Chapter 4
Chapter 4 (Illustration)
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"All right, Potato Squad, assemble in the rear garden."
Brisa had given the knights, led by Philip, the name "Potato Squad."
Philip felt deeply insulted. Giving knights a nickname like "potato" was a truly original form of contempt.
'Of course, I do happen to look rather like a potato, but isn't this going too far?'
Surely she wasn't going to make them roll around in the rear garden like potatoes?
'So what if she's a genius who mastered five languages by seven? So what if she can recite imperial law from memory? So what if she's been invited to the Empress Dowager's banquets since she was ten because she has perfectly mastered social etiquette!'
Philip recalled the maids' praises and drew a ragged breath.
'Even so, a noble young lady who would believe potatoes grew on trees.......'
Naturally, she was their superior.
Before Alpheus left, he had even instructed them, "While I am away from the marquess's residence, your master is Brisa."
But did that give her the right to make people into laughingstocks like this?
He intended to protest properly when he faced Brisa again in the rear garden. But when Brisa appeared a moment later, she gave a serious order.
"Go to Jejel Street and buy as many seed potatoes as you can. For early harvest."
At those words, everyone blinked slowly, unable to grasp the situation.
Was this a joke?
Or a new form of mockery?
Philip, who already looked like a potato, was suddenly seized with anxiety.
'She isn't going to make me buy seed potatoes and then order me to call them my sons, is she?'
To the dazed Philip, the girl held out a fairly large box and said,
"Well-balanced oval ones, with no cuts or rotten spots. About the size of an egg."
Huh?
Philip, who had actually farmed potatoes before, was genuinely surprised.
It was spring now.......
It was just slightly late, but not an impossible season for obtaining and planting seed potatoes.
"Choose ones that are firm, with well-dried skins, and with a moderate number of evenly distributed eyes."
This was actually correct.
"No one in the marquisate has grown potatoes before. So put your heads together and pick out good ones to buy. As for the money...... sell this."
Brisa held the box out to Philip.
The maids who saw it screamed.
"Kyaaaah! No, my lady!"
"Those are your jewels, my lady! If you sell them, you'll have to wear the same ornaments twice in one week! Good heavens, how dreadful!"
Was wearing the same earrings twice in one week really such a despairing prospect?
The maids weren't even young. They all looked to be in their late thirties or forties.
Philip, though dumbfounded, accepted the box.
Then Brisa said to one of the maids,
"You go with them. Help them get a fair price."
"No, my lady!"
The maid refused vehemently.
"I could not sell your jewels even with a knife at my throat!"
"Very well."
Brisa graciously respected that opinion.
"I was actually torn between practical benefit and curiosity anyway. I was curious how much the jeweler would lowball them if the Potato Squad went to sell those."
She continued very seriously.
"Be sure to bring back the receipt, Philip. It will make a good example of market price and profiteering, so let's put it in the Sears history book."
The maid was violently horrified.
"Kyaaaaaah! No! I'll go too!"
Once again, the master graciously accepted that opinion.
"Very well."
With that, Brisa finished giving her instructions.
Then the remaining maids collapsed as if they had lost their territory and began to sob.
"We couldn't even stop the late marquess from selling off the princess's jewels......."
"How can we face the princess in the afterlife....... They were all meant to be passed down to Lady Brisa one by one......."
Brisa stood among them with a detached expression.
Was a mere trip to buy seed potatoes really such a dramatic affair?
Philip, feeling the limits of his grasp of the situation, carefully broached the subject.
"Um, my lady?"
"Yes."
"Why...... why are you having us do this?"
"Because I am not in my right mind."
Brisa answered very seriously.
"I spent the past three days trying to come to my senses, and I failed."
Philip was momentarily flustered, though come to think of it, he had been flustered for quite a long time now. Still, not knowing how to react, he asked cautiously.
"Ah...... this is, I mean, one of those nobles' jokes, something like that, right, my lady?"
Brisa's expression turned stern.
"Let me make this clear, Philip. Since we don't know each other well yet, I'll tell you in advance: I don't make jokes like that."
Philip flinched at the girl's serious declaration.
Come to think of it, setting aside Alpheus, whom they had known as a commoner all this time, this was the first order he had received from a "real noble."
It was far stranger than anything he had imagined.
"My lady, may I ask just one question?"
Philip hesitated for a moment, then let out the question that had been lingering on the tip of his tongue.
"Do you...... see us as human beings? Is that correct?"
Just hours ago, he had been certain she would not see them as people.
But now that he faced her directly, it was a little strange, but that didn't seem to be the case.
Then had they been misunderstanding something all along?
Brisa's answer was indifferent but without hesitation.
"I'm fully aware that you're human beings just like me."
All the knights, including Philip, were surprised at that moment. They had not expected her to add 'like me.'
Brisa added with a rather serious face.
"You have to eat three meals a day."
Wait....... Was that what this conversation was about?
It was then.
The gatekeeper came running over in a hurry.
"My lady, my lady! S-s-something terrible has happened!"
He panted as if he were about to collapse.
"Th-the head of the w-w-western grain merchants' association is here! He says to repay the d-debt immediately...... that they've already been v-very lenient with us!"
Philip did not understand what that meant.
But the maids who had collapsed behind Brisa, weeping, let out little laughs.
"Looks like the newbie made some mistake. We've always repaid our debts late, haven't we?"
"Of course, it's true that we've missed the contract date every year, but they've always looked the other way as a matter of practice."
"Calm down. The Marang Fish catch in our marquisate peaks in early winter. This must be some kind of mix-up."
Marang Fish, a type of freshwater fish, were the main source of income for the Sears Marquisate. The marquisate's few valuable plots of land lay along the river.
Having reassured the gatekeeper, the maids began wailing again.
Brisa, too, was not particularly flustered. But after muttering, 'Looks like going mad paid off after all,' she answered:
"For now, I'll meet the association head in the reception room immediately."
After giving that brief reply, she turned her head back to look at Philip. Then, very elegantly, she placed her hand on Philip's forearm with a light pat.
"Leave this place to the others...... and you, Sir, depart at once."
Her voice was deeply solemn.
"The lives of our territory's people depend on the Potato Squad."
......All of a sudden?
Philip somehow felt as though he were heading off to a battlefield.
Brisa's gaze upon him was utterly serious.
"The situation is difficult, but do your utmost in the task entrusted to you."
The small hand gripping his forearm tightened.
"The future forged by the Potato Squad's struggle will surely bring glory."
Having spoken with solemn dignity, she stepped back.
"Go quickly. I'm counting on you for the seed potatoes."
Philip even had the illusion that he was receiving a life-or-death deployment order.
The maids sobbing behind him only made it worse.
'Is receiving orders from a "real noble" always like this?'
Philip took a deep breath and bowed his head.
"Yes, my lady. Leave it to me. And...... I truly apologize for earlier."
His belief that she had been ignoring them all this time must have been a misunderstanding.
Wasn't she even giving orders in this reverent noble manner?
Pride welled up in him.
"I am honored to receive such an old-fashioned command. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me, so I'm a bit overwhelmed......."
Wait. That made him sound pathetic.
After rambling, he came to his senses and hastily whispered in a lowered voice.
"P-please keep what I just said a secret from the others."
"No."
Brisa answered immediately.
"I'll record it in the history book."
After that, she turned around and said to the gatekeeper,
"Show me the way."
Then she declared with cool eyes.
"I'm off to another battlefield."
The girl walked away with an upright posture.