Raising the Grand Duke of the North as a Farmer Behind Dad’s Back - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10
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‘That little one…… she didn’t notice anything, did she?’
Ruden pushed his glasses up and hardened his expression.
‘……It must be needless worry. What could a mere six-year-old possibly understand?’
Then he ground the straw clinging to his trouser cuff beneath his heel. Light grains scattered loose, but they crumbled to dust just the same.
‘This is all for Danzu.’
Basil had changed since becoming Grand Duke.
The freedom and boldness that once swept him across battlefields had vanished entirely.
“A tedious age. ……Well, there’s nothing for it now.”
Now he was merely standing in a grave, slowly dying beneath a crown that was nothing but an empty title of Grand Duke.
‘In the end, he will come to thank me.’
And so……no one who stands in my way shall be forgiven.
Not even a six-year-old child.
Ruden’s eyes darkened to black.
* * *
“Your Lordship…….”
Haniel tugged at Basil’s trouser cuff, dragging her feet.
“Denied. Something else.”
“Studying the dragon’s corpse…….”
“Denied.”
“Seeing the Mad Dragon…….”
“Denied.”
“Paying respects at the dragon’s grave…….”
“Denied!”
“Hmph! You said you’d grant everything!”
Haniel burst out in protest. Basil, who had been walking out of the storehouse, let out a sigh.
“What exactly do you plan to do with a dead dragon’s corpse anyway?”
“Farming!”
“What?”
Oh dear. Haniel took a breath and gathered her words more carefully.
“You promised to teach me how to farm in the Northern Region!”
“And what does that have to do with the Mad Dragon? ……Wait.”
Basil, who had been walking, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Haniel pattered forward—pitter-patter-pitter!—closing the gap between them, though Basil’s single stride matched five of hers, so she kept falling behind.
“You keep going on and on about farming. You’re saying you want to use the Mad Dragon’s toxic miasma?”
“Yes!”
Haniel nodded vigorously.
“Because…… I heard that when the Mad Dragon was alive, the Northern Region wasn’t nearly as cold as this!”
“…….”
“It was because of the Mad Dragon’s burning magical power.”
Haniel’s tiny finger pointed far into the distance, sweeping across the Northern Mountain—or rather, the very peak where the Mad Dragon’s corpse lay.
Her words were true.
For the past five hundred years.
Back when the Mad Dragon still lived, the Northern Region had never been as bitterly cold as this.
The Mad Dragon’s power, blazing like several active volcanoes combined, had kept the land warm. But the moment the Mad Dragon died and its essence was sealed away, everything froze solid.
Haniel was suggesting they restore that warmth.
“Even now, tremendous heat pours from the corpse, doesn’t it? What if we stopped containing it and let it seep into the earth instead?”
A lustrous sheen danced in her pink eyes.
“We’d be using the corpse itself as an energy source!”
The child gestured wildly, her lips moving as fluidly as a chick’s.
“If we thaw the earth, we can farm! And if we farm wheat, we’ll become bread merchants! Once word spreads that we’ve grown rich, people will flock here!”
“…….”
“Then you could restore the Grand Duke’s estate and live comfortably ever after, couldn’t you?!”
“Live comfortably, you say.”
“You’d have bread aplenty!”
“One last windfall, more like.”
In truth, the little one’s words held not a single flaw.
People didn’t flock to the Northern Region because there was nothing to sustain them there.
If farming were possible, it would be the best outcome.
If I could establish a stable income stream from that, I might be able to build a temple in the Northern Region. Or hire priests in secret.
‘I’d love to see the Emperor’s face.’
Then I could purify the corruption in other zones too… and that would open up more territory for development. More people would flow in, capital would circulate. It was the ideal path for a domain’s growth.
But.
“……what was I even saying just now. Hey, little one.”
“It’s not ‘little one,’ it’s Haniel…… Ow!”
Just then, Basil grabbed Haniel around the ribs from behind and hoisted her clean off the ground.
As her viewpoint lurched skyward, Haniel’s short limbs flailed wildly.
‘Worth complaining about bread, I suppose.’
Basil narrowed his eyes at how light the child was—lighter than a feather. He tore his gaze away from her round head and gestured with his chin toward the distance.
“Look there. See that smoke rising from the peak? What color is it?”
“B-black?”
“Does it look good for your body, or bad?”
“B-bad for me……?”
“Correct.”
……
“Use the Mad Dragon’s corpse as a heat source to warm the Northern Region again? You think I haven’t considered that?”
……
“The problem is the toxic miasma. That insane creature doesn’t just belch heat—it spews foul air as a complete package deal. That’s why we have no choice but to seal it entirely.”
“You could just extract the poisonous qi and purify it!”
“Even Dantelion Klein couldn’t—”
“Hiccup!”
Suddenly, Haniel’s whole body trembled.
Basil loosened his grip. The child had started sobbing abruptly—he must have been gripping her ribs too hard.
“-couldn’t purify all of it, so we just sealed it away instead?”
Glancing back, Basil could see Haniel’s pale cheeks puffing out in a pout.
“Do you understand? That container holds rotten fish. If you open it carelessly, the whole area becomes scorched earth. And when we’re already struggling with corruption, the last thing we need—”
“I know.”
Haniel muttered glumly, then swung her arms and legs about in empty air.
“You just block the corruption and let only the heat flow through, right? Like a sieve!”
“That’s—pssh! Purification! You think it works so easily? It’s not that simple.”
“I might…… be able to do it, maybe.”
Haniel mumbled something barely intelligible.
Basil set the child down on the ground. He spoke firmly.
“That’s enough. Just look around the village properly before you go. Here, you can have those things from the south and…… that bread you love so much.”
“Mm.”
Haniel kicked at the ground.
This was already the second time she’d been brushed off today. It sat poorly with her, but there was nothing to be done about it.
‘If she had divine power, of course she’d have been raised at a temple in comfort. And the magical power I sense from her is almost nonexistent—seems like she was born frail by nature.’
He’d sooner do Dantelion’s laundry than trust the word of a small child like that.
Besides, if he let her anywhere near the Mad Dragon’s corpse…… who knew what kind of harm it might do to her body.
‘Young and pathetically weak.’
How tiresome.
Basil ended up letting Haniel look around the village anyway.
There wasn’t much to see in Bedel Village. Recently, the manor’s staff and many of the early settlers had left in droves.
Basil simply stopped by the food storage and stuffed a small sack full of bread. The rye bread was coarse and dense, but the way the little one’s eyes sparkled and her nostrils flared was pure satisfaction—one hundred percent happy with that.
The Sugar and Spice Pouch seemed too heavy, so he left it in Camilla’s care for now.
Before long, the sun began to set.
Venturing into the Fog Zone on a night like this was easy prey for monsters.
Given what he’d let slip, he decided to keep the child at the manor for one more night and send her off the next morning.
And so the night passed.
……For someone, it was a very long night indeed.
And then.
The next morning.
“Ah…….”
Basil stood motionless before the manor.
A sharp, chilling laugh escaped him.
“Shit…….”
Was this reality?
Red eyes slowly took in his domain.
The sun beating down mercilessly.
Tap, tap—water dripping from the roof.
Bead by bead, sweat gathering at the nape of her neck.
Camilla’s expression bewildered as she peeled off her outer robe.
“Your Highness, what on earth is…?”
Suddenly, the events of last night flashed before her like scenes from a lantern show.
So something had happened—but that wasn’t the point right now.
“…Haniel.”
“Yes?”
“Where has this brat gone!”
In a single night.
The Northern Region had transformed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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