Raising the Grand Duke of the North as a Farmer Behind Dad’s Back - Chapter 30

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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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Episode 30
Some time ago.
The boy began to have strange “dreams.”
The dreams showed him futures he had never experienced, or sometimes glimpses of a past he could no longer remember.
He was confused, wondering if he’d developed Precognition, but soon he grasped the truth of these dreams.
They were…… Past Life Memory.
“Someone…… turned back the world’s time.”
There was no other way to explain it.
Because clearly, he…….
‘had died.’
He remembered the sensation of life ending with perfect clarity. It was no illusion or mistake.
So he decided to leave home to uncover the world’s secrets.
He had to discover who and for what purpose was rewinding time.
Living alone had always come naturally to him, and with his Past Life Memory added to that, travel became easier still.
About a month after leaving home.
‘I found it at last.’
The boy gripped the Pig Snout Mushroom tightly.
‘The part that differs from the dream.’
A mushroom that shouldn’t appear yet…… why was it here?
The “dream” had been terribly vague. But certain scenes, like the timing of this mushroom’s appearance, were unmistakable.
“Eh? Young one. Are you looking to buy that mushroom?”
Just then, the shopkeeper emerged.
“If you don’t mind my asking, where did you procure this mushroom?”
“Oh, that? I bought it up north…….”
“Nostein?”
“No, Bertus!”
…….
“Heh heh heh. Hard to believe, eh? I can’t believe it myself ~ How would edible mushrooms come from Bertus……. Ah, my fault for making a hasty deal while half-drunk~”
…….
“Anyway, it doesn’t sell well~ Sure, it’s good for you, but it tastes absolutely awful! The flavor’s too strong for cooking.”
The shopkeeper lamented how it had piled up as unsaleable stock, forcing him and his family to dispose of it by force.
“This is…….”
He was about to say it tasted special when roasted properly, but stopped himself. That cooking method wasn’t known yet.
…….
More importantly—it came from the north?
The shopkeeper seemed to think he’d misheard while drunk.
‘I need to verify this.’
It was worth looking into.
“Here, take it! I’m in a good mood anyway, and it won’t sell—I’ll give you the rest~”
“……Thank you.”
The boy took the small pouch and walked forward without hesitation.
His fine lips pressed together tightly.
‘I’ll uncover this world’s secret.’
Exactly what was happening.
And…… who was the girl from his memory, anyway.
‘Somehow I feel like she holds the answer.’
An inexplicable intuition gripped him.
Because if that weren’t the case, such an intense emotion couldn’t be explained.
All he remembered was her mysterious silver hair and the warmth of her hand clasping his.
‘If that girl is the cause of this Regression.’
If it was she who reduced to nothing the moment I was about to achieve my goal.
Then.
His blue eyes flashed with sudden sharpness.
‘I will surely…….’
Surely.
‘erase her.’
And by uncovering the secret of this rewound world, I will achieve great merit and earn the Emperor’s recognition once more.
‘……That is the only way I can survive.’
He knew that while the Emperor pretended to cherish him, he was ready to kill him at any moment.
In the boy’s core, mana pulsed—thump-thump.
“Hello, I’ve lost my village to fire and I’m traveling about. Could you possibly give me a ride as far as the next settlement?”
“Poor child. Of course we can, naturally.”
And so the boy obtained passage in the Traveling Troupe’s wagon and journeyed north.
Just as he was about to pass through Nostein.
Someone seized his arm.
“Your Highness……is it you?”
The boy’s brow furrowed.
He recognized the face of the one who had stopped him.
‘Dantelion…… Klein?’
What was the commander of the 2nd Holy Knight Order doing in the Northern Region?
Though deeply startled, the boy’s expression fortunately did not betray much.
Ruslan observed his own face reflected in Dantelion’s eyes.
Dark ashen hair and deep blue eyes.
The appearance of the Fourth Prince known to the world was fair hair and lighter blue eyes…….
Ruslan slowly lowered his robe’s hood. Then he arranged his features into an innocent expression.
“Who are you, sir?”
The magic circle carved onto his left chest, the one that altered his appearance, shimmered with light.
* * *
“Who are you, sir?”
The prince…….
“If there’s nothing pressing, my companions are waiting. I should take my leave.”
‘Was it not him?’
Tap-tap-tap!
Dantelion watched silently as the boy’s figure receded.
“…….”
The tendons of his sturdy neck stood taut.
There was something…… unsettling about it.
His mind worked sluggishly. Holy Power Contamination was raging within him.
The demon miasma he had been drenched in after encountering a monster on the way here was likely the cause.
This is an order from His Holiness the Pope.
An urgent dispatch has arrived stating that the Fourth Prince has gone missing.
Therefore, the 2nd Holy Knight Order is hereby directed to assist in the search for His Highness the Prince.
A sigh escaped him.
He had pursued traces of heresy all the way to the Northern Region, but a letter that arrived without warning had brought him to a halt.
He could not even cross the Northern Gate.
Furthermore, the heretical magic has been confirmed to originate from an illegal auction. His Holiness the Pope himself will handle the related disposition.
Additionally, all individuals in the Z Zone connected to the Crop Disease have been confirmed dead——
His fingertips twitched slightly.
The belongings of Pol and the child were discovered in a nearby gorge, and on that basis the matter was concluded.
The Z Zone Crop Disease incident is hereby closed.
His fist clenched tight.
As a member of the Holy Temple, he could not disregard an order from the Pope.
‘I must observe discipline.’
But.
Should he truly retreat without a sound?
“Commander, I heard that migrants…have entered Bertus?”
Information obtained in Nostein came to mind.
‘Migrants…….’
Ordinary people would rarely attempt to enter the Northern territories of their own accord.
Someone.
‘There must be someone driving them forward.’
Crunch. A small paper scrap crumpled in his hand.
It was a paper scrap that a certain tavern keeper in Nostein had possessed.
“Ah, I forgot to throw this away…… But could this actually be true?”
It was clearly a flyer written by a child’s hand. It was torn, as if stored carelessly.
He raised his head while struggling not to let his gaze linger on the crooked letters.
The reason the torn portion troubled him was…because the information had been lost as a result.
‘What is the Duke thinking?’
Playing tricks like this.
Farming?
It’s impossible.
But what if…… it were true?
‘If the Duke obtained some method.’
And if that——
“Pol……, sir?”
If it were aid given by those who fled the Z Zone…….
“Well, Pol is such a common name that I can’t say for certain. I haven’t seen a man with a child in particular, though.”
“…….”
“Oh! But there was a man weeping quite loudly, searching for a small child’s corpse! Fortunately, it seems to have been a misunderstanding?”
Perhaps the Duke was——
‘Hiding those who fled the Z Zone.’
Those who might be connected to heretical magic.
“…….”
He knew it was a wild leap of logic.
A mind muddied by contamination might simply be grasping at straws.
Yet a powerful intuition shook him.
An intuition that he must go to the Northern Region at once and unearth the truth.
But he needed more concrete evidence.
An investigation he could not conduct openly, bound as he was by the Holy Temple’s orders.
‘I’ll wait for an opportunity.’
If he detected even the slightest suspicious movement in the Northern Region…….
His gaze turned toward the distant north.
Ch. 7 Eating Dragon Veins and Selling Big Crops
Morning.
Basil opened his eyes.
The air of a September morning carried a certain chill, even indoors.
“…….”
Those red eyes that ordinarily made people uneasy and afraid shifted slowly across the room.
A foot.
A small foot was poking him in the cheek.
He picked up the impossibly tiny foot between his forefinger and thumb, then set it down gently.
“Nom-nom.”
Haniel sprawled backward with limbs stretched to all four corners, ambitious even in sleep. This little one had dreams aplenty.
But when had the child managed to crawl all the way up to his pillow?
‘I was certain she’d fallen asleep quietly beside me.’
He really ought to get a proper crib set up.
Whoosh——he pulled back the curtain, and morning sunlight flooded in with brilliant intensity.
Basil tied his loosened robe closed while running through today’s plans.
1. Check the Southeast Land of the village
2. Inspect the barley condition
3. Repair thirty Scarecrows
4. Sharpen the sickle blade
5. Reap
6. Reap
7. Reap
Work, work, labor, labor, labor…….
Since the barley had begun its harvest season, planning the sale had been added to his list.
Harvesting proved less difficult than cultivating the crop itself.
Cut barley bundled well, dried to prevent moisture, and stored in the granary——that was all there was to it.
‘Was the granary properly prepared?’
Recently, the ramshackle storage shed that had stood in Bedel village had been expanded, transforming into a proper grain storage facility.
He’d even built a small granary on the village’s outskirts as a precaution, though the main storage remained within the village proper.
That location had good ventilation and stayed dry——ideal for grain preservation.
Picturing the granary packed full of stores warmed his heart.
‘Next year I’ll need to construct an underground granary.’
For long-term storage of grain seeds and other provisions, a cool underground granary was essential.
So next year he’d be digging with the fury of a madman again…….
“…….”
Was this truly the Duke’s life?
A moment of self-doubt nearly crept in.
‘True enough. I was never an orthodox grand duke.’
He crossed his arms and chuckled softly.
There’s nothing wrong with taking whatever work comes your way.
He’d picked up a sword to survive, and become a war mercenary to survive.
Everyone called him a child raised by the battlefield. But that didn’t make him a madman who actually savored blood and slaughter.
He dreamed of a very ordinary life.
Working normally, eating well, occasionally bloodying the nose of someone he disliked, laughing when something amused him, crying, and protecting those precious to him.
That kind of ordinary life.
Since becoming the grand duke of the Northern Region, he’d drifted a bit from such ordinariness, but… well, it wasn’t bad now.
Since that little one appeared, life had felt quite satisfying. It felt like he was truly ‘alive,’ in a way.
‘Though I should probably get more food into this kid…’
After working so hard at farming all summer, it seemed he ought to build up the child’s strength.
Basil stretched luxuriously like a beast waking from a long sleep, then ambled back to his bed.
“What in the world…”
The child had claimed his bed and was sprawled out, sleeping soundly.
“As fierce as they come.”
He settled down carefully to admire the sight.
Troublesome little thing.
Last night the child had chattered on about selling barley and then simply dozed off in Basil’s embrace.
Ever since the first shoots broke ground, the child had been in a state of pure excitement.
Soothing and indulging that excitement had become Basil’s job.
“How do you plan to repay all this kindness, hmm? A house, land. A place to sleep.”
He poked Haniel’s cheek—the soft baby fat yielded under his finger. He couldn’t resist fiddling with the small hands and feet.
“Look at this. Running around the village all day long, and you’ve barely grown. Are you growing at all? Are you a bean sprout? A bean sprout, aren’t you? If I blew hard, you’d fly away, honestly.”
Pop!
Haniel rolled over and planted a leg across Basil’s knee.
“Look at those soles… they’re so cute I could die, truly. If I get cute one more time, they’ll take every last thing I own.”
That’s enough morning teasing.
Basil withdrew his hand from gently massaging Haniel’s heels and tucked the blanket snugly around the child.
“Well then, shall we go?”
The day was clear.
When the wind blew sharp and cold, a great sweeping sound drifted from somewhere.
He descended the path unobstructed.
A vast golden wave soon filled his entire field of vision.
The abundance of late summer. The threshold of autumn.
“Peaceful.”
It was the Harvest Season in the Northern Region.
And beyond Bertus’s territory.
“Wh-what in the world is happening here!”
Count Redermic cried out, staring at the blackened fields.
At last, the Crop Disease had come to the Eastern Region.

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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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