TVRC 12

Chapter 12

In Leblanc’s study, three people had gathered since early morning and were conducting an energetic meeting. They were Leblanc, the lord of the Peronto territory; Fern, the chief steward who had long served as her proxy; and Sir Corden, who had taken it upon himself to act as the commander of the territorial knights.

Leblanc glanced briefly at the empty seat in front of her. Normally, it should have been occupied by her husband, Erkis, but he had excused himself from the meeting, claiming that he was unwell.

And Leblanc knew very well that this was a lie Erkis often used whenever he wanted to avoid an uncomfortable situation.

Since Erkis had not yet been entrusted with any particularly important duties, his absence was not a serious problem. Still, it couldn’t help but bother her.

It must be because of me.

It had already been several days since she had taught Erkis swordsmanship. On that day, Erkis had left with an unmistakably uncomfortable expression, and since then she had not been able to see him.

Unlike simply being busy and unable to meet, it felt as though he were deliberately avoiding her. Yet no matter how much she replayed the events of that day in her mind, she could not recall anything that should have made him so uncomfortable, which made it all the more difficult to guess the reason.

“Countess?”

“Hm? Ah, sorry. What were we talking about?”

“I was asking about the seed distribution schedule. Normally, we should distribute the seeds sometime this week, but since most of the people in the territory have no experience farming yubone, I was wondering if it might be better to delay it a little. During that time, I was thinking of preparing some materials on yubone farming methods myself.”

“That’s a good idea. Then, Fern, I’ll leave all of that to you.”

“Yes, ma’am. Ah, and we also received word from the Hearzil Trading Company, whom we traded yubone seeds with yesterday. The guild master said he heard belatedly that you had purchased a large quantity of yubone seeds and would like to meet you in person, Countess. How should we handle this?”

“The Hearzil Trading Company?”

“Yes. From what I’ve found, they also supply various goods to the Iubon royal family. They’re not particularly large, but they handle a wide range of items reliably.”

“Hm….”

Leblanc pondered for a moment. If given the chance, she did want to trade directly with Iubon, but the conditions had not yet been right, so she had not put it into action.

Now that a trading company from the Kingdom of Iubon was reaching out first, things might go even more smoothly than she had expected.

“For now, I’ll meet them. I’ll go to Iubon myself, so set up an appointment soon. Sir Corden, what about the laborers I asked you to find?”

“As you instructed, I’ve secured about thirty laborers who have experience farming yubone. Here is the list. However, more than half of them are tenant farmers from the southern territories, so it’s questionable whether they would really come all the way here to farm. Even if we hire them, it will cost quite a lot.”

Leblanc carefully reviewed the list he handed her. As he said, most of them were tenant farmers belonging to the southern territories.

Generally, farmers fell into two categories: tenant farmers, who rented land from a lord and paid rent in return, and hired laborers, who received a fixed wage from the lord and worked the fields on his behalf.

Once tenant farmers entered into a contract with a lord, they usually renewed it every year unless something unusual happened.

Moreover, the southern regions were warmer than the eastern lands where Peronto was located, and they had better-developed facilities and lodging. To draw such people to Peronto, more substantial compensation would be necessary.

“Fern, try contacting the people on this list. Offer them a monthly wage at the market rate, but add the condition that if they farm in our territory this year, we’ll lease them land free of charge for the next three years.”

“What? Three years?”

Fern could not hide his shock at the proposal. Peronto was not a particularly large territory, so it had never engaged much in sharecropping. Furthermore, in any territory, land rent was one of the major sources of income.

To suddenly offer land free of charge for three years seemed like far too great a loss, no matter how badly they needed laborers. Corden appeared to share Fern’s thoughts and cautiously voiced his opinion as well.

“Countess, even so, leasing land for free for three years is an enormous loss. To incur that kind of damage just to use thirty percent of the land…?”

“No. You have to think long-term. Leasing them land for three years also means they’ll have to stay in Peronto for three years. Including this year’s farming, that makes about four years. The biggest problem in Peronto is our lack of residents. If they have to spend four years here, they’ll almost certainly move their families with them as well. Three years’ worth of land rent versus around a hundred new residents—which do you think is more valuable? I trust I don’t need to spell it out.”

“Ah, I see….”

At her words, the two men nodded in admiration. Leasing land for free to increase the population was a method commonly used in the unstable Empire over two hundred years ago.

Leblanc had learned this by poring over history books in her previous life, and she had once revitalized a territory using the same approach.

On top of that, the jewels Lily had sold had brought in far more money than Leblanc had expected. Many of them had skyrocketed in value over the long years. With such ample funds on hand, now was the perfect time to increase the territory’s population.

After that, the three continued discussing several other matters. Transforming a territory that had stagnated for a long time without major change required a great deal of effort and money.

“Alright, then let’s end today’s meeting here.”

“Countess, now that I think about it, there’s something I wanted to ask regarding Sir Erkis….”

At the mention of Erkis’s name, Leblanc’s movements paused slightly.

“What is it?”

“Has Sir Erkis ever learned swordsmanship before?”

“No, this is the first time he’s ever held a sword. Why?”

“Well… over the past few days, Sir Erkis has been coming to the training grounds alone and swinging his sword from time to time. No matter how I look at it, his movements are far from ordinary. If Sir Erkis is agreeable, I’d like to personally instruct him.”

At the unexpected praise, Leblanc’s face brightened noticeably. Just the fact that Erkis was visiting the training grounds on his own to practice swordsmanship made her happy, and now he was being recognized by Corden as well.

She tried to keep a composed expression so as not to show her delight.

“Hm, is that so? Alright. I’ll speak to Erkis about it. Thank you for thinking so highly of him.”

“It’s nothing at all.”

Suppressing the upward twitch of her lips, Leblanc rose from her seat. She wanted to share this happy news with Erkis as soon as possible.

Since he had been oddly avoiding her these past few days, Leblanc asked Fern, the chief steward, to invite Erkis directly to dinner. Of course, she didn’t forget to add that if he was too unwell to dine together, she would kindly visit his bedroom instead—ensuring he had no room to escape.

“It’s been hard to see you lately.”

With calm words, Leblanc entered the dining hall. Perhaps the mention of her visiting his room had been effective, because Erkis was already seated, waiting for her.

“Are you feeling any better? I was worried when you couldn’t attend the meeting.”

“…Yes, I’m much better now.”

Though she could plainly see through his lie, Leblanc sat down with an untroubled expression and voiced her concern. Erkis, clearly feeling guilty, kept trying to avoid her gaze.

A brief silence fell between them, and Erkis, uncomfortable with it, focused intently on cutting his meat.

In truth, Leblanc had many things she wanted to ask him. Why he had left the training grounds like that a few days ago, whether he really had been avoiding her, whether he disliked facing her so much that he would skip a meeting by lying about being sick.

But she bit her lip and swallowed all of those questions. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by bringing them up.

“Sir Corden praised you quite a bit. If you’re alright with it, Erkis, he wants to instruct you personally.”

“Sir Corden…?”

“Yes. As you know, Sir Corden is an excellent knight, recognized even within the Empire. It’s hard to believe he’s teaching soldiers in such a small territory. Receiving direct instruction from him would surely be a great help to you.”

Though Leblanc’s tone was earnest, half of it was little more than polite talk. Even in his previous life, when Erkis had ruled the battlefield and been called the Empire’s Sword Demon, he had never properly learned swordsmanship. No matter what, Erkis was destined to grow into the greatest swordsman in the Empire.

Yet suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind.

She had taught Erkis swordsmanship as a way of giving him a hobby. But hadn’t Erkis possessed indescribably overwhelming skill even when he started swordsmanship later than this and without any guidance?

And now he would be learning the sword several years earlier, under a proper master. A chill ran down her spine, raising goosebumps.

“Ah….”

Without a word, she looked at Erkis sitting across from her. What kind of existence would this small, slender boy grow into in a few years’ time? Even she, who had lived through two lives, could not easily guess.