Chapter 146: Sowing Seeds
As I entered the village, I pulled the reins to stop the carriage.
“Muir, stay put until I call you.”
“Miki!”
After giving Muir a light warning, I jumped down from the carriage with Luke.
“I am a traveling merchant, and you are my apprentice.”
“Eh? Ah, yes! Understood, master!”
Understanding that this was a setup to avoid revealing our true identities, Luke nodded vigorously in agreement.
I led him into the village.
The village lacked vitality.
On the contrary, there were signs that it had been pillaged.
“Master… this is…”
It seemed that Luke sensed the situation as well, looking up at me with a troubled expression.
“Is anyone there?”
I took a deep breath and called out loudly.
I tried to show as little hostility as possible in my tone.
It felt like someone inside one of the houses, which had been tightly shut, was reacting.
Doors from several houses creaked open slightly, and people peered out through the gaps to see what was happening.
Yet, no one was willing to step outside.
Just when I thought to call out again—
An old woman emerged from a house a bit farther away.
She was leaning on a wooden staff, taking somewhat unsteady steps but appearing age-appropriate as she made her way towards us.
“Who are you?”
The old woman asked me, clearly showing her wariness.
“I am a traveling merchant. We’ve run out of drinking water, and I was hoping to get just a little—enough for a cup, if you have it. Of course, I will pay you for it.”
“…”
The old woman stared at me intently, as if trying to discern whether I was telling the truth.
“Understood. Please wait a moment.”
Saying this, the old woman turned back and headed into the house.
While walking, she gestured, and a young man came out from inside.
“Go fetch water from the well.”
“Got it.”
The young man nodded, glancing at me with a wary expression before running deeper into the village.
After a short wait, he returned with a cup of water.
He and the old woman came back to me and offered the cup.
“Will this be enough?”
“Absolutely, thank you.”
“M-Master, this—”
Luke seemed to want to say something, but I accepted the cup and drank it down, looking up at the sky as I did so.
I understood what Luke wanted to express.
The water the young man had brought was hardly what one could call clean.
Although still young, the eunuch was used to water sourced from the palace.
Especially recently, since I had been taken care of, the water I saw was always pristine.
The Emperor’s luxurious tastes meant that certain tea leaves had to be brewed with water from specific locations.
And if one were to be particularly fussy, snow preserved from winter was melted and boiled just before use.
Compared to that, this water was indeed not clean, but it was not undrinkable.
After finishing, I returned the cup to the young man.
“Thank you; you have been a great help. This isn’t much, but please take this—”
I said this while reaching into my pocket to take out some silver coins to offer, but the old woman slowly shook her head.
“That’s not necessary. I can’t take money just for a cup of water.”
“The value of a cup drunk at home and a cup consumed while traveling is different. Please accept it.”
Even as I offered the silver coins again, the old woman continued to shake her head slowly.
“If I were to accept that now, it would only be taken away from me, and I could end up harmed and in danger of losing my life. Please put that away.”
“Hmmm…”
I reacted a bit more dramatically than necessary.
I could somewhat guess what the old woman was trying to convey, and her concerns.
While I could understand and imagine that much, Luke was different.
“Why is there a danger to life if you receive this?”
Luke asked the old woman straightforwardly.
Perhaps it was good that the child Luke showed such honest curiosity; the old woman sighed softly but answered without hesitation.
“Even if I hold onto it now, it will be taken away by the lord’s army.”
“The lord’s?”
“Excuse me, but has food been taken from you?”
Given this new lead, I asked in place of Luke.
As I expected, the old woman and the man standing slightly behind her regarded me with some caution since I was an adult, furrowing their brows, with the man leaning back slightly in alertness.
“I apologize, but I often see this when trading in various places. Does the lord here collect taxes locally?”
“…It was different before.”
“What do you mean, sir?”
Luke asked curiously.
I found his straightforwardness refreshing, and I explained it in a manner akin to a teacher instructing a student.
“The military’s food supply can generally be divided into two methods. One is transportation and supply, and the other is local collection.”
“Huh? Don’t they deliver everything?”
“The Empire does it that way, but the closer you get to the border, the more likely they are to collect from local farmers. There’s no way around it; transporting from faraway granaries costs money.”
“I- Is that so…?”
“Even so, they used to deliver from within the country, so they didn’t lay hands on us, but ever since that guy proclaimed himself Emperor—”
“Goh.”
The old woman interrupted him in a reproachful tone.
The man had been venting his frustrations and seemed eager to spill it all out, but the cautious old woman rebuked him, signaling that he shouldn’t speak carelessly in front of a stranger like me.
“See! And the lord Eisen is at fault too. Because he set fire to the food storage over there—”
“Stop that!”
The old woman said in a stronger tone, causing the man to gulp in response.
“What does that mean, sir?”
“Hmm… I would deduce that General Eisen burned the food collected by the enemy, and now they’ve come to raid us again for replenishment of the burned supplies.”
“That’s right!”
“Lord Eisen isn’t to blame. He did provide compensation.”
“But that got taken too!”
“Are you saying that Lord Eisen is to blame for that as well?”
“…Argh!”
The man, defeated by the old woman, stamped his feet in frustration and left in a huff.
…Well, from his perspective, that’s understandable.
Eisen—Jerry Eisen burned the food depot of the Eila military.
In their quest for the lost supplies, the Eila military resorted to further plundering.
Jerry had compensated for those losses in some form—but that compensation was also taken.
If Jerry had done nothing, things wouldn’t have turned out like this, but the old woman argued that it was unreasonable to blame him for providing compensation, while the man,though aware of this, just felt overwhelmed.
It seems Jerry’s actions led to this sort of situation.
Jerry’s actions were not inherently wrong.
In fact, they were strategically and tactically correct.
Burning the food supplies of the Eila military, who had not firmly established a governance after gaining independence from the Empire, was indeed the right move.
However, that resulted in the burden falling on the common people caught in the middle.
“…Please wait a moment.”
I said this and turned back towards the cart, half my body inside.
“Miki?”
“Stay put like a good kid.”
“Miki”
“Fuwawa.”
Calming Muir, I called out to Fuwawa out of sight.
Then, I returned to the old woman with what I commanded Fuwawa to make.
I presented “it.”
“I know it’s not much, but this is a small token of gratitude.”
“What is this?”
The old woman regarded it warily and didn’t attempt to take it.
What I offered was a palm-sized box.
When opened, it contained something resembling a bulb.
“This is one of the products I handle, and if you plant it now, you should be able to harvest a large amount in about a month. Yes, it should be enough to feed the people in this village.”
“…Such a precious thing.”
“It’s not worth much compared to a cup of water from my travels.”
“But…”
“Yes, it may be taken again. However, if it’s planted here, there shouldn’t be any raiders digging up the seeds once they are planted.”
I said that and dug into the ground in a noticeable spot, burying the “seed.”
“…Thank you, traveler.”
“No, thank you.”
“Hey, old lady, everyone! Miss Etna is back again!”
The young man from earlier came running from the back of the village.
As he called out loudly while running, the villagers who had been silently holding their breath and watching jumped out of their houses in unison.
Then, slightly delayed, a group appeared pulling several wagons from the direction the young man had come.
“What’s that?”
“That’s Miss Etna, the merchant’s daughter from nearby. After being plundered, she goes around villages in similar situations to provide food.”
“I see, so it’s not just leaving food behind, but serving meals on the spot.”
The old woman nodded slightly.
After saying a word to me, she turned around and started making her way toward the food distribution team, leaning on her cane.
“Master.”
“Yeah?”
“What did you bury?”
“Oh, to put it simply, gold.”
“Eh? Money?”
“That’s right. I wrapped it with Fuwawa and made it look like seeds. Then it will crack open on its own in the spring. If I handed over gold now, it would just be stolen.”
I deliberately didn’t mention that I would conclude matters by spring.
“Is that really possible!?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s amazing… Master, you can do anything.”
I chuckled softly.
It’s Fuwawa that can do anything.
“Oh, right. What about the water earlier? Is it okay?”
“That’s fine.”
I chuckled again.
“I don’t get affected by any poison. Apophis will detoxify it for me. Water like that is no problem.”
“…Oh, like the alcohol?”
“Exactly.”
Luke suddenly recalled the debauchery in the tent and was taken aback.
Almost immediately, he wore an expression of awe.
“That’s amazing, really amazing, Master.”
I smiled softly while looking at the food distribution.
There was a young woman talking with the old lady.
Since it seemed she was the center of attention, she must be the “Etna” the villagers were talking about.
The woman must have heard from the old lady, as she turned her gaze toward us.
When our eyes met, she looked a little surprised.
She then instructed a man who seemed to be her subordinate before coming over in our direction.
I just waited there.
She was the merchant’s daughter, distributing food here and there.
That meant I could possibly gather more information.
I continued to wait for Etna to come right in front of me.
Etna stood before me, bowed with a serious expression, and spoke in a whisper.
“It is a great honor to meet you, Your Majesty.”
“Hm? You know who I am?”
“I am the honorary knight Etna Aiwan.”
“…I see.”
I nodded in understanding.
I saw the trailer for the anime. Looks good. I am facing some other hurdles right now so the translation has been a bit slow. I’ll try to keep up the pace.
There is –>discord <— to get update notifications and releases? I am a bit lazy these days.
Click on the image above for my ko-fi page link
Thanks for the treat.