novelraw Chapter 142
Chapter 142
Chapter 142
A shamanic message filled with drawings of dogs running.
When I first heard about it, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was supposed to mean.
Up until now, Elline had always sent written messages—so seeing a picture suddenly appear was strange, to say the least.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something serious had happened.
It wasn’t just the Dog Tribe; the movement in the Vines Territory was suspicious as well.
“The soldiers are tense? Has something happened?”
“It does sound ominous, doesn’t it?”
Originally, the one who told me that the Dog Tribe might take part in this war was Yuria, and the reason she could gather such information was because she had learned about the situation in Vines.
The soldiers at Vines Castle had been unusually tense lately.
It wasn’t even the season when monsters usually appeared, so the fact that the soldiers were on edge meant there were rumors going around internally.
“What do you think?”
“It’s almost certain they’re going to deploy troops this way. And maybe... independence?”
“Independence? You mean the Dog Tribe is leaving Vines?”
“Well, I don’t know the full story, but I think independence sounds more likely~”
“So that’s what the pack of dogs means? The white puppy leading them is the Puppy Spirit, and the ones following behind are the Dog Tribe?”
If I interpreted it roughly, it meant the Puppy Spirit was guiding the Dog Tribe northward?
“This doesn’t sound like a small matter.”
Logically speaking, if a high-class force like the Dog Tribe tried to leave a territory, the lord would usually stop them.
I had no idea why the Dog Tribe, who had cooperated so well with Vines until now, would suddenly want to break away—but depending on how things went, there could even be an armed clash.
‘Though, in this situation, I doubt it’ll go that far.’
In a balance of power among the three great territories, a clash with the Dog Tribe?
Vines had the superior military strength overall, but the Dog Tribe’s power couldn’t be ignored.
In that sense, their timing for declaring independence was perfect.
Still, the world rarely moved according to common sense.
If emotions ran high and conflict broke out, even a small skirmish could spiral into catastrophe.
‘Now that I know about this, I can’t just sit still. I’d like to help somehow—especially since it looks like I’m partly responsible for stirring this up.’
The problem was that our side wasn’t in a position to do much.
We had no point of contact with Vines, nor any way to exert influence there.
The only Great Lord we were on good terms with was Haken.
‘Wait, I can contact Haken, can’t I? Maybe we could help the Dog Tribe more easily than I thought?’
“Yuria.”
“Mm? What is it?”
“I wanted to ask something—about the Cow Tribe’s farmlands. How much wheat do you think they’ve harvested?”
“Quite a lot, I’d say. If we compare it to before... by Johnson Territory’s standards, maybe enough for five years? Ten would be pushing it, but five should be plenty.”
“That’s impressive. Of course, our territory is small, but even for Haken, that’s not a small amount.”
“Right. It’s nothing to scoff at.”
If we handed over the wheat collected from the Cow Tribe to Haken, it would be a considerable help to the Lord of Haken, and it’d give us a good reason to ask for a small favor in return.
Of course, we’d still have to settle the payment for the wheat separately.
“Sir Irene! Do you have a Mana Communicator? I want to speak with the Lord of Haken.”
The daughter-loving Lord of Haken had given Irene her own communicator.
And the ever-prepared Irene always carried it with her.
Just in case, I asked—and sure enough, she had brought it this time too.
My own communicator was back in the territory, so I couldn’t use it right now.
—Things are getting quite interesting.
As magic devices capable of detecting communicators became common, even the Great Lords could no longer grasp each other’s exact situations.
When I told the Lord of Haken about the Dog Tribe and Vines, he seemed deeply intrigued.
Apparently, he’d also been holding a grudge of his own.
When I suggested that Haken put some pressure on Vines, he readily agreed.
And in exchange for that, the offer to trade a large amount of grain must have been very welcome news to him.
‘The Dog Tribe’s route of movement is obvious. If the Lord of Haken makes a move, Vines will be in quite the bind.’
—They’ll be caught completely off guard.
‘I should tell Elline to wait until Haken starts moving.’
The Dog Tribe would move from Vines to Saint, then from Saint to Rubina, heading north.
Since the whole tribe would be relocating, they wouldn’t move fast—but it wasn’t like they’d suffer much from monster attacks either.
The real concern was whether they could leave Vines safely.
If Haken deployed troops to wait near Vines, it’d make it difficult for Vines to even fight the Dog Tribe.
‘That’s basically a perfect pincer setup, isn’t it?’
In the past, it might have been different—but in tense times like these, no one would risk such a move.
‘Once the Dog Tribe escapes, Haken can simply return to his territory.’
That would leave Vines as the “dog that chased the chicken,” empty-handed.
Of course, the real dogs would be leaving Vines for good.
‘The Dog Tribe’s migration... I just hope this doesn’t spiral into something too big.’
With the Horse Tribe, the Cow Tribe, and now even the Dog Tribe moving—could this massive war really be called a preemptive one?
It had started as a plan to smack the Empire around a bit, maybe let the Cow Tribe blow off some steam—but now everyone was going full throttle.
“Yuria. How strong is the Empire’s force, roughly?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure, but I’d say at least one Great Lord’s worth? They manage four territories on that side.”
“When you say ‘one Great Lord’s worth,’ you don’t mean just his own territory, right?”
“Of course not~ It means the entire power of a Great Lord’s domain—the Great Lord plus all the lords under him.”
“I see.”
Then roughly speaking, how strong was one Great Lord’s force?
In Haken’s case, I’d heard that there were about 500 knights stationed just in Haken Castle.
And if we included the knights of the other lords who followed Haken, the total came to around 1,000.
The soldiers would number several times that, so it was by no means a small army.
The other Great Lords were likely similar.
But if the Empire’s force occupying the Levelium Region was that large, then they were no easy foe.
“Do you think they’ll go all out?”
“What do you think, if you were them?”
“If I were fighting the Cow Tribe…”
I wouldn’t mobilize my entire force.
It wasn’t a battle to dominate the Cow Tribe’s territory.
Their goal was likely to raid and plunder the grain the Cow Tribe had harvested.
Once the warriors were thinned out a bit and the Cow Tribe weakened, the Empire could keep raiding their harvests in the future.
They hadn’t even fully taken the Levelium Region yet.
And above all, moving an army cost money.
The Empire wasn’t exactly overflowing with resources—they wouldn’t take that kind of risk.
‘The funny thing is, even if they did go all out, we could still take them.’
So that’s why everyone was so eager to charge in?
A chance to unite and show them a taste of real power?
“For now, we’ll just have to see how the Empire moves before we decide.”
Rudick, who had stayed behind in the Cow Tribe’s territory, sent word that the Empire still hadn’t made any definite move.
If we acted first, it might arouse suspicion, so for now, everyone was on standby.
Instead, things were progressing briskly in places the Empire didn’t know about.
The Johnson Territory, the Lion Tribe, and the Won Tribe.
Those three, known for their superior metallurgy, were producing weapons like mad even now.
‘It’s not even the season for that kind of work, though.’
Normally, this season was for preparing for winter.
While maintaining weapons for winter use was important, securing food and cold-weather supplies usually took priority.
But that wasn’t really necessary this time.
We had more than enough food, and mana crystals were overflowing.
In exchange for supplying the Lion Tribe and the Won Tribe with their winter goods, we borrowed their hands for labor.
‘Thanks to that, the Cow Tribe has been arming themselves quickly—with weapons of excellent quality, too.’
—The eyes of those primitive cattle must be bulging wide in amazement.
By the time we arrived at the territory, everything would be in even better shape than now.
On the way back to the territory, we encountered some of the Rabbit Tribe living in hiding.
There were quite a few of them—around five hundred, maybe?
There wasn’t time to explain much, so I immediately sent Black Rabbit to lead them.
Thus, we guided the Rabbit Tribe straight to the territory.
—Ooh, I feel overflowing power!
‘…Overflowing, my ass. What the hell changed, exactly?’
As soon as we brought the Rabbit Tribe into the territory, that guy Black Rabbit leveled up.
He said it himself—he’d leveled up.
He claimed he felt overflowing with power, but to me, he didn’t look any different.
—Just a little more progress here, and I can ascend another level. You should also keep wor—
He even had the nerve to tell me to work harder. The shamelessness of it all.
Speechless, I flicked him on the nose bridge with my finger.
—Ow! That hurts, Master!
“Huh, so it actually works. You really did level up.”
I hit him just for the hell of it, but apparently, I really could now.
Before, when he hadn’t fully manifested, I couldn’t even touch him—but now, I could actually punish the spirit-mode rabbit.
I suppose that counted as progress, in a way.
To think he’d go and level up only to earn himself a smack.
What an absurd little thing.
“Wow, you really came back.”
From Rotsy, through the tunnel, then to the Northern Gate Fortress, and down past the Horned Rabbit Ranch toward the territory—there were tents in sight.
They were the same tents the Mouse Tribe used when camping.
About four hundred of them.
Since each tent housed a family, that meant over two thousand members of the Mouse Tribe had gathered here.
“So, this means all the nearby Mouse Tribe have come? That was fast.”
Apparently, there were about fifty Mouse Tribe groups scattered throughout northern Levela Peninsula.
The fourteenth chief we met had led roughly two hundred members, so their total population must have been close to ten thousand.
And yet, they’d already gathered nearly a fifth of their entire number in the short time since I’d sent Peco out.
Even though they’d come all the way down here, they still insisted on pitching tents.
Just like how the Rabbit Tribe preferred to dig burrows, they were living in the most comfortable way for them.
Having lived their entire lives in tents, it was probably the most natural thing for the Mouse Tribe.
“Lord!”
“Ah, Butler. How’s the territory?”
“It’s doing fairly well.”
As soon as I entered the castle, Butler Harold approached me to report on how things had been going.
From the look of things, nothing seemed wrong.
They had divided into groups—some preparing for winter, others busy with war preparations.
And after reporting on the territory’s situation, he told me something I’d been eager to hear—the news about the Mouse Tribe who had come to our territory.
“So, these people…”
After I told Butler Harold about the Mouse Tribe, it had only been three days before they began flocking to the territory.
The first thing the Mouse Tribe did upon arrival was visit the temple to confirm the Sacred Relic of the Bear Tribe.
And when they saw it, every one of them burst into tears.
They cried for a long time, and afterward, they offered their own Sacred Relic of the Mouse Tribe to the temple.
“It seems they intend to settle down in Johnson Territory.”
“I see.”
As expected.
Things were going even more smoothly than I had hoped.
“And now, they’ve each gone off to different places to help with preparations for war.”
“Oh? So not all of them are here right now?”
“No, there were several times more before.”
Surprisingly, it wasn’t that the Mouse Tribe hadn’t all arrived yet—they had already come and then dispersed again.
Some had stayed a few days in the Horse Tribe’s area, and others had detoured to bring the Rabbit Tribe, but I never imagined they’d all gathered so quickly.
Did these guys have motors in their feet or something?
“Fast” didn’t even begin to describe it.
“But when you say ‘preparations for war’…”
“Some went to the Won Tribe’s territory to help manufacture weapons, and others went to the Cow Tribe’s territory.”
“Ah, I see.”
The Mouse Tribe were apparently skilled workers too, and they immediately set out to work.
They were helping the Cow Tribe and the Won Tribe with war preparations.
The Won Tribe’s area would certainly need more hands, but was there really a reason to send people to the Cow Tribe’s side?
That tribe was huge in scale already.
“It’s the harvest season, after all.”
“Well, that’s true…”
“They’re short on people. The Cow Tribe’s young men are all in military training under Sir Rudick.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
That guy Rudick was never one to sit still.
Still, leading military training in another tribe’s land… not a bad thing, but I wasn’t sure it was even possible.
Maybe winning that bullfighting contest had turned out to be a bigger honor than I’d thought.
Looking ahead, it wasn’t a bad development at all.
“Then what about the Mouse Tribe who stayed behind here?”
“They’re helping with slaughtering and processing work.”
“Oh, at the ranch?”
Well, that made sense—our workforce had been stretched thin lately.
There were plenty of horned rabbits, but slaughtering and processing them was no small job.
‘Maybe this works out nicely.’
I had a favor to ask the Mouse Tribe anyway—this would be a good time to suggest making canned horned rabbit meat.