I Raised the Northern Grand Duke as a Farmer Behind My Father’s Back Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The count continued in a pitiful voice.

“I’m terribly sorry to bring this up, but you know full well, Your Grace. The damage you caused to my lands.”

Damage?!

“Count. You’re going too far.”

Butler Camilla’s voice cut in.

“The farmland and homes in the county were destroyed because there was no other choice. Monsters had appeared.”

“……”

“If His Grace hadn’t exterminated them in the first place, the damage to your territory would have been far worse—”

“How dare you interrupt your betters!”

Count Ledermeck shouted harshly.

Bang!

He even slammed the table.

“You really do show that you’re nothing but some rootless stray from the streets!”

A rootless stray from the streets.

I think I understand exactly what Count Ledermeck thinks of His Grace.

Just look at him.

Shouting at Basil’s lieutenant right in front of Basil was absurd.

But Grand Duke Basil had started as a mercenary, practically a commoner.

No matter how many accomplishments he had, nobles had every reason to look down on his background.

Of course, his strength and reputation kept them from openly trying anything more serious.

“Your Grace, this was already decided by judgment years ago, wasn’t it? Still, I’m not like those other people. I kept quiet until now out of consideration for your circumstances.”

Count Ledermeck spoke as though he were being magnanimous.

“But our own situation has become urgent. This year, I intend to focus more heavily on agriculture, so I expanded my farmland.”

My eyes widened.

The East.

New farmland.

So the farmland Sir Luden was planning to lease really was Count Ledermeck’s land.

It seemed Sir Luden hadn’t known that Count Ledermeck was one of the nobles demanding compensation.

After all, the count hadn’t asked for repayment until now.

Wow. We seriously dodged a huge pile of poop!

Count Ledermeck’s farmland……

No, the eastern farmland this year……

“So you came to demand money?”

Basil’s low voice interrupted.

“Haha. By coincidence, the North seems to have found itself a new path forward, hasn’t it? From what I can see…… you should have a harvest by autumn. I’m willing to wait until then.”

“……”

“……Though I can’t say whether your first attempt at farming will produce anything worth harvesting. Hahaha! Just a joke!”

I stood up after hearing that much.

I could hear Butler Camilla approaching the door.

As I padded down the hallway, I thought,

I wondered where all the war compensation His Grace received for killing the Mad Dragon had gone.

So he’d used it to pay damages.

Haaah.

A memory from my previous life surfaced.

Something I had once read on a bulletin.

Right after Basil became Grand Duke, all kinds of compensation claims had been sent to him.

They came from the lords of territories where he had fought during his mercenary days.

They demanded repayment for damage caused during monster subjugations.

Th-that’s ridiculous……! They called him precisely because the situation was that urgent……

Holy knights fought while using divine barriers to minimize damage to farmland and homes.

But naturally, that made their response slower.

Grand Duke Basil had been fast.

And strong.

He had probably fought as hard as he could.

And what he got in return—

were compensation bills.

But the Emperor had sided with the territorial lords, and Basil was left with an enormous burden of compensation.

I couldn’t even imagine how absurd that must have felt.

Seriously…… that’s too much.

Maybe the reason he had hidden himself away in the North all this time really was because he felt betrayed by the world.

“Uwaaaah!”

Now I was angry too!

What should I do?

At this rate, the count could end up taking our entire autumn harvest.

Of course, I wouldn’t let that happen!

I stepped outside the manor.

I was so busy spinning ideas around in my head that I wasn’t looking ahead properly.

And then—

Thump!

“Aah!”

I collided with someone.

“Waaah.”

Flop!

My butt stung.

But before I could even recover, I jumped up.

“Gasp, I’m sorry……! Are you oka—”

“Waaaaah! It hurts!”

Looking properly, it was that boy named Rister.

I hurriedly held out my hand.

“Sorry! Are you okay?”

“You…… what are you?!”

He slapped my hand away and stood up with a fierce expression.

Then he looked down at his clothes and went wild.

“Damn it! You got dirt on me! Do you have any idea how much this costs?!”

The clothes looked very, very expensive.

Hmm.

Still not as good as what I used to wear in my previous life.

“You can brush the dirt off…… This kind of fabric comes clean really easily. I can help—”

“Don’t touch me!”

Slap!

“Ow.”

I rubbed the back of my reddened hand.

Maybe because Rister was ten, he was easily a head taller than me.

The boy glared down at me, huffing.

“But…… why were you coming out of there? Are you a thief?”

“No, I’m—”

“You are a thief! I heard commoner kids are always trying to steal from noble houses! What did you steal? Hand it over!”

My head spun at the ridiculous accusation.

“No, I—”

“That’s His Grace the Grand Duke’s storage building! What did you steal?!”

“It’s a house!”

And I live there too!

Ugh!

I clenched my fists and spoke clearly.

“I didn’t steal anything. And I’m sorry I bumped into you. If you’re not hurt, could you move? I’m busy.”

“Buuuuusy? How dare you glare so rudely at a noble?!”

How exactly was Count Ledermeck raising his child?

Rister put both hands on his hips and shouted.

“Who’s your father?! My father is a count!”

Haaah……

This was getting tiring.

“I’m the one and only heir of a count’s family! A noble! What are you?! What’s your dad, huh?!”

I didn’t want to keep participating in this childish argument.

So I simply turned away.

Then—

“Aha? You don’t have a dad, do you?”

Rister stepped directly in front of me with a sneer.

The problem was……

my words stopped completely.

The moment I froze, Rister grew even more triumphant.

“I knew it! You don’t have a dad! That’s why you act however you want! Or what? Is your dad just as pathetic as—”

“Hey! Yeah!”

I snapped.

Honestly……

as a child with memories of a previous life, I really shouldn’t have.

But I absolutely couldn’t stand Dad being insulted because of me.

“I don’t have a dad! Or a mom! So don’t insult them!”

“Hmph~ Of course people like you don’t~”

“But I have a house and land!”

“What?”

Fine!

At this point, all bets were off.

“Do you have land? I live perfectly well on my own without parents!”

“I-I have land in the county too……”

“That belongs to your dad, not you.”

“H-he said it’ll be mine later!”

I snorted.

“Reallyyy? Do you have a younger sibling or not?”

“I do……”

“Then it could end up belonging to your sibling. Mine is already mine!”

Rister’s face turned red.

“Y-you commoner……!”

He charged at me, trying to shove me.

Naturally—

I smoothly stepped aside.

“W-whoa, whoa, whoa?!”

Crash!

Seeing him sprawled face-first on the ground finally snapped me back to my senses.

“WAAAAAAAAH! DAAAAAAD!”

“W-what?! Young Master!”

Rister’s attendants came running from the distance.

What did I just do?

Oh no!

I caused trouble!

“Hm? What happened…… Good heavens, Rister! My son!”

Count Ledermeck happened to emerge just then.

Rister sobbed and pointed at me.

“S-she……! She pushed meeee!”

“You fell by yourself……”

I fidgeted with my fingers.

“What? Y-you brat! How dare you hit my son!”

“I didn’t hit him……!”

“She did! She pushed me! Waaaaah! She doesn’t even have a dad…… Waaaaah! Daaaaad!”

“There, there. Stop crying and tell me properly. Are you hurt anywhere? Hm?”

Count Ledermeck pulled Rister into his arms and soothed him.

I actually do……

have a dad.

And he’s a really amazing holy knight……!

For some reason, I suddenly felt wronged.

And sad.

My eyes kept catching on the count’s hand as he patted Rister.

“Don’t cry. Let me see, my boy. Good heavens! Your hand is scraped!”

“Waaaaah.”

The count suddenly turned on me.

“You brat! Why are you just standing there?! Apologize to my son this instant!”

“She’s a thief!”

“What?”

“She came out of His Grace’s barn! Waaaaah!”

“It’s a house, idiot……”

“Why, you little—! That’s enough. Let’s see what’s in your pockets!”

The count grabbed my shoulder.

“Ow……!”

I twisted away from his rough grip.

My feet tangled.

Just as I thought I really was going to fall this time, I squeezed my eyes shut—

Tap!

Something solid caught me from behind.

A large hand.