RTDB 7

Chapter 7

And I was soundly defeated.

“Farming?”

I could still vividly remember Basil’s light scoff at my words.

“You’re too frail to do something like that. You’ll get yourself into serious trouble.”

“Kkeung!”

“Camilla, deal with it.”

The Grand Duke, who had just called himself frail, effortlessly peeled me off with his thick, muscular arm. Then he left the room without a second thought.

‘Why?!’

Had I been too hasty?

‘Maybe I was….’

A complete stranger—a little kid, no less—suddenly talking about farming and whatnot. I couldn’t really blame them for dismissing it as the nonsensical ramblings of a child who knew nothing about the world.

But I was in a hurry, too!

‘Because you keep trying to kick me out!’

I even had Uncle Paul waiting outside!

Besides, I couldn’t just sit around doing nothing anymore. Because….

I glanced sideways.

As though it had been waiting for this exact moment, white letters popped into view.

‘It’s here!’

An errand. And not just any errand—it was a huge one!

[An errand from the God of Earth has arrived!]

[Checking the contents of the errand….]

Poof!

[Challenge! Hoeing the Soil! (0/5)]

[“The first step toward self-sufficiency. Farming is the foundation of all things.”]

You might wonder what was so amazing about merely hoeing the soil.

‘Heh.’

You’d change your mind after seeing this!

[Errand Reward: 200 Pure, Pollution-Free Holy Power Stickers]

‘Gasp!’

Even seeing it a second time was enough to make my breath catch.

Not two stickers. Not twenty.

Two hundred!

Two hundred!

How could I possibly pass that up?!

At the same time, though, I was a little puzzled.

‘Is hoeing the soil really that difficult? I only have to do it five times, too.’

After thinking it over carefully, I reached a conclusion.

A reward this extravagant must mean that hoeing the soil here in the North was far from easy.

Just in case, I sat down on the floor and tried poking it repeatedly with a fork, pretending I was hoeing.

But, as expected, it was completely useless.

All I got out of it was a round of applause from Head Butler Camilla, who happened to be nearby.

‘Could it be that this….’

I stared at the white letters as though trying to glare them into submission.

[“Farming is the foundation of all things.”]

‘Does that mean if I farm here, I can earn a whole bunch of Holy Power?’

My heart began to pound.

I desperately wanted to get outside and try hoeing again.

‘But before that….’

I moved my cheeks up and down.

“Good, good. You’re eating well.”

First, I had to finish my stew!

The moment I opened my mouth, a huge spoonful came flying in.

By now, I had become Head Butler Camilla’s dedicated stew disposal unit.

To be fair, I was absolutely starving. I hadn’t eaten properly since yesterday.

Gulp!

I swallowed the stew and fired off a polite little bow.

“Head Butler! Thank you so much for letting me use warm water, sharing your stew with me, taking care of me, and everything else…. Thank you so much!”

“Oh, hush, hush. Here, ah—”

“So, speaking of which, could I maybe have a hoe—Aaaah!”

The moment I opened my mouth wide, another spoonful went straight in.

Chew, chew.

I was a perfectly capable child who could easily eat stew on my own, but for some reason, the head butler refused to surrender the spoon to me.

“Hm. I think it’s been about three thousand years since I last saw such a cute little creature….”

Well, she looked happy, so perhaps I could put my dignity as a wonderful child on hold for a moment.

I obediently accepted each spoonful while surveying my surroundings.

It was a spotless, neatly organized bedroom.

Judging by the layout, it seemed to be a fairly respectable two-story mansion. Still, it certainly wasn’t the sort of residence I had expected a Northern Grand Duke and war hero to live in.

“But… Head Butler, why is His Grace the Grand Duke staying here? I naturally assumed he’d be living in the Grand Duke’s Castle.”

“Hmm.”

“And there don’t seem to be many people around, either.”

“The Grand Duke’s Castle has yet to finish being repaired. We dismissed nearly all the servants some time ago.”

“What?”

“We’ve reached the point where we need to cut labor costs. The only people who remain are the knights.”

I blinked.

Things seemed to be in worse shape than I had imagined.

‘I remember he received quite a bit of money as compensation for winning the war.’

Where had all that gone? Had they spent it all on managing the territory over the past two years?

However, Head Butler Camilla didn’t seem inclined to explain any further. She merely patted my cheek a couple of times.

“More importantly, how do you find the soup?”

“Yes! The potatoes are so fluffy, and the potatoes are really soft, and, um, the potatoes are incredibly savory, too!”

“Hoho. I’m sorry. Potatoes were all that remained in the storeroom. If you had come around next week, you could have had some meat pie.”

I sprang upright again.

“That means—that means! Were you subtly saying that I can come back here next week?”

“No. I meant exactly what I said. A hypothetical regret over something that won’t happen. Something along those lines.”

“I knew it….”

Poof.

My body slumped back down.

“Head Butler. Can’t I just live here? Give me a house! Give me some land! That’s the only reason I came here!”

I pulled the Northern Settlement promotional pamphlet out of my pocket.

Head Butler Camilla vigorously ruffled my hair.

“Well, if it were up to me, I’d certainly like to let you.”

“……!”

“But despite appearances, he is my one and only superior. I have no intention of disobeying His Grace’s orders.”

“Aw….”

Seeing my disappointed face, the head butler poked my cheek.

“Your chubby cheeks are all grubby, too. How cute. Still, don’t take it too hard. I have no idea where you even found that discarded promotional pamphlet, but… you aren’t the only one we’re refusing.”

“Huh?”

“For the past several months, we’ve been politely turning away everyone who comes here.”

“Why?!”

“We have nothing for them to live on.”

It was the simplest answer imaginable.

“Monsters appear. The land is cold and barren. There are mines, rivers, and forests, yes, but… well. The pollution is so severe that even approaching them is difficult. Under these circumstances, wouldn’t increasing the population be reckless?”

“The pollution is really that bad?”

At my question, the head butler gazed out the window.

My eyes followed hers.

In the distance, I could see the towering snow-covered mountains of the North.

And alongside them was….

‘Whoa. That’s scary.’

A massive, dark-red peak.

I swallowed hard.

“Bigger than you expected, isn’t it? That’s the corpse of the Mad Dragon.”

“Yes….”

That was right.

It wasn’t a mountain peak at all, but the corpse of a Mad Dragon that had died halfway up the mountain.

It was simply so enormous that it looked as though a new peak had risen from the earth.

It had been a five-hundred-year-old dragon, so for the corpse to completely decay would probably take five hundred years….

No, perhaps even longer.

‘How did the Grand Duke Basil defeat a monster like that? Just how strong is he?’

Crackle, sizzle—

Black smoke writhed upward from the peak and rose into the sky.

The heat and poisonous miasma pouring from the corpse were tremendous.

That was why the Mad Dragon remained a headache for humanity even after its death.

But….

‘…Whoa. Wow!’

The black smoke couldn’t spread any farther and quickly dissipated.

It was all thanks to the white sealing pillars installed throughout the area.

‘Dad made those pillars!’

I searched through my memories.

Back when no one could withstand the evil energy radiating from the dead Mad Dragon….

It had been the holy knight Dantellion who erected six pillars with an immense amount of Holy Power and created a barrier around the area.

He had appeared alone, seemingly out of nowhere….

And finished the whole thing in a single night.

Just like that.

Thanks to him, the North had at least become a place where people could live.

It was truly the kind of legendary feat worthy of a holy knight whose name would be recorded in the history books for generations to come.

‘He was such an incredible holy knight.’

And yet Dad’s Holy Power, because of me….

“….Kaya? Little one?”

“Hm? Y-yes?”

“Your cheeks have stopped moving. Ah, is that mountain frightening you?”

“Oh!”

I resumed chewing.

“No!”

“Where was I? Ah, yes. The pollution.”

Head Butler Camilla continued.

“The poison released from that corpse is being contained fairly well, but there was nothing we could do about the contamination that had already spread. Aside from this village and a few roads, almost none of the land has been purified.”

“I see….”

“If there were even a temple in the North, perhaps things would be different. But there still isn’t a single temple here. …Damn that imperial family. They promised they would build us a temple, then….”

Head Butler Camilla’s voice gradually grew more and more ominous….

‘In other words, there’s no one to periodically purify the various parts of the territory.’

There simply weren’t enough holy knights or priests, so they were always sent wherever the need was considered more urgent.

And I knew that the people deciding what counted as “urgent” were always adults, whose personal circumstances inevitably colored their judgment.

‘The situation in the North must be worse than I thought.’

Chew, chew.

‘That must be why His Grace is living down here in the village like this, too.’

This won’t do.

I had to do something.

If I did something useful, maybe they’d let me stay here because I was such a good little kid!

I quietly stared ahead before blinking once.

As though it had been waiting for me, white letters appeared before my eyes.