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Chapter 140 – Day 32 of the Strategy Life
From early morning on, a sound like a bell ringing could be heard.
“What is it now?”
“Go to the swamp, and you’ll see.”
“Th-The scales have already settled, so it’s okay to wash your face.”
Hel and Sylvia said with a laugh.
When I went to the swamp, I immediately realized what the sound was.
Male Haze turtles were mating with females everywhere.
“At least it’s not a mass outbreak.”
I washed my face and took a deep breath. I rotated my shoulders to check the flow of magic, then cast a sonar spell to scan my entire body.
There were no abnormalities, and I felt no physical fatigue.
“They’re in heat.”
“It’s just the mating season.”
“Ma-Makyo, are you in heat?”
“If I wanted to, I’d join the Haze Turtles. But I’m not right now.”
Sylvia muttered, “You’ll give birth to weird turtles,” and laughed.
“But as a Margrave, isn’t it your job to be in heat?”
“You mean build a brothel in the demonic land?”
“No, no. I just meant that, as a noble, it’s normal to think about succession.”
“Oh, I see. I never thought of that. I guess the Margrave of the Demonic Land doesn’t have to be related by blood.”
Hel and Sylvia looked at me with blank expressions. Did I say something strange?
Ka-Ryu, who had just been listening, looked up at the sky and trembled.
“I-I thought blood was important, but to Makyo, it’s just that… N-No, I mean, I see…”
Sylvia, a vampire clan member, seemed to be asking herself the same question over and over.
“Makyo has given up so many things…”
“That’s what I’m struggling with right now. I want to talk to you about it. Apparently, only the confident can enter the demonic land, but the proud cannot survive here.”
“Wh-What do you mean?”
“I want to know what it means, too. The two elves at the entrance lack the confidence to enter, and the demons can’t hunt because their pride gets in the way. A sailor who abandoned his pride was able to hunt monsters, so I think there must be something in the land that allows people to survive there.”
“Makyo doesn’t want his descendants to prosper, but he wants to attract people.”
“Of course I do. It would be difficult without people, wouldn’t it? If things continue like this, I’ll spend my entire life cleaning up monster corpses.”
We had both been busy dealing with a large number of monsters recently, so we nodded in agreement.
“What should we do? Even if we want to prepare an environment for new residents, the area is a complete mess. A giant magical beast could come at any time, and it’s mating season…”
With that, I started kneading bread.
“Maybe we shouldn’t prepare a training ground or anything.”
“You’re right. Once their spirits are broken, that’s what life in the demonic land is like. Maybe we don’t need to set them up for that.”
“But then won’t we just end up with a bunch of weirdos?”
“”…“”
Ka-Ryu, who was sitting down, trembled so hard that she jumped up and down.
“Who said that!?”
“Makyo, you don’t understand anything. Nothing at all!”
As I listened to the two of them yell, I baked bread. Maybe giving up on the training ground in the demonic land is a good idea. It feels like the environment itself is testing us.
“Ah! Why? Makyo took my job!”
I shoved the burnt bread into Chel’s mouth when she woke up.
While I was being beaten and laughing, I saw Park’s grave near the cave.
He was the man who lived in this cave before me. He was a genius magic tool craftsman from 100 years ago who possessed P.J.’s notebook. He chose a cave as his home instead of a house. Maybe caves are the best choice for dwellings in this demonic land.
If so, I could pile up the ground and dig a hole. I’ve already made a staff to use as a weapon. As for food, there are plenty of monsters around.
“The only thing missing is people.”
This land requires more than just brute strength; it requires resolve.
However, there must have been dragon-folk explorers during the 900 years between 1,000 and 100 years ago. As ancestors of the royal family, they must have had more resolve than we do. Yet they never returned.
We’re not struggling to survive now. We can handle everything. Perhaps Park lived a full life.
Why couldn’t the dragon-folk explorers survive in the demonic land? Is there something we haven’t discovered yet that we shouldn’t touch?
Peter died in the demonic land. He threw everything away to the Keeper of Time and had his grave buried on the floating island. Did he touch something he shouldn’t have?
“Ka-Ryu, was there a place in Yggdrasil that we shouldn’t touch?”
“A place we shouldn’t touch? Well, there were restricted areas, like the research facilities in Midgard and the area around the great stakes that stopped the crustal movement. Of course, military bases and the workshops of magic tool craftsmen are also off-limits to the general public.”
“Were there any ruins that seemed to be guarded?”
“Ruins? Well, there were a few royal tombs. Like heroes’ graves. They were tourist spots, so only history enthusiasts went there. Is something bothering you?”
“Yeah. The magic tool craftsman buried there 100 years ago was chasing the guardian of the ruins. Even Lute, who lived inside a giant magical beast, said he didn’t know anything about it. I think it’s a faction that emerged after the transfer to Midgard. I was wondering if there was anyone who might know something. But I guess not.”
“Why are you being so serious about it? Anyway, today you’re helping me with road construction!”
Chel is angry because my bread is better than hers.
“No, if someone new comes and touches something strange and suddenly disappears, that would be bad, right?”
“True. Actually, there’s a magic circle in the depths of the cave that could make someone disappear suddenly. You’re just trying to avoid work! As the lord of the territory, you have to show that you’re working!”
“Yes.”
I got scolded again.
After breakfast, we will start working.
Everyone except Chel and me is going to check out the giant magical beast’s footprints.
“There might be flowers blooming, so let’s go pick some.”
“I hope there are flowers with medicinal properties.”
Then we might be able to predict what kind of monsters will appear next.”
“Flower viewing? This might be my first time.”
“I wonder how big the plants can grow.”
Flower viewing sounds nice, but we have work to do.
“Have a good trip!”
After we see Jennifer and the others off, we head to the construction site near the entrance.
Our job is to process the granite I brought back, cut it into the right sizes, and make stone pavers.
“It’s sunny today, so the palm tree sap is soft and easy to work with. Once Hel carves the magic circle into the center stone, the sap should harden.”
We’re creating a base for the magic stone that will be embedded where the magic circle is carved. This way, if we need to remove just that stone for repairs, it will be easier.
“You’re surprisingly good at construction.”
“Don’t say that. I’m not doing it because I like it.”
“Sorry. I guess liking something and being good at it are different.”
“Speaking of which, what about the housing for the trainees?”
“Yeah, what are we going to do?”
“I think it would be better to build the housing embedded in the hillside rather than building separate houses.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Considering the monster damage, it might be better to raise the ground, hollow it out, and build the houses inside. Park was also a cave dwelling 100 years ago.”
“What? I was wondering about that. You should have said so sooner. We don’t need an arena, do we?”
“That’s right. The demonic land isn’t a place for competitions, so we don’t need any facilities.”
“What about the dungeon? We have the egg, so should we try building one?”
“I’d like to try, if it’s not too dangerous. We could do some farming inside.”
Looking at the twisted stone slab we found at the ruins of the Colosseum, I feel uneasy. Come to think of it, I thought the ruins were a dungeon, but they weren’t.
“Is something wrong?”
Chel threw some dirt at me when I suddenly fell silent.
“How many artificial dungeons made with Midgard technology were there in Yggdrasil? The Colosseum was used as a training facility, right?”
“They said they weren’t used for transportation, so I don’t think there were that many. It would be difficult to manage so many of those things.”
There are dungeons in the Kingdom of Meiju that are apparently managed by the Demon King.
After working for a while, Jennifer and Lipa flew over on the flying broom.
“Is something wrong?”
“You should come too. You won’t see a view like this very often!”
“It’s amazing! Bring some meat and drinks, and hurry up!”
Jennifer and Lipa said excitedly. We stopped working for a moment and headed toward the giant magical beast’s footprints with ham and meat. On the way, I picked some cam fruits and grabbed some drinks.
I wondered what could be so exciting that they called us. Sure enough, the giant magical beast’s footprints were covered with various flowers in full bloom:
There were large lily-like flowers, cherry blossoms, red peonies with petals as big as a person, flowers hanging down like wisteria from vines extending from branches, and yellow dandelions spreading like a carpet on the ground. It was hard to believe that just a few days ago, this place had been nothing but rocks and stones. The air was filled with the sweet scent of nectar.
When the wind blew, petals danced in the air, and imps, butterflies, and hornets fluttered around. Even the Maeshitsukawazu walking around seemed to have flowers blooming on them.
“Wait, doesn’t that Maeshitsukawazu really have petals on its neck?” [T/N: I was curious because I couldn’t translate it the first time. Well, because it was in katakana, though. I searched for it until today and found out that the meaning was taken from mae, which means “front” or “forward”; ashi, which means “leg” or “foot”; and tsukawazu, which is a classical or literary negative form of tsukau 使う, meaning “to use.” So, it roughly means ‘without using the front leg or foot,’ and we can see that this monster resembles a T-Rex, which only has small front legs and walks on two hind legs.]
“I’ve never seen anything like that before! I’ve never seen it!”
The Maeashitsukawazu spread the petals on its neck and shouted at the imps, but they easily defeated it. It doesn’t seem very strong.
We grilled the meat and started a barbecue party.
Ka-Ryu stuck flowers on her body to make herself look colorful.
“If we don’t drink too much, maybe we can allow ourselves a little alcohol.”
“Sure!”
“I’ll just have one!”
“Just a little is fine. Don’t get too drunk.”
“I’ll just have a little, too.”
“I’m not much of a drinker.”
We each took a glass and sipped the wine. After such a long time, the taste of alcohol, coupled with the beautiful scenery, made me feel quite drunk.
“By the way, Ka-Ryu,”
“Huh? What?”
“Were there many artificial dungeons in Yggdrasil?”
“Yes, they were used differently depending on one’s occupation, but I think there were some in various places. There are several famous ones. You know, they were used in the Colosseum. Did you find something?”
“No, I was just wondering if people would call the remaining dungeons ‘ruins.’”
“So, might the guardians of the ruins be the ones who protected the artificial dungeons?”
“Exactly. So far, the only dungeon found in the demonic land is the one on top of the giant magical beast.”
“Got it. I know of a few famous dungeons. Shall we go check them out?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
That’s how it was decided.
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