Chapter 33 The Foolish Nobleman Regrets It Now
Leaf is showing remarkable activity in the capital city, while at the same time, on the borderlands...
In a territory close to the village where Leaf originally lived, the Votslak territory, the lord Orokan Fahn Votslak was currently facing a difficult situation.
"This is bad... really bad... darn it!"
Orokan leaned on his desk, scratching his head vigorously.
Each time, strands of hair fell out. A large pile of hair had accumulated on his desk unnoticed, seemingly reflecting his level of stress.
"Excuse me."
"Eileen!"
Eileen, Orokan's right-hand woman. She's 25 years old.
Despite her dead-fish-like eyes, she has a rather refined appearance.
Eileen is the granddaughter of a butler who has served the Votslak family for generations. With her grandfather gone, she now assists Orokan in his work.
She was originally a talented individual who graduated from a prestigious royal school.
"Report the current situation."
Eileen spreads out a map on the table.
Across Abyss Wood, to the north lies Dead End Village (Leaf's hometown), and to the south lies Votslak territory.
Several crosses were marked on the territory close to the forest.
"Currently, nearly 20 villages have suffered monster attacks and are destroyed."
"20!? It was only 10 last week!"
"We haven't been able to stop the monster march. It seems unavoidable."
The phenomenon known as the Monster Parade is currently happening.
It occurs in years when the forest's blessings are scarce, prompting monsters to leave the forest in search of food.
"Due to the loss of rural villages, our food supply within our territory is rapidly decreasing. Here are the documents."
Eileen carefully chooses words and content that Orokan can understand.
Even the fool Orokan could tell that the self-sufficiency rate of food was decreasing to a dangerous level.
"What is this... Now that the connection with the Silver Phoenix merchant guild has been cut off, the only food source left in the rural areas are the crops!"
"At this rate, sooner or later, the territory will perish due to a food shortage. Maybe... in a month, no, in half a month."
"Is it that bad!?"
"Yes, it's that serious."
Eileen was a talented woman who graduated at the top of the Royal Academy.
If her words were true, then it was a very dire situation.
"Besides food, there's one more worrying situation happening."
"What? What!?"
"We don't have enough guards to protect the territory."
Currently, it's the guards employed by the Votslak family who are fighting against monsters.
The territory doesn't have the financial ability to hire adventurers (mostly due to Orokan's extravagant spending).
The guards are not particularly strong, to put it kindly. They're in a situation where they're somehow managing to keep the vicious monsters of the Abyss Wood at bay on a 24-hour basis.
The soldiers are exhausted and getting injured.
"The only way to heal the injured right now is with Dokuonna-sama's potions, but unfortunately, they're not of good quality, so we can't achieve the healing we need. And there are still casualties."
"Damn it! That woman! I thought she'd be great because she's the granddaughter of a famous healer, but she's just useless!"
Dokuonna, Leaf's former fiancée. She's the granddaughter of the Medicine God Asclepius.
However, it's not her who inherited 100% of his skills and knowledge, but his disciple, Leaf.
Meanwhile, Dokuonna has been slacking off on training and has been passing all her duties as a pharmacist to Leaf.
As a result, she lacks the knowledge and power to make potions, so all she receives every day are low-quality potions.
"If only I could get that woman on board, I could make a fortune with potions! Damn!"
But now, making money was the least of his worries.
His territory would eventually perish at this rate.
"Orokan-sama, what if we ask the royal family for help?"
"What!? Help! Don't be ridiculous, Eileen!"
Seeing Orokan's immediate indignation, Eileen inwardly sighed. He was clearly only reacting defensively out of reflex.
"Asking the royal family for help basically means admitting we couldn't solve our territory's problems ourselves and exposing our own incompetence!!!"
Exactly. Orokan was incompetent.
If he reported this matter to the royal family, his evaluation from above would likely plummet.
As a result, there is a risk of losing the rights to the worst territory.
He may also lose his position in society.
Being in a low position as a Baron, he can act important because he protects the kingdom from Abyss Wood's monsters.
"What do you plan to do? If things continue like this, all the people in your territory will be eaten by monsters, including yourself."
Eileen said coldly.
Orokan, with gritted teeth, had no choice but to speak his mind.
"Monsters have never attacked this territory before. Why suddenly now?"
Eileen, as if she had been waiting for this, responded,
"Thanks to the Leaf Chemist."
"What? Why is Leaf's name coming up here?"
Eileen proudly explained,
"Leaf-kun had placed a special incense in the forest that repels monsters."
"Is that a magic repellent incense!"
Leaf-kun? She called out him like that, and how did Eileen know about that...?
Foolish Orokan didn't realize.
"Yes. Thanks to Leaf-kun's incense, the forest monsters had been quiet until now. However, with Leaf-kun gone, the incense's effect wore off..."
"So the monsters started rampaging..."
Exactly, nodded Eileen.
"What a mess... That stinky guy was handling something so important..."
Originally, the supplies stopped coming because he mistreated Leaf...
But it seemed he didn't think further on that.
"S-so, if we bring Leaf back here, everything will be back to normal, and the monsters will calm down!"
In that case, there would be no need to ask the king for help.
But...
"What are you going to do? You took away that woman, who is Leaf-kun's fiancée, didn't you?"
"I don't care about such useless woman! I'll just return her with a label on her!"
"Just returning Dokuonna, will Leaf-kun forgive you? Emotional wounds don't heal so easily, and besides, will he really listen to the request of someone who treats women like objects?"
Making logical arguments, closing off escape routes.
Orokan doesn't realize he's being subtly guided by her words.
"S-so, what should I do then...! How can I summon Leaf here!"
Eileen inwardly smirks.
"It's easy. Just send him a request as an adventurer."
"O-oh! Right! That's it! That kid is an adventurer! He'll do anything for money! Why didn't I think of that from the beginning..."
...Suddenly, Orokan becomes calm.
"W-wait... How much will it cost?"
Due to the inability to trade with the Silver Phoenix, the financial situation in the Votslak territory has become dire.
There was a risk of being unable to pay if the fees were too high.
"This should be about right."
Eileen presented a parchment with calculations to Orokan.
...So, why was she so well-prepared? It's as if she anticipated such a development from the beginning.
Orokan doesn't notice such things. Because he is foolish and cornered.
"D-Don't be ridiculous! There's no way we can afford such a high amount!!!"
The amount Eileen proposed was indeed enormous.
At least, it couldn't be paid with the current assets owned by the territory.
"Why is it so high!?"
"Because Leaf-kun is an S-rank adventurer."
"S-rank!? But he's only left here not too long ago!"
"Yes, he's unprecedented, an incredible rise to success at an unprecedented speed. [Impressive indeed]"
"Damn it," Orokan muttered angrily.
"I can't afford this... darn it! If only I hadn't done something stupid like chasing that kid away!"
"That's right. If you hadn't done something foolish like taking away a woman from him, the damage from monsters would be zero by now. You could have secured safety within the territory for free."
On the flip side, by taking the woman from him and hurting his feelings...
He could say that he was responsible for the current predicament.
In other words, because of his foolish behavior, he's now in a situation where he has to pay Leaf a lot of money.
"Darn it... all because I took away that useless trash woman from Leaf!"
The woman he forcibly took was just a useless, incompetent, worthless woman with a good appearance.
On the other hand, Leaf is capable, kind-hearted, and even loved by the elderly in that village.
Which one was the superior property was as clear as day.
However... it was none other than himself who chose the defective item.
A strong feeling of regret overwhelmed Orokan.
"What will you do? Ask Leaf-kun for help."
"There's no way... I can't ask for help."
"You can do it? If you sell all the luxury items in this lord's mansion and use the secret stash you've been hoarding..."
"! Y-you knew..."
Eileen had long been aware of the fool's embezzlement. She was just waiting for the right opportunity.
This was truly a [golden opportunity].
It was time to change the foolish mindset.
"Y-yes... I understand... go ahead and make the request."
"Understood. Then..."
Eileen bowed her head and left the room.
Orokan didn't realize until the end that she had been smiling faintly.
Left alone, Orokan held his head and screamed.
"Darn it! Why did this happen! I shouldn't have kicked that guy out! Then I would have gotten safety for free! DARN IT! DARN IT! DARN ITTTTTTTTTT!"
But now, it's too late to regret.
He's already out there, in the spotlight, becoming a big hero...
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