The King's Inspection (2)

It was a sheep... wasn't it? Why was it so massive? And did it just speak? Perhaps such a species existed, but why on earth was a sheep eating Meat? Or was it simply something that looked like Meat because it was sprouting from the soil?

I racked my brain for answers, but none came.

The boy had led me here without a hint of hesitation. If he was willing to show an outsider around so casually, he clearly didn't consider this place a secret.

Practically speaking, if one wanted Meat, they would simply raise livestock. Cultivating it in a field seemed utterly pointless. Besides, no matter how oversized or carnivorous it was, a sheep was still just a sheep. It was nothing more than a beast.

The crops appeared to be thriving, but the scale of the operation was limited. If I compared the harvest volume to the vast agricultural reaches of my own Kingdom of Inraku, the difference was laughable.

In other words, this field isn't what has caught the interest of other nations.

"Thank you. You've been most helpful," I said.

"Yeah, it was amazing, right? Here, take this as a souvenir."

The boy handed me a slab of Freshly Harvested Meat. The moment I took it, the sheep lunged forward and devoured it.

"Delicious, baa. I want seconds, baa."

"That wasn't for you!" the boy yelled. He began kicking the sheep with a series of dull thuds.

The boy tried to hand me Meat several more times, but the sheep snatched it away every single time. I eventually offered a polite refusal and decided it was time to move on to the next location.

◇　◇　◇

My next destination was the facility producing the Magic Tools that sustained Yuri’s territory—a tower housing a Sage.

Or so I thought.

"What in the world is this tower? Is the structure itself a Magic Tool?"

For some reason, the tower was tilted at a sharp angle. Worse, it was visibly shaking.

Is this a deterrent to keep intruders out? It certainly takes Courage just to step toward it, but is this actually a place where people can live and work?

Was it possible to even manufacture Magic Tools in such an unstable environment?

Wait. Is that the strategy?

Thinking rationally, it was hard to imagine anyone producing anything in a wreck like this. Perhaps it was a decoy designed to make people think the real work was being done elsewhere, thus keeping prying eyes away.

Which means the true secret of their Magic Tool creation must be hidden inside...

Driven by a grim curiosity, I braced myself and entered the tower.

Several minutes later...

"Hah... hah... Are they insane?! Why are there Monsters prowling inside a Laboratory?! It’s practically a Dungeon!"

I emerged, gasping for air, having barely escaped with my life.

No... does this mean they have something so valuable they're willing to go to these lengths to hide it?

It stood to reason that the people of this territory possessed some means of repelling those Monsters.

"Hey, old man, who are you? You got business with this tower?"

I was hunched over, hands on my knees as I struggled to catch my breath, when a man who looked like a Mercenary approached. He was carrying a Large Hammer.

I’ve seen this man somewhere before, haven't I?

However, as a King who saw countless faces every single day, there was no way I could be expected to remember a man I might have glimpsed only once or twice.

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