The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 209

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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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Part 2, Episode 14
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Seaweed grows well on rocks where tidal flats expose and submerge.
The habitat of Marcel, called “Monster Island,” was an environment perfectly suited for seaweed to thrive.
‘Everyone said it was rotting grass. They never thought to eat it.’
In fact, seaweed had never been distributed across the Continent before.
“Um, that doesn’t taste good.”
Gerdian spoke.
“Of course, you could cook it in a stew, but it doesn’t taste great. People only eat it when they’re really starving…….”
I shrugged.
“That’s why it tastes bad when you cook it that way. The tide’s starting to go out, so we can gather it all as soon as the rocks are exposed.”
Wild seaweed wasn’t easy to harvest. You had to scrape every bit clinging to the rocks with a knife.
‘It’s not farmed, so there’s no way around it. We’ll have to use labor.’
And we had excellent marine labor at our disposal.
“Me? You want me to grab this dangerous stuff right now? Touch this filthy thing with my hands?”
Marcel, coddled under his mother’s overprotection, found this reality hard to believe.
I looked straight into those eyes that resembled Gillab’s and gave my order.
“Then should I do it?”
“No, Master!”
And with that, he grew his fish tail again and got to work diligently. The half-human half-beast newly under my command had plenty of complaints, but he was capable.
I worked him without guilt.
All the while, Gerdian kept tilting his head in confusion.
“This really isn’t something you eat…….”
He’d pinned his hopes on me, who plays the role of “the Farming Genius Sister” in the “Farming Genius Siblings,” but his face showed clear disappointment.
Of course, Gerdian was a virtuous character in the original work. So even if he’d been asked by the Duchess of Dibosthan, it would have been hard for him to make peace with it.
No matter how much of a monster the other party was, the moment he’d transformed into human form.
‘Anyway, there’s no way Alpheus could ever beat me.’
Still, it was better to avoid unnecessary conflict, so I did poke at his conscience with talk of a “gift.”
“But you can trust Brisa. Really.”
Alpheus spoke cheerfully.
Gerdian offered a skeptical comment.
“If you could give me some grounds for it, my mind might settle a bit more.”
“Well, does trust between people need a reason?”
Alpheus wielded the knife he’d been using to scrape seaweed.
“The first time you meet someone, trust is what matters most. Originally, without it, you can’t take even a single step forward.”
“What? That’s too idealistic…….”
Gerdian tried to counter as if bewildered.
Just then, Alpheus threw down the knife and pulled out his mechanical nails, scraping the seaweed directly.
“Phew, these really dig in better.”
Seaweed tore free with a sharp, crunching sound against the sharp mechanical nails that felt no pain.
While fragments of rock scratched by the mechanism tumbled into the sea, Alpheus asked cheerily.
“What? What did you just say?”
Gerdian answered hastily.
“I meant it’s such an idealistic thing to say—really wonderful to hear.”
“Haha, right! A society where we move forward as one through trust is what’s important!”
“I believe…….”
The master of combat arts’ faith deepened before the superhuman strength of the mechanical arm and the sharpness of the mechanical nails.
“I do believe…….”
Well, in any case, that’s how we filled the ship with seaweed.
“Now, load all we can fit onto the ship.”
The dark piles of seaweed still didn’t look particularly appetizing.
Looking at that heap of seaweed, I asked.
“There’s a lot of seaweed in the Eastern Sea, isn’t there?”
“Well…… yes.”
“And no one’s thought to eat it.”
“Right…… yes.”
“Excellent.”
The Cardipol Guild had its hands in every corner of the Eastern Region. So if I had Odry secure seaweed harvesting rights all across the Eastern Sea, we could sweep it all up.
Since it wasn’t farmed, the seaweed population wasn’t particularly large yet. Everyone thought of it as sea garbage, so we’d likely get it for dirt cheap.
“So if Odry and Marcel continue harvesting it, that should work. It seems Marcel could handle it alone quite well.”
At my words, Gerdian asked reluctantly.
“Will Odry be able to watch that? Her precious son harvesting seaweed before her eyes?”
“It’ll tear her heart out, naturally. If it’s too hard to bear, she won’t she just hire people? That’s their problem.”
Either way, Marcel had no choice but to follow my commands.
It seemed to me like a violation of human dignity, so I didn’t force the other half-humans with direct orders. But in my judgment, Marcel could stand a bit of labor.
‘Well, Leopold changed his size in front of everyone too.’
Considering precedent, it wasn’t quite inhumane.
“That would be quite painful, both mentally and physically…….”
Gerdian shook his head.
I asked dispassionately.
“But wasn’t that what you wanted, Gerdian?”
Gerdian looked at me quietly. Then he lowered his head.
“I won’t presume again.”
He seemed to fear me emotionally and Alpheus physically.
Of course, doubt remained.
“But…… does this really taste good?”
“We just have to make it taste good.”
“Even so, no matter how you process it, that pitch-black color means people won’t want to eat it easily…….”
“Then we’ll have to make them try it.”
I shrugged.
“There’s someone who could help us brilliantly in this sort of situation. When we arrive at Russell Count Territory, I’d like you to extend a special invitation.”
Just then Alpheus, who had even taken off his own cloak—salt-stained from seawater—and wrapped it around the sniffling Marcel, asking if he was cold, butted in.
“Who? Who is it?”
“Our colleague who’s been performing really important and difficult work this whole time.”
I raised an eyebrow and spoke.
“Delmia.”
* * *
Deep within a forest of Sebon.
Leopold wiped the blood from his sword casually and let out a weary sigh.
“Whew.”
Harrison, collapsed beside him, murmured quietly.
“How does it feel, Leo? We finally finished off all those black magic circles……. Phew.”
The Monster Wave that had swept across the Continent and the “Contamination” had all been caused by these ancient black magic circles.
It had taken such a long time to dismantle the ten black magic circles.
Usually there were many monsters around black magic circles. While Leopold dealt with them, Harrison handled the curse breaking.
Sebon had only claimed to cooperate without providing much actual help, so the two of them had struggled through it all.
That’s how Harrison and Leopold came of age in a foreign land.
But each time they broke a black magic circle, news came that the Monster Waves across the Continent decreased and the “Contamination” disappeared. They couldn’t stop. Because for every hardship they endured, the safety of the Continent’s people was guaranteed.
“So what now?”
Harrison asked from his exhausted position on the ground.
“Can we go back? We’ve achieved our public objective.”
“I suppose we have.”
But that answer really meant ‘we’re not going back.’
“But it seems there might be an eleventh black magic circle, and if I phrase it that way, we could stay longer.”
The reason he wanted to stay in Sebon a bit longer was vampires.
He hadn’t yet uncovered all the secrets of the vampires.
Even a small piece of information passed on from here was a great help on the Continent. Especially for Brisa’s safety…….
In the last letter he’d received months ago, Alpheus was still unconscious.
If Alpheus remained unconscious like this…… if the vampires of Sebon grew stronger in the meantime and found it easier to kidnap Brisa…….
Garlic, defensive scrolls, controlling the livestock population.
Through various methods, he’d prevented the vampire numbers from exploding. He’d essentially controlled their food supply.
But lately the information his agents brought had been ominous. It seemed they were conducting experiments to find alternative food sources.
Until he could hear the results and give specific warnings of danger, he had to remain in Sebon.

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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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