Volume 16 Chapter 18: Trouble At The Farm?

Keith woke up and glanced down to see Eri still sleeping soundly. Beside her was Carolyn, as she held onto her. He gently pulled the blanket over her as he quietly left the bed without her noticing. Opening the door, May was there.

“May, how were Leon and Laura?”

“They slept soundly, Keith,” May smiled.

“Thank you.” Keith sighed in relief, “I will leave them to you.” As long as May was here, he did not need to worry too much.

“I understand,” May smiled, “I will protect the three with my life.”

“...” Too far, but okay. Keith headed for the barracks to see Michael swinging his sword.

“Did you gain more muscle?” Keith stared at him: the definition of muscle. Michael’s arm was bulging, and his veins were about to pop out. There was no fat on the man’s body; it was only muscles.

“Of course. Now come out, boy! I heard you caused trouble these last few months!”

“Hey! Trouble comes to find me, not the other way around!”

Keith and Michael clashed with one another. As they fought with one another, they conversed.  

“So I heard you fought against some strong demon folk. How were they?”

“They were strong; I made some friends along the way.” Keith gritted his teeth as he withstood his blow. Michael only grinned as he continued to push his blade forward. Both sides were sizing the other up as they fought. As a few minutes passed, it was time to get serious. Keith wanted to make the first move as he slashed at his shoulder; Michael took a step to the side and grabbed him by his shoulder. “Okay, we are finished.”

“What?” Keith’s eyes widened.

“You heard me; today’s training is finished.”

You are skipping out on training?! Keith’s gaze said everything: who is this man?! Where was the muscle-brained fool who only knew how to eat and fight?! Keith then mumbled, “I will not be cooking anytime soon.” The others were still asleep.

Michael scoffed, “As if I need you! I have to go now!” He didn’t have time to smack him in the back of his head and dashed off. Keith blinked; he watched the dust left behind by the speed he had left behind. What happened to him? Turning to the knights who came out, “Did something happen to him?”

“Young master, you don’t know?”

“Clearly, the commander never told him.”

The knights had a funny expression as they stared at him. Keith tilted his head. Am I missing something?

Keith walked off; there was no point in training with Michael not being here. His curiosity died down as he knew what he needed to do, “Alright, time to get some vegetables.” Heading to the farm, he spotted it.

“Did you guys expand again?” Not even half a year and this farm had expanded once more. There were more buildings besides the dormitory. They added additional farmhouses. A hearty laugh soon came, “Young master, with the need for chocolate, we needed to add more storage for the fruits.”

“Sorry about the extra work, Logan.” The chocolate factory: a few months passed, and it became a hot commodity in the city.

“There is no need to apologize, Young Master! This amount of work is nothing for us.” Their farmers were former knights of the Marquis; having them take care of the land was a simple matter. While they talked,

“Woof!”

“Hello,” Keith bent down and patted the blue wolf's fur, giving it scratches under the chin, “Oh, are those your puppies?” Behind the blue wolf were small puppies. Logan nodded, “That litter was born a few weeks ago. They’re eating solid food now.”

“How adorable.” Keith picked one of the chubby ones up and marveled at the cuteness. He turned to Logan, “How have the moles been doing?”

“They are amazing; we could only expand due to them; they made the coarse land workable.” Logan laughed. With the soil being coarse, they could not use it. The compact soil broke apart, and the farmers added fertilizer.

“Great.”

“Young Master, did you come for vegetables?”

“Mmhmm, I want a bag of everything. I also heard you’ve gotten new livestock?” Before he went to bed, May had given him details about the farm. New animals always piqued his interest. Logan paused for a moment; his expression contorted for a moment as he answered, “Eggs.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Logan’s discomfort was noticed by Keith.

“Hmm?” Logan then took out a giant egg, twice the size of his fist!

“Where does this come from?”

“An ostrich.”

“Ostrich?” Keith then glanced to the side and spotted two animals that looked like ostriches but had the feathers of a peacock behind them; there were four altogether.

Logan rubbed his head, “A peddler came here with them, and we thought it was interesting and bought them. However, we did not realize they would be this annoying!” He lost his composure and shouted at the end.

“…How?” Before Logan could explain, a cry echoed across the farm! Turning his head, Keith saw an ostrich pecking at a farmer’s head! The farmer tried to pull back, but the worst outcome occurred: a patch of hair was in the ostrich’s beak.

“You’re dead meat!” The farmer raised a scythe, but two of his colleagues grabbed him!

“Calm down!” “Don’t do it! It’s not worth it!”  

“…Are you guys going bald?” Keith gulped.

“…”

“I’m so sorry.” Keith glanced at the other farmers; they all had one thing in common. Every one of them wore a sunhat, clearly to cover their bald spots!

“Can’t you do something about this, Young Master?!” One farmer cried.

“What am I supposed to do about this?”

“Use your superpower and make them obey.”

“...” I don’t have any superpowers. Why do people keep assuming I do?! The farmers did not notice his dark expression. Rather, they did not care as they dragged Keith over to the ostrich. The ostrich let out a snort before diving at Keith’s hair. The farmers gasped, but the horrible event never happened.

“Eek!” “Don’t even think about it.” Keith’s eyes narrowed as he grabbed the ostrich’s neck.

“Keee.” The ostrich let out a whine as it stared at Keith with wariness.

“Are you going to play nice?”

“Kee!”

“Try some of this first.” Keith took out some seeds and raised his hand to its beak.

“Ke!” The ostrich obediently ate it from his hand. Unlike the ferocious pecking, it was softly eating.

“No more biting hair, got that?”

“Kee!”

“There.” Keith glanced at the farmer; their jaws were open.

“The young master’s superpower is still so effective!”

“Thank god! I thought I had to shave my hair!”

“...”