Chapter 5 – Zoo and Ranch

 

 

---

<– Previous Chapter | Glossary | ToC | Next Chapter –> | Jump to Volume 19 –>>

---

 

 

“Zoo? What’s that?”

“You don’t know, Erw? It’s a facility where you can watch animals being raised. It’s great to teach the children about other living beings.”

“I see…as always, I don’t have a clue where you obtained that information, though…”

“If it’s animals that don’t inhabit the Baumeister Earldom, people will come to watch them out of curiosity, I expect. What do you think, Elise?”

“There exists a certain number of nobles who keep animals as individuals. I think it is mostly dogs, cats, birds, and so on, but some of them also keep rare animals, showing those off to those sharing their hobby.”

“How is that any different from showing off expensive jewelry or clothes?”

“Isn’t it fine? Wend wants, as their Dad, Friedrich and the others enjoy themselves, once they grow up big enough to understand what’s going on around them.”

“Yep! That’s it! It’s just as you say, Ina!”

I’m a noble. And moreover an Earl. If I feel like giving my children expensive toys, I can give them as many as I want. But, will I be able to call myself a good father for Friedrich and my other children when I merely give them expensive toys?

Money isn’t all that matters. I want to give my children something different, something wonderful they’ll always remember.

The idea that struck me at that point was building a zoo.

If I go there with my children on my days off after they’ve grown big… Oohhh! Just imagining that scene gives me the impression that I might be seen as a great father!

Also, if I build a zoo in Baulburg, I’m sure more visitors will come to the city, which will help the economy in return. If possible, having an aquarium would be nice too, but since that one will take time and effort, I’ll go with a zoo first, and check how it’s being received.

“So, with that out of the way, does the Baumeister Earldom have any people that would be capable of running a zoo?”

“You basically mean people whose home buys animals as a hobby, and those helping out at such places, right?”

“That would be the idea, yeah.”

Is there anyone who likes animals? If possible, I’d like such people to also help. Forcing people, who hate animals, to raise those very same animals will be quite hard, and they might be unable to decently raise animals in the first place.

“It might be good to put someone, who’s familiar with animals from his family, in charge, and install some experienced animal care-takers at their side.”

Having said that, this world doesn’t have overly many people who engage in animal care-taking. It could prove to be difficult to hire people like that. In that case, I guess we’ll have to rely on animal lovers who have bought and raised many animals at their family’s home.

“That means that facility called 『Zoo』 should be put into practice soon before Friedrich and the others grow up?”

“Roderich, your and the other retainers’ children are going to rejoice as well. Children love animals, after all.”

“Now that you mention it, my children always try to stroke dogs and cats whenever they spot them.”

“Such things are good for children to learn about the world around them.”

“I understand. Then I shall select candidates from among our retainers at once. After all, we will be able to entrust the rest to the one chosen as the one in charge.”

This led to a zoo being built in Baulburg, following yet another of my ideas. And it became the trigger for me to get acquainted with that very peculiar guy.

 

◆◇◆

 

“Milord, as it is planned to build something called a zoo in Baulburg, I have been kindly nominated as the one in charge of the endeavor. I, Bruck Mutz von Hoffen, feel that this duty is my calling in life! I cannot express just how grateful I am!”

“…It’s great to see that you’re so motivated. Do your best, okay?”

Roderich immediately brought the one, who would be in charge of the zoo project, in front of me. He seemed to be around twenty years old. In particular I could sense something similar to elegance from him because of his noble birth, although it wasn’t as if he was handsome by any standard. However, for some reason, this young man wore clothes similar to tattered patchwork.

He seemed to be extremely delighted over having been chosen to be responsible for the zoo project as became clear from him exaggeratedly thanking me with a face full of happiness.

“The Viscount Hoffen House, Bruck’s home, has loved keeping animals for many generations. They also made some ground-breaking achievements in that area such as discovering new methods of raising animals. Moreover, Bruck has been working for the Baumeister House as a horse veterinarian.”

“Hoh, I see.”

Horses were very valuable means of transportation for nobles, and at the same time partners whom you’d entrust your life to in times of emergency. The Baumeister House owned many horses, and naturally, we also had veterinarians taking care of their health.

Then again, they should rather be called horse doctors than veterinarians since they do medical examinations for other animals just as an extra. Though it sounds like some of them take care of the dogs and cats kept by nobles as part time jobs, just to end up becoming specialists in that area.

“The Hoffen House has been producing generations of veterinarians. Them loving animals is a given, but they also keep various animals for the sake of their work.”

“I see. That does make sense.”

“In the beginning, their ancestors had trouble raising animals, which no one had kept before them, and they kept getting injured during their work, or so they say. I heard someone even died in the past after challenging the raising of a bear and failing at it.”

“(That’s really incredible, don’t you think Wend?)”

“(No doubt…)”

Usually, you wouldn’t dare to try raising a bear. I wonder if it’s something similar to karma for the Viscount Hoffen family?

“Thanks to that, our family can nowadays raise many animals normal people can’t keep such as bears, wild boars, or wolves.”

“That sounds very promising.”

I dubbed it a zoo, but I had planned to start out with animals like cats or rabbits, and then slowly increase the types from there, but if we leave it to Bruck, it looks like it’s going to become a fairly genuine zoo.

“I might also enjoy it if I could become friends with bears or wolves.”

“Umm…Erwin-san, Milord, it’s impossible for you.”

“Ehh? Why?”

“It’s because we’ve been hunting.”

“Yep, I guess it’s out of the question if you’re actively hunting.”

“Wend, why is that so?”

“You think animals could get all friendly with people who killed their kin?”

The animals of this world had sharper senses than those on Earth. Hence, they wouldn’t befriend anyone who killed their kin in the past.

“Then, it means you can’t hunt, right?”

“Yes, indeed. In addition, I can’t eat any meat either. The animals will sniff out even the faintest traces of blood scent.”

So it’s completely forbidden to eat meat if you want to befriend animals, eh? That’s just like vegetarians. Personally, I’m not that eager to get along with animals to skip on meat.

“The Baumeister Earldom offers many ingredients to eat besides animal meat, so I have no problems while working here.”

Fruits of the Demonic Forest or seafood that’s transported to Baulburg from our south are available in great quantities. I think it’s even easier to live a meat-free life here than in the capital.

“How awesome. For you to restrain yourself to such an extent in order to get along with animals…”

“Well, of course. It’s my family’s business and work. Besides, I like animals. However, it does have one big disadvantage.”

“What kind of?”

He’s saying there’s something inconvenient in becoming close to animals?

“As a matter of fact, the Hoffen House has never become the patron or vassal of any other nobles. Given that it would spell trouble to side with some noble house as horse doctor…”

Horses are indispensable for nobles, so it’s probably not desirable for a veterinarian, who checks one’s horses, to be influenced by some other noble. Or in short, they’re required to be neutral.

“If you become the vassal of some high-ranking noble, you will regularly be invited to supper or dinner, but aren’t most of such banquets heavy on meat dishes? So it also plays a role that you’d be unamused about attending events where you can’t eat anything. That’s why I never participated in such events either.”

Ah, but not being invited by anyone at all might have its advantages, too. In my case, I’m invited to feasts where nobles try to come up with menus as it’s known that I’m very picky about my food, so it’s impossible to not eat anything at all, or outright say that it’s disgusting. It’s not like being able to eat for free is all sunshine either.

“Given that horse-care is a dirty job and has its fair share of urgent situations, it often happens that I’m not presentable to nobles. In other words, it’d worsen my social position, right? For this reason, the people of the Hoffen House, including myself, don’t have any human friends. Though none of us feels lonely as we have animals as our friends.”

He possesses the skills to quickly get along with animals, but as a side-effect of that, he hasn’t a single human friend. It’s not that I don’t wonder whether that’s truly okay with him, but I was a loner until the age of twelve…

So Bruck can befriend animals quickly, huh? For some reason I don’t really feel all that envious about this.

“Please do your best at starting a zoo, director.”

“You can count on me! Maaan, I sure look forward to being able to allow plenty of animals to live there.”

“””…”””

It looked like the matters with the zoo would proceed smoothly, but Erw, Roderich, and I wondered to ourselves whether it’d truly be fine with that. But since we’d like him to build a zoo, we decided to not say anything.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“(Well, it mostly followed what I imagined, I guess)”

“This is a zoo, huh? So the animals will be shown to the customers in their pens and cages, right? Somehow, it’s kind of ordinary.”

“When I visited the mansions of certain nobles who keep animals, their garden had the same feel. Though the scale at their place fell short in comparison to this place.”

 

 

I visited the zoo together with everyone after it was finally constructed. It featured several types of birds and smaller animals such as dogs, cats, apes, squirrels, rabbits, weasels, badgers, deer, fowls, etc. The numbers and diversity aren’t that big that you could say it housed as many various animals as zoos on Earth, but it has the scale of a mini-zoo.

“There are really wolves and bears here as well.”

“Wild boars too. However, those only look like delicious food to me.”

I probably should say that we won out with the personnel selection. They were in cages, but this zoo also had bears, wolves, and wild boars which you might very well call wild beasts among animals. Because those are types of animals the people of this world wouldn’t consider to raise, I should praise Bruck here for being in charge.

Given their rarity, they might attract customers… Then again, since people living on the countryside regard those beasts as harmful, some might dislike seeing such animals here?

“The fowls look really yummy…”

“Wilma-san, you must not eat them since they are on exhibition here.”

“Regrettable…”

Katharina chided Wilma.

But, it’s not like I can’t understand Wilma’s feelings. If you exclude watchdogs, mouse-catching cats, and packhorses, only the rich can keep other animals in this world. Because Wilma has been the daughter of a rather poor noble to begin with, she regards fowls as food and not pets.

I hear Elise has been invited to the mansions of nobles where they kept animals. Cages and such had been installed in the garden, but those had the objective of being shown off to visitors, and it should be rare for such places to make animal exhibitions available to the general public like we do.

It’s because the nobles aren’t used to the idea of showing the animals they’re keeping to the common masses.

“Hmm, I see, I see, there are many animals that can be kept by nobles to be found in the Baumeister Earldom.”

“Did the Duke Philip House raise animals?”

The last time we visited, it was during the civil war, and they didn’t seem to have that many animals.

“Even in the Holy Urquhart Empire the custom to raise wolves exists among nobles who possess territories in the north.”

“Wolves, eh? That’s incredible.”

“Well, look at it like that: they’re just keeping them for silly reasons such as to flaunt how strong they are or to try to get a share of the wolves’ strength. Given that wolves are wild beasts, it takes time, effort, and money to keep them. Also, it’s regarded as shameful to be the only one not raising wolves while all the other nobles do. Many nobles raise them for such dumb reasons as they have no choice.”

“So they can’t stop it since it’s an old custom, huh?”

“That sums it up nicely. However, this place is nice.”

“Oh, it even comes with a corner where you can touch the animals.”

Katia spotted a place where you could touch smaller animals such as pups, kittens, and rabbit children.

I guess someone is going to come up with such an idea, no matter in which world.

“Milord, it is our main attraction. It will be very popular among the small children.”

“I think it’s a great idea.”

Since I didn’t say anything, Bruck must have come up with this touch-corner by himself. As I thought, I didn’t make a mistake in choosing him as the one in charge, after all.

“Do you wish to actually try touching them?”

“That’s a nice offer.”

Upon Bruck’s suggestion, we decided to try touching the animals on the touch-corner.

“Stuff like this sure is great. Let’s bring Friedrich and the others here after they grow up a bit more.”

“I think that is a lovely suggestion, dear.”

“I’m sure they’ll enjoy it very much.”

We spent some quality time by me hugging a pup, Elise a kitten, and Ina a rabbit child, but for some reason, some of us were avoided by the animals.

“Hey! All of them are running away from me! What’s this about?”

“Really? I’m fine over here.”

Whenever Erw tried to touch an animal, they ran away from him. Yet, the same didn’t happen to Haruka…

“Hahaha, haven’t you just been thinking that they look delicious, Erw? Animals are sharp, you know?”

“Wouldn’t it be the same for Luise as well then? Didn’t she earlier say that the wild boars look delicious?”

“That’s unthinkable. It’s impossible that animals would avoid a person as lovely and tolerant as me. Look…huh?”

“What’s with that “Huh?”? Isn’t it perfect proof that they’re avoiding you as well?”

“That’s weird, you see?”

Luise was avoided by the animals just like Erw. As she held out her hand, she was confused, wondering what was wrong.

“Cute.”

“That’s totally strange! Just moments ago Wilma said that the fowls look tasty, didn’t she!?”

Certainly, she did say so, and yet the animals aren’t avoiding Wilma…I wonder why? Was she not serious when she said that they’re delicious? Is it because Wilma, a professional hunter, can switch her feelings, compared to the times when she’s hunting?

“In short, your gluttony is sticking out too much, Luise.”

“Isn’t it the same for you as well, Katia?”

“I’m a professional just like Wilma. The animals should understand my gentleness outside of me doing my job.”

“Make sure to not embarrass yourself after saying all that, okay?”

“Luise, are you a sore loser? Here, take a look…huh?”

It’s probably not because she gave such a preface, but the animals immediately scooted away in Katia’s case as well.

“That’s weird, isn’t it? Right, hubby?”

“Let me ask you just one question: what are wild boars to you?”

“Those guys are harmful pests who lay waste to crops. The same applies to bears and deer. Rabbits and fowls are great food.”

I see. Katia originates from a territory you can rightfully call rich on farming, or rather, they depend on it for living. Given that she’s instinctively considering animals in regards to their harm or benefit for farming, the animals must have sensed that as they’re now avoiding her.

The animals of this world…sure got a keen intuition.

“In the end, Katia and I are made out of the same wood. Say, Katharina seems like she’d be the same as well, doesn’t she?”

“What might you be talking about Luise-san… It cannot be that pure animals aren’t aware of a tolerant mind like that of a noble like me. It’s not like I’m that much of an animal lover, but I’m certain Cayenne would be delighted over coming here. This is the moment where I, as his mother, should give it a try and touch the animals…huh?”

What, so Katharina won’t betray our expectations even at times like these? Is it because of her loner attribute? But, in that case, something similar would befall me as well…

“Katharina, are thou not hunting too much? I’m alright over here.”

Is hunting too much and being avoided by the animals related in some way?

Therese had previously, let alone recently, hunted at the level of a distant hobby. Now she had easily succeeded in hugging a child rabbit.

Or rather, I’ve never seen people who would be avoided by the animals in an animal-touching corner on Earth. The animals of this world are quite aggressive, I feel.

“In that case, it wouldn’t be odd for everyone present here to be avoided by the animals, right? Lisa-san…seems to be alright.”

Lisa should have hunted the most among us, and yet she’s normally touching a calf. The criterion for being avoided by the animals isn’t quite clear to me.

“Well, I think this was enough for an inspection. Don’t you think, hubby?”

“Indeed. The ones who will touch those animals are going to be children, so it doesn’t really concern me.”

“Quite so. We’re already adults, aren’t we? Even if we’re avoided by the animals, it’s not particularly…”

“Sore losers?”

“””Haaah?”””

“It’s nothing!”

Erw said something unnecessary towards Luise, Katia, and Katharina, despite being avoided by the animals just like them. But, he had to correct himself in a hurry after being threated by the girls.

“This place looks like it can open right away.”

“Being able to receive your authorization, milord, made it well worth all the effort we put into this.”

“Even the wild beasts are obedient. Does this also stem from the Viscount Hoffen House’s traditions?”

“Yes, our family members do not have any human friends, but we are very close to animals.”

“””””””””…”””””””””

“(Say, is that something you’d be able to brag about?)”

“(Erw, psss───st!)”

I blocked Erw’s mouth in a hurry. It’d be different if Bruck would be worried about that, but he was content with it. So isn’t it fine as long as the one concerned is fine with it? At the least, he’s got it a lot better than my past self.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“Which reminds me, the expansion of the new ranch and its facilities is proceeding well, too.”

“Heeh, so you do some noble-like things every once in a while, don’t you Wend?”

“Luise, I’m doing noble-like things for around half of a year.”

“Then you should drastically increase that time…”

 

 

Since I couldn’t say much about the zoo, I decided to ask Bruck about the progress of the new ranch I had asked of him in addition to the zoo.

I mean, of course I wouldn’t ask Bruck to just run a zoo. I’m also planning to increase the number of ranches in the Baumeister Earldom with him as their manager.

Because of the practical issue of available land and the knowledge that the meat supply would be fine as long as we could hunt, the current ranches have been prioritizing the raising of horses. Given that the farmers also use horses to till their fields, the demand for horses is big.

As for other animals that can be raised easily, it’d be birds, I guess? It’ll allow us to get a steady egg supply, and although we’re able to procure milk from cows and goats, these things are still quite expensive.

As a matter of fact, tarts made out of fruits and baked sweets are much cheaper than cakes that use plenty of fresh cream.

Because animal-keeping to obtain milk from cattle requires vast plots of land, no matter how you spin it, covering the food demand with farming…well, you get the idea.

“Don’t you have an unexpectedly big amount of cattle here?”

“Unfortunately, the yield on milk isn’t that big despite that. The cows and goats being kept here are only those who haven’t given birth yet.”

If cows and goats don’t give birth, you can’t milk them. This is also the reason why animal-keeping for the sake of procuring milk is considered a lot more luxurious than keeping cattle for their meat.

“In reality, I would love to carry out selective breeding, to be honest.”

“Ah, you want to create cows and goats with big bodies and a high yield on milk, right?”

“Oooh, you fully grasped my intention!”

It’s because I got my memories from my previous life. Then again, it’s not like I know that much about animal husbandry.

“I’ll consult with nobles and other ranches with a prospering animal husbandry to see whether we can obtain cattle with a high milk yield and big bodies from them. Alternatively, we could have our cattle mate with theirs. Then we’d just need to pay a mating fee.”

Since the same is being done for horses, I think there should exist many people knowing about this. As nobles desire good horses, they often have their own well-bred horses mate with each other, I hear.

“Even if you do that, I doubt it will have that much of an effect.”

“Why?”

“Actually, I had a bit of leeway in the budget Milord assigned to me, so I have already procured well-bred cows and goats.”

Do the cows and goats over here already enter the category of being the finest in this world? I happened to see cows producing high-quality milk in my previous life, but compared to those, the cattle over here are several sizes smaller and they even look somewhat thin.

Which reminds me, cows and goats aren’t fed with grains since it’s regarded as a waste. Considering humans’ need for food first and foremost is common sense in this world.

“At this point, we have no choice but to wait for a superior mutation to be born?”

“Well, it is not that we do not have any other options. Though it would be a gamble of sorts.”

“A gamble?”

“In reality, there exist cows and goats who have turned into monsters.”

“Ohh, so those existed as well!”

I believed that only wild animals would turn into monsters, but bred cows and goats become monsters as well? At least it looks like such cases have been heard of.

“Even if domesticated, cows and goats are still animals. Occasionally they also run away if their care-taking is bad. In addition, a non-negligible number of nobles fail at the management of their animal husbandry.”

According to Bruck’s explanation, taking care of animals is difficult, but since you can make good money with expensive dairy products, nobles planning to turn this into a profitable industry of their own territory regularly pop up.

“They buy cows and goats while spending a fortune, and raise them at newly-established ranches, but since they are amateurs, many of such nobles and ranch holders go bankrupt after being unable to make any profit.

It is still not much of a problem if the cattle dies because their care-taking was bad, but some of those people let their cattle run away in the worst case. Those animals end up fleeing into monster domains and get hunted down by monsters over there, but some of them survive, become monsters themselves, and start to produce offspring.”

“The majority of the species, which turn into monsters, end up growing drastically during the transformation. If you re-domesticate cows and goats who have gone through such process, their bodies will be huge and you will be able to procure lots of milk from them.”

“Isn’t that no more than an academic theory? I have never heard of monsters getting accustomed to people,” Ina immediately objected.

“Lady Ina, it is certainly true that monster domestication is regarded as reckless. And as a matter of fact, no one has ever succeeded in it. But, you have me!”

If it’s Bruck who has already befriended all the animals in the zoo, despite not having any human friends, it might be possible for him as a descendant of the Hoffen House to domesticate monsters. I’ve also started to gradually feel like he might be able to pull it off.

“(Obtaining dairy products for cheap would be wonderful. I think we should try it since we’ve got nothing to lose anyway)”

It’ll be fine as long as I cooperate with him on it. After all, I’ll be able to prevent the monsters from hurting Bruck.

“Isn’t it a good idea to give it a try first? I’ll help out as well.”

“Milord! Thank you so much!”

“Wend, is that really alright with you?”

Ina looked at us, her eyes still full of doubt.

“If we get the ranch to operate smoothly, Baulburg will be supplied with a great amount of dairy products. That’ll earn us the gratitude of the residents, and it’ll also spur on the economy of the earldom. Isn’t that a wonderful array of great benefits?”

“Only if it succeeds, right?”

“We won’t get anywhere if we don’t give it at least a try.”

“He has a point. The proverb, 『You must first do something to achieve anything』, has been passed in the church as well.”

Elise also agreed with my idea…the church sure says some nice things every once in a while. For some reason, they often don’t follow up on their own words, though…

Anyway, we decided to go catch cows and goats that had turned into monsters.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“Yeah…it looks like this place has cattle that have transformed into monsters. The adventurers, who entered the monster domain in my territory, said so as well.”

 

 

Using a small magic airship, we flew to the 『Beckener Barony』, one fief of a congregation of smaller noble fiefs. This place failed in the past at launching a large-scale stock-raising project, resulting in cattle escaping into the local monster domain, where they turned into monsters and propagated ever since.

Baron Beckener came to receive us, but he looked somewhat exhausted

“We’ve been burdened with a huge debt thanks to my grandfather…the repayment should require another three generations.”

I guess it’s only natural for him to be bummed out…

It’d be one thing if it was a failure caused by himself, but instead he was hard-pressed to repay the debt left behind for him by his grandfather.

“You have my permission to hunt in the monster domain. Please pay 30% of your profits as tax.”

“Understood.”

After saying only that much, Baron Beckener went back to his mansion.

“Quite the gloomy character, isn’t he Wend?”

“Well, anyone would act like him if they were loaded with such a debt, don’t you think?”

Among such people, some might be completely defiant as well, though. Maybe Luise is also the defiant type of debtor?

Baron Beckener looks like a serious man, so I doubt he’ll adopt such a mental state, though.

“So, the problem is whether we can really catch the monsters, isn’t it?”

“Usually it’s not being done. After all, it’s pointless on top of being dangerous.”

Katia and Lisa, who both had worked as adventurers for a longer period of time than us, seem to be reluctant towards the idea of catching monsters. Normally, they’d hunt them, and monsters are also much bigger and ferocious than animals.

Catching monsters requires your abilities to be substantially higher than the abilities of the monsters you try to catch. Even if adventurers manage to catch a monster, it quickly turns into a talk of 『So what about it? Hurry up and finish it off as we have to dismantle it』, so it’s correct to call the act in itself pointless.

As expected, rich folks and nobles, who would try to buy monsters…might have existed in the past? Though I feel like it didn’t yield any worthwhile or good results.

“Bruck-san, I think I will not be of much use today….”

“No, Lady Elise, your task will be most crucial.”

“Is that so?”

“Are you expecting many injuries?”

Katharina, stop saying such scary things.”

“But, catching monsters is going to involve such issues as well.”

“Sometimes the academy has put up requests for adventurers to catch monsters for research purposes, but those requests also led to casualties.”

“Did you hear? Lisa-san is saying the same as well, isn’t she?”

Maybe because she had accumulated stress from her daily baby-care, Elise had joined today’s hunt as well. However, Elise was basically no combatant and thus she wouldn’t be able to catch any monsters.

Bruck denied Elise’s suspicions that she wouldn’t be much help here, but for some reason, it caused Katharina to question whether Elise wouldn’t be simply needed because he was anticipating many injuries.

“So, what’s the actual reason?”

“Lady Elise’s healing magic will be required for the monsters.”

“What do thee mean?” Therese asked Bruck.

“We will extract the magic stone from within the cattle that turned into a monster.”

“Won’t the monsters die if you do something like that?” Ina asked.

“No, they will not. In the past, the academy has run experiments on this,” answered Bruck.

So the academy researched even such things, huh?

“Then again, it is knowledge that does not have much practical value usually.”

Well, it’s no problem whatsoever to dismantle the monsters after killing them. Rather, that method is safer and it doesn’t take much time and effort either, so it’s only natural to do it like that, I suppose.

“We are going to catch the cows, which turned into huge monsters, as unhurt as possible…when that fails, we will need to heal them with Lady Elise’s healing magic…and then I will extract the magic stone out of the specimen we caught. The plan is to return the monsters into normal animals by doing that. Then I will be able to tame them.”

“Is it really going to be that simple?”

The monsters will revert into huge animals if their magic stone is removed. Monsters are monsters because of the magic stone in their bodies and because they live in monster domains. If we catch them alive, extract the magic stone, and domesticate them at the ranch, they’ll become normal cattle.

Though it sounds as if Erw feels doubts as to whether it’ll proceed easily.

“We just need to try it in the wild, right?”

“I think it’s just as Luise says.

With that out of the way, Bruck and us entered the monster domain located inside the Beckener Barony.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

 

“Bhmoo───!”

“They’re charging at us all of a sudden! Wend!”

“Leave it to me.”

 

The monster domain in the Beckener Barony was no forest, but a grass-covered plain. Because you could also see a crumbling fence and what seemed to be remains of a ranch nearby, I suspected that the cows escaped into the domain from there.

I feel like I occasionally saw TV news about runaway cows in my previous life as well, so it might not be that unusual.

The monstified cows were, naturally, quite huge. As soon as they spotted us, they regarded us as hostiles and came charging.

If I told Erw to bring them down, he would likely be able to do so, but catching them alive should be quite tough on him.

“Wend, what are you going to do?”

“I have my 『Stun Shot』, an improved version of 『Area Stun』, for times like these.”

It was a spell that used lightning magic, a combination of wind and fire magic, to paralyze its targets with an electrical shock.

“Is that going to be alright?”

“Of course.”

Even if it were to fail, the monsters would end up electrocuted, so I could guarantee the safety of my body either way.

“Eat this!”

Since it won’t show the desired effect if I lower the spell’s power too much…because of their big bodies, I used moderate force…

The cow monsters, which got hit by my 『Stun Shot』, crumbled on the spot.

“I’ll go next!”

“Leave it to us!”

“Time to catch them!!”

Apparently I succeeded in paralyzing the cow monsters without killing them. Just as we had arranged in advance, Ina and the others immediately rushed over to tie up the monsters with ropes.

“But, you know…can you really remove the magic stone while letting the monster live on? If I remember correctly, the magic stone is embedded close to the heart, isn’t it?”

“That’s where me being a vegetarian comes into play.”

Bruck cut into the body of a bound cow with a large knife and succeeded in extracting the magic stone, as if to answer Katia’s question.

“This is the part where I need Elise-sama’s assistance.”

“Ah, you mean healing up the cut? Elise, it’s a cow, but will your healing magic work nonetheless?”

“Yes. Healing magic basically does not change in its effect, regardless of whether it is cast on humans or monsters.”

With those words, Elise applied healing magic on the cow’s wound. The cut immediately closed up in response.

Normally, it’d be a total waste of mana to cast healing magic on a monster.

“It is done.”

“Milady, your healing magic is outstanding. With this, the monster will revert to being normal cattle.”

“It’s quite simple, isn’t it?”

“Erw, you’re wrong there.”

Since you have to catch the cow monsters as unhurt as possible, adventurers capable of that are extremely rare. Above all, if you catch them alive, the adventurers can’t get their hands on the raw materials, making this kind of work very unpopular for any skilled adventurer. And if it’s done by unskilled adventurers, they could get heavily injured from the cows charging at them, or even die in the worst case.

Monstified cows have twice the size of domesticated cows after all.

Next, Bruck’s skills as a veterinarian.

You have to understand a cow’s internal structure in order to extract the magic stone without damaging the heart or important veins.

And last but not least, Elise’s healing magic.

Hence it was a job with unexpectedly high hurdles, making it impossible for ordinary adventurer parties. And given that you wouldn’t make much money in comparison to the time and effort invested, I guess no adventurer skilled enough to pull it off would accept such a request.

“Now, we just need to repeat this process. We will then transfer the cows, who had their magic stone removed, to their former ranch outside the domain.”

Bruck’s employees from the zoo and ranch were waiting over there. They weren’t as excellent as Bruck, but he vouched for them, saying that it’d be alright since they were used to dealing with animals.

“It’s still paralyzed, and yet we’re going to move this cow?”

“I can handle it.”

“Oohh, that’s our Wilma for you!”

Wilma grabbed the former monster cow, and carried it outside. As expected of the one with the most strength among us.

“Wend-sama, hungry.”

“Okay, take this.”

“Sweet candy.”

However, it looked like transporting such big animals consumed a reasonable amount of energy. She kept working while devouring a great amount of sweets.

Luise and Katia capitalized on their quickness, luring cow monsters to us; Katharina, Therese, Lisa, and I paralyzed them with 『Stun Shot』; and Ina as well as Erw tied up the cows for caution’s sake. After Bruck extracted the magic stone, Elise healed them up with her magic. Wilma carried the converted cows out of the monster domain, and the guard members, we brought with us, transported them to the former ranch with trailers. Bruck’s subordinates soothed and took care of the cows whose paralysis ran out, and transferred them to the magic airship.

Because the magic airship we used to come here has been built so as to be capable of transporting many horses, it was easily possible to transport the cows after adjusting it a bit. Once the cargo area was full with cows, the magic airship ferried the cows to the ranch in the outskirts of Baulburg.

“But I have to admit, you’ve done well to carry all these huge cows by yourself, Wilma.”

“Want to try it yourself?”

“My back would give in! I am not Doushi!”

The cows definitely weigh more than a ton, so none of us other than Wilma would be able to carry them, I’m sure. I think even Doushi would have his fair share of troubles without his 『Magic Mobile Armor』 equipped. Given that the efficiency would be bad, he wouldn’t need to do this for each and every cow, however.

“Hubby, what are you going to do about the tax for Baron Beckener? Since we’ve taken them alive, we can’t get their materials, right?”

“Won’t it be fine to simply give him all the magic stones in that case?”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit too generous?”

When it comes to adventurers hunting in a monster domain located inside a noble’s fief, the payment of taxes occasionally leads to disputes. The noble would love to push the tax revenue as much as possible while the adventurers want to pay as little as possible. If the fief possesses an adventurer guild, things are easy since the adventurers simply pay a percentage share of the guild’s appraised value of the loot, but there exists no adventurer’s guild in the Beckener Barony.

As such, it could turn into a reason for strife, if handled badly. That’s why I believed it’d be best to pay all the magic stones we looted. Since we’d easily exceed the promised 30% with this, it’d be hard for the other side to file any complaints.

We want the cows and goats alive. Moreover, we can obtain as many magic stones as we want in our own monster domains.

Because Katia has the same poor man’s mind I do, she probably felt resistant to paying more than necessary. I guess this clearly shows her thinking as a genuine adventurer.

“Also, it’s a measure for him to not tell us to hand over the cows later on, and a fee for bothering him and his people by operating inside his barony with a large amount of people. I’m Earl Baumeister, so I can’t be too stingy either.”

“You have a point, I guess. It’s just a habit from my time as an adventurer I can’t quite rid myself of.”

“Being frugal and precise with finances isn’t a bad trait per se. It’s indispensable to maintain a family.”

Among nobility you’ll find people where it’s unclear when their houses will go bankrupt because they are loaded with debts after spending money left and right just because they got a higher income. Katia’s way of handling money is much better in comparison, I think.

“Going by the gloomy look on Baron Beckener’s face, his grandfather’s debts seem to be quite bad. Moreover, it’s not like those magic stones come from dragons. I think it’s a reasonable approach to pay him while being somewhat generous.”

“I see. The former Duchess Philip agrees with that decision, huh?”

“It’s not good for popular people to be too stingy either. In short, it’s a move to overpay instead of having to cover losses after getting attacked for it later.”

She’s looking at the losses or gains over a long time, and not so much the possible short-term gains. Therese follows such an ideology exactly because she used to be Duchess Philip, huh?

“Still, we caught a considerably huge amount. Do we still need more?”

“Of course. In the first place, the females we are looking for only amount to half of what we caught so far. Besides, if the females have not given birth, they will not produce any milk. Therefore we require a lot more for a stable supply of dairy products.”

“Are we going to be okay with keeping that many of them?”

“Yes. The ranch directly managed by the Baumeister House is huge.”

It’s also possible to expand by building a second or third ranch. Though, that depends on us being able to get the necessary workers.

“Huh? What are you going to do with the males then?” Luise asked Bruck.

“We will keep the sturdy, healthy males as breeding bulls, and turn the rest into meat after fattening them up for a while. We haven’t caught any goats yet, but we will do the same for them as well.”

I see. It’s pitiful…is a feeling of compassion that irks me slightly as a former Japanese, but I immediately amended it to regarding them as delicious meat.

“(Cows…steaks, roast beef, shabu-shabu, and sukiyaki! Yep, let’s do our best!) This is all for the sake of securing a stable supply of dairy products for the residents of the Baumeister Earldom!”

Somehow the number of monstified cows is unexpectedly huge, so we might have to work hard at it for several days. Given that we can go back home with Teleport, we decided to continue with the work while returning to take a look at the faces of our children every so often.

“So, what about goats?”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen a single goat so far.”

“Bruck mentioned that Baron Beckener’s grandpa also raised goats, didn’t he?”

“He certainly did, yes.”

Isn’t that kinda weird? Why have we only seen cow monsters in this domain so far?

While pondering that, I spotted a wolf, a regular in monster domains. That wolf is also twice as big as normal wolves, but…

“Wend, look!”

“Umoo───!”

“Kyan! Kyan!”

A wolf had finally shown up, but it got immediately attacked by cow charges, resulting in it running away while whimpering. Since it was limping, it looks like it suffered an injury.

“It seems the cow monsters rank fairly high in this domain’s power hierarchy.”

I think Bruck’s observation is accurate. In the eyes of the wolves, the cows must be as dangerous as wild, runaway trucks. Well, it’s not like they don’t have any other prey, so they don’t need to expressly target the cows.

“I think we’re about the only ones who can domesticate cows like these.”

“Hahaha, Erwin-san, it is because monsters become docile once you remove their magic stone.”

It takes time until monsters become completely obedient after extracting their magic stone, but Bruck has enough skill in animal-keeping to make them behave until then.

“Let us catch more.”

 

◆◇◆

 

We continued to work on catching and transferring de-monstified cows to the ranch in Baulburg for several days. At some point, we also ran into goat monsters. Those were also twice as big as normal goats, and the male’s antlers were fairly big and sharp.

“They sure resemble Horn Sheep.”

“Yeah.”

Those monstified sheep with their trait of having big horns inhabited the Palkenia Grasslands in great numbers. The ones over here felt like a goat-version of those horn sheep.

Because this world has wild and domesticated goats, they appear to get monstified after escaping into monster domains.

“Just as with the cows, we will catch these and remove their magic stones.”

It’d require a huge amount of time when using selective breeding after domesticating wild cows and goats to make their bodies grow big so that they’d produce a lot of milk and improve the meat quality. However, if you use cows and goats who became huge after being monstified, you could reduce the time needed for fattening and selective breeding.

It’s a method relying on monster domains which are unique to this world. But, ultimately it’s limited to only those people who can handle the entire process.

“Wend, there’s a goat with conspicuously long hair among them.”

“Oh, where? …Ah, I see!”

Doesn’t this one resemble a cashmere goat? So this world had this species of goats as well, huh? Moreover, it seems as though the quality of its fur is quite decent.

On top of that, it appears you can get a lot more fur from this one than from normal cashmere goats because of its big body.

“Let’s catch that goat as well. We’ll make clothes for the children out of its fur we can obtain through combing or cutting off the regrown hair.”

Cashmere baby clothes – I’m sure these should feel very comfortable.

…Huh? The reaction by my wives is somewhat weak, isn’t it?

“Wend, that’s the part where you should give us goat pelt clothes as a present.”

“Indeed. Wend, you’re a lost case with stuff like this.”

“Wend-sama, you should mention us first at such times.”

“Quite so.”

“Right, right!”

“Wendelin, it’s always the same with thou, isn’t it?”

“Hubby, let’s do our best, okay?”

It sounds like I hurt the feelings of my wives when I prioritized the babies. I suppose I’m not good at handling women as a former introvert.

“Elise?”

“The fur of that goat does look very soft. I would like it as well.”

With that decided, I paralyzed one goat after the other with my 『Stun Shot』. Bruck removed their magic stones, Elise healed them, and we transported them to our ranch via airship.

“By now we’ve caught a considerable number of cows and goats, haven’t we?”

“I think this amount should be alright for the time being. After all, it will become very difficult to keep them if there are too many of them. We are still lacking manpower.”

Stopping our work here, we decided to return to the Baumeister Earldom. But before that, I visited the mansion of Baron Beckener with the magic stones we collected.

“This time we have no materials of the monsters themselves, so I will pay the tax with all the magic stones we obtained.”

It should be okay with this as it exceeds the official tax rate of 30%.

“Earl Baumeister-dono.”

“Yes?”

Does Baron Beckener have some complaints about this arrangement? Would it be better for me to pay a bit of money on top of that?

“Thank you! This will lower our debts by a lot! Please keep visiting our place to catch cow and goat monsters without reservations. Ah, if you like, I will gladly offer the hand of my daughter to you, Earl Baumeister-dono!”

“Umm, that’s a bit…”

Baron Beckener was overjoyed because the huge amount of magic stones would drastically reduce his debts.

That part’s fine with me, but please don’t tell me to take your daughter as a wife in front of Elise and the others. After all, I’m feeling frosty stares piercing my back.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

 

“Take a look at this. The fur of these goats is fine, supple, and has a nice touch, so we can use it to make a light sweater that can also be worn in the south. I think it’d also sell in the capital.”

“You think so?”

“It’ll sell as long as we can guarantee the production output.”

 

Thanks to us doing our best, the ranch in Baulburg’s outskirts was flooded with many cows and goats. Since I got Candy-san to make something closely resembling 『Cashmere sweaters』 out of the fur we combed off the goats, Elise and my other wives happily tried them on.

“The goat monsters have lived in the area with many smaller fiefs on top of turning into monsters over there, right? Because of their resistance against heat, I think clothes made out of their fur will do fine even in hotter places.”

In short, the fur, which was resistant to heat to begin with, got even more resistant when the goats turned into monsters.

“Wend-kun, thank you for giving me one as well.”

“It suits you wonderfully, Amalie-san.”

“Milord, thank you very much for taking me in consideration as well.”

“Haruka, you always take good care of Friedrich and the other children.”

“Somehow, it feels very stylish. It is clothing you will not find in Mizuho.”

While we were catching cattle, Amalie-san and Haruka stayed back home to take care of the babies. Hence I had asked Candy-san to make summer sweaters for them, too.

“Friedrich and the other children look very comfy too.”

“Those are high-class items after all.”

“Wend, babies wouldn’t understand that.”

“But, they can tell that it’s nice clothing. The touch is awesome as well.”

I had also asked Candy-san to tailor baby wear with the cashmere. My children looked very satisfied in their new clothes.

“Dear, do not forget about Agnes, Betty, and Cindy…”

“You’re right.”

While we were out, the three girls worked on public works in the earldom under Roderich’s tutelage. They are being paid official wages, but I’ll give them high-class sweaters made out of the pseudo-cashmere as thanks.

They should make the three look more adult if they wear them during their days off as casual wear.

Still, Candy-san sure got talent as a designer. Then again, he, personally, desires 『True Love』 over being talented.

“Thank you, sensei.”

“This has a wonderful feel.”

“Sensei, let’s go out and play on our next vacation, okay? I’ll wear this then.”

The three girls seem to like the pseudo-cashmere.

“It allowed me to find nice merchandise, too.”

Ever since then, Candy-san began to tailor clothes out of the fur of the pseudo-cashmere goats he procured from us. That caused the fabric to gradually gain popularity. And then Baron Beckener realized that monsters, which could be turned into money, inhabited his fief, called over Bruck’s younger brother from the capital, caught the monstified cows and goats, returned them into being cattle, and resumed his grandfather’s animal husbandry.

Thanks to that, Baron Beckener managed to safely repay his grandfather’s debt, and his fief started to be known for its dairy products, meat, and pseudo-cashmere.

 

＊　　　＊　　　＊

 

“Sensei, what are you doing there?”

“I’m making butter. But before that, I’m producing fresh cream out of the milk we procured at our ranch.”

“You’re making it whirl around with magic, aren’t you?”

“Doesn’t this room feel somewhat cold, sensei?”

“Well, I’m separating the fresh cream while cooling the room and container with magic. It’s because the Baumeister Earldom is rather hot.”

 

 

Thanks to the efforts of Bruck, who immediately got chummy with the animals, milk of the re-domesticated cows was delivered to our mansion in no time. It tastes great when drunk raw, and Erw has started to chug down a bottle of cold milk every day after finishing his morning practice.

I also noticed that it’s a custom for people to drink a bottle of cool milk while pressing one hand against their waist, despite this being a different world.

I had put milk into a metallic bowl, and cooled it down. And now that a whole day had passed, I checked its state. Using this method allowed the butterfat to float to the top, which would then become fresh cream if you collected it.

However, unlike the milk commonly sold on Earth, the milk over here hasn’t been homogenized, which allowed this method to work in the first place. Homogenization is a process by which the fat droplets from milk are emulsified through mixing the milk, and exposing it to ultrasonic waves.

Back when I went to a ranch for my work in my previous life, the manager over there had explained it like that.

Given that it was difficult for the butterfat to separate in homogenized milk, you could describe it as possible to procure fresh cream from it. In other words, homogenized milk was intended to be drunk or used for cooking just like that.

Since I’m capable of such a homogenization process in this world, I processed the milk accordingly, and put it into a refrigerator.

The milk should come in handy for the growth of Friedrich and the other babies after weaning.

“It’s easier to separate the fresh cream in a cold environment.”

“Betty, if you overheat a boar’s fat, it’ll turn liquid, right? In short, if the milk is too hot, the milk’s fat components, or in other words, the fresh cream, won’t separate from the rest of the milk.”

“You sure know a lot, sensei.”

“Nothing less of sensei.”

“So that’s how you make fresh cream! Sensei, you’re truly amazing! Ah, but that’s why it’s so expensive which makes it tough on bro to obtain it, huh…?”

Agnes, Betty, and Cindy praised me, but this was all thanks to my otherworld knowledge. And just as Betty said, the production amount of fresh cream was low, making it a fairly expensive good… That’s also why some adventurers collect the milk from female monsters, who have been raising kids, and sell it. However, in those cases the price fluctuates drastically depending on the species of monster.

Monster milk that possesses a quirky taste, stinks, and/or is thin won’t sell for much. If I remember correctly, the milk of monsters similar to water buffaloes should be quite expensive. Well, given that they’re buffaloes, they’re probably close to cows.

If animal husbandry gains in popularity, milk and fresh cream should become cheaper as well, though.

“You pour the collected fresh cream into an airtight container, and continue to powerfully shake it up and down.”

Because my hand would get tired from doing it manually, I moved the container with magic, of course.

This is no cutting corners, but an improvement of productivity, yep.

“The unsalted cream will be used by Elise and the others as an ingredient for sweets while salted cream is extremely delicious if you smear it on fresh bread.”

Fresh butter and hot bread make for a great combination. Personally I prefer butter bread over jam bread.

“Fresh butter sure tastes great.”

“Yep, it’s dreamy.”

“It can’t be sold at bro’s restaurant, but it’s definitely nice.”

The trio happily ate the hot bread with fresh butter.

“Moreover, if you add banana from the Demon Forest into the milk that had its fresh cream removed…”

Once I also added honey and whipped it all with a mixer, I finished a Banana-Shake.

By the way, the mixer was an old magic tool we previously discovered in the ancient ruins in the Demon Forest, and moved by applying mana to it.

“Wooow, incredible!”

Given that it was milk that had its fat removed, it was effective on the muscle structure and recovery of exhaustion, if you drank it right after working out like Erw did.

“You’re right. We’ll let everyone in the guard unit drink the banana-shake.”

If we let them drink it after their training, it should have a positive effect on their muscle growth.

“It was really delicious. But, we only caught the cattle yesterday, and yet you can already procure cow milk, huh?”

“It’s because some of the cows had given birth before being caught.”

If you properly fed cows, which already gave birth to calves, they’d start to produce milk. Cows, which hadn’t birthed any calves yet, needed to be boxed in with superb bulls to make them mate in order to get them to produce milk as soon as possible.

“It’ll take time to increase the production output.”

“What about the remaining males?”

“They’ll be fattened and butchered!”

“Back in the capital, you got cow meat from some noble, Wend. But, it was sinewy and didn’t taste all that great, did it?”

Just as Erw said, the meat of strong monsters was a lot tastier in this world, because many ranches only raised the cows. But, since it’s already rare for them to be raised in the first place, beef ends up to be sold for a lot of money, even if it’s not all that delicious, because many nobles and rich people buy it to show off their wealth and status.

Erw’s remark hinted at him considering monster meat to taste better, and thus he’s likely not all that eager about the taste of bull meat.

“Still, seeing how I’m involved in this, it has to become delicious.”

If pressed to say, I’d admit that I’m mostly aiming for the dairy products, but it’s best for the meat to be as delicious as possible, too. But, since the production volume will remain low for a while, I suppose it won’t change anything to cow meat and dairy products being treated as high-class items.

“Moreover, I also made something like this.”

I presented the cheese and yogurt I made with my magic beforehand to Erw and the three girls. Those take time if you make them with normal methods, but just like with the dairy products and alcohol brewing, magic is a convenient tool.

I had bought yogurt starter cultures from a place using them already, and applied them for my own yogurt. Yogurt is being sold at the capital as well, but it’s a ridiculously expensive food. Probably because of the price for milk, its raw material.

Mixing the milk and the yogurt cultures I bought, I just let it rest for a whole day at a temperature of around 40°C, and that wrapped up the yogurt production.

“If you eat it after adding fruits and honey, its moderate sourness makes it a very enjoyable treat.”

I also tried to create smoothies by adding Demon Forest fruits to the yogurt and stirring it.

“It’s also good for beauty and healthiness.”

The one being popular among the women was the drink called smoothie.

“It’s incredible that it’s delicious and healthy at the same time.”

“Sensei, you’re really creative to come up with so many different dishes.”

“Bro…hasn’t thought of this, huh…? I’ll teach him next time. I’m sure Rosa-san will handle it one way or the other.”

“As always, you don’t trust your older brother at all.”

“Erwin-san, it’s not that I don’t trust him. Bro simply lacks creativity and can’t handle new things overly well.”

“I feel like that’s no praise though…”

The three girls looked very satisfied as they ate the smoothies with all kinds of fruits in it.

“Next, a cheese that can be made with little effort…”

I heated up milk, and once it reached a temperature of around 60°C, I added lemon juice and fruit juice of citrus harvested in the Demon Forest. As soon as the milk separated, I filtered it through a cloth, completing a plain, cottage cheese.

It’s different from a cheese that was allowed to mature, but you could use this for cooking and desserts. Right now I made a simple dessert out of it by adding honey and fruit pieces. With it being kinda like a plain cheesecake, this tasted great in its own right.

“Then, after mixing whey, a byproduct of my cottage cheese production, and milk in equal doses, and heating the liquid up, I added the same citrus fruit juices to it as well, and strained the separated liquid through a cloth with a very fine meshing.”

Once I did it like that, I completed ricotta cheese.

“This can also be used for desserts and salads, but above all, if you mix it with pancake and bake it, it’ll become mellow and sticky, tasting very great.”

I tried to make pancakes at once. I combined wheat flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and ricotta cheese and stirred them well, but as for the eggs, I went with a meringue after beating the whites. After adding that meringue, I heated the mass up, creating thick, fluffy pancakes.

“Wend, you really love this stuff, don’t you?”

I stacked the pancakes up in layers of two, poured beaten fresh cream, chocolate sauce, and various fruit pieces on top, finishing a pancake dish that was good enough to be sold at restaurants. I’m sure women would definitely post pictures of it on Instagram, if this were Earth.

“Whoaa…it looks so yummy.”

“I’ll make more of them and serve them as breakfast for Elise and the others.”

“It’ll help you!”

Together with Betty who had recently begun to seriously learn cooking – probably influenced by her brother – I made hotcakes and adorned them with fresh cream and fruits. In addition, I also provided fresh butter, soft bread that had been baked after adding whey and milk to it, all kinds of smoothies, salad using cottage cheese and ricotta cheese, and other desserts.

If they see all these dishes, it’ll reaffirm to them that it had been a good idea to catch so many cows. As expected, a life where you can secure a stable supply of dairy products is great.

 

◆◇◆

 

“Wend-kun, that is quite the feast so early in the morning. In the past we couldn’t buy any milk or dairy products.”

“Well, they weren’t even sold at the Baumeister Knightdom to begin with.”

For some reason, the Baumeister Knightdom didn’t raise any goats, so obtaining milk was next to impossible. Horse milk was given to fowls as a priority because it was seen as crazy to have humans drink it.

“The amount produced is still low, but I’m sure Bruck will handle it for us. I mean, he’s got no human friends, but animals immediately open up to him.”

“I think there are better ways to phrase it…Wend,” Ina chimed in.

But Bruck himself doesn’t seem to overly mind it…

He’s relatively well-connected for someone not having any friends, and he’s dealing with Roderich and others normally as well. Maybe Bruck is what you call an 『Air Loner』.

Since my heart started to sting once I recalled…the feelings of a real loner which I experienced before turning twelve years old, I decided to focus on my breakfast.

“Anyway, dig in,” I offered the breakfast consisting of dairy products to my wives.

“What a luxurious pancake. Besides, it is so fluffy,” Elise swooned.

“I’ll teach you how to make it later.”

“Thank you very much.”

Since we gathered cows and goats for our ranch without a problem, I’ll leave the rest to Bruck and have him increase the output of meat and dairy products.

With that said, the chain of plans I thought up succeeded for the time being with this, but since the Baumeister Earldom was quite hot, no matter how you looked at it, we gradually lost out in production output against the Holy Empire Urquhart in the north, when it came to dairy farms. The cows of this world were more resistant against heat than Holstein cows, but in the end, heat led to a decrease in the milk they produced.

 

◆◇◆

 

“Hmm…that blasted Alfons. He started to imitate thou while using my letters as a reference, Wendelin.”

“The Philip Dukedom is a cold place, so we won’t be able to win against them at dairy farming!”

Several decades later, the Philip Dukedom had become the strongest dairy farming area on the Lingaia Continent, but I hadn’t expected that people wouldn’t have noticed how they imitated me.

 

 

 

 

 

---

<– Previous Chapter | Glossary | ToC | Next Chapter –> | Jump to Volume 19 –>>

---

---

Translation Notes: