I Raised the Northern Grand Duke as a Farmer Behind My Father’s Back Chapter 45

Chapter 45

“She’s in the children’s library. The one Duke Rowain had built for the village.”

The small, single-story library had become Haniel’s newest hideout these days.

“She practically lives there now.”

Basil frowned as something suddenly came to mind.

“Sometimes I seriously have no idea how I’m supposed to raise that kid.”

Camilla slowly nodded.

“I agree.”

When they had gone to look around the library together—

“You could smell the ink from a mile away. I’ll give Duke Rowain this much—he knows how to stock a library.”

Basil had spoken to Haniel, who was standing in front of the shelves in a state of intense concentration, trying to choose what to read.

“Hippo, if you’re taking that book back to the manor, put it in this bag—”

Snap!

“I finished it!”

“……?”

The child, who had only seemed to flip through the book while standing there, suddenly announced that she was done.

Naturally, Basil didn’t believe her.

“……Show-off. Hand it over. Page 136—”

“Understanding Silver Salmon! Silver salmon grow into adults in large lakes, then follow the scent of moss from their birthplace and swim hundreds of kilometers back upstream! They dig shallow nests in clear gravel beds upstream and lay their eggs there to reproduce!”

“……?”

The child……

had the ability to memorize an entire book as though she had taken pictures of every page.

“Haa…… Who the hell did she take after to get that smart?”

It was driving him insane.

“Me?”

His baby hippo wasn’t just a bread-devouring hippo.

She was apparently a genius hippo who swallowed entire books too.

“Pardon? If you ask me, perhaps the seed of this so-called Papa Hippo was simply excellent.”

“What? I didn’t hear you.”

Basil casually ignored her and hoisted a huge bundle of straw onto his shoulder.

“More importantly…… Your Grace, is our little one truly planning to open the dragon vein at the Veil River?”

“……”

His movement stopped completely at Camilla’s whisper.

“Well……”

Basil answered with his brows deeply furrowed.

“That’s what she said.”

Camilla tilted her head.

“Your Grace, you’ve gotten uglier.”

“What does ‘ugly’ mean?”

Basil scoffed lightly.

Camilla thought for a moment, then sighed.

“Is this because of Haniel? Because you don’t like the idea of her…… purifying another pillar?”

“I just keep wondering if this is really right.”

With a complicated expression, Basil started walking again.

“What the hell are we making such a tiny kid do?”

There was even a hint of self-loathing in his voice.

Camilla understood his anguish.

Even she felt uneasy about placing such a huge responsibility on a child.

How much worse must it be for the Grand Duke?

He was a man with a strong sense of responsibility.

He might even be thinking of himself as utterly incompetent.

“Well, everyone has their own role to play. Our baby’s role is certainly a little bigger than most……”

“……”

“But then Your Grace simply needs to protect her, don’t you think?”

“……”

“That seems to be your role. And ours.”

“……Is that so.”

Even so, his brows showed no sign of relaxing.

A short while later—

after stacking the straw bundles inside the warehouse, Basil wandered through the village looking for Haniel.

Then he suddenly spotted something.

An object carelessly thrown into a trash bin.

“This is……”

His eyes widened.

Hehe, this is fun!

I flipped through the pages.

My newest hobby these days!

Reading books!

About half of the books in the library were things I had already read in my previous life.

But the other half were completely new.

The books Duke Rowain chose have a different flavor too. Since he’s an eastern duke, there are lots of books about agriculture and livestock. It’s so much fun!

The Klein Ducal House had mostly contained books related to theology.

Those had been fun too, of course.

But I enjoyed practical books connected to everyday life just a liiiittle more.

Now it’s time to open the dragon vein at the Veil River!

I swung my legs as I thought.

“You know, I collected enough divine power to purify the next pillar!”

At last—

I had collected 2,000 Divine Power Stickers.

I had sent half of them to Dad, so now it was time to invest the rest into the pillar!

[Haniel’s Sticker Book (For Children)]

Divine Power Stickers in Storage: 1,008

Hmm.

Honestly, when I told His Grace, I expected him to be a little happier.

But all he did was answer with a slightly subdued expression,

“Is that so.”

He must’ve been happy but just didn’t show it, right?

This was something that would develop the North!

There was no way he wouldn’t be happy as its lord.

Anyway, opening the Veil River would have several benefits.

1. We could earn additional income from fish, freshwater shellfish, and other river products!

2. It would be a huge help when expanding our farmland next year!

3. More places to earn divine power!!

Of course, that last one only benefited me.

Anyway!

The first benefit was exactly what it sounded like—

we could earn additional income from things gathered from the river.

And the second meant we could provide water to the farmland much more reliably!

We have more residents now, and next year we’ll be using oxen properly, so we’re planning to cultivate seven or eight times more land than we do now!

Which meant we needed much more water.

Right now, we were drawing water from the small stream running through Bethel Village.

But it wasn’t enough to supply farmland far away from the village center.

So connecting irrigation channels to the Veil River would be much better.

There are sooo many reasons why opening the river is absolutely necessary!

And if I catch fish, fish, fish, I can scrape together divine power too!

“Finished!”

I snapped the book shut.

Scrape.

I stood up from my chair, returned the book to its place, and picked another one.

As I wandered quietly between the shelves, I thought.

But we can’t just purify the pillar recklessly like we did with Bethel Village.

Because……

if the frozen river melts all at once, something bad might happen.

Flooding.

Unexpected landslides.

Or something else the dragon veins couldn’t prevent.

So first……

I want to survey the area around the river.

But would that be possible?

Hmm…… It’ll probably be incredibly cold, and the contamination will still be severe.

Lost in thought, I reached toward a book slightly above my height.

I lifted myself onto my toes and tilted my head back.

Then—

“……Huh?”

My head suddenly spun.

My vision flashed white.

My body swayed badly—

and at that exact moment, a hand shot out from somewhere and grabbed my shoulder.

“Why did you suddenly do that?”

A familiar voice.

“Are you sick?”

I turned my head.

Slan was staring at me, his eyes slightly wider than usual in surprise.

I blinked a few times until my vision focused, then shook my head.

“Whoa, that scared me……”

“No, why did you suddenly stagger?”

“Ah, maybe because I looked up too fast trying to find the book.”

I scratched my head.

“……”

Slan moved his lips as if he wanted to say something, then simply reached up and took the book I had been trying to grab.

I want to read all the books at the very top too……

I’ll read them after this one!

“Thanks! Did you finish your book too?”

“More or less……”

His blue eyes shifted slightly.

The book in his hand—

Types and Understanding of Mana—

slid neatly into an empty space on the shelf.

Every morning—

Slan and I had been meeting in the library and reading together lately.

I came voluntarily.

Slan said he came because Noah ordered him to.

“……Master says if I don’t study, my brain will rot.”

Such an adorably nine-year-old reason.

Still, why did I suddenly get dizzy?

As I returned to my seat, I lightly rubbed my neck.

I guess I’ve been pushing myself a little lately.

There had been the deal with Duke Rowain.

And more importantly, I had been so focused on sending divine power to Dad that my body had probably grown tired without me noticing.

Well, I’d be fine once I ate some bread!

Grrrrrrumble.

Sure enough, my stomach clock immediately made a loud noise.

Gasp. Slan must be hungry too!

I spoke to the boy sitting across from me.

“Slan, wanna go see the chicks? We can eat bread together at the Grand Duke’s manor while we’re there! You’re hungry, right?”

“Not really.”

“Come ooon. There are baby pigs too! They’re really, really cute!”

I leaned almost halfway across the table and begged him desperately.

“Hmm?”

The boy leaned his upper body far back.

“Why are you getting so close……”

He bit down on his lip, then abruptly stood.

Did he hate even this much closeness?

Slan looked visibly flustered.

“I have an errand for Master, so I’ll be going.”

“Hng……”

No fun.

“……”

Slan seemed to stomp away—

only to suddenly stomp right back again.

“Read the books at the manor. Don’t stay here alone.”

A sudden command?

Then he stared at me for a moment and walked toward the shelves.

Tap, tap, tap, tap!

“……?”

Slan climbed the ladder and brought down every book from the top shelf that I had been trying to reach.

How did he know I wanted to read these when I hadn’t even said anything?

“Then I’m going.”

Without waiting for my answer, he turned around and left.

I stared after him with a puzzled expression.

Does he dislike me?

He won’t even eat with me.

But……

when I looked at the tall pile of books in front of me—

Maybe not that much?

I really didn’t understand him.

Siiigh.

I rested my chin in my hand.

Knock, knock.

Just then, someone knocked on the library window.

That mischievous knock could only belong to……!

“Your Grace!”

I hurried over and slid the window open.

“Lunch.”

“I was just about to go eat!”

“Come here.”

He reached one arm through the window—

then simply lifted me up and pulled me straight through.

“Windows aren’t doors!”

“Who cares? If you can get in and out through it, it’s a door.”

“Ugh, outlaw……”

“You only figured that out now?”

He stared at me for a moment.

Then suddenly held something out.

“More importantly, you. What’s this?”

“Huh?”

“Why was this thrown in the trash?”

My eyes widened as far as they could go.

A bundle of red yarn.

The scarf His Grace had given me.

To Be Continued…