NOVEL NEXT Book 2 Prologue 1: Fire Fox
Several days passed since that battle.
The day after the battle we had made the nobles we captured determine their worth and send letters in their own handwriting back to their families on the paper that they themselves had brought. I delivered those letters along with one I had personally written. I did it myself because it would only take a single day for me to make the trip to the enemy base.
In order for them to treat us seriously I made an example out of the lowest ranking noble.
Delivering a miserable corpse along with the letter would demonstrate our stance and enmity clearly.
It looks like we’ll be able to expect some good income from the Count’s second son, the Viscount’s eldest son and other VIPs. No matter how much foreign currency our Elf nation acquired it wouldn’t be enough.
It had already been two weeks but yet there was no answer, by now the Empire should have made a move.
If they were intending to ignore us then maybe I should start killing the low level nobles and send their heads, or maybe cut off a finger of the most important Count’s son and send that. Maybe that will finally demonstrate our seriousness.
Today Lucy and I visited the glass house near the village.
The potatoes that we had planted were growing safely. I was relieved that they were growing quickly without any major outbreaks of bugs or illness.
Our supplies came from the food we’d stolen from the Empire and the increased hunting results thanks to the crossbows. We had a bit of leeway thanks to that.
A single boar could weigh up to 100kg with 60kg of edible parts.
The improved hunting had huge meaning to the village.
Even without these potatoes our village could survive the winter, but it was best to have a backup plan.
「Thanks Lucy. If you hadn’t helped I don’t think it would’ve gone as well as it has.」
I wasn’t simply flattering her, it was what I truly thought.
If weeds and bugs appeared I couldn’t take them out using magic. It required daily manual care.
We had left 3 rows empty of potatoes since we lacked seeds, but even so it was beyond my abilities to do this alone.
Lucy was of great help to me even though she had other work to do.
「No, you’re working so hard Cyril so I just feel like I should too. Plus I thought the potatoes were delicious so I wanted to eat them more.」
Lucy said jokingly.
But I was sure she was just hiding her embarrassment. She was surely thinking about wanting to do something for the village. She was the type of person to do that.
There were people who would think that it was an obvious thing, but there were few people who would put it into practice.
「That modesty is one of the things I like about you Lucy. Even if you don’t praise yourself, I will. You’re such a great girl. Good girl.」
I patted Lucy’s head as she blushed and puffed out her cheeks.
I’d say she was half happy and half embarrassed.
「Again you’re treating me like a kid. I’d like you to stop.」
「Sorry sorry, but I like how your hair feels so I can’t help but do it. It’s so silky and fluffy…it feels really nice.」
「Do you enjoy that Cyril?」
「Un, I really do.」
「Then I’ll forgive you.」
She said and leaned against me slightly.
It felt like my heart was being healed.
Alright! I’ll do my best in my work today.
「For the potatoes we can finally harvest them as their stalks are turning yellow. Somehow we made it in time.」
From the feeling of the wind it would only be around 2 weeks before the snow would fall.
Once that happens it would be hopeless to want to harvest anything.
「Are we going to harvest them now?」
「Hmm, it’d be hard to do with just us, so I’ll gather people tomorrow. At this point it won’t be a disappointment. We can harvest them all at once and have a potato festival or something. I’ll demonstrate the most delicious way to eat them.」
「The most delicious way? That sounds great!」
「Yeah, look forward to it. It’s my favorite as well.」
After all this was the most utilized method on Earth. It should be the tastiest.
「It’s just that unless we use quite a bit of salt it won’t be delicious.」
「Salt is precious. Isn’t it going to be difficult to make if it needs a lot of salt?」
「Let’s go to the Fire Fox village soon. They control land that has rock salt so if things go well we could solve our salt problems. We have deer and boar pelts to trade as well as winter clothes.」
The women and elderly that couldn’t work in the fields gathered the girls of the village and held a class teaching needlework. Thanks to that we now had more than enough blankets and coats for the winter.
I had to take measures so this work wasn’t done in vain.
There had been things like that in the village already, but because they were poorly made and barely useful they began practicing.
……..thanks to that after getting practice and teachings from the older women we ended up with a good number of well-made winter goods.
They could be sold at the city Eris of the Choline Kingdom, or traded to the Fire Foxes.
Besides for simple goods our village was unable to be self-sufficient. We needed to earn currency and this was simply one part of the greater whole.
Another thing of great importance was slowly preparing specialty products that our village could produce.
「Is that the only reason that you’re going to the Fire Fox village?」
Lucy said as if hinting at something. I wonder if there’s something bothering her?
「Another reason huh? Of course there is. Before we were controlled by the Empire we were good allies. Furthermore, even though the Empire strongly desires their fire magic stones they are still able to put up a fight against them. I want to propose that we join our hands and fight the Empire together.」
The Fire Foxes were as their name suggested, a race that excelled in fire magic. Unlike wind magic their fire magic could make amazing direct attacks and were a minority race with the ability to fight the Empire on equal footing.