Chapter 86
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Welburg, The Lord’s Mansion
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The Tribe Chief arrived at our place two days later . Considering the travelling time, I bet he had decided to come immediately after he received the message from Pino .
“Thank you very much for troubling yourself to come here on this occasion . ” (Hibiki)
Pino’s father was flustered when I bowed and greeted him politely .
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Zaza・Gerb 42 years old
Gerb Tribe・Chief Lv . 28
Skill
【Aquatic Adaptation】
Able to live underwater .
【Law of the Gerb Tribe】
Increased influence within the tribe .
Able to set the traditions for the Gerb Tribe .
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His job was the Chief, and one of his skills had to do with the leadership of the Gerb Tribe .
If I remembered correctly, Giren’s job was the “Lord”, but I don’t think he had any skills for that . I’ll check it now .
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Giren・Brooks 45 years old
Lord Lv . 11 Status: 【Contract of Blood】
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As expected he had no skills . Or rather, why was your level so low, Giren?
“Calm down, father” . (Pino)
“I-I am calm . “Annihilation”-dono, what is the meaning of this?” (Zaza)
Pino’s father, Gerb Tribe’s Chief, Zaza, was flustered, and there was a reason for it .
It was because our conversation was being held in the mansion of Welburg’s Lord, and said Lord of Welburg was present in the room with us .
“I am an acquaintance of Welburg’s Lord, and borrowed a room for our meeting . Besides, I didn’t want to put unnecessary pressure by doing the meeting in my village . ” (Hibiki)
But of course, I had something else in mind .
I had Giren attend the meeting as an official to sweep away the Chief’s distrust and to make the agreement turn in our favour .
It was Giren’s wish to be present in this room .
A friendly relationship with the Gerb Tribe will lead to the prosperity of Welburg .
Was what he said and then he asked to participate in the meeting .
“I had heard that you were blackmailed by “Annihilation”-dono, was that true Lord-dono?” (Zaza)
I had expected that he had heard the rumors about that matter, but I hadn’t expected that he would ask so directly about them .
“We blackmailed the Lord? What could be gained from such a thing? Admittedly we were favoured in various ways, but it was within the range of common sense . ” (Hibiki)
I could hear Giren’s suppressed laughter behind me . I didn’t know what part of my speech just now triggered his laugh .
“That’s correct, he requested something like a face-to-face meeting once in awhile . The rest was usually an official job request from me” . (Giren)
He didn’t say any lies . Those were just being performed according to the contract .
“As far as I’m concerned, I want to build a friendly relationship with the Gerb Tribe . ” (Giren)
Giren answered as he smiled at Zaza .
“What is your demand?” (Zaza)
“I want to borrow a wide space near Gerb Lake . Of course we will cover the construction fee, and we promise we will do our best so it won’t affect your daily life” . (Giren)
They won’t need to go to Welburg to purchase their needs if we built a shop there . And he then explained the merits for the Gerb Tribe to Zaza .
“We could buy our needs near the lake then?” (Zaza)
“That’s right” . (Giren)
I bet he felt like those boonies when a convenience store was built near their home, Zaza and the young male lizardmen guards that he brought along reacted with an “OOooh” .
“In addition, I shall handle the matter of friendly relations with Hibiki-kun that you were worried about . ” (Giren)
Thanks, now Zaza won’t met his eyes with mine .
In contrast my gaze had met with Pino’s often . Every time our eyes met she would open her long mouth and make a faint “Ssha~” sound .
At first I thought it was a threatening gesture, but now I know it was a smile .
Yattelco who was near, in a small voice…
“What a lovely smile, Pino Ojou-sama . ” (Yattelco)
Was what he had whispered .
The negotiation was steered by Giren .
I listened to Giren’s proposal while I thought of how it would be so much easier for us .
In the first place it was Zaza who had sent his daughter to marry me .
We didn’t have any demands actually . If I had to say, we just wanted a little bit of herbs that grew around Gerb Lake .
More samples of pool grass was always welcomed .
If this negotiation was approved, we could get it without any problems .
Everyone in this room was enthusiastic for this negotiation . Except for Zaza the Chief .
“But I saw Hibiki-dono was doing a weird ritual . He was able to summon a few ogres as a result . ” (Zaza)
“That was a coincidence . Besides, it wasn’t a ritual or anything like that . ” (Hibiki)
“That’s right father . That was a kind of sport called baseboll . ” (Pino)
While waiting for the arrival of the tribe’s Chief, I had Pino and Yattelco experience baseball within those two days .
It seemed Yattelco liked the exhilarating feeling he had when he hit the ball, he would ask the goblins to do batting training whenever there was free time .
I had Pino try it too, she tried every role and showed potential in every one of them . As expected from a demi-human’s physical ability .
“Baseball is a sport where one uses his muscles and brain at the same time . ” (Pino)
“That’s right . Keep this off-record please, but the secret of our goblins’ high combat ability was because it was trained through baseball . ” (Hibiki)
Pino nodded in understanding at my half joking statement .
After he let his guard down a little because of his daughter’s persuasion, I asked if he wanted to try experiencing baseball .
Yattelco and Pino immediately agreed, thus the first match between the goblins and lizardmen begun .
However, the lizardmen were amateurs at it, it was like playing baseball with an old man who was holding a beer in his other hand on the grass field .
Thus I banned the use of magic to make breaking balls and even normal breaking balls, so it ended up with the result of a pure strength match .
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Goblin Village, Baseball Ground
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“Hit it!! Yattelco!! If you don’t hit it, I won’t get a turn in the batting order!!” . (Zaza)
It seems Zaza was enraptured by the charm of batting like Yattelco .
The match had reached the point of abandoning score keeping, just like the ones in an elementary grade schooler’s “never-ending baseball” .
Well, surpassing the barrier of species and getting heated up together, this might be a kind of ritual like Zaza had said .
It looked like the goblins and vampires in the audience seats had opened up to the lizardmen .
Because there was no point counting, the atmosphere didn’t get tense between them .
In the corner of the ground I saw some goblins teaching batting technique to the lizardmen .
Their preference on batting might be related to their race .
In the end, they played the “never-ending baseball” until sunset .
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Goblin Village
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“Yesterday, I’m sorry for getting over excited despite my age” . (Zaza)
Said Zaza while he bowed embarrassingly .
“Don’t worry about it . The misunderstanding was cleared up, and it seemed you liked baseball too . ” (Hibiki)
“Y-yes, I hope we can make it popular at our home town too . We will ask your guidance for various things in the future . ” (Zaza)
“Of course, gladly . ” (Hibiki)
In the form of cultural exchange, we let 10 lizardmen live in our goblin village, and sent 10 of our goblins to the their settlement .
I bet they decided on that number because of baseball’s influence .
“Then, I will stay here too . ” (Pino)
Said Pino who wanted to stay .
“Yea, that would be fine . ” (Zaza)
I thought Zaza would stop her, but in contrast he agreed to her proposal .
“I originally came here to be a bride after all . ” (Pino)
“Didn’t I decline that already? From the start, you hated it right?” (Hibiki)
“At that time I didn’t know anything about you, Hibiki-san . But, it’s all right now . ” (Pino)
She said then she hissed and smiled at me .
Abruptly Ayla, Amy, and Zir came close to me .
“I beg your pardon, but we have enough hands in taking care of Master” . (Amy)
The other 2 nodded in agreement as Amy said that .
“But with our marriage it will bring merit for Hibiki-san you know?” (Pino)
“The friendly relationship with the Gerb Tribe is already set in stone . There’s no need in a political marriage anymore . ” (Amy)
Before we realized, it became Amy’s and Pino’s one-on-one debate .
Ayla and Zir locked onto both of my arms so I couldn’t move an inch .
And then I sighed, I guess we would have to wait for them to stop on their own .