I Raised the Northern Grand Duke as a Farmer Behind My Father’s Back Chapter 10

Chapter 10

That little brat…… she didn’t notice anything, did she?

Luden pushed his glasses up and pressed his lips into a thin line.

……I’m overthinking it. What could a six-year-old possibly know?

Then he crushed the straw stuck to the hem of his trousers in his hand.

A few pale grains came loose with it, but they too crumbled into dust.

This is all for the Captain.

Basil had changed after becoming Grand Duke.

The freedom and boldness he once had while rampaging across battlefields had disappeared.

“What a boring era. ……Well, nothing to be done about it now.”

Now he was simply wearing the hollow crown of a grand duke and slowly dying inside a grave.

In the end, he’ll thank me.

So……

he would forgive no one who stood in his way.

Even if that person was only a six-year-old child.

Luden’s eyes darkened.

“Mad Draaaagon……”

Haniel dragged herself along while clinging to Basil’s trouser leg.

“Rejected. Something else.”

“Researching a dragon corpse……”

“Rejected.”

“Sightseeing the crazy dragon……”

“Rejected.”

“Paying respects at the dragon’s grave……”

“Rejected!”

“Hing! You said you’d listen to everything I asked!”

Haniel burst out.

Basil, who had been walking ever since they left the warehouse, let out a sigh.

“What exactly are you planning to do after looking at the corpse of a dead dragon?”

“Hoeing!”

“What?”

Oops.

Haniel hurriedly gathered her thoughts.

“I told you I’d teach you how to farm in the North!”

“What does that have to do with the Mad Dragon? ……Ah, don’t tell me.”

Basil abruptly stopped walking.

Haniel went tap-tap-tap! and hurried to close the distance between them.

One step for Basil was five for Haniel, so she kept falling behind.

“You keep going on about farming…… Are you saying you want to use the Mad Dragon’s evil energy?”

“Yes!”

Haniel nodded vigorously.

“Because…… I heard the North wasn’t this cold when the Mad Dragon was still alive!”

“……”

“Because of the dragon’s hooooot magical power.”

Haniel’s tiny finger pointed straight toward the distant northern mountain.

More precisely, toward the peak where the Mad Dragon’s corpse lay.

She was right.

For the past five hundred years—

back when the Mad Dragon was alive—

the North had not actually been this cold.

That was because the Mad Dragon constantly emitted heat comparable to several active volcanoes.

But the moment the dragon died and its power was sealed, everything froze over.

Haniel was talking about reversing that.

“The corpse is still giving off tremendous heat, right? What if instead of blocking all of it, we let the heat seep into the ground?”

Her pink eyes gleamed.

“We use the corpse itself as an energy source!”

The child waved her arms and moved her lips like a little chick.

“If we thaw the ground? We can farm! If we grow wheat?? We can become rich in bread! And if people hear you can become rich here??? They’ll come!”

“……”

“And then Your Grace can fix the Grand Duke’s castle in no time???? And live all wealthy and flashy!”

“You mean prosperously.”

“You can make one huge bread score!”

“You mean one big fortune.”

In truth, there wasn’t anything wrong with what the brat was saying.

The reason people didn’t gather in the North was because there was no reliable way to make a living.

Farming?

If it were possible, that would be ideal.

If they created a stable source of income through agriculture, they might even be able to build a Temple in the North.

Or secretly hire priests.

The Emperor’s face would be worth seeing.

Then they could purify the contamination in other regions too……

which would open up more land for development.

More people would move in, capital would circulate, and the territory could grow.

It was the ideal process of territorial development.

But—

“……I was wondering what nonsense you were talking about. Hey, brat.”

“I’m not Hey Brat, I’m Haniel—waaah!”

At that moment, Basil grabbed Haniel around the waist from behind and lifted her straight into the air.

Her viewpoint suddenly shot upward, and Haniel flailed her short arms and legs.

No wonder she’s obsessed with bread.

Basil frowned at how light the child felt.

She weighed less than a feather.

Forcing his eyes away from her round little head, he jerked his chin toward the mountain.

“Look over there. What color is the smoke coming from the peak?”

“B-black?”

“Does it look good for your body or bad for your body?”

“B-bad……?”

“Correct.”

“……”

“You think turning the Mad Dragon’s corpse into a heat source and warming the North again never occurred to me?”

“……”

“The problem is the poison. That damn crazy dragon doesn’t just release heat. It comes bundled with rotten air as a two-for-one set. That’s why we had no choice but to seal the whole thing.”

“Then just filter out the poison and purify it!”

“Even the great Dantelion Klein—”

“Hic!”

Haniel suddenly jolted.

Basil loosened the arm around her waist.

She had suddenly started hiccupping, so maybe he had been holding her too tightly.

“—couldn’t purify all of it, so he just sealed the whole thing away.”

Peeking at her from behind, he saw Haniel’s pale cheeks puff out sulkily.

“Do you get it? That thing is a barrel full of rotten sardines. Open it carelessly and the whole surrounding area gets devastated. We already have enough trouble with contamination. If it gets any worse—”

“That’s what I mean.”

Haniel muttered dejectedly.

Then she started wildly swinging her limbs while dangling in the air.

“Block the pollution, but let only the heat through! Like a strainer!”

“You seem to think purification is as easy as going Yap! Purify! But it’s not that simple.”

“I…… might be able to do it.”

Haniel mumbled something incomprehensible.

Basil set her back down on the ground.

Then he spoke firmly.

“Enough. Just look around the village for a while and go. I’ll give you those southern goods from earlier…… and some bread you love so much too.”

“U.”

Haniel kicked the ground.

This was already the second time that day he had ignored her idea.

For some reason, she didn’t feel very good about it.

But there was no helping it.

If she had divine power, the Temple would’ve raised her like a precious treasure. And I can barely sense any mana from her, so she must have been born physically weak.

He’d sooner wash Dantelion’s socks than believe a kid like that.

Besides, if he carelessly took her near the Mad Dragon’s corpse……

there was no telling what effect it might have on her body.

Young and ridiculously weak.

What a nuisance.

In the end, Basil gave Haniel a rough tour of the village.

There wasn’t much to see in Bethel Village.

Most of the early settlers, along with many of the mansion’s servants, had recently left.

Basil simply stopped by the food warehouse and filled a small bag with bread for her.

It was dry, coarse rye bread, but the way the brat’s eyes sparkled and her nostrils flared made it obvious she was one hundred percent satisfied.

The sugar and spice sacks were too heavy, so for now he left them with Camilla.

Before long, evening fell.

Going into the Fog Zone at night would make her easy prey for monsters.

And since he had already said she could stay—

he decided to let the child sleep at the manor one more night and send her away the next day.

And so the night passed.

……For someone, it was an extremely long night.

Then—

the next morning.

“Ah……”

Basil stood blankly in front of the manor.

A murderous laugh suddenly escaped him.

“F***……”

Was this really reality?

His red eyes slowly swept across his land.

The blazing sunlight.

Drip, drip.

The sound of water falling from the roof.

Sweat beading on the back of his neck.

Camilla’s bewildered expression as she removed her outer coat.

“Your Grace, what in the world……”

Suddenly, the events of the previous night flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

So, what had happened was……

No.

That wasn’t what mattered right now.

“……brat.”

“Pardon?”

“Where is that brat?!”

In a single night—

the North had been transformed.