How to Use the Lord's Future Diary

Chapter 180

The territory was busy cleaning up the battlefield.The primary task was disposing of the Gnoll corpses.

There was nothing particularly valuable to salvage from them, so we gathered them all together and burned them.

The only thing worth keeping was the corpse of the Gnoll Lord.

Since it was an Out-of-Rank Monster, its remains would prove quite useful.

Even after being caught in that inferno, the Gnoll Lord's corpse had barely suffered any damage.

Out-of-Rank Monsters truly were on a completely different level.

"If we have the resources, I'd like a pair of gauntlets."

"Ah, right."

"If it's made from the Gnoll Lord's materials, we should be able to craft something pretty decent."

"Good."

"I'll gladly accept them, Bear."

Until now, Leisha had never once shown any interest in equipment.

But this time was different.

Perhaps fighting the Gnoll Lord had taught her something, because she wanted a pair of gauntlets.

With materials from the Gnoll Lord, we should be able to make a pair worthy of her.

Honestly...

It had always been a little strange that one of our strongest assets had been fighting barehanded all this time.

She originally used gauntlets made by the Black Lion Tribe.

But they broke so often that she'd eventually given up and simply fought with her fists.

She was so overwhelmingly strong that I never really paid much attention to it.

Maybe...

I'd been too careless.

"It's completely burned away."

Ironically...

The northern basin, which had served as the main battlefield, required almost no cleanup.

The entire basin had burned to ashes.

The flames had been so fierce that we could only watch for nearly an entire day.

Only after every last Evil Spirit Herb scattered across the fields had been reduced to ash did the fire finally begin to subside.

A vicious flame that burned absolutely everything combustible.

This was exactly why I'd avoided launching a preemptive Fire Bomb attack on the Gnolls' main nest.

If we'd scattered Fire Bombs throughout the Monster Mountain Range...

It would've been an absolute catastrophe.

"...Sigh."

"The Horn Rabbit Ranch..."

Considering we'd sacrificed the entire northern basin...

We'd actually managed to save quite a lot of the Horn Rabbits.

The biggest reason was that we hadn't monopolized them.

Instead...

We'd already established a new ranch in Rotsi.

The Horn Rabbits transferred from our territory would be raised there for the time being.

After all...

Every last Evil Spirit Herb—the Horn Rabbits' food—had been burned away.

There really wasn't any other choice.

If we'd monopolized all the Horn Rabbits ourselves...

The situation would've been disastrous.

Fortunately...

The Evil Spirit Herb possessed terrifying reproductive ability.

Once spring arrived...

We'd be able to rebuild the Horn Rabbit Ranch.

Until then...

We'd simply have to endure a Horn Rabbit shortage.

We'd already butchered and stored a considerable amount of meat.

But an entire ranch had been wiped out.

Thankfully...

We now had plenty of alternative food sources besides Horn Rabbits.

Even if the ranch remained closed for several months...

There was no danger of the residents starving.

"What?!"

"No Fried Rabbit?!"

"Wait..."

"So that means for quite a while..."

"...This is a crisis."

The truly heartbroken ones...

Were the Beastmen.

They had proudly returned to Johnson Castle demanding Fried Rabbit.

But the moment they learned about our current meat reserves...

Their faces fell.

They'd been looking forward to celebrating victory with beer and Fried Rabbit.

Unfortunately...

This wasn't the time for that.

Once they realized Horn Rabbit distribution would be completely suspended for the foreseeable future...

They returned to their territories in utter despair.

Since it didn't feel right using elite Beastman warriors without compensation...

I handed them plenty of Canned Meat from our stockpiles.

Still...

Seeing their drooping shoulders as they departed left me feeling rather guilty.

But what else could I do?

Even I couldn't magically create meat that didn't exist.

"There weren't many casualties or injuries, so there's not much left to manage."

"Which means now..."

-It's time to think about the south.

"...Damn it."

The south remained deadlocked.

That wasn't entirely because of us.

It was mostly due to disagreements among the southern lords themselves.

We had certainly delayed things by using Irene as bait.

But they were also struggling to reach an agreement over troop mobilization.

Each faction had agreed to dispatch two Masters.

However...

No one could agree on how many additional troops should accompany them.

On top of that...

The operation's target, the Lightning Jupiterio, had suddenly stopped moving.

With the urgency gone...

Everyone became even less willing to compromise.

Which meant...

We finally had room to interfere.

"...Maybe I shouldn't have gotten involved."

Thinking about it...

The situation was unbelievably complicated.

Three major powers were already tangled together.

And on top of that...

We also had to worry about Haken's internal affairs.

The real problem was...

We knew almost nothing.

Something had definitely happened involving Irene and Haken.

But...

Was Lord Haken dead?

Or merely injured?

Who had attacked Haken's force despite it being accompanied by two Masters?

Who exactly was the traitor?

We couldn't answer a single one of those questions.

At this point...

Wouldn't it have been better to simply ignore everything...

As long as we never sent Irene?

-Then why did you jump in?

'Hmm.'

'Because I was pissed off?'

-That certainly sounds like you.

I joked...

But that wasn't the only reason.

What truly worried me...

Was the balance of power in the south.

If Haken suffered...

New Level would be the one to benefit.

And no matter what...

I absolutely couldn't tolerate New Level becoming the dominant power in the south.

So...

One way or another...

We had to involve ourselves in this mess.

"Well..."

"Let's think this through step by step."

It seemed Haken's side had suffered losses during an operation involving two Masters from each faction.

I didn't know whether it happened during the hunt...

Or after it ended.

But somehow...

It felt more likely that the incident occurred afterward.

Each faction had committed nearly equal strength.

That made openly attacking one another during the operation extremely difficult.

The other factions wouldn't simply stand by and watch.

So...

The most logical conclusion was that something happened while everyone was returning to their own territories after accomplishing the mission.

"Did the traitor also participate in the hunt?"

Lord Haken had governed his territory quite well.

There was no way the traitorous faction represented the majority.

Within Haken Territory...

Lord Haken held the home-field advantage.

Which meant...

Using an outside event like this monster hunt would be the standard approach.

It also fit with my earlier assumptions.

For now...

It seemed reasonable to assume the incident occurred after the hunt.

"Even after the hunt..."

"How does a group containing two Masters—and Irene on top of that—end up in trouble?"

"...Unless one of those Masters was the traitor."

-I doubt it.

-It makes more sense to suspect an outside force.

"An outside force?"

"With all the Great Lords gathered..."

"There shouldn't be..."

"...Actually."

"There is."

Octosia...

The Imperial Regent who escaped after the battle against the Ox Tribe.

One of the knights who escaped alongside Octosia...

Was also a Master.

That ridiculously fast assassin I'd fought.

Not many people.

But...

An organization containing two Masters.

If they chose the right moment...

They'd have enough strength to ambush Lord Haken's group.

"But..."

"Would New Level really join forces with them again?"

"They already betrayed them once."

New Level had apparently cooperated with the Empire in secret.

Yet...

At the decisive moment...

They immediately cut ties.

They even attacked the remaining Imperial forces...

Seizing Mete Territory in central Levelium.

Afterward...

They expelled every Imperial citizen from Mete Territory.

From anyone's perspective...

They'd completely severed relations.

"I seriously have no idea."

"There are just too many possibilities."

Without information...

There was nothing I could do.

At times like this...

I really wished the Future Diary would show me another vision.

But it never would.

It had never once shown two different visions of the same incident.

-That's true.

-But more importantly...

-The Diary itself...

In the end...

The only person I could rely on was Yuria.

Even the smallest piece of information would help.

I needed to know whether she'd uncovered anything.

"Honey~"

"Do you have a moment?"

"...Oh."

"You..."

She really wasn't any better.

She came looking for me first.

Yuria.

The territory's greatest information broker.

The moment we learned something suspicious was happening in the south...

I'd asked her to thoroughly investigate what was happening inside Haken Castle.

She'd also participated in the defense against the Gnolls.

During the decisive battle...

She'd been outside the territory the entire time, leaving her unable to gather information.

But...

Seeing her come straight to me now...

She'd clearly found something.

I could tell just by looking at her face.

She wore the expression of a fisherman who'd landed a monster catch.

"I heard something interesting~"

"About Haken."

"So?"

"Interested?"

Just as I'd expected.

At times like this...

She was the only person worth trusting.

I listened carefully.

"The south has been pretty restless lately, right?"

"There are agents from other territories operating inside Haken."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"We'd already identified a few ourselves."

"Spies from New Level."

"They'd been lying low without doing much."

"But recently..."

"They've started making suspicious moves."

"What kind?"

"They've been meeting someone."

"And this person's a big shot."

"A big shot?"

"Who?"

"I think you know him too."

"'Apophis.'"

"Apophis?"

"You mean Sir Durek?"

"Yep."

"That Sir Durek."

"...What?"

"Why is he meeting people from New Level?"

Sir Durek...

Known as "Apophis."

One of Haken's three Masters.

I knew him personally.

Roman...

The rookie Master who'd proposed to Irene...

Had been his disciple.

When Roman and I fought over Irene...

Sir Durek had stepped in between us.

Well...

Calling it mediation wasn't entirely accurate.

He'd mostly come to rescue his disciple.

He was also...

With extremely high probability...

One of the Masters accompanying Lord Haken during this hunting expedition.

And yet...

Sir Durek had met New Level spies...

At exactly this point in time?

"They looked very familiar with each other."

"It definitely wasn't their first meeting."

"...Well, damn."

I couldn't figure out how a group consisting of two Masters and Irene could possibly end up in danger.

But...

If one of the Masters was a traitor...

The picture suddenly became much more believable.

Still...

Something didn't add up.

All three of Haken's Masters had been extremely close to Lord Haken.

They'd spent decades together.

They'd also played major roles in elevating Haken into a Great Territory.

As far as I knew...

They were treated exceptionally well.

Lord Haken could be stingy at times.

But he also rewarded those who deserved it.

Durek enjoyed every privilege available to Haken's upper nobility.

"He has three wives too, doesn't he?"

"One of them was famously beautiful."

"Who?"

"Apophis?"

"Yeah."

"That's right."

"It's a pretty famous story in Haken."

"The most beautiful lady in Haken chose Apophis instead of Lord Haken."

"Exactly."

"The important part wasn't her beauty."

"It was the fact that she chose Sir Durek over Lord Haken."

He'd stolen away the very lady Lord Haken himself had been pursuing.

Back then...

Sir Durek hadn't even become a Master yet.

That alone showed how deep the friendship between Lord Haken and Sir Durek had been.

And now...

Betrayal?

For what possible reason?

"This isn't something we should discuss by ourselves."

"Then?"

"We need to call Irene."

We needed to hear the perspective of someone who actually came from Haken.

The truth could easily differ from the surface-level understanding we had.

Now that we possessed a genuinely meaningful lead...

It was also much easier to bring the matter up with Irene.

A wise woman like Irene would immediately understand how serious it was for Sir Durek to be meeting someone from New Level at a time like this.

If we'd found absolutely nothing...

Mentioning betrayal to Irene would've been rather awkward.

But now...

With solid evidence in hand...

Asking for her opinion no longer felt strange.

Even I felt uncomfortable bringing up betrayal without any basis.

"Sir Durek?"

"If it's Sir Durek..."

"Then he's on Big Brother Gios's side."

And Irene pointed out something I'd never considered.

Durek...

Belonged to Gios Haken...

Lord Haken's second son.

It felt as though we'd just found another crucial piece of the puzzle.