Ingrad? Is That Something You Eat? A Noble… Me?! (6)

The next day, something unusual happened early in the morning.

Several Beastkin were loitering in front of the lord’s manor, peeking inside. The reason was obvious. They needed the medicine I made. But yesterday I ultimately tasted bitter defeat, failing to produce medicine using herbs from the Forest of the Demon Dragon, so today I planned to “work” the house staff under the pretext of special pay.

If I worked about ten people all day to gather herbs, I figured I could secure enough ingredients to make medicine for a while.

Moreover, if I showed myself picking ordinary herbs and spun a tale that “you can’t manufacture with only high-potency herbs,” then some quick-witted ones might gather large amounts of the weaker herbs that grow naturally inside Ingrad Territory.

Either way, the ones in need were the Beastkin, not me.

Frankly, with the funds I had, I could slack off and still be fine. This territory was a place humans could barely set foot in, and if there was any “danger,” humans actually pointed to the Beastkin.

But in reality, the residents here were about to become cooperative toward me.

“It means I’m holding a good hand.”

If I flaunted a cherry-blossom hand, they would have no choice but to concede defeat.

“Right then, let’s head out and work. I’ll pay for the herbs as herbs, and I’ll pay your day wages as day wages—what better working conditions could there be? And if you’re tired, just say the word. One of these, and your fatigue will whoosh—vanish cleanly!”

An exploitative lord?

I don’t care about that. I decided to run a “white company”. There might be a gap between what I think and what they think, but at least one thing was certain.

A win-win for both sides—that should be enough, right?

The maids began memorizing the features from the sketches I had posted on the outer wall of the manor.

They would surely be half-skeptical at first.

An odd lord had taken office, and since they expected me to be gone soon, they viewed me very negatively; still, I believed we could change things bit by bit, and this was the start.

After spending thirty minutes confirming they had learned each herb’s appearance, features, and smell, we first headed to the rear mountain attached to the manor.

This continent was truly vast. And the land of Ingrad, granted to me as a fief, was also enormous. I had heard that the rear mountain attached to the manor was developed when the manor was first established, to create a space where “humans” could live.

But apparently no one wanted to move here, and the only people conscripted at first were slaves.

Later, as time passed, the slaves either died or changed masters and were sold off into the continent, and now a forest had formed over the ruins, leaving the place desolate.

Still, places like this were exactly where herbs thrived.

Well, it was a bit unsettling, but what could we do?

Since the maids weren’t being sent alone—knights were accompanying us—they found their courage. As the area had been developed for human habitation, a road had once been laid, though poorly maintained and overgrown; even so, if used well, it could become a good living space… huh?

Come to think of it, something occurred to me.

“Could we stop for a moment?”

At my words, everyone halted blankly and stared at me as if to say “what now,” while I recalled the abilities I possessed.

“It’s not just Pharmacy. Wouldn’t Construction also include roads?”

Literally, it meant piling up or building something. A road should count too. So I first focused on Construction to see how the power manifested, and after a while I figured out how to use it.

I placed my hand on the ground, surveyed the terrain I wanted, and focused my consciousness on Construction. Then I confirmed a translucent outline of the structure I desired appearing before my eyes and experimented with this and that.

“Blue means possible, and red means impossible?”

It seemed the power I could use had limits. Otherwise it was a matter of proficiency. In any case, instead of pushing to the maximum, I set the structure to lay a modest road.

The instant I willed it into existence, a tingling ran through my whole body, and I felt mana and magical power pour out through my soles and hands as if draining away.

I felt faint, but separate from that, something unbelievable happened.

The road began to form, slowly taking exactly the shape I wanted. The grass slid aside on its own, and a path emerged. It was wondrous to behold—but the sense of depletion was something I didn’t want to imagine.

“What on earth?!”

The knights tensed and drew their swords, wondering what was happening, and one quick-witted knight asked me,

“Baron Ingrad, was that your doing?”

“Mm… for now, yes, that was me.”

“…Did you have such an ability as well?”

Getting looks as if I were some kind of monster, I cleared my throat and said,

“I did, but this was my first time using it. It’s quite taxing.”

Staring up at the road that had appeared, I couldn’t help but marvel at the miracle I had wrought, though the maids, separately, looked at me with fear.

The knights were also making odd faces, so I asked why.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t talents something you’re born with?”

“The burst of power just now… that was magical power. Humans are sensitive to magic, and in the worst case it can make them feel fear.”

I knew a lot of magical power had drained through my soles. But did they sense it so acutely that they became this wary?

Feeling a bit sorry, I said,

“This power can’t harm people. So I don’t think there’s any need to be afraid. I have a talent for creating structures like this. I could keep it a secret, but then we wouldn’t build trust—so I’m telling you. You can rest easy.”

Even so, the women’s expressions didn’t soften. Come to think of it, they were all women—both knights and maids. Realizing that, among the humans in Ingrad, only Vincent and I were male, I was dumbfounded; I resolved to hire staff later to balance the gender ratio.

There had been a bit of a scare, but we somehow began gathering herbs and eased the tension. We amassed quite a lot by working all morning, but by my rough estimate it would last about a week.

I didn’t want to work the already mentally and physically tired maids any harder, so I handed each of them a fatigue-recovery pill and said,

“It’ll relieve your weariness. And that’s it for today. You still have duties at the manor, so I won’t take more of your time.”

Only then did I see the maids relax with relieved faces. I felt a little bad, but if I’d been an authoritarian or pretentious noble, I probably would have scolded them for such behavior. From what I’d seen, “nobles” seemed like a different species among “humans.”

“Well, I don’t have to deal with them here anyway…”

I figured they wouldn’t bother coming all the way out here.

We had lunch back at the manor, but when the number of Beastkin had grown far more than in the morning, Vincent anxiously sought me out and begged me to do something, so I had to go.

“What’s going on?”

“Th—the, um, we’re wondering if we can get the medicine you make, my lord.”

“That’s right. Without your medicine, from here on we’re… done for!”

“We’ve already been abandoned!”

I had no idea what they were talking about, but I said what I needed to say first.

“To produce medicine right now, I need low-grade ingredients. With materials from the Forest of the Demon Dragon, I can’t make yesterday’s medicine. The potency is too strong and dangerous, so I gave up on that. Today I took a few maids from the manor to gather low-grade herbs, but… the amount isn’t large. So I can’t supply enough for all of you.”

I told the truth. With deeply regretful looks—yet clearly understanding why—the Beastkin’s eyes flared. Then a fox Beastkin asked me,

“If you can secure enough low-grade ingredients… are you saying anything is possible?”

“You asked, huh.”

I smiled sourly on the inside but outwardly nodded as if regretting it greatly, and sighed as I spoke.

“Isn’t it awfully unfortunate? Beastkin like you have no restrictions entering the Forest of the Demon Dragon, so you don’t need to bother gathering useless low-grade herbs. Going forward, we’ll just have to do what we can to manage supply.”

They murmured among themselves, then addressed me.

“How much low-grade herb do you need?”

The female Beastkin’s faces grew fierce, as if telling me to hurry and speak. It felt like something was going very wrong, but I gave an answer they could roughly grasp.

“The more the better… but you can’t possibly gather that much in a single day. You’d need about a week of picking.”

“A whole… week?”

“My goodness… how are we supposed to hold out?”

“N-no, I can’t—after so long, I finally… finally…”

One Beastkin, eyes brimming, suddenly bolted. A few followed her, and that started a chain reaction—soon, all the Beastkin in front of the manor had left.

Seeing that, Vincent asked me,

“How… how did you talk the Beastkin around like that?”

“Well, if you bring your partner someday, I’ll tell you.”

“…A partner…?”

From what I’d heard, Vincent was a lifelong bachelor. It was a pity. Thinking he might never know, I felt sympathy.

“I should treat him well… this man.”

There were plenty of capable people who missed their window to marry. Life could be rough, but being competent and successful also made it easy to postpone marriage until later.

The result was a lifelong bachelor.

Even if life was enjoyable, it was certain there would come a time when he felt lonely.

“Let’s go for now. I’ve baited the hook; there should be a reaction.”

“…Bait?”

Vincent looked at me as if asking what on earth I meant.

After that, I began producing medicines of appropriate strength by using low-grade herbs to moderate the potency of the Forest of the Demon Dragon materials.

The fragrance of roasting herbs spread through the manor, and both knights and maids came to gawk outside the workshop; I simply kept at my work regardless of their watching.

I finished the batch to a reasonable point and was rolling the pills by hand when—

“Myyy loooord!!! It’s an emergency!”

Vincent’s shout rang out from somewhere. At that, knights drew their swords and maids ran off—things got hectic. I stepped out to the balcony and looked toward the manor entrance.

“Perfect. Looks like it worked…”

Dozens of Beastkin were vaulting the manor wall, arms crammed full of greenery.

The response was faster than expected.