kscans

Chapter 137 - The Little One and the Gods' Banquet

"...So that’s the situation. I’m just letting you know, okay? If you think things are getting bad, come to Frontier through the Lord’s forest. We’ll shelter you."

The Little One beamed at a stunned Pascal.

Late at night, while strolling through the royal palace from the sky, the Little One had spotted Pascal through a skylight and called out to him.

"Hey there, I want to talk for a bit, is that okay?"

She had suddenly appeared at the skylight, startling Pascal, who blinked and said, "Huh? Huh?" before she abducted him. The two of them were now on the top floor of the royal palace, on a tower with a fine view, talking while gazing up at the night sky.

"My father, once again... I am so sorry. I am not yet an adult, and as the second son, I am not involved in the country’s politics. Due to the last incident, I am scheduled to be sent away to a territory in the far north after I come of age... It is vexing that I cannot be of any help."

Pascal hung his head in frustration. When she asked for details, he explained that the king resented him for helping to free the beast-humans, and that he was to be stripped of his royal status. He had been ordered to become the lord of a barren northern territory once he came of age. It was a land on the border with the wilderness that separated them from the neighboring country, a place with only a few villages, each with a hundred people or so. The Little One had Pascal show her a map of Claudia and confirmed the location. Her eyes widened.

Wait a minute. This place is...?

There was a break in the western mountain range, a narrow gap that led toward the center of the continent. Moreover, the side near the mountains had quite a rich natural environment, likely due to the snowmelt. A vast expanse of wilderness stretched from where the mountains ended to the sea. That was the territory given to Pascal.

So, Pascal was to become a new border count.

Claudia, with land routes only to the north and south, was a natural fortress. The long mountain range prevented invasion from the interior. Perhaps this isolated location, which didn’t have to anticipate attacks from multiple directions, was what had produced a line of tyrants, the Little One mused for a moment. The original border count of southern Claudia was located far behind the land Pascal was being sent to. It seemed he was being conveniently saddled with developing a new frontier.

But this was also convenient.

The Little One grinned with a wicked look on her face.

"Pascal, when do you come of age?"

Pascal’s heart skipped a beat for a moment at the sight of the girl turning to him with sparkling eyes, and he hastily answered.

"I will come of age on the new year. So I will likely go to my territory next spring."

Hearing this, the Little One’s wicked smile deepened.

"Lend me your ear for a moment."

Pascal listened silently to her whispered secret, and his eyes widened more and more.

"Is such a thing possible?"

"If we do it right, it could be a hidden card. Good luck!"

Pascal was at a loss for words as the Little One gave him a thumbs-up with a determined look. She patted the bewildered boy’s shoulder and, telling him to check on his future territory from time to time, she flew away from the Claudia Royal Palace, unaware that Pascal was still frozen in place, watching her depart.

"Alright then. Are you ready? Here we gooo!"

The Little One landed in the land destined to be Pascal’s territory. Standing in the center of the border with the wilderness, she began to create a forest with the monsters in her usual way. A forest grown by scattering seeds and water and nurturing them with golden magical power. The monsters who were seeing this for the first time stared at the magnificent, deep forest, their mouths agape in astonishment.

"I’m leaving this forest to you, okay?"

The Little One patted the little penguin’s head and anchored the Lord’s forest. Just then, a light-hearted voice echoed.

"Is this the place? Leave it to me, I’ll just go dig it up a bit."

Trigger, the giant earthworm, poked his head out of the ground. He, who crawled through the earth, had refused to have the curse of immortality lifted.

"I will spend my life with Lord Legion. I thank you for your kindness, but I’m fine as I am."

The earthworm grinned. He had no eyes or mouth, yet somehow you could tell he was smiling. Still, he had said he would cooperate with the Little One, so she had immediately flown over to ask for Trigger’s help. As she watched Trigger till the soil of the wilderness, making it fluffy, the Little One gave instructions to the other monsters and began to clear the land. She had the frogs draw in a spring and made grass and flowers grow all over the wilderness. In the blink of an eye, the desolate land transformed into a windswept grassland.

"No matter how many times I see it, it is a magnificent sight," Dorfen said, his eyes wide with admiration as he smiled happily at the Little One.

Pascal’s future territory had been transformed into a lush green land in an instant.

"It’s just for show. It’ll take time to make it a truly rich land."

The Little One let out a sigh, as if she had finished a hard day’s work.

Only when animals came to live here and settled in would the forest have meaning. Until then, she would have to leave the Mononoke corps to stand guard. So that someone else wouldn't notice and snatch it away. She had heard that the little penguin was Lean’s successor. In that case, he could become the Lord of the new forest as he was. The Little One turned to the little penguin and confirmed once more.

"I’m leaving this place to you, okay? Is that all right?"

The little penguin puffed out its chest and turned its beak down in a pout, as if to say, "Leave it to me." Stroking its head, the Little One designated the little penguin as the Lord of the Forest. At that moment, the little penguin’s body began to glow, and its shape started to change.

"Huh?"

""""Wha...?""""

The onlookers who had been watching quietly, and even the Little One herself, couldn't help but be taken aback as they saw the ball of light grow larger. A brilliant, dazzling light filled the area for a time, and when it faded, a giant penguin appeared. The penguin looked down at the dumbfounded Little One and flapped its wings happily.

"Me. Do my best. So, a name."

"Are you the one talking? Huh? What is this?"

It was a penguin that looked very similar to Lean, but slightly different. The feathers behind its eyebrows were shorter, and it had fluffy feathers up to its forehead.

It’s a Royal Penguin.

Noticing the Little One staring in awe, the penguin in question began to patter its feet happily.

"Me, was, child. With King’s power, became, adult. Me, evolved. So, want, name."

"Whaaaat?!"

Evolved? A Lord?! Someone explain, please!!

As the Little One’s mind went into a panic, someone called out to her in a carefree voice. It was the giant earthworm, who had finished tilling most of the land and had returned.

"Well now? This is a rare one. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an evolution."

"You know about this? Tell me! What happened? What is this?!"

Trigger stared intently at the desperate Little One, his eyeless face switching back and forth between the girl and the penguin.

"You did this without knowing? What a fool."

With a dramatic sigh, Trigger explained that the golden magical power wasn’t just for plants, but a magic that governed all life.

"In other words, you can do everything from growth to acceleration of living things. Furthermore, to anchor a Lord, a corresponding amount of power is needed. If you make a juvenile individual a Lord, it needs power to match, and on rare occasions, an individual will evolve."

"Nobody told meeee! Chaos! Abyss! You should have told me important things like that beforehand!!"

The Little One yelled at the sky, but it was too late. The penguin was staring at her with sparkling eyes. Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, the Little One thought of a name for the new Lord.

"Your father is Lean, so... Leon? How about Leon?"

The Little One turned to him, her lips twitching, and the former little penguin spread its wings to the heavens in joy.

"Leon! I’m Leon!"

Leon began to do a little dance, perhaps a dance of joy.

Somehow, that sounds familiar.

Hearing the nostalgic sound that she remembered from long ago, the Little One tilted her head, and Trigger stared at her intently.

"You’re pretty unoriginal."

Shut up!!

The Little One, who was aware of her poor naming sense, forcefully shook off Trigger’s piercing gaze and called out to the Mononoke corps in the carriage.

"Help him out until this forest is stable, everyone."

"Roger!" the Mononoke corps saluted. It seemed they had started imitating the knights they had been watching. The sight of the assembled monsters all saluting was so adorable that the knights’ faces were permanently relaxed in a smile.

So incredibly cute!

Of course, the Little One was grinning from ear to ear, too.

And so, a new Lord’s forest was born on the border of Claudia.

When Pascal came to visit later, he was surprised to find the forest just as the Little One had secretly told him it would be, surprised that there was a Lord, and he broke down in tears at the sight of his future territory overflowing with green.

"...I thank you, God. No, Golden King! With this, I can do it. I will create a splendid domain!!"

Here was recorded the first step of the boy who would later become the King of Claudia.

He, who would be called the sole conscience of the royal family in the hellscape that Claudia was to become, would conspire with the southern border count to rebuild his country, but that is another story.

Scattering all sorts of seeds everywhere, the Little One continues on her own path today.