Chapter 198: Tell me Impika-chan

TL: Mete

ED: Lisyche

In the Mountain Castle of the Nameless Kingdom exists the residence of the Pixies, while located on the opposite side is Yuu's personal farm field.

In these fields, there are seeds which are planted that were bought from various merchants, and seedlings which were brought back from the Plant Garden Labyrinth. By cooperating with the help of the spirits, plants which could not originally be cultivated with regards to the condition of the soil, humidity, and temperature, were now being cultivated at the same place.

「Goshujin-sama, it's time to eat desune~」

Izaya who was the servant on the field, plucked a corn from its parent and peeled the outer shell, revealing the densely packed grains which had grown properly with a *Panpanni*

「Alright, let’s eat and see how it is.」

On this field alone, there were five different varieties of corn.

Incidentally, the corn which Izaya had plucked out earlier was a dark-yellowish corn, which was known as Golden Corn.

「Odono-sama, is it fine to eat?」

「Aa, Namari you can go ahead and eat.」

「Yatta! Momo, it’s a good thing that we worked together right?」

Momo kept clinging on the corn which was letting out a sweet scent, sniffing at the smell while repeatedly nodding to agree.

Marifa places a pot filled with water on a fire, while Yuu adds in various kinds of corn while the water starts to boil.

「Yuu~ the water has boiled~」

「.......Quick」

「Stop shouting, we still have to wait before we can eat.」

Yuu plucks out two tomado and throws it towards Nina and the gang.

Lena nibbled on the ripe red tomado while adding a bit of salt.

「......Tasty」

Thinking that their stomach has cooled down for now, Lena breathes out with a mufu~ from her nose. Looking at such a funny appearance of Lena, Nina wiped the juices that still stuck on Lena's mouth with a bitter smile. Meanwhile, the corn was being boiled.

In fact, the steam that was rising was turning more vibrant due to the boiling corn.

「Hora, it's boiled tazo」

Namari approaches Yuu while crawling. As soon as she received the corn, she immediately opened her large mouth and bit into it.

「Tasty~~! Momo, it’s really tasty~!!」

Momo was urging Namari while hitting her cheeks with a *PeshiPeshi*.

While Namari said 「I know, stop.」and broke off a piece of corn then gave it to Momo.

Momo opens her mouth as if to imitate Namari and ate it while her body started to quiver at intermittent times.

「Awawa. Odono-sama, it’s so tasty that Momo is trembling.」

「Then that's good. By the way Marifa…」

「What is it?」

「Why does it feel like Koro is in a bad mood?」

Koro, who was rolling in front of Yuu, looked like it was in a bad mood and was raising sounds.

Meanwhile, Ran who was watching this situation from the nearby tree was shaking its tail from left to right in a cranky manner.

「It seems that Koro's favorite branch had been broken by Ran. To have shown this shameful behaviour in front of master, I shall take responsibility for this.」

Marifa lowered her head deeply towards Yuu.

「Such a hopeless kid right.」

When Koro came close, Yuu held out a piece of corn.

「Koro eat this, it might help your mood.」

「Kunnn.....」

While looking at Ran, Koro gave out a miserable cry.

It was as if Koro was saying, 「But that fellow…」.

However, the smell that was being let out by the corn was agitating Koro’s appetite.

Its patience was soon taken over by its appetite. As if being unable to stand it anymore, Koro nods strongly towards Yuu’s corn with spirit.

「It’s tasty right? Oy, Make sure not to eat the core. 」

Looking at Koro who was happily eating corn, Ran soon could not stand it anymore and therefore came down from the tree.

「Ran, you cannot have any.」

Ran rubbed its face against Marifa's foot while she looked down at it.

It was outright flattering, but reality was ruthless.

「It’s no use until you learn. You shall not even get dinner today.」

「Ni*ya!?」

*Gan*! Just hearing the sound was enough to see how much Ran was disappointed.

「Umm, ummm, Yuu-san.」

Hisui who was quiet up until now appeals to Yuu, while moving her hands up and down with a *guruguru*.

「What is it? Don't panic so much.」

「Me, me too! I also helped take care of Yuu-san's field too, right?」

「Aa, Hisui really helped me out often. I did say this before, you can eat as much as you want.」

Yuu answers while feeding corn to Koro. Although he did not deal with her roughly, Hisui seemed to be not convinced.

「Moouu! Yuu-san does not understand at all!」

Hisui was waving her hands up and down again, indicating and vigorously asserting that 「I am angry!」

「What are you saying? I did tell you that you can also eat right? And what’s with the *PuriPuri* waving hands and huffing? Have you not tried eating this? It’s really tasty.」

Yuu holds a corn in front of Hisui lips, while Hisui’s cheeks immediately dyed red.

「Fufu. So Yuu-san does understand ne~」

While smiling, Hisui bit into the corn with a sly smile.

「What are you talking about?」

Even though she was upset until now, but she suddenly is all better again and returned to being the cheerful Hisui. Yuu then felt some ominous aura coming from his back and turned around.

「Wait just a moment! Us too, give us some of that corn as well!」

[TL: It says Indian corn but let’s just stick to consistency.]

「That's right, that's right~」

「Give us corn as well~」

The Pixies were also slobbering like dogs.

When Yuu looked towards Marifa, Marifia quickly added more corn into the pot.

「T,Tasty!?」

「The ones over there, quickly distribute the next portion of the corn or do you wish for me to eat like a beast as well?」

「Waa fuuu..............tasty. Hisui was raising something secret like this without telling us, but still you have to admit this is so delicious.」

「It-it’s not really a secret, right Momo-chan?」

While Hisui looked towards Momo, Momo noticing the danger immediately ran towards Yuu's flying cap.

「Aa! Momo-chan, how bad of you! 」

「「「Ji~」」」

「Awawa. Hisui-neechan is strange~」

Namari was laughing at Hisui’s sorry state that was surrounded by Pixies.

「All of you, keep quiet... can't you eat silently?」

「Hahahahaha. Goshujin-sama, it’s almost next to impossible for Hisui and the others to not make some noise. I thought that Golden Corn was the most delicious, but white corn is definitely not inferior as well.」

「If you like it so much, you can bring as many as you want back to your family.」

「Goshujin-sama, thank you very much. My wife and son will be very pleased.」

「Come to think of it, I did hear from Narumo, but is it true that Izaya remained here even though you had enough to repurchase yourself?」

「Eee, it’s true. This is such a nice place. The soil is rich in spirit, originally I was shunned in my group, but everything is all good now. Also thanks to Goshujin-sama, my son and I can also go to school. These days even I can calculate, read, and write easily, my son can do it too you know? Thank you very much for all of this.」

After that, Izaya went on and on about how the Nameless Kingdom is such a great kingdom and so on. His wife Lorie was working with livestock which was also going smoothly and wanted to talk to Yuu in the near future as well.

While Izaya was going on and on without stopping, a shrill noise which sounded as if it was scraping against the field could be heard.

「Arere-? If it isn't King-sama, this is strange.」

It was Agafon who had scraped against the corn field and had come out.

For Pixies who were always carefree to the point that they could be considered brain damaged, they had a straight face in reaction to Agafon’s appearance.

「What a coincidental meeting this is. This mountain has Russ’ magic placed into it, so even if you want to reach here normally, you still wouldn't be able to. You, you used your skill didn't you?」

Agafon smiled when Yuu pointed that out.

「So the cat's out of the bag eh?」

「You even brought along Impika-te」

「Ee? Impika?」

「What a good smell~」

Impika thrust her face from behind Agafon and sniffed at the corn.

「Impika?! Why are you here? How come even I did not smell you dazo?」

Speaking about animals with a good sense of smell, you might think that dogs are the best. But Brown Bears have an even stronger sense of smell than dogs.

Therefore, Agafon was shocked that he could not smell Impika even though he was being tailed.

「Agafon, your Unique skill is 『Destination Path Guidance』, which helps you point towards your goal or destination, while Impika has the Unique skill 『Deodorize Scent』 which can completely eliminate odor and everything related to smell.」

「That’s right yo~ It is really easy for me to follow Agafon this way.」

Passing by the side of the aggressive Agafon, Impika rushes towards the location where Yuu and the gang were, and sat on the carpet with a plop.

「King-sama. Please allow me to eat as well.」

The momentum at which Impika rushed over and bowed her head, while saying 『Please』; literally caused her do a wheel spin while rolling forward.

The adorable form that Impika showed made Lena to mutter 『.....Cute』 under her breath while Namari was----

「Ok~」

「ALRIGHT!」

「Namari, why are you the one giving the permission in place of master?!」

「Then I shall accompany you as well.」

Agafon tried to sneak in along with Impika, but Marifa did not allow him.

「Show me your paws and claws.」

「I-I made sure to keep it clean! Otherwise I know that the hag (OniBaba) wouldn't leave me alone.」

「Who is the hag?」

「Hyiiiiii」

Impika only wished to eat corn and therefore did not bother to speak anything unnecessary.

「Aaaaah~ Is this corn? It is so delicious!」

Agafon who was punished by Marifa had a swollen face while trying to speak to Yuu, but Yuu's reaction was not so good.

「You, you seem to be bothering the Otchan (Old uncle) quite a bit.」

「No-no it's not like that! That is ---- it was only because I pleaded with Uzzu-san so that he would finally sell it! 」

「That sword is not something that you can buy with the gold that you have.

I told the Otchan that he could sell it because you were bothering him so much. That sword is really strong though --- where is the sword by the way?」

Yuu looked over at the shrunken body of Agafon, as he was trying to find the Evil Black sword.

「Even I know that the sword is really amazing, but that. That sword is--」

「Where is the sword?」

Not only Yuu, but everyone around him was also getting annoyed by Agafon's dallying attitude.

「That is- the bear did not wish to contaminate the sword so he hid it inside his house.」

「STUPID! Impika, do not say unnecessary things!!」

「But I am not the idiot though~ It’s the bear that is really stupid damo~」

「It is as Impika said. Is there any value to a sword that is not used? Then that would be stupid to depend on a sword just to make sure that it does not get dirty. Why did you even buy the sword dayo?」

「Ee, hyiiii. I just wanted to have the same kind of sword that King-sama uses.」

Lena and Marifa were shocked at what Agafon said.

Nina was the only one who could understand the feelings of Agafon who said 「Yes, yes. I understand you~ even I wanted the same thing.」 as she nodded.

「Is there a labyrinth which is made completely of water?」

As usual, Impika who had eaten a belly full of corn urged Yuu to talk more about labyrinths.

Incidentally, the Pixies that were surrounding Yuu, all had too much to eat and were tossing and turning with a *PanPan* while holding their tiny bellies.

「Aaa, I remember that there was one called 『Perceptive Coral Reef』. A huge coral reef that would float upon the sea.」

「It was really beautiful dazo~!」

「Right~ Namari-chan has seen such beautiful things. I want to go along as well~」

And so, Impika made up her mind to pose and then winked towards Yuu.

「What's wrong? Why are you blinking your eyes so quickly with a *PatchiPatchi*? Do your eyes hurt?」

Unfortunately, the winking of Impika was with both eyes, not with one eye.

「Hmm? I do remember that this was how Mother (Okaa-san) showed me.」

「Haaa」

「Hisui-neechan, the bear is acting foolish~!」

「Arara. Impika-chan is cute but is saying something so terrible.」

While Agafon was smiling with the corners of his mouth reaching his ears, Impika puffed up her cheeks and jumped towards Hisui's chest.

When Hisui strokes the head of Impika with a *It’s alright, it’s alright*, Impika soon starts to smile and then rubs her face on Hisui's chest.

People might be wondering how Hisui can move here and there, but there is a reason to this.

The tree which is the main part of Hisui was in the middle of the Mountain Castle where the Pixies live, but Hisui has control over all the trees in the Nameless Kingdom.

(But Hisui does not say that she dominates all the plant life but rather says that she is friends with all of them), As a result, although Hisui is limited to places where roots of the tree can reach, she can still move freely using her body as is.

「It’s almost time to go back home. We are going to be diving into a labyrinth in the afternoon.」

「Aa-! Come to think of it, the chief did come over to the house! King-sama, this corn is really delicious. Can I take some home for Mother (Okaa-san)? Is it fine?」

「It's alright.」

「Wafu. King-sama, thank you very much ne!」

Impika bows her head to Yuu until it almost reaches the ground and then immediately rushes into the cornfield. While sniffing at each corn, she carefully places them into her knapsack.

This shoulder bag was made by Yuu himself, it was made to resemble Impika's favorite StepRabbit. Although there was no function such as an item pouch, it was equipped with a function to sense crisis if there was any nearby.

「Ufufufu. Mother, will definitely be joyous- Bear, let's head back.」

「Nope, sorry. I have something to talk with the King-sama until the end.」

Impika pulls hard on Agafon's hair, but he does not seem to budge.

「Mou~ I cannot go back to the village without Agafon!」

「Chi. I guess there is no helping it.」

Agafon places Impika on his shoulders. Impika was immediately delighted with the scenery that was different from usual.

「Wahaa. Huge! Bear let's go, let's go~!」

「Didn't I tell you that I was a Brown Bear?」

Thinking of going back as is, Agafon approaches Yuu.

「King-sama, thank you very much for the talk and everything that happened today.

The corn was really delicious. I would really like to listen to King-sama again.」

As Agafon bowed his head, Impika who was sitting on his shoulders was about to fall.

Namari who seemed to be jealous of the appearance of Impika clinging onto to the head of Agafon muttered, 「You’re falling~」.

「It's alright, it was nothing bothersome.」

Yuu muttered while looking at the returning Agafon.

The Beastman Chief Rubanof had gathered people into one room one after another.

All the best men that were gathered were quite old. They were the respective chiefs of each settlement that had immigrated at the time of Rubanof’s succession.

「Everyone, we are now gathered here today. During everyone's busy schedule, all the chiefs that are gathered here today is thanks to the Beast God--」

「Rubanof-dono, leave the pleasantries for later. What is the present gathering of clan chiefs for?」

「Oo, is it because of tomorrow? Is it because of the merchant that the King-sama had told us about?」

The Boar Beastmen asked the question, followed by the Dog Beastmen questions.

「That is there as well. The reason that we have gathered today is to talk mainly about the ‘Deserting People’ situation.」

Rubanof's word made everyone's face turn grim.

Deserting People----Although they have their own reasons, they are the ones that had left the Nameless Kingdom.

「Deplorable. To be saved by King-sama, only to run away.」

「They left the country as soon as they got a job!」

「They brought shame to Beastmen.」

Rubanof kept silent while everyone spit out their abusive words. He then continued to speak after the meeting regained calm.

「The problem is that, most of the deserters are of the beast people.」

Rubanof waited until all the objections were voiced out from the people gathered there.

「Stop. Is there really nothing that we can do about the beastmen deserters?」

「Yes. Most of the beastmen are still fertile. There are still many who are able to give birth to babies.」

「There are over two thousand beastmen, but even if you count the number of recent additions of the demons, it still does not add up to 300 people.」

While the others were making excuses and reasons, Rubanof's words made everyone shut up.

「Among the Demon tribe, there is not even a single deserter. There are not even 10 people who deserted. On the other hand, the beastmen tribe had over a hundred of them.」

The inside of the room instantly got quiet.

In fact, everyone knew this to be true.

Since there were a lot of people, they were trying to find excuses to quantify that.

「I don't wish for you to misunderstand, I am not really blaming you.

But if this goes on, the King's trust in the beastmen will continue to plummet to the ground.

In fact, the Demons have tied themselves close to the king through Namari, the demons have even sent people to learn from Uzzu-dono who was brought over by the king, they are slowly deepening their relationship with the king.

There are even rumours that the fallen demon tribe are even offering decorations and other things to Russ-dono to deepen their relationship.

The beastmen are the only ones who are not trying to deepen their relationship with the king.

I sent some clever women to work in the Mountain Castle to gather information all the time.

It is more than likely that Marifa-dono has noticed this and has already incorporated them with some methods.」

[TL: Basically turned them ]

There were no response to Rubanof's words.

If there was way to measure frustration, then his face right now could be used to measure it.

「Fumu. In the worst case scenario, Russ-dono might have speculated and looked into this matter and had them all turned into undead.」

「There is no way that the king could have allowed this to happen!」

「That's right! No matter how far things took for the turn...」

「That's exactly why I think there might be a chance for it not happening right? That's the reason why I had sent someone to go to the Mountain Castle today. Impika, please come in.」

As soon as Rubanof said those words, the door opened swiftly and Impika rushed in.

「Hello there! It's me Impika dayo~」

Impika lowered her head and greeted everyone. There was just too much momentum with her entrance that she ended up rolling again.

「Hmm? It seems like I tripped againnnn~」

She then looked on with her head tilted while everyone laughed.

Although it was simple trip, the effect seemed to have been maximized for the elderly, who could be seen having rugged faces all over, but right now they were watching over Impika with a smile and a loving gaze in their eyes.

「Ahem. Impika, please tell us what happened in the Mountain Castle with the king.」

「Alright yo~」

Impika lowered her bag and took out a few objects which were wrapped in clothes from the inside. And then she spread the cloth and turned and smiled at the elderly people who were looking on eagerly.

「Hmm? What is that? That is a spoon and this is a knife---」

「Don't touch it!」

The elder who was from the boar tribe unintentionally withdrew the hand that's reaching out when Impika screamed.

「This is you know. This was something that the king created just for me. That's why no one else can touch it.」

「Impika, nobody wants to steal it from you, so why don't you continue?」

「Yes. But before that.」

Impika removes the string that was on her neck and drew out a plate which had a rectangular mesh engraved on it, and then offered it to Rubanof.

「Muu. Is this fine?」

「This is umm.... Pre, pre pay? Ya know. Let's do this later ok.」

「Prepay is it. Quite shrewd you are.」

「Rubanof-dono, what is that?」

「This is something like a stamp from the king.

When the children do a good job at helping adults or parents, this would be awarded according to their contribution. Um, Impika.」

「That's right yo. Umm..

If you get 10 of them, then you get a snack from the king and so on.

You get a knife when you make 50. Even so, there are so many kids so it's usually sequentially awarded. Right now it's Paiiruka, and then it will be Yunbanmachina dayo.

Also, those who don't have parents are going to be first and then it's going to be the others' turn.」

This stamp system was something that Yuu had thought of. It was introduced because children could also help in the day to day things and these stamps would urge the children to help the adults voluntarily.

Ten stamps would mean one snack while twenty would mean a lunch, 50 stamps would mean homemade article and knives that Yuu made, and hundred stamps would mean for them to stay in the Mountain Castle for a day.

Also, stamps were made so that if only one kid helps out, then they would receive less stamps. But if there were multiple kids doing something together, then they would get more stamps. This was done so that the kids would gather, make friends, and support each other while helping out and so on.

Impika then wraps the knife and spoon carefully with a cloth and then once again puts it in her bag on her back. The old men finally understood,「Ahh so she was showing it off.」, why she did that.

「The king's lunch was really tasty!」

「What's with that... so suddenly.」

「...」

「Before coming here, we ate meat together with the king and everyone.」

「Even if it is meat, don't you eat it every day?」

「That's right, that's right.」said the old men collectively, but Impika responded with 「Chichichi」as if refusing that it was not the case.

Rubanof was amazed at what he heard.

「Is it different from the meat that you eat in the village? Ya know.Even the meat in the King's Castle is much more delicious.It's meat from cows! It was like really tasty ya know!!」

「What kind of meat is Tan?」

「Is it maybe a cow's thigh? Or maybe a bird's breast?」

「Nope - Tan is what Cow elder said.」

「It really was something that I said!? I have never heard of a cow that was that delicious.」

「Aa, I don't know. It is as Cow elder said, it was really really delicious.

Tan was just really delicious there. I was just chewing and the taste on the tongue was delicious. Food kept on coming and I was eating nonstop.」

Impika was using all of her tiny little body to explain how delicious the beef meat was, she even went as far as using her eyes. Although she was still young and has poor expressions, but the emphasizing figure was really convincing.

「Aa, I remembered, I also remembered.」

Even the mouths of the elders present over there, saliva was overflowing.

「Fuu. Ridiculous. Anyways, it seems that it is something that only children can eat.」

「Eh? Even the adults ate it though.」

「Wh-what did you say!?」

The lion tribe elder looked at Rubanof, while Rubanof denied it by saying 「No, I have not eaten it.」.

「Ummm. Before this, Machupi and even Byarune-ojiichan had also eaten it in dinner.」

「Isn't that the Chieftain and the Leader of the fallen demon tribe?」

「What could this be about?」

「Impika~! Explain what it was about!」

When the elder shouted, he unintentionally grabbed onto Impika who was struggling to get out of the elder's grip.

「Mou! How could you even grab onto such a cute woman like me - Let me go right this instant! 」

「So-sorry. My bad.」

「Well then, I don't know about Byarune-ojiichan, but Machupi was talking about techniques and grapples and so on.」

「Is that really true?」

「Yes. Since the king who was already there, could fight, they started talking about that.」

Rubanof continues to ask questions while chaos was ensuing.

「Impika, what about the girls that were working at the Castle?」

「Sisters? The sisters are-- they are all under Marifa-oneechan.

Like they are really amazing! But Marifa-oneechan said that they are still in progress.」

「Did you hear? Machupi was trying to pledge allegiance to the king and was trying to abandon his current position. It was probably the same for Byarune-dono.

And as expected, they are currently under the hands of Marifa-dono.

While we are trying to move slowly, the other races are already one to two steps ahead! I don't know why this is happening, but let me tell you all something if this keeps on.

What do you think will happen to the future of the beastmen?」

「Then, what should we do? What we did until now has not yielded us any results yet, so what now?」

「That's what we will be discussing from now on.」

「All of you, listen here! We shall do as Rubanof says!」

「Wha--? Are you trying to pick a fight here?」

「Stop. At least behave yourself in front of children.」

「It's all because of you!」

「Oh? I am ready anytime!」

And again, the Chiefs began to quarrel.

Looking at this, Rubanof sighed greatly.

Impika was looking inquisitively at the battle of the adults.

「It would be fine if all of you worked together. Well I guess you will all understand soon enough~」

Murmuring so, she left the room.