Chapter 10
That little brat… Surely he didn’t notice something?
Ruden adjusted his glasses, his lips tightening.
…I’m being paranoid. What could a mere six-year-old possibly know?
He then pressed down hard on the piece of straw caught on his trouser leg.
A few grains of wheat came away with it, but they too crumbled into dust.
This is all for the sake of the Lord.
Vasily had changed after becoming the Grand Duke.
The freedom and boldness with which he had once roamed the battlefield like a madman had all disappeared.
“What a boring age. …Well, I suppose it can’t be helped anymore.”
Now, all he did was wear the empty crown of a Grand Duke and slowly die inside his own grave.
In the end, you’ll thank me.
Therefore…
He would forgive no one who stood in his way.
Even if that person was a six-year-old child.
Ruden’s eyes darkened into black.
“Grand Duuuuke…”
Haniel clung to the hem of Vasily’s trousers, dragging herself along behind him.
“Rejected. Something else.”
“An investigation of the dragon’s corpse…”
“Rejected.”
“Going to see the mad dragon…”
“Rejected.”
“Paying respects at the dragon’s grave…”
“Rejected!”
“Aw! You said you’d grant everything I asked for!”
Haniel protested loudly.
Vasily, who had been walking after leaving the warehouse, let out a sigh.
“What are you planning to do by looking at a completely dead dragon’s corpse?”
“Hoeing!”
“What?”
Oops.
Haniel carefully composed herself before speaking again.
“You said I’d teach you how to farm in the north!”
“And what does that have to do with the Mad Dragon? …Wait. Don’t tell me…”
Vasily suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Haniel went tap-tap-tap! as she hurried forward, closing the distance between them.
One of Vasily’s strides was equivalent to about five of hers, so she kept falling behind.
“You keep talking about farming. Are you saying you intend to make use of the Mad Dragon’s evil energy?”
“Yes!”
Haniel nodded vigorously.
“Because… I heard the north wasn’t nearly this cold when the Mad Dragon was still alive!”
“……”
“It was because of the Mad Dragon’s hooot maaaagic power.”
Haniel’s tiny finger pointed all the way toward the distant Northern Mountains.
More precisely, toward the peak where the Mad Dragon’s corpse lay.
What she said was true.
For the past five hundred years—
that is, during the time the Mad Dragon had been alive—the northern region had not actually been this cold.
It was thanks to the dragon’s power, which radiated heat comparable to several active volcanoes combined.
But the moment the Mad Dragon died and that energy was sealed away, everything froze.
Haniel was suggesting that they reverse that process.
“Even now, an enormous amount of heat is being released from the corpse, right? What if we don’t block it and let it seep into the earth instead?”
A glossy light gleamed in her pink eyes.
“We could use the corpse itself as an energy source!”
The child waved her arms as she moved her lips like a little chick.
“What if we melt the ground? Then we can farm!”
“If we grow wheat?? We can become rich from bread!”
“And if word spreads that we can get rich??? People will come here!”
“……”
“Then the lord could fix up the Grand Duke’s castle in no time???? And we could live like kings?!”
“Prosper, you mean.”
“We could make one huge haul!”
“A killing, you mean.”
Actually, there wasn’t a single thing wrong with the little brat’s reasoning.
The reason people didn’t settle in the north was simply that there was no reliable way to make a living there.
Farming?
If they could actually make it possible, it would be ideal.
With a stable source of income, they might even be able to build a temple in the north.
Or secretly hire a priest.
The Emperor’s face would be a sight to see.
Then they could purify the contamination in other regions as well…
That would increase the amount of land available for development.
More people would move in.
Capital would begin circulating.
It was the ideal process for developing a territory.
But—
“…I was wondering what you were going on about. Hey, brat.”
“Not hey, brat. I’m Haniel—”
“Eek!”
Vasily suddenly grabbed Haniel around the waist from behind and lifted her high into the air.
Her view shot upward, and Haniel flailed her short arms and legs.
No wonder she’s so obsessed with bread.
Vasily narrowed his eyes at how light the child was—lighter than a feather.
Forcing himself to look away from the round back of her head, he jerked his chin toward the front.
“Look over there. What color is the smoke rising from the peak?”
“B-Black?”
“Does it look good for your health or bad?”
“B-Bad…?”
“Correct.”
“……”
“You think I haven’t considered using the Mad Dragon’s corpse as a heat source to warm the north again?”
“……”
“The problem is the miasma. That lunatic dragon doesn’t just spew heat. It releases rotten air as a two-for-one special.”
“That’s why it has to be sealed up completely.”
“Then just extract the poison and purify it!”
“Even the great Dantellion Klein…”
“Hic!”
Haniel’s body suddenly trembled.
Vasily loosened his grip.
She had suddenly started hiccupping, so perhaps he had been holding her side too tightly.
“—can’t purify all of it, so he just sealed the whole thing up?”
Peeking at her from behind, Vasily could see Haniel’s pale cheeks puffed out in a sulky pout.
“Do you understand? That thing is basically a barrel full of rotten sardines. If you open it carelessly, the surrounding area will be devastated. Hm? We’re already having enough trouble with the contamination. We can’t let it get any worse—”
“That’s whyyy.”
Haniel muttered gloomily.
Then she began dangling in the air, wildly flailing her arms and legs.
“Just stop the contamination and let the heat flow through, right? Like a strainer!”
“You seem to think purification is as easy as—bam! Done! But it’s not that simple.”
“I… maybe I can do it.”
Haniel muttered something that made little sense.
Vasily lowered the child to the ground.
Then he spoke firmly.
“Enough. Just look around the village a little before you leave. Here. I’ll give you those southern goods from earlier too…”
“And the bread you love so much.”
“……”
Haniel lightly kicked the ground.
This was already the second time he’d rejected her today.
He didn’t feel particularly good about it, but there was nothing he could do.
If she had divine power, the temple would have naturally raised her with every privilege imaginable.
And considering I can barely sense any magical power from her, she seems to have been born weak.
I’d rather wash Dantellion’s socks than believe what a little brat like this says.
Besides, if he carelessly brought her near the Mad Dragon’s corpse…
There was no telling what effect it might have on the child’s body.
Young and ridiculously weak.
What a nuisance.
In the end, Vasily gave Haniel a rough tour of the village.
There wasn’t much to see in Bedel Village.
A large number of the residents who had initially settled there, including the servants from the estate, had recently left.
Vasily merely stopped by the food warehouse and filled a small bag to the brim with bread for her.
It was dry and coarse rye bread, but the little brat’s eyes lit up and her nostrils flared.
One hundred percent satisfied.
The bags of sugar and spices seemed too heavy for her, so he decided to leave those with Camilla for now.
Before he knew it, dusk had fallen.
Going out into the foggy lands at night made one an easy target for monsters.
And considering what he had already said, Vasily decided to let the child sleep at the estate for one more night and send her away the next day.
And so the night passed.
…For someone, it was an extremely long night.
And then—
The next morning.
“Ah…”
Vasily stood blankly in front of the estate.
A ferocious laugh suddenly escaped him.
“Shit…”
Is this for real?
His red eyes slowly took in his territory.
The blazing sun overhead.
Drip, drip.
The sound of water falling from the roof.
Tiny beads of sweat forming from the back of his neck.
Camilla’s bewildered expression as she took off her outer garment.
“Your Highness, what on earth…”
The events of the previous night suddenly flashed through Vasily’s mind like a revolving lantern.
So, what exactly had happened was…
No.
That wasn’t important right now.
“…Brat.”
“Yes?”
“Where did that little brat go?!”
Over the course of a single night—
the north had been transformed.
