Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Nina grinned.
“Okay. Then please appoint me as the commander of the Knights first.”
“Let’s bestow a family name first. La Del, Nina La Dell.”
Having a family name added meant that she was now a quasi-noble in the Empire. But there was one thing she was curious about.
“Is it ‘LaDel’ or ‘La Del’?”
To her question of whether there was another family name in the middle, the answer came back, “The family name is ‘Del,’ and the middle name is ‘La.’”
“Are you going to give me a fief?”
Having a middle name meant that she was a lord with a territory. Of course, it wasn’t permanent ownership, but rather borrowing the rights for a while.
If Nina had an heir, he would have to come to Duke Louvaine and have his succession rights recognized.
“To catch a Spirit Knight who has returned from the dead and contracted with a high-level Spirit, I have to do this much.”
“You’re saying, ‘Don’t let anyone look down on you,’ in such an elegant way.”
“I speak elegantly because you understand it.”
“Then I will gladly accept it.”
Nina didn’t refuse and swallowed the title whole. It would be rude to refuse when they were offering it, very rude.
Adrian took out a sealed document from his desk drawer, tapped her on both shoulders, and said.
“I bestow a fief upon Lady Nina. The rank is Baroness, and the middle name is ‘La’ and the family name is ‘Del.’”
Nina said, “I humbly accept,” and received it respectfully with both hands. When she opened the seal, it contained Nina La Dell’s noble appointment, succession rights, and land documents, all quite thick.
All Nina had to do was sign.
“When did you prepare this?”
Surprised, she asked, and the answer came back, “I’ve been preparing for quite some time.”
Nina put the documents back in the envelope and hugged Adrian, who was sitting across the desk.
“Thank you for waiting for me.”
“Thank you for coming back.”
“Then I’m a noble now too!”
Holding the envelope, Nina twirled around as if dancing and left the study. Adrian watched her and chuckled.
Turning his gaze, he looked at the chessboard. Black and white chess pieces were mixed together, and many pieces were not in their proper positions.
He wasn’t actually playing chess, but when strategizing, he would assign positions to the pieces like this.
Adrian carefully took out the Queen from the drawer. The ivory-made, pure white Queen was the strongest piece in chess, capable of moving anywhere.
He placed his Queen on the chessboard.
All the dissidents have been filtered out. Now it’s a completely new game. It was time for the Ducal family to show its claws.
‘If Nina moves, they will move too.’
He narrowed his eyes.
‘The cult.’
He doesn’t forget what he has lost. Revenge was only postponed, not forgotten.
A little more.
Just a bit more.
Let’s hone the anger calmly.
A little more forward.
\ \ *
There was a greenhouse in Black Shield Castle. It was a proper glass greenhouse, albeit small, which shocked Nina.
‘How much did this cost!’
Kirill nonchalantly opened the greenhouse door and went inside, and Nina followed him.
“Wow!”
The moment she entered, the scent of herbs stung her nose.
Sweet scent, bitter scent, grassy scent. All sorts of scents mixed with the humidity unique to the greenhouse, giving the feeling of stepping into an aromatic oil bath.
“I brought the ones from your garden and improved them.”
Kirill chuckled.
“Oh my goodness……”
“They can be grown elsewhere too. Actually, they’re being grown in rocky fields. Most of the Duke Louveaen’s territory has rough land, making it difficult to grow wheat.”
He had spread herbs there.
“Can you make a living from herbs?”
“The Ducal family buys them all.”
At Kirill’s words, Nina suddenly thought of the poor castle’s diet. She felt like crying.
At the same time, she felt proud.
He could have forced her into labor, but Adrian didn’t.
“I do develop medicines, but it’s hard to do it alone. It would be nice to have someone to help me. Humans who do this kind of work are rare.”
Nina had someone in mind at Kirill’s words.
The male protagonist of the original story.
“Um, I’ll look for someone.”
Kirill said at Nina’s words.
“I’ll give you a report later, so check it out and use it to entice them. Those guys who are studying plants will go crazy when they see it.”
Kirill chuckled and gestured to leave the greenhouse.
After leaving the greenhouse, he also showed her the general garden. Plants were growing vigorously even outside the greenhouse.
The ones inside the greenhouse were experimental crops that weren’t released outside, and the ones in the garden were being grown in large quantities outside, he said.
Nina asked.
“But Kirill, what about wheat?”
What about the most important wheat?
The most important currency in this era was wheat.
Whether it was a bumper crop or a poor harvest determined everything.
Why are you richer the more land you have?
Because you get a lot of wheat.
In an empire where currency value was measured in gold, wheat and gold were the two pillars of the economy.
Kirill looked at Nina.
“That’s up to you, Commander of the Knights.”
Nina frowned, not understanding what he meant, and Kirill beckoned her to follow.
Opening the door of the wooden warehouse built in the back, sacks were piled up to the brim.
“It’s wheat. The one you brought. If you plant one grain, it grows to at least 30 grains, multiplying 30 times, so the warehouse fills up quickly. The problem is that there’s nowhere to plant it.”
That lost land.
A large plain belonging to the Louveaen territory.
Nina grinned at Kirill’s words.
“Then I’ll have to find that plain.”
“Yes, try to find it quickly before the seeds become unusable.”
“Yes.”
Nina lightly tapped her chest.
Kirill told her to take the research report now and led Nina to his laboratory.
Kirill’s laboratory was in the basement of Black Shield Castle, but it wasn’t completely underground, but rather a semi-basement.
One-third was underground, and two-thirds were above ground, but it was all glass windows, so it was well-lit.
“Where did you get these glass windows?”
Such large glass windows, and in the greenhouse.
“I squeezed it out of His Excellency.”
Kirill’s answer was concise. Nina was about to faint.
Indeed, there’s a reason why we only ate potatoes.
Kirill’s laboratory was not complicated, and everything was organized.
The glass jars in the cupboard containing dried herb powders had neat labels attached.
“Here, this is it.”
Nina, who received Kirill’s bundle of reports, suddenly felt like she had become illiterate.
“Kirill, I knew your handwriting was bad, but isn’t this too much?”
“Did I give you the original? Here, this is a copy.”
Kirill took out another document. This time, she could definitely read it. Nina expressed her condolences to the copyist.
“I don’t know who you’re going to send it to, but I’ve only selected the ones that are okay to be exposed to the outside.”
Nina nodded at Kirill’s words. There was only one place that came to mind.
The place where the male protagonist lives.
Bluestone Island.
The magicians here are called sages and live together on an island called ‘Bluestone.’
“Are there any other copies?”
“Yes, you can take that one.”
“Oh, right, Kirill. I’m going to enter the Violet Forest, is there anything you want me to get?”
“Of course.”
Kirill rummaged around and took out a list of necessary items. The paper was worn and the letters were faded, so Nina was puzzled and asked.
“When did you make this?”
“A long time ago. No one ever asks this old man if he needs anything. I’ve been keeping it all this time.”
Kirill clicked his tongue, saying, ‘Kids these days, tsk tsk,’ so Nina laughed and took the list.
“Thank you for waiting for me, Kirill.”
“Hmph.”
Kirill snorted and waved his hand to tell her to leave. Nina hugged the report and left the treatment room.
Reading the report in her room, Nina realized that Adrian had been preparing thoroughly for a long time.
‘To have been doing this without anyone knowing until now. Well, we are isolated from the center.’
Adrian had found all the plants she had been growing in the garden and sent them to Kirill, and Kirill had cultivated the important varieties first.
“Wheat, Transparent fruit, Oil tree……. There are several herbs too. Good.”
Nina packed the list of herbs that Kirill had asked her to get and left for the Violet Forest.
Jin said he would accompany her as the vice-commander, so she readily agreed.
Her hair was tied in pigtails as always, and she packed her black uniform. After loading the luggage onto the horse, the two set out.
