Chapter: 29
I took a calm bite of my sandwich, lost in thought.
I hadn’t planned on taking Beron.
Originally, I only wanted the Jezel District.
The Jezel District, with its shops brimming with all sorts of goods stashed away, would be incredibly useful. Two months wasn’t enough time for them to have scavenged everything edible and inedible cleanly.
But Beron? Beron was nothing but perilla fields.
A textbook example of failed territory management.
“The land is small, but distribution is easy… Then shouldn’t we be growing crops that aren’t commonly cultivated on the continent?”
That was the logic behind my father’s choice of perilla.
But there was a reason perilla wasn’t widely grown on the continent. Simply put, there wasn’t much demand for it.
‘Beron also has a large elderly population. I have to feed all those territory citizens too.’
If they bore the name Harwin, perhaps it would be different, but under the name Saye, I could never let them starve.
‘Still, it couldn’t be helped.’
That day at the port, Baron Harwin had made sure the freed Wendy lost consciousness first.
After we passed through the warp, the intruders had said this:
“Can’t we just kill this one here and now?”
“Miss, if we don’t, we’re the ones who’ll die.”
It was only natural. A lord who tried to sell his own people and the territory citizens who knocked him down couldn’t coexist under the same sky.
“You’re all from the Jezel District, right? Then starting tomorrow, you’ll be under my protection.”
If I brought the Jezel District into my territory, they would become my people.
As for the crime of kidnapping the lord’s uncle, I planned to handle the punishment myself. For example, forcing him to eat potato salad slathered on freshly baked bread…
If that seemed insufficient, I’d add mushroom salad too. I intended to resolve things in that manner, but…
“I… I live in Beron.”
“A young man like you lives in Beron?”
“Well, to take care of my mother…”
As luck would have it, one of them lived in Beron. That meant I had to bring Beron as well.
At the very least, I had a responsibility to these intruders who had trusted me and moved on my behalf.
‘Can’t be helped. I brought plenty of wheat too, and if we all work harder…’
For now, I’d have to plow under all of Beron’s perilla fields and plant different crops.
‘If I search through the Jezel District shops, I’m bound to find seeds… Find them, plant them…’
The ground where potatoes had been harvested was also lying fallow. I needed to find suitable seeds and plant again.
‘I have a rough idea of what to plant.’
Of course, the warp would be reactivated in a month, but we still had to survive until then, and beyond.
‘Alpheus probably won’t be getting any reward money.’
This was still the early part of the original story.
Which meant the protagonist was going through the grinder.
The Second Prince dies, and in the end, his achievements aren’t recognized. He returns to a territory without his sister, without his subordinates, only his uncle remaining, but…
‘I wonder if he managed to overcome the crisis with the Awakening Herb?’
If I had been completely certain of my madness back then, I might have given him advice that would have been more helpful.
Whether he overcame the crisis or not, the warp wouldn’t activate for another month. It meant it would be a long time before we saw each other again.
‘But at least he’ll have a place to return to now.’
In any case, even a month later, we were destined to be poor. We wouldn’t be able to buy Western grains cheaply like before.
That thought made my appetite vanish.
Dalia, who had been biting her nails, spoke up.
“I’ll give you only Beron.”
It seemed she had made a considerable decision, in her own way.
“Forget about the Jezel District.”
Of course, no one was going to listen to her grand decision.
“Then you’re also giving up on your father’s life.”
I said calmly.
“You don’t seem to have a good grasp of the situation. We have nothing to lose here. Ah, I’m not surprised. You were never particularly bright, Dalia.”
Dalia fumed, unable to contain her anger.
Her aunt firmly grasped Dalia’s writhing hand.
Then, her aunt asked quietly.
“…Then how about ten sacks of wheat?”
By now, Dalia was also clutching her aunt’s hand tightly.
“I’ll give you both Beron and the Jezel District. Ten sacks of wheat. Well? Doesn’t that sound fair?”
I stared intently at their hands.
Two hands, clasped desperately by the remaining family, trying to save their family.
Her uncle must have swindled my father for those two people. For them, he must have sold me out in the original story.
Even more so, the sandwich became impossible to swallow.
“It does not sound fair.”
I stated firmly.
“Goodbye.”
And I stood up abruptly.
My aunt grabbed my arm.
“I’ll, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll give it to you!”
“Mother!”
“I’ll give it, I’ll give it! Both of them! So just give me five sacks of wheat, okay?”
At the same time, Dalia shrieked in horror.
“Mother, have you lost your mind?”
It was something I had never once said to my own mother in my entire life.
“Why are you listening to her? What she’s asking is absurd! Absolutely not!”
“We lived well enough without those two lands before, Dalia. Everything will be fine as long as we have your father. We’ll live well again.”
Her aunt tried to soothe Dalia.
“We’re the ones in need here, Dalia. Isn’t Brissa the only one here who has wheat?”
Then she turned to me and asked urgently.
“Can I sign as proxy? The lord is missing right now, after all.”
Territory transactions were conducted through ‘Territory Contracts’ issued by the Mage Tower. If the lord was absent from the territory, a proxy could automatically sign.
And the moment you signed the ‘Territory Contract’, a record remained in the Mage Tower, making it impossible to later renege on the deal.
“So, can we sign now? Hmm?”
It was only natural. Just as I said, I had nothing to lose.
I gestured elegantly to a maid, and soon a ‘Territory Contract’ was placed before us.
And so, after noon that day, the Jezel District and Beron once again became part of the Marquisate of Saye.
“Now.”
After instructing a group of knights, I addressed the shopkeepers of the Jezel District.
“Anyone who has seeds stored in places like warehouses, bring them all out. It doesn’t matter if they’re out of season or if the quantity is small.”
The people of Jezel District, who after nearly two months found themselves belonging to the Marquisate of Saye again, offered no resistance at all.
“I’ll exchange them for wheat or potatoes.”
In fact, their reaction to my words was this:
“Wooooow!”
Their joy made me feel a sense of pride.
I used that happy feeling to suppress my wandering thoughts.
“We lived well enough without those two lands before.”
I couldn’t live well without land.
Right now, I was in a position where I had to worry about my own food.
No, actually, there were even dark mages backed by Sevon targeting my life, and there was nothing I could do to prepare except lie low within my own territory.
I even thought it was fortunate the warp wasn’t working. At least no outsiders could enter.
Illegal warps couldn’t be opened without mutual cooperation. It meant that, at least within my territory, no illegal warps would appear.
I was so afraid that even that simple isolation was, for now, welcome. Yet still…
“Everything will be fine as long as we have your father.”
There was no one I could openly rely on in this situation.
I was the only one of Liente’s bloodline left in the empire.
I didn’t want to tell the maids or the knights. Not because I didn’t want to burden them. Honestly, it was because I was scared.
“Oh, they’re going to kill everyone of Liente’s bloodline? Then our lives are in danger too?”
“It would be an honor to serve the last descendant of the Liente royal family, but, um, we’d rather not die…”
What if the maids left?
In the original story, the maids, knowing nothing, followed me and were all killed.
If they had known the ending, would they have followed me then?
“What? Sevon and dark mages are targeting the young lady?”
“Then what did we do wrong? Especially our Marquis, he has nothing to do with Liente.”
“We’re practically strangers anyway, aren’t we? Wouldn’t it be better to just hand her over and be done with it? The territory is struggling enough as it is…”
Even if the knights followed me, wasn’t it all because of Alpheus’s orders?
I doubted Alpheus would want to be put in a difficult position because of me.
‘I’m scared.’
I bit my lower lip hard.
I didn’t know how to share my fear.
