A Knight's Return to the Farm Is a Wise Thing (1)

Sacred Mount Bulkan was, by any ordinary measure, no place a person could live.

At night a cold sharp enough to ache in the bone settled thick over the slopes and now and then froze plants and animals dead. By day a monstrous heat came crashing down, a scorch so fierce it seemed ready to cook any living thing it touched. The swing in temperature outdid any desert, and most creatures had little hope of lasting there.

Thanks to that brutality, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠herbs that survived on Vulcan carried roughly twenty times the potency of ordinary medicinal plants. Herb-gatherers and mercenaries came often because of it. More than a few of those who came hunting herbs never left—brought down by Vulcan's savage weather, or by the mountain's native beasts, which were hardier than most monsters.

A magic realm beyond humankind. The name would not have been out of place.

Of course….

"I'm telling you, this place is great to live in. Those bear cubs just love to whine. What's supposed to be hell about it? Tsk."

People differ, and there might well be someone who found Vulcan's harsh climate pleasant.

…The fact was that almost no one did. The man going up and down the mountain, however, liked Vulcan with complete sincerity, as if he had genuinely come here on holiday.

"Decent haul today, too."

Lee Han smiled, well pleased, as he hauled a cart with a deer he had taken on the mountain loaded aboard. He hadn't even set out to catch it. The deer had attacked him of its own accord and gotten itself caught for the trouble. True to the deer of Vulcan, it was nearly the size of a bear, and it had fangs as sharp as any carnivore's. Whether the thing even deserved to be called a deer was debatable, but that wasn't the point.

"Going to get some protein in me."

The point was the rich protein. Lee Han quickened his step. There was someone he wanted to show this to, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and soon. If he showed her—

"Sir Knight!"

"Miss Maid? What are you doing out here?"

"Hehe. I was picking herbs and fruit. I thought I might try a simple jam today, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and some herb oil."

"That sounds good."

"Doesn't it? Oh! Wow, a bear!"

"It's a deer, Miss Maid. Well… it does look like that."

Sure enough, she was delighted. The maid beamed, eyes folding into a bright smile, and Lee Han smiled along with her as he matched his pace to hers.

"Nothing that lives here looks normal, so you'll have to forgive it. Looks aside, it ought to taste good. …Ah. Lots of muscle. Might be tough."

"Then I'll make a stew! Simmer it long enough and it'll go tender. We can smoke whatever's left."

"Then I'd better split some firewood."

"I'll help."

"I can manage alone."

"I want to help. Hehe."

"…Then we'll do it together."

"Okay!"

So the two of them climbed the mountain at an easy pace, steps matched, wearing the unhurried smiles of people with nothing urgent at all.

It was a tender, green summer.

A little more than three months had passed since Lee Han left Pendragon.

At first he had half a mind to get clear of the South entirely. Simply getting out, though, wasn't what he wanted. He wanted somewhere people's feet rarely reached—somewhere that might pass for a retreat. After some thought he set his course for Vulcan, and here he was, three months into a thoroughly enjoyable return to the farm.

To anyone else, Vulcan was an unbearably harsh place. To Lee Han it was as comfortable as a villa, which was the only reason any of this was possible. Overcome the brutal ecosystem, and there was nowhere better.

Even in winter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the mountain overflowed with plants and animals, so food was never a worry. Water was abundant. There were rivers to fish, and though some of the fruit was poisonous, take out the seeds and it was perfectly good to eat—and it grew everywhere. Know how to survive on this mountain, and there was no place more satisfying. The only real problems were the heat and the cold, and even those were trivial to him.

This was why his former disciples had been able to stay on Vulcan for nearly a month of training. Lee Han had known about the mountain's one and only safe zone.

Once, a slaver who ran a caravan had learned of Vulcan's only safety point and meant to build a villa there. He met his end at Lee Han's hands instead, and the place fell to Lee Han. Its virtue was that Vulcan's heat and cold never reached it. The drawback—if it could be called one—was that the zone was so narrow the house had to be built small and snug.

"I actually like that it's small. Easier to look after."

"That's a relief."

"Yes. Oh, right! Today I saw a really strange bird, Sir Knight! It was huge, and it looked just like a lizard, and it had teeth."

"…That wasn't a bird. Was it a wyvern?"

"Huuh?"

"Ah, never mind. More importantly, what happened to it?"

"Well, it tried to come down where I was, and the bees ate it."

"Oh…."

"The bees said they'd eaten their fill today and gave me honey, too. We'll have it for dessert later."

"…Right."

The bees—the Tiger-Wolf Bees that had followed Lee Han out to Vulcan—were, just as he had asked, doing a fine job of guarding the maid.

Yeah. Those things really are wreckers of an ecosystem.

Vulcan was a gathering of vicious creatures that had survived by tooth and claw, but none of them were a match for the honeybees Taichang had certified as the strongest in the world. Two of them together could probably toy with an ordinary knight, and there were hundreds of the things. Newcomers who had only just left the city for farm life were, in effect, bombing the territorial bosses of the countryside into the ground.

He didn't feel particularly sorry. What mattered was that his bees were the ones doing the hitting, not taking it.

"Ain't that right?"

[…….]

"Answer."

[…Woof.]

"Good."

Lee Han praised the dog he had brought along to guard Layla—bees aside—scratching its head as he did.

"Let's do this right. Yeah?"

[Whine….]

The puppy with two heads bobbed them in loyal agreement. Orthrus.

After Lee Han and Layla settled on Vulcan, one day looked much like the next.

They went to bed early and rose at dawn, tended the fields they had carved out together, checked the crops, and then ranged the mountain gathering fruit, herbs, wild greens—anything that could be eaten. Back home they ate the breakfast Layla had made after the morning cleaning, took a short tea, talked about small things, and then napped or read. Lee Han would leave her sleeping with that same happy smile on her face and make a simple circuit of Vulcan.

Partly he was looking to see whether anything strange was nearby. Partly, while he was at it, he was training his stamina and his strength. The important thing then was not to look for an easy path, but only for a dangerous one. Cliffs, ridges, waterfalls—only ground like that counted as real training.

…At Lee Han's level, one might wonder what good any of that could do. Unexpectedly, it helped a great deal. Vulcan's harsh environment was deeply uncooperative with human beings, and it tormented him without mercy.

"This mountain really is huge. If I'd trained the bear cubs even a little outside the safe zone last year, instead of keeping them near it, I think at least two or three of them would have died."

"So even you don't know the whole mountain, Sir Knight?"

"I only ever knew the surface of it."

For Lee Han, though, that was a stroke of luck. The heat was bad enough, but in places where the power of the earth ran strong, a crushing force rose up and tormented the body. It was the sort of zone where even a large, powerful beast could be pressed flat and die where it stood. From his point of view, that was nothing but good fortune. So lately his days had gained a new item: seeking out those zones of crushing force on purpose, and training in them.

Simple strength work, then sword drills. By the time he finished, sunset had often already fallen, and when he came home—

"You're back!"

Layla, always bright and full of energy, would be there to welcome him. He would wash, eat dinner, and then they would talk again. Sometimes the two of them played chess, or poker. Time like that.

Someone might say it ought to get boring, just the two of them like this. Strangely, it didn't.

It's rewarding. And it's fun.

It wouldn't have been, if he had been alone. Someone waiting at the house. Someone to talk to. That alone made every day interesting. A repetitive life, overflowing with vitality. Literally.

A day that makes me look forward to tomorrow.

He couldn't say how it was for her. For himself, at least—

"I'm enjoying it too!"

"What?"

"I'm enjoying it too, Sir Knight. Hehe. I wish every day could be like this."

"……."

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"…Miss Maid. Be honest. You can read minds, can't you?"

"I can't do anything like that."

"Doesn't seem that way…."

"More importantly, Sir Knight—did anything happen today?"

"……."

"Tell me, Sir Knight. I want to hear it. Your day."

"…Feels like I'm being led by the nose."

"Hehe."

"Mmm…."

Somehow he always felt as if he lost to her. Lee Han let out a groan all the same.

Strange…. Why does losing to her always leave me in a good mood?

Why did it feel as if he wouldn't mind always being the loser, so long as it was to her? A curious thing, if ever there was one.