Raising the Grand Duke of the North as a Farmer Behind Dad’s Back - Chapter 55

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

Episode 55
Haniel rushed to elaborate.
“That’s why you use Holy Power this way! But if you calculate it carefully, since there’s no Core, it won’t affect your body at all……!”
“Wait.”
Just a moment.
No Core?
Could such a person exist?
If there’s no Core…… what happens then?
Coreless Syndrome was an unknown affliction. No one understood what its symptoms were or how it progressed.
Except for Haniel and Dantelion before the Regression.
“A person without a Core has to borrow power from outside sources, I hear.”
“……Ah.”
“And my Holy Power…… it gathers more when the Northern Region develops. That’s why I’ve been so fixated on the Pillar Purification. To gather more Holy Power…….”
Haniel spoke while glancing sideways to gauge his reaction.
The words about dying at sixteen never left her lips.
“No, wait a moment.”
“…….”
“……Any other, other effects?”
“…….”
“What? There really are no other effects on your body?”
Basil’s expression was visibly crumbling, wavering like it might collapse altogether.
It was…… a look much like Father’s.
“My body is just…… a little weak, that’s all.”
‘I’m not lying.’
Haniel pressed her lips firmly together.
It was true that her body was weak because she had no Core, and it was true that she needed Holy Power now.
She was only postponing the truth about dying—so that those she loved wouldn’t grieve too early, wouldn’t cling to false hope.
‘When Coreless Syndrome manifests or when it’s time to die, I’ll say I’m leaving to train as a Priest anyway.’
So later.
After she left, after Basil had forgotten her a little, perhaps then the truth could be revealed.
“……Ah.”
Basil pulled Haniel into a tight embrace.
“No wonder nothing felt right about this.”
Just hearing that Haniel’s body was weak had already etched an expression onto his face like he’d walked to the gates of hell and back.
“Your Highness, the reason I told you this was…… to show that Pillar Purification is necessary for me too—”
“I understand.”
He managed to force the words out.
“I understand, so just give me a moment.”
Haniel fell silent.
It seemed the Grand Duke needed time.
‘At least he’ll allow me to do the Pillar Purification now, won’t he?’
Though she was somewhat dissatisfied that an immediate answer hadn’t come, Haniel decided to wait for now.
A day passed like that.
The child fell asleep in Basil’s arms just as she was.
Basil realized that the child was far more frightened of Holy Knights and Priests than he’d expected, and he abandoned his plan to summon a Priest and resolve the Pillar Purification problem.
“She was afraid of Holy Knights even back when we escaped the slums together. She kept saying that if we got caught, we’d be locked up, things like that.”
“Did something unpleasant happen to her before?”
“I’m not sure…… I didn’t have much contact with Haniel before I left the Z Zone.”
When he asked Pol, the fear of Holy Knights seemed to be a deep-rooted one.
‘Does she think using Holy Power so unusually means she’ll face a Heresy Interrogation?’
In any case…… he had no intention of forcing the child to do something she disliked.
‘……No Core at all.’
He clenched and unclenched his fists.
He’d never heard of—never seen—a human without a Core.
It was like meeting someone born without a heart.
‘……If that’s truly the case, then gathering Holy Power must be more important for Haniel than for anyone else.’
It might serve as a replacement for that empty place where a Core should be.
And he’d heard that the more the Northern Region develops, the better such Holy Power is gathered.
Then the Pillar Purification would indeed be essential.
But…….
Is that all there is to it?
“No. From now on, I’m only going to trust half of your ‘I’m fine’s.”
What if the child has some other symptom he doesn’t know about?
……
He immediately summoned Camilla and instructed her to investigate Coreless Syndrome. She left looking bewildered—it was a disease name she’d never heard before.
He sank back into thought.
Then, suddenly, it came to him.
Someone who would likely know much about this sort of knowledge……
“It seemed you came to meet me as an old acquaintance rather than as a Holy Knight.”
And convenient timing, being nearby besides.
‘I was going to settle this with him eventually anyway.’
The dark silhouette rose slowly to its feet.
There was little deliberation.
That night.
A rough war horse shot through the northern gate like an arrow.
In the darkness, crimson eyes gleamed faintly.
The man’s destination was a certain inn located in the town of Nostein.
……
Basil, draped in a black robe, pushed open the inn door without hesitation.
The yellow light of the dining room on the first floor washed over him. The interior was pleasantly warm—someone had lit the fireplace.
Thud-thud.
He walked forward without hesitation and stopped before a man quietly sipping tea in a corner.
Thunk.
The man didn’t so much as flinch at the sound of a sword being set down.
“The Northern Region seems rather barren for enjoying a vacation.”
……
“It’s troublesome when you advertise your friendlessness so openly, Holy Knight.”
Clink.
The teacup settled neatly into place.
“Two years, and you greet me with provocation straight off?”
“Bear with me.”
Basil dropped into the seat across from him.
“I really need to vent my frustrations on you today.”
……
Quiet violet eyes moved slowly. Long silver hair spilling from beneath the robe caught the gaze.
“All because of our Holy Knight friend, I’ve lost my precious…… ah, never mind.”
Basil shook his head, deciding against indulging in unnecessary complaints.
How could one define the relationship between them?
Holy Knight and Grand Duke?
Nobleman to nobleman?
An enmity without parallel?
Or perhaps comrades who stood back to back on the battlefield?
Whatever it was, two people impossible to define in a single word now sat facing each other across a table.
Dantelion toyed with his teacup as he asked carefully.
“I sensed Brad tracking me constantly—what brings you to find me now?”
“He asked to meet. Without rank.”
“That wasn’t the case today, though.”
“Some stray keeps nosing around my territory. Do you think I’d just sit still?”
“If you’d simply let me cross the northern gate once, this would have ended.”
“You were content to leave me in a contaminated zone before—why take an interest now?”
“If nothing were amiss with the Pillar, I wouldn’t go this far.”
“Nothing is amiss with the Pillar. So stop going this far.”
“That tone of yours has always been woefully unreliable.”
Dantelion lifted his head abruptly.
“Grand Duke, how exactly have you been producing crops in the Northern Region?”
“Well enough.”
“Did you really purify a Light Dragon’s corpse? Or……?”
A sharp edge flickered in his eyes.
“Is it some other magic I’m unaware of?”
“There he goes again, eyes flashing……”
“Answer me.”
“Magic? What are you talking about? You seem to think I’m some kind of heretic…….”
Dantelion’s eyebrows twitched.
At that moment, Basil pulled something from his pocket and tossed it. A small mug.
“This is…….”
“You feel the Holy Power in there, don’t you.”
“…….”
Indeed—a faint Holy Power emanated from it.
Very slight, yet remarkably pure.
“We found a stash of Sacred Artifacts like this in the Grand Duke’s Castle basement and managed to purify the pillar. Thanks to that, the Northern Region is recovering nicely.”
Of course, this was an item they’d prepared in advance with Haniel.
“Little one, put some Holy Power in here.”
“Huh?”
“In case someone asks where the Sacred Artifacts used to purify the pillar came from. Just a tiny bit. Smaller than your snot.”
“Oh, yes!”
Haniel affixed a sticker to his own body, then breathed Holy Power into the mug.
To make it look like a genuine Sacred Artifact.
“……You’re saying there are Sacred Artifacts in the Grand Duke’s Castle basement?”
“Yeah.”
“That can’t be true.”
“And what gives you such certainty?”
“Because I personally inspected the basement of the Grand Duke’s Castle two years ago during the Light Dragon subjugation.”
Damn…… so that happened?
Basil narrowed his brow.
Dantelion was the only Holy Knight who had aided Basil’s party during the Northern Region’s Light Dragon campaign—though he’d only helped at the very end.
Basil replied smoothly.
“Things buried underground have a way of surfacing. How can you be so certain what transpired over these past two years?”
“…….”
“Anyway, my secrets are all out now, so stop poking around. Let the Northern Region get back to normal business with these Sacred Artifacts we found.”
Sacred Artifacts had primary ownership rights with the lord of the territory where they were discovered.
Most were voluntarily brought to the Holy Temple, which paid handsomely for them, so there was no issue there.
This posed no problem whatsoever.
‘Hopefully this won’t make him any more troublesome.’
His obsession with the Northern Region probably stemmed from concern about whether the pillar he’d erected had developed issues.
‘I heard all that was resolved long ago when the inspection letter was sent last spring.’
Basil studied Dantelion quietly. His expression was impassive as ever—impossible to read, then as now.
“……Now let me ask you something.”
Dantelion’s eyes lifted.
“Holy Knight, do you know anything about creatures without a Core?”
At that moment, Dantelion’s brow furrowed for the first time.

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