How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary-Chapter 43

Chapter 43
The meeting with the Lion Tribe was arranged quickly.
The day after the regular territory meeting.
A warrior of the Lion Tribe knocked on the northern gate and announced that the Lion Tribe Chieftain was coming.
The fact that they had at least informed us in advance gave me the impression they were more reasonable than the Black Lions.
The Black Lions had once dispatched warriors without even contacting Leisha first.
“So, in the end, they’re coming for meat, right?”
“There can be no other reason. I already sent plenty of dried Horned Rabbit meat to the village, so the chieftain must know of it.”
“True. That makes sense.”
Horned Rabbits, huh.
It seemed like we would be trading with the north before the south.
-The terms shouldn’t be bad. If it’s the Lion Tribe, they’re rather straightforward.
‘Is that so? Well, just look at the Black Lions….’
I hadn’t traded with beastmen before, but somehow it felt like it would be a little different from humans.
They probably wouldn’t use tricks or play mind games.
With that in mind, the Lion Tribe seemed like a decent trading partner.
‘Given the Monster Mountains between us, continuous trade might be difficult, but even one-time trades wouldn’t be bad.’
It did feel like I was constantly dealing with beastmen these days, but if it was for the sake of the territory, there was no reason to be picky.
“They’re coming.”
In the distance, a group of people was approaching the castle of the territory.
At the lead was a large lion beastman with golden ears.
Just by his presence, it wasn’t hard to guess he was the Lion Tribe Chieftain.
‘So that’s the Golden Mane Tribe. Fits the description.’
“But that fellow’s… head….”
“Being a leader is a position with much stress. The chieftain used to have a full head of hair. The better the leader, the faster he goes bald.”
“He doesn’t even look that old yet. What a shame.”
The Lion Tribe Chieftain was a strikingly handsome man whom anyone would call good-looking, but he had no hair left on his head.
Apparently, he disliked watching it fall out little by little from stress, so he shaved it all off.
Bald already, even at his young age.
The position of Lion Tribe Chieftain really didn’t seem easy.
“Heh, so many Horned Rabbits… did you truly succeed in breeding them?”
Even as Leisha and I approached the delegation, the Lion Tribe Chieftain was marveling at the Horned Rabbits running across the wide fields.
He must have doubted the Black Lions’ s.
Well, of course.
That’s why he came all the way here to confirm it himself.
“Pleased to meet you. I am Iron Johnson, lord of Johnson.”
“Indeed. I am Rudelrof, Chieftain of the Lion Tribe. A pleasure to meet you.”
“You’re fluent in our language despite being a beastman?”
“Haha, I had no choice but to learn it to deal with merchants. They are insufferably difficult. Through an interpreter, I could never properly grasp the subtle nuances they use.”
Rudelrof seemed even more impressive than I had expected.
Judging by the mana I could sense, he was about Master-class.
Not quite on Leisha’s level, but still formidable.
‘Roughly on par with me as I am now.’
And not only fluent in human language, but his bearing carried an air of refinement, which meant he was certainly intelligent.
Since he was a chieftain, I had expected someone more like Limond or Leisha, but instead, he felt closer to Leon.
With good looks as well, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had it all.
‘The fact that he looks this good without any hair at all is truly something.’
At this point, I was starting to suspect baldness was the gods’ way of balancing things out.
“Let’s not waste words. First, let us complete our trade. We need meat. As much as possible. So we have brought ample goods. Rudrick, present to Lord Johnson what we brought.”
“Yes, Chieftain.”
Whether by nature or habit, he was direct. They needed a lot of meat.
Even calm Rudelrof seemed somewhat impatient—perhaps that was just a lion beastman’s nature.
‘So they really love Horned Rabbits that much, huh.’
Even during our conversation, his eyes kept darting toward the rabbit ranch.
It seemed leading a meat-loving tribe like the Lions was even more exhausting than I thought.
“Heh, this much?”
The twenty or so beastmen Rudelrof brought each carried a large bag.
Inside were not only gold ingots but also high-quality iron ingots.
Just how much meat would it take to match this amount?
It was so much that I struggled to even calculate the price.
“Are you truly giving all this?”
“This much is needed to make a proper trade. If you knew the costs of obtaining meat from the Levelium merchants, you wouldn’t ask that.”
“Is that so?”
“Sometimes I wonder whether they are merchants or pigs.”
The Boar Tribe, the sworn enemies of many beastmen.
The fact that he compared merchants to them meant the merchant guilds’ tyranny was quite severe.
‘Well, merchant guilds have always specialized in exploiting others.’
Exploiting beastmen rather than humans probably didn’t bother them at all.
‘Ah, I should tell him about this too. They seem to deal with the Levelium guilds as well.’
-What are you talking about?
‘The Rabbit Tribe’s Great Escape. Leisha helped us, remember? Some mercenaries survived, so they might suspect the Lion Tribe.’
Even though she wore rabbit ears, I couldn’t guarantee no mercenaries recognized Leisha’s face.
“Oh, that happened?”
“Yeah. The guild might lodge a complaint.”
Since it felt wrong to just stay silent, I explained the situation to Rudelrof.
Depending on how he saw it, he could have taken it badly.
But Rudelrof didn’t seem bothered at all.
“What could they possibly do? In trade between the Lion Tribe and the guilds, they are the ones who profit overwhelmingly.”
“Really?”
“No matter what they say, if we threaten to cut ties, they’ll have no choice.”
“That much?”
Well, if they were willing to haul over piles of gold and iron ingots just to buy meat, then they clearly weren’t normal either.
‘Now that I think about it, Leon didn’t seem particularly worried either, did he?’
-That young male seemed to know something about it as well.
Interesting.
The Levelium Merchant Group.
Hard to see the bottom of their dealings.
And this lion beastman before me wasn’t ordinary either.
He clearly knew his own worth and had the boldness to match.
‘The common belief is that beastmen rely more on instinct than reason.’
But Rudelrof seemed wiser than most. I wanted to converse with him a little more.
* * *
After finalizing the trade, we continued chatting with a more relaxed mood.
The payment for the iron and gold ingots was settled by filling the bags they had brought with Horned Rabbit jerky.
By my standards, it still felt lacking, but Rudelrof seemed genuinely pleased.
It looked like they had been ripped off pretty badly before.
“I want the children of the tribe to eat this as well. The taste is truly incredible.”
“Is that so?”
To a guest who had come from a place close yet far, crossing the Monster Mountains, I served Johnson Territory’s specialty sausages.
True to their love of meat, the Lion Tribe relished the sausages with immense satisfaction.
The way his eyes sparkled looked absolutely sincere.
Seeing them enjoy it made me feel rather good too.
‘He is wise, but not very skilled at hiding his true feelings. A straightforward friend.’
Well, perhaps that was just a beastman’s trait.
Which, if anything, made me like him more.
“The Black Lions have migrated to our territory. Is that alright?”
“What do you mean, alright?”
“I thought there might have been some talk within the tribe.”
“Ah, it’s fine. Things are complicated on our end too.”
The first topic I brought up was the migration of the Black Lions.
It was something that had to be mentioned at least once.
Since it was a direct point of contact between Rotsy and Johnson Territory, it was a sensitive issue that could become a source of conflict.
And above all, I was personally curious.
Why had the seemingly wise Rudelrof let the Black Lions leave?
The departure of the Black Lions meant, in some way, a weakening of the Lion Tribe’s power.
But it seemed they too had their own burdens.
“The Black Lions were always out of place. Should I say they had their own distinct domain? They never blended well with the other lions.”
“Is that so?”
“Of course, I can’t say we were completely blameless either.”
“If things got that bad, why not try marriage policies? If they mixed and formed families, things might have improved little by little, don’t you think?”
“Ah, that. You know the Black Lions have lived with us for a long time. Naturally, we tried. But it failed.”
“Failed?”
“The Black Lions’ mindset is a little different.”
“Different how?”
It had been over a hundred years since the Black Lions rejoined the Lion Tribe, yet they still felt out of place.
There had to be a reason.
Even the first time I had heard about the Black Lions, I got the impression they were being treated differently.
So I probed a little, but the response wasn’t very pleasant.
And when I heard the explanation, I found myself speechless for a moment.
“You must know if you’ve seen lion beastmen. Males hold immense authority here. Of course, exceptions exist, like remarkable figures such as Leisha.”
“Ah, yes. That much was clear.”
There were more female warriors, yet all the leaders were male.
And despite Leisha’s presence, Limond still carried significant authority.
It must have had something to do with the tribe’s unique traits—more women, but male leadership.
In that case, someone like Leisha was the rare exception.
“Our marriage customs are similar. Lionesses observe the males for a long time before proposing, but in the end, it’s the male who decides. If he isn’t interested, he rejects them.”
“Of course. Marriage isn’t something one person decides alone.”
“Then the lioness usually withdraws. But the Black Lions are different.”
“How so?”
“They cling until the very end. In the worst cases, they’ll even beat up a male to make him their husband. And their strength is so great that most can’t resist them.”
“That’s… horrifying. Forced marriage?”
“There are many other things too. Perhaps small things on their own, but together they disrupt unity. These days, they’ve practically split apart—Black Lions and Lion Tribe. At times, I think it might be better for the Black Lions to form their own tribe.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
I could understand other issues, but forcing men into marriage…
To think that the beautiful Black Lion female warriors were that violent gave me a strange feeling.
-Maybe it’s a side effect of their biological modifications. An obsession with reproduction.
‘Perhaps. We’d better be cautious about this.’
Though Rudelrof seemed relieved about their independence, I could feel traces of genuine effort to integrate them.
At least in his time, it didn’t seem like the Black Lions were being outright mistreated.
“Now that they’ve gone independent, I hope they live well. Just because they’re independent doesn’t mean they’re no longer lions. Of course, from what I’ve seen, they’ll probably manage fine.”
Despite their independence, Rudelrof didn’t seem to harbor bad feelings.
In this regard, he felt refreshingly cool-headed.
Yet, seeing them still recognized as lions suggested that a tribe’s existence meant more to beastmen than I could comprehend.
Come to think of it, even Leisha never showed hatred toward other lions.
If anything, she only sighed when it came to the Black Lions.
“Rotsy and Johnson aren’t that far apart. It wouldn’t be bad to exchange visits from time to time.”
“With the mountains in between, isn’t that difficult?”
“True. The monsters are one thing, but the gnolls are especially troublesome.”
At the mention of gnolls, Rudelrof’s expression twisted, as though even he was fed up with them.
“Seems your side has gnoll problems as well.”
“No matter how many we kill, they never end.”
Another shared struggle: the Monster Mountains.
Especially swarm-type monsters like gnolls, who moved in large groups, were troublesome for both sides.
“What do you think of forming an allied front against the gnolls?”
“Not a bad idea. Honestly, if you and Leisha just came to help, it would already make fighting gnolls much easier.”
“And if the Lion Tribe warriors were dispatched here in times of crisis, we could make up for our lack of numbers.”
This wasn’t a bad deal from the Lion Tribe’s perspective either.
After all, if Leisha—whom even the Lion Tribe admitted none could match—were to help, it would be a great boon to their side too.
Leisha wasn’t someone I could easily command, but I doubted she would refuse to help her own tribe.
No matter that she had left, Leisha was still a lion beastman.
‘Leisha also spoke well of Rudelrof.’
Saying that the better the chieftain, the faster they lost their hair was, in fact, high praise for Rudelrof.
“One day, I hope there comes a time when we can freely interact with Johnson Territory.”
“I agree wholeheartedly.”
Rudelrof truly seemed to want genuine exchanges with our territory.
And of course, the piles of Horned Rabbits were an immensely attractive factor for the Lion Tribe.
‘He wants to open a trade route outside of the Levelium merchants.’
Since the merchants were apparently charging absurd prices for meat, it was natural he’d want an alternative.
And he was wise enough to consider that possibility.
‘Truly, a man who has everything… except hair.’
It seemed clear that maintaining good relations with the Lion Tribe was in our best interest.