Chapter 33

Chapter 33

#33. Agriculture of the Northern Region (3)

“Everyone probably finds Mary strange, right? For your info, she’s not a witch but an ex-lower-tier adventurer. I’ve had some favors from her in the past, so we’ve kept in touch. She’s been handling supply jobs for the Coven for a while now.”

The rather awkward conversation and the subtle eye signals between the two women were quite suspicious, but both me and the witches just let it slide.

‘They’re not very thorough with their acting, huh.’

I was certain that this woman called Mary was actually the Grand Witch of Frosthaven’s snowy plains in disguise.

‘From Frosthaven, huh? Definitely not a witch… is she really an ex-adventurer? Or maybe hired muscle?’

‘Pretty though, right? Maybe she’s here as part of a beauty strategy?’

‘Beauty strategy?! Is that okay? Last time with His Highness the Duke…’

‘Shh! She got rejected apparently…’

‘Really?! But they seemed so close! Didn’t she even get a bag as a gift? And she still carries it all the time these days.’

The witches appeared to be speculating amongst themselves again.

‘Our master really has high standards…’

‘Nope! Apparently it’s the opposite this time?’

‘What?! Lord Jin asked her out?’

‘Nonsense!’

‘Apparently at the original investiture ceremony, Lord Jin was going to propose to Her Highness but didn’t go through with it.’

‘It seems like they haven’t met much lately because of that.’

‘So, the woman by Lady Jin…?’

‘That’s right.’

‘But it seems Her Highness still has lingering feelings for Lord Jin. That’s why she keeps reserving the seat next to hers during meetings.’

‘My goodness, my goodness, my goodness!’

‘Unbelievable…’

As time passed, the witches’ gazes on me and Mary started to feel more like watching the protagonist of a morning drama, which was kind of burdensome.

Trying to ignore the overly bright stares, I decided to help dismantle the greenhouse farm.

“Has the dismantling not started yet?”

“Yes. Setting up a large-scale magical barrier like this is hard, but taking it down isn’t easy either.”

“What about the elementals?”

“They’re unusually quiet.”

“We need to finish before the elementals react.”

Mary and I moved across the vast farm on horseback.

Right beside us, the witches followed on their broomsticks.

We carefully inspected the tombstones scattered throughout the greenhouse farm.

The entire farm had adult-sized white tombstones planted like stakes, with intricate Rune letters and magical seals intricately carved into their surfaces.

“Starting today, over the course of a month, we need to erase the Runes and seals carved into these tombstones. By the way, when erasing these seals, you shouldn’t start with Ice-attribute magic. Use water elementals gradually…”

I began explaining while checking the first tombstone I found.

I talked loudly like a lunatic.

“Hem hem!”

The witches half-heartedly listened to my explanation.

This was true for Isabel too.

It’s due to that tradition. Honestly, so frustrating. This is why we got crushed by the Mage Tower mages.

‘I should establish an academy to train Magic Engineers once the North stabilizes.’

Clearly, with just these witches, there’s a clear limit to how economically and magically the North can grow.

“So, what should I do here? Oh! I’ll take notes.”

“…?”

That’s when Mary’s voice suddenly came from behind.

‘Huh?’

Even Isabel, the most open-minded among the witches, doesn’t directly ask to learn from me because of that witch tradition.

In this situation, Mary, despite being a witch (albeit a hidden member of Frosthaven), boldly asks to learn from me.

‘Of course! With a mind like this, no wonder she became the Great Witch of the Snowfields later.’

I was amazed but didn’t doubt or find it strange.

With even one such enthusiastic student, I naturally felt energized.

“First, grab Water-element Magic Stones and Ice-element Magic Stones…”

Thanks to her, the explanation finally got on track.

The witches pretended not to focus but listened over my shoulder.

On the other hand, younger witches who hadn’t yet become independent covered their ears and ran far away.

Just as the first dismantling was about to proceed smoothly,

“What is this…?”

“Why are the elementals acting weird?!”

Even before we’d broken ground on dismantling the greenhouse farm.

“The elementals! All the elementals of the North! They’re going berserk!”

Suddenly, panicked screams erupted everywhere from the frantic witches.

Wooohh-

At the same time, the countless tombstones embedded in the greenhouse farm began to glow.

It was an entirely unexpected phenomenon.

There was nothing we could do.

“What’s happening?!”

“Mana Force! The Mana Forces outside High City are converging here!”

“Calm them down! Somehow calm the elementals!”

Mana rapidly disappeared from key farms and fields in the North.

All that lost mana traveled via the elementals and gathered in the greenhouse farm.

As a result, the greenhouse farm in High City was now overflowing with excessive mana force.

“The crops in the greenhouse farm are acting strangely! They’re all oozing sap and dying!”

“The soil in the farm has turned completely black!”

“It’s because the mana force is too excessive for them to handle…”

And this would only worsen with time.

“Lord!”

“Call me Boss, Miss Mary.”

“Boss! I’m truly sorry, but something urgent has come up, so I must leave early.”

When the situation reached this point, Mary was the first to react.

“Leave early…? In this situation?”

“I’m sorry, but it’s extremely urgent…”

She boldly requested to leave early on her first day of work, even amidst this emergency.

Even someone like me, who’s dealt with countless MZ employees on Earth, has never seen anything like this.

‘Well, Frosthaven is probably in chaos right about now.’

Of course, I roughly guessed why she was doing this.

‘This is why you insist on hiding your identity so clumsily, tsk.’

I silently stared at Mary, who was fidgeting like a puppy desperate to go outside.

“Alright. Go ahead.”

I approved her early departure without asking for a reason.

If this happened on Earth, this story would spread on workplace communities, earning endless praise for me and my company.

“Thank, thank you!”

The moment my approval fell, she tilted her head as if thinking ‘Is he really letting me off this easily?’ then quickly mounted her horse and galloped toward the inner castle.

There’s probably Frosthaven’s headquarters there.

‘The elementals going berserk like this, someone must have intentionally caused it.’

After sending Mary off, I began analyzing the berserk greenhouse farm.

“Elementals! Stop the elementals!”

“They won’t calm down!”

“What is this?! What’s going on?!”

Screams from the witches, who were half-panicking, could be heard from the sky and ground of the farm.

Mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble

Meanwhile, Spring’s Great Witch Isabel had already drawn a large and complex magical seal on the ground nearby and was casting a spell.

‘She’s not called Great Witch for nothing.’

Being a Magic Engineer myself, I inwardly admired the great magic seal Isabel was deploying.

[Reveal!]

Eventually, Isabel’s incantation spread beyond the greenhouse farm, covering the entirety of High City.

Kooorrrr-

Ki ki ki kick

Haha haha haha

But the elementals’ rampage did not stop.

The flow of mana forces concentrating on the greenhouse farm merely slowed slightly but continued.

“I see it! There are 26 places combined! Something dangerous is buried in those lands! Extremely dangerous!”

The spell Isabel cast earlier wasn’t designed to immediately resolve this crisis.

One hour later.

An emergency meeting was held at the Palace of Glory centered around the Duke.

‘Is this seating arrangement fixed?’

Despite feeling somewhat burdened that my seat was still right next to the Duke, this wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

“Are the elementals going berserk?”

“Inaccurate. It’s more precise to say they’re being artificially controlled,” said Isabel with an expression sterner than usual, shaking the meeting room.

“Hmm… What are the characteristics of the lands losing mana?”

In response to Ariana’s question, bureaucrats responsible for investigations began reporting.

“All of them are major farms and fields in the North.”

“Regions like Shuen and Narvik, suitable for agriculture, are especially affected.”

“The problem is that this phenomenon is spreading quickly and widely. If this continues, it will disrupt not only food supplies but also Arad salt production.”

The grand magical seal deployed earlier by Spring’s Great Witch was a divination ritual for situational awareness and cause analysis, similar to a map hack.

Thanks to it, we clearly understood where this incident originated and its scope of impact.

“If left unchecked, a great famine will occur in the North.”

“It might already be too late. According to reports from the nearest outer city farms, leaves nearby have already begun to wither.”

The issue was that the facts we uncovered were far from favorable.

“In the worst case, witch hunts may break out in the North.”

Especially the witches, including Isabel, looked utterly flustered as if they were committing treason.

“This is not the fault of the witches.”

I spoke up partly to dispel this atmosphere.

‘Not at all! Definitely not! It’s absolutely not because I want to be mistakenly blamed for this crisis that I spoke up first.’

“Is there a solution?”

“Oh! That’s right! Perhaps Lord Arad has some method.”

For the first time in ages, the gaze of Northern Chief Duchess Ariana and high-ranking officials focused on me.

“To the survival of the North, Lord Arad, it depends on you. Please.”

Particularly Ariana’s gaze was filled with excessive expectations.

Looking at the Duke who regarded me with indifference, she truly seemed to have regained composure as a ruler, putting aside personal pain.

“Spring’s Great Witch deployed the Marking Ritual. I hear that according to that ritual, high knights and witches will be dispatched to the indicated lands.”

“That’s the plan. Since the witches mentioned something dangerous is surely buried in those lands.”

“But how long will it take to uncover those hidden dangers? They must have set up all sorts of vile concealments and barriers.”

“The witches will use detection magic.”

“Not easy under the current circumstances where the elementals don’t obey.”

Shaking my head, I continued.

“Starting now, I will stay up all night and create a detector by morning. Using that detector, we need to discover and destroy whatever dangerous thing is buried in those lands.”

Though confidently proposed, the conference room’s atmosphere suggested they had been waiting for me to say this all along.

Yeah, like I’m Doraemon or something?

“That creation! Let me help!”

However, at that moment, Ariana excitedly shouted towards me.

“Huh?”

“Ah, no, no! I mean, if there are resources or manpower needed for the creation, I’ll assist.”

“My hands are full, but for now, I can manage alone.”

“O-Oh, is that so…?”

“Yes. Though, I do have a request.”

“Speak freely.”

“The assistant I just hired named Mary seems to have another job. I’d like her to return to the Arad Guild. Having her assistance would be more helpful than working alone.”

Hem!

Cough cough cough!

Ho ho ho! Hem!

Immediately after speaking, awkward coughs echoed throughout the conference room.

They came from Chief Administrator Haytai, Frost Sword Demon Valkyrie, and Great Witch Isabel.

I fully understood why they were making these fake coughs.

‘Deliberately doing this, aren’t you guys?’

Still harboring slight lingering feelings, the Duke referenced another woman to maintain distance—on purpose.

‘Besides, since she’s the future Great Witch of Frosthaven, she might be useful in creating magical artifacts.’

“Why is everyone suddenly reacting like this?”

I looked at them with a puzzled expression, pretending to form a question mark.

“Uh… Hmm… Understood.”

Ariana reluctantly accepted my request after a slight delay.

Each time I saw Ariana visibly flustered, I felt unnecessary guilt and regret, but there was nothing to be done.

This was the best and least bad option.

By the way, couldn’t they adjust the seating arrangements somehow?

Even sitting here in the seat next to the Duke reserved for national guests, my legs involuntarily trembled as I made such statements.

---