Chapter 18
Estate
Graf personally introduced us to the land allotment I'd received from the throne, and insisted on walking its entire dimensions with us in tour. He believed it to be only the first step in making up for the slight delivered to us by the Serazin region's provincial lord.
Though he knows the land well, and I'm definitely grateful for his insight, my repeated assurances that any complaints we had were with Lord Ettia and not with him were shot down as often as I offered them.
It's pretty decent land, by my reckoning. The fifty acres sounds like an awful lot for this village until you realize it's almost all forest outside the village, territory they can do very little with and need even less with the region's overabundance of horned rabbits. Once upon a time, it would have been necessary for hunting and lumber, but Dabun is already built up and the forest is predominantly hardwood, making it undesirable for regional construction preferences anyway.
It's very clear, however, that a particular portion of it was once cleared. There's perhaps a couple acres where everything is young growth and even glades. It's obvious that nothing within this area is part of the older forest. It probably isn't older than I am. Heck, it's possible some of it is even younger than I look.
The mayor is surprised when I mention this to him, not expecting me to have known enough about forest growth to tell the difference between one part and another.
The smile on my face as I answer is admittedly a bit homesick as I explain that I grew up surrounded by similar environments.
"Ah," he edges in awkwardly, "if you'll pardon me for saying, Miss Lee, you do not cross me as someone who was brought up in the wilds."
I laugh. I can't help it, it's such a bizarre way to interpret what I said. "I wasn't! Not that I'd consider this particularly wild. My family has a couple hundred acres back where I'm from, and I had the run of most of it, plus plenty of wilderness beyond it."
Graf's laugh is a shorter bark. "And to think you nearly had me fooled with that whole, not a noble, routine." He's pulled his hat off at this point, having been wiping his head down, and he motions toward me with the item. "I figured you must have been from merchants, what with the grin you gave and the fuss you put up about being called a noble. Now the truth's out. You're not just a noble, you're landed."
While it's true that my family's land is ancestral property, I already regret bringing it up. Trying to explain my homeland's lack of a caste system, nevermind the completely different way property rights are handled, seems like a fruitless headache that wouldn't serve any purpose.
"What I am or am not back home doesn't really matter," I go with instead. "I'm not from the empire, so aside from my status as a Hero, any position I may have doesn't mean anything here."
That's clearly something that makes him curious, but he's more subdued when he says, "That doesn't seem to bother you as much as I think it would me."
I laugh again at that. I can't tell him that it doesn't bother me because I'm not accustomed to being concerned with titles and ranks in the first place, so I just shake my head. "It is what it is. I'm far from home, sure, but I'm prepared to make do."
Graf puts his hat back on his head with a sigh. "More mature than a man twice your age, Miss Lee ..."
That's fair, since I'm nearly twice my age. Still, it seems only a comment in passing, and he doesn't dwell on it.
"Well, I'm glad to hear it," he says instead, as if his previous remark hadn't happened. "Now that you've seen the whole property, any thought to where you'll be putting the house?"
Yorin, who has mostly kept to herself, speaks up at that point. "You mean there isn't one?"
"Ah, no, afraid not," he confesses. "Not for a long time, anyway. Of course, I'm happy to host Miss Hero as a guest in my own home until one's ready. Oh, and you, too, of course, if you need it."
"I would prefer to stay wherever the temple grounds are to be," she answers, "though I appreciate the offer."
"Fire took the original house?" I guess, and the man's face turns surprised again.
"Uh, yes," Graf confirms. "How ... how did you know? It must have been, gods, some dozen years."
I motion to the trees. "I don't recognize all of the species exactly, but the trees around the big glade have a lot in common with the kind you tend to see a lot of after an area's been cleared by fire. I'm guessing that glade is where the original house was."
He takes his hat off again, more solemnly this time. "You're far too clever, Miss. Far, far too clever. You're completely in the right of it. The whole farm was razed to the ground. Second time, too. More than a few of us started to think that poor girl was cursed." But he scoffed and shook his head. "Not that any of us would say it now."
"Girl?" I inquire.
"That's right," the mayor nods. "Only survivor the first time, lost her parents and anything she might've had to her name when that giant decided tormenting us would be a fun pastime. Just a little girl then, and honestly still the crying, dirty little girl I see when I think of her. Terrible."
"She must have recovered if it happened a second time?"
"Yeah," the story continues. "She got restless before long and took off one night. Just a kid, maybe half your age. When we found nothing of her in a week, we assumed she'd been reunited with her parents. Lord Ettia's father granted her the land and offered her charge of the village a few years later for killing the giant, herself. She declined the latter, but she hardly got the place built back up before bandits torched it." Another laugh. "Of course, they didn't fare nearly as well as the giant. Still, the damage was done and she hasn't been back since. Never released it, either, though. Not until now."
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... I'm starting to put the pieces together. A giant slayer. Only now released the property. I turn toward the priestess.
"... Yorin."
"Yes, Remmi?"
I sigh instead of asking my question. She's got that smile on her face that already gives me the answer.
"Well, I'm fine here," I insist instead. I don't feel comfortable mooching off of his goodwill, and I don't really think I have funds for a long-term inn room, if the village even has one. I can probably push it off on the throne, but I'd rather not push my luck. Or end up owing the empress more favors than I can pay back.
Both the mayor and Yorin turn their attention to me, the mayor in open surprise, while Yorin just arches a curious eyebrow.
"There really is nothing here," Graf insists again. "Surely you need some place to stay while construction is done."
"A good tent will do well enough until I can get something basic up," I counter. "With a few tools from town, I can clear the land, myself, and get a basic shelter up. It'll probably even get me some points!"
And then I give an embarrassed grin as I rub the back of my head. "I'm afraid a Level 1 Hero ripped from her homeland doesn't come with a great deal of personal wealth. I'm just looking to get a solid roof up I can store some belongings under until I can earn the money to put up something more permanent."
"Earn?" the mayor repeats. No doubt the sheer sum I'll require has him stumped on how I might just up and earn it in anything resembling a timely manner.
"You have a guild branch office, I presume?" Yorin asks.
"Of course," he confirms, though he clearly isn't quite following her just yet. "It's required by law."
"I think a Hero would do well enough as an adventurer," the priestess explains, impressively managing not to sound condescending as she does so. "Don't you?"
* * *
I open the flap of my tent to the dewy morning light drifting lazily down into the glade where I've made camp. The first thing I lay eyes on, though, isn't the remains of my campfire. Nor is it the box of half a dozen tools I bought in town yesterday. Despite my thoughts previously being about warming up some cured meat and pickled vegetables in a pan for breakfast, it isn't even my sealed barrel of rations.
The first thing I see is a big, gray rabbit sitting there like it'd been waiting for me.
And it's still freaking glaring.
I can't yet muster the willpower to summon my anger from yesterday, so I just groan as I return his gaze with a flat one of my own.
"Good morning, Kyuuga. If you're going to kick me again, wait until I'm out of my tent. If you wreck it, the Dabunese Horned Rabbits are going to be down a guardian."
I don't really know if the Essence System translates my words to animals like some disgusting Disney Princess, but I also don't care. At the very least, he moves out of my way as I pull myself out of the tent.
I stop a short distance away on the opposite side of my fire pit and sit down on a log I rolled over for the purpose. There's still a bit of fire there and I put another couple logs on to encourage it back to a full burn. Only when that's done do I then look back across it to my nemesis.
I bring my hand up next to my eye as I focus on him.
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NAME: Kyuuga
RACE: Horned Rabbit
AGE: 14
LEVEL: 11
CLASS: Beast Warrior
STATUS: Irritated
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"Huh, looks like you've gained another level since they scanned you," I note. "Good on you."
I know from Identifying a number of regular horned rabbits yesterday that their levels all seem to only be one. Further, Yorin told me that, unlike people who only have levels once they have a class, all monsters have levels from birth. The difference here is that their class is supposed to just be their race, and their level is largely set in stone.
That is to say that the average monster has a level based on their power, but is generally incapable of increasing that value.
Not only is Kyuuga clearly capable of leveling up through his own effort, but he also has an actual class separate from his species.
I give him another evaluating look, this time without Identify.
"My furry friend, what in all the world have you been through to break so many rules?"
He gives a hard thump, which I interpret as an angry, I'm not your friend, pal!
... Or it could just be irritation from me talking instead of taking the hint and leaving. I prefer to believe the former.
I sigh and rub some sleeping sand out of my eye. "Look, Kyuuga, we've clearly gotta have some words, you and I."
He thumps again, and I hold my hands up.
"I get it, I get it, I'm an outsider. But I'm going to be here for a while, and if I have to worry about getting punted every time my back is turned, it's going to be a lot longer. I'm not looking to cause any trouble for you and yours--"
Thump.
"I'm not!" I'm pretty sure the look he's giving me is doubtful. "In fact, I'm here to be a protector, too. I'm here to get stronger, like you have, so I can protect more people. And rabbits, too, if they'll let me."
I take a chance and hold out my hand toward him, even if it feels really cheesy. "... Will you let me, Kyuuga?"
He fidgets on the spot a moment, probably trying to figure out if I'm about to lunge for him, but honestly, it almost seems like he's considering it, mulling my words over ...
I barely hit the ground in time to avoid a flying bunny kick shooting through the air where my head had been.
"YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
All of my diplomatic decorum discarded, my roaring rage nonetheless rings hollow. The culprit is already disappearing into the tree line by the time I pull myself up to shout after him.