Chapter 6
Chapter 6 (Map)
* * *
Some time later.
Brisa summoned the knights to the training grounds again.
The knights other than the Potato Squad shuffled in once more.
They had no choice. It was because of Alpheus's order: "When I am not here, follow Brisa's commands."
Brisa stood at the podium again and asked,
"Is there anyone here who is skilled with sword aura?"
At the mention of sword aura, the knights' postures straightened. It was clear that something requiring them to draw their swords had come up.
'This is different from the Potato Squad!'
'This time it's truly dangerous!'
They had thought that after the war ended, there might never be another occasion to fight.
Could it be that the territorial war they had only ever heard about was about to break out?
Everyone tensed and flexed their muscles.
"Among those here, I am the best."
A large knight strode forward and raised his hand. His expression was already resolute.
"I will stand at the vanguard."
One after another, they stepped forward at the sight of the girl's worried face.
Just as in the recent days on the battlefield, they were all willing to stake their lives.
"To have another chance to draw my sword! I will charge at the very front!"
Only then did Brisa put on a relieved expression.
"Thanks to you all, it seems the territory will be able to escape this crisis."
And so, with solemn faces, they followed Brisa in a crowd.
Behind Brisa, the maids were sniffling and crying again.
Brisa had silenced them with a look, so the maids kept their mouths shut, but they could not stop the tears that fell endlessly as if the world were crumbling. Surely a great crisis had come.
Whatever enemy might appear, they had no intention of standing idle.
But when they had walked quite a distance following Brisa's quick little steps.
What spread out before their eyes was not a mysterious enemy force, but olive trees.
"Now."
Brisa declared solemnly.
"Everyone, cut them down. As fast as possible."
At that, the maids all collapsed, weeping.
"No, my lady......."
"This truly cannot be......."
In the middle of it all, Brisa stood with her arms crossed, solemn.
The head maid wailed,
"The first Marquess Sears planted olive trees on this land to express his love for his wife. As you know, the first Marchioness Sears's name was Olive Sears......."
"Right. So he planted olive trees on the plain closest to the Sears Marquis Residence."
Brisa replied indifferently.
"On the very ground where carrots and corn had originally been planted."
She spoke to the guild master who had followed her.
"If we provide this much timber, we can repay the outstanding debt, and also cover two months' worth of grain, right?"
In the end, she meant to cut down the olive trees and pay off the debt.
At least she had raised it from "one month's worth of grain" to "two months' worth of grain." Though even that seemed likely to run out in about a month, since the marquisate's household had grown.
The head maid sobbed continuously.
Since she could not bring herself to voice opposition to her master, she murmured only words that had "no right or wrong" to them.
"Truly a beautiful expression of love......."
Of course, the merciless master did not let it pass.
"It's a wrong expression."
"Such warm sentiment that nothing could replace......."
"It's misguided sentiment."
"These olive trees feel like a symbol of Sears's tranquility......."
"It's a mistaken feeling."
But Rangsi was hesitating for a different reason.
'Isn't this just a temporary fix that'll only make things worse?'
The idea itself was fine, but when could they possibly harvest the next olives?
"Um, my lady."
Rangsi carefully spoke up.
"Shouldn't we think about this a bit? How long it'll take for the olive trees to grow back to this size......."
Brisa answered immediately.
"Three hundred years on average."
Rangsi jumped in alarm, but Brisa continued.
"The youngest trees are about two hundred years old, and those big ones over there are over five hundred."
He urgently advised her, asking whether cutting these trees down wasn't too temporary a measure.
"Then we can only eat Sears olives again three hundred years from now?"
Even so, he did not expect anyone to accept his opinion.
Because whenever Rangsi had voiced his opinions fiercely in a crisis, everyone had ignored them.
Usually they didn't even answer. But Brisa answered seriously.
"That's not it. For production to stabilize, it'll take about twenty years. Fruit harvesting happens most actively between fifty and one hundred fifty years. By that measure, we're already past our prime."
Huh?
Rangsi and the guild master were speechless at the stream of knowledge pouring out of her.
"So it's better to cut them down and plant more suitable crops on this land."
"More...... suitable...... crops?"
Rangsi, who had stupidly asked back, realized something. At some point, he had stopped thinking of Brisa as "the leader of the maids who talk nonsense."
The guild master seemed to feel the same way.
"Usually lords don't know their own territory's crops well, you know? At most, they know the prices?"
The guild master whispered.
"But this young lady is remarkable. Actually, based on my own knowledge, the ages of the olive trees seem about right."
Brisa continued coldly.
"Crops to cultivate should be decided by knowledge, not sentiment. Why do you think Sears olives were so poor in quality? The things farmers planted on this land long ago, based on experience, are probably the right answer."
Then she took a small stick out of her pocket.
"Olive trees grow well in soil that's neutral to slightly alkaline."
She stuck the stick into the ground and continued.
"Of course, it could be due to other variables, but considering that this was originally a carrot and corn field......."
She chanted a small incantation at the stick, and it turned red.
"As expected, I'm right."
Brisa nodded.
"The soil of this land is slightly acidic."
Rangsi could not understand a single word of what that meant.
But the guild master's eyes went wide.
"That each type of soil has suitable crops is a basic principle of agriculture! But what in the world is this stick?"
"A magic tool that measures acidity and alkalinity...... It's used in potion-making practice at the academy. It's a bit expensive, though, and hard to get."
Rangsi realized.
That had to be one of the 'supplies' bought two years ago with the enormous debt taken on when Brisa went to the Capital Academy.
"Anyway, in my opinion, other crops will grow better on this land than olive trees. For example......."
Meanwhile, Brisa narrowed her eyes.
Beyond the hill, at the end of the winding road, a group of people could be seen approaching. It was the Potato Squad, including Philip.
They were pulling a cart. The cart was full of seed potatoes.
* * *
"You're going to plant...... potatoes here?"
Philip looked bewildered. He too had not expected that the fine Olive Plain would be plowed up.
"I naturally assumed you would plant these seed potatoes in the rear garden and the garden......."
Philip could not finish.
The maids had begun to protest with murderous glares.
"Planting potatoes in the rear garden?"
"Good heavens, potato flowers blooming in the marquess's residence garden? Not pansies? Do you think that makes any sense?"
"Absolutely not! The garden is the face of the mansion! It is no place for something like potatoes!"
The "Sword Aura Squad," who had been cutting down trees, caught a few words from afar and chimed in.
"Hear, hear! The Potato Squad cannot be the face of the knight order!"
"They look too much like potatoes!"
The Potato Squad nodded, dumbfounded.
"O-okay, okay...... I-I got it......."
Brisa did not take the Potato Squad's side either.
"The rear garden has another use."
And so Brisa proceeded steadily with the felling of the olive trees. Then the Potato Squad began loading timber onto the cart that had carried the seed potatoes.