Chapter 6
“Gasp!”
I shot awake.
‘W-Where am I?’
All I could see was an unfamiliar ceiling.
‘I was definitely with Uncle Paul, all the way to the northern gate!’
I was……? What happened after that?
Think…… Think…….
“Waaaaah!”
I lost Uncle Paul!
“Oh, no! Hani! Haniel!! That crazy bird just kidnapped our little girl!”
“Uuuuuuuugh?”
That was right.
Coming all the way to the North while building up a strong bond of comradeship with Uncle Paul had been great and all, but……
A gigantic bird had suddenly appeared in front of the northern gate, poked me through the carriage window, and flown away with me.
“Help me! Somebody help me!”
I struggled for a long time before realizing the obvious.
Monster = demonic energy = weak against holy power.
I immediately pulled out a holy power sticker.
When the bird landed on a tree, I seized the opportunity and slapped the sticker onto myself……
“Kieeeeeeeek!”
The nasty bird spat me out like I was a piece of gum.
‘At least I didn’t get hurt too badly…….’
The branches had snapped one after another, apparently cushioning my fall.
‘Sooo much precious holy power wasted. But more importantly…… where am I?’
I looked around.
The place where I had awakened was a tiny house.
Had someone rescued me?
That was when—
“My goodness, what a noisy way to wake up.”
A voice came from somewhere.
I shot upright.
“Oh, dear. You shouldn’t get up so suddenly. Are you feeling all right?”
An old woman with hair as white as snow came toddling over.
“Wh-Who are you……?”
“Let’s see. Hmm, you still have a little fever…… but it doesn’t look like you’re badly hurt anywhere. But, goodness, child. Why on earth did you enter the Foglands all by yourself? Did you get lost?”
“D-Did you save me, Grandma?”
The old woman looked as though she had just heard something absurd.
“No? The Grand Duke—”
“Granny, I need salt.”
‘Gah! You scared me!’
A man’s voice had suddenly come out of nowhere!
Only then did I realize there was someone else in this room besides the old woman and me.
I cautiously peeked my head out.
Sure enough, there was a man sitting near the window in the distance.
He was sitting crookedly against the back of a chair, eating stew.
‘Is he Grandma’s son?’
But why was he wearing a black robe pulled all the way over his head in broad daylight?
‘Oh…… no way.’
I immediately figured out what kind of person he was.
They said there were young men in this world who shut themselves away in their rooms, voluntarily cut themselves off from society—and even after growing into adults, still depended on their parents for one hundred percent of their financial needs.
‘Aww, I guess everyone has their own circumstances, right? It’s just a little different from the kind of person I aspire to be.’
I was a brave, independent child.
My situation was completely different from his.
Without a word of complaint, the old woman took some salt from somewhere and placed it on her son’s table.
The young man sprinkled the salt over his food and went back to eating his soup.
‘But couldn’t he at least get his own salt?’
Had he outsourced not only his financial independence, but his ability to live independently as well?
Just as I was deciding that I should avoid any deep conversations with him if at all possible, the old woman came back over to me.
“So, where were we? You asked if I was the one who rescued you?”
“Yeees…….”
“No? It was His Grace the Grand Duke who brought you here. He went into the Foglands and said he caught some sort of starfish…….”
“Whaaaaaaaaaat?”
I knew it!
My eyes widened.
I’d wondered about the blurry silhouette of the man I’d seen at the very end, and it seemed he had been the Grand Duke!
“Then, then!”
I whipped my head around.
“Could this place be near the Grand Duke’s Castle……?!”
“There. Hand me that cup of water.”
My words were abruptly cut off again.
“There’s sand mixed in with the salt. Hah. Those southerners…….”
I shot the hermit another suspicious look.
He was…… kind of pathetic!
‘He looks pretty sturdy, too!’
‘This is going to have a bad influence on the formation of my values, so I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely have to avoid having a deep conversation with him!’
After bringing the young man his cup of water, the old woman answered my question.
“You asked if this place is near the Grand Duke’s Castle? Well, yes. This is Bedel Village.”
My eyes widened.
‘Thank goodness! This is the village where the Grand Duke’s Castle is!’
I had safely made it to the heart of the North!
“What? Child, did you come here on purpose?”
“Yes!”
I sprang to my feet, clenched my little fists, and spoke as forcefully as I could.
“I-I actually came here to meet His Grace the Grand Duke!”
“Hmm? Really?”
“Yes! So, could you take me to the Grand Duke’s Castle? Or at least tell me how to get there! I’ll polish your shoes in return! I’ll make them sparkle!”
“No, child……”
Then—
Clack!
The hopeless son slammed down his spoon.
“Hah. Why does this soup taste like this? It’s not getting any better. Camill—”
“Ugh, mister!”
“……Mister?”
I couldn’t take it anymore!
“T-Then let me do it instead!! Why do you keep making Grandma do everything?!”
He might kick me in the butt for being a cheeky little brat, but…… some things just had to be said.
Because every time this man said a single word, that old woman sprang into action as though serving him had been etched into her very bones! It was painful to watch! Just how badly had he been tormenting her?!
“She’s not your servant or anything!”
At that moment, the man turned toward me.
Only now did I notice just how enormous he was.
And merely turning his body toward me was enough to make an overwhelming pressure descend upon the room.
What incredible physicality for someone who supposedly spent his days shut away in a room!
“She is.”
His deep voice flowed out leisurely.
“……Huh?”
“She’s the butler of my household.”
He tilted his head.
“Wouldn’t that make her…… a subordinate?”
“A butler……?”
“What do you think, Camilla?”
“Please don’t scatter crumbs everywhere. I’ll have to clean them up later.”
The old woman answered without the slightest concern.
‘Huh?’
The man slowly removed his hood.
Revealing jet-black hair.
Sharp, striking features carved with strong, masculine lines.
My eyes blinked slowly.
It was a face I had seen a few times through the window in my previous life.
Of course…… he looked much younger now.
The man rose to his feet.
“I’m returning the entire shipment of salt brought in from the South.”
Then he approached me.
He was so tall that even standing bolt upright on the bed, I had to crane my neck a long way just to look at him.
“Hey, Starfish.”
“I-I’m not a starfish…….”
Scary!
No, I wasn’t scared!
“I’m H-Haniel…….”
“Looks like you came here because you had nowhere else to go.”
How did he know?
“A little brat like you will be dead within…… what, a day or two? Around here.”
The Grand Duke poked me between the eyebrows with one finger.
“So go back. Sorry, but there’s no one here to look after a little brat like you. Camilla, later, take her to the nearest territory—”
“Seeking residents! Location! The Northern Grand Duchy of Vertus!”
I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted.
“Basic benefits! House provided, land provided, and one hundred percent tax exemption for the first year after relocation! Eligibility! Anyone!”
“……?”
“An-y-one!”
“……?”
“Hello! My name is Anyone!”
I threw both hands into the air.
In them was the Northern relocation brochure I had practically worn to shreds from reading it so many times.
The Grand Duke stared at me with an expression of utter bewilderment.
Then he asked the old butler, whom he had called Camilla,
“Didn’t we throw away all those brochures?”
“Apparently one survived somewhere. If Sir Brad finds out, he’ll be horrified. It feels like only yesterday that he was reported for violating the Advertising Standards Act and ended up serving time instead of paying the fine…….”
Whatever they were saying, I took another deep breath with what little air I had left and launched into my speech.
“My name is Haniel! I’m six years old! My hobby is eating bread, and my special skill is eating bread! My dream for the future is to own a bakery! The reason I’m applying to become a resident of this territory is because I want a house and land! And, for your reference, my goal is to eat about three breads a day!”
“Is that an introduction or a sales pitch for bread?”
“Anyway, I wanna live here! It’s my dreammm!”
Vasily stared at me for a moment before turning away.
He picked up the sword that had been resting nearby and casually waved a hand.
“Yeah. Dreams are called dreams because they don’t come true.”
“…….”
“Then eat a bowl of stew and go home.”
His back moved farther away.
No!
I couldn’t fail here!
“Master!”
I grabbed onto his pants and clung to them.
“What are you talking about? Get off.”
“Masteeer!”
“At least call me Lord! Granny, why are you looking at me like that? I didn’t tell her to do this!”
“My lord! Please!”
But the brochure said he would give me a house and land!
“I can live by myself! I came here because I’m going to eat well and live very, very well all by myself!”
“You actually expect me to believe that……?”
I wrapped myself firmly around his thigh.
It was incredibly hard, so it wasn’t easy, but I sat down on top of his foot and decided to become a thirteen-kilogram ankle weight.
“Why is a little brat this strong? Hah, ha…… What was your name again? All I remember is bread. Was it Hippo? A bread-eating hippo? Hey, Hippo. Are you getting off?”
“I’m not a hippooooo! I’m Haniel…… Please!”
“We don’t accept six-year-olds as residents.”
“No discrimination against children……! It says ‘Anyone’ under eligibility!”
“It doesn’t.”
“Yes, it does! And I have the version that doesn’t have an age restriction! You have to honor the advertisement! If you keep doing this, I’m going to have a problem!”
“Granny, get her off me! I’ve been bitten by a hippo!”
“Why? She’s doing a wonderful job cleaning the floor. There we go. You’re both doing a fine job.”
The old butler chuckled as she tidied up around us.
Encouraged by her support, I sat on the Grand Duke’s foot and vigorously swept the floor with my bottom.
‘Come to think of it, is clinging to the Northern Grand Duke like this really the right thing to do?’
‘This was supposed to be about not standing out…… keeping a low profile…….’
Things had gone very, very far from my original plan.
‘Oh, whatever!’
Squeeeeeeeze.
“Please accept me!”
“No! I’m passing you off to the territory down the road!”
But the Northern Grand Duke was just as stubborn as I was.
So, in the end, I had no choice but to bring out the real reason I had come.
“I’ll teach you how to farm in the North!”
He stopped dead.
The Grand Duke’s movements froze.
His red eyes sank in an instant.
Seeing that, I finally realized that the Grand Duke had been deliberately restraining his presence this entire time—for my sake.
My body trembled.
I was scared.
But I squeezed my eyes shut and shouted.
“Farming!!”
“…….”
“You need it, don’t you?
