Dear Dumb Diary

Master gave everyone some pocket journals yesterday and told us to record what we liked as a form of creating the kingdom's very first literature pieces to fill his desired library. The role of a diary documenter is very precious, and as his mount, I take this very seriously.

It is hard for a monster with paws to write, so I'm using shadow tendrils to help me. In fact, they aren't even my shadow tendrils. Acht is helping me to record what I wish to write. The spectre learns how to write very quickly. Master likes him.

As Master is giving everyone a day off in this new barren land he calls a town, I decided to spend mine with Acht observing Master's routine on a day he does not have to work to record the moment of greatness from our future king in his private time.

Master has built a pole and attached a string to it with magic to reinforce its strength. I do not see the joy of this manly sport called fishing, and it is incredibly difficult to stay awake with the horrible afternoon sun. So far, Master has failed to catch any fish at all, even if I counted twenty-three passing by what Master refers to as bait. Honestly, I don't think the fish here like potatoes very much, but Master seemed to think otherwise. Maybe if he changed it to a chopped leg of some beast, he would find better luck.

Fishing has been a waste of time. Acht kept watch and wrote this while I fell asleep in Master's shadow, waiting for something to happen. It is evening now, but I won't know what Acht wrote. I most certainly did not drool in my sleep because I am a shadow monster, but Acht claimed otherwise. I might have made some embarrassing noises in my sleep too, but Acht did not tell me that.

Master works hard even if he complains a lot about what he has to do. I have never seen Master fail to complete what he has to do. Yesterday, he was excited to make shoes and books. The book Master made from lady snake skin doesn't smell good. However, it emits a powerful aura that even I do not dare approach. He calls it a grimoire, and only the stinky old man from the swamp looks happy about it.

At night, Master sometimes looks at the air and thinks a lot by himself. Sometimes, he would poke at the air and laugh crazily. Me thinks that is the stress of not taking more vacations. Building Noir Province from nothing and now expanding his influence to a new area takes a lot of work. I hope Master does not overwork.

Something that Master likes to do lately is collect strange stones and look at the new magic tree. I have never seen stones grow before, but the ones around the tree grew quickly. They are very sparkly, and Master likes them a lot. When one of the spectres tried to touch it, I snapped at them. Master hates people touching his things, after all.

With a few days of no work, Master is still a very busy person. He visited the creepy cave where the snake lady ruled and talked to her ugly minions. Now, we have more stones of different colours piling up in the new territory. Master wants to use them for something but claims that he is too lazy to do anything now, so it is still in the cave near the teleportation pad.

If I had to describe Master's personality, he is kind but strict. Sometimes he rewards us, but he also demands a lot from the farmers. Poor Fronzo and Erika have no time for a break. They even eat while working. Life is hard for those ghouls. The only person I think Master should be stricter on is the lesser vampire. He doesn't do much but talks a lot.

I don't like him. Compared to these bandit spectres, Fowler should not be a vampire. I have no idea why he is more powerful than Fronzo or even the Goblin Lord. I like them better, they are nice.

Oh, the sun is setting. Master is going on his nightly patrol again. He says that the town's defences should be created little by little because after jumping through the teleportation pad from the town to the swamp, his mana was severely depleted.

In just one day, Master brought back everything he needed to build a tannery. I don't understand why a tannery was so important, but Master looks very happy with his new shoes and book. I guess it is alright if Master is satisfied even if he worked himself sick from using too much mana. It's still hard to believe he carried a mountain of building materials in his shadow sack. Even the stinky old man was worried about Master.

It took Master a few days to get his usual laziness back, and as his faithful protector, I remained hiding in his shadow until he needed me. It hurts a little to know that Master would refuse to summon me often enough. The other shadow minions are summoned once and are never unsummoned. Only I am special, getting summoned when Master needs a sparring partner or going on night patrol walks.

Maybe this is my privilege as a mount? I feel conflicted, but if this is what Master wants, I will be happy with it.

Speaking of Master's happiness, I will write this down as a very important note before ending the first observation record. Not many people know it, but there is a cat who can make Master turn into an utter fool. No, not a big cat but a small and snarky one who can speak and is not Master's summons.

His name is Noir, and he is a black cat who comes once a while for a few days or hours before disappearing again. Without Noir around for close to two weeks now, Master is experiencing withdrawal symptoms. I don't like Noir, but I prefer putting up with the cat than seeing Master gloomy.

Hopefully, Noir returns soon so that Master can cheer up before his vacation is over. Acht is going to stop writing here because we should not waste precious paper on idle talks.

Goodbye, dumb diary. I hope people who read it in future will learn a little more about the great Monarch of Solitude.