Ever since Landen became the Landen he was now, he had never once left this bunker. It was rather ridiculous when you thought about it. As the lord of a territory, his knowledge of his own domain came entirely from memories and maps. It was truly quite ironic.
Back when the owner of this body was still the former Landen, things had not been like this. Although the Minotaur Butler had always found all sorts of reasons to stop Landen from going out, he was ultimately only a servant, while Landen was the master. Thus, whenever Landen stubbornly decided to do something, all the butler could do was obediently follow him.
That was how the Landen of that time personally saw that Lizardfolk tribe, and personally saw that colony of Mind Flayers.
Although Landen's past life had been deeply unsatisfying, it had not dulled his fighting spirit. Becoming the lord of the Yumaas Region looked like exile to others, a decision Matriarch Isis had made because she had finally grown tired of this bastard illegitimate son of hers. But to him, it was an opportunity—an opportunity to stand on his own and rise to prominence.
His first step toward rising up was to subdue these creatures who were nominally his subjects but, in reality, could only be considered wild creatures. If he wanted to become a true lord, or even an overlord like Matriarch Isis, it was impossible without subordinates. With only the people under his command, his dreams would remain nothing more than dreams.
Dreams were beautiful, but reality gave Landen a brutal slap in the face. He had sent invitations to every race in his territory, yet received not a single reply. Then he had thought of conquering them by force. However, that idea was declared a failure at the hands of the weakest group of all the creatures—the goblins. Landen had never expected that there would actually be a Black Iron strength fighter among those goblins. Not only that, they firmly refused every temptation and used their lair as a battlefield to play a game of cat and mouse with Landen and the others. In the end, everyone on Landen's side fled that goblin nest covered in injuries.
After that, Landen never mentioned subduing those creatures again. It was also from then on that the Minotaur Butler began using the possibility of those creatures rioting as an excuse to impose more and more restrictions on Landen's excursions.
This situation began to change with the arrival of Ella. Landen had always believed that the reason they had been unable to defeat even a nest of dozens of goblins was, firstly, their unfamiliarity with the terrain, and secondly, their lack of proper tools. If everyone had been carrying various Alchemy Tools back then, then even if they had still fought in that place, they would have been the ones to claim victory in the end.
Unfortunately, that idea was halted once again when that incident occurred. This time, the poor former Landen lost his life as well, and the Minotaur Butler used it as an excuse to completely restrict Landen from going outside.
Of course, everything changed when Landen gently drove that Steel Thorn into Janie's skull.
"Master, Miss Janie, she..."
"Old Niu, didn't you understand what I just said?"
"Uh, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to ask, how should we deal with Miss Janie's corpse?"
"Oh, that. I was just about to ask you, Old Niu. Do you know of any way to preserve a body for a long time without damaging its bodily functions?"
"I'm sorry, Master. If it were jerky..."
"All right, you don't need to say anything more, Old Niu. Let's leave it at that. Go tell the Lari Brothers to get a good rest. We're heading out tomorrow."
"But, Master, outside..."
"I know what you mean, Old Niu. It's dangerous outside, but get one thing straight: I'm not a baby. I'm the lord here. This isn't a request. It's an order. Understood?"
"This... all right, Master. But may I presume to ask where we're going? I can make some preparations."
"Ah, it's not very far. Just to that Mind Flayer colony. Prepare two days' worth of rations, and that'll be enough."
"Mind... Mind Flayers!?" The poor Minotaur Butler had already suffered far too many shocks that day. Upon hearing those words, he could not control his expression at all. His ox face twisted into an extremely obvious and extremely human look of shock as he shouted, "Master, are you planning to give Miss Janie's corpse to the Mind Flayers... Oh, my god, Master! Miss Janie offended you and was executed, which is perfectly understandable. But she was still Vivian's confidante. If you send her corpse to those Mind Flayers, there's absolutely no way you'll be able to explain it to Miss Vivian. If Miss Vivian punishes you..."
"No, no, no, Old Niu, calm down, calm down! When did I say I was going to give Miss Janie's corpse to the Mind Flayers? Have you suffered some kind of hallucination?"
"B-but..."
"Miss Janie clearly met with an accident before she came to me and was controlled by the Mind Flayers, turning into a Flesh Puppet. Not only that, those Mind Flayers even tried to harm us by controlling her. Fortunately, Old Niu, you wisely discovered this and foiled their plot. Sadly, we were still unable to reclaim Miss Janie's corpse. Now, we're heading to that nest of evil Mind Flayers not only to reclaim Miss Janie's corpse, but also to punish those Mind Flayers!"
The poor Minotaur Butler had never seen anyone spout such blatant lies with a straight face. His already enormous ox eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, while his mouth opened so wide that even his Adam's apple was visible. After a long while, he finally stammered, "As for that credit, Master, I'd rather not have it. It was all your achievement, Master. How could I take credit for it?"
"Oh, oh, oh, my dear Old Niu, you still haven't understood one thing. Here, I'm the lord, and my words are orders. Do I need to say anything more?"
"No, Master."
"Then, do you have any other questions?"
"No, Master."
"Good, Old Niu. Go inform the Lari Brothers, and make the preparations for going out. Ah, right. Please also arrange a place for Miss Janie to stay tonight. Oh, and there's no need to let the Lari Brothers know about that matter. Understood?"
"Understood, Master."
"Good. Have a pleasant night, Old Niu."
Minutes later, in the small dark room where Ella was being held.
"Hey, Ella, how was your day?"
"L-Lord, what did you just say?"
"Ah, nothing. I just came to ask you one thing: do you really not want to die?"
"Of course not, Lord! I can swear to my god that what happened to you really wasn't my doing!"
"All right, all right. Let's not dwell on that topic for now. I'll only ask you one thing: do you want to live?"
"Yes!"
"Good. Then come with me. Whether you'll ever have the chance to see the sun again depends on how you behave tonight."
Before you continue