The Loner Who Conquers the Other World

Day 37 – Daytime, Omui, The lord’s Mansion.

A week since that incident. Way too late. Way too slow. Gathering troops from the territory took too long to send the rescue mission in time.

Everyone objected. That the defenses of the town and villages will get weaker.

That it is preposterous to mobilize troops for the sake of a common adventurer.

What if he fell to the lowest floor of the worst dungeon, then he is already dead.

Everyone just kept coming with one thing after another, trying to get in my way.

But it’s hard to blame them. Their advice is the most reasonable.

They simply don’t know what is going on in this town, in this domain.

I’m the only one who knows. That’s why I’m going to the rescue.

If I can save that boy by throwing away my own life, I will do so.

That’s the gravity of debt I have before him.

There is of course the matter that he saved my whole family.

But even more important, he is a benefactor of our whole house, of all the successive generations of lords of this remote region.

And by the time we finally assembled forces, prepared supplies, and were about to head to the great labyrinth, the adventurers that were supposed to head there with the rescue mission ahead of us, returned to the town.

I shuddered as the worst possible scenario surfaced in my mind. That I allowed my benefactor to die, unable to repay the favor. That I once again couldn’t do a thing.

But, he came back.

And not only that, he killed the great labyrinth.

Once again, he granted another long-cherished desire of our family.

Unbeknownst to anyone.

The boy who no one ever heard of.

All on his own.

Put it all to an end.

The meeting after that is nothing more than a report of events. Pointless.

No matter how many meetings we hold, it bears no meaning. The matter is concluded. We can only understand and accept. No discussion is required.

「It’s fine, isn’t it. The dungeon is dead.」

With those words, I ended the conference. All of the subordinates were panicking. Even though it is a good thing since the calamity hanging over us was no more.

That’s the only way for us to take it.

Right now, the town is going through a period of unprecedented prosperity.

The enormous volume of magic stones put on the market by the adventurers guild.

The town’s general shop and blacksmith, which were no more than simple small shops, are now making sales on the level of big stores.

Despite a stampede happening, the town took no damage at all. Neither in property nor in terms of personnel.

On the contrary, the massive quantity of magic stones it brought made the town even richer.

Merchants from all over the country were flocking to this town every day to buy them, bringing even more wealth here. And yet, despite the demand, the goods were plentiful, allowing the town to continue developing.

As the lord of this domain, I can’t help but rejoice the fact that the frontier territory, which is considered to be the most dangerous, made huge gains over just a few days, and was rapidly growing even more prosperous.

Surely, everyone’s understanding was unable to catch up with a sudden peace and a boom of development. One good thing is following another, but everyone is still bewildered, unsure if they should be celebrating it or not.

The same applied to me. However, I knew.

The great forest also known as wicked woods always has swarms of monsters lurking in it, which from time to time form a great horde, attacking and destroying nearby settlements. But right now the number of monsters there greatly decreased. Some even say that the ruler of that forest is dead. Be that as it may, there is no risk of a stampede happening any time soon.

And then there the legendary dungeon known by countless names. The grand labyrinth is also called the worst dungeon by some. Were monsters to overflow from the great labyrinth in a stampede, not only this domain would be destroyed, but the whole kingdom as well. The monsters there are that strong. With the dungeon most likely already grown to its limit of 100 floors, the only thing we could do is keep a check on the number of monsters, culling them, trying to postpone the stampede. But now the great labyrinth was dead.

One day, the town suddenly became prosperous, the surroundings turned peaceful, and even though no one was doing anything, things were going in a positive direction. We could only feel bewildered, without any idea what is going on.

The same was true for me. But I happened to know.

The reason for this unprecedented prosperity.

And also the cause of peace in the great forest.

The truth of how the raid on the town was stopped.

And the person who killed the great labyrinth.

I simply know it. I simply happened to become acquainted with them.

That black-haired black-eyed foreign boy that saved my family, and his comrades.

They came to the town in a group of only 30 people and made all of that change happen.

I, the lord of this land, didn’t do anything. No matter how hard our house struggled, we couldn’t prevail over the disasters of this remote region.

The domain of Omui. The most dangerous and thus the poorest region of this kingdom.

Everyone is yet to notice that this land was reborn.

The frontier town where tragedies happen daily. Perishing there is the duty of the lord of this place. All for the sake of saving as many people as possible.

The town was founded with the sole purpose of being used as a sacrifice to shield the kingdom from harm. That’s why I want my subjects to have at least some happiness, even if only for a short while.

The town only meant to hold back the great forest and slow down the overflow of the great labyrinth. The only thing awaiting it was a ruin. Even so, I want to protect it for as long as possible.

Then, one day all of it was suddenly resolved. Bringing peace and abundance. But the past was too cruel to us, preventing us from simply celebrating it.

Large quantities of magic stones and weapons flowing out of town. Valuable treasures that by now began attracting even foreign merchants.

Just how the town obtained all of this?

It’s simple. Someone defeated monsters of that great strength.

That’s why the great forest calmed down. Even the horde of monsters from there couldn’t reach the town.

And even the great labyrinth was now dead. And then, everything was brought to this town, making it prosperous.

All of the threats to the domain were converted into money.

A calamity known as monsters turned into high-grade goods.

That’s the simple reason why things made a complete turnaround to peace and wealth.

A lord of a frontier domain cannot even hope that all of his subjects will be happy.

And yet, right now the town is filled with smiling faces and laughs that can be heard at any time. The people seem happy. And it continues day after day.

The town was overflowing with a happiness a lord of a frontier region wasn’t even allowed to dream of.

The sight that the ancestors that died in the forest of demons didn’t get to see despite hoping, dreaming, and praying for it.

No one realized it yet.

For now, it seems like a simple matter to them. Things are going a bit better, a bit more customers come to visit, the stores have more goods, that’s probably what all this amounts to to everyone at the moment.

They are yet to notice the salvation and rebirth that took place.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the riches of this country began gathering in this domain. The funds circulating through the town were just that great. The economy was thriving, tragedies that destroyed the town’s happiness were no more, the poor and unforgiving town became a rich and safe one.

The person that brought that change had no intentions of making us indebted to him and spoke nothing of it unless asked specifically. So all the changes happened without anyone knowing.

It was only then, that I realized that this town was not a town of tragedy anymore, but the one overflowing with happiness.

The town that the ancestors struggled so hard to protect from the misfortunes that rained on it one after another, even losing their lives in the process and yet unable to save their subjects from death, now turned into the one they dreamed about so much. The town which is filled with joy.

That’s why everyone is confused and bewildered. They knew nothing but disasters until now. That was their first time witnessing a miracle.

Thank goodness. Thinking so was the only thing we could do.