How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary

Chapter 9

After the invasion of the Variant Cyclops, there were no special variables.

Numerous monsters invaded the territory several times, but not as many as on the first day, and at most they were only around Class 4 monsters.

Thanks to the knights’ efforts + the residents’ active cooperation, the level was such that we could sufficiently defend the walls.

After defending the territory for several days like that, we could declare that we had successfully repelled this monster invasion.

“Such a shame. To think the Mana Cannon ended up like that.”

For reference, the Mana Cannon that had landed the critical blow on the Variant Cyclops was completely destroyed.

The moment the Variant Cyclops appeared, Peter, realizing this was no ordinary matter, rushed to enhance the cannon’s power by any means.

Because it was worrisome to face such a tough-looking Variant Cyclops with just the cannon’s original output.

That was why the cannon fired later than I had expected.

Taking a hint from my idea of making bombs out of mana crystals, Peter attempted a last-minute modification by adding mana crystals into the cannon, and raised its firepower.

Thanks to Peter’s ingenuity, the Mana Cannon spewed firepower far stronger than expected, but in the end it exploded altogether.

Because of that, Peter, who had fired the cannon, also suffered minor burns, and apparently it was quite a mess on his side too.

Thankfully, Peter’s injuries were not too serious, but the complete loss of the cannon was somewhat regrettable.

“I thought its power was pretty good, though.”

I already knew the Mana Cannon was one-use, but it was still difficult to shake off the regret.

“Alright! Gather up every usable piece!”

“Careful with that one. The Sting Chameleon isn’t good for anything but its hide.”

“Ah, this one can’t be used. Too many scratches.”

“Put the unsellable ones over there. Return them to the residents.”

Now, about two weeks after the monster invasion, we were fully occupied with tidying up the disordered territory.

Most urgent of all was dealing with the heaps of monster corpses piled across the wide plains stretching from the southern wall.

Monster corpses, one way or another, were valuable goods, and the residents of our territory were specialists even in dismantling them.

“This feels almost the same as if we had gone on an expedition.”

The reason we had originally planned an expedition was to secure funds to stockpile supplies.

But when the massive monster horde invaded and we successfully defended against them, the result turned out similar to having carried out an expedition.

No, perhaps the outcome was even better.

Unlike an expedition, where we could not retrieve every hunted monster due to transportation issues, the monster defense that unfolded right before the castle allowed us to recover every corpse into the territory.

“Retrieving the Forest Troll corpses completely was a big deal.”

“I was surprised too. To think they even managed to secure those in the midst of all that. As expected, veterans are veterans.”

“Honestly, I had forgotten about them myself. The Cyclops was such a shock… plus I was busy handling the Mana Cannon. I definitely owe them one.”

Seven Forest Trolls hunted on the first day.

Trolls were the key ingredient in potion-making, something Peter had emphasized several times even before the expedition.

He had insisted that we must hunt trolls in order to stockpile potions.

But since troll blood was the key, the corpses needed to be processed immediately after the hunt. With the Variant Cyclops appearing right afterward, the trolls were completely forgotten.

There was no way we could leisurely process trolls when a Variant Cyclops had appeared.

Yet, while we fought the Cyclops, Sir Dominic and the veteran knights, who had been standing by on the wall, dispatched soldiers to urgently recover the troll corpses.

To think they had diligently secured even the troll corpses that Peter himself—who always sang “troll, troll”—had forgotten… Truly, the older the ginger, the spicier it is.

“The mana crystals will be sufficiently recovered too.”

“With this number of monsters, the quantity will be quite large. Mana mines? The amount we used to make those has already been surpassed, and the ones we consumed developing the mine can be replenished as well.”

“Indeed.”

As expected, in Johnson Territory, the answer was always to reap in some way and pay it back.

It was an extremely encouraging result.

‘But that doesn’t mean there weren’t any problems.’

I could say this defensive battle was largely successful.

Not only did we safely protect the walls, but we also caught numerous monsters, which became a great help for the territory’s livelihood.

With the wealth we had gathered now, we could manage at least until next year.

And considering there would be another monster defense in winter, we could once again gather monster byproducts to sustain the territory.

But there were a few issues I had to think over.

‘I had been fairly satisfied with my own strength, though.’

Iron—meaning me—I was undoubtedly an outstanding knight.

They said there were roughly ten Masters on the Ribella Peninsula, so as a top-grade knight, I could confidently say I was among the top ten in terms of ability.

Of course, if “beastmen” were included, things would be a bit different, but still, being in the top ten wasn’t a low position at all.

‘The problem is the monsters. They’re on another level entirely. After all, a Variant Cyclops is still only a Class 2 monster.’

This time we barely managed thanks to the Mana Cannon, but there was no guarantee we could defend successfully if something similar happened again.

And that very cannon was no longer usable.

For my sake, and for the sake of the territory, it seemed I needed to become stronger.

‘If I reached the level of a Master, I could face a Class 2 monster with ease, right?’

That felt like the right target.

Since Johnson Territory did not have frequent exchanges with the outside, even I, Iron, had never directly met a Master, and I had no knowledge of how one became a Master.

But from now on, I needed to pay attention to that matter as well.

‘And in this battle, there weren’t no casualties either. Of course, the number wasn’t that large, but I’m sure there were people we could have saved.’

The residents were all praising the defense as a success.

The number of casualties was overwhelmingly small compared to the scale of the battle, and we were able to secure more monster byproducts than expected.

In truth, death and injury were practically an everyday affair in this land.

Of course, my heart sincerely honored the victims who had sacrificed themselves for the sake of the territory, but I did not sink into deep despair over it.

This world was fundamentally different from modern times, where a single death would cause an uproar.

In this regard, voices of praise toward me as the lord were even louder.

It was thanks to the fact that I had delayed the expedition and trained the residents, almost as if I had foreseen the large-scale invasion.

Thanks to that, I felt as though I had redeemed, at least a little, the past where I had squandered the territory’s spare funds on a marriage scam.

Only Rudick had directly voiced dissatisfaction, but the residents must have thought it was a waste as well.

If I was to govern the territory well in the future, I needed to keep such sentiments in mind.

But still, the fact that there had been casualties, even in this defense we praised as successful, was truly regrettable.

Of course, I knew.

In a battle of this scale, expecting zero casualties was unrealistic.

But Johnson Territory was a precious frontier where people were extremely scarce, and the residents who actively took part in the territory’s affairs should be saved by any means necessary.

‘First, the priests.’

The means of treatment in Johnson Territory were limited to potions and folk remedies.

Since this was a world with mana and aura, priests and divine power did exist—but our territory had no temple.

Building a temple and inviting priests required an enormous amount of funds, a sum far beyond what our territory could afford.

And even now, despite the large profit we had earned from the defense, bringing in priests was still impossible.

Once we bought food and restored the territory, there would be almost nothing left.

‘And the potion side isn’t without its problems either.’

The potions of Johnson Territory were quite outstanding in their effects.

That was thanks to Peter being a rather remarkable alchemist, and the alchemical recipes he possessed being excellent as well.

But even so, there were limits.

‘A potion is liquid, after all. Forcing it into an unconscious patient is dangerous.’

While potions were immensely useful as recovery agents, at the end of the day they were still liquids.

If forced into someone who was unconscious, and it went down the wrong way, it could cause suffocation rather than treatment.

In fact, one resident had suddenly died while being forced to swallow a potion.

I didn’t know much about such matters, but it seemed likely that the potion had entered the airway.

‘I don’t know what to do about this either.’

If circumstances allowed, this was certainly something I had to address in the future.

‘And above all, the biggest problem is this.’

The greatest issue was the defense battle itself.

This battle had taken place on the southern walls of the castle and the surrounding plains.

Which meant that all the farmland we had been cultivating for years was now unusable.

Expeditions were, in the end, a double-edged sword.

It was good to secure funds through them, but one always had to accept some degree of military loss.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a land where people were extremely precious—if we continued to lose soldiers bit by bit, catastrophe was inevitable.

‘That’s why food self-sufficiency was such an important task.’

Our residents were already clumsy when it came to farming.

And now, the farmland itself had been completely wiped out.

It was like cutting off the barely surviving lifeline entirely.

Could our residents really reclaim farmland again from scratch?

Of course, they could if they tried, but who could guess how long that would take?

“Ha, what a mess.”

I had suddenly transmigrated, and became a lord who fought in the defense battle.

It was absurd and unbelievable, yet when I thought about it, it wasn’t entirely bad.

My past life hadn’t been all that great either.

When I held a greatsword and directly fought monsters, my blood boiled, and the residents’ enthusiastic cheers made dopamine surge.

Why else would I have shouted ‘Johnson’ with my own mouth?

Now, when I looked back, it was the kind of dark past that made me want to kick off the blankets, but at the time, it had felt so natural.

‘Was I secretly an attention seeker? A craving for recognition, maybe.’

My dull, gray-colored life had become extremely dynamic.

If my old life had been about just surviving, then my life now felt like I was truly living.

Working for the nation in places unseen by anyone certainly had value, but it hadn’t been fulfilling.

Especially when I had to watch comrades sacrifice themselves in obscurity—it made me feel worn down, as though something was being chipped away inside me.

Perhaps I had never been fit to serve the nation in the first place.

‘I don’t even ask for that much, though.’

At this rate, it seemed I would have to continue living this way, but at the very least, I shouldn’t have to worry about food and survival.

Yes, I didn’t ask for much.

Just… let me solve this problem of food and survival somehow.

“…Huh?”

Just then, as I was deeply pondering how I could improve the food situation of the territory—

The diary that had once warned me about the defense battle began to glow red once again.