Chapter 172

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on April 8, 2025

Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Pinterest Telegram

172nd Episode

Expanding the Garden

A few days had passed since receiving the gold ingots from the baron.

While walking through the streets with Luna, I noticed many people wearing masks on their heads, robes, and various comical disguises.

“Luna, why are all these people acting like this?”

“There’s a mask festival coming up soon.”

“What’s a mask festival?”

“I don’t really know much about it either, but as far as I understand, it’s a festival where people put on masks and do strange things!”

A festival where people wear masks and do strange things? Luna’s explanation was vague and hard to fully grasp.

In short, there was going to be a big event in the city soon, and because of that, people were dressed in peculiar costumes. That was the gist of it.

When I lived in the city of Kolkata in front of the Labyrinth, I had enjoyed a few city-wide festivals, so I quickly adapted to this idea.

Carnivals, harvest festivals, gratitude festivals, random festivals, and even “Ghetto Days”—there were celebrations for all sorts of reasons. It often felt like festivals were held because people simply wanted an excuse to celebrate, rather than celebrating for a specific reason.

Perhaps the lack of entertainment was why they held such grand events every season or year to indulge in revelry and drinking.

A mask festival, huh?

Is it like an urban ball? Or something more akin to a Halloween cosplay day?

In the past, whether on Earth or here, I wasn’t particularly attached to festivals. But this year, with the gentle and pliable Luna by my side, I found myself looking forward to enjoying the festival.

Festivals.

Alcohol.

Hot nights.

This combination feels almost like an unbreakable formula.

“Lord Rane, it’s heavy…”

Just then, Paranoi, who was wobbling behind us, started complaining. She’d bought various goods at the market, and it was Paranoi who carried all the bags.

Giving such a heavy load to this young girl seemed like we might come off as tyrants. But in truth, it was simply the result of a game of rock-paper-scissors—and thus couldn’t be avoided.

“Hurry up, Paranoi! We need to put up the fence before sunset.”

“Huhuuu… Huhuuu…”

Yet, even in the harsh world of competition, Paranoi, small as she was, was clearly struggling with the weight of the load.

“Would you like me to help carry some of it?”

“B-but I couldn’t possibly burden Lord Hassan with carrying things… I’ll manage to carry it all the way to the hut!”

Lately, Paranoi had been acting like a loyal servant. It was because she believed without a doubt that I was Pluto’s son. Having taken on the position of “superior,” it was an unfamiliar and oddly complex feeling.

In the end, Paranoi collapsed from the heat and dropped all the items. As a result, Luna and I had no choice but to divide the load evenly and head toward our little hut.

“Yard, tending the yard. The yard spell of voodoo—”

Despite the heavy load, Luna’s steps were exceptionally light. Her pink hair, parted into two braids, swayed beautifully with every step.

No doubt because the garden in front of her hut, which Luna had long yearned for, had finally come into existence. Though, in truth, calling it a garden might be a bit of a stretch—it was more fittingly described as a modest-sized yard that wasn’t larger than ten square meters.

Still, Luna was absolutely delighted, treating this small patch of land like a treasure trove of gold.

With a loud rustling sound, Luna dumped all the timber and other items onto the expansive open ground.

“First, we need to build the fence!”

And so, we used timber, nails, varnish, and tree sap to build a fence around the yard.

The task was straightforward—simply drive flat wooden boards deep into the ground in a straight line. It wasn’t particularly difficult.

In the end, a small yard was born.

Receiving two gold ingots from the baron translated into about 30 gold pieces after selling them. Out of these, we invested 20 gold coins into expanding Luna’s hut.

Luna repeatedly asked me if it was okay to spend so much money, almost as if she felt guilty, but I didn’t hesitate to use the money. There was a part of me that felt uneasy carrying the baron’s gold, so I also had the urge to use it quickly.

Moreover, since the hut itself belonged to Luna, I always felt slightly out of place living there.

Now that the land around it was purchased by my money, it finally felt more like “our” hut, which was quite satisfying.

So we spent the entire day digging and tending to the yard, completely losing track of time.

Pahsh, pahsh…

Luna continued diligently tilling the soil with a small hoe. With 20 gold coins being a substantial sum, we were able to acquire a fair amount of land, giving Luna plenty to do.

“Hmm… Hah! Vegetable patch. I want to plant potatoes. Round and round potatoes. Cannonball potatoes.”

Luna’s words had neither a consistent pitch nor rhythm, sounding more like a spell than a song.

I see, it seems Luna isn’t a good singer.

“Hey Hassan, look! There are ants here! There are ants in our yard!”

“Of course, you’ll find ants if you dig up the ground.”

“Shoo! Ants! Get out of our yard!”

Without hesitation, Luna picked up the hoe and began recklessly destroying anthills all over the yard.

She truly was the nightmare of the ants—this petite garden’s ruler and embodiment of destruction.

Pahsh, pahsh…

Before Luna’s hoe, the uncivilized and tiny ants could do nothing but tremble and retreat.

Raising both hands high up and revealing sharp fangs in a menacing grin, the goddess of the yard, Luna, declared triumphantly:

“Haha! You ants aren’t a match for me!”

After thoroughly destroying the anthills with her hoe, Luna only stopped when all the ants had fled to the neighboring yard, and she beamed with satisfaction.

“I’ve won!”

“Good job.”

To be honest, Luna’s energy since buying the land had been so high that it was starting to worry me. But it was clear she was genuinely happy.

“Lord Luna, there are anthills here too! How dare they occupy the territory of Lord Hassan without permission! This unacceptable behavior is infuriating…!”

Paranoi joined in with similar determination, using her hands to dig up more anthills across the yard.

Soon, fairly deep and round anthills were revealed, with ants the size of fingernails scurrying out.

Seeing this, Luna exclaimed:

“Wow! What are these? These are horned ants! Our yard was a battlefield for ants! It looks like they were re-enacting the Trojan War!”

“Lord Luna, then would this massive soldier ant be the Achilles of the ant world? This one appears quite strong…”

“Achilles needs an opponent. Let’s wait and see if we can find a suitable one.”

Luna and Paranoi quickly progressed to capturing strong-looking ants and staging battles between them.

Observing their peaceful antics from the shade, I found myself both chuckling and feeling slightly uneasy.

Looking up, I saw the sky with the sun and clouds slowly drifting by.

Could it be…

Could it be that we are much like ants to someone else? Perhaps from someone’s perspective, we, who live intensely on this land, look no different from ants.

“Intriguing tale, isn’t it? Someone was talking about the battle between Achilles and Hector, but are you discussing wars?”

At that moment, a familiar voice came from beyond the fence.

Turning around, I saw Hippolyte in her usual rugged armor, peeking over the barrier.

“I had heard about the expansion of the yard, but it seems you really did buy the land. Look at this—it already feels like a proper place where humans live. May I come in?”

“No!”

Ignoring Luna’s protest, Hippolyte entered the yard. Her gaze immediately narrowed as she noticed the ants Luna and Paranoi were handling.

“So, what story were you telling? A tale about ants. Naming ants after heroes and playing with them—who are the adults here?”

“This one is the Hippolyte ant.”

Luna picked up an ant from the ground to show her. Hippolyte frowned, seemingly upset.

“The Hippolyte ant is much larger and stronger than that. If anything, this one here is closer.”

Hippolyte squatted down and picked up another ant from the ground.

Indeed, this one had formidable pincers worthy of the name Hippolyte. It looked thick and sturdy.

It was clearly one of the upper-caste soldier ants, perhaps even a Gold-tier ant.

“And this small, frail-looking ant is the Noxdotty ant.”

Hippolyte picked up a small worker ant with her other hand and placed both ants into an arena made of sand to initiate their fight.

Surprisingly, the small worker ant defeated the mighty soldier ant.

“Hm? What…?”

“Yes! I’ve defeated Hippolyte again!”

Luna cheered and clapped, looking delighted.

“This match is invalid. Hmph. Hmm.”

“So, Hippolyte, you didn’t come here to have ants fight. What brings you on such a busy day?”

I tried to help Hippolyte shift the topic as she stumbled over her words, brushing off the sand from her hands.

“Ah, right. Actually, Hassan, I have something for you. It always slips my mind when I get distracted by Nitocris.”

“What does this have to do with me…?”

“The two knights from the shrine’s execution force being dispatched from the king’s city to Sodomora are connected to you because one of them is closely associated with High Executor Schizo.”

“Is that so?”

While I was about to let it slide as an ordinary matter, Hippolyte added one more sentence:

“They might stop by to meet you eventually, so I just wanted you to know.”

“Come to see me?!”

I thought about the Shrine Knights.

Ten warriors gathered from all over the kingdom.

Each of them was reputed to rival Gold-tier adventurers and were at the forefront, protecting the faith and the kingdom from fiends, monsters, and heretics, including Pluto’s cultists.

Two of these knights were being sent to Sodomora.

What would happen if they discovered that I had dabbled in necromancy?

I’d undoubtedly be dragged off to the prison city immediately.

And in a prison city full of dangerous offenders, someone as soft as I would barely last as long as a lunch meal.

“Why are the Shrine Knights sending two people to Sodomora?”

“That’s—”

Hippolyte was about to say something when another voice interrupted her.

“It’s the same as crushing ants when you see them digging in your yard. It’s only natural to squash them.”

Standing beyond the fence was someone.

She had brown skin like Hippolyte, but her outfit consisted of stark white cloth that barely covered key areas. Her neatly parted, deep blue tresses framed a bold face with thick lashes. Collectively, she resembled an Egyptian fresco.

Yet she didn’t feel lewd or inappropriate because her body was covered in countless intricate letters and symbols, resembling ants. She even blew smoke from a pipe she held between her lips.

A brown-skinned, smoking tattooed woman.

Her overwhelming presence made me want to shield my eyes. She was too intensely intimidating.

“Hippolyte… I didn’t know you’d already arrived in Sodomora.”

“Sister, aren’t you too cold with your long-lost sibling?”

The tattooed woman’s name was Antiope, was it?

Moving through the garden gate, she entered, making the already cramped yard feel even more crowded.

“Cultists are like ants—they multiply out of control if you don’t crush or burn them quickly.”

She then proceeded to step on the ants with her foot, instantly flattening the Hippolyte ants and Luna ants.

“After interrogating those cultists, it seems like there’s a leader of the cultists in this town. I might see you soon, sister, until we catch that guy.”

“B-boss…”

Paranoi suddenly started trembling.

Upon seeing this, Antiope, the pipe-smoking woman, narrowed her eyes.

“Ah, there’s a nymph here. More interestingly, why are you shaking so much? Could you be a cultist? You only tremble in fear like that around cultists.”

“N-no, I’m not a cultist!”

“So why are you so scared then? Are you afraid I’ll eat you?”

“N-no, I’m not afraid!”

Though Paranoi tried to sound tough, it was obvious to everyone that she was sweating in terror.

“This nymph is different from the ones I know. Adorable. It’s making me want to take care of her like the raccoon I keep.”

Antiope then lifted Paranoi and hugged her tightly. Surprisingly, it looked like a woman cherishing a doll, making the sight rather endearing.

“Attack of the Shrine Knights!”

As Paranoi went berserk, I felt a sense of foreboding.

Shrine Knights. Elite among elites.

If Paranoi, the clumsy cultist, were interrogated by one of them, she might blurt out, “Lord Hassan is Pluto’s son!” Ultimately, I would be dragged off to the prison city.

While both I and Paranoi were intensely on edge…

Luna intervened.

“You have many tattoos. Are they like magic spells?”

Without any fear, Luna even dared to trace her fingers across the tattooed skin of the woman.

“These marks seem to be narrating stories. They’re like Ideope frescoes!”

To my surprise, Antiope’s reaction was surprisingly calm.

“Ah, you observe well. These are marks I carve onto myself after defeating monsters or completing tasks. It’s called marking karma. Here, this one is from when I dealt with Pontus’ two-headed serpent.”

Pointing at the lower arm of her left arm, Antiope revealed a drawing of a woman battling a two-headed snake.

“And this one,” her hand moved near her bellybutton, “is from when I killed the titan’s spawn—Oger Agara.”

“Interesting marks!”

“The most interesting ones are on my chest, but I can’t show you those since there’s a man present.”

Antiope’s deep blue eyes glanced at me. Instantly, a jolt of tension surged through my head.

So this was Hippolyte’s sister.

One of the fabled ten shrine knights reigning in the kingdom. Her outfit, demeanor, and confidence all reflected someone of immense standing.

“Alright.”

Said the executive officer of the shrine knights, Antiope.

“So, are you the one who took down the Great Executor Schizo? I reserved a spot for that story just above my bellybutton.”

Antiope lifted her hand and slightly pulled up the cloth covering her lower abdomen.

Slurrrk.