Chapter 10
Chapter 10
After ten days, the field he returned to was chaotic.
The starving Dracumri were circling around him, while the Nepenthes slowly opened and closed their mouths as if begging for food.
“Alright, alright. Just wait a bit.”
The creatures seemed to be urging him to hurry. Normally, he would have carefully prepared fertilizer for them, but their current condition made that impossible.
At this rate, while he was making it, they might start fighting each other and cut their population in half.
“Hm… maybe a phoenix would work?”
Well, it couldn’t be helped. He took out a phoenix he had frozen in storage earlier and began thawing it whole.
It was something he had prepared in advance for planting peach trees, but given the urgency, it was fine to use it now. Even though it had been frozen for a long time, the phoenix immediately began to burn back to life the moment it thawed.
“Hey, hey. Eat slowly. You’ll burn yourselves too.”
At the center of the farm, the phoenix was placed down, and plant-type monsters gathered around it in a circle. Well, they usually ate once every two days, so this meant they had effectively skipped five meals.
It would be stranger if they weren’t hungry.
“…Is it tasty?”
Ten minutes after thawing the phoenix, the plant-type monsters seemed fully satisfied and returned to their original places.
Unlike the phoenix’s remains, which were reduced to incomplete white bones, the Giant Greenbell and even the Blood Peppers looked satisfied, their leaves glowing a healthy green.
The phoenix he remembered from his human life had been said to grant eternal life, but in reality, it had tasted absolutely terrible.
…
Well, as long as they enjoyed it, that was fine.
“Finally… I can breathe a bit.”
Rolling his shoulders, which technically could not feel fatigue, he walked toward the barley field.
It was called a barley field, but nothing had been planted yet, and looking at it made him think about what to apply to the soil before tilling.
“I used Green Dragon for rice, so for barley I should probably—”
As he was pondering fertilizer options, a loud crashing sound echoed from outside the farm.
?
He quickly rushed out.
From the entrance corridor, there were traces of blood, sap, torn plant stems, half-cut spores, and burned roots stretching inward in a line.
What are those guys doing?
Through the dust cloud approaching from afar, two figures could be seen walking through it.
In the past year, he had seen thieves sneak in and get eaten by Nepenthes, but this was the first time anyone had entered so boldly.
Who could they be?
“…Kanish and Lupus.”
It was unexpected.
The two sisters, who usually entered carefully through designated routes, had today instead smashed through the front gate with a violent carriage.
Their usual elegant carriage was gone, replaced by something that felt heavily infused with mana. The protruding ram at the front looked like a siege weapon.
Why are they like that?
The remains of plant monsters scattered on the ground were so badly destroyed that it was hard to even identify their original species.
He had interacted with the sisters for a year since becoming undead, but this was the first time he had seen them this angry.
“Lord Irgripa!!”
Lupus jumped forward first, cheeks puffed out, hands on her hips, clearly furious.
“We came back three days ago and everything was gone! The field was empty, and you weren’t there! I thought maybe you went to the ant nest, but you actually did, didn’t you?!”
Thud, thud. She began kicking his shin.
Her growth was impressive, but it also hurt a bit.
“Yeah. There was a field there I needed to take care of, and the plants were starving.”
“Eek!”
Lupus puffed her cheeks even more.
To calm her down, he lifted her up high, but she kept kicking even then.
“You’re bad! You’re bad! Lord Irgripa is bad!”
Eventually, his hip joint cracked slightly from the repeated kicks.
“We’re your main trading partners! How could you leave without telling us?! This is a violation of basic business etiquette! It’s like cheating on us! That’s bad!”
Lupus struggled in his arms, tail wagging violently. It was unclear whether she was angry or just emotional.
“Cheating…? It’s just… mutual cooperation.”
At his response, Lupus sighed deeply and drooped.
“…So that’s your answer?”
“Hmm… I don’t really understand.”
Lupus stopped kicking and muttered with her tail hanging low.
“So, you’re saying… you don’t care if we starve?”
“…”
“Looks like we’ve been abandoned, sister…”
“No… I don’t want to go back to eating porridge… I want steak… I don’t want it…”
Kanish stepped forward and pulled her sister into an embrace.
“Lupus, stop.”
She then looked directly at him.
During his absence, they had reclaimed escaped plant monsters, and apparently had used rather rough methods in the process.
First, they apologized for breaking the entrance.
However, her expression was colder than usual.
“Lord Irgripa… why did you leave the field?”
“I went to help the ant nest in the east. Their food situation was bad.”
“…And that’s your reason?”
Kanish sighed deeply, as if trying to suppress a headache.
“And what about the northern dungeon incident? You threw a ‘Sky Wolf’ into the north, didn’t you? Because of that, three dungeons were destroyed!”
He had no idea what she was talking about.
“Mmm… I don’t know about that.”
“…You don’t know?”
Kanish covered her face with both hands.
“This is being interpreted as territorial violation and a declaration of war!”
“Why… does it become that?”
“I don’t know either!!!”
She grabbed his face and shook it violently.
Her rage only subsided after his facial structure was completely dislodged.
Inside the carriage.
Lupus held his detached face up like a toy while laughing.
Kanish stared at them both with hollow eyes.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. I can still see even without it.”
“…Yes.”
She kept bowing her head.
He wasn’t angry at all.
If anything, it was good that their mood had improved.
More importantly, he had seen his reflection in the river earlier—without a face, he looked slightly cooler.
“That aside, is it really going to be over in three days?”
“…Yes. We’ll make sure nothing interferes with Lord Irgripa’s work.”
They were currently heading to town to buy robes.
According to Kanish, they needed to meet important figures from the eastern, southern, and northern regions, so proper attire was required.
He would also be joining them for the first time in a long while.
“Well then… I guess I’ll be wearing robes for the first time.”
“You’ve never worn one before?”
“I never had the chance. They were too expensive.”
At his words, Lupus immediately shouted:
“Lord Irgripa’s past stories are boring!”
A strange sensation spread through him.
An ache that shouldn’t exist echoed through his hollow body.
“…I see. I guess it was boring.”
He leaned back into the carriage and closed his eyes.
In the darkness, memories of Lupus and Kanish listening to him with interest drifted through his mind.
“Lord Irgripa… are you alright?”
He felt Lupus poking his ribs.
“…Yeah. I’m fine.”
But for some reason, he couldn’t muster any strength.