The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 15

“Wow! Potatoes, potatoes! We’ll be able to eat our fill today!”

The knights smiled brightly as they continuously put the dirt-covered potatoes into their baskets.

“Also, now.”

And right now, I knew the magic words that could instantly raise their morale to the highest level.

“We’ll also slaughter and eat chickens once every two days.”

A month and a half ago, the chicks that came to our marquis manor had now become young chickens.

Anyway, we’d have to wait five months for them to lay eggs. So it was reasonable to slaughter and eat them right away once we’d raised them to an edible size.

Since we’d brought in and raised so many chicks, the population had grown too large as well.

Moreover, chicks were continuously being born from fertilized eggs. We also had to manage our stock of wheat bran and rice bran used as feed.

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

Of course, the speed at which we ate chickens would be much faster than the speed at which chickens multiplied, but it was fine since we only needed to endure another month and a half anyway.

“That is, two days from now.”

I declared solemnly.

“To commemorate slaughtering our first chicken, we’ll hold a banquet.”

It was the evening when Baron Forman was invited.

“We’ll use all of our food ingredients.”

Besides chickens, eggs, potatoes, and lettuce, there were many other things we were eating. We planned to mobilize all of them.

“Waaaaaaaaaaah!”

Everyone cheered except for Wendy.

Wendy was absent from other labor as well, not just the potatoes.

“Um, but Miss.”

A knight who had been standing guard in the distance came running over.

“The old man you mentioned has crossed the territory border!”

As expected.

It must be Baron Forman who had come.

‘He probably wanted to see if it was really okay to mooch a meal. He’s a person with some sense of shame.’

I had already told the knights about Baron Forman’s appearance and instructed them that if such an old man came, they shouldn’t capture him but quietly let him do whatever he wanted and then report to me.

The former intelligence agent was having everything discovered by me like this.

“I see.”

I said indifferently.

“Don’t bother interfering and let him look around to his heart’s content.”

* * *

Baron Forman easily crossed the territory border. Realistically, the knights couldn’t guard every boundary.

‘Is it really okay to accept the banquet invitation? In these times when public sentiment has worsened to the extreme…’

He inwardly swallowed a sigh while thinking about the atmosphere in Baron Hawin’s territory.

People had become sensitive because food was becoming scarce.

These days, no one in Baron Hawin’s Territory ate three full meals.

Baron Forman thought Sears wouldn’t be much different. He even expected the situation to be worse if anything.

He wandered around the civilian houses for now. Then he spotted a child heading to the riverside with a basket.

“Hmm? That’s…”

The child picked plenty of mushrooms from logs by the riverside.

Come to think of it, there were rotting logs lined up all along the riverside.

“Child, what’s that?”

Baron Forman asked the child.

The child answered casually.

“Mushrooms. A month and a half ago, the young lady had the knights do this. She told them to grow them like this.”

After picking mushrooms, the child now cut grass rustling by the river shore and put it in the basket as well.

“What’s that?”

“Water parsley. Just like the young lady said, we cut the stems and planted them as they were, and they multiplied this much.”

The child pulled out a fish trap next to the water parsley colony. It was full of small fish.

“Fish lay eggs on the water parsley stems. So the number of fish increased too. We catch this much every day.”

Baron Forman’s mouth fell open involuntarily.

‘Of course, having a river is a tremendous advantage, but is it possible to obtain food this efficiently?’

The child’s expression, leisureliness, and composure. These were all things that couldn’t be seen in Baron Hawin’s Territory.

“So you live eating only fish, mushrooms, and water parsley?”

“There are various other things too. The young lady taught us more than ten different methods.”

The child who answered cheerfully stared intently at Baron Forman. Then shrugged once and said.

“Grandpa, you’re from Baron Hawin’s Territory, aren’t you?”

The child took out a handful of mushrooms from the basket and gave them to Baron Forman.

“Take these and eat them. It should be fine to give you this much for free.”

Baron Forman looked at the oyster mushrooms the child offered.

Now that the child explained it, he could see it.

It was completely different from the riverside he had visited not long ago. It was systematically organized and designed to continuously produce food.

He recalled Brisa Sears, who had proudly presented the invitation card.

In this peaceful riverside village scene, a girl of perfect etiquette who was dressed impeccably as if she had just dropped down from the center of the capital.

‘All of this… was done by a twelve-year-old girl?’

The child looked at him pitifully and said.

“Next time, bring something proper and exchange it for eggs.”

It seemed that only Baron Hawin didn’t know, while the territory residents all knew about it through word of mouth.

“People from Baron Hawin’s Territory like Sears eggs because the yolks are very rich and delicious.”

So a few days later, Baron Forman disguised himself again and visited Sears Territory.

While he waited with a pounding heart, the door of the Marquis Manor opened.

A maid who didn’t look starved at all greeted him proudly.

‘Since I’m pretending to be a country old man who doesn’t know anything, it would be natural to pretend not to know etiquette and eat hastily.’

He thought this while wearing a vest covered in lint.

* * *

‘He’s eating well.’

I thought while watching Baron Forman eat the potatoes, lotus root, and water parsley.

I knew that leaving a little food was considered proper etiquette in the Western Region, but Baron Forman ended up making scraping sounds against his bowl.

“Do you still eat lotus root now?”

“Autumn is the proper season, but it’s fine to eat now too. It has less starch but is more tender instead.”

Lotus root was a good carbohydrate source for increasing population. You could cut the existing roots and replant them.

That’s called vegetative propagation, and I had done a lot of it a month ago.

“No, then how did you get salt…”

As soon as he asked hesitantly, the maid scolded him.

“Our miss is kindly answering questions from a mere commoner, so do you think you’re being tutored by a teacher? Don’t bother miss during her meal and ask questions in moderation!”

Baron Forman flinched.

Well, as for salt…

“…Want to eat more?”

Baron Forman answered.

“Miss, would you perhaps marry my grandson? That’s the best thing I can offer you in return.”

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