Frontier Lord Chapter 019: The fourth visitor, a merchant
Chapter 019: The fourth visitor, a merchant
It was the afternoon of the day after we had the discussion about how to acquire more people. Sat near a creek, I watched water flow by as I petted Francis and Francois. I started with their heads, petting slowly as if I was flattening the wool. Then, I moved to their necks and after that, their backs. For Francis I put in some elbow grease, but for Francois, I made sure to be gentle.
I was not being mean to Francis, mind you — they each enjoyed different styles of petting. I was also as gentle as possible with Francois’s belly, regardless of whether she preferred it that way or not. A month had already passed since the discovery of her pregnancy, and though the size of her belly had yet to stand out, it had already swollen a little and I had to exercise the utmost caution when petting it.
Francois’s pregnancy would supposedly last five months. Given that it was spring now, she would give birth in autumn. What would this fiefdom and Iruk village be like by then? Would the population have increased? Would we have more villages?
Or fewer people? I… didn’t want to think about that possibility.
We had already started to put the strategies brought up yesterday into practice.
Klaus had suggested that we put up a signboard near a neighboring fiefdom. Aruna had considered the possibility of paying a visiting merchant money in exchange for his help to advertise the fiefdom. Both ideas had seemed feasible, so I agreed to give them a go. Led by Klaus, construction of the signboard was already underway.
Yet, neither of these ideas could make people show up immediately. There was no guarantee that people would even come — it seemed almost as if good ideas just didn’t exist. Old lady Maya had proposed an idea, too, and though I had shot it down immediately, it could very well be the most effective.
But it was a little, uh…
「Dias, my child. You were callin’ me?」
「Uh, uooh?! Old… old lady Maya?! I didn’t say anything, let alone call for you…」
I jumped at the sight of old lady Maya next to me, for she had appeared without making the slightest sound. My hands stopped before I realised it, which made Francis and Francois prod me in the ribs in protest.
「I see…」, said old lady Maya slowly. 「I thought I heard you calling for me, but it must have been my imagination. Anyway, to continue yesterday’s topic, my child… what’s wrong with slaves? You can purchase slaves in bulk by selling off the dragon’s materials, can’t you? What’s stopping you from doing so?」
Yup, that was old lady Maya’s proposal — that we purchase slaves.
Being sold off as a child, convicted of a felony, or found to owe an amount of money one is unable to cough up were common ways to end up as a slave. Some slaves were people hailing from a foreign land who had come to be treated not as humans, but as mere objects. Enduring a living hell until the day one croaked — that was what being a slave entailed.
Slaves were inexpensive to purchase, and we could most likely amass enough to fill a village… but I had my reservations about this idea.
「I’m… not fond of the whole slavery thing. I’ve seen slave-soldiers on the battlefield on multiple occasions, and it was never a pretty sight. All of them were emaciated. The young ones’ bodies were under-developed. Since there was no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel, they didn’t even have the will to live. Some, finding it the quickest form of escape, have even thrown themselves onto the swords of enemies…」
「Can’t you just treat the slaves nicely, then?」
「Purchasing slaves is a problem in itself — money that falls into the hands of slave traders will only create more slaves. Especially if they know that there’s a market for them here. I can’t imagine someone willing to become a slave trader acquiring their slaves only through legal means.」
I paused.
「In fact」, I continued, 「I’m thinking of outlawing the trading, and even the bringing, of slaves to this fiefdom.」
「I see, I see. That’s good, my child… you dislike the idea of slaves. We dislike it too. Relieved I am… relieved I am.」
Heh heh, chuckled old lady Maya.
「Huh?」, I exclaimed in surprise. 「Then why did you bring up the idea at all?」
「I was worried that as the population continues to grow, somebody would eventually promote the idea of purchasing slaves. I therefore proposed the idea before anyone else could, hoping to convince you to adopt an anti-slavery stance and ban slavery altogether… but it seems there was no need for that. I’m glad.」
「You could have just said it upfront, though…」
Aruna’s ‘Soul Appraisal’ had determined that the old ladies were all blues. When it came to blue people, I was always ready to take what they had to say into consideration.
「You’re right, my child. My apologies. Living under Casdekus made me think of bad things… I may have gotten a little impatient.」
「Casdekus…」, I echoed. 「The lord of the neighboring fiefdom? I do remember hearing that he’s a cruel person…」
「He is. It goes without saying that his rule is not well-received. He, and his eldest son, are good-for-nothings who enjoy partaking in slave-hunting, and they’re not afraid to publicise this fact. The second-eldest isn’t any better — he amasses female slaves and makes them serve him. When I lived under him, I heard nothing but terrible, terrible stories about their slaves…」
Her eyes, which had been fixed on me the whole time, discreetly shifted just a little.
「Take heart」, I said, looking her in the eye, 「that nothing of the sort will happen here.」
I gave her a firm nod. Satisfied, she smiled, and after giving me a word of thanks, ambled back to the yurt. Watching her grow steadily further away, I repeated her words to myself as I resumed the petting of the Meias.
Listen, you two, don’t you think it was a little unfair to headbutt me while I was talking to old lady Maya? You know my ribs will be nothing but bruises if you keep that up, right?
I’m sorry for getting distracted by that conversation, but please, exercise some discipline… Okay, I get it. I’ll pet you. All you want is to be petted, right?
I have nothing scheduled for the rest of the day, so I’ll spend it with you two.
Is that Aruna? Oh, come on… she said she was gonna be busy with the chores…
Could another visitor have shown up?
「It looks like the traveling merchant finally came, Dias. The men in the village informed me that they’re almost done trading, and he should be here shortly.」
When I asked her about the traveling merchant the last time, I had received no response. I wondered where that initial vigilance of hers had gone. Finally, though — the merchant we had all been waiting for. The merchant who would not only trade with us, but also help to spread the word of our fiefdom.
He was therefore an extremely important visitor, and I, of course, had to receive him in person.
Calm down, Francis and Francois. Please don’t get angry at me…
You’re hitting me harder? Ow…
「There’s still some time」, said Aruna with a bitter smile as she glanced at the angry Meias. 「You can carry on with whatever you’re doing. I’ll do a stocktake of our storage yurt with Klaus and the rest.」
「Uh, okay. Sorry for leaving everything to you, Aruna. I’ll help out with the chores once the merchant is gone.」
Smiling, she headed off, and I continued petting Francis and Francois till they were satisfied. Just as my arms were beginning to grow sore, I spotted a troupe of what looked like merchants approaching from the direction of the monsterfolk’s village.
I heard horses neighing, wheels clattering, luggage bumping and bells jingling as the merchant gradually drew closer. I stood up to get a better view, and stretched my back as I looked.
There was a covered wagon, of considerable size, being drawn by two large, black-haired horses. A bunch of escorts surrounded the wagon as it moved. A bell that dangled from its roof jingled in time with the movement of the wagon.
Could its purpose be to inform customers that the merchant had arrived?
The image of the wagon grew larger and larger, and when it was close enough for it to occupy most of my field of vision, I found my eyes glued to it. It wasn’t so much the wagon itself that caught my attention, but rather the driver.
The escorts looked like normal people, but the driver…
He wore a khaki shirt made of the hide of some beast, high-cut boots and a hat quite a bit smaller than his actual head… the head of a frog. His eyes were positioned at the top of his head, his mouth stretched from one end of his face to the other and his skin was green.
To say that his face looked like that of a frog was an understatement. He was, without a doubt, a frog — a frog that had put on clothes and started driving a carriage. As I stood there with my eyes fixed on him, Klaus came over to see what had caught my attention.
「What the?!」, he exclaimed when he caught a glimpse of the driver.
He froze in place, just as I had.
The old ladies, who had come to see the goods the merchant had to offer, shrieked when they saw what he looked like and started murmuring among themselves.
「Ah, he’s finally here」, said Aruna, the last to appear. 「He is the frog-man merchant.」
She spoke with indifference, to the extent that she did not seem to notice my shock.
A frog-man… to think such a species of human existed. You could have warned me beforehand, Aruna… seeing something like that unprepared is bad for one’s heart!
The frog-man drove his carriage in front of us petrified people and slowly brought it to a standstill. He then placed a hand (which had suction cups on the fingertips) on one of his horses and leapt from the driver’s seat. All members of the troupe lined up to face us.
With a tip of his hat, the frog-man nodded respectfully.
「Well, well, well, if it ain’t Dias, the man rumored to have slain a dragon. A pleasure to meet you… I am the traveling merchant Peijin-Do. I brung lotsa rare stuff with me, and I look forward to trading with you!」
His voice was as deep as a man’s. His throat expanded and contracted as he spoke, while a unique ribbit could be heard periodically.
I greeted the frog-man who had just introduced himself as Peijin.
The more I looked at his face… no, his entire being, the more I realised just how large the world was.
RELEASE RATE
Frontier Lord
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 170 hours
I have read before, of a frog-faced merchant, but never literally so.