Chapter 16
Chapter 16
* * *
Baron Forman was startled himself the moment the words left his mouth.
But it was something his heart, not his head, had made him say.
He was trying to salvage the situation somehow when a maid shouted.
"How dare you!"
The maid who had been clearing the dishes seized Baron Forman by the collar.
"My lady, I will clear this away first, before the dishes. You went to such trouble to feed him, and this ungrateful, witless wretch dares to spout such nonsense!"
"Good heavens, to say something so lacking in manners, in breeding, in sense to our young lady!"
A knight who had been guarding the kitchen came running over as well. Then he shouted with grim solemnity.
"My lady, shall I behead him and exterminate his family for this offense?"
Wait, wasn't this knight one of the northern mercenaries Alpheus had brought?
Why was he talking like the maids?
"For the crime of daring to covet our young lady, we cannot simply send him on his way!"
He hadn't coveted her!
Baron Forman was flustered and gaping when Brisa spoke elegantly.
"That's right, Philip. Of course we can't simply send him on his way."
The girl's face remained composed the entire time.
"It would be wrong to see a guest off empty-handed. Speak to the kitchen and have them pack potatoes and radish sprouts for his journey."
How could this be.
The moment he heard those words, another sentence burst out of Baron Forman before it could pass through his head.
"Please, become my grandson's wife!"
This time the maid and the knight did not grow angrier.
The two quickly exchanged glances and withdrew. Instead, when he was leaving, they packed potatoes, radish sprouts, and even eggs for him, and at the door one of them quietly said,
"Our young lady is generous to madmen. Now I understand why she took you in and fed you."
"She must have recognized at first glance that he was out of his mind....... Ah, our poor young lady."
Baron Forman blinked slowly.
Then he realized. They were treating him as a madman right now.
He slapped his knee and laughed.
"Ahahahaha, you do tell a fine joke."
But he was the only one laughing.
"Ahahaha...... ha?"
Even when he tried laughing again, the maid's and the knight's faces remained serious.
"Aha?"
As Baron Forman blinked awkwardly, the maid let out a heavy sigh, as though troubled.
The burly knight called Philip sighed as well and said,
"In this residence, we don't joke about being mad. Keep that in mind."
Baron Forman frowned.
So did that mean he really was mad right now?
Philip lowered his voice further and whispered.
"At the very least, if you say that carelessly in front of the young lady......."
Baron Forman clutched the basket of potatoes, radish sprouts, and eggs tightly and, without realizing it, tensed as he waited for the next words.
"......she won't give you potatoes."
Good heavens.
Baron Forman shuddered once.
'So there was a cruel side to her after all.'
He now knew just how terrible a punishment that was.
Meanwhile, the maid and the knight were talking.
"But still...... it would be nice if we had grain, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah. I want to eat bread."
"The young lady says we'll have wheat soon...... but I have no idea how she plans to get wheat."
Baron Forman's ears perked up.
"Right. Wheat isn't something that can be grown right now. There probably isn't a single grain left in the central region. But the young lady will manage it, won't she?"
"Of course. She's the last of Liente's bloodline, she speaks five languages, and she was second in her class at the Academy. She'll surely manage it."
Even speaking ten languages didn't seem like it would make that possible.
Baron Forman frowned and tilted his head. Whatever else might be true, wheat was impossible.
But why was it.......
Somehow, that composed girl did seem like she might manage it.......
'Soon?'
Baron Forman swallowed without realizing it.
He had already been desperately craving warm wheat bread.
* * *
Ten days later.
The potatoes soon came into season. Big, plump potatoes came up one after another.
"Wow...... these really are the size of my fist!"
They dug potatoes every day.
It was enough to feed not only the marquess's residence household but all the territory's people for the remaining month.
'What a relief.'
Brisa let out a sigh of relief. The truth was, the people of the Sears Marquisate had not been eating well all this time either.
But now that they could begin adding plenty of potatoes to their meals, the situation changed. At the very least, no one would go hungry.
And the news of the potato bumper crop inevitably reached the Hawin Barony as well.
Now the people of the Hawin Barony secretly traded with the Erenta people for potatoes.
More and more, the people of the Hawin Barony envied the Erenta people who had remained in Sears.
"And...... Miss Brisa taught you all this?"
"That's right. They say the chickens there each lay an egg a day."
Two months into their isolation with no means of production, the people of the Hawin Barony were now stripping and eating even tree bark.
Amid all this, black mages from the Kingdom of Sebon across the sea installed an Illegal Warp. It connected directly to a port. They offered one sack of wheat for each person sold.
"Good heavens, are they not madmen......."
Baron Forman clicked his tongue.
"With no Magic Tower surveillance, the black mages are running wild. They exploit people's hunger to pull this kind of filth?"
But Baron Hawin's thoughts were different.
He had not told the outsider Baron Forman, but he was already planning to sell the territory's orphans to the black mages.
It was because his precious daughter, Dalia, was growing gaunt and thin.
"Father......."
Dalia murmured in a lifeless voice.
"I'm tired of dried corn now....... I want to eat fresh vegetables or meat......."
"Yes, yes. I'll get some from the territory's people. Salt should be enough. Just wait."
Baron Hawin plundered this and that from the residents' storehouses. The grocers on Jejel Street had held a fairly large stock of preserved foods, after all.
Of course, once two months had passed, those stores too had little left.
Even the corn piled in the baronial residence warehouse was now nearly gone. That was because the dairy cows had once eaten a huge amount of it.
He knew that if they could hold out just one more month, the Warp would return to normal, but each approaching meal was frightening.
'There's no way.'
The comparatively prosperous Joachim County bordered them, but monsters were massed around the mountains and hills that marked the territory's boundary.
Contact with that place was impossible.
So there was only one place they could reach out to.
"Go to Sears and steal some."
In the end, Baron Hawin, whose nerves had grown sharp from the poor diet, gave the order after hearing news of the potato bumper crop.
"Go dig up a few in secret!"
But they failed without even managing to try. The knights were guarding the potato field.
Baron Hawin shouted at the servants who returned empty-handed.
"......Then at least ruin it before you come back!"
"Th-the knights are guarding it......."
"It can't be helped."
Baron Hawin drew a sharp breath.
"Set a fire. Even if pulling up the potatoes is hard, you can at least do that much and run, can't you?"
And so that night.
Several people from the Hawin Barony slipped secretly into the potato field.
'Good heavens.'
Baron Forman heard the news belatedly and sprang to his feet in shock.
'Is that man even human?'
It wasn't as though he was staying here because he liked Baron Hawin. He was merely staying as a guest because Hawin's lord was older than Sears's.
But still...... did that mean he had to keep staying in the residence of this utter scum of a man?
'He must surely know that the barony's people are smuggling potatoes to endure their hunger!'
Burning that potato field meant, in the end, destroying the foodstuffs of the one land they could trade with.
'......This man won't do.'
He had had no intention of getting involved in central-region affairs.......
Baron Forman's eyes gleamed coldly.
But the gleam faded. All his connections and power were in the west.
'We'll see in a month. Once the Warp is working again.......'
But for now, all he had was himself.
Baron Forman changed into shabby clothes and pulled a hat down low. He hunched his back skillfully as well.
Then he began running toward the potato field. He had to warn them somehow.
But no matter how much he ran and ran, an old man's body was not fast.
It seemed he was too late to catch up with Baron Hawin's servants, who had gone ahead carrying torches.
On top of that, he had to use a secret path to avoid being spotted, which meant a much longer detour.
'No...... no!'
The moment he arrived at the potato field, gasping for breath.
In the pitch-black night, the potato field that should have been dark blazed bright with flickering torches. Through the firelight, he saw a cool, composed face.
'......Brisa Sears?'
Baron Forman stopped dead in his tracks.
'How in the world...... how?'