Chapter 133

“…… If you don’t want me to join a magic organization, is it all right for me to join the security organization?”

As I recall, Euris called himself such a position .

I’d like to think that Lark is indeed able to manage this one .

“Y-yes…… I’d appreciate it if you would, it would be very helpful . Really, really helpful……”

Lark said weakly, kneeling on the spot and head on the floor……

“Wait a minute! Please stop!”

I hurriedly touched the lord’s shoulder and made him raise his head .

This guy was trying to put his head on the floor right now .

Aren’t you still a nobleman .

How far have you been trapped so far?

Lark’s eyes, which were raised, were thinly veiled with tears .

I pretended not to see them .

“Well…… what is the state of the magic beasts around this territory?”

I have a bad feeling about this, but I can’t stop asking .

I have a feeling that I don’t want to ask anymore, but… .

“Oh…… tha-, that is…… . ”

Lark answers sluggishly and looks away .

Marias, the servant, gently approaches Lark’s side and whispers in his ear .

“Even if you hide it, I think they would notice it immediately……”

“Uh-uhhhh……”

Lark grunts and looks at me while straightening his posture and fumbling with his mouth .

“Well…… because of Nalgarn’s rampage, we couldn’t send our private soldiers to thwart the magic beasts . The forests and plains are probably overflowing with magic beasts by now . Until now, there were only a few demonic beasts that stepped into the dwellings because Nalgarn was near the territory…… but now that that thing was gone, it was conceivable that the opposite would happen, an avalanche of magic beasts would come pouring in . Because Nalgarn was hanging around in the front of the human village . In a way, it was just the right check on the magic beast . ”

“…… Wow . ”

“We’ve had the alchemy division put up a ward to ward off the demons as well, but if there are too many magic beasts, there will be some that will cross over . ”

It’s amazing, every problem comes up like a breath of air .

How much does God hate this lord?

“On top of that, just before Nalgarn showed up, there was an unnatural magic beast disaster monster panic going on . Although it’s not very believable, there have even been reports of spirit beast sightings . Honestly…… . . I don’t want to think too much about what’s going to happen now……”

As he said it, Lark scratched his head briskly with both hands .

Marias stroked his back to appease him .

A spirit beast is a collection of spirits with magic beast-like characteristics .

There is no clear line of demon, which is also a collection of spirits, and if I were to put it that way, it would be that their intellect and magic power are several levels inferior to that of demons, and they tend to take on the form of beasts .

Therefore, depending on the region, they are sometimes simply called low-rank demons .

Even though they are lowly demons, they are probably a lot tougher than those goblins and sufis out there .

However, the problem is unlikely to stop there .

When it comes to a series of unnatural magic beast disaster monster panics, there is a high probability that a troublesome high-level demon is hiding somewhere .

Disrupting the ecology of magic beasts is a demon’s specialty .

…… How many problems do the residents here have to deal with to be satisfied?

It’s just that even for a demon, it’s a strange feeling .

It’s like I’m somehow trapped or something…… .

“Do you have any idea about the unnatural movements of the magic beast?”

“It’s probably because of the moon din . There’s talk of the Moon Festival Dinmei’s day coming soon . It could be that the magic beasts and spirits are being activated by the magical power of the Moon din . ”

t/n: I tried finding the translation of dinmei but there’s no result .

The Moon Festival Dinmei is the day when the Moon Din comes closest to the earth .

It is said that the Moon Din comes close to the earth once every five hundred years and then opens up a certain distance from the earth where humans live .

The Moon Festival Dinmei will certainly take place within this year .

I’ve read a lot of books about how this is bound to happen…… but I don’t think there’s been much of a problem with the rise of magic beasts in other places .

There have been outbreaks of magic beast disaster monster panic and demons (now Asura 5000) around the city of Lomarn as well, but that’s about as rare as it gets .

In fact, neither of those incidents were much of a tailspin .

Maybe it was just that the previous incident happened five hundred years ago, so there were only a few extant records, but I haven’t heard any particular stories that lamented the activation of magic beasts by the Moon Festival Dinmei .

It’s just that the Moon Din was big and beautiful, or the farsighted magic tools sold like hotcakes and increased their fortunes, or the believer who was boasting about the end of the world and increasing his followers was beaten to a pulp as a phony after Moon Din left without incident, or all those kinds of nonsensical stories .

“I guess it doesn’t really matter much . Let’s see…… for example, someone is moving from behind the scenes and trying to destroy this territory……”

“That’s not it . If it were, it would have been destroyed long ago . ”

Lark declared with even more refreshing clarity .

“…… Ohhh, Is that so . ”

The territory right now is like hanging on one foot on the edge of a cliff .

If you’re going to crush it, it’s quicker to push it directly back already rather than scraping the cliff or blowing the wind .

“Speaking of which, how well is the Adventurer’s Support Center functioning?”

If possible, I’d like to redeem Nalgarn’s reward as well and get it done quickly there .

However, if there’s that many of them, the price will go down if we deal with them in one place, and we can expect that trend to be especially pronounced now that distribution with other territories hasn’t fully recovered, so we’ll have to think about how much to add or subtract in that area .

If it’s not just Nalgarn, and if a decent purchase can’t be made, the burden on the lords who run the adventurer support center and the dissatisfaction of adventurers will only go up .

Nevertheless, the existence of the adventurer support center is essential in this situation where large-scale damage from monsters is expected to occur in the future .

The question is how long the Adventurer Support Center has maintained its authority .

“…… It has been closed down . ”

Lark let out a whisper .

“Eh”

“…… It has been closed down . ”

Lark’s voice became even quieter .

“You’ve done something drastic……”

“I-, It’s just that there’s no choice . Because of Nalgarn, hunting affordable magical beasts is almost impossible, and there are even some that are killed by Nalgarn because they were forced to do so . In the form of adventurers, it was difficult to share information and act in a disciplined manner . In the current state of this territory, we needed a cohesive force rather than a scattered force . ”

“I understand that…… but……”

“There were many adventurers who came to this territory for the magic beast disaster . But after that, due to the appearance of Nalgarn, they couldn’t casually go hunting anymore and couldn’t even return home . On top of that, it was obvious that the entire territory was getting poorer and poorer with each passing day, so the people of the territory didn’t have to give jobs to strangers . ”

Lark said, glancing sideways at Euris .

Was she also originally an adventurer who was looking for the magic beast disaster?

“I thought it was a waste of time to come here for this territory, but even so, I can’t afford to take care of them for free . In order to take care of them, I have to take that much tax from the people of the territory . Everyone is suffering from poverty, but if we support those who have done nothing, there will be a backlash . Therefore, in order to create a name for paying out salaries to drifter adventurers, we have decided to completely change the form from an adventurer support center to a private army and alchemy division . ”

So the private army is the security maintenance organization and the alchemy division is the problematic magic organization of the example .

If we treat them as an organization completely under the lord, even if the defeat of the magical beasts doesn’t proceed efficiently, it will be difficult for them to have a rebellion against feeding under the guise of instructions to maintain security and protect the territory .

If the adventurers were guaranteed a living for doing nothing, some of them would be lazy or attached to it .

The serious ones will also be serious, and they may feel indebted and corrupt .

“At that time, we also hired some of the drifters who couldn’t fight in the pavilion, and we even asked some of the servants who originally lived in the territory to leave the pavilion when they found other work . Only a few of them moved over here, though . ”

For a guy whose reputation was in shambles, he’s thinking and working pretty…… huh?

But, I think there was someone who was calling them the lord’s dog just now……

I half-unconsciously threw a glance at Euris .

Behind Lark’s back, Eurice flapped her arms as if to say, ‘I want you to keep quiet” .

…… So you don’t want him to carry any more unnecessary worries on his shoulders .

It’s not that there isn’t a rebellion, but even with this, it’s still probably the one that’s being held back .

There’s a lot of harassment that goes beyond a bit of mischief, but there doesn’t seem to be any civil unrest going on .

It may also be that there is a gap in strength between the lords and the residents due to the large scale drawdown of private armies, though .

The reason why Euris was concerned about the achievement of defeating Nalgarn was probably because she thought that if she could show the results of the private army, the opposition from the residents would be somewhat better .

…… What should I do with that pile of Nalgarn’s head?

“We-, well, if that was the situation, then it would have been fine to close the Adventurer’s Support Center . ”

“…… Well, the problem is that my popularity wasn’t as high as I thought it would be . ”

“Hmm?”

“…… I have faced strong opposition from the residents who didn’t want to be included under my command . There were some who were reluctant to come for their livelihood, but of course, there were others who didn’t . They had diverted their money to the private army, and there was simply no time left to maintain the Adventurer Support Center, which was almost entirely out of work . As a result, we’ve let a lot of our forces rot . ”

Magic beasts’ casualties due to the disappearance of Nalgarn, sightings of spirit beasts, high-ranking demons expected to exist, friction between the residents and the private armies, and the decline in strength due to the closure of the adventurer support center .

…… How many more problems do you need to be satisfied?

“In addition, if we were to conduct a full-scale thinning out of magic beasts, we are overwhelmingly lacking in materials for armor . Originally, we didn’t have that much need for metal and weapons in this land . We can’t make up for the amount we’ve been consumed by the battle with Nalgarn……”

Lark covered his face with his hands .

The trouble increased even more!?

On top of all this, there’s the crop failures and the unrest in the alchemy division, right?

If we listed all the problems, it would be a huge amount of work .

“A-Abel…… this territory isn’t good after all……”

Mea tugged at my sleeve half-heartedly and whispered .

“The more you sell, the more you owe, the better, I suppose . ”

I enthuse, pounding my palms with my fists .

Thank goodness each problem is clear .

I can see the order in which they need to be taken care of .

First of all, let’s gain some trust and increase the number of things we can do in the territory .

“I’ll be happy to help you thin out the magic beasts . For now, is it alright to temporarily cooperate with the private army in the form of my own whim?”

If it was just under the guise of a traveler helping to thin out magic beasts on a whim, he wouldn’t be forced to join the alchemy division .

It should be able to fool them for a while .

“Well, that’s already my wish coming true! It’s hard to say right now, but in the name of the Fage family, I’m sure that eventually this debt will be paid……”

Alright, I’ve taken the pledge .

If we succeed in contributing to the recovery of the territory from here, we can expect quite a bit of support and investment in magical research .

“Yes, I know . After the territory recovers and we can afford it, we’ll be fine!”

For now, let’s start by thinning out the magic beasts to gain their trust, and then we can get into the important issues of the territory .