The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 480

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

Chapter 480   Arrival at the Holy Kingdom

The next day.

Due to the rather forced decision to go to the Holy Kingdom, the preparation period was quite short. However, as expected from someone like Edward, preparations were impeccably completed.

The number of people to take along was a thousand.

Among the members, Kyle, Bell, Sofia, Flora, and Lilia were the obvious choices, and there were several acquaintances besides them. Still, most of them were people I didn’t know. Well, with a thousand people, that’s bound to happen.

The majority of these thousand people were combatants, but there were also civil officials among them. Surprisingly, even the courtesans led by Granny were included.

Normally, escorting such a large number to an enemy country would be challenging, but even those who weren’t combatants were from Karakas and, therefore, had some degree of fighting ability. In fact, all of them possessed enough strength to fare well as formidable individuals in an ordinary town.

However, with such a large number of people moving, the associated baggage would increase, and the pace of travel would slow down. But in our case, it was a bit different.

Most of those with baggage had skills from the “Storage” category, and those intentionally pulled were just for “show.” In reality, a significant portion of the contents of the baggage were empty boxes.

This was something possible because the residents of Karakas were high-tier individuals. While storage skills are convenient, only high-tier individuals can use them.

As for who these “show” items were for, it was for the people accompanying us, like Canon and the Holy Kingdom folks. The Hero probably wouldn’t care about the baggage, but Canon and Darado might raise questions if we didn’t have any. That’s why we didn’t convert all our baggage into skills and even prepared empty boxes. This way, when needed, we could simply take items out of the skill, making it seem like we had taken them out of the box.

With this, not only the travel speed but also in case we need to abandon the baggage, we can still retain our food and equipment. After all, most of it is inside the skills rather than being pulled as baggage.

Moreover, it would be unnatural and unsightly for the king to move without any baggage. Even if it’s not a formal visit, just bringing people along without any luggage doesn’t seem very king-like. There might be an excuse about being in a hurry, but that wouldn’t convey directly and could be perceived as unsightly by those who just see us.

For various reasons like these, we have prepared carriages with empty boxes and some actual luggage. Furthermore, they are not pulled by horses but by Blast Boars borrowed from the elves, so the horsepower and speed are different.

Probably, we’ll arrive much faster than planned for the Holy Kingdom, so even if they set traps, we should be able to disrupt their plans.

“Vesnar, be careful. If it comes down to it, don’t think about what comes after; just go all out and defeat them. Prioritize your life above all else.”

“I know, Mom. I heard that talk yesterday. Multiple times.”

“It’s because I’m worried.”

“Also, if possible, could you stop hugging me like this in public? It doesn’t really suit the dignity of the Demon King.”

“What’s wrong with a mother worrying about her child! We won’t see each other for a while, so to not feel too lonely during that time, I’m giving you a tight hug!”

She gave me a tight hug. In the morning, outside, in front of everyone. …It’s so embarrassing.

“Alright, Dad, I’m leaving everything to you.”

“Yeah.”

Released from Mom’s embrace, I approached Dad next, but for some reason, he seemed very displeased.

“Geez, how long are you going to sulk? It’s beyond embarrassing. It was decided from the start that I wouldn’t be taking you along.”

It seems there is some dissatisfaction now about not taking Dad along. It’s interesting that, unlike usual, it’s not Mom but Dad who is causing the issue.

…Well, Mom might also have been a problem, but she’s still in the acceptable range. Since she was so worried yesterday, today’s fuss was kept to that extent. If I hadn’t talked to her yesterday, she might have kept saying things like not letting me go alone or insisting on joining.

“Sigh. Old lady, I’m counting on you.”

“Sure thing.”

Dad understands that sulking forever won’t change the outcome. Still, people’s emotions are unavoidable. Dad sighed heavily once, then addressed the Granny, one of the members accompanying us. After hearing her response, Dad nodded once, somewhat dissatisfied but seemingly satisfied, and didn’t say anything more.

After finishing the conversation, I tried to get on the carriage, and at that moment, I saw the figures of the Hero party at the edge of my field of vision.

“Starting today, we’ll be acting together for a while. Nice to meet you, Hero Party.”

Saying that with a smile, the Hero looked back at me seriously, while Canon and Darado had displeased expressions.

Lina? Yeah, she’s normal. Despite looking sleepy and acting lethargic, she seems quite indifferent. In any case, her case might involve political reasons between countries, and being from another country, she might not consider this incident as important.

We traveled for several days after leaving the city of Karakas, finally crossing the border. However, during this peaceful time, it was only until we crossed the border. Once we crossed, the scenery was so different that it felt like we had entered a completely different world.

Even though we had gathered information beforehand, being able to see it with our own eyes was overwhelming. However, this overwhelming feeling was not in a positive sense. Rather, it was quite the opposite and could be described as the worst possible.

The plains, which originally should have been covered with lush green grass, had turned into a barren wasteland where not a single weed grew. Although it hadn’t completely turned into a desert yet, one could imagine it becoming a proper desert in about ten years.

“I heard about it, but I never thought it would actually be like this…”

“This is… terrible.”

We stopped to observe the situation, and Lilia showed up, perhaps thinking we had reached our destination as the carriage came to a halt. However, as soon as she came out, her face twisted in disgust.

“Ugh. What’s this? What did they do to make it like this? The idiots who did this, aren’t they stupid?”

It was unclear whether these words were directed at the Sacred Tree, which might have caused this situation, or at the Holy Kingdom, which could have been the cause. Well, probably the latter.

“Flora, do you understand anything?”

“Mmm. …But, I feel a bit uneasy.”

I asked Flora, who came with us, but it seems she still didn’t know what had happened.

However, even so, it might be because of the Sacred Tree. Lilia and we couldn’t understand the “something” that she felt. Although we still didn’t know what had happened accurately, if she could sense something at this point, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a solution. At the very least, we should be able to clarify the cause.

With that in mind, my heart felt a little relieved, and we started moving forward into the depths of the Holy kingdom.

“Finally, a village.”

We continued on our journey for a while and reached the village we had set as our destination before nightfall. Despite being called a village, it wasn’t a run-down rural area; it was a reasonably large settlement. With a bit more development, it could even be considered a town.

The reason for this relatively large village in the countryside was because it was near the border of the country. Although Karakas was avoided, to head towards the kingdom, we had to move in the direction we came from, and passing by Karakas meant we had to go through as quickly as possible without any breaks. As a preparation for that, this village was the last place where we could take it easy. That’s why it was located in such a remote area, close to Karakas but still thriving.

Especially recently, with the creation of a flower garden, more people might be visiting, and its role as a rest stop would have become even more significant.

However, this was all true only during peacetime.

“If you just look at the appearance, any village looks the same.”

“Well, yeah. We’ve just crossed the border, so it’s natural.”

“Besides, places far from the capital tend to lack distinctive features. In the end, they all become somewhat similar.”

I glanced around, but the buildings themselves didn’t seem much different, to the point that you couldn’t tell they belonged to a different country.

There might be household altars dedicated to gods inside the houses, but at least from the outside, they looked pretty much the same.

However, that was only in terms of the appearance of the buildings.

Although there should have been a lively street with people passing by and the normal sounds of playing children and working craftsmen, we couldn’t hear the usual voices.