"I was wondering, is it okay for a rabbitman to butcher a rabbit monster and eat its meat, racially speaking?"
Noein asked Matilda, who was munching on a piece of roasted Gluttony Rabbit meat in front of him, while he himself was also biting into the meat.
After that, Matilda had bled, gutted, skinned, and butchered the Gluttony Rabbit.
Considering that she had only learned how to butcher monsters from books, she was quite skillful.
"With all due respect, Master Noein, although rabbitmen and Gluttony Rabbits have similar ears and feet, that's just a matter of appearance. Just as humans and goblins are completely different even though they both stand and walk, there is no connection between me and this monster."
"...Well, I suppose that's true. I'm sorry for asking such a strange question, Matilda."
"No, not at all, Master Noein."
No one knew how beastmen were born or where they came from. Their origins were said to date back to the age of mythology.
There were stories that God had playfully mixed humans and beasts, and there were theories that beastmen were the ancestors of humans, and that the current human race had branched off from them.
In any case, beastmen and monsters/beasts were vastly different beings. They had no commonalities or connections beyond their appearance. Noein's question had been a foolish one, driven only by his curiosity.
After finishing their lunch of Gluttony Rabbit meat, it was time to resume their development work.
...
They cleared the forest, cultivated the fields, and secured enough land for Noein and Matilda to live on.
They planted the potatoes they had cut, as well as onions, beans, and leafy vegetables.
After that, they continued to cut down trees and expand the area that could be used as a settlement. If they went west or south, they would hit the river they had found first, so they cleared the area to the east and north of their base.
They spent their days cutting down trees and turning them into lumber, occasionally hunting monsters that approached, and their nights making love to Matilda, soothing their bodies and minds. Two weeks passed in this way.
"It's about time we went to the Viscountcy of Konitz to buy supplies."
Their stock of food was running low.
It would be another three months before they could harvest the crops from the fields. They couldn't live on monster meat alone until then.
Even though they were living in the forest, they wanted to maintain some semblance of human life in their meals. For that, they needed food such as bread, barley, pickled vegetables, salt, and spices.
So, they had to leave the forest and go to a human settlement.
"Master Noein, what should we do about the fields? Should I stay behind and keep watch?"
"No, if a dangerous monster comes by, it would be dangerous for you, Matilda. I won't leave you here alone. Let's go to town together."
It was rare for large, dangerous monsters to appear in the shallower parts of the Bezel Great Forest, but it wasn't impossible.
Even if it wasn't a large monster, if several Gluttony Rabbits appeared, for example, Matilda could get injured.
So, Noein decided to take Matilda and his golems with him and leave the territory completely unattended to go shopping.
It would be best if he could leave the golems behind to guard the area, but one of their few drawbacks was that he could only control them within the range of his sight and magic power.
He was a little hesitant to leave the fields unprotected, but he had lined up the cut lumber around the settlement as a makeshift wall, so it was unlikely that monsters would damage them.
...
It took less than an hour to leave the Arkwright territory, following the animal trail they had made when they entered the forest.
And after leaving the forest, it took about half a day to travel east.
Noein and Matilda arrived at Letovic, the capital of the neighboring Viscountcy of Konitz.
With a population of about 5,000, it wasn't a metropolis, but it wasn't exactly a rural town either. That was Letovic.
The gatekeeper soldiers stopped them and questioned them, but when Noein identified himself as "Baron Noein Arkwright," the soldiers saluted and opened the gate, saying, "I apologize for the inconvenience."
It seemed that Viscount Konitz had informed the soldiers about Noein's development efforts in the Bezel Great Forest to the west.
As they entered the town, Noein and Matilda inevitably attracted attention.
A well-dressed young man walking with a beastman slave who had a slave crest on her neck and controlling three golems that moved like living creatures. It was impossible not to stand out.
They must have attracted a lot of attention when they first arrived in this town from the southern part of the kingdom before entering the forest, but it seemed that they were still a novelty to the townspeople.
"Look at that..." "I know, it's the 'Forest Baron,' right?" "I can't believe he's trying to develop that forest." "What's the point of acting like a nobleman when he doesn't even have any people?"
Noein walked through the town, seemingly unconcerned by the stares and words that were mostly curious, but partly scornful.
As if proud of her master's dignified behavior, Matilda followed behind him with a composed expression.
...
"Welcome... Oh, if it isn't the Forest Baron."
"Hello, Eliza."
Noein entered a shop near the west gate of the town.
He had bought food here two weeks ago, before entering the forest, and he had enjoyed the cheerful service of the proprietress, Eliza, so he decided to visit the shop again.
"I've come to buy food again today. I'd like to have enough for three weeks for me and Matilda. I'd like to buy barley, salt, herbs, pickled vegetables, and also cabbage and onions. Could you help me with that?"
"Yes, of course. Please have a seat over there... Marco! Help load the Baron's cart with the goods! And Anna! Serve the Baron some tea!"
She replied cheerfully and gave instructions to her son and daughter, who also worked at the shop.
Eliza had been running the shop single-handedly with the help of her children since her husband had died of illness.
The shop was quite large for a privately owned business, and in addition to her children, she had several other employees. There were even chairs and a table in the shop for meetings with farmers who supplied her goods.
When he sat down there, the daughter Eliza had just instructed—Anna—brought a tray with wooden cups on it.
"Here you go, Baron."
Anna, with her green hair tied back in a single braid, placed the cup of tea in front of Noein with a simple but intelligent-looking face.
She also placed a cup of tea in front of Matilda, the slave. This kind of treatment, which she had also received on his previous visit, was one of the reasons why Noein had become a repeat customer of this shop.
"Thank you, Anna. How old are you now?"
"Y-yes. I'm 17 years old, Baron."
"I see. So you're older than me. You're helping out at the shop, so you can read, write, and do calculations?"
"Yes. I can do it to the extent that I can check the stock and keep the books..."
While he was chatting with Anna and drinking tea, it seemed that the loading of the food onto the cart parked in front of the shop was finished.
Eliza's son and Anna's older brother, Marco, a serious-looking young man, came to call Noein.
He went outside, checked the load, and Eliza told him the contents and price of the food.
"—That will be 200 reblos in total. Is that alright?"
"200 reblos, right. Then here you go."
Noein placed two 100-rebro silver coins in Eliza's hand.
"...Yes, I've received it."
"Thank you again for your continued patronage. I'll come again."
"Yes, please do come again."
"And if you ever want to move to our territory, you're welcome to come anytime."
"Ahahaha! That's a kind offer. I'll think about it."
Eliza laughed cheerfully in response to Noein's joking words.
Noein didn't miss the slight gleam in Anna's eyes as she saw him off with her mother and brother behind her.