Chapter 86
With the conversation with the Lord of Haken concluded, the schedule here was neatly wrapped up.
Even the two candidates for Successor didn’t so much as approach .
If I beca tied with Irene, it ant her influence would transfer over to .
So I calculated that her brothers might try to approach , but there was no such movent at all.
–It seems Master is being treated like a bomb.
‘What, just because I made a ss, that much?’
–Didn’t you get cursed at like a dog? Even if Master joined, it would only worsen public sentint.
Perhaps the sight of barging into the martial tournant at the end and cutting off Roman’s arm had been quite shocking to the Successors.
If not that, then maybe the boos from the residents that poured onto had weighed on their minds.
So, was this a success in its own way?
From now on, they probably wouldn’t even dare co near Irene.
Well, if she truly married , then she would have no reason to wield influence in Haken, so it wasn’t exactly a wrong judgnt.
‘But that’s only if it’s real.’
It was only on the day our party was leaving the Territory that I was finally able to et Irene’s First Brother in person.
He visited us to bid farewell to her as she was leaving.
“Now that I think of it, it seems only soone like Lord Iron could restrain that girl. She’s my sister, but she’s truly wild.”
“A brave knight, indeed.”
“Quite so. Please, take good care of Irene.”
At the last mont, the First Young Lord ca to find to give his farewell.
And the Second Young Lord ignored our party to the very end.
Even so, it didn’t feel right to curse the Second Young Lord.
Their situations were clearly different.
The First Young Lord hadn’t considered Irene from the start, so he could be cool about it.
If Roman had been the First Young Lord’s man, and the situation had suddenly collapsed when he might have secured Irene, then perhaps it would have been the Second Young Lord I t today.
So I had to understand if the Second Young Lord was inwardly suffering.
Still, as a person, I couldn’t help but feel a little warr toward the First Young Lord, who at least showed his face.
“Lord Iron, I admit my defeat. Please make the Princess happy.”
“…Yeah, you’ve worked hard too.”
“But rember this. If you ever make the Princess shed tears, I, Roman, will never forgive you.”
“Oh, is that so? Well… I’ll try.”
“I’ll never, ever forgive you. Don’t you forget that!”
“Man, you’re clingy as hell.”
Right before we left Haken, Roman—who clung to disgustingly the mont his body recovered—still maintained a clean attitude toward Irene.
“Be happy, Princess.”
“Sir Roman, I hope you et soone good too.”
“I’ll try.”
Considering how many years he had obsessed over her, the way he treated Irene so cleanly even made nod along unconsciously.
“I didn’t know Sir Roman had such a serious side. Honestly, I see him differently now.”
“How was he normally?”
“Mm, light as a feather. Just like his lower half.”
“Is that so?”
Even Irene seed a little impressed at the serious deanor Roman showed at the end.
Well, it wasn’t like people could always be the sa.
Even Rudick, who shalessly flaunted his lower half, still managed to show a serious side in front of Celine.
Co to think of it, that guy had a lot in common with Rudick.
Maybe I had grown a grudging attachnt to him.
‘But I can’t help it. I’ve got my own problems to deal with.’
There were many who would be shaken if Irene left the Territory.
Not only the residents who had moved to Johnson Territory believing in her, but also Crimson Cot, who cherished her like family, and even her real family, Elder Benetrang.
So her departure absolutely had to be prevented.
On top of that, with Celine following her, I had to deal with Rudick’s rage first.
Just thinking about it was exhausting.
‘But this Diary… it’s really strange.’
–What do you an?
‘Lord Bestia is supposed to be the god of beasts, so why has it given three visions in a row, all related to Irene?’
–Perhaps because it’s an ill on for Master’s future?
‘Is that so?’
Recently, all the Diary had shown were things related to Irene.
Not once or twice, but three tis in a row, which left feeling a bit perplexed.
Was Irene coated in honey or sothing?
She wasn’t even a Beastman, so I tilted my head in doubt.
Of course, it was true that I had benefited from the Diary. But was it really necessary to go that far?
Even if I were to die, being trapped in Haken for marriage didn’t feel like sothing the Diary needed to warn about.
‘Beast God Bestia… and a human, Irene. What on earth is the connection? This Diary still has so many mysteries.’
Was it because I was the Guide of the Rabbit Tribe that the Diary helped ?
If Bestia had given the Diary simply because I was the Guide of the Rabbit Tribe, then there seed to be so inconsistency.
The Guide of the Dog Tribe, Eline, whom I t recently, didn’t seem to have such privileges.
It would have been far more natural for soone like her, of the Dog Tribe, to receive it instead of , a re human. And yet, this Diary ended up in my hands.
‘Truly baffling.’
The Diary had revealed much to , but there were still so many things I didn’t understand.
It left feeling a bit stifled.
After leaving my farewells with the Lord of Haken, we imdiately departed for Johnson Territory.
Having left Haken, we rode without rest and managed to return to Johnson in just a few days.
With warhorses and Three-Horned Mountain Goats running at full speed, the journey back was smooth as could be.
Just like when we had descended, there were hardly any lunatics willing to charge at a party accompanied by dozens of knights.
“Now I can finally rest a little.”
Having returned to the Territory, I planned to rest for a while and recharge my energy.
This trip to Haken had been exhausting in many ways.
Though my body was fine, ntally I had suffered quite a bit. That in itself was a tornt.
Spring and sumr were the busiest tis for the residents, but for the knights, it was relatively peaceful. So there was plenty of ti to rest and recover my ntal strength.
…Or so I thought.
“What the…?”
If the Diary hadn’t shown a new vision.
Lately, it seed our dear Diary was working far too hard.
Hawrun Territory in the Levelium region, headquarters of the Level rchant Group.
Yuria McBane, daughter of the recently deceased Master of the Level rchant Group, sighed as she reviewed the reports laid before her.
The situation was turning stranger by the mont.
Her brother, who had beco the Master of the rchant Group, was far more of a wreck than she had thought.
“Not just pigs, but now Imperial bastards too? What on earth is this man planning?”
Pigs she didn’t even want to associate with, and the Empire’s n, were on the verge of pouring into the Levelium region.
Sothing Yuria could never have even imagined.
Now, she could clearly feel it was ti to leave this place.
“First, I need to find the Artifact.”
All the last restraints on her had been cut when her father passed away.
She had no reason to remain in the Level rchant Group, nor to be bound to Hawrun Territory.
The only reason she had cooperated with the rchant Group this long was because of the Artifact.
Her father’s will had revealed the hidden location of the Artifact, so she planned to leave as soon as she secured it.
“So the destination is Johnson after all. I’ll be seeing that crazy man again.”
Her final destination was Johnson Territory.
Thinking of that bear-like man who had blown away farms and ranches just to save the Rabbit Tribe made her let out a sudden laugh.
Recalling her brother’s face, which had flushed red with rage nearly to the point of explosion, lightened her mood a little.
“All right, let’s go.”
Having made up her mind, Yuria began to move quickly.
It had been three days since I returned from Haken.
They were busy days indeed.
First was checking the condition of the fields we had started tending in earnest with spring.
And then, maintaining the trade route that led to Rubina.
Especially Rubina—since it would remain a region we would continue to trade with, I had to go over it thoroughly.
Rudick and Limond, who had returned to the Territory earlier, had managed things reasonably well, but the final inspection was my duty as Lord.
“At least the road here was in good shape. That’s a relief.”
The goods brought in through Rubina had already been distributed to the residents.
As ntioned before, our Territory relied entirely on rationing, and whenever goods ca from outside, we imdiately distributed them fairly.
The Minotaur Horn Bow I had wrested from the Lord of Haken at the last mont was a strategic asset, so of course it went straight into the lord’s armory.
‘I’ll have to think about this too. We can’t depend on rationing forever.’
–For now, there’s no helping it, is there? There’s no real issue.
‘Once the population grows, little by little, problems will arise. The road ahead is long.’
The goods imported from Rubina were of higher quality than what we had been using in the Territory until now, so the residents had reacted positively.
For now, the rationing issue that would be a future concern posed no imdiate problem.
I could leave that to ti.
‘The bigger issue is trade itself.’
We had opened trade with Rubina, with Haken, and even with the Dog Tribe, so trips to Rubina would continue to be frequent.
This was desirable for the Territory as a whole.
After bringing goods from Rubina, I was also considering combining them with Horned Rabbits and sending them on to Henil Territory.
Henil was rich in seafood.
With a wider variety of ingredients, the residents’ lives would be far more abundant than before.
The problem was manpower.
Assigning guards for the trade caravans was a tiring matter.
Even if the trade route through Rubina was relatively safe, guards were still absolutely necessary.
‘It’s an unwanted duty, that’s the problem.’
Especially the Lion Tribe warriors, who hated boring tasks, detested guard duty, so assigning personnel took ti.
Among the re ninety human knights, I had to select a leader and rotate them.
Of course, if I asked Leisha, she could forcefully mobilize the warriors, but it was more efficient to simply assign knights or soldiers rather than use them unwillingly.
The Lion Tribe would be given other duties instead.
The first that ca to mind was the Raptor Groups that had enraged last year.
Spring was the season when Raptors beca active, so I planned to clean up the ones that had scattered everywhere over winter.
The Lion Tribe would have to stay busy for a while.
That was everything I had done over the past three days.
I thought I could finally rest a bit after settling matters… and then the Diary appeared.
I didn’t know what this was about.
“Life really isn’t easy.”
I sighed as the vision from the Diary unfolded.
This ti, it seed on a much larger scale.
A vast plain stretched out before .
A place I was quite familiar with.
‘This is the path leading down to Levelium.’
Last spring, I had passed through there riding Mountain Goats with the knights.
Heading south from here led to the fields where we had fought the Raptors.
It was likely the route Rudick had taken with the knights when he ca to rescue .
‘…Huh?’
The scene shifted, showing one side of the plain.
A great many wagons were lined up.
The wagons were piled like a wooden fence, and people were ard with spears and axes—simple weapons.
The armants were poor, but it felt like they were forming a defensive line in preparation for sothing.
Yet they all looked like routed soldiers, completely devoid of fighting spirit.
The atmosphere was utterly bleak.
‘What’s this? Ah…’
Just as I tilted my head in confusion, dust clouds rose from the Levelium side.
Then, troops ard with unfamiliar equipnt charged forward on horseback.
‘Damn it.’
What followed was a massacre.
On the wagon side were mostly elderly and weak, ordinary people who weren’t even properly ard.
No matter how many they were, they couldn’t stand against trained soldiers.
Countless lives were lost, and with that, the Diary’s vision flickered and vanished.
It was a profoundly unpleasant vision.
“Ha, what a headache.”
–Headache or not, shouldn’t you move?
“Of course. I have to move.”
Even if they were unrelated commoners, if they were being massacred, I had to act.
People were precious here.
If I could rescue them and settle them in our Territory, it would be nothing but a gain.
And the wagon procession I saw wasn’t unrelated to us.
‘They had fox ears.’
–The Fox Tribe.
Among the slaughtered group were many of the Fox Tribe.
‘At that location, they might be related to Yuria’s Fox Tribe.’
When she had aided us, she had sent her direct subordinates multiple tis, and they were Fox Tribe.
So that group might well have close ties to Yuria.
Back during the Rabbit Tribe’s great escape, I owed her quite a lot, so this wasn’t sothing I could ignore.
‘Even if not that, the Diary showed Beastn. If I don’t save them, won’t that be disappointing?’
It was obvious the vision was shown to tell to rescue them, so I had to answer that call.
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