The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects: Volume 5

1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-7183-3140-2
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 250 Seiten

Reihe: The Frontier Lord Begins with Zero Subjects

When a family of cavekin people arrive in Iluk Village, Dias gets a history lesson and three new residents ready to work as blacksmiths. However, before they can get started actually making anything, Dias will have to help them acquire the materials they need to build and work their furnace. But the cavekin aren't the only visitors with business in Iluk. There's a councillor from the Beastland Kingdom, a former civil servant determined to see his orders to completion, and...a fire-breathing dragon hellbent on razing Iluk Village to the ground!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fuurou

Weitere Mitwirkende

Kinta

Lim, Hengtee

Leseproben

Iluk Village, the Day Following the Banquet for the Newborns—Dias

It was a touch warmer in the plains, though the grasslands now showed signs of the coming winter, and the people of Iluk did as they always did: they each took to their work with great gusto. They let the livestock out from the stables to stretch their legs (as the animals had all waited patiently while we were busy with the banquet and such), they continued with winter preparations and insulating their yurts, and they took care of the newborns.

With everyone working so hard around the village, I had to get to work myself to replenish all the food we’d chowed our way through at our banquet. I mean, I was to get to work, but I just found it damned near impossible to leave the yurt, and even as the sun rose to its highest at noon, I still hadn’t left.

As for why, well...

It was the six voices all crying out their different variations of “Beaah!”

In other words, Francoise and Francis’s kids.

Their faces were all so wrinkly I wasn’t even sure if they could see or not, and they twisted and turned their little bodies, which still hadn’t grown a single hair. The six little baby baars stayed in their bed, snuggling into their mother’s comfy wool in search of warmth while Francoise looked on happily. Why, it was just so adorable and heartwarming a sight that I could have stayed there watching it forever. And when I thought about how I wouldn’t be able to see it if I left the yurt, I suddenly didn’t feel like getting up anymore.

“Look, you’ve worked hard every day until now, so you’ve earned yourself something of a break, but...if this keeps up for too long, we’re going to find ourselves in trouble,” said Alna.

I could hear her talking to me as I stayed by Francoise’s side. She was seeing to her daily chores, and her words were the push I needed to finally get up.

“Satisfied yet?” asked Alna.

“Nope,” I replied, “but the little babies have all disappeared into Francoise’s wool, so I figure there’s no real point to sticking around. I’ll take a quick look around the village, then head off to the forest.”

Alna let out an exasperated sigh, and that same exasperation was written all over her face, but in the end she couldn’t stop a little smile from flashing across her lips.

“I guess I should take excess enthusiasm over someone who hates kids,” she said. “You don’t complain about them crying at night, and you’ll happily clean them and change their diapers whenever they need it.”

Alna started getting my cloak and foraging equipment ready while I swung my arms and my hips to loosen up the stiffer parts of my body.

“I went through all the crying and the diaper changing back when I was young, and it’s a much simpler thing when it’s babies you’re dealing with,” I replied. “Ellie was a real handful, I tell you what. She kept crying and wetting the bed even when she was growing up...”

It was something of a nostalgic memory for me now, and I thought back on those old times as I put on my stuff and got ready to leave. But my comment reminded Alna of something.

“Speaking of Ellie, she came out near the end of the banquet yesterday and announced our winter gear. She’s already gotten started making everything. We onikin tend to put our focus on practical clothing that’s easy to make, so I was a bit stunned by Ellie’s ideas. She’s got a real eye for fashion. I just hope the actual clothes are as good as her designs.”

Alna looked over in the direction of Ellie’s yurt, and her eyes sparkled with an excitement and anticipation that far surpassed the caution in her words.

“Then I’ll make sure to check in on her when I do my rounds,” I assured her. “She said something about lacking some materials, so she’s going to write a letter with an order for what she needs. Eldan’s people are preparing for the highway on the other side of the forest. I’ve just got to hand it off to them over there, and they’ll see that it gets to Aisa.”

Ellie had designed new winter outfits that improved upon what the onikin already made. You could have called it Sanserife flair, but I thought the designs were more likely unique to Ellie, and all the ladies in the village were excited about them. They rated the designs real highly, and the banquet had exploded into chatter when Ellie had revealed her concepts.

As for me, I just figured that if I could help her finish them, be it by speeding things along or helping her make sure the end product was exactly the way she’d envisioned it, then I’d give it my best. And when I said as much to Alna, she burst into a happy grin, and I knew it was a good idea to help Ellie out.

When I had all my forest gear on and was ready to go, I left the yurt with my axe in hand and headed around the village. The voices of the villagers echoed around me: the crying of the newborns, the happy chatter of people, and the enthusiastic cheers of those inspired by the birth of our new residents. Everybody was working hard.

The first thing I did was head to Ellie’s yurt, where she wrote out that letter to Aisa. Then I went to see our geese, and then our animals at the stable, and then I circled the outskirts of Iluk.

Even from the middle of the village I could hear the grunts and shouts Klaus and the masti guards were making throughout their training, and I neared the group before they finished for the day. Klaus still had some hard feelings about his battle with the giant lizards, so he’d decided to build himself up all over again from the ground up. He threw himself into his training with more energy than ever. The masti were inspired by his enthusiasm, and as a result they were following him around and training just as hard.

I watched them for a little while, and then I left without a word so as not to bother them.

In the coming days, the plains would welcome the arrival of winter. According to Alna, it got so cold over the winter that even the monsters didn’t like to come out, making winter about as quiet a season as they came.

The onikin spent this time preparing for spring of the new year. They worked on handicrafts; trained their bodies, skills, and hunting abilities; and generally spent their days growing and preparing.

I could already tell that this was exactly how Klaus and the mastis were going to spend the time, and already I couldn’t wait to see how they grew between now and next spring. I was thinking about it as I circled back around to the stable, where I found the twins running over to me, both of them decked out in their own foraging gear. They must have seen me on patrol and guessed where I was going, then hurried to get all their stuff together too.

“Dias! We’re coming with you!” cried Senai.

“To the forest!” added Ayhan. “For foraging!”

“I’ll be joining you today!” said Aymer, who was wrapped in Senai’s arms.

“We’re heading out a bit later than usual, so what say we ride the horses today?” I asked.

The four of us went to the stables, where the sheps were out with the horses and the white ghee. The dogkin were brushing the animals with their long-handled brushes, combing their manes, polishing their hooves, and even brushing their teeth. The horses and ghee had their eyes closed in bliss and were all enjoying it so much that I thought they’d fall asleep on their feet. In return, as if to say thanks, the horses and the white ghee licked the sheps with their long tongues, and the sheps smiled brightly because they were used to such treatment.

“Shiya!”

“Guri!”

The twins both called out to their horses as we reached the stables, and the white Shiya and the gray Guri’s ears shot straight up. Their heads soon followed and they replied to the twins with hearty neighs.

“Balers!” I shouted, not wanting to be outdone.

The great big Balers glanced at me through narrowed eyes, then heaved a sigh the likes of which I imagined the whole village heard. I hadn’t been able to take care of Balers every day, and I still wasn’t very comfortable riding him, so his behavior wasn’t all that surprising. Still, I let out a wry chuckle and wondered if he couldn’t be just a more accommodating.

The sheps who were taking care of the horses stepped away and the horses all walked over to their prospective riders. Shiya strode over to Senai, Guri practically skipped on up to Ayhan, and Balers...reluctantly dragged his hooves over to me. I was relieved at least to see that while Balers wasn’t exactly fond of me, he didn’t hate my guts. He pushed his whole weight into me, and then he gave me a long annoyed stare which made his message clear.

Shiya and Guri, too, had both lowered their heads down to the twins as if to similarly say, So that’s what we all did. That was when Aisha, the horse we simply took care of because she wouldn’t let anyone ride her, trotted elegantly over to us.

Aisha always looked at everyone with a fierce glare, and that’s exactly how her eyes were as they went from me to Senai to Ayhan...but when they landed on Aymer, Aisha’s gaze softened.

“Oh? What’s that?” asked Aymer. “Me?”

Aymer looked mighty flustered, but Aisha walked on over and lowered her head as if to...