It Must Be the Work of a Yokai
“There’s nothing here.”
Takuto muttered as he looked over his new territory.
“Well, it’s just an ordinary village.”
Kazuhito had officially become Takuto’s retainer, and even he looked exasperated.
Though Takuto had become a noble of Arland, both Gilbert and Draconia refused to tolerate any man close to Alicetia. So, he was banished to this remote frontier.
Takuto gazed at the fields.
“Well, yeah. If you don’t take measures against salt damage, this is what you get…”
Almost nothing grew there. The fields barely produced anything, cultivated only as a hobby by the villagers.
This land suffered severe salt damage. The territory earned money by supplying salt to the kingdom and buying food from other regions.
So, while not exactly poor, it wasn’t prosperous either.
“What are we gonna do?”
“First, we’ll need to build a levee to prevent flooding.”
Since there were no existing countermeasures against salt damage, they began brainstorming ideas. But fixing salt damage would take both time and money.
“Well now, are you our new lord, sir?”
A few elderly men approached Takuto.
“Yes, I am Takuto Shishido. I’ve been entrusted with governing this land. My rank is Viscount.”
“No need to bow to the likes of us, milord.”
Surprised by Takuto’s humility, one of the elders murmured approvingly. For them, learning what kind of person the new lord was mattered greatly—so the village elders had come to observe him.
“Do you only produce salt here?”
“We’ve tried to grow crops, but not much’ll take root… We’ve been trying, mind you.”
The village chief sighed as he picked up a handful of soil.
“When the tide comes in, seawater reaches all the way here. Nothin’ much’ll grow after that.”
“What about fishing?”
“Ah, you’re one of them otherworlders, aren’t ya? Ain’t no countries here doin’ that. The seas’re full of Krakens and sea dragons. You take a boat out there, and you’ll be eaten before long.”
“So the only fish around are river fish, huh? Gramps, it’s really that bad?”
The village chief nodded.
“They got no natural predators, so they breed as much as they want. The Krakens and sea dragons don’t even fight each other—probably ‘cause there’s plenty enough food for both.”
In this world’s oceans, Krakens and sea dragons ruled supreme. But they rarely fought. Both species understood there was enough food in the sea for them to coexist peacefully.
As a result, Krakens were as numerous as jellyfish swarming in the waters off Echizen. This area, in particular, was a Kraken nesting ground, with fewer sea dragons.
“So we can’t eat sea fish at all?”
“You can, if you fish ‘em up yourself. Though sometimes you end up hooking a Kraken.”
“That’s a problem, isn’t it?”
“Those beasts’ll eat anything, they will.”
The chief laughed heartily. Incidentally, Krakens could move on land for up to three hours. So coastal villages were regularly attacked by Krakens and sea dragons. In this world, coastal lands were vital for salt production—but honestly, it just wasn’t worth the risk.
“Chief! It’s bad! We hooked a Kraken!”
A young man came running, shouting that they’d caught one.
“You’re kidding me.”
“My apologies, milord. I’ll be takin’ my leave for a moment.”
The chief stood up, leaning on his staff, and hurried toward the commotion.
“Takuto, are you sure about this?”
Mai asked, watching the old man’s back anxiously.
Both Mai and Kazuhito knew what Krakens were—monstrous creatures described as demons by the central nations. Huge, tentacled beasts that often devoured humans.
“Yeah, I can’t just let the village chief die on my first day in charge.”
The three of them ran after the chief. Before long, they came face to face with a massive squid-like creature that could only be the Kraken.
“Holy crap, that thing’s huge! Twice the size of the ones I’ve seen!”
“Didn’t Alice say that monsters in Arland are at least a rank stronger than in other countries?”
“Not twice as strong!”
Indeed, monsters in Arland were known to be far stronger. It wasn’t rare for orcs and ogres from other lands to wander in, only to be slaughtered by goblins here.
Whether Arland’s monsters were strong because its people were strong—or its people were strong because the monsters were—was unclear. Alicetia might need to study that someday, because the monsters here were absurdly powerful.
“Careful, milord.”
“No, gramps, you’re the one who needs to be careful.”
Kazuhito slipped on his gauntlets, lightly bumping his fists together to focus himself.
“Heh-heh-heh, just another day for us! Fwooooh!”
With a mighty roar, the chief flexed—and his upper clothes burst apart. His body swelled, muscles bulging beneath aged skin marked by countless scars. A veteran warrior, through and through.
“Hmm, smaller than the one a month ago. A runt, this one!”
Before finishing his words, the chief leapt forward and slammed his fist into the Kraken.
With a thunderous crash, the monster’s body slammed into the ground.
“I’ll kill you, you damn squid!”
“Come on! Your tentacles are shakin’, ya scared bastard!”
“Hand over your magic core!”
“Your hide’ll sell for good coin too! Leave it all here!”
“Don’t you dare try to run!”
As the Kraken struggled, the villagers swarmed in and beat it mercilessly. One of them even used Magic Armament, grabbed a tentacle, and slammed the creature into the ground like a rag doll. It was a complete lynching.
“Come on, come on! Once you’re on land, you’re finished! You think you can beat us here? Don’t make me laugh!”
“Ho-ho-ho! The finishing blow!”
The chief’s mighty fist came down once more. The weakened Kraken couldn’t withstand it and died instantly.
“… Did we even need to come out here?”
Kazuhito asked, dumbfounded.
“I think we need to get used to sights like this. Our common sense definitely doesn’t work in this country.”
Takuto’s hand was on his sword hilt the whole time—but he never got the chance to draw it.
Normally, if a Kraken came ashore, villagers would flee without hesitation. That’s how it worked in the central continent—such an event would warrant the lord leading an army to hunt it down.
But not in Arland. Here, they didn’t bother. The villagers usually handled it before the lord even arrived.
On unstable boats or in water, Krakens were a real threat. But on solid ground? Not so much.
Big tentacles? Just have one villager hold each down while the others go to town on the body. Problem solved.
Soon, the villagers started butchering the slain Kraken on the spot. Monster materials were a crucial export for the village. These villagers were tough.
And of course, several casually used Magic Armament, the advanced form of battle aura.
Arland may have weak magicians, but it was overflowing with aura users and Armament fighters. After all, punching things was faster than casting spells. Living in these wild lands, one naturally learned combat techniques using aura. And those with talent reached the next stage—Magic Armament.
“They’re way too tough…”
Kazuhito’s mutter was drowned out by the villagers’ cheers over the Kraken’s defeat.
The next day.
“Hey… don’t you think there’re a lot of cats around here?”
Kazuhito noticed something strange.
When he woke up in the lord’s mansion and stepped outside, he found the village swarming with cats—specifically, black cats.
When he tried to pet one, it backed away warily, almost like moonwalking in reverse.
Curious, Takuto went to ask the chief.
“Do people here keep this many cats?”
The chief stroked his beard, tilting his head.
“Cats usually get killed by monsters. You only see ‘em in walled cities. Only one cat lives here—my pet, Muscle.”
“That’s one seriously buff cat. Name suits him perfectly. Bit of a coward, though.”
The chief’s cat was indeed muscular. But it had no fighting spirit at all—years of running from monsters and Krakens had made it a champion of fleeing. It now cowered in the corner, showing only its backside to Takuto’s group, trembling in fear of Kazuhito’s intimidating face.
Takuto found it odd, but since the cats didn’t seem to be causing trouble—and aside from occasionally spinning sideways like boomerangs or starting impromptu sumo matches—he decided to ignore it.
After all, this was Arland. The land of eccentrics. If people were weird, cats probably were too.
The next day, something changed.
“There’s a levee now…”
“Takuto, did you make that with magic?”
Takuto shook his head at Kazuhito’s question.
“Nah, I suck at that kind of magic. The spells I can use as a Hero are almost all combat types. When I fled the Empire, I didn’t exactly have time to learn practical magic.”
Takuto possessed the special power of a Hero chosen by the goddess—a power that came with several innate combat spells preinstalled in his mind.
But Heroes were made for battle. He had no creation or construction magic. And since he rarely used magic at all, he hadn’t learned any new ones since coming to this world.
None of them could explain what had happened—but since it didn’t seem harmful, they decided to leave the mystery for later.
Today’s mission was to wipe out the monsters infesting the nearby forest.
And those monsters turned out to be so many, and so strong, that it took them the entire day.
“... Those goblins were the damn worst.”
“Why the hell were they charging at us with their fangs bared? That wasn’t goblin movement at all.”
The moment they stepped into the forest, goblins lunged from all directions in perfect stabbing formation. Even Kazuhito had to admit he was rattled for a second.
Of course, Takuto decapitated the lot of them. Not a single one survived.
“Well, they were good enough for a warm-up.”
“You’ve totally turned into a man-slasher, you know that?”
Walking through the forest with a naked blade in hand, Takuto looked every bit the killer.
And considering he’d already cut down over a hundred people, Kazuhito wasn’t exactly wrong.
“My grandpa used to say that until you’ve killed someone, swordsmanship is just a sport.
I get what he meant now—especially since our school’s whole thing is about killing.”
The Shishido Style was an old martial art dating back to the Muromachi era.
What survived in public today were only the “outer” kata—the forms safe enough to teach once killing techniques became taboo.
The true Shishido Style was combat in its purest sense: kill your enemy by any means.
Bare hands, blades, guns—whatever worked.
It evolved with the times, always adapting to the most efficient method of killing.
Takuto was its current heir.
He’d never actually killed before coming to this world, but he could wield just about any weapon—sword, spear, bow, or gun—with mastery.
Compared to monsters in other nations, those of Arland were indeed stronger…
But none strong enough to threaten him.
By the end of the day, the monster-infested forest within his domain had been completely wiped out.
When the sun rose and they returned to the village—
“… There’s a road here now.”
“And the fields got properly divided too.”
The modernization of Takuto’s village had somehow advanced overnight.
The villagers were just as baffled as he was.
Because the ground was now paved—like an asphalt road straight out of their own world.
“I… have a feeling I know who’d do something like this.”
“Yeah. I can already see her wicked grin in my mind.”
Both of them pictured their certain childhood friend’s reincarnated self, smiling deviously.
“Wait, she’s a princess now, right? Can a royal even lend a hand to some viscount out here?”
“Probably not. But she’d just play dumb anyway.”
She’d deny everything, of course—and since she never left evidence, no one could prove it.
The circumstantial evidence was damning, but she’d weasel her way out somehow.
“… Are there more cats here than yesterday?”
“I’d just pretend you didn’t notice.”
The village was crawling with black cats.
Some were even holding teacups with both paws, calmly sipping from them.
Probably cats. Most likely cats. Definitely not Alicetia’s shape-shifting clones, no sir.
No way a royal princess would have any reason to hang around some remote backwater.
By the time one month had passed since Takuto became lord, Alicetia’s actual clones arrived.
Their purpose: to construct a salt-refining facility and a rocket launch complex.
Both required advanced technology far beyond local capability—so only the clones could handle it.
“We’ve arrived! Huh, kinda looks like some countryside from Earth.”
“Wait—you’re saying you didn’t do this?”
Tilting her head innocently, the clone blinked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“But there’s literally no one else who could’ve done this.”
“Well, even if ‘I’ did it, this me doesn’t know. We clones aren’t linked, you know?”
The Alicetia clones were basically autonomous drones.
They acted freely, and some even rebelled.
When a batch was created, a few would immediately teleport away, severing all control from the original.
The ones that came to Takuto’s territory fell into two categories—
laborers and supervisors.
“These guys are traitors,” the supervisor clone said proudly. “They committed the heinous sin of stealing sweets from the original! We were created afterward, so we couldn’t join in.
That’s why we’re the elite class—tasked with watching over these criminals!”
“That’s basically admitting you’d join them if you could.”
“Of course I would. But security’s tighter now, so we’re biding our time.
Anyway, these ones are treated like D-Class personnel from that Foundation.”
“They’re disposable death-row inmates!?”
“Or as I like to call them—extra lives.”
Kazuhito’s jaw dropped. The labor-class clones looked like they’d been through hell already.
But Alicetia herself saw them as expendable labor. Nothing to worry about.
“And where’s the real you in all this?”
“Sulking in the castle. Totally lost her motivation. Must be nice, huh? Someday I’ll definitely kill her.”
“... That’s some scary ambition there.”
And so, the construction of the saltworks and rocket launch site began in Takuto’s domain.
Even stranger developments followed—
a paper mill and a printing press were completed overnight,
and legal ownership papers appeared neatly stacked in front of Takuto’s mansion.
Clearly, someone—or something—was acting on its own.
“Man… I don’t even have the money to hire workers.”
Takuto groaned, rubbing his temples.
In his official reports to the kingdom, he just wrote:
“Local development progressing—likely the work of youkai.”
---
Alicetia’s Point of View
“I just… can’t bring myself to care anymore.”
I was lying in bed, listlessly.
The reason was simple: one of my clones had stolen my secret candy stash.
And, the bastards left just enough so I wouldn’t notice right away.
I’m busy, okay? I rarely inspect my storage chambers.
I’d just told one of my guard-clones to protect the sweets, gave it a few treats as rations, and ordered it to fortify the place.
Normally, if I could pull snacks out with Quick Draw, all was fine.
That’s why I noticed too late.
I’ve already ordered mass purchases from every confectionery in the capital.
Once they arrive, my motivation gauge should refill.
Sure, I spent a fortune—but I’ve got more money than I can use anyway.
“Alice, are you even listening to me?”
“Mmm… nope.”
My brother had been dropping by often ever since that alliance summit, but I wasn’t in the mood for conversation.
Maybe I should hibernate this year… I didn’t last winter since it was warm, but when it gets cold, I tend to hole up.
Everyone calls it ‘hibernation.’ I just really hate the cold.
“Don’t you have something to say to me?”
“I wasn’t involved in the kitchen raid yesterday. I have an alibi.”
“At this point, your alibis mean nothing! And Madame Smith said she’s interrogating you personally this time. Three days in a row is too much!”
Okay, maybe I did go overboard. But with a solid alibi, I’m fine.
It’s worked before.
“Just saying—Madame was furious. Don’t expect this to blow over.”
… Looks like I should lay low for a while.
“Anyway, that’s not even what I came to talk about. There’s something else you should explain.”
“I didn’t plant that man-eating flower in the royal garden.”
“So it was you—wait, no, that’s not—ugh!”
Please stop shaking me, Big brother. I have zero energy right now.
“If it’s about Lily’s new eyes, don’t worry—I sealed both magic eyes until she’s an adult.”
“You what!? Since when!?”
“I checked our family tree. Turns out about twenty-five ancestors had magic eyes.
Not surprising it showed up again. Oh, and she inherited Great-Grandma’s lineage magic too, so she’s basically guaranteed to be a hero someday.”
I’d already sealed them safely—magic eyes are dangerous for children.
It’ll wear off in a decade or so. No big deal.
“… Fine. Whatever. That’s another headache, but I also heard you gave the Sheffield heiress a ‘weapon.’
Even the Ostland king went pale hearing about it. Care to explain what exactly you sent her?”
… Ah. That.
I thought for a moment.
“Big brother, I’m just a child. Complicated things are hard for me to understand.”
“You think that excuse still works!?”
Please stop shaking me!
“It was the work of the youkai weapon.”
“That’s still you, isn’t it!? And what the hell is a youkai weapon!?”
“Calm down, brother. Getting this worked up isn’t good for your health.”
“WHO DO YOU THINK CAUSED THIS!?”
“I’m just a child. I don’t understand.”
I don’t know anything. Nope.
If you want answers, talk to my secretary—oh, wait, she’s one of the three maids. They’ll probably cry.
So maybe go through Mr. Coote instead, and send me a formal document later.
Big brother buried his face in his hands.
“… Fine. Clearly, talking to you is useless.”
Then, an ominous air surrounded him.
“Come in.”
I turned toward the door, curious—and instantly regretted it.
Stepping into the room was my mortal nemesis: Madame Smith.
“Why are you here!?”
“Princess, I am truly heartbroken. After all the splendid education you received as royalty, you have become a shameless and selfish young lady!
I can no longer stand idly by. It is time for re-education, befitting a true princess of the royal family!”
I grabbed the flashbang by my pillow, hurled it to the floor, crossed my arms to shield my head, and dove straight out the window.
“I’ll escape if it’s the last thing I do!”
I declared my runaway rebellion.
Five minutes later, I was caught.
Dragged back, tied up, and pulled across the floor, I could only think one thing—
… My fight isn’t over yet.
What do you think about this chapter?
