How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary

Chapter 14

After the recruitment proposal to the Rabbit Tribe fell through.

Still feeling regretful and clicking my tongue, Rudick came up to me.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“What?”

“You’re trying to bring those friends back to the territory, aren’t you? Then just bring them. It’s not like they look particularly good in combat……”

“Hey, that’s a bit much.”

“You don’t seem like yourself.”

“What the hell do you take me for?”

“Hmm, a tyrant? A madman?”

“What?”

“Well, am I wrong? You suddenly called for an expedition, then delayed it on a whim and started training the residents. And now, dragging a bunch of soldiers for another attempt at horned rabbit breeding you failed at before, and even an expedition to the Forest of Illusions. It turned out well, but if it hadn’t, our territory would’ve been doomed.”

“That’s… not entirely wrong.”

“And from their point of view, isn’t it good too? Living in our Johnson Territory is much better than here.”

Thinking about it, he wasn’t wrong.

On top of that, the Rabbit Tribe looked strangely fragile for beastmen, so bringing them over to the territory—even if it meant a sort of kidnapping with troops—wouldn’t be that hard.

At least, their direct combat power didn’t seem very high.

“Still, that’s not the way to handle this.”

I thought about why the Rabbit Tribe refused my offer.

Beastmen who had experienced slavery usually placed great importance on free will.

And the Rabbit Tribe, who had once been enslaved again even after being freed from the Empire, all the more so.

Why else would they be hiding away in such a remote place? Because of those memories, of course.

In that sense, those who dared migrate into human territories were very courageous and progressive.

As one could guess from the unruly discipline of our knights, our territory was far more free-spirited compared to other human lands, and since people were scarce, the residents hardly had any sense of turf or hostility toward newcomers.

But that was something only we knew—certainly not the Rabbit Tribe.

So, if we wanted to embrace them, we’d need time to get to know each other.

“If we persuade them slowly, it’ll work out. If we rush, it could blow up in our faces.”

The Rabbit Tribe might look weak on the outside, but they were still beastmen.

Beastmen could basically handle mana and had strong frames.

Besides, these folks had survived solely as guerrillas since the Great Cataclysm.

Honestly, that wasn’t normal.

Even now, they lived scattered like a network across the Forest of Illusions. Just the thought of trying to flush them out of the forest gave me a headache.

It wasn’t for nothing that the U.S. Army gave up on Vietnam.

There was no reason to make such a foolish mistake.

‘If I get greedy and mess up the first step, it could all fall apart.’

“They refused to join us, but they said they’d help with the scouting. Let’s coax them gently.”

Though they declined to join, they agreed to actively help with the search.

If we spent more time together, they’d get to know us better.

With patience, they’d eventually understand our sincerity.

“Hmm, but that sincerity of yours is basically just bringing the Rabbit Tribe back to use them as laborers, isn’t it? Sounds like your humanity is rotten.”

“How does that sound like that? I just want us to live helping each other out.”

Sincerity always got through in the end—so I was sure it would.

---

Peter and Dr. Nickel were observing the plants growing in the Forest of Illusions with some Rabbit Tribe friends introduced by the elder Luxa.

The Rabbit Tribe, being natives of this place, knew edible crops we didn’t, and among them were some we had never seen before.

According to Dr. Nickel, they seemed to be plants that had crossed over from another world.

“These look worth planting.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, though I don’t know if they can endure territory-spreading Evil Spirit Grass.”

But there was an even more solid achievement.

“Look at this.”

“Huh? Isn’t this… Evil Spirit Grass? It’s smaller, but the shape is unmistakable.”

“Right, it’s Evil Spirit Grass. Turns out it’s in the Forest of Illusions too.”

“Oh, I see. I thought it was native only to the Monster Mountains.”

“Exactly. It’s just like a weed from another world. The Evil Spirit Grass in the north of the territory only grew huge because of Yggdrasil.”

We discovered the original form of Evil Spirit Grass in the Forest of Illusions.

It had only grown monstrously under the influence of the Fallen Yggdrasil—Evil Spirit Grass itself was just a common weed from another world.

“And this too.”

“What’s that?”

“It seems to be parasitic on the roots of Evil Spirit Grass.”

“Looks like beans. Is it edible?”

“The Rabbit Tribe friends said it is.”

“Oh, that’s good news.”

While collecting Evil Spirit Grass, we also found a crop similar to peanuts parasitic on its roots.

It wasn’t exactly like the peanuts I knew, but it was still an edible bean.

Beans were useful crops, so if this peanut-like plant could take root safely in the basin, it would surely benefit the livelihood of the territory.

That alone already felt like a big harvest.

‘If I’d known, I should’ve gone on an expedition to the Forest of Illusions sooner. Of course, back then it wasn’t me.’

Iron Johnson of the past, who only watched the Monster Mountains where monsters crawled down each winter, might have had too narrow a vision.

“The crop team’s doing well. But the horned rabbit dens are really hard to find.”

Unlike the crop scouting team, who had good results, the horned rabbit search party was struggling.

It wasn’t hard to spot horned rabbits in areas they inhabited, but tracing them all the way to their dens was a very difficult task.

“They’re monsters after all—surprisingly quick. Catching them outright is easy, but…”

“Yeah. Not so simple.”

And if we encountered monsters while tracking, we had to deal with them too.

No matter how quickly we killed them, it still took seconds—and even a few seconds was enough for a horned rabbit to completely vanish.

Even the rangers, experts in tracking, were nearly useless in this chaotic chase when monsters interfered, so it was extremely frustrating for us.

Just when things felt hopeless,

“Hm? Ah, you…”

“Isn’t this kid telling us to follow him?”

It was Tito, the Rabbit Tribe boy we first met.

With gestures, he urged us to follow—and it felt right, so we immediately went after him.

“Ha, these Rabbit Tribe friends.”

“They’re incredible. I’ve always wondered how they survived in the Forest of Illusions.”

“They’re not ones to be underestimated.”

Following Tito turned out harder than expected.

Whether that was just how the Rabbit Tribe moved, he was leading us only through tricky paths that were hard to follow.

‘Is this a burrow? Just what are these people doing in the Forest of Illusions?’

Even the number of hidden burrows they had dug was astounding—just on the way here, I had already passed through four of them.

These guys were no joke.

“Is this it.”

After finally reaching the destination with much effort, Tito guided us to a spot covered in piled-up leaves. He brushed them aside with his hands.

Beneath it was a hole just big enough for a rabbit to crawl through.

Tito had found a rabbit burrow during his search and led us here.

“Isn’t it only natural we couldn’t find this easily?”

The location itself was hard to notice, and with the leaves covering it, even if we passed by, we might have overlooked it.

Whether horned rabbits or the Rabbit Tribe themselves, all the rabbits living here seemed obsessed with guerrilla tactics.

But well. Now that we’d found it, all that was left was to dig it open.

“Let’s start digging here.”

We were knight-laborers well used to digging anyway.

“Alright.”

In no time, the burrow was dismantled.

“Oh, a rabbit! Grab it!”

“There are… babies inside too.”

“Good, pack them carefully. And the droppings—we need those.”

“How are we supposed to find droppings here? You can’t even tell them apart from dirt.”

“Then just scoop everything. Gather all the soil here.”

The excited knights dug furiously, and we secured not only the horned rabbits but also baby horned rabbits and their burrow.

As for the droppings, since we couldn’t distinguish them, we simply gathered all the surrounding soil.

When mixed with dirt, it seemed nearly impossible to separate.

If we secured a few more burrows this way, we’d probably manage to collect enough droppings too.

“You’re really something, you know that?”

Though he couldn’t understand my words, Tito must have sensed the mood because he smiled faintly.

This should be good enough, right?

Our first meeting had been a little awkward, but the atmosphere now wasn’t bad.

If we kept building a good image like this, someday the Rabbit Tribe would surely open their hearts to us.

After securing a few more burrows with Tito’s help—

Just when I thought it was about time to head back, another unexpected variable appeared.

“What’s this?”

“A rabbit statue?”

“Yeah, but why would something like this come out of a rabbit burrow?”

We had discovered a mysterious black rabbit statue inside the horned rabbit’s den.

“What’s it made of? Doesn’t look like iron.”

“Where would you find iron this black?”

“This is really strange. And it’s incredibly hard too.”

It was an odd item indeed.

It didn’t seem to be iron, but it was as hard and heavy as if it were.

On top of that, it gave off a faint warmth—clearly not an ordinary object.

“But doesn’t Tito look… off?”

“Yeah. He looks really unsettled.”

The strangest thing was Tito’s reaction.

He looked as if he had discovered something astonishing—yet also terribly flustered.

Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t a normal response.

Just what was that about?

And before long, I too came to realize this statue was truly abnormal.

---

It happened that night.

I was absentmindedly stroking the rabbit statue, thinking I should once again make a final proposal to the Rabbit Tribe tomorrow.

That was when I felt the hard statue twitch faintly.

Naturally, I thought it was an illusion.

A statue moving? Impossible.

“…Wait, why is this…”

But it was real.

The statue twitched a few more times, and then something black suddenly shot out with a *swish*.

“Wait, is that… a rabbit?”

Two upright ears, a fluffy tail.

A rabbit identical to the statue leapt out of it.

It was even glossy black, just like the statue.

“And… it’s standing? Hold on, are rabbits supposed to stand upright?”

The black rabbit that emerged from the statue stood proudly on two legs, staring at me.

It looked both majestic and strangely ridiculous—yet undeniably cute.

Even now, I doubted my eyes, but there was no denying it: the rabbit had leapt out of the statue.

-This.Body.Enters. Boom!

“…Huh?”

To top it off, the rabbit could talk.

No—more precisely, it wasn’t speaking but communicating through something like telepathy.

“What in the world…”

A talking rabbit.

It seemed my life was determined to become even more fantastical.