39 - Marquis Maron
Episode 39
“It’s still incomplete.”
“Now that I see it, you can’t even write properly? And you were the top student at the academy? How did you pass the theory exams? Did the professors even understand this handwriting?”
“I don’t remember.”
I was about to give up and just look at the old map, but we messed it up even more by putting it down and drawing on it.
Reikart sighed and said, “I’ll ask the lumberjacks to draw it for me, so give it here.”
“Those guys? Why?”
“They’re the ones who process the wood and make that delicate furniture. If they had the time, they could have even carved fancy patterns into your window. Tracing a map is nothing to them.”
At this point, I couldn’t help but say to him, “Hey, maybe you and I are the most useless people in this keep.”
“I caught a deer.”
“The older guys could probably hunt too.”
Reikart didn’t answer.
The lumberjacks had a lot of useful surveying tools. They rummaged through their toolboxes and pulled out things like set squares, then quickly drew a new map. They cleared their throats and handed it to me.
“Lord, if you need a map of the surrounding area… should we just draw a big one on the wall of your office?”
“What? Why!”
“Well, all the other lords do… or not?”
“Let’s think about it when we get a world map.”
The new map that the lumberjacks drew was much bigger than the original, making it good to spread out on my desk. I dragged my Omnivore Reikart in and ordered him, “Mark it.”
“Mark what?”
“The hunting grounds, starting with those.”
Reikart nodded and pointed to three places centered around the Dark Lake. One was the forest in front of Maron Keep, where logging was currently underway, and the other was the Floodwood to the south.
And the last one was the valley leading from Maron Keep to the canyon.
“Okay.”
I nodded and asked again, “The way out?”
“Huh?”
“Shortest distance, safe zone, terrain suitable for carriages, and as far away from the Order headquarters as possible.”
“……”
Reikart stared at me intently for a moment, then his face lit up and he buried his head in the map.
After careful consideration, he pointed to one spot.
“Here.”
“That’s the Kasnatura border.”
“Even if we create a purified path, it’s impossible to approach from the outside because of the canyon. Think about why they threw you off that high canyon. It’s not just the contamination, they wouldn’t want to bother going around that rough road.”
“That’s right. I was already sentenced to death anyway.”
“We’re okay.”
“Why are we okay?”
“Because we’re going to build a bridge.”
A bridge.
Was that something you could just build?
I stared at him with wide eyes. Maybe it was because he was the heir to a duchy, but his scale of thinking was so different from mine.
Reikart quickly pointed at the map with one hand and continued his explanation.
“We can make it like a checkpoint. We can just cut it off if necessary. Building a wooden bridge is nothing to the lumberjacks. If we have enough time.”
“Hey.”
“Remember how narrow the canyon was? The bridge doesn’t need to be that wide. Even if someone finds the bridge and comes in from the outside, you don’t have to worry.”
“Hey.”
“I’ll stop them.”
His determination was amazing!
I could roughly guess what Reikart was planning.
The Grandis direction was convenient, but it was a city we couldn’t go to right now, so I gave up on it, and I didn’t even want to look at Selbon for the time being.
There were other villages nearby, but what we wanted was a considerable amount of supplies, so we might not be able to get what we wanted in the amount we wanted, and we might have to go to the next city.
The southern Kasnatura had the disadvantage of rough terrain and the Floodwood blocking the way, but if we could overcome those disadvantages, it was the easiest country for us to trade supplies with.
“A bridge.”
“You don’t have anything else to do anyway.”
“That’s true.”
I’m not the original protagonist, so I won’t be going around defeating Demons, or dating four men while running around outside, or risking my life to uncover the secrets of the Order.
“Okay.”
I nodded.
“Let’s build it, the bridge.”
I should name it ‘Demon Bridge.’
From that day on, I purified the hunting grounds with all my might, and when I came back, I ate. Then I went out again and purified the hunting grounds with all my might, and when I came back, I ate.
Surprisingly, the one who was most pleased with this decision to build a bridge was not the humans, but my hundred-year-old Doraji.
“When it was just the two of us, I was afraid that I would have to take care of Hayley until she became a skeleton here, and I cried every night….”
“Hey, say it right. I’m the one taking care of you!”
“Just being born as a Contaminated Zone fairy is already a miserable life, and the benefactor I barely met is a reclusive human who became a public enemy of the human world for following Demons….”
“This is real.”
“I have no regrets now. A life where meat, butter, and flour never run out. I really have no regrets. I will be buried in this keep.”
“Doraji.”
“Yes?”
“Have you ever had Boeuf Bourguignon?”
“What is that? Did you just curse at me!”
“No? It’s the name of an awesome dish?”
“I don’t know why, but I feel bad….”
“I should ask Fatima to make it when I get back this time. Boeuf Bourguignon. I’ve never had it either, but I think she can do it.”
“What is it anyway? Is it something only Demons eat?”
“If I had to say, it’s beef butter tomato stew?”
“Ha, just hearing the name makes me angry. I want to eat it so badly.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it’s my wish from today.”
I may not know anything else, but if I can’t get my Doraji what she wants to eat, I don’t deserve to be a lord.
I have to make sure she eats it.
While my increased Omnivores were working hard on logging, farming, repairing the keep, and building the bridge, I took only Reikart and headed to Grandis again.
It was to replenish the food supply until the potatoes grew, and because the Omnivores had requested various things they needed.
“Lord! Don’t help just anyone, don’t just throw gold coins at anyone, and don’t just bring anyone else back!”
“What?”
“Don’t go around saying your name, and if anyone says anything, just cry. You can even pretend to be crazy.”
“You guys also think I’m an idiot….”
“You look too weak, Lord.”
I glanced down at my arms, which still hadn’t gotten past the skewer level, and just nodded.
After two days of moving, forcing a smile at Reikart’s joke that he could now go to Grandis with his eyes closed, I met some fierce-looking Order soldiers at the entrance to the city.
“Who are you and where are you from? What business do you have in Grandis?”
I imitated a foreign film dubbing tone and gave a dramatic performance.
“It’s a very important matter. I’ve come to donate to the deceased priest. His sermon was like a ray of light to me, who lived a dissolute life in my reckless youth. Do you understand? If he hadn’t reached out his hand… I would still be addicted to alcohol, drugs, and gambling.”
“What?”
The soldiers sighed at my long story. It was because a priest had committed suicide recently because a top-secret document from the diocese had been stolen.
They looked at my skewer-like body, pale face, and staggering gait, leaning on Reikart, and nodded with knowing faces.
“Still, you can’t enter without identification.”
“Here you go.”
I confidently presented my ID. It was an ID borrowed from the residents of Selbon.
