I Raised the Northern Grand Duke as a Farmer Behind My Father’s Back Chapter 28

Chapter 28

“Let me see, my little one.”

A moment later, my body was lifted into the air.

Bright red eyes came into view.

“Well, now.”

Grand Duke Basil held me in his arms and spoke quietly.

“Your feelings got scraped up too.”

His tone sounded the same as always.

But for once……

he looked genuinely furious.

“Who upset my little one?”

“……”

“You?”

Rister let out a frightened squeak, and the count’s eyes widened.

“T-the child started it first—”

“So it was you.”

Basil twisted Count Ledermeck’s arm behind his back and subdued him on the spot.

“Aaagh! Y-you’re the one who should be asking me for a favor right now! How can you treat me so disgracefully?!”

“Disgracefully?”

Still twisting the count’s arm, Basil replied lazily.

“This is a northern farewell.”

Only then did I notice that water was dripping from the count’s hair too.

Maybe……

Butler Camilla or His Grace had already done something to him……

“Aaagh! My arm! It’s going to break!”

“Never had your arm twisted before? This much won’t break it.”

“Aagh!”

“More importantly, Count, you should probably go home and focus on educating your son. Seems more urgent than making money.”

At some point, Basil abruptly released him.

“Now get lost. Go send me another compensation claim or something. Do whatever you people are good at.”

The count stumbled backward.

“I-I’ll be leaving now! Don’t forget the repayment date!”

He fled toward the carriage in a panic.

As Rister was dragged away by the count, he looked frustrated and shouted,

“A-are you really her father?! You’re not, right?!”

“Rister!”

“……”

The Grand Duke smiled coldly and mouthed something in reply.

I had been watching the count, so by the time I turned my head, I missed what he said.

A short while later—

“You okay?”

I folded at the waist in a polite bow.

“I’m sorry for causing trouble……”

Far away, the carriage rattled away with a clatter-clatter-clatter!

“Then why were you hanging around over there? Don’t tell me……”

Basil sighed.

“You heard everything?”

“Yeees…… I’m sorry about that too.”

His hand roughly dusted the dirt from my clothes, yet somehow the touch still felt gentle.

“……Forget it. It’s nothing important.”

It looked like he intended to brush it aside.

I stared at him.

After hesitating for a moment, I quietly said,

“Um…… thank you for saving me earlier.”

“……”

“I didn’t cause you any trouble, did I?”

“Trouble?”

The Grand Duke poked my forehead.

“How could a little ball of cotton like you cause me trouble?”

“Then…… that’s good.”

Something inside my chest felt strangely itchy.

A little warm.

And a little uncomfortable.

What had His Grace told Rister earlier?

Since it had been a public situation, had he answered according to our plan?

……

I didn’t really understand how I felt.

Things I didn’t understand could be put away for later.

“More importantly, Your Grace!”

As if to change the mood, I clenched my fist.

“This autumn, let’s definitely become rich!”

“So you want me to pay off the debt?”

“Nooooo.”

Count Ledermeck would be coming back soon.

To collect the debt?

No.

To cry his eyes and nose out!

According to my memories from my previous life, something absolutely incredible was about to happen.

I need to start moving even faster too!!

“Now then, shall we go work?”

“Ahem. The Grand Duke has a weak constitution and is incapable of farming.”

“Shall we go?”

“You don’t even pretend to listen anymore.”

Fortunately, everything was going smoothly.

Everyone was motivated.

The soil wasn’t in bad condition either.

If things continued like this, autumn would surely bring a satisfying harvest—

Then it happened.

Someone came running from the distance.

“Your Grace!”

“……Should I make a law banning people from shouting ‘Your Grace’ in an urgent voice?”

A terrible premonition descended on him.

“The-the residents in the village square are……”

“Hm?”

“They’re having an all-out brawl!”

“……”

“……”

Why?!

It had started as a minor disagreement.

After the long and exhausting reclamation work was finally finished, they were preparing for full-scale sowing.

One farmer looked at the barley seed and said,

“Are we really planting barley?”

A woman wearing a headscarf replied,

“Of course we’re planting barley! We worked our asses off threshing all those sheaves to prepare seed! What’s the problem?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…… You don’t even know the first thing about farming. Don’t you know freshly reclaimed land shouldn’t immediately be planted with crops like barley or wheat that consume a lot of soil fertility?”

“What?”

“That’s why we should store the barley seed for now and plant reclamation crops like turnips or potatoes first.”

The woman immediately snorted.

“Store it, my ass! Do you know how much that costs? And if you want to store seed long-term, we’d have to dig underground and build a storage cellar. Do we look like we have spare time and money?”

“Th-that’s—!”

“And this land has dragon veins running through it! We’re starting from completely different conditions than normal farmland!”

“Dragon veins aren’t some magic cure-all! Has anyone here ever farmed on land with dragon veins before? If so, come forward!”

The square fell silent.

“No one? Then if building an underground storage facility now is too much, we can just resell the barley seed! Sowing season is coming up, so it’ll sell well! Then use that money to buy turnip seed and seed potatoes, plant those first, and sow autumn wheat later! That’s the right way!”

“Exactly!”

“Right!”

A crowd immediately gathered behind the Turnips First faction.

The woman cleaned out one ear as though some dog had been barking nearby.

“Seriously, this is why I hate talking to people who know nothing about imperial agriculture……”

“What’d you say?!”

“If this place has returned to the old northern climate, then winter is going to be suuuuper cold and windy! You want the wheat we plant in autumn to get hit by a cold snap and freeze to death?!”

Wheat planted in autumn had to survive the winter.

Naturally, if that winter became too cold, it would simply freeze and die.

The North had dragon veins, but winter temperatures still dropped tremendously.

That was because the dragon veins did not release the same amount of power all year long.

Like the cycle of the seasons, they burned most actively through spring and summer, then weakened around autumn and winter as though entering dormancy.

Basil had learned that while subjugating the Mad Dragon, and the information had since spread throughout the Empire.

“That’s exactly why we should sow barley now! The dragon veins will help it grow!”

“Hey! Did monsters survive by farming with hoes?! We’re the first humans trying to farm this land! What if it fails?! We need to go with safe crops! Potatoes! Turnips!”

“Does this place look like a desert to you?! We couldn’t eat the plants before because of the contamination, but vegetation still grew here! Have some spirit of adventure, you coward!”

“What? Coward? You damn woman!”

“What? ‘Damn woman’? Want a taste of my fire pickaxe?”

“(Slightly intimidated) A-anyway, we need to plant turnips and potatoes first!”

“Need to plaaant turnips and potatoes first~”

“Are you mocking me now?!”

“Yeah, I am! We need to plant barley and make money if we want to buy horses and oxen! Do you even know how low potato prices were last year?! If you love potatoes so much, look in a mirror! Your whole face is covered in them!”

“Wow, damn it, I can’t tolerate personal attacks. F*** this, come at me!”

“Fine. Grab your hoe and follow me.”

Thud-thud! Crash! Bang-bang-bang!

Haniel arrived late and smiled brightly.

“Wow! What an incredibly sophisticated debate!”

She wasn’t sure about the logic, but it was a comprehensive work of chaotic art incorporating insults, mockery, profanity, and numerous other techniques.

“Seriously. There’s never a quiet day……”

Basil pressed a hand to his forehead.

So……

what was he supposed to do with this?

His red eyes stared toward the dust cloud ahead.

They started clashing back when we had the drainage problem, and now they’ve finally gone all the way……

Even experienced farmers had never seen land with conditions like this before.

Maybe this outcome had been inevitable.

“Your Grace!”

“Make the decision!”

In the end, the farmer Grand Duke of the North once again found himself at a crossroads.

The arguing residents had rushed over and demanded that their lord settle it.

A short while later—

Basil sat on the manor sofa with his arms crossed.

Hmm.

He had spent his entire life as a mercenary, so truthfully, he was little more than a novice farmer himself.

Still, he had picked up some basic agricultural knowledge here and there.

On newly reclaimed land, hardy crops like potatoes and turnips were usually planted first.

Of course, the dragon veins make this land different in plenty of ways.

So barley would probably grow just fine too.

But……

that wasn’t what he was truly worried about.

It was Count Ledermeck, whom he had just met.

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

If the East floods the market with barley this autumn……

Naturally, barley prices would fall.

That would be troublesome.

Their plan was to harvest the barley around early summer, stockpile some as food, and sell part of it to buy supplies for the following year and materials needed to prepare the territory for winter.

But what if the harvest was smaller than expected?

What if they couldn’t get a good market price?

Their winter could become difficult.

In that case, perhaps it would be better to change direction—

plant turnips first,

then use the remaining land for barley……

All right.

Decision made.

Basil opened his mouth.