Strong, You Know
The next morning, Meyer came rushing to wake me.
“Meyer, what’s the rush so early? We stayed up late talking yesterday, remember? We agreed to take it slow this morning.”
“The shrubs we planted yesterday have already grown, and the Guush are eating them. Please come see.”
Urged along, I changed clothes and climbed the outer earthen wall. The shrubs weren’t as tall as the forest undergrowth, but their leaves were lush and plentiful.
How many Guush are there?
I counted—seventeen.
“Could you speak with the Guush?”
“Meyer, that’s impossible.”
“Even for Young Master Reinhardt?”
“Varshe are high-ranking monsters, so Atre could converse with them. But Guush are different. We’ll just have to rely on Marcus and the others.”
If the results are showing this quickly, then we’ll need to set up the same grazing grounds in Helios Village.
And we’ll need to bring back some slimes too.
Things are moving faster than expected. Watching the Guush eat, I said to Meyer and the others,
“Let’s work out the details with Marcus.”
After breakfast, I sat down with Marcus and Logan to talk.
“The slime separates hair from skin and even softens the coarse hair?”
“Exactly. But this slime only eats Guush hair. Or maybe not—the slime might actually be eating the dirt and grime stuck to the hair.”
“Could it be the sap of the trees that Guush like to eat?”
“That’s very possible, though I’m not certain. Oh, and never put Guush hair in hot water—it hardens.”
I explained that if the special slime could act like a living clipper, grazing would become possible. As for whether the hair would regrow after shearing, we’d only know by trying.
Since these special slimes would be delivered soon, I asked them to work on breeding them. I also explained that since this was going to be a joint project with Helios Village, they needed to share the work methods and establish a proper system for raising Guush.
“Helios Village? I’ve never heard of that,” said Marcus.
As a former captain of the Knights Order, he surely knew the Westland villages, but I went ahead and explained about Helios Village and the beastkin.
“A beastkin village? Now that’s interesting.”
“Then why not go yourself, Marcus? You’ll also get to spar with the beastkin—they’re strong. Our own knights are training under them.”
“What!? They’re that strong?”
“They can take down a troll, two or three of them working together.”
At this, Logan perked right up.
“If this turns into ten days or more away, having the village chief absent that long isn’t wise. I’ll go instead.”
“Logan, you—”
“Marcus, I’ll bring some beastkin back with me. If we’re going to interact with them in the future, they should see Lux Village with their own eyes. When they come, we can arrange sparring matches here. In the meantime, convince the villagers not to be wary of them.”
Marcus gave in and let Logan take the trip to Helios Village.
Joining Logan was Thomas, also a former Knights Order member.
He wasn’t from the 3rd Unit, but from the 1st. The 1st Unit is mainly magicians, while the 2nd and 3rd are those who can use some magic and also wield the sword.
The 1st Unit was split between those who accompanied the 2nd and 3rd Units on expeditions into the forest and those who worked on civil engineering or farming within the domain.
Thomas was from the expedition group, specializing in wind magic. He retired because his wife fell ill, and with young children, he couldn’t afford to be away for long periods.
That’s when he relied on Marcus and the others and moved to Lux Village.
“Will it be alright leaving your family for so long this time?”
It turned out his wife’s illness stemmed from stress—worry over whether Thomas would come home safely and the burden of raising the children alone. After moving to Lux Village, talking with other wives in similar situations helped her recover.
This time, when he heard Logan was going to Helios Village, Thomas volunteered.
“Why?”
“Because whenever Logan chooses to act on his own, it means something interesting is bound to happen.”
What do you think about this chapter?
