How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary

Chapter 107

Chapter 107

In the distance, the castle of the territory came into view.

My steps felt lighter.

It had been barely a year since I transmigrated into this place.

Not such a long time, yet somehow, it now felt like my real home.

Strange, really.

Even the officetel I had lived in for ten years had always felt foreign whenever I returned from a mission.

“Oh! The Lord has returned!”

“My Lord!”

“Johnson! Johnson!”

Was it because of the residents who ran over to greet me the moment they spotted me?

That officetel had always been empty.

This didn’t feel half bad.

– Oh, home sweet home~

‘Sweet home, my ass.’

Still, it didn’t feel that sweet.

I had only been away for a short while, yet work had piled up already.

And since it wasn’t even something I wanted to happen, I was even more flustered.

Damn muscle-brained trio.

Honestly, I felt like declaring a meat ban for at least a week.

– Not a good idea. Even if you’re the master, messing with their meat is dangerous. You could die.

I was just saying how I felt, that’s all.

“How’s the evacuation procession?”

“No major problems yet.”

“And the supplies?”

“We’ve sent out the supply convoy twice already. Seems to be holding up well enough.”

“Good. That’s a relief.”

First of all, I checked the status of the evacuees with Irene, who had been guarding the territory in my stead.

She said two supply convoys had already been dispatched, and the procession was moving without serious issues for now.

At this point, even the Imperial bastards had likely given up chasing them.

They seemed too busy trying to manage their own mess.

“With the Black Lions and the Knight Order all drawn away, the monsters should be fine for now. The real problem is here.”

As I had expected, the evacuees were fleeing with almost nothing.

It was unreasonable to expect people to pack up anything in such a dire situation.

In the end, it was up to us to take care of them somehow.

“The temporary housing for the refugees…”

“Yes, Grandfather is taking care of it.”

“Good. It doesn’t need to be too elaborate. Just tell him to set things up so they can stay for about a month or two.”

“Yes, I’ll let him know.”

The people in the territory were already making preparations.

Elder Benetrang and the Golem School builders were filling empty spaces within the territory with houses.

I told them not to overexert themselves—just to do enough.

After all, these people wouldn’t be living in the castle anyway.

“How are our supplies?”

“Far better than usual.”

“Once ten thousand people are added, that’ll change, won’t it?”

“Yes. Food will be the first issue.”

“Right.”

“Still, things are better than last year, so there won’t be immediate problems.”

“That’s a relief.”

I gathered Butler Harold, Treasurer Nilson, and the others to assess the current state of the territory.

The general answer was the same: no problems for now, but countermeasures were needed.

It was natural that adding ten thousand people to a population of less than that would cause issues.

Even though Johnson Territory had improved considerably lately, we didn’t have enough reserves for more than double the population.

“At least the wheat planted last fall seems to be doing quite well…”

Indeed, the wheat sown last fall was growing better than expected.

But there wasn’t much of it.

That amount was only meaningful for a few thousand people—once the numbers multiplied, it didn’t matter much.

Some of the Rabbit Tribe were still staying behind to expand the farmland, but it would take time before results showed.

“People can’t live on meat alone.”

Only the Lion Tribe could.

The Rabbit Tribe also loved meat, but their diet was similar to humans’—they couldn’t live on meat alone.

Truly, the Lion Tribe was peculiar in that regard.

‘The way they act too… they’re beasts through and through.’

“Well, it’s not something we can handle on our own scale anyway.”

“Agreed.”

“Then we’ll have to organize a merchant convoy first.”

Fortunately, our territory had a Mana Stone Mine.

Mana Crystals were welcome almost anywhere and were even used as currency.

If we couldn’t handle things with our own resources, we could simply buy from other territories.

I didn’t want to reveal the existence of the Mana Stone Mine just yet, but purchasing some wheat shouldn’t cause trouble.

The one pulling the strings didn’t seem intent on revealing it either, for now.

And the ones who needed to handle this were the Fox Tribe.

They were the only ones in our territory capable of managing trade on this scale.

If she was the wife of a lord, then she should serve the territory like one.

“The merchant group needs to move quickly.”

“Hmm. Well, it should.”

“Coordinate with the Good-Dog Merchant Group to secure some wheat. Lots of pepper too. And any other spices you can find.”

“Alright, sounds good.”

“Deliver Mana Crystals to Haken and get a good stock of Minota Horns. We’ll probably need spares. Ah, and plenty of cloth and daily necessities—they’ll be coming with almost nothing. And…”

“There’s more?”

“Yeah. Send a caravan toward Henil too. Dried seafood and seaweed would help.”

“Toward Henil? We’ve never traded in that direction before.”

“Still, try it. The situation calls for it. We’ll need to build stronger ties with Henil from now on.”

“Not wrong.”

“More importantly, make it fast.”

“How soon?”

“As fast as possible. The sooner, the better.”

“Hah, alright then.”

Now that I thought about it, the Fox Tribe was going to be very busy.

They were already occupied gathering information, and now they had to manage multiple trade routes as well.

But what could I do? Given the situation, the Fox Tribe would have to put in some extra effort.

Since commerce was their specialty anyway, I wasn’t too worried.

* * *

The plan was to procure wheat from Vines through the merchant group.

From our standpoint, it was the best possible choice.

But from the very start, we ran into trouble.

Through a shamanic message, we requested wheat from Elline, but the Vines Territory refused to sell.

They claimed they couldn’t spare any due to another large trade deal.

“Refused to sell? Then what are they planning to do with their stored wheat? Are they trading with New Level or Haken?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Really? Then where… ah, don’t tell me?”

“Yeah, that ‘don’t tell me’ is right.”

“Wow, so that’s how it is, huh?”

According to what the Fox Tribe discovered, it wasn’t New Level or Haken who bought up the food supplies around Vines.

The ones hoarding Vines’ goods—ridiculously enough—were the Imperial bastards of the Levelium Region.

Because they lost all their stored supplies at Hawrun, the Empire bastards, now short on resources, moved quickly to strike a deal with Vines first.

“Our Puppy Priestess was really furious about it.”

“Well, of course. That wouldn’t sit well with her.”

To skip over Johnson Territory—half an ally—and sell food to the Empire instead?

As a Beastman, Elline probably couldn’t understand that choice.

“But their judgment was fast. No wonder their pursuit was so half-hearted—they’ve been putting their efforts there instead?”

“Actually, it looks like Vines made the first move.”

“Vines did?”

Even more absurdly, it was Vines who prepared this trade in advance.

Before the Empire even sent a request, Vines had already been preparing grain.

Which meant—

“The Lord of Vines knew. He knew Hawrun Territory had fallen.”

“Obviously. Otherwise, there’s no reason to prepare beforehand.”

“As expected of a Great Lord.”

The Lord of Vines—that man.

He looked like some friendly uncle next door, but he had a far more cunning side than he appeared.

He must’ve planted informants inside Hawrun Territory.

And if he had people stationed there, it wouldn’t just be Hawrun.

There must be agents in other territories of Levelium as well.

“I’ll have to ask the Lord of Haken for a favor. You know, that device that detects mana communicators—we’ll need to get that too.”

“I’ll pass that along.”

“Good, I’ll also contact him personally.”

I doubted those planted spies had obediently returned south.

If I were one, I would’ve headed toward Johnson Territory rather than back south.

From the south’s perspective, Johnson Territory was still an unknown land.

Since we had appeared at the Lords’ Council, they must be curious about our situation.

‘They’re not exactly enemies, but it’s uncomfortable. Especially since we have the Mana Stone Mine.’

I had no intention of revealing our actual circumstances, so I decided to filter the information before sending it back.

“For the Empire to rush into this trade like that—they must be getting something out of it. Weapons, perhaps?”

“Most likely. Even before the Great Cataclysm, Imperial-made weapons were highly valued.”

“True. The Imperial Knights we fought had weapons of impressive quality. Even the forging had a distinct shine to it.”

Though the Empire was in a period of rebuilding after its collapse, there were still areas where it held superiority compared to pre-Cataclysm times.

Architecture, fortification, and enchantment, for instance.

And one of those was pure metallurgy.

Whenever war broke out, weapon-forging technology naturally advanced—

Better steel, stronger, sharper.

Thanks to that, our own territory produced fairly solid weapons, but the Empire’s weren’t any worse in quality.

Vines Territory, on the other hand, had always lagged behind in metallurgy—and that hadn’t changed.

In terms of weapon quality alone, they were somewhat inferior to New Level or Haken.

But now, with such a clear opportunity to trade with the Empire, they had every reason to seize it.

They likely already knew through their spies how fine the Empire’s weaponry was.

From the Empire’s perspective, it was a fair trade too.

Though the supplies stored in Hawrun Castle were all gone, their weapons were still abundant.

Weapons imbued with magic through enchantment were so durable that even fire couldn’t destroy them easily.

And since they couldn’t carry heavy weapons while fleeing, they must’ve buried and hidden the rest in the ground—only for them to be discovered later.

Maybe they’d already been found by now.

“At this rate, Haken and New Level might run into some trouble too.”

“If Vines sends that much grain to the Empire, there’ll be that much less for those two to buy. Or rather…”

“It gives them an excuse to either stop selling or raise the prices.”

“Yeah, exactly. Especially in a time like this.”

For now, it might not be a major issue.

Haken and New Level must both have stored a considerable amount of grain.

But this year, outside grain imports were impossible, and who knew what would happen next year?

The rift between the three Great Lords seemed to be deepening.

You could just feel that something was about to explode.

‘I’m most curious about what Deron Level will do. What’s he thinking right now?’

Unlike the Lord of Haken, who seemed eager to fight the Empire head-on, New Level’s Deron Level appeared to have formed a partial alliance with them.

It even looked like he was preparing for formal trade relations with the Empire.

But this situation no longer aligned with that flow.

‘He’d need to stabilize his territory as soon as possible to start farming properly, but now that’s gone up in smoke.’

The invasion had happened right before the start of the farming season.

The Empire, desperate to wrap things up quickly, had already missed that window.

Losing their supplies had delayed their advance, and now, dragged down even further, this year’s harvest was as good as ruined.

‘And the Empire’s Levelium isn’t the same Levelium it used to be.’

Levelium had once been a vast marketplace where goods from all across the Levela Peninsula gathered.

But the current Levelium could never return to that.

The Beastmen would never trade with the Empire bastards.

That much was obvious, just from Elline’s reaction.

She absolutely refused to tolerate the Empire.

In the end, the Empire’s Levelium was only a hollow half of what it once was.

If they needed supplies, they’d have to produce them themselves or trade with southern territories.

‘Meanwhile, Vines will replenish its armory with high-quality weapons in exchange for grain.’

In short, things were unfolding quite differently from the scenario Deron Level must have imagined.

There’s no way he could’ve predicted that the crazed Beastmen would destroy Hawrun Territory.

‘Even I didn’t see that coming—how could he?’

Thinking about the southerners who must be pulling their hair out over this made my own head feel a little lighter.