Year 7438, Month 4, Day 4
It"s been a month since then and it"s just entered April now. It should be about time for Farne to return home. Farne should already be 16 years old and if
everything goes according to schedule he should already have received invest.i.ture as a true knight or be able to receive it soon.
After the first delivery of rubber products to the knight group since the start of the year just when I thought Hegard had been delighted to return home he brought
back the news that Farne is going to become a true knight. The invest.i.ture of knights is only done once every three months it seems so the next time it will happen
is in April. Hegard is at the age where he is almost 40 so after Farne returns and has children within a few years, he"ll be in his mid-40s. I"m sure he"s thinking
about teaching Farne how to manage the territory until then and retiring.
Orth, or rather in Marquis Webdos territory it seems that once they pa.s.s on the head of family and retire the previous head goes on to live gloriously in their
freedom. Although, that"s only limited to families that have the leeway to do so, I"m sure we"re easily counted in those that have the leeway. Normally after
retirement most remote viscount lords would continue training with the squires, farming, and join in on military mobilizations not any different to previously but
I"m sure the responsibility is completely different and there"s some mental release as well.
Things like the troublesome collection and payment of taxes, developing the territories infrastructure, even dealing with conflicts that occur between the peasants,
I"m sure it"s a release from all the plainly annoying problems. If you have money then you can completely go on a trip purely to enjoy it it seems.
Bakkudo is categorized as a farming village that primarily does cultivation so currently we pay taxes with wheat or the equivalent in money. Of course, there"s tax
being paid on the sale of rubber goods as well but since our primary delivery is to the army stationed in the marquis territory we pay the taxes at the same time as
we deliver the goods so there"s no need to worry about taxes from this business.
During the time we make deliveries to Doritto in Viscount Shindo"s territory we keep a listing of all of the items and their prices that we sell. By exchanging a
voucher of receipt there"s no problem if we give a copy of that and pay the taxes at the same time we make deliveries to marquis Webdos knight group.
Even when we sell things in the capital through the company that the marquis little brother runs, since it"s actually just selling to the company in marquis Webdos
territory the taxes are all calculated at that time.
In other words, other than paying something like land taxes in wheat there"s nothing other than something like j.a.pan"s consumption tax, so there"s not much need to
worry over taxes. I an imagine there"s something like a tariff if you were doing business directly across different countries but for now that sort of stuff is
unknown. Ah, there"s a head tax on Free People and the number of slaves you have as well. In other words something like a citizen tax does exist I guess?
The increase in production of rubber products has certainly made Bakkudo more wealthy but the cultivation of new farm land and increase in yield of old land through
deep plowing from using live stock in farm work was more effective than that. It"s an effect of getting an increase in agricultural produce on harvests from the same
amount area with even less labor put in over the past few years. Obviously, cultivation of new farm land should be the biggest contribution but cultivated farm land
is tax free for the first five years so there"s no contribution from any farm land other than our own portion. Our Greed family"s income for the past four years
should be at roughly 1.6 to 1.7 times what it was until then.
The amount of yield from harvests by planting area have increased an average of 10% per year for the past four years. A 10% increase is huge. Based on only last
years harvest amount per area there"s a 60% tax imposed on it, normally taxes increase a bit at a time and every year the tax for peasants increases. Then, someday a
period will come when the harvest amount is less than the previous year. But, I wonder if Hegard has foreseen that. It can be seen that since three years prior the
amount of harvest per area reported hasn"t changed. Even though as far as I can tell there"s been a yearly increase of at least 2% to 3% for everyone on the same
area, we haven"t collected the taxes. Therefore we haven"t paid the taxes either.
Since the amount of tax we"re paying during delivery to marquis Webdos hasn"t increased much at all I know well but he"s definitely misrepresenting it. However, he"s
properly reporting the area of cultivated land it seems. In the beginning I thought it was my imagination but I found a double-entry journal in the office room so
I"m sure of it. It"s not like he"s collecting taxes from the farmers for his own profit so he probably has some sort of plan or maybe he just wants to let everyone
enjoy good times for a few years, I don"t know. I don"t really mind at all even if he were doing it for his own profit, rather I"d be able to relax better more that
way. At first I thought, "Oh, you do the job well, old man". For the time being I can"t read my father"s thinking. Well, taxes are a path you can"t avoid for when
Farne returns and really starts his teaching to be lord, since he"ll definitely have to explain it, let"s ignore it for now.
In that sort of situation when it comes to me I"m doing magic training, combat practice using the sword with the squires, and development of rubber products. I"m
spending the same days as usual overseeing production and development. However, things all happen at once when they occur it seems. A fast horse from marquis Webdos
came requesting partic.i.p.ation for the next conflict. Hegard is currently 38 years old. Just a bit more and he"ll be 39 years old so his physical deterioration has
started to appear. It"s something I"m a bit worried about but he"s just as skillful with the sword as always, and when it comes to close combat he can boast of
beating unbeatable in Bakkudo so I can relax and send him off knowing he won"t die easily.
I leak the information to Myun and it"s not something necessary to hurry with but in any case I tell her to call the point of contact. It"s fine if I go and release
the Korisarperetto. Then I tell her that from now on Hegard and Sharl won"t be joining as guards to gather rubber for a while so when Myun is on duty to always have
a weapon hidden. There hasn"t been another attack yet from the Horned Bear who"s one eye I destroyed but just in case. I don"t think it will be very dangerous
because Mill or I will be accompanying but neither Mill nor I have anywhere near as much combat experience as Hegard and Sharl. Well, that specific bear will
require some amount of time for the wound to heal I"m sure, so it"s unlikely for an attack like that again. The h.e.l.l if it were to happen.
Ah, come to think of it I forgot to talk about the successor maid to Myun. Since two years ago when Myun got married the daughter of a different squire family has
been working as maid at our house. Sonia, a daughter of the Ryoug family, she is Diane"s little sister and helps with the production of rubber. She"s one year older
than Mill at 15 years old. Her ability to learn isn"t bad and she"s completely inherited the cooking, cleaning, and laundry from Myun, she works well. Although, her
ability to apply or develop things is a bit lacking, she fundamentally just does things exactly as she was told to do them, a person with nothing special of mention.
Ah, in the two years since she became a her b.r.e.a.s.t.s have grown quite a bit. Huh? I wonder if my s.e.xual desire has started to come out? But even no matter how you put
it, isn"t this way too soon?
Two weeks pa.s.s and the caravan from Doritto comes along as usual. It hasn"t been very long since I released the Korisaruperetto so I didn"t think the spy would be
there but the worker from way back was there. He kindly came to talk to me and thanked me for that time. I checked with Myun that day but after all there was no
contact, it seems being the guard this time was just a coincidence. However, I thought of a bit of something. I wonder if we couldn"t fake Myun"s death?
I"m sure this guy is a point of contact so he should have a connection to the guy called Begle. As usual his mouth his half-open and he has an absent-minded looking
face. Well, even if that"s the case there"s no way to confirm if he"s actually absent-minded, if it"s this guy I feel like I could trick him with a decent trick.
Even if he"s an idiot I"m sure there"s no way he wouldn"t report the death of an undercover spy.
Right away I went to discuss it with Myun. It"s not like she can become a ghoul in the middle of the village so it would be ideal if only Myun, him, and I knew about
it, but I"m sure things won"t go that well. But, while I feel sorry for Bosch wouldn"t it be good to deceive all of the members of the village as well for a period
of time? In other words, during the time this guy is staying announce that Myun died. However, Myun is actually still alive and just hiding somewhere while he"s
here. Then once he leaves she can just casually come out.
There"s no tool like in modern j.a.pan that you can quickly make remote contact with or at least I don"t know of that sort of magic. Sharl said she didn"t know as
well. In the first place, even if the wife of a squire in a remote place this were to die it wouldn"t even qualify as news, if we fake her death and that succeeds,
even if she was actually still living afterwards I"m sure there"s not much chance it would be revealed afterwards.
About the only problem is if this guy continues living, comes to Bakkudo again as a guard or something and finds Myun. Well, even in the case that were to happen
then I could get rid of him that time. At that time Myun would have already been treated as dead so it won"t be thought that he was killed for being a spy.
After completing the work on rubber for that day I made time to discuss with Myun by asking to listen to her opinion on improvement to a product. We made a plan to
some extent and immediately set to executing it the next day.
The next day I requested to Hegard to go and search for a candidate for a new rubber farm (There"s already enough area being cultivated to call it a farm). Hegard
tried to send along a number of squires as guards but since I"m sure they"re busy with preparation to dispatch and it"s not far off from the village it shouldn"t be
very dangerous so I refused it. Even then Hegard wouldn"t accept it so in the form of me giving in I let Myun join me and in the worst case she can return to the
village to request for a.s.sistance and he was okay with it.
In the morning I departed together with Myun and we wandered around the border of the village to leave the impression we"re patrolling outside of the village. I made
a random excuse that it was tools for checking the land and brought along a rubber bag but obviously this is a disguise and actually contains food for Myun for the
time being. I went to recover the broad sword I got way back that I had hidden in a tree a bit away from the village and gave it to Myun. Obviously I"m using the
bayonet.
Several 10s of minutes after entering the forest. We should be roughly 1-2Km from the village. I"m sure around here should be fine. Myun and I dig up the ground as
if there had been a struggle there. I add cut marks to random trees. I even smeared the blood of some rabbits or racc.o.o.ns I don"t know what that we caught on the way
around the area. I immersed myself in that boring process.
I wonder if that"s the case, I was too out of it to notice the approach of a monster. When I realized it, it had already approached within 50m of Myun. It seems to
have quietly and vigilantly approached. It has brown fur and a smashed left eye...d.a.m.n it, of all things that one.
I try to suddenly point both of my arms towards it and use magic but Myun is in between us. I warn Myun and reach for the bayonet at my feet.
"Nguuuuoooo!!"
My body stiffens up. This is bad. It"s bad but it"s still good since it"s after I warned Myun. Myun has more than 10 MP as well so she shouldn"t be immobilized by
one hit. At best she should be at Panic(Small). Is what I was thinking, but Myun didn"t even stiffen up and with a flowing movement turns around wielding the broad
sword and goes on guard.
Ha? Eh? Why is she fine?
I"m thinking about that as the paralysis wears off and I release my left hand from the bayonet roll across the ground to get Myun out of my line of sight and aim at
the Horned Bear to use a magic attack. Let"s put aside for now why Myun was fine. More importantly is the Horned Bear.
It comes running over here on all fours. I"m close by and have no leeway so just like before I make five ice spears and launch them all at the Horned Bear. This time
if even one of them manages to stab it I"ll use my new magic "Lightning Bolt" to aim at the ice spear!
I don"t know if it was because I was able to calm down and react better this time but this time it didn"t seem as big as last time. It"s length when running on all
fours is about 1m. Considerably smaller than the Horned Bear I defeated way back. Yeah, this one might be their cub. I think about that while trying to guide the
spear to stab into its body.
Myun must have felt that I was going to use magic so she leaps to the opposite and stands on guard with the broad sword. I send the spears flying at full power and
with my guidance all of them hit the Horned Bear. It couldn"t be helped last time because the field of sight was blocked by the dirt cloud but if I can see this is
about right. Take that~
The one who took that was me. Even if it"s a monster it has the ability to learn about an attack it"s taken once. The moment it recognized the spears coming it
blocked its face with its arm. Thanks to that I couldn"t stab a spear into its remaining right eye. Beyond just that, I guess it shifted its body to a place with
more defense right before the spear hit because none of the spears are stuck. Ah, there wasn"t enough momentum or the spears were too small, they were deflected by
the thick fur on the sides and went in a different direction.
And while it"s charge was decreased for a moment it"s still directed at me after all. Without being distracted by Myun it continues charging at me. If it goes on
like this I"ll get body slammed again. Last time I got off with just being blown away because I was. .h.i.t by the shoulder but if I were to take that horn then even
with protectors it will be a serious injury at best. After I take a serious injury next it will be Myun"s turn and I don"t know if I"ll be able to concentrate enough
to use magic when seriously injured. Here it would be best to use earth magic to reduce the force of his charge and aim at blocking his sight.
I wonder which was faster as I create enough dirt in front of me to fill a bath. Before I realized it Myun had approached and stabbed the broad sword into the Horned
Bear. Thanks to that as well, I was somehow able to avoid not just the horn but also the body as it charges in pushing through the dirt.
Even though it was stabbed with a broad sword the wound must not have been very deep, it glares at me for dodging the body slam, turns around and takes a deep
breath. Ah, it"s that. A Roar. This is bad, very bad. It"ll be really bad if I stiffen up. I wonder which would be faster if I use magic.
"Zzzzzt!"
"Uoooon!"
The lightning that stretches from my left hand in instant coils around the Horned Bear mid-Roar but disperses as my concentration is disrupted by the Roar that
started at the same time. However, we had a card that doesn"t receive any effect from the Roar. Myun swings the broad sword at the Horned Bear again. I don"t know if
it takes a certain amount of concentration to do the Roar but up until now I"ve never seen the Horned Bear take any kind of action while roaring.
It didn"t go as far as Myun landing a clean hit but even then she was able to cut the Horned Bear and once more leave a wound on it. My paralysis wears off after 1
second or so. Myun leaps back to my right side.
The Horned Bear slowly moved backwards while blood drips from its wound and after getting a certain distance suddenly changes direction and runs off. I use Identify
on it this time.
【】
【Female/11/1/7434 · Horned Bear】
【Condition: Bleeding】
【Age: 4 Years Old】
【Level: 7】
【HP: 58(83) MP: 1(3)】
【Strength: 20】
【Speed: 9】
【Dexterity: 4】
【Endurance: 15】
【Special skill: Roar】
Hm, level 7? Come to think of it, Roar only has effect if they are the same or lower level. I guess it was ineffective because Myun is level 9. Maybe it"s meant to
be used after using it"s wild intuition to measure the ability of its opponent first. When it came to the parent bear it was level 13, so everyone there was affected
by the Roar, and the last time this one attacked no one was above level 8 so it was effective on everyone. Hegard and Sharl said they defeated one when they were
adventurers, since their levels are considerably high I"m sure it wouldn"t have any effect on them, if it was an adult individual that had some amount of experience
in measuring their opponents they wouldn"t use Roar which leaves them wide open.
In any case, it"s a relief we were able to repel the Horned Bear. I want to think that it won"t come to attack until it"s wound heals again. Or rather, it"s about
time I settle things with it already. Honestly speaking it was dangerous again this time. It"s frightening to think of what would have happened if Myun who isn"t
affected by the Roar wasn"t here. However, there was a lot I learned this time. As long as I raise my level then I can ignore the Roar and it"s possible to actually
damage it in close combat. Since the quality of the broad sword Myun is using is normal then I think my bayonet might be able to do a little more.
Well, that"s enough for considering things, now is the time to disguise Myun"s death. Trying to make the remnants of a fake battle is done thanks to this fight. Next
is the setting. What we had thought of was Myun dying during a group attack by Kobolds and Goblins. And I had barely escaped with my life. Of course, afterwards Myun
wouldn"t be dead and was just hiding waiting for the enemy to withdraw. Her ankle or something was sprained from being stepped on during the battle and she couldn"t
return to the village so she hid inside of a hollow tree. I wasn"t able to properly confirm Myun"s death during the battle but given the situation I mislead them
that there was no chance for survival, or at least that"s the setting we thought up.
I"m sure my reputation will fall but that"s fine. I"m sure I"ll be resented by Bosch. But, I think that can"t be helped. I don"t want to be popular in the village I
just want Myun to be able to live peacefully. Even if I were to be looked down upon or resented the only ones who could say it to my face are my family as well.
I think if I were to say it was impossible and I had no other choice than to withdraw then my family would believe me on it. They should have that much faith in me.
They should trust me. I want to think they trust me. Myun was worried about my position becoming worse to the end but I"m not actually all that worried about it.
After all it"s normal for monsters to be wandering around and for combat to occur. Injuries occur and even just before there six deaths. And I"m the son of the lord
and in past fights I never abandoned the villagers and ran even once. I can even use magic considerably well. Above all I"m still a 10 year old child.
I say that to give Myun peace of mind. Myun makes cuts on my protector with the broad sword. Obviously this is to disguise the combat and I"m still wearing the
protector. I"m saying random excuses to convince Myun as she cuts at me. Somehow it"s a pretty surreal image.
From here on out Myun is going to move around the village, follow the river south and hide. I return to the village and let them know that Myun was killed then wait
for the spy to depart, and release a Kroisaruperetto or something in the river as a signal. After Myun gets the signal she"ll return to the village.
I don"t know if this will really go well but there"s no choice but to do it.
I gasp for air as I run back and report on Myun"s death. I reported that were attacked by a considerably powerful large scale group of goblins. I gave it my best but
since we didn"t realize the attack until last moment we lost the initiative. In the first attack Myun was knocked out. I use my perfect acting skills to report how I
couldn"t bring Myun back with my power. Although, it"s only I that think I have perfect acting skills.
Obviously there was an uproar in the village. I reported to Bosch while half crying as well. Bosch listens to the report while biting his lips and asks the location
of where we were attacked. Hegard notices how Bosch looks and declares he won"t bring him to subjugate the goblins. The two reasons were that he won"t be able to
remain calm and it"s only been two years since he became a squire so he hasn"t gotten back into the shape he used to be. Certainly for the nine years from when he
became an adult until he married Myun he was engaged in farm work and he"s only level 5 lower than the average of the squires. Therefore, Hegard"s decision was
something that made sense and he was comforted by his older brother Ra.s.seg and Dangle.
During that time the spy departed. I unnaturally talked to the spy about how Myun had died while watching his expression and after all it seems he had some thoughts
about it, while asking what her final moments were like, I said she was certain to have been killed.
Two days after the spy departed I released a Korisaruperetto and sent the signal to Myun. The night of the next day Myun returns to the village and reports just
according to the setting relieving Bosch and everyone involved. But, when she started talking about something not in the setting I panicked.
"I fell over after being hit in the head at the start but I was still conscious. Though my body couldn"t move because I hit my head. Even though he was in the middle
of fighting Al-sama used healing magic on me. Thanks to that my wounds were healed but since the shock to my head hadn"t recovered I couldn"t move. When I finally
managed to recover from the shock the battle had moved locations and I tried to go after Al-sama but I realized I had sprained my ankle. It would have futile if I
ended up just being a burden on Al-sama so I went in the opposite direction of the battle. Since the Goblins were focused on the fight with Al-sama I was somehow
able to get to a safe distance away but I ended up worsening my ankle sprain and couldn"t move even if I wanted to. It was all thanks to Al-sama that I was able to
escape. Thank you very much. And I"m really very sorry for getting hit by the first attack and becoming a burden. If it weren"t for that it"s Al-sama after all. I"m
sure you would have been able to deal with it all at once using magic. However, since I had collapsed I don"t think you were able to use magic. Really, how should I
apologize..?"
She said these sort of things.
Though I wasn"t resented from the start but these words decided it. I ended up becoming a good guy that thought of the family of the squire group and without being
able to use magic bet my life on luring the enemy away to keep Myun alive.
Around the end of April, preparations were finished, Hegard, Sharl, Beckwiz, and 10 others departed Bakkudo village for the battlefront with the Kingdom of Devas.
It"s obvious if you were to call it obvious but this time they"re looking forward to reuniting with Farne who should be a part of marquis Webdos knight group at the
battlefield. Yeah, if Farne is there then I"m sure it"ll be fine. Even though Farne can"t use fire or wind magic, the level of his magic is beyond Sharl, and he has
an incomparable amount of MP. He"s most likely hiding this but in the case that Hegard or Sharl we"re to fall into crisis I"m sure it"ll be a huge help.
If at this point Farne has already become a knight then he should be getting ready to depart to the battle, so retiring from the knight group and returning Bakkudo
wouldn"t be allowed, and if he hasn"t become a knight yet then he wouldn"t return in the first place so either way I"m sure Hegard and Sharl will meet with Farne.