I Raised the Northern Grand Duke as a Farmer Behind My Father’s Back Chapter 44

Chapter 44

“……”

A hazy memory.

It felt as though he had dreamed for a very long time.

But once he woke, he couldn’t remember any of it.

He swept back his long silver hair.

The soft blanket slid down over his firm, muscular upper body.

He barely managed to steady his ragged breathing.

What kind of dream was that?

“—Dad!”

He tried to remember again, but the memory remained pale and blurred, as though something were blocking it.

His faded violet eyes stared blankly into space.

Once his mind fully cleared, he realized something strange.

His body felt unusually light.

The pain in his right arm that had tormented him for so long had eased considerably.

So had the stabbing agony in his left eye.

Was changing the purification medicine…… actually effective?

His gaze shifted toward the box resting on the bedside table.

The red scarf peeked out from inside, slightly disheveled.

Come to think of it, when he had held the scarf yesterday, he had thought he felt something strange surrounding it.

“……What was that?”

……But when he touched it again, he felt nothing.

Saaaah—

The light that had guarded Dantelion throughout his sleep quietly disappeared.

A tiny sprout-shaped mark, almost like a transparent sticker, briefly appeared on the back of his hand and vanished.

He didn’t notice.

“……”

Normally, he never accepted trivial personal gifts like this……

but somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to throw it away.

In the end, he opened a luxurious box stored deep inside a drawer.

Inside lay an old cloth doll.

It was the child’s rag doll he had found when he visited District Z.

Beneath it was also a torn scrap of paper.

He carefully laid the scarf inside one corner of the box.

He didn’t realize it, but his touch was unusually gentle—

as though he were handling something precious.

“……”

After staring into the box for a while, he slowly dressed himself and left the bedroom.

He had recently returned to the capital, submitted his report on the eastern incident to the Temple, and then gone back to his estate.

He was about to resume his usual tightly packed schedule when he remembered one thing he still had to do.

I should offer the prayer I was asked to make.

He carefully placed the barley stalk inside a box and took it with him.

Barley, huh……

A sharp light briefly flashed through his eyes as he looked at it.

He offered his dawn prayer in the estate’s prayer room, then finished a light training session.

It should have been an ordinary day.

And yet……

his body truly felt strangely light.

The divine-power corruption……

Had it improved?

Had God finally answered his prayers?

But strangely, even though his divine power had recovered somewhat, something still felt empty.

“Good morning, Master.”

At that moment, the Klein Ducal House’s head butler greeted him respectfully.

“Are you heading to the Temple?”

“Yes. I have something to do.”

Before mounting his horse, Dantelion looked absently across the vast gardens of the ducal estate.

Then, without realizing it, his lips moved.

“Does clover…… grow anywhere on the estate?”

“Pardon?”

The head butler looked startled by the unexpected question.

But he soon answered politely.

“Of course not.”

“……”

“We remove all clover. It may be cultivated for useful purposes in rural areas, but……”

The butler smiled faintly.

“In the end, it’s still a weed, isn’t it? It doesn’t belong in the gardens of House Klein.”

His tone was perfectly even.

Dantelion rode away.

For the first time in a long while, his mind felt clear and clean.

I don’t even know how I’ve been functioning until now.

Since last spring, his divine-power corruption had worsened to a truly disastrous level.

What moved him hadn’t been thought or reason.

It had been instinct.

The instinct of a holy knight who simply followed the Temple’s commands.

And now—

for the first time in a long while—

he was thinking clearly.

I need to verify whether the northern barley is real.

He remembered a conversation he had nearly forgotten with Duke Rowain.

Specifically, one near the end of their meeting.

“By the way, Duke Rowain. I heard barley supposedly grown in the North appeared in the eastern market…… Have you investigated it?”

At the time, Duke Rowain had answered with his usual smile.

“Yes. I’m still gathering the details.”

“Do you need assistance with the investigation?”

“Oh, no.”

“……”

“The amount released was so small that the claim lacks credibility…… I couldn’t possibly borrow such valuable manpower. I’ll handle it myself.”

Thinking about it now, Duke Rowain had seemed strangely eager to brush the matter aside.

That isn’t like Duke Rowain.

Few nobles refused help from the Holy Knight Order.

And Duke Rowain was a man who prioritized his territory’s interests above all else.

He’s hiding something.

Something connected to the North.

“……”

Dantelion reconsidered the northern barley from the beginning.

Last spring, he had heard the absurd combination of the North and farming.

But he hadn’t believed it could become possible this quickly.

For farming to become viable in the North, the climate had to change first.

And to change the climate……

Grand Duke Basil would inevitably have had to interfere with the Mad Dragon’s pillars.

Grand Duke Basil was powerful.

But……

Is he strong enough to casually interfere with sealing pillars that I created?

No.

He didn’t possess that kind of power.

Of course—

he could have discovered some hidden sacred relic or new magic.

That was the possibility anyone else would consider first.

But Dantelion had never stopped being aware of something else.

Only he had never stopped searching.

For the fugitives from District Z.

For that strange feeling from that day.

For the sense that there had been someone he was supposed to meet……

but hadn’t.

He thought through it again carefully.

Until now, he had vaguely suspected the people who escaped District Z were connected to forbidden magic.

Among forbidden magic, there could be some unknown spell capable of altering the climate.

That alone would be enough reason to pursue them.

But……

what if—

there’s someone capable of purification?

What if Grand Duke Basil had lured that person in and hidden them?

Then……

northern barley could be grown.

His eyes sharpened with clarity.

“Hyah!”

He felt as though he had finally found a clearer justification to search the North.

And there was one more thing.

“Your Highness……?”

The missing Fourth Prince case—

which had now shifted heavily toward recovering a body.

His newly cleared mind produced a possibility that made him wonder why he had forgotten it until now.

If it’s that magic from the West……

It was possible.

A short while later—

“Sir Marc.”

The immaculate holy knight strode toward him, long silver hair flowing behind him.

“Ah, Commander! Monsters have appeared near the western border! We should organize a subjugation force—”

“Would you like to go on vacation with me?”

“……Pardon?”

Marc blinked.

Then fear slowly filled his face.

“……With me?”

“Yes.”

“Just the two of us……?”

“Yes.”

“……Why?”

Dantelion clenched his fist.

It was time to bring the long pursuit to an end.

The final week of September.

Basil Vertus—

twenty-seven years old, farmer and Grand Duke—

was diligently tying straw bundles in the field as usual.

A letter came flying toward him.

“Your Grace, a messenger bird has arrived.”

“A letter? Hmm. I’m getting a little tired of these.”

The Grand Duke opened it with a somewhat arrogant expression.

“Eleven this time.”

It was from people waiting at the gate who wanted to become new residents.

Because of that, Brad had been stationed at the gate for several days.

Bethel Village’s population had been increasing little by little.

Three people.

Four people.

Two people……

This newest group was the largest so far.

Once Haniel finished greeting the new residents, she would probably see something like—

[Help: You have greeted 51 people so far!]

Total residents: 51.

The village had grown quite a bit.

But compared to other territories, it was still nowhere close.

In large territories, it was common for a single village to have several hundred residents.

Even in Duke Rowain’s territory, one village directly administered by the ducal house had a population approaching one thousand.

Compared to that—

Bethel Village was still tiny.

“Considering how much attention our barley got, the population hasn’t risen as quickly as I expected.”

At Camilla’s remark, Basil answered casually.

“Well, of course not. The amount of northern barley released was tiny.”

It probably caused a brief stir limited mostly to the East.

He could roughly imagine how the rumor had spread elsewhere.

“What? Northern barley?”

“It’s true! They say it appeared in an eastern market……!”

“Who said that?”

“Uh, well, my neighbor’s……”

“What?”

“—in-law’s eighth cousin’s younger brother’s acquaintance’s upstairs neighbor?”

“You dreamed it.”

Probably something like that.

It took time to overturn long-standing assumptions.

And with the North’s image as the land where the Mad Dragon lived, deciding to actually move there was even harder.

Only people desperate enough that they have nowhere else to go will come here.

As if answering his thoughts, Camilla said,

“I heard many of the latest settlers used to farm newly reclaimed land in Count Ledermeck’s territory.”

As expected.

“Apparently, the land turned out to be unsuitable for farming, so they were forced out despite having nowhere else to go.”

“So Count Ledermeck is taking his frustration out on the wrong people.”

Basil sneered lightly.

Either way, the North gained more residents, so things had worked out in their favor.

There was plenty to do before welcoming the newcomers.

The villagers were busily repairing cottages that had been left abandoned.

Fortunately, it seemed the existing houses would be enough to accommodate even this new group.

I should clear more surrounding land so we can expand the residential area.

Basil straightened his back.

“Any news from the Temple or the imperial family?”

“None yet. They’re probably still verifying whether the rumors are true.”

“If any of those bastards show up, tell Brad not to let them in under any circumstances. Have him contact me directly.”

“Understood.”

“More importantly, where’s the brat?”

Basil asked while staring at the empty edge of the field.

To Be Continued…