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Frontier Lord Chapter 026: Elden, the visitor

Chapter 026: Elden, the visitor

Elden lay limply on his bed-carriage as his female attendants tended to him.

「What on earth happened to Elden’s body?」 I asked Camarotts as I looked at Elden.

Once he had regained his cool and stopped crying, Elden had released me. His expression had turned sour, after which he fell hard on his posterior. Though he tried, he was unable to stand up. Camarotts and the women immediately rushed to his side, but even their combined strength was not enough to move him. I was asked to lend them a hand, and when I did, I realised that his body was heavier than it looked. We nevertheless managed to hoist him off the ground and onto the bed-carriage.

The women on the bed had hurried to nurse Elden back to health. It took a while before he finally seemed to calm down. I then turned to Camarotts for an explanation.

For Elden, who was about a head shorter than I was, to lift a human — not to mention a large one like me — must have taken a considerable toll on his body. He was, however, in even worse shape than could be explained by that hypothesis. I was not only concerned about his health, but also interested in what had happened to his ears and nose as well as the immense strength that had lifted me into the air.

Fully aware of what I wished to know, Camarotts nodded wordlessly and raised his gaze to meet Elden’s in an implicit request for permission.

「Of course,」 replied his still-horizontal master. 「Go ahead. If it’s Dias-dono and Aruna-san, you can tell them everything.」

Camarotts bowed, and turned to us.

「Elden-sama is special,」 he explained slowly. 「The child of a human and an ajin. His mother, Neha-sama, is one of the elephantfolk — a species that possesses defensive capabilities which are extraordinary even for beastfolk standards. Elden-sama has inherited these abilities.」

According to Camarotts, members of the elephantfolk had large ears and long noses, as well as the immense strength that set them apart from other species. They had a natural disposition towards protecting other species and had, at one point, been viewed as deities.

As the half-ajin offspring of his human father, Enkaas, and his elephantfolk mother, Neha, his existence was unique. He possessed the magical ability to morph between human and elephantfolk forms at will. It was a unique ability that took quite a toll on his body. That was what had happened just now — he had accidentally morphed in his excitement.

「Ah, I see. That explains the ears, nose and strength. I understand why he’s so drained now. But Elden isn’t particularly large, is he…?」 I asked.

「It is because Elden-sama is half-human too,」 replied Camarotts. 「His half-ajin status is his strength, but also his weakness. Food intake, typical diseases, sleeping habits, lifestyle and other things differ greatly between humans and the elephantfolk. That is where discrepancies arise… take for example Elden-sama’s size. He is small by elephantfolk standards, but large by human ones. The care given to him by his wives, which you have seen for a while now, is an indispensable part of his lifestyle.」

Camarotts pointed at various things, explaining the purpose of each one.

Elden had destroyed several regular carriages by growing tired, falling asleep, and then rolling around in bed with his immense strength. The large bed-carriage had been designed specifically as a countermeasure to this.

The food that the women fed him was nutrient-rich and mixed with necessary medicines, while the constant fanning was required as he had trouble regulating his body temperature. Though a regular member of the elephantfolk could regulate their body temperature by continuously flapping their ears, this was, of course, impossible for Elden when he was in human form. I guessed that he would overheat if nothing was done.

The singing, by the way, was just for Elden’s pleasure, and nothing to do with his condition.

「So that’s what they’re doing…」 I said. 「But all of them are Elden’s wives, correct? If they’re just here to take care of him, then they don’t need to marry him, right? Polygamy is forbidden by law in the Kingdom…」

Camarotts made a pained expression and wondered where to begin. After a long pause and a lot of thinking, he made an attempt to explain with carefully chosen words.

「To explain Elden-sama’s wives, I must explain his vision as well. He has a dream that one day, humans and ajin can live together, hand-in-hand, and in great prosperity… with no barrier between the two species. While Elden-sama is a half-ajin, and his mother an ajin, the treatment of ajin slaves in the Casdekus fiefdom is too terrible to describe. When he came to know of this, he felt bad and has upheld his vision ever since. He punishes those who hunt slaves and has done a lot to protect aijn.」

Elden’s father, however, was a proponent of ajin slavery, and there was no way Elden could afford to make his true intentions known. He had thus given his father the impression that he wanted to own a large harem of ajin.

Elden had ordered the slave-hunters to offer him ajin slaves as tribute so he could fill his harem. The slave-hunters had refused. He had then, in a fit of rage, punished them and confiscated their slaves. He had repeated this using the excuse that it was for Enkaas’s enjoyment. When Enkaas got wind of this, he had commended Elden, saying that such actions were befitting of a baron’s son. In other words, Elden’s plan had gone perfectly.

Elden protected all the ajin he could, be they men, women, old or young. They had been wholeheartedly won over by his vision and his efforts. The fact that he had elephantfolk blood — the blood of those who had once been deified — made them even more devoted to him and his cause. Some women had apparently even fallen in love with him and asked him to make them part of his harem for real.

Not all of it was smooth sailing, of course. Elden had experienced failures too, some of which had left devastating carnage in their wake. It had deeply saddened him to see such things happen. The more he worked for his beliefs, the more his mind and body had deteriorated. The women under his wing, out of love for him, had taken it upon themselves to nurse him back to health and heal his broken heart.

In the end, Elden had taken many of them as his brides…

It wasn’t just that he liked women. The reason was much, much deeper than that.

「For the ajin, a harem like this isn’t rare at all. Although there are practical issues such as how Elden-sama will produce children, it makes the surface-level reason for the harem’s existence believable. Neha-sama was agreeable to Elden-sama having this harem, so nobody has tried to stop him.」

That makes sense, I told Camarotts. I had to agree with Elden’s actions — it was certainly not something an outsider could point fingers about.

But I thought about the monsterfolk, which also allowed polygamy. Could the Kingdom, which mandated monogamy, be part of the minority? My parents had openly disapproved of polygamy… so I guess taking many wives was something I would never do.

Camarotts asked if that was all I wanted to know. At that moment, Aruna, who had been listening next to me, broke her silence.

「I am sorry to interrupt, Dias,」 she said, 「and Camarotts too. But there’s something I would like to ask. Why does Enkaas allow Elden to do as he pleases? The latter is, though seemingly human, the child of a slave and also the child of an ajin no matter how you look at him, right? Does Enkaas not wish to enslave all ajin?」

Wow, now that Aruna mentioned it…

Camarotts smiled bitterly.

「Now, how do I answer that question…」 he began. 「Well, Neha-sama is not the wife of Enkaas, but rather his slave. Enkaas’s wife is a female human known as Janea. Their eldest son, Djaani, takes after his father… so much so that his hideousness, both in appearance and personality, is the subject of gossip among the people. Enkaas did not take a liking to Djaani. He instead found Elden… who was born looking like a human… and terribly handsome to boot… and took him as his own. Elden is his ideal son, the one who he wishes to be the heir to all that he owns. This caused quite a stir in the fiefdom.」

Enkaas had raised Elden while keeping both him and those around him oblivious to his parentage. Elden had grown up completely unaware that Neha, who watched over him as his slave and servant, was in fact his own mother.

But one day, when he was five, Elden was playing on his own when he accidentally discovered that he could change the appearance of his ears and nose. He then observed that they matched those of Neha, leading him to realise who she really was.

From that day onward, Elden had taken the initiative to grow closer to Neha while keeping Enkaas in the dark. The vision he had was a product of this interaction.

Aruna grew increasingly exasperated as she learned more about what Enkaas had done. I found myself, for the same reason, unable to keep my mouth shut. Enkaas despised the son who took after him, and favoured the one who did not…

Yet, there was clearly no love for the latter at all, which was quite something.

「Elden-sama has another goal — to extricate Neha-sama from her plight. He has been working hard towards this goal, honing skills in different aspects of his life. Enkaas thus has high expectations for the heir he will become. Obviously, Janea and Djaani find Elden-sama to be a nuisance. Despite their numerous attempts to inconvenience or harm him, though, Elden-sama has never stopped trying to realise his dreams and free Neha-sama.」

When Camarotts spoke of Elden, the pride he held for his master was apparent, whether he was aware of it or not. His voice became more cheerful when doing so, in sharp contrast to the low, icy tone he adopted when talking about Enkaas and Djaani.

It was in this latter tone that he had uttered the previous sentence — I knew that there was a lot more to be said about Janea and Djaani’s attempts to ‘inconvenience’ and ‘harm’ him.

「I see. I have heard that there is a power struggle — could that be Elden and Djaani fighting for their claim to heirdom?」

Camarotts faltered momentarily.

「No…」 he said at last. 「All Elden-sama did was try to protect those important to him. The Djaani faction, through their provocations, eventually found out about Elden’s intentions and the real reason behind his activities, which they promptly related to Enkaas. Filled with rage, Enkaas declared that he would exterminate Elden-sama, Neha-sama and their ajin. In order to protect the rest, Elden-sama resolved to oust Enkaas from power. While it may look like a power struggle to outsiders, Elden-sama has no desire to obtain any of the benefits that come with ruling — he simply wants everyone to have the right to live in peace…!」

Raising his voice near the end, he finished while clutching his fist.

So Elden doesn’t want conflict, huh…

The internal conflict had apparently forced the people in the fiefdom to take sides, be it Enkaas’s or Elden’s. Yet, many had quickly declared their support for Elden — even the attendants who were nearly as powerful as Enkaas himself. It was clear that Enkaas was losing the popular vote.

It was with pride that Camarotts explained further:

The only ‘weakness’ of Elden’s that the average person knew about was his desire to own a harem. He was otherwise diligent, hardworking and cared deeply for his people, such that it was only natural for him to receive the support he did.

Nothing but bad rumours about Elden had been circulating around old lady Maya’s previous village. I wondered why the good rumours hadn’t seen the light of day — could it be that the villagers had preferred to spread bad ones?

「Elden-sama and his allies fought hard for their ideals, and many turned their backs on Enkaas to join them. They eventually disposed of Enkaas. Though we have yet to receive an official confirmation from the royal capital, Elden-sama has already declared himself the ruler of the Casdekus fiefdom.」

Elden had begun sorting out political and social affairs immediately, including settling the people and rebuilding infrastructure. He had also started gathering intelligence about the surrounding territories in order to defend his fiefdom, through which he learnt that I was now residing on this grassland.

He had then come to visit me.

Camarotts, as a long-serving attendant to the Casdekus family, related the tale that he had suppressed for so long with great fervour. Now that he had let it all out, he sighed with satisfaction.

I too could not help but sigh in amazement upon hearing about Elden’s background. Regardless of whether he truly looked up to me or simply wanted to meet me, it was clear that he had no ill intent. We were somewhat alike, and I felt a little sorry for him.

Too ashamed to stay still any longer, I scratched my head and looked around at nothing in particular. I cast a glance at Aruna, then Elden… but less of him, and more of the ladies that were still nursing him back to health. I found myself feeling envious of how close he was to them…

Ah, I think Aruna’s interested in that too.

Elden seemed to have recovered. Noticing that both Aruna and I were looking at him, he got up and gingerly walked toward us.

「I apologise for what happened just now, Dias-dono. It was very rude of me. I have never seen a human take an ajin as a bride before. Your child will be an ajin as well, and since Aruna-san appears to be happy, I’m sure the child will be happy too. The misunderstanding arose when I saw this — I got a little violent. I know I said that you must be my friend, a comrade who shares a vision with me… without actually confirming this beforehand…」

His ears flapping and long nose swinging up and down, Elden looked at me as if he had something to say. There was no need to probe further — I knew exactly what it was. I’ll have to give him a definite answer, I thought.

「I agree with what you have set out to do, Elden,」 I said, looking him in the eye. 「My village is already a place where humans and ajin can coexist peacefully. It’ll be great if this can happen throughout the Kingdom as well. I may not be the best comrade out there, but I’ll support you to do the best of my abilities. It’s a great dream to have, Elden. I think you should adopt a prouder attitude from now on!」

Elden looked as if he was about to cry again. As he tried his best to keep the tears from flowing, he stopped fidgeting and tried to do as I had said. His nose swinging harder than before, he puffed up his chest.

It produced a roar from Camarotts and the ladies, who promptly started to cry. Their weeping finally drew tears from Elden himself, though he kept his chest puffed up even while crying.