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TL: ALT
Chapter 113 – Day 5 of the Strategy Life
After spending the night in a coniferous forest, I set off without breakfast.
As long as I stay away from the ruins of Midgard, the monsters won’t be too strong. Of course, the plants will attack me, but they will be less active at night. As long as I watch out for poison and seed attacks, I’ll be safe.
As soon as I started running, I came across a wild bear subspecies and an ice weasel fighting. I defeated both of them without them noticing me, turning them into blocks of meat. As I thought, the magic cube is really handy.
I wrapped it in butterbur leaves and took it as a gift for the captain. I should give the magic stone to the elf at the trading hut. It would make trading easier if they had something to exchange for money.
Before noon, I heard the cry of an imp, “Gyoeee!” I could also see Treant being taunted by the Emerald Monkey.
Soon after, I arrived at the swamp and made my way to our cave. I made a quick lunch of steak. The fat from the wild bear dripped onto the fire and sizzled.
“I wonder if the farther north you go, the fatter the bears get.”
I was only running, so I wasn’t particularly tired. Without even taking a nap, I made my way to the stream that was the entrance to the demonic land.
A slime jumped out of the stream, so I threw it far away and had some fun with it. The elves in the trading hut noticed this and came over to me, weapons in hand.
“Margrave! You’ve come back?”
The two elves lowered their weapons in surprise.
“No, I’m just moving our base to the north for a while.”
“What about the monsters coming from the east coast?”
“That has been taken care of. We have to evacuate because the giant magical beast is coming next…”
I threw the slime and crossed the stream.
“After the monsters, a magical beast?”
“Yes, it’s the most dangerous one in the demonic land. You should at least prepare for the rain.”
“Understood.”
The two elves are relatively obedient and listen to what I say. They’ve probably gotten used to living in the forest, so even when they hear the voices of monsters in the distance, they only pay a little attention and don’t get overly alarmed. They probably think that as long as they put up traps and flowers, there’s no danger as long as they don’t get too close.
“So, I want to buy some food and necessities. Do you have any?”
“No, we don’t have that much. If you need a large quantity, you might as well go to the training facility.”
“I see. I’ll leave these with you, so from now on, if you have any supplies other than what you need, can you keep them for me, like preserved food or things like that?”
“Huh? These are…”
“They are a wild bear subspecies and an ice weasel magic stone. They should be worth something.”
“How much are they worth?”
“I don’t know either. Just try to get a good price and then gradually lower it. Don’t get ripped off too much.”
I gave the magic stones to the elves and went to the training facility.
The elves had made a path through the forest. They had also set some pit traps, but they were so obvious that it was as if they didn’t want to hide them. It looked more like a trap to keep monsters away than a trap to hunt.
The harvest is over in the training facility’s fields, and the clover buds are sprouting. They’ll be fertilizer next year. They’re not on the list, but it might be a good idea to replace them.
“Hello! Is the captain here?”
There was no one in the fields, so I walked around to the main gate and called out to the guard.
“Who are you?”
“I am the Margrave of the demonic land.”
“I apologize. Please come in.”
He opened the gate and let me in.
“I’ll go get him right away, so please wait a moment.”
As I waited in the spacious entrance hall, the captain came in with Sasha.
“It’s been a while, Margrave. How are you?”
“Has Sasha adjusted to life here?”
“Yes, she doesn’t bring smelly soaps anymore.”
When this was mentioned, she didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup, and her mood was different from before.
“I heard from the elf caretaker that Makyo-kun and the others went east, but is it over?”
“Yes. We were able to gather information about the demonic land and make a little trade. It seems that the Demon Kingdom of Meiju has no intention of going to war with us.”
“I see. Are you trading food today? We were able to harvest quite a few vegetables.”
“That would be a great help. Actually, I have a few requests. Is that okay?”
“Of course, if we can do anything here, we’ll do it. We owe you that much.”
“Captain, we also…”
Sasha whispered in the captain’s ear.
“Oh, that’s right. Let’s go to the back for now.”
Usually, the hut is close to the fields, but this time, I was led to the reception room at the back of the building.
In the reception room, there were two leather sofas facing each other, with a table in between. There was also a vase of flowers by the window. On the wall was a map of the surrounding area, but the area of the demonic land was shaded in gray.
I sat down on the sofa and handed Sasha the meat.
“This is the meat of a subspecies of wild bear and ice weasel that I caught this morning. It’s delicious when made into a steak. If it smells too strong, you can use it in stews.”
“Thank you.”
Sasha left the reception room with the meat.
“Thanks for the meat.”
“No problem. Can we talk about the dragonfolk before Sasha gets back?”
The captain is a member of a clan with dragon blood. Since it’s a family matter, it would be better to talk about it privately.
“Sure!”
The captain’s eyes changed, and he leaned forward.
“It seems that the magic kingdom of Yggdrasil was a land of dragonfolk. The captain and the royal family are probably legitimate descendants.”
“Is this information from the demon race, or rather from the Meiju Kingdom?”
“Yes, it’s certain because it was received from the Demon King 1000 years ago. Also, the city of Midgard was transported into a dungeon for various reasons and is now inside a giant magical beast.”
“So even if you search for it, you won’t be able to find it?”
“The site of Midgard was a place with almost no magical power. The giant magical beast appears every three months, so if you don’t time it right, you won’t be able to find it no matter how hard you look for it.”
“Is that why you need space-time magic?”
“Besides, in about ten days, it will be time for the giant magical beast to appear. I thought I’d take a look.”
“…..!”
The captain opened his round eyes wide and looked at me.
“I don’t know if I can get to Midgard, but I’m thinking of going to see what the dungeon looks like. There may be dragon folk still alive, but they may be suffering from a lack of food. This is the list of relief supplies that the General Affairs Department of the demonic land has prepared.”
I handed over the list that Jennifer had written. The captain took the list, looked at it, and nodded a few times.
“I see. Well, to be honest, I don’t really understand much, but anyway, Makyo-kun is trying to deliver aid to our clan members who might be in need, right?”
“That’s right. I hope we can get in touch sometime.”
“That’s all I need to hear! Even if it’s just a glimmer of hope, please try. I beg you! It’s the long-cherished wish of our clan.”
The captain put his head on the table and begged me. His hands were shaking. He really wanted to try it himself.
“When we meet, I’ll tell them that there is a family with dragon blood in the Kingdom of Estinia.”
“I never thought that this day would really come…”
The captain smiled all the time.
When Sasha returned, the captain left the reception room with a list in his hand.
“I’ll make sure everything is ready. Sasha, please explain it to him.”
“Okay…”
The door slammed shut.
Sasha sat down on the sofa and leaned forward.
“What did you talk about?”
“It’s a private matter. The captain will tell you about it one day.”
“I see… Oh, the cook in the kitchen asked me to give you his thanks.”
“I see. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“Are the monsters in demonic land really delicious?”
“No, I don’t know because I eat them every day. But the stew I had at the inn on the way to the capital was delicious.”
“I see.”
“So? Do you want anything from me?”
Sasha sat down properly on the sofa before beginning to explain.
“There are several other units besides the captain’s, including a special unit of monster users.”
“Really? I’ve never heard of them.”
“It seems they’ve been around for a while, but the monster users in the Elf Kingdom that we saw in East Kenya were apparently very skilled, and they’re in the process of increasing their numbers. I heard that the Margrave also used monsters to drive them back during the last invasion of the demonic land?”
“No, we didn’t use any monsters. There is someone in the demonic land who can do that, but it’s a forced power. It might be different from a monster user.”
“I see. I was thinking that we could train with the monsters in the demonic land…”
“Then why don’t you just come to demonic land? As long as you don’t die, you’re welcome to come in.”
“That’s quite difficult…”
Sasha put her hand to her cheek and looked worried.
“Do you want me to bring back the monsters from the demonic land alive, or do you want me to take you on a tour of the demonic land so that the soldiers don’t die?”
“Yes, that would be very helpful!”
“I’m not sure if a tour of the demonic land will be useful for training.”
“Oh, that’s right.”
I’m not sure what Sasha and the others want to do in this training facility.
“Doesn’t it depend on what kind of training you want to do?”
“For example, if several powerful monsters suddenly appeared in the city, you wouldn’t be able to deal with them…”
“Urban warfare against monsters. If the enemy has a monster user, something like that could happen through the underground passages, right?”
“How does the Margrave deal with monsters?”
“Well, I usually just punch them. Or kick them.”
“That’s impossible for an ordinary person to do… Could you show me how it’s done?”
“Yes, I don’t mind until the captain is ready.”
With that, I was taken to the arena inside the facility.
In the circular amphitheater, a soldier in iron armor was fighting Finrir, a wolf-like monster. The soldier was unable to move due to his iron armor and was at the mercy of Finrir’s movements. The monster user behind Finrir gave instructions with a long, thin stick. [T/n: It’s Finrir, not Fenrir.]
The soldiers, who seemed to be trainees, just watched the battle from the spectator seats. I don’t know what kind of training they were doing. Perhaps it was a test of the armor’s durability.
“The Margrave is personally training us! Watch closely!”
Sasha shouted, and I jumped up and stood in front of Finrir.
The man in the iron armor was panting and looked like he was in pain.
“You should take off your armor and rest. You don’t need to fight the monsters.”
The soldier bowed and walked towards the audience.
“Is this okay?”
The monster user asked.
“Oh, it’s fine anytime. Even a sneak attack is fine.”
I turned my back on Finrir and faced the soldiers in the audience.
“I can only teach you what the Adventurer’s Guild teaches, but I’ll explain what I’ve learned from living in the demonic land for about four months.”
Finrir bit me from the side, so I grabbed its neck and twisted it to the ground. It still tried to scratch me with its paws, but when I patted its belly, it just stuck out its tongue and panted heavily.
“This is good for dealing with monsters that aren’t very strong, but it doesn’t work for most of the monsters in demonic land. Basically, the process is to observe, judge, and defeat. First, observe where the enemy’s weapons are.”
I held the Finrir head in my hand and opened its mouth.
“The weapons of monsters with fur like this are their fangs and claws. If you pay attention to them, you can usually tell what kind of attack they will use. Either a bite or a scratch. If they use magic, you might want to watch out for their tails.”
“That Finrir can’t use magic.”
The monster user explained.
“I see. That’s usually the case. Ice weasels use ice magic, so it’s better to change your approach depending on the monster. That’s why observation is important, and it’s okay to spend several days on it.”
“I understand that, but what about afterward…?”
Sasha, who had raised her hand, asked.
“Once you know what kind of attack it’s going to use, all you have to do is find its weak point. Well, it’s also good if you can just hit the part where the attack will hit. In Finrir’s case, I think it’ll be fine if you can just hold its nose and tongue.”
I let go of Finrir and let it jump at me.
I grabbed some sand from the ground and threw it in Finrir’s face.
Kyainn!
The Finrir let out a puppy squeal and sneezed out the sand that had gotten into its nose.
“Now that it’s like this, you can do whatever you want, right?”
I patted Finrir all over.
“Won’t it be blocked by the monster’s hard fur?”
One of the soldiers raised his hand and asked.
“I think you can do something about that with magic. I can’t really use magic myself, but I can use magic power, you know. Oh, you don’t know, do you? Well, can I use that armor?”
I asked, pointing at the iron armor the soldier had been wearing earlier, and he handed it to me.
“Sasha, get him a new one.”
“Huh? Oh yeah.”
“Even if you hit the iron armor with your fist, it won’t work at all…”
I explain while lightly tapping the iron armor with my fist.
“If you concentrate your magic power in your fist…”
BAM!
The iron armor is dented.
“That should be enough to deal with it. I don’t think it would make a difference even if you used a sword, but I’m not sure. I don’t use weapons to defeat monsters these days, so I don’t know.”
“How did you do it without chanting?”
A soldier in black robes asked. I wonder if they’re a unit of mages.
“On the contrary, I don’t know the chant for it. But since magical power flows through everyone’s body, I think you can do it as long as it’s not a curse. And if you channel it into your legs, you can do things like this.”
I walked lightly around the arena, channeling magic into my legs. When I showed them that I could leap from one end to the other in a single bound, the soldiers were so stunned that they couldn’t even speak. Even Finrir looked frightened.
“Did I go too far?”
“Margrave, you went too far.”
Sasha replied.
“But when the soldiers at the training facility closest to the demonic land are so surprised, I think it’s a bit disturbing.”
Bang!
I made a square hole in the armor with a magic cube.
“See? Unless you use time magic or something to protect yourself, this should be enough to deal with most things. This is nothing special; it’s just a technique. There are all kinds of abilities in the world, like spiritualism or curses that absorb magic, so I think you should try to find something that suits you.”
“Isn’t that something only a few people can do…?”
I took out my adventurer card from my armor and showed it to him.
“Until four months ago, I was a low-rank adventurer. Now I’m a margrave. What I can do has changed beyond my title. Anyone can change. It just depends on the direction in which you change.”
The captain came to call me at just the right moment, so I left the arena.
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Omg, they don’t know yet lol. Never let Makyo train anyone lol
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That looks more like a motivational speech or pep talk than any usable advice. Something at the mental level of a kid.
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