What Rest and his companions had arrived at was a stretch of undeveloped land. The northern part of the Sabnock Plains... Count Clover's domain.
It was land Rest now owned, but all that spread out was a vast, empty plain without a single structure in sight.
There were no residents either, but the land itself was undeniably enormous.
Because he had earned more than enough glory from subjugating the magic beast Sabnock and then quelling the rebellion of the Third Prince, Rodele Aiwood, the royal family had granted him this vast territory as a reward.
"As far as the eye can see, this is all my land... It really hits you just how far you've come, doesn't it..."
He had felt it even when receiving his commendation directly from His Majesty the King—he had been given far more than he deserved.
To think that he, who had been abused at the honorary Viscount Eberun house and treated as a noble in name only, had truly risen to such a height.
(When I became Viola and Primula's fiancé, I thought I'd steeled myself for this... but I never expected to become this important...)
Rest was already set to inherit House Rosemary.
Combined with Count Clover's domain, he would hold at least two titles.
If the two territories were merged, their total area would surpass even a duchy, making him one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom.
The land would eventually be split among his future children, balancing the power structure... but in a worst-case scenario, he might have gained enough influence to threaten the royal family itself.
(Of course, it's just a lot of land. There are plenty of people with higher standing than me...)
"What's wrong, Rest?"
Standing atop a hill and gazing down at his domain, Rest was addressed by Viola, who sounded puzzled.
"Just thinking what a fine view it is."
"Yes, it truly is. A beautiful stretch of plain."
"So this is where Count Clover's domain begins..."
Following her older sister, Primula joined the conversation.
"Developing such a land rich in nature feels a bit daunting... but when I think about how a home and town for Lord Rest, for all of us, will be built here, it fills me with a deep sense of emotion."
"Yeah, it does..."
Rest gazed down from the hilltop, searing the scene before him into his mind.
Surely there would come a day when he would look back on today.
A day when he would watch the town's growth from this same hill and laugh with his family, saying, "Nothing was here back then."
*(For that happy future, the first step is to deal with the monsters.)* Present here were Rest, the Rosemary sisters, and the soldiers and magicians of House Rosemary who served as the sisters' guards.
As for Yuri, who had come along with them... she was nowhere to be seen.
She had been right there with them, but at some point, she had slipped away.
"I'm back, everyone!"
"Yuri..."
Sure enough, Yuri came bounding up the hill with a skip in her step.
"I went out on a reconnaissance mission! Pretty impressive, right?"
"Impressive, sure... but you went off and did your own thing again, didn't you?"
"I'm the woman who's going to be Rest's wife, you know. I can't just keep relying on everyone—I need to show that I can be useful too!"
Yuri puffed out her chest with pride.
She reported her findings with an air of total confidence, but bits of leaves clung to her hair and clothes, making her look anything but composed.
"Well, fine... So, what did you find?"
"Right, of course... Just as we'd heard beforehand, there was a nest of monsters at the spot where we're planning to build our base."
"I figured as much..."
I would have preferred if it had quietly disappeared without me knowing... but it seemed things weren't going to be that convenient.
"The ones that had built the nest were large ape-type monsters. At the very least, there were over a hundred of them."
"'Crazy Apes'... dangerous, violent ape-type monsters."
Digging through the information he had received beforehand, Rest spoke with a grim expression.
The creatures that had built a nest at the planned base construction site were large ape-type monsters.
They were dangerous pests that possessed high intelligence and would sometimes snatch up humans to devour.
—————— I'm continuing to post additional episodes on my Limited Updates Notes page.
Feel free to give them a read!