Chapter 199: The Rural Viscount is Perplexed

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At the western edge of the demon realm Ranrananga Mountain Range, the Zamago Forest.

Adjacent to this demon realm forest, separated by a deep ravine, is the Masarukeo Viscounty of the Pokkeroce Kingdom.

The Masarukeo Viscounty is not a particularly distinctive land.

There are a few small villages, and people live by making small fields.

Although this land is adjacent to a demon realm, thanks to the ravine, monsters don't overflow.

Anyway, to put it nicely, it was a peaceful countryside.

Now, the one who governs this countryside is Viscount Masarukeo.

The name of the current head is Bonya Ritt Masarukeo.

He is the 7th generation to govern this land and an ordinary man who follows precedent.

"Huh? The gate of Zamago? People stationed there? What are you talking about?"

Viscount Masarukeo is currently in his office (which also serves as the living room and dining room), folding his arms and tilting his head.

That's because his son, Dara Masarukeo, brought him a strange report.

"So, this traveling merchant old man asked me to request you. I don't know the details either."

Dara is the eldest son of the Masarukeo family and will eventually inherit the name of Dara Ritt Masarukeo, the 8th Viscount Masarukeo, but his speech and attitude at 25 years old are not much different from the men in the nearby villages.

To put it nicely, the Masarukeo viscounty is quite close to the people.

So even with this, there have been no problems so far.

"When you say traveling merchant old man, you mean Mr. Terend from the Rassharn Company, right? We're indebted to Mr. Terend, so it would be bad to anger him, right?"

"I think it would be bad. His company is the only one that comes to such a rural area to do business. That's why I ran home as soon as I heard that story, you know? I'm tired."

Saying that, Dara lay down on the floor and yawned loudly.

"Hmm, but this is troubling. I have no idea what this is about. The gate of Zamago? What is that?"

Viscount Masarukeo, who had been tilting his head to the right, now tilted it to the left.

To summarize, what Terend of the Rassharn Company told Bonya through Dara was, "The gate of the Zamago Forest is naturally necessary to prevent the outflow of monsters, and I have no intention of complaining about its installation, but it's a bit of a hassle for us to open and close that heavy door every time. Could you please assign a gatekeeper to open and close the door, also serving as monster surveillance?"

However, the problem is that Bonya has no idea about this so-called "gate of Zamago."

He doesn't want to flatly refuse the request from the Rassharn Company, whom they are indebted to, but it makes no sense at all.

There shouldn't have been a gate in the Zamago Forest.

There was only a single log bridge there.

"Hmm, hmm, this is troubling, troubling."

While saying that, Viscount Masarukeo rotated his head around and around.

It's a stretch and feels quite good.

While doing so, the viscount's eyes caught sight of the field outside the house.

The weeds have grown quite a bit.

"That's right, let's pull the weeds."

As the viscount stood up saying that and stretched with both hands raised...... that's when it happened!

"This is no time for that!"

Along with that angry voice, a wooden spatula flew towards the viscount's back of the head with tremendous force!

Without missing its target, the wooden spatula hit the viscount with a satisfying thud!

The viscount crouched down, holding the back of his head.

"O-Ouch~"

"Don't whine! What, I've been silently listening to the conversation!"

Stomping and walking with her shoulders squared, a plump, large woman appeared from the kitchen.

Her name is Yarkia.

She's the one who threw the wooden spatula, Bonya's wife and Dara's mother.

"You're troubled? You don't know what this 'gate of Zamago' is? Then for now, you should either go to the single bridge at the entrance of the forest to check the situation or go ask Terend for details! Why did it turn into pulling weeds!"

"Eh, well~, but Mr. Terend is in the middle of his business trip, you know? I don't know where he is now~"

"Then you should go check the situation at the forest!"

"It's far~"

"Stop complaining!"

"Ouch!?"

This time, a ladle flew from Yarkia and hit the viscount's forehead with a satisfying clang!

"You too, Dara! You're going too!"

"Ow!"

Furthermore, Yarkia hit her son Dara, who was trying to escape by crawling on the floor, with a wooden cup.

"In the first place, it's your fault for giving a report with little content! You're not a child anymore, are you! Can't you give a report that can be understood just by listening to the story!"

"But......"

"No excuses! Why are you always so half-hearted! It's our job to do something about the territory, isn't it! Whatever you do, can't you put in more effort and move with more energy!"

""Yes! I'm sorry!""

Seeing Yarkia take out a kitchen knife from her apron pocket, Bonya and Dara apologized for now and left the Masarukeo residence as if running away.

In this way, it was Yarkia who actually moved and supported the Masarukeo viscounty.

She was the fourth daughter of the Eunocanan Count family, whom the Masarukeo viscounty was indebted to, and before she knew it, she had grown from a sheltered young lady to a strong-willed mother.

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"Oh, Bonya, what are you running for? Did Yarkia scold you again?"

"Ahaha, something like that~!"

"Ah, Dara! Let's go mushroom hunting next time! It's about the season for poken mushrooms, right?"

"Yeah! Next time!"

Exchanging words with the people they passed by, the Masarukeo father and son jogged towards the entrance of the Zamago Forest.

Neither of them can ride horses, so they run on their own.

However, they have decent stamina, so there's no problem with this for moving within the Masarukeo viscounty.

After running for about an hour and a half, they arrived at the entrance of the Zamago Forest.

"...... What is this?"

"...... It's a gate. A gate, dad."

What they saw there was...... indeed, a gate.

At the entrance of the Zamago Forest, where there used to be only a shabby log bridge, a splendid gate made of rock and earth towered.

By the way, it was built on the forest side across the ravine.

"And a bridge."

Furthermore, a splendid bridge, also seemingly made of rock and earth, was built from that gate towards the Masarukeo viscounty's territory.

There are several bridges in the Masarukeo viscounty to cross small streams, but the bridge in front of them is probably grander than any of them.

It's wide enough for horse-drawn carriages to pass each other.

Moreover, although the father and son's attention was drawn to the gate and bridge and they didn't notice, the road on the Masarukeo viscounty side was also properly maintained.

Until now, there was only a narrow path like an animal trail, but this too had been developed to allow the passage of horse-drawn carriages and extended towards the nearby Saikanan Highway.

Although the viscount could be angry about the territory being arbitrarily constructed, he didn't have that kind of mindset in the first place.

Even if he had the opportunity to talk with those who arbitrarily built the road, he would probably say something like, "Eh, you did the construction yourself? Thank you~!" quite normally.

"Ah, excuse me, excuse me! Mr. Adventurer Merchant over there, can I talk to you for a bit?"

And then, here.

Bonya lowered his hips and spoke to an adventurer merchant walking towards the gate, who had probably come from the Saikanan Highway.

Adventurer merchants are those who work as both adventurers and merchants, and since they can fight on their own, they don't need guards and are light on their feet.

"Hm? What is it, you guys? Are you from a nearby village?"

The good-natured adventurer merchant responded to Bonya with a smile.

Bonya and the others were dressed not much differently from the nearby villagers, so he never imagined that these two could be nobles.

By the way, the Masarukeo father and son themselves are not very aware of being nobles, so they didn't feel that this adventurer merchant's attitude was disrespectful.

"Well, something like that. Um...... do you know what this gate and bridge are? I don't think there was anything like this before......"

"Oh, this is, according to what I heard, the Adventurer's Guild built it!"

"The Adventurer's Guild!?"

Even Bonya, being a rural viscount, had heard of that name.

Rather, he had once received a proposal, "Would you like to open a branch office for the purpose of collecting materials and such from the Zamago Forest, sharing the costs?"

(I remember refusing that offer at that time because I couldn't come up with the funds to share the costs, and then Yarkia got really angry at me later......)

"Apparently, they built a branch office deep in this forest! It seems it's not in full operation yet, but they've started trading monster meat and medicinal herbs, and among them, they're selling some amazing smoked meat, so it's become quite a topic among us merchants! Thinking now's the time to make money, I hurried here too!"

"Oh, is that so! But this forest is a demon realm, right? I wonder how they managed to build a branch office?"

"Who knows? There are various rumors going around, like a capable staff member being dispatched, but I don't really know."

"I see."

Dara took over the conversation from his father, who suddenly remembered something from the past and fell silent.

After that, the adventurer merchant, who was happily chatting with Dara about unrelated things, said, "I shouldn't make too many detours," waved at the father and son with a smile, opened the heavy door, and disappeared into the forest.

"So, what are you going to do, dad?"

"......Hmm, what to do......"

After the adventurer merchant left...... the Masarukeo father and son absentmindedly stared at the gate, folded their arms, and tilted their heads at the same time.

"It was about placing someone at that gate, right?"

"Yeah...... but you know, I think that gate is on the demon realm side, right? It's not under our jurisdiction, right?"

"That's true."

"Then, I'm sorry to Mr. Terend, but placing someone there or not isn't something we can do, right? We don't have the money to hire someone either."

"Rather, didn't the Adventurer's Guild build that? Then it's a problem the Adventurer's Guild should deal with, right? It's out of place for them to complain to us."

"That's right."

Indeed, that's true.

However, if the Masarukeo viscounty had taken some action here, they could have retained a little room to get involved in the Zamago interests that would arise from now on.

That's why Terend from the Rassharn Company, out of a sense of obligation to the good-natured viscount he's known for a long time, told him.

Place a gatekeeper.

This was Terend's roundabout advice to Bonya, intentionally expressed indirectly to avoid being glared at by the Adventurer's Guild.

It wasn't a misplaced complaint.

"So, regarding this matter, we'll take a wait-and-see approach......"

"Got it, dad."

However, unfortunately, it seems Terend's roundabout advice didn't reach the Masarukeo viscounty.

"Ah, but I think I'll write a letter to Viscount Eunocanan to explain the situation, just in case. Reporting is important, right?"

Viscount Masarukeo seems unfamiliar with making money, but he's definitely a good person.

But he probably won't appear again, so you don't need to remember his name!