How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary

Chapter 17

Black Rabbit toddled into the rabbit pen and waddled over to the adult Horned Rabbit.

Then it said something, muttering words while gently stroking its head.

The adult Horned Rabbit, which looked twice as large as Black Rabbit, didn’t avoid its touch.

Of course, that was only how it appeared in my eyes.

To others, it probably just looked like the Horned Rabbit sat on the ground, tilting its head curiously.

But at least one thing seemed certain—the Horned Rabbit was reacting to Black Rabbit’s movements.

-I have a rough grasp of the situation.

“You figured it out?”

After playing with the Horned Rabbit inside the pen for a while, Black Rabbit climbed back onto my shoulder and wore a smug expression.

That look was unnecessarily cute, which only annoyed me more.

If it understood something, it should’ve just reported it right away instead of dragging things out like this.

But right now, I had no choice but to go along with Black Rabbit.

Since I was curious about what it had figured out, I urged it to speak quickly.

-That human male wasn’t wrong.

“Who, Dr. Nickel?”

-That’s right. He said Horned Rabbits are cautious creatures and won’t breed unless they feel the place is safe.

“Really?”

-Didn’t you see how they carried droppings to the deepest part of the warren? It seemed those rabbits were starting to feel that this place was safe.

“In that case…”

-They’ll need time, but eventually, they’ll start breeding.

So… Dr. Nickel’s hypothesis was correct?

That nonsense about being able to raise Horned Rabbits just by having droppings—was it actually true?

I couldn’t wrap my head around why this was real.

Still, there was one slight problem.

-However, it looks like they’ll need quite a lot of time.

“Really? How long?”

-Hmm… at least half a year? For rabbits, those fellows are incredibly patient.

“What? Half a year for something like that?”

A beast was still a beast. I really couldn’t make sense of it.

The thought of having to wait half a year wasn’t all that pleasant.

If they only began breeding after half a year, that meant we wouldn’t see any benefits this year.

I wished proper breeding would begin as soon as possible.

-Hehehe.

“…What’s with that creepy laugh?”

-Master should be grateful for how competent of a rabbit I am.

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

-Master, are you ready to worship me?

“Hey, spit it out already.”

Horned Rabbits were beasts that had crossed over through the Dimensional Rift.

They weren’t native to this land, so the local deity, Bestia, and its emissary Black Rabbit, shouldn’t have been able to exert any influence over them.

But through that earlier contact, Bestia’s influence had spread to the Horned Rabbits.

Perhaps because their essence was still just rabbits, they ended up being drawn into Black Rabbit’s sphere of influence.

“I thought it’d be impossible since they were beasts.”

-Hoho, I thought so too. But their essence remains that of animals. Lord Bestia will be very pleased.

“…So what happens now?”

-Just place my true body in the pen. Then everything will proceed smoothly.

“Really? That simple?”

By “true body,” Black Rabbit of course meant the black rabbit statue.

It claimed the statue would exert a positive influence on the Horned Rabbits.

Since nobody was going to steal a statue from the rabbit pen, it would be fine to set it up somewhere suitable.

“Alright then, let’s wait and see.”

I couldn’t help but feel excited about what might happen.

---

The number of Horned Rabbits released into the field was a total of twenty-one.

Twelve were adults, and nine were their young.

Today marked the second day since we had placed the rabbit statue inside the pen.

One rabbit hopping around the field suddenly began acting strangely.

It approached a pile of dirt and started sniffing around.

Soon, one by one, the Horned Rabbits gathered there.

“Huh?”

“Wait, over there…”

After poking its nose into the dirt pile and wiggling its hips for a while, the rabbit suddenly began digging into the mound.

Soon, others joined in, burrowing as well.

“They definitely used to only stay above ground…”

The most surprised person was Butler Harold, who had supervised the previous experiments.

Iron was too young back then to remember how the experiment had been conducted, but Harold still recalled everything.

Seeing him react that way meant this definitely wasn’t normal.

‘What the…?’

The Horned Rabbits’ strange behavior didn’t stop there.

After playing in the dirt for quite some time, they emerged again—each carrying something dark brown in their mouths.

“That’s it! That’s definitely the Horned Rabbits’ droppings!”

While Dr. Nickel leapt about in triumph, the Horned Rabbits carefully began digging burrows with the objects still in their mouths.

It seemed they were trying to carry them into their new homes.

Even the tiniest baby Horned Rabbits twitched their noses and hopped into the burrows, never coming out again.

They had adapted to their new environment and begun recognizing this place as their home.

‘It’s real. Unbelievable.’

We still needed to wait and see how the Horned Rabbits behaved going forward.

Something had clearly changed compared to before, though no new Horned Rabbits had been born yet.

Still, in my judgment, the conclusion was practically set.

Our Johnson Territory had become the first in the world(?) to succeed in raising Horned Rabbits.

-I am the God of Rabbits!

Black Rabbit’s triumphant cheer as it bounced around didn’t annoy me one bit today.

---

At first, I had been bewildered about why this was actually working.

It felt almost unsettling that we had succeeded so easily.

But as time passed, my chest swelled with emotion.

“Holy shit. For real.”

“At this rate…”

“Those things grow rapidly even just eating Evil Spirit Grass, don’t they? And the fields are full of it.”

“Not to mention the meat…”

Just seeing the knights muttering blankly as they stared at the Horned Rabbit pen made me realize how monumental this was.

We had created a golden goose—a source of food that would reproduce steadily with no investment, as long as we watched over them.

The news that the Horned Rabbit pen was unusual spread across the entire territory in no time.

All the residents of the territory began swelling with hope.

“Hooray!!!”

The excitement spared no one—men and women, young and old, even across different races.

And honestly, it was no wonder.

This was a world where meat was incredibly rare.

Even chickens, which were supposed to be relatively common, were hard to find in this region.

The only meat the residents could get their hands on was either from wild animals hunted outside, or from old hens that had died naturally.

But now, meat was spilling forth from the fields.

Of course people were excited.

‘And this… isn’t just ordinary meat.’

I had eaten wild rabbits during operations before.

To be honest, it hadn’t been good.

The hide was too tough, there wasn’t much edible flesh, and the flavor was lackluster.

But Horned Rabbits were nothing like the rabbits I knew.

Thanks to their enormous size, the amount of meat was incredible, and the flavor was uniquely rich.

‘It wasn’t even comparable to the chickens of this era. Even compared to modern chickens, it held up perfectly.’

This was a true jackpot.

“Wow, you caught more?”

“The more we have, the faster they’ll multiply, right? The residents are restless these days, so if we want to butcher rabbits soon, we’ve got to increase their numbers first.”

“Well, that’s not wrong, but still…”

I couldn’t help thinking the residents were getting overly excited.

They were working furiously to catch Horned Rabbits.

The knights had split into squads and were heading into the Forest of Illusions, and since the mood was so feverish, I couldn’t even bring myself to stop them.

Their eyes had gone completely wild.

‘Let’s wait and see for now. For the rabbit farm to operate properly, we need to build up their numbers first anyway.’

Even if breeding succeeded, until they formed stable groups, all we could do was sit and wait.

The knights, impatient to speed things up, went out almost every day on expeditions to capture Horned Rabbits.

They had already brought in twenty.

Now, over thirty Horned Rabbits were hopping around the fields.

‘But we should cut it off here. Letting them get carried away is dangerous.’

I ordered them to stop catching Horned Rabbits, thinking the knights had gotten far too restless.

It was ridiculous, after all, to see knights spending all day running through the mountains just to hunt rabbits.

Rudick grumbled in dissatisfaction, but I ignored him.

If he was so upset, he could try being the lord himself.

“The butchering facilities are more or less complete.”

“Already?”

“Haha, we needed to prepare in advance, didn’t we? We never know when they’ll need to start operating.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“We’ve appointed Mr. Burdo, who has overseen butchering in the village for twenty years, as head of operations. His assistants are all seasoned in this line of work too. There won’t be any setbacks.”

“Yes, well done. I’ve even heard of Mr. Burdo. He had ties to my father, didn’t he?”

“Mr. Burdo was simply indebted to him.”

Johnson was a small place where everyone knew each other within one or two connections.

Especially among the elders of that generation—there wasn’t a single one who hadn’t received my father’s help in some way. Burdo, the newly appointed head butcher, was no exception.

Since Butler Harold had specifically chosen him, it meant he was someone trustworthy. I could leave it in his hands.

‘Still, this feels unusually rushed. Even Butler Harold is moving with such urgency.’

The farm wasn’t even properly running yet, and already they were building a slaughterhouse and appointing its head.

It felt like premature excitement, but I didn’t point it out.

Instead, I found it oddly refreshing to see a new, impatient side to the normally calm Butler Harold.

In this restless atmosphere, the only one who remained composed was Dr. Nickel.

“Hmm.”

While everyone else was elated, the greatest contributor to the rabbit-breeding project, Dr. Nickel, was busy observing the Horned Rabbits in the pen all day long.

Despite looking like one of those slimy sycophants—like Eunuch No. 3, who only ever flattered—at moments like this, he almost seemed like a genuine scholar.

“My lord, please look over there.”

“Hm? Did something happen?”

“The number of rabbits hopping around right now… it’s thirty-six, isn’t it?”

“Let me see. You’re right. Thirty-six.”

“The knights brought in thirty-two adult Horned Rabbits in total.”

“That’s right. They kept bringing in more, so I told them to stop before it got too distracting. Wait… then what about those other four?”

Had someone secretly brought in more rabbits without my knowledge?

But Dr. Nickel shook his head.

“No, those are the baby rabbits that went into the burrow on the first day. They’ve already grown into adults.”

“What? It’s only been a few weeks!”

“Exactly three weeks, my lord.”

“Becoming full-grown in just three weeks? That’s absurd!”

“Well, to be precise, they were already a bit older when we got them. They weren’t newborns.”

“Still, it’s not a big difference. That’s remarkable…”

Until now, we had never captured baby Horned Rabbits, so we hadn’t known how fast they grew.

But it seemed they grew far faster than we’d imagined.

A month from birth to adulthood.

Considering their size, that was an unbelievable growth rate.

I found myself glancing at Black Rabbit.

The little fellow was smiling smugly and nodding its head.

-Didn’t I say it before? I enhance the growth efficiency of all rabbits. Even more so for beasts like them than for beastmen.

So that explained it. I had wondered why even rabbits so much larger than normal were growing unusually fast—turns out they were basking in Black Rabbit’s buff.

‘Wait, then maybe we could be feasting on rabbit stew by this winter. Or… maybe not, since there’s still the matter of their pregnancy period.’

It wasn’t even early summer yet.

If Horned Rabbits grew to adulthood every month, by November—when winter fully set in—their numbers would be impossible to calculate.

But no one knew how long their pregnancy period was.

‘Ordinary rabbits carry for about a month, but Horned Rabbits are much larger animals.’

For animals, the larger the body, the longer the gestation period usually was.

If it stretched to several months, then eating Horned Rabbit meat in winter might remain just a pleasant dream.

“In the end, what matters is how many kits they have at once, and how long their gestation period is. Considering they mature in just a month, I doubt the pregnancy lasts too long.”

“Indeed, it seems promising. If they’re even remotely similar to ordinary rabbits, we’ll start seeing signs soon.”

“Right. Let’s wait patiently and see.”

Since I had no certainty in this matter, waiting was the only option.

Even Black Rabbit didn’t seem to know everything about this.

At the very least, we would need to see new baby Horned Rabbits before we could get a rough idea.