31 - Marquis Maron
Chapter 31
I argued with Reikart several times on the way to Selbon.
He was still insisting that the Contaminated Zone needed a purified road. He argued that in a case like this, if there was only a road, he and Fatima could have gone without me having to step in.
"What kind of lord has a Purifier for a lord because of the contamination? It's annoying for you too, isn't it?"
"It's not annoying."
I hate danger more than annoyance.
"I'm not saying we need to build a road that opens up to the city, just a side road that we can use. We can hide it and use it secretly."
"Secrets are bound to be revealed someday. There's no such thing as a perfect secret in the world."
"What kind of Demon Marquis is so afraid!"
"If you're so dissatisfied, get out of my house!"
"Hoho, you'll bite your tongue fighting like that on horseback."
I shouted at him several times to get out of my territory if he wanted to go outside so badly, but Reikart didn't listen at all. Fatima even caught the disease from him and suggested digging an underground passage, which shocked me.
"Who's going to dig that!"
"By hiring people..."
"Those people won't keep the secret, what are you going to do about that!"
"Just kill them, you're a Demon Marquis."
"Reikart!"
He smirked. His joke didn't sound like a joke, which gave me the creeps. This bastard, I wonder if he's become a Half-human Half-demon on his own without me knowing.
Fatima subtly interjected.
"Still... if we could go outside, we could buy new blankets, seasonal fruits, shoes, and fashionable clothes."
"We can live well without those things."
"Chocolate, coffee, beer, cake, wine..."
Slurp. I swallowed without realizing it, and Fatima drove the wedge in.
"If we have all the ingredients, we can make a lot of sweet, salty, and spicy food. I can also get recipes from different regions that I don't know. Pork, lamb, beef, chicken... and semi-dried fish from the sea."
"Yeah, that's right. Squid, for example..."
Should I build a road?
Am I suddenly considering it?
I thought back to the map Reikart showed me when he first appeared at my house. Maron Keep was located on the west side of the Contaminated Zone. That's because a canyon was connected to the west behind the Keep. It was the canyon I was thrown into in a cage.
I don't know how much of a coward Marron was a hundred years ago, but it was safe to say that it was optimized as a defensive fortress.
If you go out a little in front of the Keep, you'll find the Dark Lake, and behind it, there's a deep canyon. To the south, there's a dense forest called Floodwood, and to the north, Grandis is a three-day walk away.
Selbon was subtly biased in the northeast direction from Maron Keep, and was closer to Nieve even though it belonged to the Holt Kingdom.
"I'll think about it."
In the end, it was a fundamental concern. A concern I had been constantly having while living in Maron Keep.
How to live a 'thin, long, and good' life.
I don't want a life worse than a caveman, and I don't want a life without meat, butter, and flour. I don't want my Omnivores to become cavemen like me and starve pitifully.
I have no choice.
'Outside' and 'minimum' material transactions...
Thoughts led to thoughts. Reikart and I, who almost bit our tongues while fighting on horseback, stopped fighting and fell into our own thoughts.
We arrived in Selbon after a day's journey.
"Oh... what should we do?"
Fatima asked, looking down at the village from the hill. Her face was distorted with worry and embarrassment.
"What's wrong with it here."
The village was sealed off.
Very thoroughly.
