The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living
Chapter 38
“Then for now, we should dispatch envoys to each region to see if there is any information regarding the black magicians.”
At those words, Baron Forman, who was already standing by Hilbery’s side, grinned and volunteered.
“Please send me as the envoy to the Central region.”
It was an official request sent to the other four families asking them to share regional intelligence.
Sending a curt letter or an envoy of unfitting status would be a breach of etiquette. Usually, key retainers of the family were sent for such tasks.
“It will also serve as a good opportunity to look into the new Marquis Sears.”
Not much was known about Alpheus Seers.
A mercenary carrying the blood of a maid, raised among commoners.
The eldest son whom the late Marquis Seers had spent his entire life searching for.
Rumor had it that his terrifying prowess had caught the eye of the 2nd Prince during the northern war.
Whispers circulating through word of mouth claimed he was exceptionally handsome.
‘Other than that, there really isn’t much information.’
For now, he had become Brisa’s guardian.
How he would treat a helpless twelve-year-old child remained an open question.
Hilbery let out a short chuckle and replied.
“I thought you were retiring?”
“The potatoes in that region happen to be delicious. I am simply going to eat.”
Baron Forman smiled elegantly, suppressing his worry.
Now that the warp gate was operational again, Alpheus must have returned from the capital as well.
Though he had reportedly gone to collect war reparations, the 2nd Prince had not been at the Imperial Palace either. Naturally, he wouldn’t have brought anything back.
If he returned under those circumstances and found that Brisa had been feeding the entire estate…
‘He will undoubtedly be on guard.’
Baron Forman reasoned with a strictly aristocratic mindset.
‘Brisa Seers was raised as the heir until now. She holds influence in the Central region. What’s more, after this recent incident, the estate residents are very fond of her.’
From the perspective of Alpheus, whose blood was half commoner, her presence would feel intensely burdensome.
Instead, Alpheus possessed military might. The elite unit that had accompanied him was skilled enough to rival the Imperial Knights.
If he seized the estate through sheer force, Brisa would have no choice but to do whatever her older brother commanded.
‘The County of Joachim is the wealthiest in the Central region. If he tries to marry her off to the Count’s son just to secure some grain…’
Just imagining it made the potatoes he had eaten a month and a half ago feel stuck in his throat.
That was why he had volunteered so quickly.
He planned to arrive around the same time as Alpheus and gauge the man’s character for himself.
If he truly seemed hopeless, he would bring her to the West and…
‘If there is no other way, I will simply adopt her as my late-arriving daughter.’
Though, of course, that would have to remain a secret from Leopold.
With that, Baron Forman hastily took the warp gate. Sending a servant ahead was standard protocol, but he had no time for such formalities.
‘Young Lady of Sears, if you are locked away and mistreated, I shall rescue you!’
In his imagination, Brisa was growing more pitiful by the second. The young lady had looked far too small and frail.
Brisa, trapped in a room, surviving on a single slice of potato a day.
Brisa, being forced into a marriage with the County of Joachim.
The maids all thrown out, the marquisate mansion overrun by Alpheus’s elite unit.
Only the knights loyal to her secretly sneaking in a single egg for her to eat…
As the delusions continued, the fish he had eaten a month ago felt like it was lodging in his throat as well.
It was under these frantic circumstances that Baron Forman finally reached the marquisate mansion.
“Bwahaha! Like this? Am I doing great? Huh? Peekaboo! Look over here, my Ice Princess!”
In the mansion’s garden stood a young man, swinging a pickaxe with all his might.
‘…Platinum blonde?’
An absurdly handsome young man was making a total fuss of himself.
“Peekaboo! Look here! My lovely little angel! Make me your honorary farmer!”
Unlike Leopold, the boy with the cold and sharp features, this was a handsome man who gave off a fresh and pure aura.
That build, those muscles, that face, those striking sky-blue eyes…
Baron Forman froze in place, his face filled with sheer disbelief.
He lifted his gaze to see who this handsome man was putting on such an act for.
Up on the second-floor terrace, Brisa was sitting and elegantly sipping her tea.
“Fueled by energy blazing like the scorching sun, I’ve already plowed all the way over here! My pickaxe charges forward just like my love for my dear little sister!”
The handsome man gave a wink while spouting the vulgar metaphor.
Brisa, observing the spectacle from behind towering stacks of books, shuddered and laid down a rule.
“Winking is forbidden.”
Then, glaring at his twitching thumb, she added:
“Raising your thumb while going ‘Hmph!’ is also forbidden.”
The young man did not lose an ounce of spirit. He merely arched an eyebrow, looking thoroughly amused.
At that, Brisa sprang straight up from her seat and shrieked in horror.
“Forbidden! Going ‘Heh, aren’t you adorable…’ is absolutely forbidden!”
* * *
If things had followed the original story, Alpheus would currently be wandering about with nowhere to go.
That was because our uncle, having swallowed the Marquisate of Sears whole and coveting the marquis title, would have been trying to kill him.
‘However, right now, my uncle is locked away in the Central court’s prison.’
The moment the warp gate became operational, we filed lawsuits against all three members of Baron Hawin’s family.
The court sentenced both Baron Hawin and his wife to prison terms. Dahlia had also actively taken part in the crime, so she could not escape punishment either.
“As a minor, Dahlia Harwyn shall spend a period of repentance at Offen Monastery until she comes of age.”
In other words, the current Alpheus had no one left to hate or seek vengeance against.
The estate that was rightfully his was completely intact, and his comrade-in-arms, the 2nd Prince, had returned alive and well to the Imperial Palace. As a result, he had been entirely at peace.
I, of course, was not at peace. I was still constantly anxious.
‘The days when the entire empire lived in abundance are now a thing of the past.’
The warp gates wouldn't be as trouble-free as they used to be, either.
‘The Magic Tower got them working for now, but the southern route keeps acting up.’
The South was the second-largest producer of grain after the West. Yet its distribution network was now highly likely to remain a perpetual problem.
On top of that, the bountiful harvests in the West were as good as finished at this rate. That meant our estate needed to strive for some level of self-sufficiency.
‘We must not starve… People turn cruel when they’re hungry.’
Sebon was targeting me.
In the original story, my uncle was the one who handed me over, but if starvation set in, anyone might sell me off for fifty sacks of wheat.
I had no faith that Alpheus, whom I had only just met, would protect me to the bitter end. Therefore, my goal was clear.
‘Everyone around me must be well-fed so that even if someone tells them to hand me over, they won't.’
So, I decided to put the elite unit to work farming.
At first, they looked reluctant, but after eating the feast I had arranged, their minds changed completely.
“Now then, what do you think is lacking here?”
When I asked the question, they chimed in one by one.
“Well, a wider variety of vegetables?”
“Meat… Something other than chicken or fish.”
“I would like the bread to be a little softer.”
At those words, Wendy narrowed her eyes sharply and snapped.
“It’s always the ones who’ve never dug up a single potato with their own hands that have the biggest mouths.”
One of the elite soldiers shot back.
“Have you ever dug one up?”
Wendy raised her eyebrows.
“Because I didn’t, not just my mouth but my entire stomach almost dropped dead. If you want to keep running that big mouth you shovel food into, you’d better listen to the young lady. Got it?”
Fortunately, none of them took Wendy’s words lightly. Wendy was not an easy opponent to begin with.
That made giving them orders easy for me.
“All right, from now on, let’s fill in what we’re missing.”
However, an unexpected variable arose.
Alpheus, who had been watching them farm, ended up grabbing a pickaxe himself.
I was horrified and tried to stop him.
“Don’t do it. There’s no need for the Marquis to step up. The knights are more than enough.”
“But watching them work like sluggish slugs is driving me mad! How long are we supposed to wait around at this rate?”
“What? Everyone is doing great!”
“That’s great to you?”
Alpheus widened his eyes.
“Watch closely, Brisa. This is how you use your body and a blade.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Alpheus stepped in, displaying truly absurd speed and precision.
“Back on the battlefield, by the time we buried one, the Marquis had already buried a hundred, y'know.”
Rancy whispered to me as my jaw dropped open.
“Whether it’s seeds or corpses, ain’t burying stuff in the ground fundamentally the same thing?”
The knights were not surprised in the least. Alpheus had always commanded respect by leading through example.
“The Captain naturally pulls the weight of ten of us. It’s only expected.”
“Even back in the mercenary corps, he only became the leader because he got frustrated watching everyone else and took over. This is hardly surprising.”
Picking up a shovel or a pickaxe himself did not diminish Alpheus’s dignity in the slightest. Rather, it inspired awe in everyone, myself included.
“I-I see…”
The seed planting, which had been estimated to take ten days, was finished in a single day thanks to Alpheus’s presence. I couldn’t possibly bring myself to say, ‘Nobles don’t do this sort of thing.’
‘That capability… That sheer talent…’
Even if Alpheus had ended up farming oriental melons as Mother had said, he never would have remained an ordinary farmer.
‘By now, he’d probably be an oriental melon tycoon tossing money into the air.’
Having such immense labor power for farming was practically a miracle.
In the end, I succumbed to the temptation.
“Then let’s move. We need to plant the next batch of seeds.”
It couldn't be helped. Letting that physique go to waste just because he was a marquis was simply too inefficient. It would be a waste of resources on par with leaving my own brain unused.
And that was why Alpheus was in the middle of hard farm labor when Baron Forman arrived.
‘I didn’t expect an outsider to visit again the moment the warp gates opened, though?’
I was quite surprised.
Baron Forman’s visit was entirely unexpected. And the news he brought with him was just as surprising.