned him down under a boot before he could get up.
“A boy from the slums? Throw him out of the town!”
“Yeah, kick him out!”
The merchant and his fellows all jeered at the youngster, who turned pale.
“N-not outside the town!”
“It’s either that or exile, boy!”
“I’d rather be a slave than die in a ditch outside the town walls.”
Is the outside of the town really that bad…?
“Master, you’re not going to stick your nose into it this time?”
“Well, it’s not like they’re getting violent with him… I’ll wait to meddle until after his punishment.”
I watched as the guard dragged the boy away.
We went around and made donations to the temples of the town, which were happy to agree to offer food and healing to the poor and refugees. I donated plenty of food and potions, too.
To my surprise, several of the temples started giving out food at once. I don’t know if it was because of the size of my donation or because they were already worried about the refugees and poor people, but either way, I was happy to see them taking charitable action so quickly.
“There must be orphanages, right?”
“Apparently, they’re all full to bursting.”
While most of the temples had their own orphanages, they were all very small, leaving many children to live on the streets. Some children were even forced to turn to crime, like the boy we saw before.
“Do you think there’s any work for them?”
“According to the head priestess, there’s an employment agency in the slums that helps hire day laborers.”
However, evidently there wasn’t enough work to go around.
“If only there were some way we could make more jobs…”
“Master, what about making dried mandarin oranges?”
While I was racking my brains over Arisa’s comment, Lulu spoke up with a brilliant idea.
“Dried oranges… I wonder if anyone else is already doing it?”
“I haven’t seen any in the market so far. It looks like everyone just has regular oranges.”
Maybe that was just because fresh oranges were currently in season? Still, dried fruit would keep for a long time, and it was nice and light for travel. I bet the oranges would be really popular with explorers and sailors in Labyrinth City or a trade city, for starters.
“I imagine anyone could make them with magic tools for drying food, right?”
“If we give such expensive tools to kids, I’m afraid some nasty adults might steal them.”
“Good point…”
I looked around, and my eyes fell on a sign for the Echigoya Company.
I’d forgotten that I had the managers preparing to set up branches in various towns and cities around the Shiga Kingdom.
“Let’s get the Echigoya Company involved, since there’ll be buying and selling to do.”
“So you’re gonna leave all the hard work to someone else. Got it.”
Hey, no need to be rude. I’m starting a new venture with my business, that’s all.
“A dried fruit factory?”
“Yes, Zetts County seems to produce a lot of mandarin oranges. It should appeal to explorers and sailors, yes?”
That night, I went to the Echigoya royal capital headquarters and met with Manager Eluterina and Secretary Tifaleeza to propose the dried fruit project.
Since we’d used the food-drying magic tools to mass-produce jerky, dried kraken, and so on, I gave the Echigoya Company blueprints for a cheaper-to-produce version of the tool, as well as several prototypes.
“We’ll bring the blueprints and prototypes to our magic tool providers tomorrow and get an estimate.”
“Lord Kuro, I think we should run a test market somewhere to see if we can make a profit.”
I agreed to Tifaleeza’s proposal, suggesting that we start the trial run in Fau. It was the closest major town to the royal capital, and a major producer of the mandarin oranges.
“Fau? That’s perfect. We’ve just received a report that we secured a building for our branch there. I’ll have the team in charge of setting up the new shop test out the dried fruits there.”
It would probably take about a month to get the trial up and running, but I hoped the branch managers would be able to employ a lot of the poor population in that town.
That should take care of the lack of jobs.
On top of that, I also told the pair that I was considering using a large airship to transport immigrants, with the disclaimer that this wasn’t too urgent a project. I asked them to look into potential problems and lay some basic groundwork for the plan, and also suggested that we could use the airship for trade once it was done.
I feel like their faces might have stiffened a little, but I’m sure that was just my imagination.
When I returned to Fau, still dressed as Kuro, I went to visit the refugees living outside the town.
The refugee camps didn’t have any bonfires or campfires. There were just tents lined up in pitch-black darkness, with refugees huddled together sleeping inside.
“Stop! What business do you have here?!”
A group of men with sticks emerged from the shadows of the tents.
Although they were skinny, they still had strong muscles from farmwork.
“I’m a merchant. I have something I want to sell to you.”
“Ha! What kinda sick joke is that? As you can see, we’re too poor to even get into the town. Our women are too sick and exhausted to even sell their bodies. What the hell do you think you could possibly sell us?”
“Hope for the future.”
These words were borrowed from the people we helped on the highway. I thought it had a nice ring.
“Hope? There’s no place for that here! The future? Half of us are so sick we don’t even know if we’ll live to see tomorrow!”
The man’s voice rose with anger.
His shouting awoke some of the people in the tents, who peered out at us.
“Go to the royal capital. The Echigoya Company there will give you hope. You can sign up to live in their new farming village. That will give you a future.”
I used a little help from my “Persuasion” skill to address the man and the refugees behind him.
“Listen, masked man. My great-granddad worked on one o’ those settlements in Lessau County. I wasn’t alive for all that, but I heard all kinds of awful stories growin’ up. Hacking down mountains and forests to build a village sounds like hell itself. It ain’t just that the work is hard. There’s nothin’ to eat for years until you can finally grow crops, and kids and old folks die every winter of cold and hunger.”
Some of the elderly refugees we helped on the highway had said the same kind of thing.
It seems that breaking ground on a new settlement without magic is even harder than I thought.
“Not in this place. The village is already built. All that’s left is to send in people who will till the fields.”
“Like we’d believe such a wild fantasy!”
“Yeah, right!”
Okay, fair enough.
Since I didn’t start by giving out food and healing this time, I got the feeling just name-dropping the hero wouldn’t be enough to convince them.
“Let me show you, then.”
I looked around and pointed at some boulders and trees not far from the camp.
“Over there. I’ll demonstrate for you.”
I led the men to the clearing, and the other refugees rose from their beds and followed.
Even though they said they didn’t believe my story, there must have been a part of them that hoped it was true.
I stopped near the spot and used magic to create a light source, sweeping away the darkness.
“Farming.”
Pretending to chant in a low voice, I held up a magic gemstone I’d made with Create Stone Object.
After a moment, I used the Earth Magic spell Cultivation from my magic menu.
I set the range to a sixty-five-foot square and activated the spell.
“OOOOOOOH!”
The men murmured in awe, followed by the rest of the crowd.
“A f-field appeared?!”
“Even the rocks and trees turned into farmland!”
“That’s impossible! This must be an illusion! He’s trying to trick us with magic!”
One of the men was still suspicious.
“Touch it and see for yourself.”
“Damn right I will! I’m not gonna fall for your tricks!”
Fuming, he thrust his hand into the ground of the field.
“Damn, that’s soft…and looks real fertile, too,” I heard him mutter as he held up the fistful of dirt.
Hearing this, the other men and refugees followed suit, putting their hands in the earth. They started talking urgently among themselves, inviting those who still doubted to touch the dirt as well.
Finally, most of them seemed to be convinced, and the vocal man from before came over with a crowd of the others.
They all threw themselves down in front of me.
“I’m sorry. It was only me and these two guys here who called you a fraud. The others got nothing to do with it. Please just punish us. Take the rest of ’em to this village you told us about. We’re begging you!”
With that, the three men bowed their heads so deeply, they were almost grinding their foreheads in the dirt.
“I don’t intend to punish anyone. I’m aware that it’s hard to believe.”
I went on to explain that I would make arrangements for all of them to be accepted at the farming village and gave them rucksacks full of preserved food and other tools for the journey to the royal capital. Just to keep my identity secret, I made sure to give them a different lineup of food from what I gave the other people as Satou.
I also gave them a few wagons for transporting the children and elderly, as well as some ox golems made with Create Stone Object and Create Earth Servant. I threw in a stone wolf to protect them, too.
“P-please take me with you!”
The boy we saw get arrested that afternoon ran up to me with a cry. I guess that guard really did throw him out of the town.
“Very well. As long as you’re willing to work hard, I’ll take you on.”
Farming is hard work; I hoped he’d be up for it.
“Bring this letter to the Echigoya Company in the royal capital. If anyone stops you at the city gates or checkpoints, just show them these documents.”
I gave them a letter to the manager and a written guarantee that the Echigoya Company would take responsibility for them.
While I was at it, I told them they could invite any refugees they met on the road to the royal capital to join their number as they saw fit.
“It’ll be a difficult journey, but don’t leave the weak or injured behind. Make sure everyone gets to the royal capital.”
There’s a reason I couldn’t just teleport them to the royal capital.
Namely, I think people are more inclined to value something they earned for themselves than something that was simply given to them.
“Got it… I mean, yes, sir. I swear on my life that I, Motes, will lead everyone to the royal capital. And we will work our hardest in the farming village, that we might repay our debt to you, Lord Kuro.”
This was the first time I’d caught his name; he sounded like he might part the ocean for his people or something.
“Perfect. I’m looking forward to it.”
I left the group still bowing and used Return to teleport back to my friends.
> Title Acquired: Bringer of Hope
> Title Acquired: Fortune-Teller
> Title Acquired: Prophet
I don’t remember telling any fortunes, but this is far from the first time the title system has given me something weird. I’ll just ignore it.
The next day, I checked in on the refugee camp before we left town and saw that they had already packed up and left.
I’m sure they were already on the road to the royal capital, full of hope for the future.
“So this is the capital at last.”
The capital of Zetts County was also overflowing with refugees outside the city walls.
Most of the towns and cities we’d passed through since Fau were in a similar state, and we’d done the same kind of charity work for all of them. Since most of the refugees had similar problems, I improved on my methods and had the rest of the group help me.
“Generic.”
“Yes, Mia. This area does not have the same kind of local color as other towns and cities.”
“Looks like the restaurants serve royal capital–style cuisine.”
“The architecture is impressive, even if there aren’t many different varieties. I’ve hardly seen any single-story buildings.”
While the construction techniques were the best in the county, I had to agree that there wasn’t much else to write home about.
“Do you think they’ve got any specialties besides mandarin oranges?”
“Zetts County is also famous for its smooth wine, so I’m sure they grow grapes, too.”
Although the wine wasn’t especially delicious, it was very drinkable and ideal for beginners. I visited some liquor stores and bought my favorite kinds by the barrel.
This somewhat unusual behavior seemed to draw attention; when we finished shopping and went back to the inn, I had an invitation to dinner with Count Zetts himself.
“There’s not much time…”
Since it was short notice, I didn’t have enough time to prepare a proper gift.
I picked out a few pieces of jewelry and artwork that an upper noble might like. Then, to keep things interesting, I also chose a handful of the mandarin orange sweets Lulu and I had been developing on our journey. I planned to give the rest to the Echigoya Company, along with the recipes.
“Welcome, Viscount Pendragon.”
The lord of Zetts County was a rather short man.
“Why, he’s only a child. When I heard our visitor was a mithril explorer who’d defeated a dragon, I was expecting a big, burly man.”
This lukewarm appraisal of me came from Count Zetts’s third daughter.
She looked very adult for her seventeen years of age, with the impressive build of a pro wrestler.
“Don’t be rude, Hohruna! He is an honorable swordsman who challenged an enormous wyvern without even wearing armor. Sir Pendragon, I do apologize for my daughter’s rudeness.”
The similar-looking countess pushed her daughter’s head down with one muscular arm, bowing her own head to me as well.
It turned out that the count and countess had attended the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony at the end of the year and saw me defeat a chaos wyvern with Ryouna of the Shiga Eight Swordsmen.
In spite of the initial rockiness, the orange sweets I brought were very well received, and I wound up giving in to the countess’s pleas for a few of the recipes.
The count was so smitten with his wife that, with her help, I was able to persuade him to promise to aid the refugees traveling through Zetts County in exchange for the recipes. This way, there should be less suffering on the road even after we left.
“The state of this place kind of reminds me of the old Muno.”
“It’s understandable, with so many citizens leaving.”
When we moved on from Zetts County to Lessau County, it did indeed remind me of the way Muno had once been, just as Arisa said. It was just as desolate, and just as bone-chillingly cold. The latter was probably because there wasn’t enough power in the City Core to fully adjust the weather.
We saw plenty of villages that were either deserted or only had a handful of elderly inhabitants who’d been left behind, and it seemed like many people had become bandits out of desperation, too.
Up until now, we’d only heard rumors and never actually seen any of these bandits, since we were traveling in a royal carriage. This time, though…
“Leave all yer valuables with us!”
“And yer food, too!”
“A-and yer women!”
Just as I noticed the arrows blocking our way, a group of men stepped into our path, wearing tattered leather armor and armed with swords and spears. There were six men in front of us and five behind us.
“Talk about cliché,” Arisa commented in Tactical Talk, connecting our group.
“There are three archers each at ten and two o’clock, and two more hiding at eight o’clock. Plus five men on either side hiding in the bushes for an ambush. Be careful.”
“Master, the ambushers have casting nets, I report.”
As I relayed the information from my map to the group, Nana added an observation, thanks to her Foundation ability to see through the bushes.
“Left.”
Mia covered her mouth with her sleeve and started the Balloon chant in a whisper.
She was probably saying she’d take the left ambushers.
“I will defend against the net on the right, I declare.”
“Then I’ll fend off the arrows.”
“Let me handle the archers up ahead, then.”
“Tama will take the baaack?”
“Pochi will stompy-stomp the enemies in front, sir!”
“And I’ll take the enemies to the rear.”
The girls quickly divided up the work to take out the bandits.
“Don’t forget to hold back, everyone—these bandits aren’t very strong.”
I gave a warning, just to be safe.
Pochi and Tama turned up their strength limiter bracelets and switched their weapons to wooden Magic Swords imbued with Soft Stun.
“Uh-oh, are you ladies scared?”
“Gya-ha-ha! Don’t worry, we’ll be real nice.”
I saw one of the bandits signal the ambushers.
“Here they come.”
Just as I relayed this information, Mia activated Balloon and sent the ambush on the left flying.
“Dammit! They’re onto us!”
The ambushers on the right threw their nets. Nana blocked them all with her Flexible Shields and kept pressing forward to take them all out with a “Shield Bash.”
“Archers! Kill the mage!”
“As if I’d let that happen.”
Arisa’s Deracinator spell blocked the arrows.
And the archers were next…
“Take this!”
“Shoooom!”
Lulu used the shotgun-size Magic Guns in each of her hands to take out the archers hiding in the trees up ahead, while Tama took out pebbles from her Fairy Pack to pelt at the ones hiding in the bushes behind us.
“Got you.”
“Sir!”
Liza and Pochi took down the attackers to the front and rear.
“Oof…!”
While Pochi’s bracelets and wooden sword kept damage to a minimum, Liza didn’t hold back as much as she probably should have, resulting in some of the bandits taking more serious wounds than she intended.
Normally I wouldn’t be too worried about thieves, but considering the state of their county, I was willing to take extenuating circumstances into account. I decided to use potions to make sure they wouldn’t have any lasting effects, at least.
“Master, I apologize for the trouble.”
“Don’t worry, it was no big deal. Let’s take care of the aftermath for now.”
We took the bandits’ weapons, tied them to a nearby tree, and sent a message to a nearby fort to come collect the criminals. The Summon Pigeon spell was proving handier than I expected.
That should just about do it.
We got back on our horses and carriage and returned to the road.
“Oh, right. Liza, Nana, next time you need to hold back in a battle, try using these.”
I gave Liza and Nana the old style of power-limiting bracelets that Tama and Pochi used to wear.
“Matchyyyy?”
“Matching pair, sir!”
I decided not to point out that it technically wasn’t a pair, since there were four of them.
“I would love a PVP crowd-control spell like Mia’s.”
“With Space Magic? Maybe you could compress the air and send them flying?”
“Good idea. I can probably figure out something like that with one of my current spells.”
Arisa started experimenting with Space Magic, producing popping sound effects.
That was fine, since we were already far away from where we left the robbers, and there was no one else on the road.
“…Got it!”
Arisa stuck out her hand and created a ball of compressed air with Space Magic, striking it into a nearby tree.
Creaking and cracking, the roughly torso-width tree collapsed.
“That is too strong, I appraise.”
“I just messed up a little, that’s all. I’ll have to practice a bit before I use it on any real targets.”
Arisa set about practicing on nearby trees.
The beastfolk girls and Nana started practicing holding back the strength of their attacks, too.
“Master, do we have any Wind Rods that aren’t too strong?”
Lulu timidly made a rare request as she watched the practice. She probably wanted a nonlethal weapon, too.
While Wind Rods weren’t as deadly as Fire Rods, a direct blow would still cause serious injury to the average person and could even be fatal if it struck a bad spot.
I took out a short staff from my Storage, used “Spellblade” the size of a needle to create a thin hole in the middle, and stuck a wind stone inside.
Even without magic circuits, it should still produce wind if you put magic power into the staff.
“How’s this?”
Lulu tested it out. While it produced wind, the effect scattered too quickly to incapacitate anyone.
I was able to produce better effects when I refined it in a few ways, like making the hole spiral-shaped and carving a rune into the wind stone.
“Uh-oh, sir.”
Pochi, who’d been poking at the dust created when I carved the wind stone, accidentally let some magic loose into it and produced a gust of wind that sent her tumbling away.
“Meeew…?”
Tama put the powder on the palm of her hand and looked at it thoughtfully.
“Meeew…!”
Once she tested out the ability to produce wind by putting magic into the powder, she gleefully used it to flap her and Pochi’s clothes around.
“Wind-return jutsuuu?”
Tama proceeded to use the wind stone powder to flip Nana’s and Lulu’s skirts.
“Eek! Stop that, Tama! No snacks for naughty children.”
“Sorryyy.”
Lulu held down her skirt and scolded Tama.
“Ah-ha-ha, that’s called ‘divine wind,’ not ‘wind return.’”
Arisa made a reference to a famous old manga with a pudgy ninja protagonist.
“I bet you could do ‘fire return’ with fire stones, too.”
“I wanna tryyy?”
“Pochi wants to try, too, sir!”
Rather than let a bunch of children play with fire unsupervised, I joined Tama and Pochi to help with their endeavors.
“Firebally jutsuuu?”
Tama used fire stone powder to blow flames at a target golem.
“Pochi uses firebally jutsu, too, si—Waaaaah!”
Sure enough, Pochi nearly set herself on fire with the powder. I used Unit Deployment to pull her away just in time.
“…Silly me, sir. Pochi’s a samurai, not a ninja, sir.”
The incident spooked her so much that she started practicing quick draws with her sword instead.
Maybe I should come up with some more nonlethal ways to knock people out, too?
Smell Field wasn’t very good for the task: It could easily kill people if I wasn’t careful, and it would affect my allies, too, unless they put on masks in advance. It could definitely be useful for getting a mob under control, just not for on-the-spot countermeasures.
Oh, I know.
I knew my new Fallen Hammer spell was strong enough to knock a flying wyvern out of the sky, so it would probably be way too much to use on humans. The Turbulence spell only churned up the air, though; maybe that would work for knocking people out without having to lock on first.
“Might as well give it a try…”
Aiming in the opposite direction from the forest, where everyone else was experimenting, I selected Turbulence from the magic menu.
I turned its power down to the minimum to keep it as weak as possible, and…
Suddenly the trees started creaking and shaking, then snapping ever more loudly, until a storm kicked up that pulled out a whole bundle of trees by the roots.
I quickly stopped the spell, and used other Wind Magic like Secret Field and Air Cushion to cancel out its effects.
“Whoa! What was that all about, Master?!”
“I just thought I might be able to use it to knock people out…”
Cold sweat tricked down my forehead as I looked at the scene in front of my eyes, which looked like the aftermath of a huge typhoon passing through.
“If you’d tried that on those bandits, we’d still be burying the bodies.”
“No kidding…”
So much for just disturbing the air a little bit. That was as powerful as any Wind Attack spell.
I should probably just stick to getting a scroll made for an original spell with a fixed-attack maximum for incapacitating people. In the meantime, I’d just keep using Remote Stun. As annoying as it was to have to lock onto the targets every time, at least it wouldn’t hurt anyone indiscriminately.
Feeling a bit guilty, I did my best to restore the forest to its original state with Magic Hand. Thanks to the help of my “Disguise” skill, it shouldn’t be too noticeable from the road.
Around then, we started seeing other travelers on the road again. I had the group stop their practice, which had strayed from the original intention of control and incapacitation anyway, and we resumed our journey.
“There aren’t as many monsters about as we heard on the road.”
Liza looked around from atop her horse.
“That’s the work of the expedition force headed to Vistall Duchy.”
The royal army must have successfully eliminated most of the monsters on the road, just as they promised in the kingdom meeting.
They had neglected the monsters that were far from the main road, though. Each night when we set up camp, I went around to the nearby villages with “Flashrunning” and used a Remote Arrow barrage to wipe out most of the monsters in the area.
For some reason, they hadn’t yet reclaimed the capital city we passed on the way. Since the Lessau County army was still doing its best to deal with all the monsters there, I decided not to interfere out of respect for their honor.
From what I heard in a nearby village, the royal army had offered to get rid of the monsters in the capital city, yet for some reason the lord of the county stubbornly insisted that his men would handle it alone.
As I thought back on all this while riding my horse, Tama and Pochi, who were riding alongside me, pointed up ahead.
“Sparklyyy?”
“Master, there’s something shiny in the mountains, sir!”
“Looks like we’ve caught up to them already. Not to worry. That’s just the royal army, on their way to Vistall Duchy.”
The army’s weapons and armor were probably catching the light as they crossed the mountains.
Once we warmed ourselves up with a nice hot pot lunch, we put our carriage away and divided onto five golem horses to catch up with the royal army troops.
“Satou.”
“Master, a messenger is coming, I declare.”
Mia and Nana, who’d gone up ahead to scout, returned with a report.
I couldn’t blame them for being on their guard about a group of riders on horseback approaching their army at high speeds.
“My name is Bauen, of the Holy Knights’ eighth battalion, from—Lady Liza!”
The messenger interrupted his introduction to exclaim when he saw Liza.
He must have met her when she was visiting the Holy Knights’ barracks.
“An acquaintance of yours, Liza?”
“Yes, we sparred many times in the royal capital…”
“Then this young man must be Sir Untouchable! My name is Bauen Ganriu. I was born in a remote region of the Saga Empire, but I am a Shiga Eight candidate like yourself, that I am.”
Arisa twitched in reaction to “that I am,” which I completely ignored rather than let her make a scene.
His name was confusingly similar to Gouen Roitall, the former Shiga Eight Swordsman; however, unlike the brawny Gouen, Bauen was a slender swordsman. He also carried a curved longsword instead of a broadsword.
He must be a Saga Empire samurai like Mr. Kajiro, the Zi-Gain-style swordsman who taught at our explorers’ school in Labyrinth City.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Bauen. Are you on your way to Vistall Duchy?”
“Indeed, that I am. Though we Holy Knights are mainly tasked with hunting the monsters along the highway, that we are. I hear tell that the rebel army boasts some skilled knights and mages who we may do battle with as well, that we may.”
The eighth battalion of the Holy Knights was apparently captained by Ms. Ryuona, the Grass Cutter of the Shiga Eight.
“It seems this expedition is also a final test for we Shiga Eight Swordsmen candidates, so I only hope we will encounter worthy opponents, that I do. Have you also come to participate for that purpose?”
As he asked this question, his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He appeared to be quite serious about this.
“No, Liza and I have withdrawn our candidacy for the Shiga Eight Swordsmen. And we are heading to the small nations past Kageus County, not to Vistall Duchy.”
“I see…what a shame, that it is. My rematch with Lady Liza, who saw through my ‘Windblade,’ even in our very first match, shall have to wait until another time, that it shall.”
Once I clarified, Mr. Bauen’s smile finally turned genuine.
It also seemed to help when I showed him my Vice-Minister of Tourism medallion. He must have concluded that I was seeking success as a civil official, not as a military officer.
We chatted as we rode along until we eventually caught up to the royal army near the summit.
“Master, some of the carriages amid the ranks appear to be civilian, I observe.”
“Yes, those are merchants traveling along with the army, that they are.”
This way, they didn’t have to worry about monster or bandit attacks.
According to Bauen, they were allowed to join the march as long as they didn’t hinder the army in any way.
Since the army took up the entire width of the road, we rode our horses in the grass on the shoulder instead.
For some reason, Mr. Bauen went back to his home unit only to get his vice-captain’s permission to join us.
“Since you are here, I can introduce you to His Excellency Duke Vistall and the generals, that I can.”
No, thank you.
As much as I wanted to decline, it would be considered rude for me to pass by without greeting the duke and generals, now that I was an upper noble myself.
Left with no other choice, we followed Mr. Bauen to the troop headquarters.
Luckily, since they were traveling, too, it would probably only be a short visit.
“Good to see you, Viscount Pendragon. So you’ve decided to join us and make a name for yourself after all, eh?”
“I wish you the greatest of success on the battlefield, Your Excellency; however, I am afraid I must still refrain from participating myself. My most urgent duty at present is to the work His Majesty assigned me as Vice-Minister of Tourism. Please forgive me for being unable to join your noble cause at this time.”
Remembering my lessons in noble speech, I told Duke Vistall as politely as possible that I had other matters to attend to.
“Hmph. So you’ve chosen to wag your tail for the prime minister instead of the noble path of a Shiga Eight Swordsman… It seems your judgment failed you, Baron Mosaddo.”
Standing near Duke Vistall was Baron Jelil Mosaddo, the Scarlet Nobleman, who lowered his head politely.
When I first arrived, he and the other Shiga Eight candidates viewed me as a rival. Luckily, like Mr. Bauen, he seemed to ease up once he heard my explanation.
“Thanks for the greeting. You may leave now,” Duke Vistall declared, clearly sensing that I wouldn’t be of any benefit to him. Unpleasant as he was personally, I didn’t mind that he made quick judgments, especially since it meant I didn’t have to stick around.
“Satou! You weren’t even going to say hi to your old war buddy?”
Ms. Ryuona, the Grass Cutter, appeared, her six-pack on full display and her trademark battle scythe over her shoulders.
The “war buddy” comment must be referring to when we defeated a chaos wyvern together during the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony.
“Is what the duke said true? You’re really not gonna fight with us?”
“Yes, it’s true.”
Ryuona slung an arm over my shoulders. “You sure you don’t wanna come? We’re fighting a really crazy beast this time, you know?”
“A crazy beast?”
“Yeah, this thing wiped out the two knight squadrons who’d taken down the fortress city, all by itself.”
I’d heard in the royal capital that the first anti-rebellion force was quashed, but not that it was by a single opponent.
As much as I appreciated the free information, she probably shouldn’t go around sharing military secrets so easily.
“Is it a greater demon?”
If so, I’d better go in there as Nanashi to take it out.
“That’s still under investigation. According to the military priests and priestesses, it’s most likely not a demon at all.”
“But what else could defeat two knight squadrons, except…?”
“…a dragon? That’s my best guess, anyway.”
“A fully grown one?”
“Yeah, right. If it was that bad, they’d send old Mr. Juleburg or Reilus in for sure. A young, lesser dragon is more likely to go wild on a human army. Either way, it’s gonna be a hell of a fight for sure.”
Ryuona licked her lips, wearing a rare and wolfish grin. That was the face of a serious battle junky. It was a good thing Liza didn’t come here with me—I’m sure hearing this would make her want to join the fight, too.
“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll be wishing you good fortune on the battlefield from afar.”
“Oh, c’monnn! You’re seriously not gonna come? We’d be able to have another fun fight like against that huge wyvern if you came along…”
For personal reasons, I really don’t want to fight a dragon to the death, thanks.
That being said, I was willing to bet it’d be a demi-dragon like a hydra, since it didn’t sound anything like the lesser dragon that attacked Seiryuu City.
“You don’t need my help when you have the Shiga Eight candidates, right?”
“Oh, those guys? Aside from Jelil and Bauen, they’re all full of hot air, I tell ya.” Still, she sighed and reluctantly acquiesced. “Fiiine, your loss.”
Based on the numbers and injuries of the defeated knight squadrons, she told me their foe was estimated around level 45 or 50. If it was any stronger, there would probably have been more past sightings in surrounding areas.
Since Ms. Ryuona was level 48 herself, and most of the Shiga Eight candidates were at least in the mid- to high 40s, they should be able to handle a level 50-ish dragon without too much trouble.
We parted ways with the royal army and continued through the lengthy Lessau County, eventually reaching the temporary capital of Seus.
“Whoa, this place looks like a defeated country in a war movie.”
While Arisa’s remark was rude, it was admittedly an accurate description of Seus City.
The market was sparse, with few products or people. Pickpockets and robbers were rampant on the streets. The few passersby we saw looked listless, their heads hanging low. Street urchins slumped in the alleyways, and according to the rumors, kidnapping and slave trafficking were widespread, too.
There was an Echigoya Company branch that had recently opened here, but it had very little business thus far.
“Maybe we can help out a little?”
Since we’d come all this way, we decided to visit Count Lessau in Seus Castle.
I was strong-armed into giving a considerable bribe to the receptionist. At least the results were speedy enough that I was able to secure an invitation to the evening’s ball.
“This is a little…hmm.”
In stark contrast with the suffering citizens, the nobles were living in the lap of luxury. Even if it was partly just because of the ball being held there, the castle was like a completely different world from the rest of the city.
“Why, isn’t that gem a Heaven’s Teardrop?”
“But of course. As the first wife of Viscount Doseu, I simply must have nothing but the best.”
“So Sir Jissu’s son has been sent to help liberate the capital?”
“We can hardly let the royal army do as it pleases with our ancestral Lessau City.”
“Well said, indeed. Meanwhile, our lord was utterly hoodwinked by those sly old foxes and wolves in the royal capital into giving up our share of cores.”
“Truly, such a pity. Goodness knows when we’ll be able to reopen our mines and factories.”
“Indeed, such is the struggle when there is no supply of cores.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s just as I thought—the experienced Lord Jilgos would have been far better suited to the role of lord than the young Lord Coulmas.”
“You mustn’t speak such blasphemy aloud.”
“Ah, of course. I shall be more careful.”
From the snippets I heard of the nobles’ conversations, they were primarily shallow boasting, complaining about a loss in profits, or smugly disparaging of their young lord.
As if the threat of monsters wasn’t bad enough, it seemed like young Count Lessau had plenty of internal affairs to worry about, too.
I had my own feelings about the former Count Lessau, considering what he’d done to Tifaleeza and Neru, but maybe I could still offer a helping hand to his son.
“Sir Pendragon, thank you for coming all this way from far-off Muno County!”
Evidently, Count Lessau thought I really did travel here straight from Muno County.
I couldn’t blame him, since we didn’t have a chance to talk at any of the royal capital social events.
“Sir, the reception room.”
“I know.”
After a whispered prompting from an elderly consul, Count Lessau led me to the reception room. Evidently, he had some kind of business with me.
I barely even had time to sit before the young lord cut to the chase.
“You want me to…invest?”
“That’s right. Our county is soliciting investments from interested parties.”
It sounded like he was asking for a loan, under the guise of investment, to me.
“Of course, you would be duly compensated.”
The young count seemed to mistake my stunned silence for demanding a reward.
“My cousin has just lost her fiancé in the recent demon attack and is lost in the depths of heartbreak. If you wish, I would be glad to arrange for you to meet her at our next tea party.”
Really? Because it looked to me like she was lost in the depths of the breakfast buffet.
“I’m afraid I am far too young and inexperienced to soothe the sadness in such a noble lady’s heart.”
“Then what would you want?”
Wow, he just came out and asked directly.
Apparently, negotiating isn’t this kid’s strong point.
“That depends on the size of the investment you seek.”
“Wha…?”
Caught off guard by my counter-question, the boy count looked to his elderly consul for help.
“Five thousand gold coins…would be ideal. But of course, we cannot expect a foreign noble to take on such a heavy burden. Would one thousand gold coins be acceptable?”
Ah, yes. The typical “open with a ridiculous amount, then name the amount you actually want” strategy.
That wasn’t much money to me personally, but it was probably a lot to most people. It was the same as the budget I’d been given for the year as Vice-Minister of Tourism, and around what Marchioness Ashinen paid for the elixir in the auction, too.
“So something that would befit a thousand gold coin investment…?”
Was there anything I could possibly want from this impoverished Lessau County? Actually, yes, there was.
“Well, a friend’s company asked me to mediate on their behalf…”
I requested the establishment of an orphanage in the city, as well as a building and bankrupt factory the Echigoya Company had been hoping to acquire.
“An orphanage? A bankrupt factory?”
The young lord looked at his consul, confused by my response.
The old consul nodded, and the young count readily agreed to the former; however, the latter apparently belonged to one of his nobles, so he seemed hesitant.
“Just accept his conditions, young master. Leave the persuasion to me.”
“All right, if you say so. I’m counting on you.”
Thanks to the elderly consul’s intervention, my conditions were accepted.
I planned to entrust running the orphanage to the Echigoya Company and offer them the money from selling the building and factory to the company as funds for the first ten years of establishing the orphanage.
I also considered requesting purchasing priority rights to the Lessau’s Lifeblood, made at a nearby winery, but decided against it.
The last thing I needed was to become a greedy noble who kept the wine from being widely circulated. This particular wine was a beloved brand of the vampire progenitor and reincarnation Van, who lived in the Lower Stratum of the Celivera Labyrinth.
“Incidentally, Viscount Pendragon, I have heard tell that you are a renowned explorer yourself.”
Once we made the arrangements and signed the paperwork, the elderly consul brought up a different subject.
“Is it true that you defeated a floormaster in the Celivera Labyrinth?”
“Yes, we received a medal from His Majesty for that feat.”
“Very impressive.”
The young lord was quick to praise my accomplishment.
It was so abrupt that it almost seemed like the whole conversation had been planned in advance.
“It’s all thanks to the hard work of my companions.”
“Splendid. It seems you have truly magnificent companions, then.”
This praise definitely seemed artificial now.
They were probably about to bring up some new proposal.
“Are you aware that the ruins of the former Flue Empire lie just outside Lessau County?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
Searching the map, I discovered that aside from abandoned villages and mines, there were ancient ruins in an otherwise empty mountain range about half a mile in radius.
Based on the distribution of treasure and guardians in the ruins, most of the rooms seemed to have been explored already, save for the very deepest floor.
The road from the nearest village also stopped in places, indicating that no one had ventured into the ruins for some time.
“We would like to offer you ten years’ exploration rights of those ruins for five hundred gold coins.”
“Five hundred? That seems fairly low. Have the ruins already been explored?”
“No one has entered in these past hundred years.”
“Does that mean they were already explored over a hundred years ago?”
Based on the map information about the abandoned village nearby, it wouldn’t be surprising if that much time had passed already.
“…Hidden doors are an indispensable part of ancient ruins. Surely an explorer as skilled as yourself would be able to find them when others have failed, no?”
“But surely they have been so long abandoned because investigators concluded that there were no more unexplored areas? I cannot imagine that we have any more luck or skill than the explorers of years past.”
“Truly? I should think someone as fortunate as yourself might be able to find something new.”
Well, that was kind of rude.
He seemed to realize that as well, and quickly added, “Though of course that good fortune comes of true skill.”
“Five hundred gold coins is a bit high for a roll of the dice. Besides, if we find anything in the ruins, wouldn’t Lessau County retain rights to first priority?”
I pressed the elderly consul, pointing out that exploring gear isn’t cheap.
“Of course…”
The consul squinted at me, trying to read my intentions. I used my “Poker Face” skill to keep a blank expression.
“…it would be tax-free. We would not enforce first priority, though we do have appearances to uphold. If you find something truly rare, we hope that you would inform us first.”
That was fair. It wouldn’t look good if Count Lessau didn’t even know about a rare item found in Lessau County.
“I admire your fortitude. Still, it goes against a mithril explorer’s pride to pay a great deal of money to go on an archeological dig.”
“Then let us also declare any materials you gain from monsters along the way to be tax-free. Of course, you must still sell us any cores at the market rate.”
Almost there.
“There is an abandoned mine nearby. It was very prosperous until some fifty years ago. We will throw in mining rights for twenty years.”
The elderly consul made a proposal that would put any swindler to shame.
“And your findings will be tax-free for five years, no matter what precious metals or gems you might find. How about that?”
It normally took years to bring an abandoned mine back into mineable shape. And according to Miss Manager at the Echigoya Company, five tax-free years wasn’t much, even if it started from when the mining began.
On top of that, if the mining rights lasted twenty years, that meant they would return to Count Lessau just when the mine was getting back on the right track.
As a bonus, when I searched the map, I discovered that the long-abandoned mine was infested with several hundred demi-goblins.
“As long as the mining is an option and not an obligation.”
“Of course.”
We settled on a single mountain for the area of development, and I agreed to purchase rights to the ruins and mines for five hundred gold coins.
Incidentally, while they seemed to think that the mines were completely dried up, there was actually a gold vein about three times deeper than where they had dug. There were untouched treasures in the ruins, too, and more than a thousand gold coins, albeit of the Flue Empire variety. I would definitely be able to make my money back.
The very next day, my companions and I explored the untouched area of the ruins. Over the next few days, I also collected a huge amount of gold ingots from the mines, and ultimately multiplied my investment by a dozen at least.
The combination of my menu and “Search Entire Map” skill really is ridiculously overpowered.
In exchange for the enormous profit I’d made off his land, I gave the hundreds of cores I got from the demi-goblins in the abandoned mines to Count Lessau. Even low-quality cores still work as fuel for Magic Furnaces and so on.
Hopefully, that would help with the core shortage a little.
“Master, someone’s fighting over there!”
“Battle?”
As we approached the northernmost point of the lengthy Lessau County, Pochi and Tama spotted a far-off battle.
It was in the direction of Vistall Duchy.
Nana peered through a longscope. “It appears to be a fort battle, I report.”
The royal army and rebellion army were clashing. I assumed these weren’t the forces that got wiped out after taking back the capital city.
The attackers were using golems and catapults as well as all kinds of siege engines, while the fort fought back with Magic Cannons.
Neither side had many magic users, though there was evidence that the attackers had used Earth Magic to make trenches and walled encampments. The royal army was the one defending the fort.
“What a remote place to have a battle.”
“Looks like that fort is an important strategic point for the north road of Vistall Duchy.”
I told Arisa what I’d figured out from my map.
Whoever lost control of this fort would have to watch their backs as they fought farther north.
“No wonder it’s such an intense fight.”
Arisa used a longscope to observe the battlefield. She probably chose that instead of her Space Magic spell so she wouldn’t have to see the gory details up close.
The commanding officer of the attacking side didn’t seem very skilled: The soldiers on the front lines were getting mowed down mercilessly by the Magic Cannons.
…Battles between humans are way too gruesome.
Losing all desire to observe, I turned my horse back to the road.
“Wait…that’s the Kuvork crest.”
At Arisa’s words, I swiveled back automatically.
Checking the map information, I saw that one of the attacking squadrons was made up of slaves from the Yowork Kingdom.
I used a longscope to get a closer look, too.
The crest on their shields must be that of Arisa’s destroyed homeland, Kuvork Kingdom. It had been deliberately crossed out in black ink, probably by someone from the Yowork Kingdom.
“Let’s go.”
“You don’t want to save them?”
“It’s not just Kuvork soldiers who are dying.”
Arisa shook her head without looking up.
Before long, the rebel side began retreating, as well as the Yowork army and their slaves.
I made sure of that before I turned my horse and followed Arisa and the others.
“Master, there’s a commotion at the border checkpoint, I report.”
There was a Kageus County fort overlooking the valley path that separated Lessau County and Kageus County.
A large group of soldiers was gathered at the fort, strictly checking all the baggage of the merchants passing through. They seemed to be turning back all refugees, to the point where none were coming this way any longer.
I braced myself as we approached, but once I showed my viscount’s identification and Vice-Minister’s medallion, they let us through quite easily.
Once we crossed the border, I got to use my “Search Entire Map” skill for the first time in a while. Luckily, I didn’t find any dangerous-looking people or demons. Hopefully, we’d be able to spend our visit in peace.
“Meeeat?”
“It’s Mr. Sheep, sir! It makes yummy jingisukan, sir!”
When we passed over the mountain, we emerged onto a plateau where sheep were peacefully grazing.
“Let’s have jingisukan for lunch today, then, shall we?”
“Yaaay!” “Sir!”
We bought mutton at the nearby village and enjoyed jingisukan, a Japanese grilled mutton dish, with a scenic view.
Arisa, who’d been a little quiet since the battle, finally started smiling again. Hopefully, the delicious food and calming view comforted her aching heart.
We continued through the fields and forests and reached the capital, Kageus City, by the time the sun set.
“This place feels familiar, sir.”
“Oui, oooui?”
“Yes, it reminds me of Seiryuu City.”
The beastfolk girls looked nostalgic for their hometown.
Once I took care of things with Arisa and Lulu, maybe we should stop back in Seiryuu City next.
“Satou.”
Mia tugged on my sleeve.
Looking where she was pointing, I saw a bearded man staring at us.
“What’s up?”
Just as Arisa turned to look at him…
“Wh-why, if it ain’t Lady Arisa!”
The man exclaimed her name in a thick accent.
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