Chapter 184: Mine Now!
What natural wonders did the Ascart Fiefdom contain?
Despite being the proxy fief lord for several years now, Roel still couldn’t give a confident answer to that.
Transportation had never been very developed on the Sia Continent, and the Ascart Fiefdom was fairly big. Even the fastest steed pulling the best carriage available would take ten days to travel between the north and south borders, and that was after taking into consideration the new roads that Roel had constructed. Prior to the infrastructure upgrade, the innumerable detours one would have to take could easily extend the journey to over a month.
Since travel was so circumscribed, most fief lords would choose to remain in the financial and political hub of their domain in order to maximize the efficiency in relaying their orders. As for those fief lords who chose to tour their country in the name of work... well, that was just plain extravagance and, possibly, an excuse to slack off too.
As a result, despite being the Ascart Fiefdom’s proxy fief lord, Roel never got to enjoy the beautiful views and local snacks of his territory. Just the immense pile of administrative work he had to wade through every single day regarding various development projects was more than enough to keep his hands full.
He told himself that he would make sure to travel around the Ascart Fiefdom once everything settled down, and that was what had been driving him all along. He hoped that when he finally started touring the fief, instead of a suffering populace, he would see healthy and driven civilians working with dreams of a brighter future.
Unexpectedly, Charlotte’s ‘outdoor recuperation trip’ had allowed him to catch a glimpse of the fruits of his efforts in advance.
“Oh? Is this the specialty of the southern villages, almond wine? Just as I’ve heard, it has quite a peculiar smell.”
Roel took a sip of the wine inside his cup, and his brows immediately shot up. The auburn-haired girl beside him also took a sniff of the wine’s aroma, only to be surprised by the strong almond scent.
“It does have a unique smell to it. What’s in it?”
“If I recall correctly, it’s a special local almond variation named Pamela. It means ‘cannot be bitten through’ in the local dialect.”
“Cannot be bitten through?”
“Yes. The fruit has a hard, elongated exterior, and it’s often used by the monkeys as a weapon. I heard that the monkeys in the region are quite remarkable fighters.”
“Pft. What is with that?”
Roel’s introduction made Charlotte burst out laughing. She took a sip of wine before her eyes widened.
“Sweet!”
“Isn’t it? I knew that you would like it.”
Leaning back in his wheelchair, Roel observed the sweet-toothed girl before him and smiled helplessly. Charlotte, on the other hand, couldn’t resist taking yet another sip of the wine.
“It’s really sweet. Why is that so?”
The almond has a hard exterior but also a high sugar content—very high, in fact. If not for its hard exterior, it would have been devoured by the wildlife by now. Also, the wine you’re drinking right now is actually the improved version.”
“The improved version?”
“Yes. The Pamela almond has an unpleasant aftertaste to it. In order to conceal it, grapes are added during the fermentation process, which further enhances the sweetness.”
Roel swirled the light yellow alcohol in his hands as he explained. Charlotte took another sip of the wine, and the rich mellow sweetness rolled over her tongue on its way down, making her eyes curl into smiling crescents.
“Speaking of which, why are you so familiar with all of this?”
“I have to be familiar. It’s one of the key businesses that our ‘Supporting the Poor’ policy is planning to push out. I looked through the proposal thoroughly before putting my stamp of approval on it.”
“Were you the one who came up with the ‘Supporting the Poor’ policy?”
“Err, not really, I’d say. I found it from a historical record of an ancient country five thousand years back.”
“I see. It’s really quite an interesting policy.”
Charlotte thought about the humongous library of records in the Ascarts’ manor and nodded. She contemplated silently for a while before posing a question.
“I’m quite curious about how the ‘Supporting the Poor’ policy functions. Do you just donate money to the poor?”
“Donate money to the poor? That’s a plausible solution, but the results of directly donating to the poor are often lackluster.”
‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.’ This was a common quote in Roel’s previous life, and he agreed deeply with it.
“The Ascart Fiefdom’s ‘Supporting the Poor’ policy focuses mainly on uncovering the local specialties of each region and achieving a greater level of information symmetry.”
“Information symmetry?”
Charlotte blinked her eyes in confusion as Roel maneuvered the wheelchair around to face her. He glanced at the village, which was a little excited by the majestic arrival of Charlotte’s group, and began explaining.
“How many of these people here do you think have seen the wider world out there?”
“Hm? I guess... not many of them. Hardly anyone who ventures out of their villages would return later.”
“Indeed! Most who leave never return. As a result, for most villages, the only one who has a bit more worldly insight tends to be the village chief, but even so, that’s just based on their experiences visiting a few nearby towns and cities. As a result, whenever merchants visit their village, the things that they bring out are not the almond wine you’re drinking right now but things like the animal hides you can see all over the market.
“They don’t know the outside world, and that’s why they’re unaware that the wine they brew out of Pamela almonds is an exclusive good that can’t be obtained anywhere else. They don’t know what their competitive edge in the market is.
“So, the main function of the ‘Supporting the Poor’ policy basically involves sending experts over to analyze and determine their market advantages before adapting the products to further their strengths and meet market needs.”
Roel lowered his gaze to look at the wooden cup in his hand as he thought about all of those marketing tricks he had read about in his previous life.
“We’ve already begun building factories to mass produce the Pamela wine. Our Ascart House will be giving a stamp of guarantee on the product, and we’ll first be focusing on the local market. Once it scales up, we’ll move on to push it out to the Theocracy’s nobles.
“I see. If you offer it as a gift to other nobles in the name of the Ascart House, you’ll be able to market it as a high-quality product and build general interest in it.”
“Yes, that’s the idea. We’ll start from our own fiefdom before expanding to the capital... By then, I’ll engage Nora’s help. With the Theocracy’s princess advocating the wine too, we might even be able to open the market in other countries... Wuuuuu! Charlotte?”
Roel was still sharing his ideas when a hand suddenly shot forth to tug at his cheeks. He turned over in bewilderment, only to see Charlotte looking back at him with a dissatisfied expression.
“Mister Roel, if I’m not mistaken, I’m the first one to taste this Pamela wine with you. Why should you allow another woman to promote a wine we’ve shared memories of?”
“Ah? T-this...”
“I’ll concede that the Theocracy’s princess does have quite a bit of clout within the Theocracy, but when it comes to commerce, shouldn’t the natural go-to choice be our Sorofyas? Besides, this wine suits the taste of Rosaians too. If I’m not mistaken, most people in the Theocracy prefer salty, savory flavors, no?”
“You’re right on that.”
Roel nodded in agreement. The Sorofya Merchant Association had connections all over the Sia Continent, no one could rival its marketing power. On top of that, perhaps it was due to the bitterness of war they had suffered over the years, their people were extremely fond of sweet flavors.
“Leave the promotion of the wine to me. We’ll push it out along with our upcoming summer products. A decadently sweet wine specially brewed for noblewomen as a secret treat. Doesn’t sound too bad, I’d say. I’ve already come up with an advertising slogan for it too.”
Charlotte looked at her black-haired companion as she reminisced about the fragrant sweetness she had just tasted.
“Let’s call it the Flavor of Romance.”
“...”
Roel gulped down his saliva upon hearing Charlotte’s words. He didn’t even dare to breathe loudly. He was not so dense as to be unable to discern what Charlotte was driving at.
“Ah, I’ve finished my cup.”
“That’s fast. It looks like you’re really fond of the wine. Why don’t we continue drinking back on the carriage instead?”
“Nay. The winter scenery adds to the mood too, don’t you agree?”
“But Grace and the others aren’t around... Ah? W-wait a moment, that’s mine. I’ve already drunk from the cup.”
Roel hurriedly tried to stop Charlotte from snatching away his cup with widened eyes, but she didn’t seem to mind sharing an indirect kiss. She glanced at the rim of the cup before sipping lightly off it.
“It’s mine now.”
Eyes fixated on the black-haired boy beside her, she said this with a smile.
...
An army of knights and guards were galloping swiftly along a snowy main road within the Ascart Fiefdom. At the forefront of the formation was a girl wearing a graceful skirt despite the chilly weather.
Nora Xeclyde was currently holding onto her harness tightly, staring at the mountainous path up ahead while worries plagued her heart.
It had been three days since she rushed out of Ascart City in a hurry. Within these three days, she barely rested at all. She couldn’t bring herself to rest. Every clue she received all hinted at the Sorofyas bearing sinister intentions toward Roel.
For one, Charlotte’s Diamond Rivière had not stopped at any of the villages or cities at all. For a group that was supposed to be touring around the Ascart Fiefdom to enjoy the beautiful scenery, this was clearly unnatural behavior. On top of that, even if the rich Diamond Rivière didn’t need to stock up on their supplies, in terms of safety, it was still much safer to stay in villages or cities instead of in the wilderness.
What really sealed the deal, though, was the direction and speed at which the Diamond Rivière was traveling.
After a relentless three-day pursuit, Nora could almost see the borders of the two countries now. It was understandable that Charlotte might have wanted to look at the scenery by the border, but the speed at which she was traveling clearly hinted at a desperate escape!
Having her suspicions affirmed, Nora narrowed her eyes coldly. She could already roughly guess Charlotte’s intention.
She’s really intending to kidnap Roel to Rosa!
Without a doubt, Nora’s original assessment of Charlotte was off. It was not wrong for her to say that the women of the Sorofya House tended to be more conservative, but once they fell in love with someone, the tenacity they displayed would be beyond imagination. Most likely, that was the current situation with Charlotte.
That Loyal Origin Attribute really is a huge bunch of trouble!
Nora gritted her teeth tightly in frustration. It was then that she heard a report from the soldiers.
“Ahead of us! It’s the convoy of the Sorofya House!”
The knights were overjoyed to have finally found their target. Nora straightened her posture in the saddle and saw over a dozen carriages bearing the Sorofyas’ golden rose insignia rushing ahead of them.
I’ve finally found them!
It was a huge relief to Nora having caught up with Charlotte’s convoy before they managed to successfully escape through the border. The knights immediately picked up their pace to surround the convoy. With an official search warrant coming directly from Nora, the Diamond Rivière was forced to gradually come to a halt.
Nora immediately got off her carriage and rushed toward the carriages.
“Roel! Where’s Roel?” she asked anxiously.
However, the one who got off the Diamond Rivière to greet her was neither the black-haired boy she was looking for nor the auburn-haired girl she was trying to hunt down. Rather, it was a black-haired maid.
“A good day to you, respected princess of the Theocracy. I had the honor of meeting you once back at the Ascarts’ manor.”
Facing the princess who had once fooled her, Grace lifted her skirt slightly and curtsied politely. There was a radiant smile on her face.
“Are you looking for young master Roel? My apologies, but he has already gotten off the carriage. He’s... busy with our young miss at the moment.”
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