Chapter 313: 165. The Ariana Family -3 (Part One)

Translated by A Passing Wanderer

Edited by RED

**

In the Dukedom of Ariana in the Kingdom of Frants, and more specifically, a rural village located somewhere in its outskirts…

“I beg your pardon? It’s really so cheap?”

The former merchant, Laurence, had returned to his hometown in the Kingdom of Frants. His actual place of birth was the capital city of Francis, but the price for a plot of land there was quite expensive. In the end, he decided to find a place to call home somewhere a little distance away from the capital in the Dukedom of Ariana, instead.

“What’s the matter, you don’t like it?” asked the village chief.

Even though it was the rural outskirts, he had been expecting the land price to remain quite high, since they were still fairly close to the capital, but… the price was not even half of what he had anticipated.

Laurence was staring at the village chief before him. The old man in his seventies gave off a favourable impression, thanks to deep wrinkles lining up his face, but overall, he had the air of someone rather fastidious in character, as well.

“What I told you is indeed the price for a plot of land here. But if you don’t like it, then well, nothing I can do about it.”

Laurence could only stare at the village chief in some suspicion. He had been working as a merchant for a long time, so naturally suspicion was the first thing to pop in his head when facing an abnormal-sounding transaction like this one.

He asked again, “Is there a reason for the land price to be so low, perhaps?”

“The reason, you say? It’s rather simple, actually.” The village chief sighed at length. “That’s because the Dukedom of Ariana has been beset with a few missing persons cases lately.”

“…Missing persons?”

“Indeed. Two, even three people go missing every single week. From what I hear, it’s the handiwork of a bizarre demon called The Farmer.”

Now that sounded very dangerous. He had finally learned the reason for such a low land price.

When Laurence began displaying some hints of reluctance, the village chief glanced at him and continued on, “If you aren’t sure about it, then don’t bother. You won’t find anywhere where you can buy a piece of land this cheaply. I don’t know if you are aware of it already, but the population of the Dukedom is well over one hundred and thirty thousand people. Do you know what that means?”

The village chief pointed at Laurence, “Incidents of dying from plagues or getting hurt during your job happens far more frequently than you think. And who knows, even the missing persons cases might actually be nothing more than people getting involved in those accidents.”

Certainly, such accidents did happen rather frequently when living fairly close to a city, and it was possible that this creature called The Farmer was nothing more than an imagined existence only found in baseless rumours, just like a demon from a fairy tale.

“So, what will you do?” the village chief asked again.

Laurence’s dilemma didn’t last long. “I will purchase it.”

He revealed his intent to buy the land to the village chief, and was temporarily given a deserted house to stay for the night from the old man.

—

After the talk was over, he went to the deserted house, where his wife was waiting for him.

“Well, it certainly is derelict, isn’t it?” Laurence muttered while inspecting the shabby deserted house.

“It’s alright. Having a roof over our heads is already a relief, anyway.” his wife replied with a sing-song voice while carrying the baby in her embrace.

He glanced at the child in question. The baby looked quite grotesque. Not only was his skin withered and cracked as if he had been burned alive, his physique was also unbelievably small.

Laurence then looked at his wife’s face. She was smiling contentedly while giving her all to care for this baby. She was unable to have children, and that perhaps made her treat this baby, randomly picked up from the forest by sheer chance, as her own child.

“Have you looked for a suitable child care institution, dear?” Laurence asked his wife, while sitting down on a spot opposite her.

She nodded and replied, “There’s a church nearby. It was apparently created by Second Imperial Prince Ruppel Olfolse in the past.”

“…What, that traitor?”

“Dear, please be more mindful of what you say.”

Laurence hurriedly clamped his mouth shut.

His wife was right. You might get into big trouble later if you carelessly spoke ill of the higher-ups. Especially when they were the residents of the Empire’s allied nation, the Kingdom of Frants.

The wife continued on, “The church is currently being supported by His Majesty the Holy King. I’ll be working there from now on.”

“…?”

Did she say she’d be working there? She wasn’t going to entrust the child there, instead?

Laurence made a troubled face, but had to relax his expression a short while later after studying his wife. She was gently poking the baby while making a happy smile.

Well, as long as she was feeling happy…

Laurence got back up to his feet.

She asked him in a puzzled voice, “Where are you going, dear?”

“I only stopped by to see how you were doing, dear. The village chief said he’d explain the lay of the land to me, and I also need to check out the plot of land we are planning to buy.”

“Even though it’s already so late in the evening?”

“Well, what could possibly happen in a rural village like this?” Laurence reassured his wife. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t wait up for me, dear.”

“…Please be careful. I heard that the area nearby has become a lot scarier recently.”

“Of course. Don’t worry.”

He left the house while thinking, a lot scarier recently? But there were over one hundred and thirty thousand people living in the Dukedom. The so-called missing persons cases frequently happening here should be no more serious than another routine occurrence to the commoners living in this day and age…

—

Laurence headed directly to the village’s meeting hall, where the village chief was supposedly waiting for him.

He knocked on the door, and the village chief wearing a strange-looking monkish attire opened the front door.

The old man stepped aside, allowing Laurence to enter. The latter, initially puzzled by that strange get-up on the village chief, soon froze up stiff where he stood.

“Welcome, welcome. We were waiting for you.”

Laurence’s eyes took in the sight of other men standing behind the village chief. There were ten of them, and they too wore the similar priest-like garb as the chief.

In the middle of them was a Rune inscribed in blood, and a naked man, tightly bound and gagged, was struggling away on top of that blood Rune.

Laurence swallowed back nervously, then looked at the village chief.

“Welcome, Laurence. Unfortunately, you…”

This old man, he…

“You must go to the ‘underground world’ for us.”

…He was a demon worshipper!

Laurence hurriedly turned around only for a club held by another man standing behind to slam into his head.

He crashed to the floor and as his consciousness faded away, the village chief’s voice entered his ears. “From this moment on, you’ll have to struggle with all your might to survive in the underworld.”

A sinister grin was etched on the village chief’s face as he looked down on the unmoving Laurence. “Only then will our Lord Farmer be pleased, you see.”

**

(TL: In 1st person POV.)

“The ‘Farmer’, you say?”

I stared at Seran while munching on the bread.

“That’s right. That’s what we call it. No, wait. That’s what the villagers living near the area are calling it, actually.”

I crossed my arms and asked her. “Could it be that we’re dealing with a vampire in disguise of a regular person? If that’s the case, then it’ll be tough, even for me. It’s practically impossible to scan all those people and…”

“No, that’s not it.” Seran shook her head left to right. “This vampire isn’t in the disguise of a person.”

“…?”

She pulled out a rolled up parchment from her inner pocket, then pushed it towards me. I took a look at the unfurled document, and discovered a drawing on it.

It depicted a monster with a bald head and not a single speck of hair, lengthy and spindly fingers, a long and hooked nose, and finally some very large ears.

It kind of reminded me of an overgrown goblin, if I was honest. What was this, though?

“It’s the appearance of The Farmer,” said Seran.

“…Well, that’s a very good drawing, I have to say.”

“You think so? I drew it, actually.” Seran sat up tall and proud. It seemed that she was rather talented in art, as well.

I continued to stare at her. “However, if it doesn’t even resemble a regular person, shouldn’t it be easy to hunt this thing down? If that’s not the case, could it be that the creature is unexpectedly strong…?”

“We don’t know if it’s really that strong. No one has seen it before, after all.”

What a contradictory story this was turning out to be. No one had clapped their eyes on it before, yet a drawing like this existed?

Seran put the parchment down on the table and kept pushing it towards me. “The Farmer never reveals itself in the open. Even then, people still get abducted and get confined underground.”

“What is the method of the abduction?”

“Some humans worship this creature and serve its needs.”

Huh. Were they like vampire worshippers, then?

“What do they do with the abducted victims?”

“They make the victims fight each other.”

I furrowed my brow at that.

“That monster refers to this process as ‘farming’. It confines people underground, makes them fight each other, and then devours the survivors. Something like… harvesting its farm produce.”

“…That sounds like a terrible hobby, then.”

“You know what vampires are like. Although, we don’t even know whether it’s a vampire or not.”