Episode 662: The Type I Want to Understand
I spent several days running small errands, like asking Pastour for a set of dishes, going to the Island, and visiting other territories.
Apparently, Auro and Kiel dealt with someone trying to enter the Island illegally (etc.), but it’s peaceful.
The tomato cultivation in the exclave is completely on track, and the relationship with the former Lord is good. We had some trouble with the Lord over the land I borrowed from Marina to grow crops at first.
The effects of the drought have also eased, and we’ve started growing other vegetables. If we rely on just one vegetable, we could be wiped out by a disease or something.
Tomatoes suit the land, and they’ll remain the focus. The brand is already established! Most are bottled or dried, but there’s a store in Naruadeid that sells fresh tomatoes.
Our interactions with the Amijin are also going well.
Their goddess is on my side, so things can’t really go wrong. I feel like I’m about to become an object of worship myself.
The land is vast and has varying elevations, so they’re building all sorts of things. Among the Amijin, those who want to settle down and cultivate land are being accepted into our territory—it’s very popular because of the goddess’s presence—and we regularly trade with those who want to travel while herding livestock.
Grapes, eggplants, and coffee are doing well. It’s not just the little Spirits, but the goddess’s influence is strong!!!
It feels like it’s becoming a Spirit land with different characteristics from the Blue Spirit Island. It seems like the colors of the Amijin from their prosperous days will become more pronounced, but it won’t be exactly the same. My influence and the influence of the newly settled Spirits are also significant.
Well, even I have a lot to do, so everyone else must have even more. Haulon, in particular, looks busy. I hope he doesn’t die from overwork.
Thanks to that, I’m not being pursued about various things!
So, I went to help the desert country. If I’m going to be pursued about things, I’d rather it be here than in Kanum! I have an ulterior motive: fewer people to scold me!
But there was someone I was more worried about than Haulon.
“Karn, are you okay? Do you feel any discomfort in your body or mind?”
Karn was sitting on his throne, as immovable as a mountain.
He sometimes sat by the fireplace and didn’t move much in Kanum, but I thought it was because he was cold. But now it’s the middle of the day in the scorching desert, just after the too-hot afternoon nap time.
Haulon is twice as busy because Karn can’t move. He seems stable to me, but something might be happening in his semi-Spirit state.
“…There’s nothing particularly wrong. I’m just having a little trouble.”
Karn rested his elbow on the armrest, opened the eye on the side of his face where his finger was, and looked at me.
It feels like he’s complaining to me about something? What’s he having trouble with?
“Wahahaha, Master! Did you go somewhere again and pick something up? It’s hitting him hard!”
Ex-Staff laughed from behind.
“Pick up?”
I asked, pulling Ex-Staff out of the special holster attached to the back of my waist.
“You picked up a lot, including big Spirits, didn’t you?”
“Oh, the Spirits of the Southern Sea?”
Hmm, the nuance is different?
Blue sea, white sand, no palm trees, Southern Sea. There’s a big difference depending on whether “no” is included or not.
“I only grasp things roughly, but your other King’s Branch is serious.”
“It’s unpleasant to have those I don’t know as Retainers,” Karn replied to the laughing Ex-Staff.
“Retainers, I see, they become Retainers of both of you.”
“Yep. Some strong guys or those with wills close to humans don’t become Retainers of the King’s Branch, and Master is at the top of both, but—if I step in, communication goes smoothly, and if that husband of yours steps in, the Spirits become a little more orderly.”
Ex-Staff laughed.
“What kind of division is that?”
“Basically, the black ones are for the husband. I can make them Retainers, but the black ones don’t get along with me very well! It would be a problem if the black ones fulfilled Master’s wishes too easily, right?”
Ex-Staff said.
Indeed, if I thought, “I don’t like that,” they might eliminate it immediately. It might be easier to handle the Black Spirits if they had some regularity, or rather, it would be easier to understand what they are and respond to them.
“I see?”
“Well, if the husband takes in the black ones, I ask for the same amount of white ones. It’s about balance!”
Ex-Staff laughed, “Wahahaha.”
Ah. The Black Spirits of the Land of Ruin and the Spirits of the Southern Sea are going to Karn, and he’s having a dialogue or something with the Spirits who have become Retainers. He’s serious.
“I’m sorry.”
Wait, could it be that Haulon is on the verge of dying from overwork because of me?