Published: July 3, 2025
The opening of "Part Two: Western Nations Arc"!
April.
In the Duke Rondo's territory, the rice planting has finished, and a peaceful rural landscape spreads out.
The rice field covers about five tan.
That's five thousand square meters.
In terms of tsubo, it's one thousand five hundred tsubo.
About one-tenth the size of Tokyo Dome...
Well, it's certainly not that large, but considering the rice needed for a person's yearly consumption, plus what to distribute to neighbors and gifts for close friends, it's enough rice to yield plenty.
"Phew, it looks like it’s going to be hot today."
Ryo, the Duke of Rondo, starts his work early in the morning.
Every morning, he checks the rice fields, pulling out weeds.
When growing rice without using herbicides, it’s an unavoidable task.
If this were Earth, he would have to go into the fields to pull them out by hand or push a weeding cart... a considerable amount of hard labor.
In the Duke Rondo's territory, of course, a golem with an automatic weed removal function has been completed... but Ryo deliberately chooses to do it himself.
That said, it's a hassle to go into the rice fields each time.
He extends his right thumb and index finger, forming a gun shape.
Then he aims at the base of the grass peeking out from the water and shoots.
"[Bang]"
The mud at the base bursts, and the grass floats up to the water's surface.
Since there’s a slight current in the rice field, if left alone, it will flow away into the stream by itself...
Once, a large version of the mantis shrimp knocked Ryo out with something like plasma... or was it cavitation... anyway, it was that.
The name of the magic Ryo assigned to it is [Bang].
...After all, it seems Ryo lacks a sense for naming.
Around the rice fields, several pillars stand tall.
Known in the kingdom as "Exorcism Pillars," these are designed to ward off monsters and are placed along major roads.
While they don't match the performance of the barrier installed by Michael (alias) at Ryo's home, they have been sufficiently effective so far, and no monsters have entered the rice fields or farmland.
Of course, Ryo knows that for the super-large and super-powerful neighbors, even Michael's barrier is ineffective...
He must never anger them.
In the mornings, he inspects the rice fields and spends the rest of the morning practicing magic while running through the Forest of Rondo, and in the afternoons, he reads alchemy-related books that he borrowed... I mean, "acquired" from various libraries.
Such a peaceful life was disrupted one evening.
For the first time, the alchemy tools that had never been activated before came to life.
The 'communication tablet,' which Ryo casually calls it, is an alchemy tool that looks like a stone tablet, stored on a shelf in the living room.
It's something that delivers text information... like a fax... or an email...
One-to-one.
Moreover, it’s one-way.
Furthermore, it runs out of energy after a single use.
However, the effective range is several thousand kilometers...
From Ryo's house in the Forest of Rondo to the royal capital, it’s over two thousand kilometers in a straight line, but it reaches without any issues.
"Something unusual is moving..."
Since communication occurred for the first time, Ryo was surprised and picked up the tablet to read it.
"Come to the castle in formal attire as quickly as possible...? I understand about going to the castle, but... formal attire?"
It only foretells a troublesome situation...
That night.
Ryo prepared but, of course, did not head to the royal capital.
First, there was someone he needed to inform.
Ryo went to the northern marsh.
There, he met the headless knight, a dullahan... who is actually his swordmaster, the water fairy king.
The two unsheathed their swords without exchanging words and began their sword fight.
Two hours later, the mock battle ended with Ryo's two wins and three losses.
He couldn't manage to win.
With every bit of strength Ryo gained, the dullahan also grew stronger... just where is the limit?
"Master, I'm sorry. It seems I will be away from the forest for a while starting tonight."