After Maricle-sama and Bhadra-sama left, I went to the garden to do some maintenance on our fish pond.
āOh? Thereās a normal human in the dukeās mansion-pe?ā
āHuh?ā
I turned my head toward the voice and there, I saw someone who looked like an old manĀ standing there and judging from his attire, he appeared to be a farmer or someone related to the agriculture fieldā¦.
No, he IS an old man.
It seemed he was guided here by the automaton so he must be a guest of this estate.
The old man took his straw hat off, put on a friendly smile and bowed at me. Seeing him bowing at me, I immediately did the same without a second thought.
Ahā¦. If Iām not wrong, a noblewoman shouldāve pinched her skirt up and bent her knees when greeting someone, instead of bowingā¦ Uuuhā¦ Iāve failedā¦.
However because of my blunder, he mustāve thought I was a commoner like him so he started to address me casually while still keeping his friendly smile.
āMissy, what are you doing here-pe?~ā
āOh, rightā¦ Iām taking care of this fish pondā¦ What about oji-sama?ā
āMeā¦ I came here from a nearby village, my name is Sonchoā¦ Iām here because thereās something urgent I need to talk about with the master of this house.ā
According to Soncho-san, all of a sudden the crops growing in his village had started becoming strange recently. The bottom part of the fruit began to rot, the leaves of new sprouts started withering, the core of leafy plants began to rot and potato buds were dyingā¦ Such kind of anomalies kept on happening.
āThe magic doctor saidā¦ It was as ifā¦ The soil suddenly became acidic-pe. Thatās why Iām here to ask the duke to order some limestone powder from Dalis territory-pe. Itās sowing season so weāre in a bit of a hurry-pe.ā
From what I was told, Lƶnnrot dukedom didnāt have any limestone quarry. Hence why every year they always ordered the necessary amount from Dalis territory, which was quite far from Lƶnnrot dukedom. By the way, Dalis territory was also the birthplace of Sheila-sama.
Butā¦ Even though they put an āurgentā request on their order right here and there, it would still take quite a long time for the limestone powder to arrive.
āI seeā¦ā
āMmhmm~ However, this automaton thatās controlled by Bhadra-sama, they just keep repeating the same thing. Even though usually theyāre more fluent in talking~ā
Feeling despondent, Soncho-san inclined his head slightly to the side, his eyes beginning to water like an abandoned puppy.
Ah, rightā¦ Maricle-sama did say we wonāt be able to converse through the doll like usual todayā¦
Somehow, I felt sorry for Soncho-san.
Soncho-san and the others, they always worked very hard in cultivatingĀ the land to grow the delicious vegetables that we always eat on a daily basis. Thisā¦ I wanted to do something for him if I could.
āYou see, Iāve been working as a farmer for a long time already butā¦. This is the first time Iāve ever seen anything like thatā¦ I guess we will have to give up on the seeds weāve planted in the springā¦ Weāre in a bindā¦You know I also asked the travelling performer about this and they said this kind of thing is not happening in other territories. Itās only happening in our territory. Itās like acid rain is falling on us only-pe.ā
āIs that soā¦ā
They needed to get limestone powder as soon as possibleā¦.
āUmmā¦ If itās limestone powder, I think I can do something about it.ā
ā?!ā
Soncho-sanās eyes widened when he heard my words.
āR-really-pe?!ā
āYes. Butā¦ Iā¦ I canāt do it aloneā¦ I meanā¦Ā If itās alright with you, itād be great if you could lend me a handā¦.ā
āWh-What can I help you with-pe?ā
āWell, I need to have you eat the shellfish I cooked!ā