The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 476

The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I’m a “Farmer”, Not a Demon King! ~

Chapter 476   About the date for going to the Holy Kingdom

“Could it be… is there something wrong with that Sacred Tree this time!?”

“Who knows? But, we think there might be something abnormal with the Sacred Tree. Well, it’s only natural. After all, your Holy Kingdom cut it down. It’s impossible for there not to be any abnormalities.”

“Huh?”

Hearing about cutting down the god-like existence for the plants, the Hero abruptly stopped and froze.

Then, after staring straight at me, he slowly turned around with movements resembling something rusty.

It wasn’t just the Hero; Lina did the same.

While Lina seemed to know about the Sacred Tree’s existence, she didn’t seem particularly concerned. Perhaps she just saw it as a mere material. Well, for those unrelated to plants, the Sacred Tree was nothing more than a large tree filled with power.

Even when I mentioned the Sacred Tree, she only reacted with something like, “Come to think of it, there was such a thing.”

But now, upon hearing that it had been cut down, she widened her eyes like the Hero and fixed her gaze on Canon.

“C-Cut down… Is it true?”

The Hero, with rusty movements, looked at his companions, then turned back to me and asked with that expression.

However, he should be asking his companions, not me.

“Shouldn’t you be asking the Temple Knight and the Holy Maiden, who are behind you? They probably know more than I do.”

“Canon, Darado…”

Responding to my words, the Hero turned again to Canon and Darado, seeming quite busy looking back and forth.

Observing the Hero’s actions from an outsider’s perspective might seem quite comical, but for the person involved, it was likely a serious matter.

“I… I don’t know the details, but I’ve read about such things in the scriptures.”

“I don’t know anything about the Sacred Tree’s existence in the Holy Kingdom.”

Canon, who seemed to know about it, briefly explained with a slight lowering of her eyes.

However, Darado, indifferent to the existence of the Sacred Tree from the start, dismissed it casually.

From the attitudes of these two, it seemed like the existence of the Sacred Tree and the fact that it had been cut down were indeed true. The Hero, clenching his fist with a frustrated expression while looking straight at me, spoke up.

“Can you do something about it?”

“Who knows? Without directly seeing it, there’s nothing I can do. But the Sacred Tree is revered as if it were a god. I don’t think such an existence can be easily dealt with. If I can do anything, it would be to judge whether the abnormality happening there is related to the Sacred Tree.”

Well, perhaps there might be some way to handle it, but I wouldn’t know until I actually saw it.

“So, what are you going to do? Can I go check the Sacred Tree in your country?”

“…Understood.”

“Yuuki, decisions made on a whim… If it’s known that people from Karakas are moving around within the country, it will spread anxiety among the citizens. First, we should communicate with His Holiness and the King, and then—”

“But! If we take him along and he can find out something, he should be able to help many people! In fact, he figured out the reason when none of us could. It would be bad to waste time here and get rejected.”

Canon probably wanted to step back and discuss with the Pope or someone else before making a decision. However, because the Hero’s words were valid, she couldn’t outright deny them.

Canon looked troubled by the Hero’s words, and a hint of irritation was visible in her eyes.

“Besides, it was originally decided to take them to the Holy Kingdom. So, taking them somewhere else shouldn’t make much of a difference, right?”

“Yes, that’s true. Alright, let’s do it.”

Canon still seemed somewhat dissatisfied, but either she couldn’t come up with a reason to refuse, or even if she did, dealing with the Hero’s response would be troublesome. Thus, she reluctantly agreed to my journey towards the Holy Kingdom.

About the earlier decision of taking three hundred people along, can she really decide such things?

Well, considering the circumstances, she came all the way here, and she probably has some authority given the task of babysitting the Hero. Oh boy, being a Holy Maiden must be quite a challenging job.

“It seems the decision is made. So, when should I head there?”

“Well, as soon as possible would be preferable for us, but…”

“Then let’s make it tomorrow.”

“Huh!?”

In response to Canon’s words, when I replied, she looked at me with a surprised expression.

But, that’s how it should be. Even though it’s decided to go, saying, “Okay, let’s go tomorrow,” is not something a normal royal would consider.

“What, are you dissatisfied? You were the one who said the sooner, the better. No, it’s just that if there are lives that can be saved, I just want to help.”

She looks at me with suspicious eyes. However, that’s the correct answer. I’m considering helping people about half the time… No, maybe about 20%… Let’s say 10%?

But no matter how small the percentage, if I can help and there’s no danger to me, no hassle, and no additional trouble, then I do want to help.

Since I’ll be going over there anyway, whether I go quickly or slowly doesn’t change the task itself.

So, isn’t it better to go quickly and get it over with?

Moreover, the sooner I go, the higher the evaluation from the people of the Holy Kingdom, right?

When I say people of the Holy Kingdom, I don’t mean the church folks, but the ordinary citizens.

If we can resolve the situation, the citizens will be grateful to us, and even if they find out it’s Karakas, that won’t change. The amount of gratitude might decrease a bit, but overall, they’ll still be grateful, and our reputation will improve.

And that reputation, the sooner, the better.

Normally, it would take about a month for a king to personally intervene or for a large-scale support to be executed. However, if we act immediately after receiving the consultation, the gratitude for our timely help will be immense.

Maybe, instead of the Holy Kingdom that couldn’t solve the incident, loyalty and trust could be directed towards us who saved them. That’s how harsh ‘starvation’ is.

People may live without being able to live as humans, and they might take actions they never thought they would.

It’s a curse on the world, collapsing with dark emotions harbored towards everything.

If we provide endless food support, eliminate the cause of hunger, then surely, they will harbor feelings of gratitude that mere words won’t be enough to express.

Such feelings, I believe, will surely be valuable.

“Besides, if something happens to the Sacred Tree, it’s not someone else’s problem. I want to know the cause as soon as possible.”

While the reason of helping people is not entirely absent, it’s more of an incidental thing.

The reason that our virtues will be acknowledged when we help is also, well, just an incidental reason.

The main reason is that I was asked by Flora, and I myself am curious about the Sacred Tree.

That’s why, even knowing that there might be a trap, I decided to head to the Holy Kingdom.

If that’s the case, sooner is better. The Sacred Tree here—there’s nothing abnormal about Flora now, but that might not be the case in the future, and waiting might lead to abnormalities here too.

So, before that happens, just to check the state of the Sacred Tree with abnormalities, I wanted to go to the Holy Kingdom as soon as possible.

And this isn’t just my idea, it’s also Edward and the others’ idea. If we’re going to act anyway, it’s better not to give the other side time to prepare, and that’s how we arrived at this decision.

I can understand that opinion. If I go over there, they’ll probably set up various things after everything is over. They’ll prepare for that time, but it’s more convenient for us if they have less time to prepare.

Of course, our time will also be limited, but we’ve already prepared for that. We were planning to leave immediately three days ago, so we’ve been making preparations, and even if they tell us to leave today, we can go.

However, I also understand that this plan sounds quite absurd. Normally, this would be a decision made after repeated exchanges of letters or messengers. Yet, we unilaterally conveyed the date, and furthermore, it’s three days later. It’s understandable if someone says we don’t understand politics or negotiations.

Despite understanding that, we deliberately chose to do it this way.

“So, you’d want to resolve it quickly on your end, and it’s fine to depart tomorrow, right? Since we’re going all the way there, we’ll bring food as a gift, and you’d want to deliver food as soon as possible, right?”

“Well, no. We still have things to do on our end, and if we’re to welcome a king from another country, we need to make appropriate preparations…”

But isn’t that just buying time for setting up a trap?

Ideally, they should want to get some food, even if only a little, and they’d want to conclude the discussion as soon as possible to buy or exchange food. They should also want to resolve the abnormality as quickly as possible.

Preparations to welcome a king from another country are certainly important, but she should understand that now is not the time for such matters. Probably, if this was an offer from a friendly nation, things would have proceeded smoothly with a “since we’re not prepared at all, we’ll leave it to you” kind of attitude.

However, the fact that they’re trying to delay it like this indicates that they’re buying time. Perhaps they’re trying to bring the matter back home and consult with the “higher-ups” since they can’t fully judge it themselves.

But we won’t allow that. It’s fundamental not to give the other side time to prepare, right?