Raising the Grand Duke of the North as a Farmer Behind Dad’s Back - Chapter 31

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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 31
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“What a wonderful sleep!”
Eyes snapped open.
‘Heh.’
Rising from bed in the same position, neat and proper as always.
‘How did I end up sleeping in the Grand Duke’s bedroom again?’
As a little celebration, I rolled across the bed five times before springing up and heading downstairs for breakfast.
“Good morning, Haniel!”
“Good morning, Lucie!”
Lucie greeted me—one of the Grand Duke’s Residence servants I’d grown close to over these months.
After exchanging morning pleasantries with Camilla as well, I brushed my teeth, dressed, tied my hair, and got ready to leave.
[Quest completed!]
[Brush teeth three times daily for three minutes—Morning (1/1)]
[Connection is my strength! Exchange morning greetings with family! (7/7)]
[Five-minute morning stretch for children! (1/1)]
Pop!
[Will you accept your reward?]
“Yes!”
[Haniel’s Sticker Book (Children’s Edition)]
Holy Stone Stickers in storage: 1,876
‘Hehe!’
I’d accumulated quite a few Holy Stone Power stickers by completing small daily quests and larger ones like foraging and harvesting Northern crops.
‘Especially collecting barley, wheat, and oats this time…….’
[Challenge! Harvest Northern Royal Potatoes (5/5)]
‘That potato harvest was a big one!’
Though it was a bit of a cheat.
We never formally planted potatoes in the fields, but I’d snuck a few seed potatoes into the garden bed in front of the mansion on my own!
‘All I needed was five, so how easy was that?’
Tee-hee.
It had been quite enjoyable.
‘And the mushroom quest has been incredibly rewarding too.’
[A quest from the Forest Spirit has arrived!]
[Collect Pig Snout Mushrooms (0/5)]
[“……I’ll give you something good……”]
[Reward: 50 Pure, Pollution-Free Holy Stone Stickers]
The mushroom quests came almost daily, and the collection difficulty wasn’t very high.
The only problem was that the forest was dangerous, so I always had to go with the Grand Duke.
But once a week was enough.
‘I’ve finally accumulated enough Holy Stone Power to purify the pillar in the Veil River Basin!’
Now it was just a matter of timing.
When a new area opened, new people would be needed.
It was time to set my plan in motion.
“I’m off!”
I quickly put on my shoes and stepped outside.
“Safe travels, Haniel! Don’t trip!”
“I won’t!”
The moment I opened the door, a large shadow fell across me.
A knight so tall I had to crane my neck back to look up—Brad stood there smiling at me.
“Shall we go, little one?”
“Good morning, Brad! Good morning!”
“Morning to you too! Want a ride? Little dumpling.”
“Yes! Yes, yes!”
I scrambled up onto Brad’s shoulders without hesitation.
Though I’d surely grown heavier over spring and summer, Brad lifted me as easily as before, settling me on his broad shoulders.
During those long months of spring and summer, Brad and I had grown steadily closer.
‘Now that I see him all the time, there’s really nothing about him that reminds me of grandfather.’
I couldn’t imagine why I’d been so nervous at first.
“Hah. Here I am, just a simple fellow, walking down the road with a child…… must be blessed…… ”
Above all else, Brad differed from my grandfather in one crucial way: he had no self-awareness whatsoever.
Yahoo! What a fantastic day!
‘Today is finally…… the day the Northern Region’s barley ships out for the first time!’
“Brad, are all the promotional materials ready?”
I whispered to him.
Brad, who handled promotions, spoke shyly.
“Well, I’ve written something, but…… my promotional writing skills aren’t very strong…….”
“……?”
“As you can see, I’m rather plain and dry in style. I’m just not good at writing eye-catching promotional copy…….”
Brad tapped his foot in frustration.
I waved it off lightly.
In any case, over the past few days, we’d pooled our heads together and seriously discussed how to promote the Northern Region’s agricultural products. Fortunately, we’d come up with some decent ideas.
The village was brimming with energy.
“I’ve lived all these years and never seen a harvest this bountiful!”
“Good heavens! How much is all this worth!!”
“We have enough winter stores and still so much left over!”
“It’s incredible!!!”
People’s faces glowed with excitement and joy.
The autumn yield had been truly staggering.
‘Could it be because the crops fed on the Dragon Vein?’
Not only had the seedlings sprouted thick enough to fill the entire field, but they’d grown at a terrifying pace through the summer, until finally every grain ripened so fully it was ready to burst.
Even seasoned farmers were astounded by the harvest.
They said that even in the Eastern Region, known as the granary, such an abundant harvest was rare to see.
‘Three times the normal yield, wasn’t it?’
Thanks to this, the village was already in a festival mood.
We’d finished preparing for winter long ago, and decided to sell the surplus grain to earn cash.
‘Since we planted barley at eighty percent, with wheat and oats each at ten percent…….’
Probably only the barley would be enough to sell off.
‘Hehe. Starting with just two cartloads of barley bundles and getting back dozens!’
Farming really, truly is miraculous!
“Come on, let’s get moving! Say, do we have any spare carts?”
“Over there!”
The villagers had been busily making warehouses and carts to store the harvest. We’d made up for the shortage of timber by tearing down abandoned buildings or cutting from the Northern Mountain.
‘If we could only clear the great forest to the west, we could sell plenty of timber too.’
That’s a shame though…….
“Ah, I should stop by that bulletin board on the way!”
“Sure.”
I hopped down from Brad’s shoulders and dashed toward the large wooden board visible in the distance.
The village’s community hub!
‘The bulletin board!’
It had lain neglected for a while, but as more people arrived, various papers began to appear on it.
<Seeking caretaker for communal hearth>
<Anyone available to help repair the village fence? Today, 3–4 PM>
<Seeking help binding barley stalks>
<Anyone with spare scythes, please contact Colson or Nero>
<Please refrain from making sucking sounds day and night!> <–Agreed. We don’t even have soundproofing Magic Tools yet, so let’s get some sleep!!! <–Right on! <–House 13, this means you>
Of course, the bulletin board didn’t just share job postings—it was also full of everyday life information, including recipes.
“Hmm?”
<Ten Commandments for Successful Child-Rearing>
1. Make eye contact. 2. Treat them kindly. 3. Call their name properly (no animal comparisons, hippopotamus, etc.) 4. Bake their favorite bread. (rest omitted)
<Whoever stole the baby’s note will be single for fifty years>
<Can we please greet each other properly! Everyone just keeps bowing from the waist!>
<The children should probably study a bit too…….>
‘Must be because more kids have come to the village.’
There were plenty of opinions about children!
That was right.
Bethel Village had received another wave of newcomers during the summer.
A family of four with children, and one nine-year-old drifter boy.
In other words, kids around my age had arrived!
Of course, I hadn’t grown close to them yet, but…….
‘Once the harvest is done, they said the village would throw a simple party.’
Let’s get close with each other by then!
“Oh, but first.”
I pulled a piece of paper from my bag.
Rising on my tiptoes and stretching my arm as far as it would reach, Brad behind me lifted me up bodily.
“Here we go.”
<Looking for someone to go fishing with me
When: After the First Harvest Festival>
I finished posting my notice!
Standing there feeling pleased with myself, I happened to notice another note pinned to one corner of the board.
“By the way, you mentioned we’d light the communal hearth this evening, yes?”
“That’s right. At last we’ll bake our first bread from our own harvest.”
My eyes went wide.
“Aaaaahhhhh!”
I was practically bursting with excitement!
‘Making bread from crops grown in my own field!’
What would it taste like?
Thump-thump!
My heart was too full to contain itself.
After discussing bread flavors with Brad for a while, I hurried along.
I arrived at a cottage standing a little apart from the village. Brad had just left to escort a barley cart being sold off.
Knock-knock!
A boy in a dark robe appeared at the door.
“Noah!”
<Hello>
Bubble-bubble. Glug-glug.
The sorcerer’s cottage was always filled with the steam of some peculiar liquid boiling away.
I poked my head in cautiously.
“How’s that coming along?”
<Not bad>
“Can I take a look?”
<Come in>
Truth be told, Noah was said to be a most unusual sorcerer. But looking barely twelve years old, I couldn’t bring myself to speak formally to him.
So we decided to just be friends. Noah seemed delighted about it, too.
I looked around the cottage with fresh eyes.
Beneath walls hung thick with strange magical diagrams, enormous sacks were lined up in a row.
Inside those sacks, heaps of Pig Snout Mushrooms I’d gathered so diligently all this time!
‘I really did collect so much over the summer!’
As I moved forward, I stepped firmly on a fallen mushroom.
“Whoops!”
My body began to totter—
“Watch it.”
“……!”
Someone caught me from behind.
“……here.”

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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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