3 bar menu

Frontier Lord Chapter 043 – A Visitor From the Neighboring Territory

「Today’s Irk Village has been filled with a number of incidents since the morning of, and those incidents have created a restless and turbulent atmosphere. One of the incidents involved Senai and Aihan bringing a rat into our bedroom in the middle of the night. In the morning, I woke up and realized what had happened. I was furious that a rat, which can be a source of a deadly disease, had been brought into my bed. I seized Senai and Aihan, who were sleeping in a lump, and the rat …… who called herself Eyma, a member of the Jerboa Tribe. I had them undergo a full-body herbal bath while giving them a lecture.」

「I see… So that’s the reason behind the children’s screams I’ve been hearing all morning. I was wondering what it was all about, but I got the picture.」 

「I was more concerned about the fact that the rat belonged to the Jerboa Tribe, mostly because I was afraid that she could try and attack me again. But Aruna said there would be no need to worry about that. Given that Aruna said it would be fine I decided not to worry about it further.」

「How great. It’s nice to see that you trust your wife this much.」

(Well yea, she said that you’re blue. Though I guess there’s no point telling her that.)

「The second incident was that the seeds that we sowed in the field yesterday sprouted. And by sprouted I mean sprouted. It’s a very natural event, but the way the sprouts appeared—or rather, the shapes they took as they emerged from the soil—were a bit of a problem. Due to plowing the field with a plow, it had taken on a square shape. Drawing a line down the middle of the field divided it into two parts: one part for me to take care of and the other part for Grandma Chirch and the others. With this many rows, if one were to plant seeds in them, then when the seeds sprouted from the rows, it would form a beautiful green vertical line on the square field, but what ended up being drawn on the field was a green circle.」

「Hoho. A circle… A perfect circle…」

「It truly was a perfect circle. In the center of the horizontal field, there was a large circle that spanned across both my and Grandma Chirch’s areas… Furthermore, only the seeds inside the circle had sprouted, with the seeds outside of it, not showing at all. Within the circle, not only did seeds sown on the ridges sprout, but also young weed shoots grew between the ridges, forming a beautifully shaped green circle. The soil, the seeds and the amount of water used to water my and Grandma Chirch’s parts of the field were completely different.  Yet the circle was created in both parts, completely disregarding the differences. Furthermore, when it came to the rows that the circle encompassed, for those rows only the seeds that were inside the circle had sprouted, while those outside hadn’t. I just couldn’t figure out what was going on. After countless suggestions we still couldn’t find the cause of it, and even now both Grandma Chirch and Grandma Tala are still discussing amongst themselves, racking their brains for an answer. Even the other grandmas came to the circle, surrounding it and giving their opinions.」

「Oh my. What a strange thing to have happened. You see those birds in the sky over there? They’re making quite a bit of noise. If I didn’t know better, I’d reckon they were eyeing the shoots in the field.」

「They probably are… Wait! You can understand what the birds are saying?」

「Guhahahaha… Don’t be foolish. There’s no way I can do something like that. You say some strange things sometimes, Lord Dias.」 

「Do I? Either way, the third incident, or rather calling it an incident may be a bit of an exaggeration, but nonetheless. The third one was Senai and Aihan turning the warehouse upside down while trying to rescue Eyma. It seems that Senai and Aihan had roughly overturned some of the boxes that had been stacked, causing the contents to scatter throughout the warehouse… While tidying things up, I discussed with Klaus and Grandma Maya, both of whom were assisting me in organizing the contents of the box in which Eyma had been trapped, on what to do with them. I’m not a big fan of beans, but I also felt it would be a waste to throw them out.」

「So that’s why you’ve been carrying that box full of beans around, Lord Dias. I do agree with you. Throwing away such tasty looking beans would certainly be a waste.」

And, well, while eyeing the box of beans, he expressed his sentiment. And finally, his visit constituted the fourth and most significant incident of the day, astonishing me more than any other… incident.

Amidst my efforts to tidy the warehouse, I opted to remove the beans from the warehouse, as they were hindering the cleaning process, regardless of whether I intended to consume or discard them… With the box of beans cradled in my arms, I stepped out of the warehouse, and at that precise moment, he descended upon me. It was a white dove who introduced himself as… Geraint.

Geraint was apparently a member of the Pigeon Tribe, a sub-species of the Demi Humans. However, given that I hadn’t seen a flying Demi Human before, his visit had come as a total surprise.

「It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lord Dias. My name is Geraint. I’m a Pigeonian that serves under Lord Eldan… and also chief courier for the Pigeon Tribe.」

His deep, resonant voice as he announced his name startled me to the point where I nearly dropped the box I was holding.

He didn’t appear markedly different from an ordinary white dove one might encounter in the capital, yet he was adorned with a white cap, a white vest, a black bow tie, as well as a white pouch hung around his neck.  　

He constantly pestered me with questions on why I’d come to Irk Village, or what was going on with the commotion since the morning. In the end I buckled and ended up answering every single one of his questions.

He was perched on the rim of the box I held, with his gaze unrelentingly fixating on the beans. His every deed was so reminiscent of a pigeon that I nearly forgot Geraint was a Demi Humans

And after starting at the beans for a while Geraint spoke,

「Oh, I mustn’t! I was so engrossed by your tale Lord Dias that I completely forgot why I came here. Here you go, this is a letter from Lord Eldan. It is quite urgent.」

Geraint opened his beak and used it to move the pouch hung around his neck close to me.

I found myself frequently alternating between observing Geraint and the bag, until after a short while, it dawned on me that I should open the bag.

I crouched down, rested the box on the ground and proceeded to open the bag. As I did I found a small folded letter inside the bag, which I gently took out.

「I hope you will excuse me. Being a winged being as I am, I lack the finesse to unfasten the bag on my own.」

「It’s not a problem. Rather I should apologize for noticing so late. You said it was urgent, so I’ll read it straight away. Please give me a minute.」

Geraint gracefully bent his wings in a bow, and I meticulously unfurled the tiny letter, taking care not to tear it.

The letter consisted of three pages.

The letter was written in exceedingly minute characters, and its contents were quite concise. And unlike Eldan’s previous letters, he hadn’t included a greeting in this one.

The first page consisted of an apology for the Jerboa Tribe’s assault, and a comprehensive report on the whole incident.

It also mentioned that there was likely a mastermind behind the assault, and that I should be careful.

The second page mentioned unsettling movements aimed at the royal capital.

Apparently the third Princess Diane had gathered troops and weapons. However, her motives were still unknown.

It also mentioned that given that her motives were unknown and that she’d come to my territory before I should be vigilant.

The third page expanded on the notice for residents that I’d given to Camalotte before.

Apparently the smaller breeds of the Dogmen had shown keen interest in it. The letter mentioned that they were quite numerous and that they were ready to leave at any moment and that I should consider whether to accept them or not.

From all of the letters in Geraint’s bag, only this one had a seal on it, so it was easy to tell that I held the most importance.

(By Dogmen Eldan probably means the ones that escorted Camalotte here. Those Demi Humans whose faces looked a lot like that of a dog. Though I’m not quite sure what the small-breed Dogmen are like…)

「Oh yea, Geraint. Do you know something about the small-breed Dogmen mentioned in the letter? I’ve met members of the Dogman Tribe before, but I’ve never heard of there being small-breed Dogmen.」

Upon my query, Geraint bowed his head in a nod several times, then gradually parted his beak while puffing out his chest. As he did, he began to relay the nuances of the diminutive Dogman Tribe.