Plain Island lived up to its reputation. After exiting the harbor, we were met with grassy fields, clean air, and no large buildings in sight. Yup, this is a county island. Kinda feels like those rural areas in those open-world exploration games.

Hmm, there are some shriveled spots of grass here and there, due to the Glavras-drought, but in all, the island looks as healthy as it can get. I can see some thin bovine-looking creatures grassing on the horizon, but they're not skeletons to say it like that. Guess they're still recuperating.

...ouch.

"Hey, Garami! Don't slack off!" - Gust

Tch, I know, I know. 

We walked through the road, following the signposts to our location.

*Rumble, rumble, rumble*

...We must be getting close.

"Wall," I asked Ice-guy.

He gave me a look of confusion for a moment before getting it and produced a wall of ice in the direction where the rumbling was coming from. From there came a large sand cloud, and it's getting closer by the second.

Is it a bird? Is it a bovine stampede? Is it an earthquake!? No, it's the mole patrol!!

"Wha-?! Moles?!" - Noire

Yeah, it's surprising when you see it for the first time. The moles' charge got disrupted by the ice wall, so we managed to escape getting crushed by a horde of rushing moles. I swear those guys have some sort of [Rush] skill...

Anyway, Moles and co's arrived at the scene! Did they miss me so much? Ah, half of it's because Gust also was here.

"Hey, guys! Missed me-gyafu!?" - Gust

And Gust got buried in a mountain of moles. Is he alright? Oi, fallen angel, do some first aid.

"E-excuse us so much! The Stella Moles suddenly went wild!" - Farmer (?)

Some guy dressed in overalls came running after the moles. Probably one of the workers from the farm.

"Ah, we are alright... mostly." - Alf

"Get... off... the bird... already!" said Noire, while struggling to pull Gust outta the molehill.

"S-so sorry! Everyone, please get off the birdkin child!" - Farmer

He's a Crow Goblin... but who cares about the details?

---

"I'm so sorry about the mess our helpers have given you. Please accept our apologies." - Benjamin Ariens

"Please acshept our apologies." - Firis Ariens

She bit her tongue...

"No worries, no worries~. I'm just as happy for meeting with Moles and the rest myself." - Gust

Good thing for them all that Gust's not the type to bear a grudge.

We're currently at the Ariens Farm, brought here by the farmworker that came after Moles and the rest before. When we arrived, we were met with the father-daughter combo that was apologizing for the moles' behavior. Gust accepted it gracefully, so now we can get down to business. 

Benjamin Ariens, the boss of this place, is a huge, British-looking blond man, with big arms... or rather, his whole body's big. I couldn't stop myself from Identifying him to be sure if he was some human-beastkin hybrid. Or, maybe not. That dog guy from the first day was a Beastkin (Dog), so a hybrid would have bear-ears instead of a big body? No, that's a therianthrope...

Anyway, Ben the Bearman (100% human) here's the fifth-generation owner of the farm and father to Firis who I met in the city before joining the organization. Since he's human, I guess the mother's a Flugel like the fallen angel? Hope they don't get into a fight. I don't remember where, but I know that the fallen angel got a thorn with other Flugels. Doesn't seem like she's home, so that's good?

As a sort of repayment, Bearman's agreed to show us around his farm. It's not that big of a deal, but it's the first time I've ever visited a farm, so I'm kinda excited here.

As its name suggests, the Ariens farm is a sheep farm. They breed sheep for their wool and meat. The wool is almost as good as my [Spider Lord's Threads]! That's the combined work of both growing the sheep with care, while also making a great deal of processing the wool. The crew's made up of Monster Tamers or Beast Tamers, plus Weavers that take care of the wool. Some of the Tamers even have the Shepard title. That's a new one.

They also farm vegetables and special grassing areas for the sheep, thanks to the Farmers of the crew. The moles have helped them considerably at this point. Or rather, their gardening skills have risen to way higher levels since the last time I Identified them! They've kept my teachings close to their hearts ever since we were separated from each other... *sniff*.

But, there's a limit to how green your thumbs can be! The patches of grass that the moles have worked on look so fresh, you could mistake them for strands made of emeralds!! On the other hand, the other patches have a more withered-yellow color...

"It's all thanks to Moles and the rest that our farm has recuperated from the drought so easily. We can even give a helping hand to our neighbors at this pace." - Benjamin

"You are a close-knitted society here on this island." - Alf

"Sure is! If it only extended to the outsiders..." - Benjamin

The last part was barely audible, but you can't escape my ears that easily, Bearman! I poked at Ice-guy to tell him to hop on to that.

"Is there any problems with outsiders?" - Alf

"Oh, none at all! ...Is what I want it to be, but these last years, we have been targeted by a group of scoundrels." - Benjamin

While talking with a low voice so that Firis that was playing a with the fallen angel a little away from us couldn't hear, Bearman started to explain how these "scoundrels" had suddenly arrived one day at their farm, wishing monopoly of a certain plant that only the Ariens farm knew how to cultivating.

Back then, the farm was close to collapsing due to the drought, so Bearman was unsure whenever to accept the sudden, and honestly, suspicious until little Firis started to make noise in the other room. Whether it was a coincidence or not, Bearman took that as a sign and refused the deal.

Your business advisor is your two-year-old girl? It seemed stupid to me, but Bearman only said to those guys back then at he only wanted to take some time to think about it, but it got the other side all aggressive for some reason. Weird, right?

"That seems like the actions of someone not up to something good." - Alf

"What a coincidence. I had the same thoughts back then." - Benjamin

Uh, who wouldn't?

"After that, the negotiations unsurprisingly broke off and I had those 'gentlemen' take their leave from the island. Not long after that, our ranch started to face several 'difficulties'." - Benjamin

"Sabotage?" - Alf

"If not outright robbery. Several cargoes were either attacked by robbers or simply destroyed by monsters. The kind that can be directed easily towards targets. After that, they would brazenly send an offer to 'protect' our wares from such 'accidents'." - Benjamin

Yikes. There's gotta be a limit to harassment. And even if there isn't any, it should.

"No need for a detective on this case. But what happened after that?" - Alf

"Simple. The attacks on the cargoes were making trouble for the other ranches as well, so we all came together and asked adventurers for protection. After a while, this resulted in the Union making cargo-transport guarding a permanent accessible Quest for adventurers." - Benjamin

Oh yeah. I remember seeing something like that on the Quest Board. The rewards were pretty nice as well. Some even gave away Skill Points. I didn't even think of accepting them because guarding's not my thing. I need to be close to the target of protection after all.

"In the end, the bandit attacks started to subsid, but since the monsters had learned how to attack caravans by then, the protection Quests still holds to this day. On the other hand, I never saw anything from those brats after that, nor did we have any man-made troubles... until recently." - Benjamin

He must be talking about the kidnapping of the angel girl? If there was someone after you, you wouldn't let your little girl out in the open like that after all. Did they stop attacking because they waited for such a chance?

"Good thing you hired a bodyguard." - Alf

"You mean miss Mira? She has been a great help to us. Only..." - Benjamin

Only what?

"She is somewhat strange. She has a love for money and gold that even Firis, who is yet to be interested in money, can understand her greed the moment they met. Even so, Mira only asks for the minimal amount of payment, even when she has the right to ask for more." - Benjamin

...Alright, I don't care. She's probably saving proficiency for some skills like [Charity]. Seriously, not like I care. I don't, alright?! *sniff*...

"That is praiseworthy of her." - Alf

"It sure is." - Benjamin

Tch! For some reason, this conversation is pissing me off! Is it my devilish lineage at work here? Ooh, now I got even madder! I'll not allow even DNA to decide what I like or not!!

*Sigh*, but this is just venting my anger at something, right? Geez, why did that have to happen to me...

"-, let us go and set up the contract." - Benjamin

"Gladly. Garami, you can simply look around the place. I get that this kind of paperwork isn't your style, so leave this to me." - Alf

And with that, Ice-guy and Bearman went into the office to do something I completely failed to get while I was busy hating my genetic code. Eh, seriously? You're gonna leave me behind? 

Then, the fallen angel... went somewhere because the little angel wanted someone to play with? O-oh, right... then Gust's... taken by Moles and the rest...

Eh? Isn't this, you know, like, a little bad? Me, in my condition, being alone?

"Hey, you bastard. Get over here." - ???

And now someone's asking for a fight!? Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!! B-because my current stat is-!

At least let me use Darkness Magic, you damn Waning ailment!! Why did I have to take that stupid [Poison Immunity] skill the day after the boss-spider battle?! Whyyyyy?!

---

Alf's PoV:

"-and you are sure this Private Army of yours will hold their promise?" - Benjamin

"Of course. There is my hometown as a living example. Life's never been better there." - Alf

You would reassure once or twice when it's about the safety of your family. I would have done the same, or, maybe as many times as possible before the other side got too annoyed.

Benjamin Ariens seemed to be satisfied when I mentioned the example with my hometown. He must have splurged on a Lie-Detector magitech after the episode with those wrongdoers or whatever they were.

"Then, the Belial Private Army will have a lasting contract in protecting the Ariens Farm in exchange for getting priority of your goods." - Alf

"Please do." - Benjamin

Adventurers may be usable, but there could be bad apples among them. Not to mention there could be times when there is no one to take the guarding Quests given by the ranches.

Having a contract with a real army will be more assuring for the farmers, as they are promised protection at any time. If this works well, our reputation can spread to the other farms, and before long, we will have a large influence on the producers of the consumable goods of this region.

It will not give us a monopoly or something, as we are only aiming to gain a good relationship with them and not a complete take-over. Doing the latter would only gain the ire of the populace. 

The other option, the one with a friendly relationship, will help us spread the name of the organization, or rather, the Belial Private Army. What better PR is there than to be the guardian of your everyday life? That is the real reward we are aiming for. The priority thing with the farm is just a bonus in comparison.

While sorting out the thoughts in my head, I had Benjamin Ariens sign the contract I had stored in the Item Bag in case of such a situation. Did Garami foresee so far when she wanted to travel to this island? If so, I need to reevaluate Garami's worth as a leader.

While thinking so, I looked outside to see what the possible mastermind was doing... 

Why is she being dragged away by some swordswoman? Eh, wait, can someone explain this? The same Garami that toyed around with a rank C monster was beaten that easily!?

I rubbed my eyes and took another look, which made me notice that Garami had gotten a bump on her head, along with her clothes being covered in a small amount of dirt. Going from this, did she trip and knock herself out?

......There is a dire need of reevaluating Garami, for sure.