Chapter 383

Viscount Agri
We decided not to entrust Kiblinki Saltas to the rude Viscount Cusia, and instead headed for the next noble household.
This time, it was said to be Viscount Agri.
Although not particularly wealthy, the land was being managed well, so the people weren’t suffering—such was the impression of this place.
However, this land also had two Chaos Vortices that spawn powerful monsters, which seemed to be the main problem.

Even if they’re struggling, I can’t allow them to count on Kiblinki Saltas for combat strength.
They’ll just have to make do.

When we arrived at the Agri household, we were shown to the reception room to discuss future plans.
As expected, the subject of using Kiblinki Saltas to deal with the Chaos Vortices came up.
That’s something I’d really like them to hold off on.

“Lily, you seem pretty opposed to letting Kiblinki Saltas fight monsters. Is there a reason?”

“Well, you see, Kiblinki Saltas aren’t all that strong when they’re alone. They’re fine when acting in groups, but once isolated, they can’t manage at all.”

“Hmm. Against humans, even one of them is strong enough, but not so much against monsters, huh? Can’t they use their specialty, mind reading?”

“It seems that a lot of monster species are instinctively aggressive toward others. So even if they read the enemy’s mind, they often can’t respond effectively. Also, even against humans, in group battles, they need to set up traps beforehand or it becomes too dangerous.”

That’s right.
Kiblinki Saltas aren’t as tough as Talat.
They can handle humans to a degree, but against powerful monsters, they’re at a clear disadvantage.
Their front legs are sharp, but they’re not especially strong.
If the enemy has thick flesh, or tough skin or scales, they lose their offensive capability entirely.
They’re good at restraining enemies, but against foes who can’t be hurt by their attacks, they’re hopeless. That’s just the kind of species they are.

“I see. So sending Kiblinki Saltas into the Chaos Vortices would be dangerous.”

“Yes. If it’s just ogres, they can probably manage, but at that level, even regular adventurers should be able to handle it. But anything stronger than that, and it becomes questionable whether they can even fight properly.”

“That’s an unexpected weakness. Viscount Agri, what will you do?”

“Honestly, I had hoped to count on them for that, but sending tamed monsters to challenge strong monsters and get killed would go against my responsibilities. I’ll give up on that idea.”

“Well said, Viscount Agri.”

“In that case, would it be alright to have the spiders handle highway patrol? We’d like to free up the guards and adventurers as much as possible.”

That much is fine.
However, patrolling a wide highway would be too much for just the few I’d planned to loan out.
So I decided to lend out all the ones I had planned to send to Viscount Cusia as well.

The development team, if given land suitable for cultivation, can increase vegetable production. And if I use those vegetables as rewards for the other Kiblinki Saltas, I won’t need to dip into other resources too much.
It seems there’s still some undeveloped land here, and we’ve reached an agreement, so I’ll leave a larger group with Viscount Agri.
I hope they can build a good relationship and coexist well.

What do you think about this chapter?