RGDNF 08

Chapter 8

[Haniel’s Sticker Book (For Children)]

• Divine Power Stickers in Storage: 16
• Collected Stickers: Thumbs Up, Footprint Stomp!, (Not Acquired), (Not Acquired), (Not Acquired)……

• Children can express themselves freely by placing stickers wherever they want!
• Collect more stickers and you might create a special collection!

That was all the divine power I had collected while traveling to the North.

‘The ten stickers I received when I arrived in the North were the biggest haul. The rest were all tiny errands like climbing one step of the carriage stairs, sleeping under a blanket, brushing my teeth for three minutes, and so on.’

But if I completed this errand, I’d receive a whopping 200 Divine Power Stickers!

With that many stickers, I might actually be able to help the North.

And if I became useful, maybe even the Grand Duke, who was practically an unbreakable fortress, would let me continue living here!

My eyes burned with determination.

I enthusiastically scooped up stew with the spoon Butler Camilla had given me.

“Haap! Hup!”

Stew disposal complete!

“Butler, is there any farmland around here?”

“Farmland? I suppose there probably is?”

Ding.

That attitude of hers made it sound like someone else’s problem!

Seeing my blank expression, Butler Camilla smiled.

“Child. Don’t tell me you really came here intending to farm? In the North, where it snows—or is cloudy because it’s about to snow—for 360 out of 365 days?”

“I…”

“Don’t bother. It’d be more productive to go around collecting monster droppings.”

“B-but I’d still like to take a look…”

“Hmm. The snow did happen to stop today. I was planning to take you outside after feeding you your stew anyway, but…”

I tightly grabbed the hem of her clothes.

“His Grace the Grand Duke said I could stay until the day after tomorrow!”

“Hm? When did he say that?”

“He said I’d probably be dead by the day after tomorrow!”

“A little brat like you will be dead in… two days? The day after tomorrow, maybe.”

“Doesn’t that mean I’m allowed to stay here until the day after tomorrow?”

“Does that really mean that?”

I waved my arms enthusiastically.

“Yes! It totally, totally does!”

It was complete and utter sophistry, but for some reason, Butler Camilla looked down at me and twitched her eyebrows.

“…You really are adorable. Enough to tug at my heartstrings. And you’re just grubby enough to look like a freshly dug potato.”

A potato?!

“I’m honored!”

Butler Camilla suddenly scooped me up into her arms.

I tried my hardest to make a delicious-looking(?) expression, like a potato ready to be eaten.

When our eyes met, Butler Camilla’s eyebrows twitched again.

“…Grubby. Cute. Ah, I don’t know. Let’s go!”

“Yaaay!”

Wrapped up in a huge blanket (there were no children’s clothes…), I went outside.

Clutching a hoe I’d borrowed from the butler.

A little while later.

Haniel spectacularly failed the “Hoeing” challenge again.

“It’s hard!”

It had been great convincing Camilla to take me to what appeared to be farmland.

But—

Kaaang!

The ground was completely frozen solid.

It was so hard that a child’s pitiful strength couldn’t even make the blade of the hoe penetrate it.

And the giant hoe was ridiculously heavy!

If Camilla hadn’t secretly helped from behind, Haniel wouldn’t even have been able to lift the hoe properly.

“Children these days really enjoy such strange games. It’s hard to keep up with their sensibilities…”

“I won’t lose!”

Clunk! Bang! Clunk! Bang!

Haniel desperately lifted the hoe and slammed it into the ground.

But—

[Challenge! Hoeing! (0/5)]

‘Why isn’t it increasing?!’

Sure, there wasn’t any soil being dug up by the blade!

Sure, it was questionable whether what I was doing even contained the essence of “hoe”—the act of turning over the soil!

‘But still! Still!!’

Clunk! Bang! Clunk! Bang!

‘I am hoeing! This is absolutely hoeing! I might even be in the upper percentile among six-year-olds!’

Haniel desperately cried out in her heart.

Then the white letters before her eyes flickered for a moment, as though wandering aimlessly.

[Challenge! Hoeing!……]

POP!

[Challenge! Hoeing! (0.00000001/5)]

‘Oh, come on! I only got a participation point!’

They were even stingy about it!

“My goodness. You’re doing so well. Of all the six-year-olds I know, you’re the best at… hammering?”

“Urgh.”

It was hoeing…!

Haniel looked down at the ground she’d been tormenting.

Despite all her frantic efforts, there wasn’t even the slightest scratch on the soil.

‘I suppose that’s how it looks…’

I had no choice but to admit it.

‘Hoeing frozen ground is meaningless.’

In other words, I needed to perform real hoeing.

Simply performing the physical action wasn’t enough.

The purpose and meaning behind the action had to be fulfilled as well.

All right.

Then what should I do?

Hoeing = Beginning of farming = Need thawed soil = To thaw the soil…?

Haniel blinked.

Then she whipped around toward Camilla.

“Um, where is His Grace the Grand Duke?”

Vasily wandered through the village.

Suddenly, he found himself baffled.

‘That brat… she isn’t afraid at all.’

Just where did she think she was?

How could she be so excited to come here?

And what was this sudden talk about farming?

She really was an absurd little kid.

Vasily clenched his fist, as though trying to erase the sensation of the child’s body from his hand.

He had always hated things that were young and weak.

Children?

Of course he didn’t like them.

The little brat did look rather cute, with her round and sturdy appearance, but that was all.

He had left her with Camilla, after all, the cold-tempered former vice-commander known as the Ice Knight…

By now, the girl was probably on her way out of the territory without so much as a peep.

‘Good riddance, little hippo.’

He gave a short snort.

Lost in thought, he eventually found himself at the village warehouse.

“What? You mean there was sand mixed into the salt?”

“Yeah.”

Vasily nodded lazily.

Even sitting carelessly on a wooden crate in the warehouse, the man somehow looked like he belonged in a painting.

Though the painting would be rather…

Fierce.

And terrifying.

The supply officer who had returned that morning looked troubled.

“The bags the southerners showed us as samples were perfectly fine, so I thought everything was okay. What on earth happened?”

“Take the whole lot back and return it. If you’re in the mood, punch them in the gut while you’re there.”

“…Punching them isn’t really practical… It doesn’t exactly make us any money.”

Ruden, the head of the merchant caravan who had just returned from the South, let out a deep sigh.

He was also one of the knights serving under Vasily.

“Times have changed.”

“Then what do you fight with?”

“Instead of fists, they throw around things like lawsuits. They fight elegantly, at length, and at great expense.”

“What a boring era. …Well, I suppose it can’t be helped anymore.”

After the war ended, his former mercenary group had each taken on roles necessary to manage the Vertus territory.

Ruden had been a supply officer on the battlefield.

So naturally, he handled similar duties here.

The only difference was that the goods he dealt with had changed from weapons to everyday necessities.

And, well…

Not just a little.

Quite a lot.

“Anyway, I apologize, Your Grace. I can’t believe I made such a mistake.”

Ruden wiped his glasses and bowed.

“It isn’t your fault that those southerners are a bunch of sly bastards.”

Vasily dismissed the matter as he looked at Ruden and his men.

“You should still have some uses left on the Northern Crystal Portal. Go back and deal with it.”

“Ah… about that.”

Ruden scratched the back of his head.

“We used up all of our Crystal Portal passes this time.”

“What?”

“Actually, on the way back, we discovered that we were short on sugar and cotton cloth, so we had to make several extra trips. We ended up using all of them.”

“……”

Vasily fell silent.

The “Crystal Portal Pass” was a permit that allowed them to use the teleportation portal.

The crystal-shaped magical device, roughly the size of a finger, was incredibly expensive.

So there was an unspoken rule to avoid wasting its uses as much as possible.

That had probably been the last pass Ruden possessed.

“Ruden, you…”

“Um… Your Grace.”

Ruden suddenly spoke in a daze.

“Did you… perhaps get married while I was away?”

“What?”

“If not… then it seems you’ve suddenly become a single father.”

What was he talking about?

Vasily followed Ruden’s gaze and abruptly turned around.

And then he was rendered speechless.

Because he saw…

A picture of some kind of potato lump.

“Gasp!”

Below the window.

A pair of pink eyes peeked out and widened slightly.

“Hm?”

The little brat cautiously checked Vasily’s reaction before looking down at her sketchbook.

Then—

“Oops! I opened the wrong page!”

She hurriedly flipped to the next page…

What the hell is that brat doing?

Upon closer inspection, it was a bundle of old newsletters bound together and reused as a makeshift sketchbook.

She was holding it up proudly like a protest sign.

Apparently unable to reach the window, the child could only barely peek her eyes over the bottom.

She looked at Vasily nervously before saying,

“Next, next!”

Then she rapidly flipped through the pages.