Strengthening the Foundation (2)
They said if you want to make money early on you should build a magic beast dismantling yard, so I looked it up, but it’s not in the construction list.
What are the build requirements for this thing?
To process the magic beast carcasses I had obtained by destroying the Abyss of the Army, I needed a magic beast dismantling yard.
And to build one, I needed construction laborers plus a butcher who actually knew how to dismantle the things.
“Young Master, as you instructed, I have gathered every remaining resident of Termin Territory.”
“Good work, Rina.”
That was why I had Rina round up every last resident still left in the territory. There was always a chance that someone among them already possessed the skills I needed.
Of course, I wasn’t holding my breath.
“Well then, shall we go take a look at our people’s faces?”
Still, I had to check. And there were things I needed to say to them regardless. I opened the front doors of the mansion and stepped outside.
Below the steps stood fifty territory residents, along with the five soldiers who had been left behind for the bare minimum of defense.
“The third young master…?”
“What’s going on? Wasn’t it Baron Termin who summoned us?”
“The head maid said the family head called for us…”
The moment I appeared, the residents began murmuring among themselves. From the way they kept saying “Baron Termin this” and “the family head that,” it was clear they still hadn’t heard that the subjugation force had been wiped out.
Fair enough. I’d only learned it myself a few hours ago from Rina. Of course the residents wouldn’t know yet.
What I couldn’t understand was the soldiers. They were looking up at me with the same half-hearted expressions as everyone else.
Those bastards were the ones I was paying to protect my territory, weren’t they? And they were standing there like that? A magic beast army had just advanced to the very walls of the territory not long ago.
Those soldier bastards had clearly been slacking off—hiding so deep that they hadn’t even felt the ground tremble from the army’s advance.
“Haaah…”
As family head, I wanted nothing more than to thrash the freeloaders who were eating Termin family pay while doing nothing, but there was something more important right now.
I drew a deep breath, shoved the anger down into my chest for later, and looked over the residents.
The fifty-five people in front of me, plus Rina at my side, were every single person I could currently employ as lord of Termin Territory.
Fifty-five.
On paper it sounded like a decent workforce. Looking at them one by one, though, you could never say that.
Aside from the five soldiers, the remaining fifty were nothing but children, women, and the elderly.
Every healthy adult man had been dragged off when my father formed the subjugation force.
And that force had been annihilated in an instant. The people left behind were all widows, fatherless children, and parents who had lost their sons.
And I was the one who had to tell them that.
Having to take responsibility for my father’s mess felt a little unfair, but unfair or not, it didn’t matter. I was the head of the Termin family and the lord of Termin Territory.
The higher the seat, the heavier the burden that came with it.
“Huuu.”
I exhaled, shaking the resentment out of my chest, and opened my mouth to fulfill the duty of my position.
“People of Termin Territory, greetings. As of today, I am the new master of this territory and of the Termin family—Offen Termin.”
“W-what? Young Master Offen has become the family head?”
“What do you mean… where has the family head gone?”
“And where is the young master—the heir—that Young Master Offen is now the head?”
My greeting and introduction sent the residents into a flurry of shocked questions. They asked many things, but I could answer every one of them with a single reply.
Yes. Some things simply had to be said.
I looked down at them and gave them the answer.
“A few days ago, the subjugation force formed under royal decree to strike the Abyss of the Army was completely annihilated. My father and both of my elder brothers were among them. All of them fell in battle. That is how I became family head.”
The moment the words “annihilated” left my mouth, the noisy courtyard fell dead silent.
I knew that suffocating quiet for what it was—the calm before the storm—so I clenched both fists and braced myself for the typhoon about to hit.
And then it broke.
“W-what are you saying?! Then… my son who joined the subjugation force… h-he’s dead too?”
“N-no… darling… darling…!!!”
“Ugh… ah… ahhh… ahhhhnngh…”
The annihilation of the subjugation force meant that every husband, son, and father who had gone with it was no longer among the living. The instant that truth sank in, the remaining people of Termin Territory collapsed.
“Kh…”
As fifty-five people realized they had lost their families and crumbled, Rina beside me clenched her teeth so hard her jaw trembled. The grief of losing family had overwhelmed her.
If I hadn’t been standing at her side, she would probably have been down there wailing with the rest of them.
And if I had been left alone without even Rina, I would have ended up the same way.
But I had Rina, and Rina had me.
That was why we could hold on without breaking.
And the same was true for the people crying below us.
“People of Termin! Listen while you weep!”
I folded my arms tightly and shouted down the steps. I had no mana, and my body was the frail, desk-bound scholar type, so my voice wasn’t particularly loud—but that was fine.
Right now I was the head of Baron Termin’s house, and to the residents, a noble’s words were something that had to be heard.
They looked up at me through their tears, just as ordered. Once I confirmed every gaze was on me, I began my speech.
“I understand exactly how you feel! You lost fathers, husbands, and children overnight—of course it feels like your guts are being torn out! That grief may grow fainter with time, but it will never disappear!”
Losing family was like having a piece of your soul ripped away. Wounds on the body heal. Wounds on the soul do not.
Not until the day you die. Not for your entire life.
“But that does not mean everything is over! You have not lost everything! There are still things left, aren’t there?!”
Being wounded did not mean the end. Even if family had died, the lives of those who remained continued.
“Look beside you! Confirm what they left behind! The children they left, the memories they left, the traces they left—they are still right there next to you! Even if they are gone, you still have more than enough reason to keep living!”
A family’s death was gut-wrenching sorrow, but you still had to endure it. You had to endure, hold on, and keep living.
That was the duty of the survivors—the duty of the living.
“Even if it hurts, stand up! Live on with everything you have!”
This world was not kind enough to let you survive while thrashing around in grief. It was a dark fantasy world where even if you threw every ounce of strength into everything you could do, you still might not live to see tomorrow’s sunrise.
That was why the living had to pour everything they had into staying alive. There was no strength or time to waste on sorrow.
Not for me. Not for Rina. Not for anyone standing here.
As the highest person present, it was my job to make the people at my feet understand that.
“L-Lord… m-my husband… did my husband’s death… have meaning? Was it a death worth something…?”
At the foot of the stairs, a woman staggered forward, tears welling, and looked up at me with desperate eyes.
Did her husband’s death have value? My honest answer was “I don’t know.” I hadn’t seen how the subjugation force had been wiped out.
From the perspective of a Crack Kingdom veteran, though, their deaths hadn’t been particularly meaningful. The magic beast army had reached Termin Territory so fast that claiming the subjugation force had even “fought” them felt embarrassing.
“You’re asking if their deaths had meaning?”
But right now I was not a Crack Kingdom veteran. I was Offen Termin, head of the Termin family.
And from Offen Termin’s perspective, their deaths had more than enough value.
“Of course they did. Without question. It would be no exaggeration to say that both I and every one of you are still breathing right now because of their sacrifice.”
“Hic… i-is that really true?”
“I’ll show you myself why I can say that with certainty. Everyone, take fifteen steps back.”
I moved the residents away from the base of the mansion steps, then stretched out my hand.
“Summon.”
User’s will confirmed. Summoning ten beast-type magic beast carcasses.
THUD!
“H-huh?!”
“M-monsters! Monsters!!!”
“Kyaaaaah!!!”
Ten three-meter-tall boar-type magic beasts suddenly materialized out of thin air. The residents recoiled in pure terror.
“Everyone, stop making a racket! They’re nothing but carcasses!”
I calmed them with a shout, then continued.
“Those magic beast carcasses over there are the reason the fallen died with meaning.”
“……What?”
“W-what do you mean…”
“Because they fought those monsters—because they delayed the monsters’ advance—you are still alive.”
It was a lie. The subjugation force had almost certainly failed to delay anything at all.
“While they bought time, the Abyss of the Army that had been pouring out the magic beast horde emptied itself. That is what allowed us to destroy the Abyss of the Army.”
“Th-then that means…”
“Yes. Their sacrifice was more than enough—no, it was overflowing with value. The reason we were able to destroy one of the Great Rifts that no hero in this world had ever managed to break… was because of their sacrifice.”
That was also a lie. The Abyss of the Army had been destroyed thanks to my Red Button mod. They had contributed nothing.
“The reason you are alive right now! The reason you can still draw breath! Is because of the fallen’s sacrifice! You were saved by their sacrifice! If you have inherited their lives, then live them to the fullest! That is the duty every survivor must uphold!”
But right now I had to tell these lies.
“I will help you! I too am someone who survived thanks to their sacrifice, and I am the rightful master of this land who bears the duty of taking responsibility for all of you! So help me! Let us survive together!”
Because I was Offen Termin—head of the Termin family and lord of Termin Territory.
And a lord had the duty to care for his people.
“U-ugh… L-Lord… Long live Lord Offen!!!”
“Hic! I will follow you in anything, Lord Offen!!!”
“U-ugh… hic… I will survive for the one who went first as well!”
I thrust my clenched fist high into the air and shouted. The residents answered as one, every last one of them. Grief still filled their faces, but not a single person wore the expression of someone who had given up on living.
Every face was brimming with the will to live.
“Young Master…”
The speech ended. Amid the roaring cheers, Rina’s tear-choked voice reached me from beside me—and in that instant, the blue windows I had been waiting for appeared before my eyes.
The majority of the territory residents have recognized you as the rightful ruler of Termin Territory.
You may now use the Territory System.