Raising the Grand Duke of the North as a Farmer Behind Dad’s Back - Chapter 22

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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 22
The next day.
“Ha. This is absurd.”
Felix had reached his conclusion with crystalline clarity.
“Our entire Northern Forces have been eaten alive by that little brat.”
Starting with Camilla, who was once called the Knight of Ice.
“Wow, this looks delicious! Grandmother! Can I have some?”
“Grand… mother?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, sir. That’s just an old habit of mine coming out…”
“Yonseok. I’ll skin you alive if you dare.”
Even Luden, that stubborn old knight who never listens to anyone else.
“Little one, if there’s anything you need to procure, just send me a note—or rather, a sketch in your book anytime.”
“Yes!”
All stammering over that tiny silver-haired brat.
Wait, he shouldn’t be criticizing others.
Because even Aisha from his own unit had fallen under the spell.
“Ah, so soft. I’m going crazy. Like a newborn baby monster… When were you born? Six days ago?”
“Um, hello, Aisha… By the way, humans who are born six days ago usually can’t walk around…”
“Right. My brain must be a little fuzzy. Anyway, just call me Sister Aisha. Oh my, so smooth. So tender. So cute.”
“Hehe…”
It was beyond ridiculous.
And worst of all? Even Noah, the one he’d trusted, had betrayed him.
“……”

“……”

“Um, how old are you? Want to be friends?”

That skill—pretending a (beep—)-year-old Cunning Magician Technique master was a peer, and ensnaring them anyway!
What an impressive little brat.
“Even His Grace the Grand Duke…”
“Ah, yum. Yummy.”
“Yummy? No, no—a, ahhh. Hmm?”
“Tasty, right? This is a Meat Pie.”
“Yes! Yesss!”
“More? Ah, here.”
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
“How is it?”
“So soft! The juices burst all over!”
“A creature with refined taste, I see.”
Days of grain farming, nights of raising children.
“Ha… They’re all thoroughly bewitched, that much is clear.”
Felix clenched his teeth hard.
“I need to keep my head. Discipline has gone completely to pieces.”
He walked through the village. There was scattered commotion here and there from repair work being done.
He headed home after a long time and flicked his foot at the ground.
“Does he think Bertus is some easy mark? Besides, training comes first, not farming—”
Sparkle, sparkle.
“—not farming.”
He felt a gaze upon him.
There, behind that collapsed sign ahead—just a pair of large eyes peeking out from behind it. A child’s stare.
Sparkle, sparkle, sparkle!
“Um…”
Haniel emerged hesitantly. Her shoes and clothes were caked in dirt from wherever she’d been all morning. Her hair hung loosely bound.
“I’ve been really wanting to see you!”
Her eyes looked up at him with an earnest, yearning light.
“I’m Haniel! I want to be… friends with you!”
Felix was caught off guard by the direct blow.
“…What?”
“I’m six years old!”
A pale palm and one thumb spread purposefully. Small and insignificant.
‘Wait, what’s happening all of a sudden?’
He hadn’t expected the child to approach him so abruptly.
Felix stepped back slightly.
He examined the child carefully, bewildered. Looking closer…
‘…the kid is actually kind of cute.’
And affectionate too.
Felix rubbed his brown hair vigorously. The child drew closer, swinging both arms enthusiastically.
“I really, really wanted to meet you! I’ve heard so much about you!”
“That’s… what?”
“They said you’re such an amazing knight! And you’ve done such incredible things!”
“Ahem! Well, I… I’ve had quite a few accomplishments, yes.”
What is this…
Felix’s lips twitched upward.
He’d thought the child was just some silly little thing, but the kid actually had good sense. Could judge people properly.
Felix cleared his throat loudly.
“Yes, well. My accomplishments—which ones did you hear about? The Toad Extermination Campaign in the Southern Sea? Or the battle in the Western Great Gorge? Or maybe that cave incident. Ah, yes, that one…”
“Huh?”
Haniel blinked for a moment.
“Anyway, your name is just so, so cool!”
“I am rather magnificent, aren’t I.”
Felix opened the bread pouch he’d been holding.
“Want to… eat?”
“Wow!”
Haniel’s face brightened instantly.
“Yes yes yes yes yes! Yay!”
She bounced and jumped toward the bread.
Felix suppressed a laugh.
‘Your Highness was… teasing me, calling me a hippopotamus.’
The bite marks left on the bread were tiny compared to how wide she’d opened her mouth.
“Did you actually eat any? Here.”
Felix handed the child a piece of bread.
“Wow! Thank you! I look forward to working with you!”
“…Ahem, yes! Well, that’s… fine.”
Her manners were bright too…
‘Not bad at all, really.’
Felix plopped down on the dirt ground, then turned Haniel around and sat her on his knee.
“You’re a girl.”
Swish-swish-swish.
“How can you run around with messy hair like that? Hmm?”
“Wow…”
Cute pigtails formed in an instant. For a moment, he remembered his sisters from his old homeland. They’d all been killed by monsters long ago.
“So! What’s your dream?”
“I don’t have one!”
“Well, you might not!”
“Oh! But I do have a wish!”
“What is it?”
“C-could you… give me a piggyback ride sometime?”
A piggyback ride?
“Of course I can.”
Haniel’s view rose suddenly higher.
‘Heh. Like sitting on top of a bread pile.’
“I feel like I have the whole world, Sir Brad!!”
“Hahaha, just call me uncle… wait?”
Felix’s head snapped up. He saw Haniel’s innocent, wide eyes.
“I’m not Brad.”
“What?”
An awkward silence fell.
“Then who are you?”
“I’m Felix. Twenty-two years old.”
“…….”
Haniel climbed down from Felix’s body calmly, then cried out.
“I—I’m terribly sorry! I mistook you for someone else! I—I heard that Brad had brown hair!”
“……?”
“I’m truly sorry!”
Just then, Basil appeared in the distance, shambling toward them with a spade in hand. Haniel hurried over and threw herself against his waist.
“Your Grace……! Wheee.”
“What’s with that expression?”
“I almost ended up with a strict man!”
Felix blinked in a daze. The two figures drifted away.
‘What……. Did I just get dumped?’
The warmth of the little cutie lingered in his palm.
Soft. So soft.
Supple…….
There was no going back to how things were before.
“Where are you going, little one…….”
Come back to me…….
* * *
“Brad’s at the Gate.”
Bang-bang-clang!
“I…… can’t believe I did that.”
“Huuuh.”
I’d committed a terrible breach of courtesy toward Brad.
Why on earth had I automatically assumed he was Brad?
‘Brown hair is actually pretty common when you think about it!’
“I feel awful…….”
“You did well. Have some soup.”
The Grand Duke Basil merely looked delighted to have missed such an amusing spectacle.
“But…… why is Brad at the Gate?”
I asked while eating my soup. We were having a late lunch together after finishing the morning farmwork.
“Ah, to set up a Messenger Sparrow.”
“A Messenger Sparrow?”
A Messenger Sparrow referred to a small sparrow-shaped magical device.
Since it was rather costly, villages typically kept a communal one, or something like that.
“The Manor already has one anyway, so we decided to leave the one we had there instead.”
“Oh?”
“From now on, if anyone wants to enter the Northern Forces, the Gate can send word immediately. Then we can go meet them.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea!”
We still didn’t have enough people to station soldiers at the Gate.
“Besides…… there’s someone we need to meet.”
“Someone to meet?”
Who could we be expecting?
My head tilted slightly.
“There’s that. But anyway, little one.”
“Yes!”
“The Fiefdom’s been growing, bit by bit, and…… well.”
The Grand Duke gathered his words with unusual deliberation.
Why did his expression suddenly turn so serious?
I swallowed hard.

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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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