Sprinkling this powder does not mean the land will become prosperous starting tomorrow.
Sansar once explained that the Green Stone of Abundance needs time to absorb its power into the earth.
Just as bears hibernate, the land also needs a period of sleep and rest.
They say that only by doing so will abundance seep deep into the earth, allowing for a harvest of more bountiful crops with every passing year.
To be honest, the duchy had practically given up on farming at the moment. Most of the inhabitants were engaged in mining and similar occupations.
"That's strange. It seems like crops like potatoes, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or beans, corn, kudzu, taro, yacon, or cassava could grow here sufficiently."
"Kudzu, taro, yacon, and cassava...? I know potatoes and corn, but what is a sweet potato?"
The Kalutans looked puzzled at Cherty Bellion's words.
'As expected, there was a separate food source cultivated in Kaluta.'
As Kaluta was a country that practiced isolationism and lived in near-total cutoff from other nations, its culture was not shared with the outside world at all.
'So I thought there must be something in the food they were eating.'
Fortunately, it seems it was just as Roselyn had thought.
The Kalutans looked at each other as if they had heard an unexpected answer, scratched their heads, and then opened their mouths.
"What I mentioned are just some of Kaluta's staple foods, but does the Empire not have anything like this?"
"We produce potatoes and beans ourselves, but... I've never heard of the rest. Since corn is imported from abroad, I thought it would be difficult to cultivate, but I guess that wasn't the case."
"Ah..."
They let out a low sigh at Cherty's words, looked around once, and grinned.
"Miss Roselyn here said she needed help with food and farming, so I wondered what she meant..."
The man who had muttered softly nodded his head willingly.
"Just in case, we brought some food from Kaluta, and it worked out well. I’ll show you, so please follow me."
"Have a good trip, Dad."
Roselyn waved her hand gently.
'It was a hassle, so this works out well.'
She was actually a bit tired because there was a fantastic combination of worry and nagging going on, with people constantly saying things like, "I'm worried, let's go inside," or "Do it later."
"No, aren't you going with me?"
"Yes, I'll look around a little more before I go."
"...I think you're going to catch a cold.”
“No way.”
"My daughter, you always get yourself into trouble by thinking 'it won't happen to me.'"
"..."
You leave me speechless.
In reality, Roselyn would often fall ill even if she overexerted herself just a little, so it was inevitable.
"Anyway, it's fine."
As soon as Roselyn spoke, Cherty Bellion took off the jacket he was wearing and placed it on her shoulders.
Roselyn's eyes widened slightly.
“Roselyn.”
"Yes."
"When you're sick, I want to die too."
Cherty Bellion adjusted the jacket and spoke. Roselyn opened her mouth with a calm expression.
"You're being extreme."
Cherty looked at Roselyn with displeasure.
"Thank you, Dad."
When Roselyn was little, she always wanted to run around and play outside.
"I've always wanted to receive something like this."
"..."
"I was always sick, so I couldn't even go outside..."
Roselyn spoke leisurely and finished her words.
"My father was always busy getting angry whenever I tried to do anything; you would suddenly appear, make eye contact, and tell me to stop causing trouble, asking how much of a nuisance I was causing by acting on my own accord..."
She burst into laughter at that; Cherty widened his eyes, then smiled back and stroked her head.
"My dear, take care on your way."
“...Yes, Dad.”
Roselyn opened her eyes wide, smiled faintly, and nodded.
After sending off Kalutain and Cherty Bellion, Roselyn went around the rest of the Duchy, scattering green powder.
Since the beads are small, she only scattered them in a few key places, but since it is said that abundance spreads, after a few years, it will be possible to have a sufficiently abundant harvest of crops in the duchy as well.
'For now, it will probably start with famine relief crops...'
Once farming begins to thrive, people will start researching to obtain better crops even in barren environments, and thus agriculture will develop.
Roselyn shook her hands vigorously after sprinkling all the powder.
The Duchy of Bellion was quite close to the boundary of the forest commonly known as the Forest of Monsters. Consequently, the Duchy was constantly engaged in battles with monsters emerging from the forest.
That was also the reason why the mineral and weapons industries were more developed in the duchy than elsewhere.
As a result, the blood of monsters and the impure energy of the forest seeped into the land of the Duchy of Bellion.
That was the reason the crop yield was particularly poor.
Since the Duchy of Bellion acts like a gatekeeper on the front lines, blocking all the harmful things emerging from the Monster Forest, the other territories behind it do not suffer significant damage.
'But not knowing that... I managed to win by threatening them with food.'
Roselyn actually didn't know until now either.
However, she found out one day when she unfolded the map. The Duchy of Bellion was bearing the entire burden, while the other territories were threatening with food supplies.
"..."
In fact, when the Duchy of Bellion collapsed in the future, this northern region was thrown into chaos.
This is because the creatures that stealthily crawled out of the Monster Forest set their next target on another territory near the Duchy of Bellion.
A radiant smile settled on Roselyn's lips.
'Come to think of it, the banquet was coming up soon.'
Moonlight Festival.
Just once a year.
It was a festival held around autumn in the Duchy of Bellion to pray for abundance and to safely survive the winter against monsters.
And a few days before that festival was the Moonlight Banquet held in the Duchy.
Amusingly, the purpose was to strengthen the bond between the Duke's family and other clans before praying for safety and prosperity from monsters.
However, in reality, it was also a banquet where everyone came to make various demands of the Duke's family.
Grandfather was trading with several territories simultaneously.
This was because it would be a big problem if they traded food with only one territory and trouble arose in that territory, or if their relationship with the lord soured.
However, importing it from afar involved transportation costs and the risk of the food spoiling.
'The problem is that these guys were using this to hold hands behind each other's backs.'
Roselyn also found out as she left the Duke's mansion and gathered information to trade with other families.
That the food supply problem gave Grandfather more headaches than she thought.
The other lords were aware of Devon Bellion's fiery temperament and his sense of responsibility to not turn a blind eye to his people.
That is probably why they colluded using the villagers' food as hostages...
'It won't be like that this time.'
Roselyn intended to cut off all dealings with the Duke's mansion and other territories at this banquet.
'...You said earlier that the Kaluta people brought food from their country, right?'
He was one of the members of Batar's advance party who entered the Empire with Roselyn.
Even if that weren't the case, the fact that the food is still there even though at least a few months must have passed is...
'I suppose that means the food has quite good shelf life as well.'
Considering that potatoes and beans also have excellent storage properties, it would probably be correct to think of them as being of that kind as well.
In other words, if they just establish trade with Kaluta, the food shortage for this year and next year can be sufficiently resolved.
'It might be a good idea to switch our food suppliers entirely to Kaluta.'
It seemed better to talk to Batar about this.
Still, after about 1 or 2 years, the villagers will be able to survive enough not to starve.
"Hmm? Roselyn! What are you doing here!"
"Batar "
"The others went ahead earlier, so why is Roselyn alone? What about the escorts! I told you over and over again that Roselyn is weak and needs to be protected..."
The boy stomped his foot violently and glared fiercely with his round eyes.
Roselyn hurriedly opened her mouth because his glaring eyes looked as if he were about to run out and beat someone like a dog at any moment.
"I asked Father something. I said I would look around the land alone."
"...Even so, what if you die on the street? Anyway, from now on, I'll be your escort."
Batar spoke resolutely, slamming his two fists together.
Roselyn let out a small laugh. At that, Batar's cheeks flushed red.
Batar, his cheeks flushed, kicked a stone on the ground.
Ppaeaaeak!
Sigh!
The stone, which she thought had been lightly kicked, flew at an invisible speed and lodged itself in the trunk of a tree.
"..."
Roselyn thought she shouldn't mess around.
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