How to Use the Lord's Future Diary

Chapter 164

When I decided to let the Dog Tribe become independent, I was a little worried.It wasn't an easy task for an entire tribe to relocate somewhere else.

If they lived in Johnson Castle, they could simply rely on us.

But once they became independent, they'd have to handle most things on their own.

Moreover, their destination was that castle.

It was the very place where the Hawrun refugees had already failed to settle.

And now even their leader, Elline, intended to remain here.

There was no way I wouldn't be concerned.

The reason I said I wanted to meet the Dog Tribe's Chieftain separately was to assess their situation.

If things proved too difficult, we'd have to support them until they became self-sufficient.

‘But these guys... they came incredibly well prepared.’

The Dog Tribe male standing before me was their Chieftain, Baurok.

He greeted me with complete confidence.

And just like that confidence suggested, the Dog Tribe had prepared an astonishing number of things.

“This is the Silk Caterpillar raised by the Dog Tribe.”

“Ah, this is...”

“Isn't it adorable?”

“It is... Why is it so cute?”

The first thing Baurok showed me was a caterpillar no larger than a child's palm.

Normally, an insect that size should have been disgusting.

Yet the way it slowly wriggled along somehow made it seem harmless... even adorable.

Apparently, the Dog Tribe genuinely found these creatures cute as well.

So it wasn't just me.

The Silk Caterpillar was a type of magical beast.

Sericulture was the Dog Tribe's primary industry.

They harvested the cocoons left behind after the Silk Caterpillars completed their metamorphosis to produce silk.

Dog Tribe silk was universally recognized as a premium fabric.

Its texture was soft, it absorbed sweat exceptionally well, and it was an extremely popular material.

Apparently, every female Knight in our territory used it to make underwear.

-It's also one of the few things that lion female covets. As for the fox female, she covets absolutely everything, so she doesn't count.

‘Right. Not just Leisha—even Yuria. Even Irene seemed interested in this.’

Sericulture would become one of the key industries helping the Dog Tribe establish itself.

Even amidst the chaos of escaping Vines all the way here, they had managed to keep the Silk Caterpillars alive.

That alone was remarkable.

‘Well... I expected at least this much.’

I had already known silk was one of the Dog Tribe's specialties.

So this was still within my expectations.

The second item they introduced, however, completely caught me off guard.

“Is this... an egg?”

“Yes. It's a Horned Ostrich egg.”

“Wait... you actually brought these? How?”

“Well... we improvised a little.”

Twelve enormous eggs, each as large as Leon's head.

The Dog Tribe had brought twelve Horned Ostrich eggs, strategic resources in Vines.

There was no way Vines had simply given them away as gifts.

They had obviously acquired them through... less than legal means.

-So there really are bad dogs in the world.

‘That's not fair, is it?’

If that dog belonged to us...

Wouldn't that make it a very good dog?

The Dog Tribe had served Vines for nearly twenty years.

They deserved at least a retirement bonus.

As long as our dog treated us well, that was good enough.

“But can they even hatch if you only brought the eggs?”

“Of course. We brought the incubators too. Horned Ostrich eggs are normally hatched using incubators.”

“Oh? Really?”

The fact that they had even remembered to bring the incubators proved just how thorough they had been.

At this point, it almost seemed like they had planned the entire theft from the very beginning.

“And what's this? It looks like a sapling...”

“Yes. These are pepper saplings.”

“...You even brought these?”

And that wasn't all.

They had also stolen pepper saplings, another specialty of Vines.

I'd heard the Dog Tribe hadn't been treated particularly well there.

Apparently, they'd really made up their minds.

‘Is Vines actually going to be alright? They practically got cleaned out.’

Vines' security wasn't my problem.

All we had to do was make good use of what we'd acquired.

The Silk Caterpillars were easy enough.

Apparently they'd eat almost anything, so raising them on the outskirts of the Forest of Illusions wouldn't be a problem.

The real issues were the Horned Ostriches and the pepper trees.

Horned Ostriches needed a spacious and secure ranch.

Pepper trees, meanwhile, weren't suited to this region's climate.

“Isn't there a thermal zone inside the Forest of Illusions? I was thinking of planting them there...”

“Ah, right. I'd forgotten about that. But will it really be alright? It won't be easy taking care of trees there.”

“They're not particularly demanding trees. Once planted, they'll spread their own seeds naturally. We're not expecting immediate results anyway.”

“True enough. The important thing is simply that we have them now. Let's do that.”

At first, I'd considered building a greenhouse.

But after hearing Baurok's explanation, the thermal zone sounded like a better option.

The Forest of Illusions lived up to its reputation as a Forbidden Area, filled with countless bizarre phenomena.

Deep within the forest lay an extensive region where temperatures remained consistently high.

That place resembled a tropical climate.

Pepper trees should grow there without issue.

The only concern was that the area wasn't exactly safe.

Still, if we simply escorted troops in to harvest the pepper and then withdrew, it shouldn't pose much of a problem.

Even if trade with Vines were cut off, we wouldn't have to worry about running out of pepper.

Of course, it would still take considerable time before we could harvest enough.

‘Besides, for the foreseeable future, Vines will probably be desperate to trade with us anyway.’

That settled the pepper trees.

Now I needed to decide where to raise the Horned Ostriches.

The safest location would obviously be the Horned Rabbit ranch.

Unfortunately, it was already packed with Horned Rabbits.

There were also huge numbers of Three-Horned Mountain Goats there.

There simply wasn't enough room to raise large numbers of Horned Ostriches.

Considering that the Dog Tribe would soon relocate to their new home, distance also became a problem.

In that case, it made more sense to establish another ranch somewhere closer to their settlement.

“I think Henil would be the better choice.”

The Dairy Beast habitat near Henil Castle.

The area was another vast grassland, making it ideal for raising Horned Ostriches.

The Dairy Beasts that lived there were incredibly gentle.

They didn't even object when the people of Henil milked them.

Raising Horned Ostriches nearby probably wouldn't cause any trouble.

Any monsters that occasionally wandered into the area would likely be dealt with by the Dairy Beasts themselves.

‘The real issue is the distance.’

It took roughly a day to travel from Henil to the Dog Tribe's new home.

Closer than Johnson Territory.

Still, it was a considerable distance.

If we established the Horned Ostrich ranch there, we'd likely need to station dedicated ranchers permanently.

When I brought this up, Baurok answered without hesitation.

Even if it was a little farther away, safe Henil was far preferable to raising them near the Forest of Illusions.

Then he immediately began deciding what they themselves should do.

“Then we'll patrol while clearing monsters between the Forest of Illusions and Henil. We'll assign Dog Tribe warriors specifically to guard the Horned Ostrich ranch.”

“Really?”

They intended to clear the surrounding monsters while maintaining the road all the way to Henil.

In other words, they were volunteering to do exactly what we'd once hoped Hawrun would do.

‘As expected from people who grew up in this region. They really understand.’

Unlike the Hawrun residents, the Dog Tribe wouldn't panic over a handful of monsters.

They were natives of this region.

Fighting monsters was second nature to them.

Knowing the Dog Tribe would maintain this entire area was incredibly reassuring.

‘Still... this guy's attitude feels strangely humble.’

As I continued talking with Baurok, something felt a little odd.

This was my first time meeting a Beastman Chieftain who spoke so politely.

He was also remarkably cooperative.

Beastmen were usually proud creatures.

Seeing even a Chieftain behave like this felt strangely out of place.

-The Dog Tribe has always had a very clear hierarchy.

‘Really? So I'm above them?’

-To begin with, they're far more comfortable following someone than leading others. It's simply the Dog Tribe's nature.

‘That's... surprisingly interesting. Are they born as loyal dogs?’

-If there hadn't been a master to follow, the Dog Tribe's Priestess would've never been able to relinquish leadership. They're a tribe that loses its way unless someone leads them.

So that explained why Elline had handed over the leadership position so casually.

The Dog Tribe had always been like this.

In other words, Elline had simply dumped the troublesome leadership role onto me.

Since she herself was a member of the Dog Tribe, she probably never enjoyed leading others in the first place.

All Beastmen seemed to have at least one screw loose somewhere.

Compared to that, the Dog Tribe's tendency to rely on others wasn't particularly surprising anymore.

I'd become fairly accustomed to Beastmen by now.

Honestly, the Rabbit Tribe's obsession with underground living, the Fox Tribe's excitement over human romance, or the Lion Tribe's obsession with meat—to the point of raiding a Horned Rabbit ranch—were all much stranger.

‘The Lord of Vines really was something else. Letting such excellent suckers... no, friends... slip away.’

If anything, it only made the Lord of Vines look pathetic.

If he'd simply treated them decently and properly rewarded them, none of this would've happened.

He'd failed at something so simple.

‘Which works out perfectly for us.’

Perhaps we'd just acquired a loyal watchdog that would stand beside Johnson Territory forever.

The Dog Tribe named their new home "Hound" and relocated that very day.

The moment they finished unpacking, they immediately began clearing the surrounding area.

Not only the outskirts of the Forest of Illusions, but also the trade routes connecting Johnson Territory to Hound, and Hound to Henil, were thoroughly secured.

It was a complete contrast to the Hawrun refugees, who had simply hidden inside the castle, unsure of what to do.

As expected from natives of this region.

They instinctively understood exactly what needed to be done.

Only Elline, the Priestess, and several dozen Dog Tribe members who had previously managed merchant caravans alongside her remained in Johnson Castle.

They had already begun assisting the Fox Tribe in preparing for full-scale trading operations.

The goods humans had previously acquired from Beastman territory consisted of the Cow Tribe's grain, the Lion Tribe's minerals, the Horse Tribe's Warhorses, and the Ape Tribe's liquor.

Along with numerous monster byproducts and monster Heartstones.

As for monster Heartstones, we could simply replace those with Mana Crystals.

There wasn't enough grain to export.

In the end, the goods we'd actually trade were Mana Crystals, Warhorses, minerals, and various monster byproducts.

-Aren't we selling the liquor?

‘We don't even have enough for ourselves.’

There was no reason to send the Ape Tribe's precious liquor elsewhere.

The surplus Mana Crystals, Warhorses, and minerals alone would be enough to obtain everything we wanted.

For Vines in particular, acquiring Mana Crystals would only become more difficult.

Opening trade with them should probably be our first priority.

Even if they knew nothing about the Mana Stone Mine, once they realized that all the northern monster Heartstones were now flowing into Johnson Territory, they would undoubtedly react.

Around that time, the Cat Tribe and the Ape Tribe also brought their Divine Relics.

Somehow, they had heard that nearly every tribe had entrusted their Divine Relics to us.

They immediately rushed over carrying their own.

As a result, the Temple in our territory now housed every single tribe's Divine Relic.

Though... nothing particularly special happened.

-Then that more or less wraps up our internal affairs?

‘Not quite. The most important thing still remains.’

-The most important thing?

‘Our squirrel friends.’

Once the Dog Tribe relocated en masse to Hound, the temporary settlement inside the territory became vacant.

I intended to turn that area into a permanent home for the Mouse Tribe.

Unfortunately, the Mouse Tribe refused to live together in one place.

They insisted it was more comfortable to pitch tents around the territory like they always had.

On top of that, they seemed ready to resume wandering around as before.

That had me feeling a little nervous.

‘Absolutely not. The canned meat business will collapse without the Mouse Tribe.’

I couldn't let the workers we'd worked so hard to recruit simply slip away.

“Alright. Is everyone here?”

Today, I had gathered all the Mouse Tribe village chiefs.

The goal was to discuss our future plans.

Above all else, I intended to keep as many members of the Mouse Tribe as possible tied to Johnson Territory.