I Raised the Northern Grand Duke as a Farmer Behind My Father’s Back Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Northern Crystal Portal.

The gate, with enormous crystals embedded on both sides, flashed brilliantly.

Duke Rowain and his aides appeared.

A particularly sharp gleam shone beneath his refined features.

The name Rowain belonged to a proud great noble house that had firmly guarded the Empire’s East for centuries.

Because of his gentle appearance, some mistook him for a kindly old gentleman.

But in truth—

he was a tiger hiding its fangs.

A man of relentless determination who stopped at nothing when the interests of his territory were at stake.

A schemer who concealed hundreds of calculations behind a mild smile.

A noble among nobles, held together by pride and self-respect.

That was the Duke of Rowain.

“Let’s go!”

He urged his horse toward the northern gate.

The northern air was colder than the East.

As the chill struck his cheeks, some measure of cool reason finally returned to him.

Wait. Wait a moment.

A sudden doubt surfaced.

He had rushed here in desperation, but……

Does this treatment really exist?

His eyes narrowed.

How could a Grand Duke who has been shut away in the North obtain a soil treatment that even the imperial family and the magitech researchers failed to develop?

What if……

he’s trying to deceive me with something ineffective—or something that only has the slightest effect?

The Grand Duke had been secluded for two years.

The North should have been nearing its limits by now.

Perhaps he intended to make a fortune by selling something vaguely resembling a treatment……

then later claim,

“It worked on our end. Perhaps the strain mutated in the meantime.”

That was, in fact, the exact sort of possibility mentioned in letters from the imperial family.

I need to remain calm. He may be trying to exploit my desperation.

Thinking about the blackened crops in the East made him desperate.

But precisely because of that, he had to keep his head as a territorial lord.

And if the treatment truly exists……

He considered every possibility.

The Grand Duke will demand an outrageous price. I cannot let myself be dragged into his terms.

Duke Rowain was rational.

Reasonable.

And, above all, a highly experienced noble.

He was fundamentally different from a Grand Duke who had spent his life swinging a sword.

In negotiations, the impatient side always loses.

Clop, clop!

At last, he reached the gate.

The duke smiled when he looked ahead.

As expected.

A knight was pacing around in the distance, seemingly restless.

So I’m not the only one in a hurry.

They had even sent someone out to meet him.

The desperation Basil must feel to sell the treatment seemed obvious from here.

“This is His Grace the Duke of Rowain from the East. He has come to meet His Grace the Grand Duke. Open the gate.”

The duke’s aide approached the knight and announced his identity.

They were about to proceed through when—

“Greetings, Your Grace. My apologies, but you cannot enter the northern territory at this time.”

“……?”

What?

The aide immediately stepped forward again.

“What do you mean? His Grace should have sent a messenger bird informing you that he would visit today.”

“I was told His Grace the Grand Duke replied that he would be unable to meet with you immediately…… Did you not receive the response?”

“……Ah.”

Duke Rowain frowned as realization struck.

“I…… did not check the reply.”

Because I rushed here so quickly……

He barely swallowed the rest of the sentence.

The burly knight didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow.

“I see. In any case, these are His Grace the Grand Duke’s orders. You cannot enter the northern territory yet.”

“Good heavens!”

“Please return in the late afternoon.”

The knight with a massive hammer strapped to his back gave a polite bow.

The duke was slightly dumbfounded.

Of course, it was his own fault for coming without checking the reply.

But surely the Grand Duke needed him just as badly!

……Didn’t he?

Was he the only desperate one here?

A strange sense that events were moving in an unsettling direction crept over him.

“……Very well…… I’ll wait in a nearby village for now. But…… answer me one thing.”

“Please ask.”

“Does the Grand Duke truly possess a treatment for the soil contamination?”

“Yes.”

“……!”

“His Grace is not a man who invents things that don’t exist.”

There was absolute certainty in the knight’s tone.

The answer came without a moment’s hesitation.

For once, the duke found himself momentarily speechless.

Then—

Wait.

Something strange caught his eye.

What are all these wheel tracks?

Countless wagon tracks cluttered the area in front of the gate.

Looking closer, all of them led inward……

These are tracks from wagons entering the North.

And not just a few.

A great many.

The duke suddenly became anxious.

“D-don’t tell me His Grace sent this information to other territories as well?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know.”

“I’m asking whether any other nobles have passed through this gate!”

“Hm? I don’t know that either. I only just became the gate knight…… It’s not really a position suited to an introvert like me. Truthfully, I wanted some quiet desk job inside the castle……”

They’ve silenced him thoroughly.

The irony was masterful.

The hammer-wielding knight’s reputation was famous.

A monster of the North said to erase dozens of monster heads with a single hammer swing.

With that build and that face, merely standing at the gate would probably make ordinary troublemakers tuck their tails and flee.

This is bad.

The duke’s nerves tightened.

The East had suffered the worst contamination, but nearby territories had been affected too.

And since the disease was highly contagious, the contamination would only keep spreading.

What if the Grand Duke sent letters to those lords too?

What if all of them had rushed here in desperation?

What if the Grand Duke was delaying his meeting because he was entertaining them instead?

Will there even be any treatment left to sell me?

Duke Rowain bit down on his lip.

And then—

Rrrrrk—

The tightly shut gate began to open.

And beyond it……

Rattle-rattle-rattle—

A wagon rolled out.

Duke Rowain’s eyes widened to their limit.

“Th-that is……!!!”

“Slan!”

I bent at the waist until my face was level with the boy’s.

His blunt gaze slid toward me.

“What are you doing? Whatcha doing?”

“I’m just…… here.”

Apparently, he had been washing his hands in the village stream.

Slan shook the water from his hands and stood.

I smiled brightly.

“You’re just here! Amazing! What’s that?”

“Water. Master told me to bring some.”

“It’s water! Cool! And what’s next to it?”

“Straw.”

“It’s straw! Fascinating! And what’s next to that?”

“Just a pouch……”

Slan stared at me for a moment, then tilted his head.

“Why are you so excited?”

“Because of you!”

“……?”

With my hands clasped behind my back, I trotted closer.

Then I dramatically pulled out the Pig-Nose Mushrooms packed inside my bag.

“You’re the one who told me!”

“……”

“The mushroom’s real effect!”

“Ah.”

Slan looked as though he were thinking, This again?

“I only told you that the mushroom can grow in extreme environments. Strictly speaking, the one who developed the treatment was—”

His beautiful sea-colored eyes rolled toward me.

“the Grand Duke’s daughter.”

“……I’m not the Grand Duke’s daughter.”

I scratched my head.

“Why do you keep calling me that? And why do you keep talking so formally?”

“You live in the Grand Duke’s residence.”

Then Slan, who had been staring straight at me, suddenly closed the distance and reached out.

I instinctively hunched my shoulders—

but he merely plucked a fallen leaf from my hair.

“And you command that Grand Duke with a flick of your finger.”

“Gasp.”

“Who would look at that and think you’re unrelated? Naturally, anyone would assume you’d been entered into the Grand Ducal family register as his adopted daughter.”

Sca—

That startled me!

I glanced sideways at the boy staring down at me.

Slan was really weird.

Even though we had seen each other throughout the entire summer, he always kept such a wall between us that I never felt like we were getting closer……

But sometimes he suddenly comes right up like this!

And unnecessarily handsome too!

Double the destructive power—

no, two thousand times!!

My poor heart!

More importantly……

“The Grand Ducal family…… register?”

There was no way such a thing existed.

His Grace is so busy making farming plans instead of family plans, I bet he hasn’t even put ink to a family register……

Imagining Basil sitting there with a solemn expression while studying a genealogy book was so funny that—

“Pfft!”

I burst out laughing.

“……”

At that moment, Slan stared at my face, gave a slight shiver, then abruptly stepped far away.

“You know, Slan, I think you’re the person in this village who most carefully protects the thing that matters least!”

“What’s that?”

“Social status……?”

“……”

This was a place where the Grand Duke himself farmed and casually mingled with his residents.

Status and authority had melted away long ago.

Of course, someday there might come a time when rank and dignity became necessary again.

But if you’re about to starve, is social status going to feed you? Hard work and cooperation with your neighbors are what put food on the table!

Because farming was something you could never do alone!

“……I already thought this place was a mess.”

Slan sighed in a way that didn’t suit a child.

“Hm? What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, do whatever makes you comfortable! Anyway, Slan.”

I stuck close beside him as he started walking and smiled.

“Thanks to you, we can sell the soil treatment now. Thank you so, so much!”

“No, I really……”

The boy added with a sigh,

“……I truly didn’t know the mushroom had that kind of effect.”

“But you still gave us the clue!”

Thanks to you, I remembered something I’d forgotten!

Naturally, I couldn’t say that part aloud.

Honestly, our farming goal for this year had never been very ambitious.

Harvest the crops.

Store some for food.

Sell some outside while advertising—

“You can farm in the North too!!”

And, of course, use the money from the crops to prepare supplies for winter.

But…… once we developed the treatment, our goal changed completely!

Before I knew it, we had arrived at Noah’s cottage.

When we stepped inside, a huge furnace came into view.

On top of it sat a steel cauldron.

Inside, a thick opalescent liquid bubbled and boiled.

The treatment for the eastern soil contamination.

……made with Pig-Nose Mushrooms.

I never imagined I’d learn the mushroom’s true effect like this!

And it had all started with one casual comment from Slan—

the boy who had immigrated here during the summer.