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Chapter 84
"A very good choice."
Of course, neither Melissa nor I had the heart to push her away when she naturally became part of our little world.
The truth was, both of us longed for someone's warmth.
She was the one who brought life back to the once-quiet Cascadia household.
Even if there had been a request, it was ultimately our decision to bring her along.
So, when I filled her refrigerator to the brim, she finally looked satisfied and hugged it tightly.
"But if you have a subspace, why don't you just store things there? Do you really need a refrigerator?"
"There is a special taste in eating things cold."
Sure, if she says so.
It had been about two weeks since we returned to the Cascadia estate.
For the first few days, life was rather monotonous and peaceful.
But that peace didn’t last long.
"Give me your opinion."
That day, Melissa was waiting for us with a serious expression.
It was our usual meaningless small talk disguised as a meeting.
The three of us—Melissa, myself, and Luna, who was technically just a guest but had practically become a permanent resident—always had these discussions.
"Did something go wrong? The mines?"
I asked, but she shook her head.
"No, the mines are running smoothly. But..."
The issue she brought up was something else entirely.
"The knights and soldiers monitoring the Demon Realm are too exhausted."
It was a serious problem.
The morale of the troops is directly tied to their combat ability.
"Recently, there have been incidents, and many knights who had left the territory have returned… but still…"
Manpower was lacking, and the systems to take care of them had largely collapsed.
"So, what do you want to do?"
"At the very least, I want to create something that allows them to properly rest when they’re off duty."
That was her idea.
They couldn't afford to neglect their monitoring duties.
Moreover, given the nature of the Demon Realm, they couldn’t just hire any random people to take over.
So at the very least, she wanted to provide a way for those on duty to rest properly after their shifts.
I closed my eyes in thought.
It was true that soldiers being worn down had been a longstanding problem.
I understood their hardships well enough to empathize.
Then, it happened.
"I’d love to send them on vacation, but…"
"I saw it in this noble travel guide. Vacations mean beaches. Like, coming back from a hard mission and lying on a beach, drinking something cool."
Luna held up a book that had detailed illustrations of vacation spots.
Of course, it didn’t really seem like a place knights would enjoy.
"Ah, the sea… I used to like it too. I’ve barely been to one, though… and now, I can’t really enjoy it the same way anymore."
Melissa’s expression hardened.
The sea must have been where she lost her family.
"Or, there are scenic places with natural wonders. It says here that the neighboring continent has a massive waterfall."
"Wow, I’ve never been to a place like that… Wait, how did we even get to this conversation?"
"Leon, isn’t it nice?"
Luna turned to me and asked.
"Yeah, sure. Relaxing on a beach and listening to the waves sounds great. But what’s the point? Are you saying we should send the knights and soldiers there on vacation? That’s ridiculous."
"We'll just make one."
I stared at her, dumbfounded by her confident statement.
"What?"
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and make one."
"Cascadia is inland, you idiot. How the hell am I supposed to make a beach?"
"That’s for you to figure out, Leon."
"What kind of lunatic are you?"
As Luna grinned mischievously, Melissa nodded along.
"Yeah. Whatever it is, we need to create something the knights and soldiers can enjoy."
Seeing the two of them in perfect sync, practically staging a protest, I fell into thought.
Now that I looked at it, it was clear they were just messing with me.
Without hesitation, I stood up and grabbed one of the disposable artifacts placed on a nearby shelf.
Slamming it down onto the table, I declared boldly:
"Let there be light."
"Ah!"
Boom!
"Ack! My eyes!!"
With a loud noise, the artifact exploded, releasing an immense flash of light.
It was a flash artifact.
* * *
The Cascadia territory contained a Demon Realm.
Because of that, the Cascadia family had long deployed knights and soldiers in shifts to monitor designated areas.
If they noticed any unusual monster activity, they would either lure them away or exterminate them.
As a result, the Cascadia family regularly rotated its knights and soldiers, stationing them at lodges near the Demon Realm to maintain surveillance.
This was the key issue.
In most other territories, soldiers and knights weren’t too restricted in their actions.
Their range of movement was mostly within their own territory, so they could live relatively freely.
Off-duty knights could visit taverns, enjoy their personal time, or even stop by brothels.
But in Cascadia, such things were impossible.
The only entertainment they had was the occasional snacks delivered by supply teams entering the Demon Realm.
Lately, however, the knights had found a new pastime—collecting moonstones.
"Sir, look at this one."
"Oh, that’s a pretty big one this time."
Moonstones—mysterious, colorful stones occasionally found in the Demon Realm.
Their sizes ranged from as small as a fingernail to as big as a fist.
No one knew where these moonstones came from, but some speculated that they were fragments of the moon that had fallen from the sky.
That was why they were called moonstones.
Of course, aside from their beautiful colors, they were just ordinary stones.
Even though they were rare, they weren’t particularly valuable.
So why did fully grown knights and soldiers bother collecting them?
Because they were bored out of their minds.
A few months might be fine, but each deployment to the Demon Realm lasted anywhere from three to six months.
Since they had to carry out nothing but surveillance duties in the forest for such a long period, the greatest challenge was enduring the excruciating boredom.
That’s why, after trying this and that to kill time, they had recently taken an interest in farming moonstones.
“Sir Balin, take a look at this.”
“Oh... That’s quite a big one. Where did you find it?”
“Come on, sir. I can’t just tell you for free.”
Some might say it was a childish hobby.
In truth, it was a meaningless collection.
But the knights and soldiers were excruciatingly bored!
Of course, monitoring the Demon Realm and carrying out subjugation missions required them to stay on high alert, but that was only exciting the first few times.
When it became routine, the crushing boredom was inevitable.
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So, even those who initially scoffed at the idea of collecting moonstones eventually started taking an interest.
Clang!
The tightly shut door suddenly swung open, letting in a cold draft.
The Demon Realm was always freezing, after all.
Except for those delivering supplies, no one ever visited this place.
So who on earth had come here now?
“Huh?”
The knights and soldiers, who had been chatting away, blinked in confusion at the unexpected guest.
Then, their eyes widened in shock, and they shot up from their seats.
“Y-Young Master?! How did you…?”
The one who had suddenly arrived at the lodge was none other than Leon.
Leon Cascadia, the eldest son of the Cascadia family.
“You’re all working hard,”
He said calmly as he stepped inside, his eyes glinting with interest.
“I heard something interesting from some knights who recently returned.”
“Something interesting? What do you mean…?”
“I heard that collecting moonstones has become a trend among the knights and soldiers on duty lately.”
Leon’s lips curled into a smirk.
The knights and soldiers, feeling an ominous chill, quickly hid the moonstones they had been proudly displaying just moments ago under the table.
They were just moonstones, but for some reason, the moment they saw Leon, they had an instinctive urge to hide them.
However, Leon had no intention of letting such trivial hobbies slide.
“Bring them all here.”
Leon was ruthless.
“Aaah! Young Master! Please! Not those…!”
“Ah! I’ll get you even better ones later!”
The merciless plunderer didn’t hesitate.
He brazenly raided the soldiers’ storage chests and every corner of the lodge, sweeping up every last moonstone they had painstakingly gathered.
The knights and soldiers, who had long suffered through soul-crushing boredom, could only watch in silent despair as their treasures were stolen before their eyes.
A large sack swallowed up every single moonstone the surveillance team had worked so hard to collect.
The knights could do nothing but stare at the departing Leon with the same anguish as parents watching their child being taken away.
* * *
About two hours before I looted the lodge…
At Melissa’s request, I was pondering what could be used to improve the knights’ welfare.
But no matter how much I thought about it, there weren’t many viable options.
Lack of materials.
Lack of time.
Even if I altered and restructured things, most ideas required either a significant amount of time or resources.
In the end, my options were extremely limited.
But even the idea I had in mind came with one major problem.
A shortage of moonstones.
Moonstones—fragments of the moon—were considered utterly useless stones.
And yet, they were difficult to obtain.
The real issue was that these so-called useless stones were the key to my current plan.
With a special refining process, their molecular structure could be altered to form a unique pattern when combined with certain metals.
And only moonstones could do that.
“Where the hell am I supposed to find moonstones…?”
Even the merchant guilds found moonstones difficult to procure.
Especially since I needed a significant quantity.
“Moonstones? Well, there are plenty inside the Demon Realm… but gathering them takes a lot of time. What do you need them for?”
“What do you think? You told me to come up with a welfare system for the knights.”
If I was going to do this, I might as well create something unprecedented in the entire continent.
“Should I just flip the entire Demon Realm upside down…?”
“How much do you need?”
“If I want to gather as many as possible… it’ll take quite a bit of time.”
Using undead minions would speed things up drastically, but it wasn’t like the Demon Realm was overflowing with moonstones, so there were clear limitations.
Honestly, unless I had already stockpiled them, collecting a large amount wouldn’t be easy.
Just then, I spotted a group of knights returning to the estate.
Riding their horses back, they looked visibly relieved to be home.
These were the knights who had completed their watch over the Demon Realm and were finally being relieved from duty.
Since they had just returned from their most honorable task, Cascadia always held a welcoming ceremony for them.
While Melissa was preparing to do just that, my gaze fell on something else they carried.
“Heh. Look at this magnificent glow.”
“Haha, old man. It’s still nothing compared to mine.”
“Hah! You just got lucky, kid…”
As they basked in the relief of their return, I approached them without hesitation.
Looking them over, I asked,
“Moonstones?”
“Huh?”
“Young Master?”
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