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Chapter 6
“I’m terribly sorry, Lady Iris.”
“What is it now! What?!”
“Lady Riche is not in the estate.”
“Not in the estate? Then where is she?”
“Forgive us, but we aren’t sure either.”
“How can you people not know! What about her personal maid?!”
“Master Choja borrowed her maid to help with his wardrobe, so she wasn’t by the young lady’s side.”
“Even the butler doesn’t know?!”
“No. I was busy taking down the Count’s portrait, just as you ordered.”
“Hmph!”
Morris gnashed his teeth.
‘Unbelievable.’
If I freeze the assets, Riche won’t be able to use a single penny either. Is she trying to play a game of ‘If I’m going down with you, I’m dragging you down with me’?
“Such a brat, already showing such a nasty temper….”
He had to admit it. He had underestimated his young niece. He hadn’t expected her to move this swiftly.
Still.
Where on earth could a brat like her possibly go? Without even a single gold coin to her name.
“She probably hid in the house of some retainer she was close to. Search the estate thoroughly and bring her back!”
Yeah, nope~
She’s not in the estate~
So, what is Riche Iris—who flipped off her uncle and fled to the capital—actually up to?
To see how things are playing out, let’s head over to a farm in the capital.
“Haaaah….”
Young farmer Farm, who ran a herb farm near the outskirts of the capital, was currently consumed by worry.
“I really need to curb this damn temper of mine.”
Why did I have to act like that!
He scratched his head frantically in regret, but it was already too late. The event that had driven farmer Farm to such deep regret had happened three days ago.
A sudden land crisis had recently struck areas near the capital. Due to this unexpected disaster, the price of limestone fertilizer—which was already expensive—skyrocketed.
With no money, and even if they had it, no way to acquire fertilizer, farmers with far more experience than Farm were left completely helpless. All they could do was gather in front of the plaza bulletin board every day and lament.
That day had started out just like any other.
—Special Fertilizer from the Green Roof Magic Shop—
—Same effect as limestone fertilizer—
Out of nowhere, a couple of kids showed up.
There was a girl wearing a simple pale purple dress and plain, unadorned shoes, who undeniably looked like she had been raised in wealth, and a boy who looked like a punk ready to fleece her.
Farm’s immediate impression upon seeing the two was:
‘Things are already hard enough, and now kids are running around acting up.’
With his nerves already frayed, he let his temper flare. “What do kids like you know!”
Yet, the girl didn’t look flustered in the least.
‘It’s free, so there’s no harm in taking a bag or two to test it out.’
She shot back at Farm using informal, casual speech.
After the two disappeared, the farmers gathered in the plaza began picking up bags of the fertilizer one by one.
‘Right. She’s got a point. What have we got to lose?’
‘A small thing like this isn’t even heavy.’
‘I’ll just take it thinking it’s a useless freebie.’
‘Hey Farm, don’t be like that, grab a few yourself. You’ll regret it later.’
He had clicked his tongue, but in the end, Farm grabbed a few bags too. Because it was free. Because there was no harm in it.
However, nobody took more than two bags. After all, not a single person believed that this fertilizer, made by a girl mage they were seeing for the first time, could actually solve their crisis.
No matter how refined, noble, and distinctly lacking in commoner shabbiness the girl’s shabby clothes somehow seemed.
Every twenty minutes, the boy who looked like he was trying to scam the girl would come by and restock the fertilizer, but most of it remained untouched.
Farm simply left the fertilizer he brought home sitting in a corner.
‘Hey, what is this?’
‘Ah, sis. Some girl in the plaza earlier…’
After hearing the full story, Farm’s older sister, Pamy, sprinkled some of the fertilizer onto an unused patch of soil in the corner.
‘Sis, that’s not going to do any good anyway…’
‘Shut it.’
‘Sorry.’
Three days passed, and it was now this morning.
Pamy called out to Farm, who was waking up and letting out heavy sighs while looking out over the fields.
‘Hey, come here.’
‘Ah, what is it now…’
‘Hey.’
‘I’m coming!’
Running over in a flurry, Farm’s eyes landed on the dark brown patch of earth where his sister was standing.
‘Huh?’
It wasn’t that dull, reddish hue he had grown so sick of seeing lately. It was a lustrous, dark brown. Only on that tiny patch of land where Pamy had been sprinkling the fertilizer for the past few days.
She scooped up a little bit of the soil and sniffed it. It was different.
‘…….’
It works.
This actually works.
Wait… why is this working?
At that moment, their eyes met.
Pamy said:
‘Didn’t you give that mage attitude the other day?’
‘Huh? Uh… yeah.’
‘Go apologize to her.’
‘Huh?’
‘I said go apologize. Apologize, get on your knees, beg, do whatever it takes to get more of this fertilizer.’
‘U-Uh, yeah… I should.’
‘…….’
‘…….’
‘You little bastard!’
‘Ah, wait a second, sis. My bad! Stop swinging that, just a second. Ah!’
Ducking to avoid the pickaxe his sister swung, Farm tried to bolt out of the farm, only to be caught, wash his face, and change out of his wrinkled clothes. He even grabbed a freshly baked pie to soothe the girl mage’s heart.
Then, just as he bolted back outside, he ran into a neighboring farmer.
‘Oh-ho, Farm. Heading out now?’
‘Ah, yes… Good morning?’
‘I slept well enough. But… by any chance, did you use that fertilizer from a few days ago?’
‘Y-Yes… You too, mister?’
They exchanged looks.
‘It works, right?’
‘Yeah, it works.’
Suddenly, the exact same thought flashed through both farmers’ minds.
‘Wait.’
‘That girl… no, the mage—I have no idea what ingredients she used.’
‘It’s definitely something as expensive or rare as limestone, right?’
‘If so.’
‘Doesn’t that mean supplies are super limited?’
The next second.
‘Hey, why are you shoving people!’
‘You shoved me first!’
The two farmers started running while shoving each other.
The problem arose after they arrived at 36 Maple Street.
“Is anyone here?”
The neighbor next door, having committed no sins, boldly pushed the door open and walked in, but Farm hesitated.
‘What if she tells me she won’t sell to me?’
That wouldn’t do.
Agh… what do I do?
While he was hesitating, two more farmers hurried into the shop. True to how they had sprinted here, the few hairs left on their heads were blowing wildly upwards.
Driven by urgency, Farm stepped inside as well.
The moment he entered, his eyes met with the girl mage.
The girl he was meeting again was still wearing tattered clothes, yet she still carried the aura of someone raised in absolute luxury.
The unique vibe that had left Farm speechless that day was still there. Looking at it now, it was madness. A quiet, subtle madness lingering in her gaze.
As if she had been betrayed by someone like family and was harboring a deep, overflowing reservoir of anger…
“U-Um… about back then, I’m really sorry…!”
He squeezed his eyes shut and started with an apology, when—
“Is that pie a gift?”
The girl asked.
When he nodded reflexively, a middle-aged woman appeared out of nowhere and took the pie.
Soon, a slice of pie was handed out to each of the farmers. Alongside it came a wooden cup filled with a yellow, fizzing beverage.
“Wh… What is this?”
“It’s a fatigue recovery potion. You must have had a rough time coming all the way here since morning, so drink this and let’s talk.”
“Uh….”
With sour expressions, the farmers exchanged glances.
A fatigue recovery potion, of all things.
‘Magical medicine is ridiculously bitter…. Once you drink it, a bitter taste lingers in your mouth all day.’
Drinking something that bitter first thing in the morning?
‘I suppose she’s trying to be considerate of us in her own way, but…’
For people who do physical labor like them, drinking stuff like this in the morning upsets the stomach a bit.
‘Is she just too young to know how this works?’
‘Still, we better drink it.’
If they showed displeasure after she went out of her way to show hospitality, she might not give them any fertilizer.
Squeezing their eyes shut, they took a sip—
“…Huh?”
It wasn’t bitter?
As the farmers blinked in wide-eyed surprise, the girl explained:
“It’s an ade potion made from spring lemons.”
“Lemons?”
“I used the fertilizer I handed out that day on my lemon tree first.”
At those words, everyone’s gaze shifted to the back yard, where a lemon tree was exuding a rich floral scent. Yellow, ripe lemons were hanging densely from its branches. The expressions of the farmers, who caught a glimpse of hope, brightened up.
“…An ade potion, you say.”
It was their first time hearing of such a thing. Overcome with a novel feeling, the farmers inspected the drinks in their hands.
“Definitely…”
“If it’s a potion like this, I feel like I’d buy it every day.”
Like drinking a beverage rather than a medicine.
Because it lacked the bitter taste unique to potions.
Instead, it was sweet and delicious…
“Can I place an order for this right now?”
One farmer asked.
“Let’s talk about the fertilizer first.”
With that said, the girl glanced at the boy in the corner.
“I don’t have any fertilizer left. But instead, I’ll give you the recipe for making it. So you can make and use it yourselves.”
“You’ll give us the recipe?”
“Well, that’s even better!”
That way, they wouldn’t have to keep running back and forth all the way out here to the shop!
But wait!
The problem was—
“Mage, what on earth are the ingredients that go into that fertilizer?”
That problematic ingredient replacing limestone!
Please, please. Even if it’s a bit pricey, let it be something common.
Their curiosity peaking, the farmers bounced on the balls of their feet.
Before they knew it, they were staring fixedly only at the lips of the young mage they had previously dismissed as a mere kid.
Slowly, the girl’s lips parted.
“Clam and oyster shells.”
“Clam and oyster… shells?”
“Yes.”
“That’s…”
That wasn’t just cheap—that was literally garbage.
She made a fertilizer identical to limestone fertilizer using garbage that people wouldn’t even take if it were given to them for free?
