Chapter 40 : Anomalies in The Farmland

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After Maricle-sama and Bhadra-sama left, I went to the garden to do some maintenance on our fish pond. 

“Oh? There’s a normal human in the duke’s mansion-pe?”

“Huh?”

I turned my head toward the voice and there, I saw someone who looked like an old man  standing there and judging from his attire, he appeared to be a farmer or someone related to the agriculture field….

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. 

Ah…. If I’m not wrong, a noblewoman should’ve pinched her skirt up and bent her knees when greeting someone, instead of bowing… Uuuh… I’ve failed….

However because of my blunder, he must’ve thought I was a commoner like him so he started to address me casually while still keeping his friendly smile. 

“Missy, what are you doing here-pe?~”

“Oh, right… I’m taking care of this fish pond… What about oji-sama?”

“Me… I came here from a nearby village, my name is Soncho… I’m here because there’s something urgent I need to talk about with the master of this house.”

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 dying… Such kind of anomalies kept on happening. 

“The magic doctor said… It was as if… The soil suddenly became acidic-pe. That’s why I’m here to ask the duke to order some limestone powder from Dalis territory-pe. It’s sowing season so we’re in a bit of a hurry-pe.”

From what I was told, Lönnrot dukedom didn’t have any limestone quarry. Hence why every year they always ordered the necessary amount from Dalis territory, which was quite far from Lönnrot dukedom. By the way, Dalis territory was also the birthplace of Sheila-sama. 

But… Even though they put an ‘urgent’ request on their order right here and there, it would still take quite a long time for the limestone powder to arrive. 

“I see…”

“Mmhmm~ However, this automaton that’s controlled by Bhadra-sama, they just keep repeating the same thing. Even though usually they’re more fluent in talking~”

Feeling despondent, Soncho-san inclined his head slightly to the side, his eyes beginning to water like an abandoned puppy. 

Ah, right… Maricle-sama did say we won’t be able to converse through the doll like usual today…

Somehow, I felt sorry for Soncho-san. 

Soncho-san and the others, they always worked very hard in cultivating  the land to grow the delicious vegetables that we always eat on a daily basis. This… I wanted to do something for him if I could. 

“You see, I’ve been working as a farmer for a long time already but…. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that… I guess we will have to give up on the seeds we’ve planted in the spring… We’re in a bind…You know I also asked the travelling performer about this and they said this kind of thing is not happening in other territories. It’s only happening in our territory. It’s like acid rain is falling on us only-pe.”

“Is that so…”

They needed to get limestone powder as soon as possible….

“Umm… If it’s limestone powder, I think I can do something about it.”

“?!”

Soncho-san’s eyes widened when he heard my words. 

“R-really-pe?!”

“Yes. But… I… I can’t do it alone… I mean…  If it’s alright with you, it’d be great if you could lend me a hand….”

“Wh-What can I help you with-pe?”

“Well, I need to have you eat the shellfish I cooked!”

“Sh-Shellfish??”

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T/N: Return of shokugeki no Miltia! Btw they need limestone powder because limestone is an alkaline agent with the ability to neutralise, or partially neutralise strong acids.

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