Chapter 61

The shout was so thunderous it rang through the parlor like a bell.

The staff standing watch outside heard it too and broke into pleased smiles.

"You don't need to declare it with that much resolve — we're just grateful."

"N-no. We're the grateful ones. We can absolutely do any work you give us, even if you work us to the bone!!!"

"Now hold on — our Grand Duke and Grand Duchess would never put you through anything like that!"

Pons, who'd been listening quietly, jumped in, choked up.

And then it began.

The singing of Iberin's praises.

The praise was effusive enough that Iberin's own face heated up listening to it, but the family soaked up every word like they couldn't bear to miss any.

---

Habil became the first official resident of the Lecashe territory.

There was just one problem.

There was no village for the Habil family to actually live in.

"We'll have to build one."

"Agreed."

Pons agreed.

As things stood, even if they took in residents, there was nowhere to put them.

A handful of people could stay at the estate, technically, but they couldn't go on living at the Grand Ducal residence forever.

It wouldn't have been the end of the world — they'd just be more staff at that point — but that wasn't the idea.

"We'll start small. Somewhere nearby."

If it grew, fine; if not, that was fine too.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, though — the territories right next door exist, so why were we doing trade all the way out in the capital? Couldn't we sell the monster carcasses to the neighboring territories?"

The thought had just struck her, and Rotte answered like of course you'd ask.

"They were trying to lowball us."

"On — ah…"

"Do you know what a monster carcass goes for in the capital? They wouldn't even pay a quarter of that and dug their heels in. We just got fed up with that kind of nonsense. The distance was a problem too — in summer the carcasses rot before we could move them. Still, we figured we'd rather let them rot than line those nobles' pockets."

Rotte had clearly been stewing on this for a long time — she was grinding her teeth as she spoke.

Fair enough — Rotte had been the one who'd thrown her hands up in celebration when Iberin first proposed charging them protection fees.

"I see. If I'd known, I should've squeezed the emperor on that point too."

They'd already had their fortunes stripped — they were probably scrambling after every coin they could get.

Iberin clicked her tongue lightly.

"No way I'm bringing in residents on the backs of doing those bastards any favors."

And the way things were going, they might actually get a few more residents on top of Habil.

Iberin was full into rose-colored thinking.

Honestly, it wasn't entirely baseless rose-colored thinking either.

The Roman household — the worst tyrants of the lot — had already lost a family to them, so this was only the beginning.

The staff, who'd had their doubts at first about whether any of this would work, had seen Habil and apparently decided it could go all right; they threw themselves into it too.

The most urgent thing was making the Habil family a place to actually live.

"We'll have to clear the trees."

"Where should we clear?"

In Lecashe, the one thing they had in surplus was land.

The problem was every inch of it was choked with thick undergrowth and trees.

But they'd already figured out how to handle the undergrowth while planting the Cheongyangs and the eggs, so it wouldn't be much trouble.

"How about here?"

Pons had pulled out a map at some point, and Iberin gave him a thumbs-up before jabbing at a spot.

"That looks like a good location, yes."

The key was not getting too far from the estate.

If a monster appeared, anywhere too distant would be impossible to reach in time.

And the new residents were just a family of four to start with.

Closer to the estate meant easier contact, easier everything.

"I'll clear it now."

The site decided, Lyssel rolled up his sleeves and stood.

---

When Lyssel announced he'd carve out a place for them to live, the Habil family collapsed back to the floor in tears, completely overcome.

Everyone watching from up on the walls broke into laughter.

"Our residents are criers."

Iberin among them.

She'd wanted to go down too, but with trees coming down, the dust would be brutal, and she'd been told to stay clear — so here she was.

"Pfft. They certainly are. It's a heartening sight, though, isn't it?"

"It is."

Everything seemed to be going so smoothly it almost made her nervous.

Anyway, with the Habil family also moved well back, Lyssel ripped trees up by the roots with sheer strength and used demonic energy to wither the undergrowth to dust.

"Incredible."

Awed sounds came from every direction.

Watching from this far off made his power even clearer.

"I should head down too."

The staff had axes at the ready.

They were going to chop the trees down for firewood.

Stockpiling never hurt.

The village — small if you were being generous, ample if you weren't — came together quickly.

The Habil family seemed deeply moved at the idea of building their own house and their own village with their own hands, and they worked harder than anyone.

"Th-this… is our house… Sob…"

When the house they'd spent days building was finished, they cried all over again.

"Oh dear."

"Thank you, thank you. We'll work so hard, we promise…"

"Sniff."

Since Habil wasn't a slave anymore, he needed work to do.

Iberin carved out a small patch of land and even marked it as theirs from here on out.

"Waaaah!!"

The crying only got louder.

"It's not even that big — that makes you this happy?"

"I've never owned anything in my life. It feels like every wish I've ever had has come true here. Sniff. I could die now and have no regrets…! Sob."

"Well… as long as they're happy tears, you can cry as much as you want."

"Waaaah!"

The patch was small, but with how fast crops grew here, it wouldn't feel that way for long.

"Every crop that comes out of this ground is yours, so grow them well."

It was a warm scene.

---

Once the Habil family situation more or less settled, peaceful days returned.

Iberin wasn't ill anymore, so she could even take on activities with real movement to them.

She played with the kids, and she took back the work that had been falling on Lyssel — pieces of it that really should have been hers to manage.

"Want to go spy on the neighboring territories with me?"

Lyssel had been doing everything by himself before, which had kept him constantly busy; splitting the workload, they got through it fast, and a bored Iberin asked.

"Spy?"

Lyssel asked, baffled.

"I mean, since we'd be going anyway, hanging out a little while we're there would be a bonus."

Two birds, one stone.

After seeing Habil, she was curious about how other territories were actually being run.

"…They'd recognize me, surely?"

"Slap a robe on you!"

"……Ah."

"Fun, right? You want to go, right?"

"Iberin."

"Yes? I'm not even sick anymore."

Lyssel laughed at Iberin flapping her arms in mock urgency, like she thought he might refuse.

"I told you I'd give you anything, didn't I."

"Oh."

"You could order me to go, never mind ask."

"Don't go that far!"

"Yes. Understood."

"I'll grab some clothes. If the kids find out, they'll cling on demanding to come, so we have to move in secret!"

"Just the two of us?"

"Yes. Going as a group, getting caught — that would be a disaster."

"Fair enough."

Lyssel nodded with a serious expression.

"Maximum stealth!"

Iberin emphasized.

Going together would obviously have been more fun, but they were too eye-catching a group, so it couldn't be helped.

---

With Rotte and Pons's help, they changed into clothes a commoner might wear and threw black robes over the top.

Both of them in robes would have stood out too, so Iberin put on a wig.

The most common shade — brown.

"How do I look?"

Commoners couldn't exactly keep their hair well-groomed, so she'd deliberately picked one that looked like dog fur.

She'd always had a neatly maintained head of hair here, and this thing was so frizzy she looked off.

{"You're beautiful."}(#fwk4jmngfsg4)

But Lyssel came back with beautiful without a beat of hesitation.

She'd half wondered if he was just being polite — his expression said otherwise.

Iberin's face went hot before she could stop it.

After that whole stretch of everyone trying to throw her and Lyssel together, things had quieted down — but Lyssel still threw out fastballs like that now and then.

The worse part was that he didn't seem to register what he was saying.

"Rotte, Pons. What are you grinning about?"

"Sorry? Grinning at what?"

Iberin called the two of them out just to change the subject.

The two of them, smiling fondly until that moment, blinked at her with wronged little expressions.

"Anyway, time to go. Through the back door."

"Yes. This way, please."

Ether, Rozelia, and Kal were in the middle of training.

The three of them roamed the training yard together as a pack now.

Sometimes they'd head out to the village just a stone's throw away and play with the Habil kids.

"Please be careful, and then careful again."

"Your Highness, you absolutely cannot leave Lady Iberin's side. Though of course we know you'll do that without being told."

"Of course."

Lyssel looked downright pleased with himself.

Iberin watched him with a strange expression on her face, thinking,

Why are you proud of that.

In any case, with everything else left in Rotte and Pons's hands, the two of them set off for the nearest territory — Count Alketa's, or rather, Viscount Alketa's lands now.

---

It wasn't far, but Iberin hadn't walked any real distance in a long time, so they took a carriage.

Lyssel drove it.

There wasn't anything Lyssel couldn't do.

Iberin was inside the carriage, but the driver's seat was clearly visible through a transparent window.

Even conversation was possible through it.

Iberin had turned herself sideways entirely to look at Lyssel's back.

After a while, on impulse, she asked,

"Lyssel, you can ride horses too?"

"Yes."

"Wow… there really is nothing you can't do…!"

Driving a carriage wasn't something just anyone could do either, but you could tell he handled the horses really well.

Or maybe she was just bowled over by Lyssel's presence in general.

"Want me to teach you?"

"What? Horseback riding?"

"Yes. Knowing how to ride doesn't hurt."

"Wow. I'd love that."

Carrying on with that easygoing kind of conversation, the two of them rolled smoothly into Alketa territory.

They tied the horse and carriage to a tree on the ridge they'd come down from, gave the horse a big helping of feed, and crossed over to the village on foot.

They'd looped around on purpose so it wouldn't be obvious they were coming from Lecashe.

"Where are you coming from?"

"From the Roman household."

"Not runaways, I trust."

"No."

The runaways from the Roman household had apparently been showing up in Alketa too, because the gatekeeper eyed them sharply.

He didn't look like he was going to let them through easily, so she slipped a gold coin in front of him and his look shifted on the spot.

"Ahem! Through!"

The gatekeeper pocketed the coin faster than light and opened the gate.

Stepping inside, the place was emptier than expected.

It felt like there wasn't even an ant scurrying around.