Chapter 14: The Ashud Territory

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A month had passed since we arrived in Ashud Territory.

Father was treating Mother with care, and that brought me the greatest joy.

“Take that!”

“Good! Keep it up.”

At the moment, Father was teaching me swordsmanship.

I had to admit, I couldn’t even imagine standing a chance against him.

“Hah!”

“Your footing is sloppy.”

“Whoa!”

Father swept my legs, and I fell on my rear. He grinned as he extended his hand to me—what a charming guy he is…

“Lunch is ready, you two!”

“Alright.”

“Coming!”

We drew water from the well to wipe off the sweat.

“Cold!”

It was autumn—the harvest was done, and winter would soon arrive. Well water is refreshing even in summer, but at this time of year, it was downright cold.

“Toma, if you put your mind to it, you won’t even feel the chill. Ha ha!”

Is he serious?

I splashed some well water on Father as he dried himself off.

“Gah!”

“Heh, you do feel the cold, don’t you?”

“Oh, you little…!”

Father, blushing furiously, splashed water back at me.

“Stop it already!”

I retaliated.

We both got more and more carried away.

“Take that!”

“Come on, isn’t this a bit childish?”

“I believe in giving my all in everything!”

Father, like a child, splashed water at me with all his might.

I ended up completely soaked.

“What on earth are you two doing?!”

Mother was glaring at us…

“Sorry!”

“Sorry…”

“Hurry up and get changed. You’ll catch a cold!”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

We changed into dry clothes and ate.

Meals at the Roxfall household are typically simple.

Breakfast usually consists of salad, soup, pickles, and cheese on bread. Lunch is cheese on bread with dried meat. Dinner includes soup, salad, meat or fish, and more cheese on bread.

This territory, Ashud, is known for its cheese, so we have an abundance of it. It’s nice to enjoy delicious cheese on bread three times a day. The melted cheese is so good.

Today, I was studying about Ashud Territory.

First, the geography.

Ashud Territory lies in the southern part of the Kingdom of Kuldia, about four to five days’ journey by carriage south of Bald Territory, the domain of the Lightstar Marquisate. It’s roughly three hundred kilometers away.

Around a thousand people live in this small plain, which is surrounded by mountains and forests at an elevation of about three hundred meters.

As I mentioned before, the people here raise dairy cows and goats in the mountains and make cheese from their milk.

However, monsters are drawn to the livestock, and it seems to be the role of the Roxfall family to hunt these monsters.

Apparently, some rather strong monsters appear, making this a dangerous area. Monster hunting season is in winter, so the real action is just beginning.

Now I understand why Father and his soldiers are so highly trained—it’s because fighting monsters is a routine part of their lives.

The village’s primary industries are cheese and monster materials.

Still, the village isn’t wealthy. The reason seems to be that they have to import both wheat and salt.

They don’t produce much grain due to their location, and they’re far from the sea, which complicates salt acquisition.

Additionally, there are no resident merchants in the village, so traveling merchants bring goods from nearby towns.

Goods brought by these merchants are marked up significantly, and the village’s cheese and monster materials are often bought at low prices.

Because of the high monster presence, the traveling merchants must hire guards, which raises their expenses, increasing the prices of the goods they bring while reducing the purchase price of local products.

“Nothing’s ever simple, is it…”

Winter had arrived.

Though it rarely snows in Ashud Territory, it isn’t entirely unheard of.

Father had taken soldiers and entered the mountains the previous day.

This time of year, monsters become more active.

I went out into the yard. It wasn’t quite cold enough to make my breath visible.

Splashing my face with cold well water, I chased away the morning drowsiness.

Then, I practiced swinging my wooden sword, focusing entirely on each movement.

“Hah… hah… whew.”

“Master Toma, here’s a towel.”

“Thanks, Lara.”

I took the towel from young maid Lara and wiped off my sweat.

Though she’s considered a young girl, she’s still older than I am.

“Ow…”

I felt pain in my palm and saw the skin had peeled off.

“I’ll apply some ointment.”

“This isn’t that bad; it’s fine.”

“No, it isn’t.”

Lara applied ointment to my hand and wrapped it with a bandage.

This wasn’t the first time I’d peeled skin off my hands.

Father told me that when he was young, his hands blistered and peeled often, saying it was a rite of passage for anyone learning the sword, while patting my head.

“Your hands are peeling again?”

When I entered the dining room, Mother noticed my hands and gave me a look of mild disapproval.

“It’s a badge of honor.”

“Just take it easy, alright?”

“Yes.”

Mother isn’t too worried since it’s training-related. What concerns her more is that Father is out fighting monsters.

In this world, there’s magic that can heal minor injuries in an instant.

But Father insists that these training injuries shouldn’t be healed with magic.

Magic only restores the body to its original state.

But one purpose of training is to push the body, allowing natural healing to strengthen it.

That way, muscles develop, and calluses form on the hands.

Now that I think about it, Jaiz always loses interest in training quickly, and even makes a fuss over the smallest scratch, demanding it be healed with magic.

He’ll never get stronger that way, yet no one says a word.

Perhaps because he’ll be a future marquis, he can rely on strong bodyguards to keep him out of danger, but is that really the best approach?