Chapter 72: Sacred Gear Awakening
The next day before Masaru and Sakura split up to their respective destinations they were given an escort by Ulrika whom Sakura was still wondering about what happened between Masaru and her, throughout the entire trip they spoke only about some future plans for the towns and cities in the territories.
Sakura could clearly see the way Ulrika was listening, acting and speaking towards Masaru was different from yesterday but it was not something she could point at. Could it be her woman's intuition was trying to tell her something?
"It's a shame that you have to leave so early, there are many things I like to learn from you" Ulrika spoke with a happy face, she honestly wanted to keep Masaru here with her for a very long time but she knew that he had responsibilities that required his attention.
Masaru enjoyed her company as well so he naturally would make time to visit her often from now on, she is part of his family now. "I will be sure to keep in touch, but for now I have to move and ensure the people are safe"
Ulrika bowed politely towards her Master whom she could not openly admit, but bowing towards the heir of the Belial Family won't make her suspicious. "This one shall ensure that the patrol unit will arrive shortly after you"
Masaru nodded appreciating his peerage member's competence for a moment then looked at Sakura, "You have the map with you?"
Sakura nodded and did not realize Masaru was moving closer to her, he gently taps her shoulder causing her to flinch before looking into his eyes. "Listen to Sakura, if things get dangerous escape. It might sound cruel but your more important to me than the people and losing you is like losing a part of me. So promise me if it gets dangerous you will not play a hero"
Sakura nodded shyly allowing Masaru to give her a firm hug allowing her to bask in his warmth for a moment before he released her, saying his goodbyes and fled towards the village which was a bit further than hers.
"I feel quite envious at you girls being loved by such a kind strong Master" Ulrika spoke while looking at Masaru before she too turned and left to do what she needed to.
Sakura who heard about her being loved caused her to blush as she knew he already saw her naked body so it will be reasonable to say he must take responsibility for her. She shook her head feeling flushed by all the thoughts so she turned towards her direction and started to jog towards the Village to calm down her fast-beating heart.
Chi no mori, also known as Blood Forest is the forest that surrounds the village that is well known for their bloodwood which is redwood the colour of blood completely natural, no need to paint which makes these wood quite highly sought for.
Other than that this village is similar to any other village, having several farms in the surroundings, they mostly trade their wood and food for utilities and daily necessity while very rarely for money.
Sakura was heading towards this village, it even had a signpost in front of the village Entrance made of Bloodwood with their name engraved on Blood Village, this name gave off a vampire feeling but this village called itself thus after the surrounding forest and well they prefer to keep things simple.
When Sakura arrived the villagers only gave her a glance and returned to their work, she was beautiful, very beautiful indeed but for the married men they feared their wife's anger more. Sakura picked up her pace heading towards the gate guard who was wearing iron armour standing near the gate, "Morning, I would like to know where the village chief house is?"
The gate guard flinched at how beautiful Sakura is, when he saw her outfit he knew she must be someone important whom he could not easily offend "May I know who you are Miss?"
Sakura did not feel offended by the guard's lack of formality since this could be considered the sticks, "I'm Sakura Tsukuba, Pawn of Masaru Belial who is the current Heir of the Belial Family"
When the surrounding people and the guard heard this it felt like the village underwent a complete transformation, the people came surrounding her with smiles praising and asking her to send thanks to Masaru who assisted them in making their village more popular and clean.
Sakura who was surrounded did not feel that much overwhelmed as she could see how much the people loved Masaru who came up with ways to make their lives easier for the sake of increasing their working efficiency.
"Thank you everyone for your kind and grateful feelings I will surely convey it to Masaru-sama" Sakura bowed politely causing another ruckus of men felt like it was the end of the world, a peerage member of their lord just bowed to them, they were naturally not used to this kind of treatment but luckily the guard managed to calm them all down and sent them back to work.
"Be careful missy, since you are Masaru-sama's peerage member you can't easily bow your head even if it's to thank them" The gate guard explained to Sakura as he too was a bit of shock, but since he came across many people he understood that many people did not understand their culture.
Sakura nodded feeling grateful to the guard who assisted her, she felt the need to study more of this territory and its people as well as manners how she must conduct herself "Thank you for the advice"
The guard smiled as he led Sakura to the Village chief house that was nearby since it was the first house to be built and then they built the houses around it which made it today's village, "Here we are, oy! Ol'Dalda! You have a guest! Important one!"
Soon a elder man appears to be in his late 60's came out of a room at the left from the hallway before opening the main door seeing the familiar guard and a beautiful young girl, "Morning, how can I help you, missy?"
The guard wanted to beat up this old troll who always ignores him, but he was already used to this old man who was simply too shameless "Thanks for bringing the lady here"
The guard choked when he saw the old man sudden pay attention to him before he snorted and left, feeling frustrated that he could do nothing to this old man who had a higher status than him.
"Hehe, such a serious fellow. Please come in, forgive me as this place is a bit old" Sakura was already advised to keep her politeness to a minimal but towards elders, she will still keep her spirit,
"Thank you for welcoming me" She entered the house following the old man into the lounge room.
"Can I know who you are and why you came?" The old man entered the open plan kitchen to make them tea while he started the conversation, Sakura already took her seat.
"My name is Sakura Tsukuba, Pawn of Masaru Belial heir of the Belial Family. The reason I came here is to inquire and inspect the village, Masaru-sama has sent me here to ask if there is any unrest or anxiety in the villagers which we can settle" The old man nodded when he place the cup of tea in front of Sakura before taking his seat.
"Sorry for asking, it's a pleasure to meet the Pawn of the Wonder child of Belial" Hearing that title Sakura coughed even the old man could more or less guess why this girl was laughing.
'Poor young lad must feel embarrassed by his title but he should be proud, there is no one else who has such a unique title other than him!' The old man thought with a faint smile.
Sakura recomposed herself, the old man nodded finding this girl likeable as she was easy to approach but also dignified enough. "As for your question we are actually satisfied with how things are, to be honest things became so convenient for us that we wonder when we will ever repay the kindness Lord Masaru has shown us"
"Well you see in the other territories especially near the borders the villages mostly began to rebel for some reason, we believe it is someone who is using the commoners to create trouble which is why we came to settle any unrest in each village before it is used by someone's whims" Sakura explained the situation in general without making it sound too confusing.
Hearing this the old man nodded as he understood now what was going on, "There has been a few devils who came a few days ago talking about how the Belial family is suppressing the poor and such, I mean even the villagers were confused if the devil was an idiot or simply brain dead for not looking at our village. Anyone would know when a village changed especially for the better, so we simply have beaten them up and threw them into the forest"
"Nothing else happened?" Sakura asked feeling quite taken aback at how extreme these villagers was towards people who wanted to cause trouble for the Belial Lands.
The old man shook his head, "We haven't heard from them since"
Sakura felt a bit relieved when she heard this, however, for the mission, Masaru gave her she needed to make sure herself. "If you don't mind could you arrange a room for me to stay the night since Masaru-sama did ask me to stay here until the patrol unit come from the town"
The old man tilts his head but Sakura already continued to explain "It is only a precaution since we are not sure if the enemies will resort to other means like burning the farm or something. Just consider it us personally ensuring the safety of the village for a while"
"I will have that young man arrange the militia! No one touches our village without showing blood!" The old man suddenly became a completely different man when he heard that people might damage their crops or resources, he ran out of his house before Sakura could say anything, she could even hear some people start screaming
"Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood!"
'Did I make a mistake in my words?' She thought feeling awed at how united this village was, but also perplexed thinking that she caused this situation to go out of control.
>\/<
Masaru, however, arrived at a village that was more open, the farm fields were abundant especially their Ranches that were filled with... Purple pigs.
Masaru stopped making sure what he was seeing was indeed a regular pig he once saw in the UK but it was purple instead.
'Did they bring pigs here and it mutated because of the underworld?' Masaru thought as he continued till he came across a signboard with a guard at the gate, the signboard reads Poison Village.
'Does the people not feel repulsed by the name?' Masaru felt amused by the village name, when he reached the gate he spoke with the guard. Without much of a hassle, he was led to the village chief while keeping his identity a secret as he could not alert the surrounding people unlike someone else.
Luckily the chief was outside watering his plants when Masaru came so the guard went back to his post and the chief guided Masaru into his home. "Good Morning Young lad, may I know who you are and why you came to our village?"
Masaru could feel this old man was cautious, it meant someone came here before with ill intent. Since he reached his destination, he could reveal his identity to the old man "My name is Masaru Belial, heir of the Belial Family. I came here to ask some questions and ensure the safety of the Village"
The old man's eyes widen fast to the point Masaru almost thought it would pop out all of the sudden, "Young master Belial!? How impolite---"
Masaru moved swiftly to prevent the old man from trying to kneel before him, his movements were careful so he would not injure the old man's body, "Chief, please calm down. I came incognito since I want to know if there is any unrest in the village, you see other territories the villages began fighting against their lords and we don't want such a thing to happen here, we all have families we don't want to lose so I rather help as much I reasonably can"
"Could it be your investigating those idiots who keep talking about Belial Family suppressing us?" Hearing what the old man just mentioned caused Masaru to feel highly alerted, however, he kept his calm so as not to cause panic.
"Could you tell me more about them?", asked Masaru.
The old man thought for a moment before answering the question, he honestly felt that these people that tried to make trouble here before were awfully dumb. "Well at first we left these people who kept talking about taxes being too high and how the lords of the town take daughters to **** them and stuff.
"We ignored them since we knew such things is simply impossible, I mean our town mayor is a woman and most men would not mind becoming her dog because she is so beautiful if she were to ask although I doubt she would. Even so, why should we complain about their preferences."
"But when they spoke of you young master the entire village went in a frenzy, we all feared that you might stop supporting us the way you already do if you were to hear those words so we kept feeding those men the Dragon Pork meat till they died"
Masaru who heard this disturbing words from this old man felt a chill run down his spine. He never imagined that he would hear how people would try to kill the enemy by stuffing them with food.
But he was also curious why they would use pork meat to kill, "This dragon pork, you mean those purple porks outside?"
The old man nodded feeling quite proud of his village's unique product, "You know the name Dragon Pork was named by a dragon, it journeyed around the underworld and when it was hungry it came across this purple pork and when he ate it, the meat did not taste good nor bad but what the dragon did not realize was the fact the meat was poisoned"
"This poison is not the kind to kill or make you sick, but it gives you an unbearable feeling of wanting to eat more the same kind of poisoned meat. Naturally, this effect lasts a day so if your unlucky you might die after eating too much"
"So the dragon managed to survive it and called it a Dragon Pork since there was a time people said Dragon Meat was a Delicacy but this Pork Meat was simply a lump of addictive drug meat that could make people look another way when facing Dragon meat after eating it once"
Masaru was amused at this story, but also curious why they would rear this kind of porks if that is the problem. It did not take him long to realize that they probably have it, a solution "You have a solution to either dilute the effect or nullify it otherwise you would not have been rearing it right?"
The old man nodded once again, he felt proud to share their exploits to this Young master as he knew Masaru would not try to take the achievements for his own. Instead, he would support this village even more. "Yes, we have a technique to mellow down the addictive properties of the meat while retaining a bit of it so that the restaurants that sell our meat will become more prosperous"
Masaru thought for a moment then smirked slyly like a villain, "Chief, how much can you provide a month?"
The old man looked out the window, he knew this young master of his suddenly became aware of the value of these porks. "Well considering their fast pace reproduction ability we can provide five hundred adults porks a month"
Masaru slapped his thigh with a big smile on his face, he honestly felt that he need to travel through his territory and perhaps he might discover many more surprises like this village. "I will speak with my grandfather, we will pay you twice price you get for selling it to others. As for the method to reduce the addictive properties, we are willing to buy it and will not share it with anyone else"
The old man felt quite happy to think they could now get rid of the excess pigs faster this way, he even went to call a few farmers over to discuss this while Masaru laughed softly thinking, 'I can set up Restaurant branches with two floors for the commoners and Nobles around the Devil Territory using this Poison Meat to lure in more clients.
'With this, I can get Ulrika to push in Information Agents in these branches since people will become addicted to the meat we can gather information more effectively... I need to explore this world more!!! This is a god-URk! Damn gold mine!!!' Masaru thought, he felt quite excited
Since there was nothing to do Masaru went to pay a visit to each Farmer helping them in the process while asking them questions but everything came out that the people were simply too happy with the current lifestyle.
Masaru could feel a bit relieved at least with this it is confirmed there will not be a rebellion forming here easily so he went back to the Village Chief's house where a room was prepared for him to rest till tonight when he will patrol since the soldiers from the Town will only be arriving tomorrow. "Grandfather, we have a gold mine in our back yard! Why have you never told me about this Dragon Pork"
"Dragon Pork? You mean that nightmare meat!? Grandson you did not eat this have you?"
Masaru sighed as he could understand that his grandfather felt worried since the meat was addictive. "No, I have not. I spoke with the village chief about this meat, they have a method to mellow down the effects. We can use this meat as our signature meat when we establish restaurants around the other territories, with the mellow down effects we will easily garner customers"
"Well, it's true even when tested the meat comes out as clean... But to use this" Masaru laughed at his grandfather feeling a bit reluctant as this was indeed a dangerous kind of meat.
"We can sell it in the other territories, you can slip in a staff or two or our own whom can gather information for us" Masaru added another plan he himself was planning, but he needed to bait his grandfather.
'Although I will have one of my own within there as well, that way I can also verify information gathered by my grandfather's spies' Masaru thought,
Dominic finally understood quite a few things so he only asked a few more questions before cutting off the communications to speak with Damian.
"With this done, everything will appear like my grandfather is moving things... I only need to keep my distance from Ulrika for the rest of the year to eliminate any thoughts of our relationship, and no one will even know that I have my own informants in the places as well so if anyone betrays us I can kill them instantly before it happens" Masaru muttered as he starts to consider a few more things for the future.
"Guess I can only count on Ulrika to handle the dark side with me while I leave the rest of the girls in the light, I don't want to taint their purity with cruelty of the world. I will have to spoil Ulrika more often since I am making her do the dirty work"
Later that night Masaru went out to start his patrol, the strange thing was the villagers were all sleeping and only two guards were active at each side of the gates with the walls surrounding the houses of the villagers which they built to resist demonic beast tides.
What he felt were life signatures moving fast and the amount of energy they were gathering was low but it was still enough to do something even if it was not big.
'Low mana... What am I missing here?' Masaru thought while looking at the farm absentmindedly it was when he saw a bright light in the distance he realized what was happening.
"INVADERS" Using magic to enhance the loudness of his voice, Masaru alarmed the villagers before he disappeared towards the direction.
The moment he arrived where the men previous were, he noticed that they were already gone. Seeing how badly they managed to damage farms built by honest working farmers enraged him, he who was to become the territory lord over these lands felt his pride was being trampled by ants.
This was his domain
His people...
'They dared to attack it' Masaru thought, he was not certain why but his rage continued to boil with each moment he glanced at the destroyed farms. With him being incredibly angry, he did not notice that the peculiar feelings he once had when he faced Tiamat were emerging without him egging it on.
[Do you seek it? Power to protect your dignity...]
Hearing this peculiar voice, Masaru snapped out of his anger as he felt it that familiar entity and feeling that gave him subtle understanding of what it was trying to say.
[If you're a King that acts as the Guardian for your people... then you need the power to protect it... Your domain]
Masaru could feel his heartbeat was growing louder with each fast beat, he desired it. Power different from the spellbook. Different from his Worthless.
He could feel himself walking towards the jungle door with each step heavier than the last.
His eye pupils were slowly turning into cat-like slits while the colour was becoming amber coloured, behind his ears white lights were emitting similar around his fists and his feet.
[Do you have what it takes to become a Guardian King with Dignity... Then call it out... my name!]
Masaru kicked opened the door within his soul space while his body erupted a flash of light while the surroundings all shuddered and the beasts including demonic beasts in the vicinity all bowed in the direction of Masaru.
"Byakko's Claws!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
CompleteNoob
CompleteNoob 08/08/2020 - Changes made
Don't even ask... Yes just don't... Poisoned Pork meat? Addictive Properties? Purple Pork being called Dragon Pork? Aiya what the hell is going on here!?
Although that was a spur of a moment I thought of adding a few more things on the list for Ulrika to work on in the background while our MC will go back to school... Selling drugs... It seems our MC has turned to the dark side of the Food World.... Very dangerous stuff
I will be introducing some decent things, it was just when I thought of Porks I remember that Seven Deadly sins, that Dragon Pork... It inspired this chapter...
This noob is out to buy some pork meat for dinner! Complete noob is out!
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