Chapter 142 — Just Bad Luck (2)
Silence fell over the clearing.
The color drained from the humans' faces.
Several of them looked back at the old man, flustered.
The demons' expressions changed too.
The larger ones—ogres, minotaurs, trolls—wore menacing looks. They began to swell up and growl.
"This insolent... human wretch...!"
"He's lost what little nerve he had!"
Amidst it all, only Diobe stood with a calm expression.
Diobe let out a small sigh, then looked at Roan.
As if she knew he would do something.
'She's counting on me.'
Roan chuckled.
The old man had already been working with demons in Basel.
The nerve to scold a demon several times his size was a useful trait when dealing with them.
Besides, he hadn't said anything wrong.
But the power to protect him was desperately needed.
The Emperor's eye could not always watch over him. For now, let's try to smooth things over so everyone can understand each other.
With that thought, Roan reined in the knights awaiting orders and spoke.
"You."
Roan pointed his finger at the demon who had first shouted impatiently.
Suddenly singled out by the Emperor, he trembled and flattened himself against the ground.
"I-I am Mant, fourth son of the Lord of Birektum, here on his behalf. Your Majesty."
The Mantis Beastman, like Aranya and the Lord of the West Blood Territory, had a mantis's lower body and a human's upper body.
Roan recalled the memory of the lord who ruled the entire Birektum region paying his respects the other day.
He had been a Mantis Beastman too.
"Right. Mant. Are you well-versed in farming?"
"Well...."
The lord's proxy hesitated, then spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
"I-I don't know anything about it...."
"Then why are you here?"
But the Emperor's voice was low and gentle.
Seeing no sign of anger from Roan, the trembling of the tensed-up demons began to subside.
"I came to receive the seeds Your Majesty has graciously granted... and to learn about the cultivation that begins in spring."
"In any case, the farming will mostly be done by the people of the territory and the officials in charge. That much is true. However."
A smile rose to Diobe's face.
"That does not mean you needn't know anything about it."
The Mantis Beastman's face began to flush.
He had caught on to what Roan was about to say.
"Yes, the explanation was a bit dull."
Roan shrugged.
He heard someone among the humans giggle quietly, and saw the young human man who had been explaining scratch his head sheepishly.
"Even so, shouldn't you know what is happening on your own land, and what your people are doing? I, who know nothing of farming, am trying to learn. What do you think?"
Of course, he could simply bark at them: 'Do not harm the humans, and shut up and listen to what they say.'
Roan had the authority to do so, after all.
But if he could change their minds simply by reminding them of their purpose,
that was the most effective form of persuasion.
Diobe inwardly admired him, gazing at her Emperor with eyes full of affection.
And Roan's plan seemed to be working.
"Your Majesty's words... are correct."
To the fourth son of the Birektum territory, who was bowing his head repeatedly, Roan asked with a smile.
"Next time, do not disrupt the lesson. After all, are these people not teachers imparting valuable skills to us?"
Several demons' eyes widened at Roan's unconventional choice of words. But the Mantis Beastman affirmed the Emperor's statement.
"Understood... Your Majesty."
"And Akerman."
The old man whose name was called opened his eyes a little wider in surprise. But his voice, when he answered, was calm.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I apologize for causing a disturbance."
At the old man's voluntary self-criticism, Roan laughed.
"Haha, I suppose hearing such things while sharing precious knowledge might sting. You seem more hot-blooded than you look. But the lords' deputies here have all taken valuable time to attend as well. Shoving knowledge at someone without any preamble is hard for the uninitiated to accept."
"...My apologies."
The young assistant standing beside the old man also offered an apology in a subdued voice.
"We are not accustomed to farming. Ignorance is no boast, but I would be grateful if you could keep that in mind."
Roan smiled gently.
"Be gentle with them."
It was the Emperor's request.
All the humans bowed their heads, as if deeply honored.
They were all prisoners of war whose lives Roan had spared and who had been given jobs to continue living in Basel.
The respect they held for Roan was even greater than that of the demons present.
"If His Majesty says so, how could there be any objection? Demon sir, my apologies. This old man was being foolish."
So much so that the old man, who had the nerve to shout at a demon, was now apologizing.
The demon who received the apology first floundered, answering awkwardly.
"Ah, yes... Hmm."
Seeing Roan's gentle gaze, the demon reluctantly added,
"...I'm sorry."
The result was like mediating a fight between kindergarteners, but after that, the atmosphere of the lesson markedly improved.
"Hahaha, they've truly met their match!"
The Lord of the East Yellow Territory visited Roan's quarters late at night. Hearing the day's events, the Duke burst into loud laughter even before the Emperor.
"Those fellows were likely raised as precious sons in their own territories. They've probably never been shouted at by anyone. And it had to happen before Your Majesty—they couldn't so much as twitch even when scolded. Hah, like mice before a cat!"
"...You're enjoying this too much, Duke."
"Of course I am! Beating them into obedience only works so many times. Grabbing lords and chieftains by the scruff of the neck is already a monumental task in itself. Knowing Your Majesty is handling them has lifted a weight off my shoulders."
Roan looked at the Duke with pity.
What kind of battles had this Duke been fighting all this time?
"The influential figures here were belligerent and deeply rebellious. If one didn't crush them with force, it was difficult to make them listen when it truly mattered."
Roan, who had been listening quietly, saw his eyes gleam.
Their belligerence might be due to the harsh environment of the East Yellow Territory, or perhaps due to the sinister energy beyond it.
They needed to be crushed with force, he said,
and ultimately, humans were weak.
'There might be a limit to how much I can protect them by sticking close.'
But they couldn't always be protected by stationing knights or mercenaries there.
According to Roan's plan,
one day, humans would have to mingle and live alongside demons. Just like in Basel now.
Perhaps he had been too hasty.
But it was a hurdle they would have to cross sooner or later.
After the Lord of the East Yellow Territory left, Roan continued to think for a long while before falling asleep holding Aina.
The next day.
The schedule began at dawn.
"Ah... I see."
Roan sighed quietly.
The land they had seen the day before was, by anyone's account, an abandoned,
barren clearing dotted with shrubs and weeds.
Naturally, nothing would grow just by planting seeds there.
From around the time the sun began to dimly rise,
demons who could barely open their eyes properly started picking up stones and pulling weeds from the ground.
The demons worked sluggishly, dawdling.
The ones nagging and looking after those few demons were the humans.
"Sir. You shouldn't pull weeds like that."
"Why."
"You can't put any strength into it. Like this, get in this position..."
Right before the eyes of the human trying to demonstrate,
the ogre ripped out, roots and all, the massive shrub the human had been straining with all his might to pull.
"...It worked."
"...Uh. That actually worked...?"
Such scenes continued here and there.
The demons' movements seemed incredibly inefficient to the humans.
The people gathered here had farmed their entire lives. To their eyes, the actions of demons touching soil and moving their bodies for the first time looked frustratingly sluggish.
But when a weed that would take several humans to pull out, or a stone that required a few men, was revealed from the ground, a single large demon could remove them alone.
In the end, after a long time passed and midday neared,
the land had been transformed far more than the humans had expected.
"Remarkable...."
In one corner of the field lay a mountain of stones and weeds.
At the old man's honest admiration, the demons who had been praised squared their shoulders.
The obstacles that would delay humans were relatively easy opponents for demons.
As a result, the land clearing was progressing faster than the old man had predicted.
'It's been a while. This kind of work.'
Except when he had been deployed for civil support missions in the military, he hadn't spent an entire day using his body like this.
Even in the security business, it wasn't constant bat-swinging and grappling with people.
Thanks to his high health and strength stats, he wasn't tired, but the food tasted much better after working for such a long time.
Not everyone was like Roan, however.
Roan's stats were at the peak of the whole world.
Most demons were only somewhat better than humans, and they were panting, exhausted from the hours of continuous labor.
There were even some who refused to eat.
'Yeah. That can happen.'
Roan swallowed a laugh inwardly.
When your vision goes white-yellow, you feel like you'll throw up even if you eat something.
The son of a lord or chieftain would have grown accustomed to being well-served, no matter how superior a demon's physique.
On the contrary, some demons looked disgusted, watching the humans wolf down their food as if nothing had happened.
And what followed lunch was theory lessons.
Inside a large tent set up on Roan's orders, desks, chairs, and a blackboard were prepared.
Not only the demons but the humans also entered the classroom with wide eyes.
Attending a fully equipped school like this was possible only for a fraction of nobles' children who devoted themselves to academic studies.
To the nobles who employed private tutors, and to the humans who had never been to school, such a classroom was a first sight.
Though for Roan, it stirred up a sense of nostalgia.
'I miss it.'
Various memories flooded in.
Mostly memories of slugging someone or being slugged, and a few were like this moment.
"Sir. Wake up."
"Ah, hm...."
He also remembered there being some guy who dozed off during class.
Of course, that guy had been him.
Roan smiled bitterly and examined his written notes.
Still, his knowledge stat here was 58. Above average, at least.
Whether because of that, or because of the 'Blessing of the Stars' he cast again just before class, absorbing new knowledge was not as difficult as he thought it would be.
And just like that, the day flew by.
The demons grumbled as they scattered to their respective quarters.
It had been an unprecedentedly grueling day for them.
Some found it novel,
some saw it as a golden opportunity to form a connection with the Emperor,
and some were complaining, resenting everyone who had landed them in this situation.
Roan, who had caught wind of all their moods, returned to his quarters without a word.
'I figured some of them would have complaints.'
The humans had only one lodging.
And guarding it was Diobe.
But unarmed, she would find it difficult to handle multiple bare-handed demons.
"Yurus."
"Yes, cough, Your Majesty."
A knight outside the tent answered.
He was the leader of the knights who had guided Roan eastward last time.
Hearing the cough, Roan asked him,
"It seems you haven't fully recovered yet."
"I apologize, Your Majesty. I'm not ill, but for some reason, the cough, cough, keeps...."
"I shall cast a spell on you."
Oddly enough, when under the effect of 'Blessing of the Stars,' his coughing had settled down. Recalling how it had been in the desert, Roan cast the blessing on the knight.
Visibly relieved, the knight expressed his gratitude to the Emperor.
"Thank you, Your Majesty. What are your orders?"
"Keep watch over the humans' quarters."
"Are you worried that the demons receiving instruction might try to harm the humans?"
"Yes. See to the situation personally."
The knight, Yurus, hesitated for a moment.
Protect humans?
To a demon who believed one should defend one's own body, the Emperor's command was difficult to understand.
But he had no right of refusal anyway.
"Understood. I shall take care of it."
Soon, he headed for the humans' quarters, and other knights took over Roan's guard. And having confirmed that, Roan headed for the waypoint to deal with his backlog of work.
To show his face at Basel Castle, check on the Count's research, and also look over the piled-up state affairs.
And that night, trouble erupted.