Bang! Thud!
Dawi felled the last zombie that had entered the territory.
“Hah… the subjugation is finally over, Sir Dawi. Thank you.”
Senior Knight Hans bowed respectfully to Dawi.
“Not at all, Sir Hans. It is only natural to help.”
It had been a long time since all the territory’s residents had evacuated to the baronial castle. Inside the castle, several knights were defending the walls together with the castle guards.
After Dawi had evacuated the Baroness and even the young Baron, he traveled around the territory with the knights, subjugating zombies. Because most of the zombies had flocked to the baronial castle chasing after people, the subjugation was rather easy. After dealing with the zombies in front of the castle, the work of hunting down the zombies scattered throughout the territory had continued for a day. And now, that subjugation was finally over.
Senior Knight Hans spoke to Dawi.
“Let us return to the baronial castle together. I am sure the Baroness will bestow a reward upon you.”
“Haha, I did not do it hoping for that.”
Dawi had one practical reason for helping Snowhill Territory.
‘I can’t lose my only trading partner.’
There were the dwarves of Dolsan, but what they produced was iron ore and various tools.
Of course, Dawi needed those as well, but there was something more important to him.
‘Crops that can only be obtained from the greenhouse garden…!’
Garlic, onions, and so on… and even the salt produced exclusively by the Baron household.
Dawi could not afford to lose those—in other words, ‘taste.’
Of course, there were emotional reasons as well.
‘Living alone has no romance.’
It was romance, plain and simple.
Of course, there was a certain romance to living a pastoral life alone in nature, but that did not mean regressing to the Paleolithic Era and living with stone axes.
Shouldn’t one possess at least the level of civilization of the Iron Age?
The life Dawi dreamed of as a rancher was a blend of moderate civilization and moderate nature.
And…
‘There is no romance in being clearly able to help and choosing not to.’
Helping even when one cannot help is ‘romantic.’
But being able to help and not doing so is throwing romance away entirely.
An excessively calculating and selfish attitude toward life was not the ‘romance’ Dawi dreamed of. Especially in a world where civilization was collapsing.
As they headed to the baronial castle, the butler had come out to greet them at the gate.
“You have worked hard. The Baroness also wishes to see Sir Dawi, so you may come up together.”
Dawi entered the baronial castle together with the senior knight.
His horse was led to the stable by the butler.
.
.
.
“For now, the subjugation is finished. There were no casualties among the knights.”
“Very well. Then may we send the territory residents who have evacuated here back home?”
“Yes. However, caution is necessary, as zombies may be hiding in places out of sight.”
“I see… Understood. And… Sir Dawi. Thank you for rescuing us.”
The Baroness looked at Dawi and slightly bowed her head.
“Not at all. It was only natural. Rather, there is something I must tell you.”
The Baroness looked at Dawi with a puzzled expression.
“What is it? If it is a request from Sir Dawi, I shall do my best to grant it.”
“What do you think about assigning a bodyguard knight? Zombies are gathering beneath the mountain range on the other side, and their numbers are gradually increasing. I suspect that this time, the zombies traveled west from beneath the mountain range along it and then came up along the coast… I do not know how many more zombies will come along the coast in the future. They may even succeed in crossing the mountain range.”
At Dawi’s words, the Baroness glanced at Hans standing beside her and spoke.
“To do that… we lack a sufficient number of knights. We are earnestly recruiting among the young men of the territory, but it is difficult to find those who have awakened mana circulation. Ah, of course, compared to an ordinary barony, we have a fair number of knights, but… now even that feels insufficient. I do not believe we will have any bodyguard knights for a while. Maintaining public order in the territory takes priority… For now, you must remain within the baronial castle as much as possible.”
Then Hans spoke.
“I have something to say regarding that public order.”
“What is it, Sir Hans?”
“Though it is not yet fully spring, the number of wild animals coming down from the southeast side of the mountain range has greatly decreased.”
Even when it was not a case of wolf packs swarming as before, Snowhill Territory had constantly suffered damage from wild animals coming down one or two at a time. However, from the southeast side of the mountain range surrounding Snowhill, almost no wild animals were coming down anymore.
Beyond the eastern mountain range of Snowhill lies Dolsan, where the dwarves live.
That was the area where the most wild animals had been subjugated through exchange with the dwarves.
And behind that Dolsan was Dawi’s ranch.
In other words, the southeast side of the mountain range referred to the path Dawi crossed to get from his ranch to Snowhill.
With the coming of spring, Dawi’s ranch had been attacked by Bighorns quite frequently.
These bison were herbivores, yet as ferocious as carnivores, perhaps even more so.
When drinking water at the lake, these mad beasts would charge at any other animal they saw, regardless of whether it was a carnivore or herbivore. As if trying to monopolize the lake water.
But when they returned after moving elsewhere to escape the cold, they found a ranch built by the lake and fences surrounding it. How did the Bighorns react? They charged at the fences, of course.
Moreover, carnivores came targeting the geese and ducks.
In other words, carcasses came out of Dawi’s ranch every day.
Even if he stripped the Bighorn meat and stored it in the ice cellar, Dawi felt reluctant to eat carnivore corpses like wolves and simply discarded them.
He also discarded the Bighorns’ organs and bones in the same manner.
The southeast carnivores that had grown ferocious over the winter were gradually becoming accustomed to the meat Dawi discarded as spring arrived. Furthermore, since Dawi also killed beasts to protect the ranch, it was practically a constant subjugation effort.
One wouldn’t know during winter, but the southeast predators that would come down to civilian homes in spring were now almost nonexistent.
“Therefore… I believe you could pull about one squad and appoint them as a bodyguard unit.”
The Snowhill Knight Order numbered twelve. They were divided into four squads of three. Occasionally, they would form groups of five or more for special missions.
“If three rotate on duty, they should be able to stand guard without gaps in time. However, unlike now, where all knights work as a patrol unit, if a bodyguard unit operates separately, a commander capable of overseeing the bodyguard unit as well will be needed.”
“…You mean a knight captain is needed. Very well. I shall decide on the matter of the bodyguard unit later and inform you. And… Sir Dawi?”
“Yes, Baroness.”
“As the acting lord, I intend to bestow a reward upon you for this matter. Is there anything you desire?”
This time, there was something Dawi desperately wanted.
“Yes. Truly… I wish to bathe. With warm water.”
Though spring was coming, the lake water was still cold.
Of course, since it was meltwater from snow, it was cold even in summer, but…
Dawi longed so much for the bath with warm water he had taken here.
The Baroness looked at Dawi with wide eyes for a moment, then soon let out a small puff of laughter.
“Is that what you desire? Of course, that can be arranged. I shall have water heated right away.”
“Thank you, Baroness!”
***
After Senior Knight Hans finished his report and left, and after Dawi went to bathe.
The Baroness separately called for the butler.
“What do you think? About him asking for a bath as his reward.”
“Sir Dawi’s passion has been for the ranch from the very beginning. Now that he has a proper ranch complete with livestock…”
“Are you saying there is nothing more for him to covet?”
“Yes. That may be the case. Or… it may have been consideration for our territory.”
The Baroness nodded slightly at the butler’s words.
“Indeed… we do not have anything suitable to give as a reward. The crops from the garden are already barely enough just from trading with Sir Dawi.”
“Yes. He may have been considerate of that. However… if you truly conclude the reward with merely a bath…”
“It would be a disgrace to the Baron household, would it not? I do not know if there are other noble houses whose dignity we must maintain, but even if not, the territory residents have eyes.”
“That is correct. But regarding that matter, there is a greater problem than the immediate reward.”
The Baroness nodded at the butler’s words and spoke.
“I know. At this rate, if we keep giving rewards to Sir Dawi alone, the territory’s finances will be ruined. Moreover, thanks to Sir Dawi, predators have almost stopped appearing from the southeast mountain range. Honestly, this is also something deserving of a separate reward.”
“Exactly. The problem is that such things will continue. As long as his ranch is inside that mountain range, he will continue subjugating predators… and whenever a crisis befalls the territory as it did this time, he will step forward to help.”
“That is so. But if we reward him for all of that… the territory’s finances will be shattered. Yet we cannot neglect rewards either… Is there a good solution, Butler?”
The butler pondered briefly and opened his mouth.
“Truthfully… the reason we must bestow rewards is that regardless of what his status was in the past, officially he is merely a territory resident.”
“Hmm… what does that mean? Are you saying it would be fine if he were not a territory resident?”
“The periodic subjugation of wild animals, protecting territory residents when they are endangered by zombies or predators, and evacuating them. These are things Sir Dawi has done, and this is why you give rewards.”
“Is that not so?”
“But are there not people who do such things as their duty?”
“Surely you don’t mean…”
“Yes. Grant him knighthood.”