Suddenly turning my head, I could see that the wheat fields outside the window had all turned golden.
A sight like a sea of melted gold. Beneath a clear sky without a single cloud, everything shimmered and rippled in golden light. People moved through the wheat fields inside the massive walls.
The breeze blowing from there tickled my cheeks, carrying a savory aroma. It was a scene I'd seen more than twenty times since reincarnating into this world, but it still left me staring blankly in awe.
'It's a landscape you rarely see in the modern world, so no matter how many times I look at it, I'm drawn in.'
I muttered to myself, forgetting about my work.
"The wheat harvest season is already here. Looks like it's time to wrap things up this year too."
The bespectacled blonde woman sitting beside me replied.
"We'll be busy for a while, Lord Lucius."
"Yeah. Still, it's a satisfying sight."
"A satisfying sight..."
Milla—the sharp-featured woman in her early twenties—was a commoner by birth but an exceptionally capable secretary. Even she, always focused on her tasks, paused and gazed out the window with me.
"...Yes, it's truly a blessing. To safely welcome this autumn. And to keep living in such an abundant place."
"Isn't it though."
The sound of turning pages in the office stopped.
Only the rustle of papers fluttering in the breeze echoed.
What lay before us was a landscape that miraculous.
Eventually turning back, Milla sighed and said,
"It's peaceful now, but it was noisy all the way until summer. And there's still a mountain of work left."
"..."
I turned my head too and let out a sigh. The lord's desk was piled high with reports of various issues from the territory. Most of them remained unsolved.
Skimming through a few, I said,
"During the showers, a few drainage ditches in the residential areas collapsed. Masons hurt their backs carrying bricks. And the elder priest from the main church passed away."
"It was a hectic summer."
"Above all, the goblins in the forest have been acting up steadily since spring. No idea how they keep sprouting up like weeds. No matter how many we kill, they never end. I want to clean them up before the Harvest Festival."
"..."
She murmured worriedly.
"And... nothing like the old 'Great Catastrophe' will happen again, right?"
"It won't."
I stated firmly. I had no certainty, but I had resolve, so I could say it.
"Everyone died, but I'm still here."
"Lord..."
"So I'll definitely stop it. Don't worry—just handle the urgent matters first. Tell Captain Luciana to head straight for the 'forest cleanup' once morning training ends."
"You're going yourself again, Lord?"
"Yeah. Can't afford to lose soldiers we've barely rebuilt. It's better if I go along to keep it safe and quick."
"..."
Milla nodded reluctantly.
"Then I'll go to the training grounds myself and inform Captain Luciana of your accompaniment."
Milla bowed gracefully and withdrew. Silence filled the lord's office, cluttered with all sorts of documents.
I stood and grabbed a sturdy coat. The regular forest cleanup meant battling monsters awaited.
"..."
'If not for my abilities from reincarnation and awakening, I wouldn't have handled these issues properly.'
That thought brought small letters sprouting in my mind.
⚔ STATUS ⚔[Lucius Baran (24)][Lord of Walled City Baran / Mage][Legendary] Blessing of the Sky: Escapes sudden death.[Legendary] Blessing of the Earth: Resource acquisition fixed at maximum.[■■] Blessing of ■■: ■■■ Never forgets.
In this world, possessing even one legendary ability earned you the title of heaven-sent talent.
I, with three legendary abilities, was treated like a descendant of the gods. Especially the 'Blessing of the Earth,' which maximized resource acquisition—it was the final piece that turned this walled city into a paradise on earth.
Thanks to it, since my birth,
I'd never once worried about food.
-From the day young master was born, the good harvests have never ceased. This ability is a divine blessing!
The praise never stopped, even during heir training.
'Most of it was thanks to that last ability granting perfect memory. Even if it glitched on rank, since it's similar to another legendary one, I'll gratefully treat it as legendary.'
-Young master just awakened all 'basic' and 'intermediate' spells of the five elements... This is truly heaven-sent talent. Even geniuses can't exceed three elements...!
Still, I couldn't solve every problem alone. Far more issues went unsolved. Especially the periodic monster invasions.
'Plus, the magic tomes inside the walls only go up to intermediate. If there are basic and intermediate, there should be advanced and legendary ones too...'
Did advanced tomes exist beyond the walls?
Would I ever need to go out?
"..."
No idea.
I had no reason to leave these walls.
"A self-sufficient city where people gather inside the walls to avoid monsters. Feels like something from a modern comic."
Putting on my coat,
I took one last look out the window.
Inside the massive white walls.
A city where over ten thousand people lived, safe from monster invasions. A leisurely river, wheat fields and orchards so lush they rippled to the horizon. A paradise on earth.
A walled city on strange plains,
with no kingdom or capital.
Walled City Baran.
I was its ruling lord.
'Lucius Baran.'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
There, in the forest, I locked eyes with a middle-aged man.
A perverted middle-aged bunny girl with rabbit ear accessories on his head.
"..."
"..."
It was during the 'forest cleanup' to sweep a monster cluster area. Separated from the advance soldiers, I'd encountered this bizarre middle-aged rabbit man deep in the woods.
In the middle of a forest clearing turned to chaos by my intermediate earth and water magic barrage. Silence flowed amid the mud and muck.
The bunny man and I stared at each other in silence.
"..."
"..."
'Fuck. I've never even seen a real woman in one, and now a man—a middle-aged one at that—is wearing it.'
The rabbit man looked flustered too. He bit his thumb lightly with his bushy-bearded mouth, groaning softly.
"Oh dear, trouble."
His unnecessarily feminine gesture pissed me off. I clenched my fist without thinking. His sunglasses hid his eyes, but I could tell he was on guard.
For some reason, his reaction felt unfair.
'A pervert looking shocked at me? That's the problem.'
Extremely unfair.
I was in standard isekai lord attire, perfectly normal.
It even made me angry.
I was forcing my eyes away from his destructively violent lower half—worse than his upper—to focus on his protruding belly.
'High heels for historical accuracy. Even stockings...'
I wanted to blast him with a fireball right then.
To save my eyes from this cursed visual assault. But as a lord, I couldn't harm a passing traveler, even if I couldn't bless him.
So I prayed like a lament.
"My god. Goddess of the morning star."
"...?"
The rabbit man tilted his head. Then muttered in a gruff voice.
"Huh, instant reaction. Hostile event NPC then."
"Event NPC...?"
"Events tying hostile NPCs due to appearance are a pain. Better bounce."
"?"
'If you don't want hostility from your looks, don't dress like a pervert.'
Poof!
Before the thought finished, the rabbit man vanished in a flash. He didn't even gesture at conversation until the end.
But what shocked me wasn't that.
My jaw dropped.
"!"
'That magic just now—wasn't it the legendary spatial magic only grandmages can use, from the old books—'Warp'?'
The rabbit man was a grandmage?
While I stood stunned, soldiers came looking for me.
-Lord!
-Find the Lord quickly—!
"!"
Soon, Subjugation Force Captain Luciana rushed to me faster than anyone, despite wielding heavy gear. She still had the habit of charging recklessly, unable to contain her vigor.
Luciana shouted in her youthful voice.
"Lord!! Are you alright—?! Sorry for going ahead—!!"
"..."
Hearing the greatsword girl's voice snapped me out of the shock in my head. Ten years as lord weren't for nothing.
So I shook my head and replied.
"It's nothing. Let's head back."
"Yes!! Thanks to you, Lord, we safely took down tons of goblins today!! My greatsword's all battered—!! But with goblins still swarming, I'll swing it till it breaks—!!"
Luciana proudly raised her greatsword, smeared with blood and green goblin flesh like rust. It had the force of a blood-soaked tree sprouting. Even the surrounding soldiers flinched.
I praised her well done and turned to leave.
And finally—
I glanced in the direction the middle-aged pervert rabbit man had vanished.
"..."
If.
My guess was right,
and the rabbit man was a grandmage...
I couldn't even catch him.
'I'm just an intermediate mage. Better not to provoke unnecessarily and just let it pass.'
And I couldn't stir needless anxiety among the soldiers over something inexplicable. So I returned, tucking away the strange unease.
What he'd said looking at me.
NPC.
It was definitely a game term from my past life.
'No way...'
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[Encountered a Climber.] ['Gallery Access' function unlocked.] [Current user's floor: 51F 'Walled City Baran'.]
That night.
In my dream, I saw a familiar screen.
A screen from my past life's computer or phone. An internet browser with black text densely packed on a clean white background...
"Tower Climbing Gallery?"
[Tower Climbing Gallery] [*Gallery Guide: Gathering place for 'Climbers' ascending 'Yggdrasil,' the tower connected to multiple dimensions.] [*Gallery Notice: Everyone gets hungry, so no trolling!]
『[Share] Title: Sea Giant's Armpit Moss Roots』
『[General] Title: Argh♡ Beastkin Are Too Cute♡』
『[General] Title: Anyone wanna eat Incarnation of Corruption minions with me?』
『[General] Title: F♡ck Ate Minions And The Shit's Nonstop』
『[Question] Title: Why Can't Hunger Be Resolved Like Jerking Off?』
Raw screams.
Seeing them,
my head spun.
"What the hell is this?"
I clicked the latest post.
📰 Breaking News『[Question] Title: Ah F♡ck The Shit's Not Stopping!!!』 『Author: Anon (12.73)』 『I ate Incarnation of Corruption minions cuz I was hungry af? But the shit won't stop f♡ck it's coming out like a butt spray f♡ck I'm a human sprinkler rn f♡ck how do I stop this??』— Anon (38.2)Lmao you actually ate that— Fur Lover🔹Argh♡ That's a curse, herbs won't fix it♡ Go to the legendary high priest NPC and get it lifted♡↳ Reply[I'm on 35F now, gotta go down to 21F with the elf granny while shitting nonstop...? Bare my ass in front of the elf granny...?]↳ ReplyYep! Only one legendary high priest in the tower world!↳ ReplyOkay~ I'm off to die!
"Fuck..."
I ended up spewing past-life curses again.
"..."
But seeing the gallery,
I felt the familiar modern vibe.
'Game communities felt exactly like this.'
A good idea came soon.
'The rabbit man, presumed grandmage, called me NPC on sight. So he's a 'Climber' too? This is a world inside a tower?'
If so...
'I can use this gallery to learn about powerful 'Climbers' info?'
And maybe track items like 'advanced magic tomes' outside the walls. Perhaps trade with climbers...
'First, gotta find out what rewards NPCs can offer that they'd want.'
I swallowed and wrote a question post.
'Feels just like using a smartphone.'
— Anon『[Question] Title: Question.』 『Ran into an NPC by chance. What's the most tempting reward I can get from an NPC right now?』
Replies poured in on the newbie-smelling question.
— AnonFood no doubt lol— AnonFood...— AnonFood!— AnonFOOD— AnonFOOD—!!— AnonAsk for food guaranteed— AnonGo for exp to level up and you're screwed f♡ck
...
...
...
Probably.
They want something I have plenty of.