Awakening the Dead Land
The Legrian Territory was now filled with a vitality it had never known before. The farmlands were coming back to life. The residents, carrying farming tools that had gathered nothing but dust until now, were out working from early morning. To properly farm the land, they first had to clear and till it. The soil needed to be turned over and water channeled in.
“Whew, it’s been a while since I’ve worked up a sweat like this.”
“Look at this. The soil quality is incredible……”
“Crops would grow really well here, wouldn’t they?”
“Is this really the same dead land?”
“How did this happen in just one day……”
The residents kept exclaiming in wonder as they worked the soil.
“How on earth did they do this?”
“I heard the young master has returned?”
“Young master?”
“You know, the one who ran away ten years ago……”
“Ah, you mean that handsome young man we saw back then?”
“That’s right! That must be Lord Albert, who left ten years ago and has now returned.”
One resident wiped the sweat from his brow and straightened his back.
“So the lord still had family left?”
“Ah, you wouldn’t know. You’ve only been here five years, after all.”
The resident nodded in understanding and continued speaking while diligently digging.
“Anyway, I heard those orcs that attacked last time were all stopped by him?”
“Ah! That time!?”
“Yeah. I didn’t hear the details, but apparently he killed over thirty orcs in one go.”
At those words, the resident laughed as if it were nonsense.
“Thirty? That’s impossible. He looked so slender, I can’t imagine him having that kind of strength.”
“Well, I only heard it secondhand, so I’m not sure either.”
“And I heard there weren’t even any bodies left. They must have run away.”
“That could be it.”
It was because Gluttony had devoured every last bone fragment, but the residents simply assumed the orcs had fled.
“Anyway, they say the land we’re tilling right now became like this all thanks to him.”
“What did he do?”
The resident shrugged.
“I don’t really know either. I just heard he brought something from somewhere, but that’s all.”
“Hmm…… Really……?”
The resident looked quite curious. It wasn’t just him—others couldn’t help but feel the same doubt. How had the land of death become so fertile? It was only natural for people to wonder, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“Is that really important? We should just be grateful we can farm again.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“And thanks to him, we can use as much water as we want now.”
Albert hadn’t stopped at just tilling the land. He had also perfectly restored the dried-up wells. The wells had been barren, forcing everyone to survive on rainwater they collected. Then, with a single action from him, water had burst forth like a fountain.
“Man, that was really something.”
“We were in trouble without water.”
“I hadn’t bathed in over two weeks.”
“This is all thanks to Lord Albert, isn’t it?”
“Things seem a bit better now that he’s here.”
The two chuckled and paused their work to chat.
“Hey! What are you doing right now!! Get back to work! We need to finish tilling the land as soon as possible if we want to start farming!”
“Oh no!”
“Sorry!”
“Tsk tsk tsk, this is why young folks these days are no good. Back in my day, we farmed without ever straightening our backs. We only stretched for maybe ten seconds during breaks before bending over again. These youngsters…… Ah, the world’s gone to hell!”
At the old man’s grumbling, the other residents sighed and kept working diligently.
“But that grandpa was barely moving yesterday. He sure has a lot of energy today.”
“Well, he must be feeling better because he’s happy.”
“Ugh, let’s just work before that old man starts complaining again.”
“Yeah. No time to rest anyway.”
Despite their words, their expressions were bright. Thinking of the crops that would grow in this fertile soil and that they would no longer have to go hungry, they felt especially energetic today.
‘They’re working hard. Must be full of energy.’
It’s only natural they’re full of energy.
You mixed Bakhass into the well water, after all.
Bakhass. A type of doping potion. An item every hunter carried, with all side effects thoroughly eliminated—a true potion. It was meant to be taken before entering a Gate. Its effects included fatigue recovery, stamina enhancement, strength reinforcement, and concentration boost.
Bakhass provides fatigue recovery, stamina enhancement, strength reinforcement, and concentration boost.
That’s why the residents are overflowing with energy while working.
Even their stamina recovery improved. Once this was created, hunter mortality rates inside Gates dropped by 20 percent—that alone spoke volumes about its effectiveness. And the fact that it had no side effects made it a massive hit. Proof of that was the elderly residents who had been barely moving yesterday now working with tools in hand. All thanks to the potion’s effects.
All residents are currently in a doped state.
‘No side effects, so it’s fine.’
What the territory needed right now was labor. In a situation where every single worker was needed, he couldn’t tell the elderly to rest. If necessary, he planned to use everyone to the fullest.
“Sometimes a little doping is necessary.”
It’s strange to hear that from someone who used to criticize Olympic doping so harshly.
“Olympic doping crossed the line. That’s not the same as this.”
Albert looked around. Though the farmland had become fertile, everything else was still severely lacking. The buildings were outdated. The walls needed repairs too. But to do any of that……
‘I need money.’
Albert specialized in destruction. Though he held the title of the strongest hunter, he wasn’t very helpful outside of combat. He was good at breaking buildings, but terrible at fixing or building them.
“I need money to hire specialists.”
Don’t you have the assets confiscated from the knights?
“That’s nowhere near enough. Besides, there wasn’t much left of how they spent it in this territory.”
The confiscated assets from the knights weren’t much. It would be a large sum for an individual, but it was woefully insufficient for a territory or a family.
Then what will you do……
“According to Elena, there’s a merchant caravan that visits periodically in a few days.”
There are merchants who come to a place like this?
Quite an unusual caravan.
“Yeah, they’re unusual. Still, I’ll have to use them to raise funds.”
What are you planning to do?
“What else?”
Albert lightly leapt onto the wall. Then, looking out at Monster Land visible in the distance, he smiled.
“What else would a hunter like me be good at?”
He had been called the strongest in that other world, the pinnacle of the world. But in the end, his essence was still that of a hunter. And what Albert was best at was one thing.
“Hunting.”
Albert jumped down from the wall.
“Time to go farming.”
It was time to hunt monsters.
“Squeal! We’re going to find food!”
“Squeal squeal!!”
“Hungry! Squeal!”
An orc village. In a settlement of over a hundred orcs, the orc warriors were preparing to go hunting for food. Their morale was high.
“This hunt, I’ll definitely bring back plenty of food! Squeal!!”
“If we leave the forest, there’s a human territory! Squeal! We’ll target that place! Chweng chweng!!”
“Ooh! Humans!”
“Slurp.”
At the mention of humans, the orcs drooled. To them, human flesh was an incredible delicacy.
“Human women are soft! Squeal!”
“Human men are tough, but savory! Squeal!”
The orcs’ target was the Legrian Territory. Their reconnaissance was already complete. The shabby walls were insufficient to stop a healthy orc’s charge. A few hits and they could break through.
“Feast! Squeal!!!”
“Uwooooo!”
“Squeeeal!”
The orcs rallied. They already looked excited at the thought of feasting after so long.
“Daddy daddy! Squeal!”
“What is it! Squeal!”
“You must bring back delicious meat! Squeal!”
“Leave it to me! Chweng chweng!!”
The orc chieftain raised his wooden club high.
“Let’s go! Squeal!”
“Squeal!”
The orcs boldly left their village and began marching heavily toward the Legrian Territory. They indulged in pleasant fantasies, eagerly spinning their happy circuits about feasting on the humans they would hunt.
But that only lasted a moment. Their happy circuits turned into circuits of misfortune because of a single being blocking their path.
“Quite a lot of orcs here.”
A man stood in their way.
“Human male? Squeal?”
The orcs looked puzzled at the appearance of an unfamiliar human male in Monster Land. They hadn’t expected a human to come all the way here.
“Doesn’t matter, squeal!”
“Kill him! Squeal!!!”
“Meat, meat! Human male meat!!”
The orcs had no intention of letting this prey that had come to them of its own accord escape.
“Kill him! Squeal!”
The orc chieftain charged at the human male with his wooden club raised, intending to kill him before he could flee. The other orcs grinned. They were delighted at the thought of tasting meat before they even left.
The orc chieftain was strong. Of course he was. The only qualification for a chieftain was “strength.” Only the strong could become chieftain, and the orc leading them now was considered the strongest among all previous chieftains.
‘Foolish, uncivilized human. Humans are nothing but food for orcs!’
‘Ah, that human is dead. His head will burst from the chieftain’s club.’
The orc chieftain would easily crush the human’s head with his massive wooden club. Then he would chew up the remaining meat and be done. Every orc present was thinking something similar.
But then—
Pop!
A bursting sound rang out. The faces of the orcs, who had been grinning at the thought of eating meat, twisted in shock. Their eyes widened to their limits.
“Ch-chief!?”
“The chieftain was hit! Squeal!”
The orc chieftain was dead. Contrary to their expectations that he would smash the human’s head, it was the orc chieftain’s head that had burst like a watermelon. The chieftain’s heavy body collapsed. The human looked at the remaining orcs and smiled wickedly.
“One down.”
“Sque-squeal……”
“H-how could a human……”
The orcs couldn’t believe it. To them, humans were nothing more than delicious prey. Nothing more, nothing less. Humans would panic and flee at the sight of orcs, and while some occasionally resisted, they would die meaninglessly when struck by a wooden club. Weak but delicious prey. That was the definition of humans among orcs.
But now—
‘Th-that guy…… isn’t prey……’
‘Now we’re the ones being……’
“Squeal……”
Hunted.
“Come on, don’t bother running. I’ve seen all your faces. Even if you run, I’ll chase you down and kill you, so let’s just all die here.”
The human approached. His steps were calm. His defenseless appearance seemed full of openings—if they tried to kill him, they could do so easily. But they couldn’t move. An intense killing intent and overwhelming pressure emanated from the human’s body, something they couldn’t resist. They wanted to run, but their legs trembled with fear and wouldn’t move.
In an instant, the human rushed forward and swung his fist at the orc in front. The orc thought:
‘So it was my head that was going to burst.’
Pop!
Those were that orc’s final words.
“This should be enough.”
Albert dusted off his hands. Orc corpses were strewn around him. He had lightly burst the heads of the chieftain and the first orc he killed, but after that he had beheaded the rest.
Orc eyeballs can also be valuable materials.
Stop bursting them like water balloons?
You came here to make money.
“Oh right, that’s true.”
And you call yourself a hunter.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve hunted orcs.”
After that, he changed his approach and drew his sword to behead them. It had been in his subspace.
You have obtained a total of 108 orc corpses.
“How much will they sell for?”
Accurate calculations are impossible without knowing the market prices in this world.
We really lack information.
Requesting information.
“We’ll find out when the merchants arrive. Let’s clean up.”
Opening subspace.
When the subspace opened, an enormous suction force pulled in the orc corpses. His subspace, enhanced by the System’s power, was far larger than that of other hunters. Thanks to that, he could easily store over a hundred orc corpses.
“Let’s head back.”
Is this the end?
“Yeah.”
However, analysis of the path these orcs took indicates there is still an orc village further ahead.
Wouldn’t it be better to deal with them as well?
Analysis indicates females and young remain. If possible……
“No, leave them alone.”
Huh? But……
“Too much is as bad as too little. Let’s first gauge the market prices with the orcs we’ve caught.”
If that is your decision, understood.
The System assumed Albert was reluctant to kill the young, even if they were monsters. Because he was human. It judged that was perfectly understandable.
But Albert’s thoughts were different.
‘Orcs breed quickly, right? Same here, probably. Then killing them now would be a waste. Corpses are worth more when they’re bigger, so if I let them grow……’
Slaughtering them later would fetch a higher price. It was the same principle as releasing young fish to catch bigger ones later.
Albert has a humane side after all.
“Huh? What did you say?”
It’s nothing.
[^_^!]
The System failed to grasp Albert’s true intentions. It simply concluded that he was a human who still possessed a kind heart.