Chapter 13
Chapter 13
In the end, he had no choice but to reveal his identity and go to the Hawin Baronial Residence. At least Baron Hawin ruled a wealthy territory in this area.
He was facing an indefinite stay as a guest, and he could not go to Sears, where a twelve-year-old child was acting as lord.
Sure enough, Baron Hawin welcomed him warmly.
"Not going to Sears was an excellent choice! They can barely feed themselves over there, you know?"
Baron Forman knew nothing about farming, but he still answered evasively.
"Still, they have the Erenta, so they can catch fish, can they not? I heard they planted potatoes on the plain as well."
At that, Baron Hawin and his daughter, Dalia, answered immediately.
"That land has poor productivity. They cultivated olive trees for hundreds of years, but they have rarely earned any profit from olives. Whatever they plant, it likely will not grow well."
"The Erenta is the same. Only small fish live in that river, and you cannot live on those and potatoes alone, can you?"
Nearly everything that followed was pessimistic.
"Even if they try planting something new, they probably have no spare seed. Around the Erenta, people usually grow autumn radishes. Right now it is spring. Even if they try growing something else, they will have few seeds. Other crops are only grown for amusement by individual households."
Listening to this, the situation in the Sears Marquisate truly was dire. So Baron Forman, too curious about the severity of the situation, had disguised himself as a fisherman.
Then he encountered Brisa, who was returning from patrolling the territory.
'Hm?'
Baron Forman blinked slowly.
'Patrolling the territory at a time like this? A little young lady?'
He impulsively spoke to her, saying the fish were not biting well.
He thought she might take offense. But unexpectedly, she looked at him with deeply sympathetic eyes.
She did not say it aloud, but the pity was plain on her face.
'A noble who cares for commoners more than I expected.'
And she did not let it show, either.
Baron Forman studied Brisa carefully. She was indeed as pretty as a porcelain doll.
'They say the last princess of Liente raised and personally educated her from childhood, treasuring her like gold?'
He had heard she was a famous genius of the central region.
But however much of a genius she was...... she could not shine in a situation like this. Ancient script and the like would not put food on the table.
It seemed he would soon see this child at the Hawin Baronial Residence, begging for just one sack of flour.......
That was when it happened.
Brisa quietly gave some order to a maid.
The maid was startled, but without resisting, she rummaged through her pocket and held something out to Brisa.
'......Paper? No, a card?'
Brisa took a pen from the maid and quickly wrote something on the card-like object right there. Then she held it out to Baron Forman.
Baron Forman took the card in a daze.
[Invitation]
It was an exquisitely old-fashioned, high-quality invitation, the sort that would have been used fifty years ago.
'Liente style.'
He had heard that in Liente, maids carried invitations so their masters could immediately hand one over whenever they wished to continue an acquaintance with someone.
[To (Oliver Hanson)
In the hall of the Sears Marquis Residence, steeped in the fragrance of time,
we wish to host a (dinner) for an esteemed guest.
Beneath the soft candlelight and the melody of strings,
as the deep bell rings three times and the doors open,
may the honored steps of (Oliver Hanson)
become the final grace that completes the occasion.]
The words in parentheses had just been filled in with Brisa's neat handwriting.
For a moment, Baron Forman wondered if he had traveled through time.
Even in the west, where noble culture was most developed, this style of invitation had long since fallen out of fashion.
After checking the date, Baron Forman frowned.
'A month and a half from now?'
Even if they emptied every storehouse in the marquess's residence, they would be lucky to last a month.
"Normally, I would need to receive a separate reply......."
Brisa asked gracefully.
"May I hear your answer now? Given the circumstances, I cannot guarantee the reliability of the post."
"I-I will come!"
Baron Forman answered, genuinely flustered.
"I will visit at the appointed time. It is truly an honor."
"I will be waiting."
Brisa gave a small nod, then turned away first with her maids in tow.
Baron Forman blinked, clutching the invitation.
'This is...... ha, really.'
He could not guess the girl's inner thoughts at all.
'What is her intention?'
* * *
'By then, he will be very hungry, and it is hard for an old man to go hungry.......'
I thought to myself with Baron Forman behind me.
'Right, he came all the way out here and is having a hard time, so I can at least treat him to a meal in the central region.'
If he stayed at that baronial residence, he would go hungry from time to time.
'Selling horses to buy dairy cows.......'
I swallowed a sigh.
'So that was how he ended up selling me and the maids. If only he had not done that, he could have held out a little longer.'
In truth, whether he did or not was none of my business.
But what unexpectedly moved me was the old man's sense of professional duty.
"Th-thank you. Thank you, my lady."
He had not been fishing. He had been on duty.
Even at that age, he was following the orders of the Grand Duke of Nozen to make a living.......
In a month and a half, the food shortage would hit the Hawin Baronial Residence as well.
'Since I saw that he later appears in the original novel again, he must return safely to the west, but still, he should at least have a proper meal.'
I felt indebted to Leopold.
He might already have forgotten it, but I did not think I could ever forget what I owed him. So I could at least treat Baron Forman to a meal.
By then, we would probably be quite well-off, and.......
'Because he is Leopold's maternal grandfather.'
Thinking of that, honestly, I could even treat him to two meals.
When we arrived at the marquess's residence, Masa, who had been sent to Jejel Street that morning, had already returned.
I met her in the rear garden.
"My lady! I bought everything you asked for, as ordered. Just as you said, the market prices had dropped a great deal."
Masa did not look pleased.
"But an order came down to Jejel Street. They were told not to do business with the people of Sears......."
I had expected as much.
Jejel Street, where the shops were clustered, was no longer part of the Sears Marquisate. It was the first move Baron Hawin could make after deciding to choke Sears.
"It doesn't matter."
I said it as if it were nothing.
"It's only a matter of time before their food stock runs out too."
Before I knew it, the knights had swarmed into the rear garden to see what Masa had bought.
"I naturally assumed you would plant these seed potatoes in the rear garden and the front garden......."
"The rear garden has another use."
The ones I had in mind for the rear garden were.......
"Cock-a-doodle-doo, cluck-cluck-cluck......."
"Cheep, cheep-cheep!"
The knights exclaimed in admiration.
"They're adorable!"
"Good heavens, look at the sheen on their feathers."
I too crouched down and stroked the chicks that had come with the chickens. Then I looked at the chickens with unmistakable affection and said,
"They're our protein supply."
Raising chickens requires land.
But since the central region did not have much land, this area had developed its distribution trade instead of poultry farming.
It was enough for common households with spacious yards to raise three or four chickens, so the chickens at the market were never meant for the Sears Marquisate in the first place.
So they all had to be sold elsewhere through Sears as a distribution hub.
But since no buyers could come, the prices had no choice but to fall.
Moreover, buying more chickens was a burden for common households.
Because chickens do not grow for free.
'They have to eat something too.'
So with a food shortage looming, increasing their numbers was a burden.
"But these little ones...... do they eat something like flour?"
Rangsi, who had come to see the chicks, voiced intense concern about whether there was anything to feed them.
"Then all y'all together eat about as much as one knight, huh? Grow up big and strong and protect the territory......."
I eased his worries.
"There's dried rice bran and wheat bran in the storehouse. Start by scattering that."
"If the guild gives us the rice bran and wheat bran left in its storehouse too, I'll let you gather roots as well."
Rice bran and wheat bran were practically garbage to grain merchants. I asked for them knowing that—and for everything left in the storehouse.
And so a month and a half passed.