“Ahem. Just look at those chubby little cheeks and that round belly.”
“She looks absolutely adorable and healthy.”
“I heard the elders were quite fierce when they confronted that child during the last meeting. Wasn’t that a bit too much?”
“How could they bully such a tiny little saintess?”
The things they were saying were so sweet, so sweet!
All those scary old men I had met at the previous meeting had disappeared, and the people filling the room now were retainers in their forties and fifties.
You could think of them as the actual presidents running each of Driblyane’s many subsidiaries.
In other words, every single one of them is a powerful big shot in the outside world!
If I managed to win these people’s favor, my future would be nothing but smooth sailing.
“As you said, Driblyane purchased that entire region. Since it was still winter just a week ago, we bought it at a very cheap price.”
Wow. He was calling the purchase of an entire neighborhood cheap.
Perhaps he had been waiting for me to finish drinking my honey milk, because the head of the family slowly opened his mouth.
The room fell silent as though everyone had agreed beforehand.
“Now, shall we plow all that land and turn it into farmland?”
“…Huh?”
“Wasn’t it originally a wheat-producing region? What you meant was that, now that spring has arrived, we should plow the fields and prepare them for planting?”
No, no, no! That’s not what I meant! What are you talking about?!
I jerked my head up in disbelief, only to find the head of the family’s black eyes gleaming with amusement.
The retainers around him also looked curious about what I was going to say.
Ah, this.
It was a test.
I realized it was a beat too late, so I first wiped my milk-damp chin.
Then I stuck out my chubby belly and waddled to my feet.
“Ahem.”
“How adorable.”
“She smells like milk.”
“Have you ever seen something so tiny? This is the first time in my entire life.”
“Well, your family is full of bears. There isn’t a single small beastkin in the Grizzly Bear family!”
As they whispered among themselves, I politely clasped my front paws together.
Had the retainers deliberately made small talk to give me time to prepare my answer?
I took three deep breaths before declaring proudly,
“Put it up foh auction, then sell it expensively to da Imperial Family! (Put it up for auction first, then sell it to the Imperial Family at an exorbitant price.)”
Proof of spring.
That alone was an enormous event capable of shaking not only the Magic Empire but even the Holy Empire.
Could they even imagine how valuable Luxoria would be at this point in time?
It was the year 995, nearly ten years after the Saintess’s sealing in 986.
After nearly a decade of losing the seasons, spring had finally returned.
And only to that one place!
If we decide to live in Luxoria, it’ll become a privilege enjoyed by only a select few.
Even if we tried turning it into farmland, it wasn’t as though we could feed the entire Magic Empire with it.
Besides, common sense dictates that it would take a long time to fertilize frozen soil enough for crops to grow.
It was an extremely meaningful piece of land, but on the other hand, it had absolutely no practical use.
I looked up at Grandfather Head of the Family with the most trustworthy expression a marten could possibly make.
“You have to sell it vewy, vewy expensively. Make the bid so high that evewyone flips out!” (Call for the highest price in auction history, enough to make everyone turn upside down!)
That way, more money would trickle down to me.
As I’d said before, for a villainous family, Driblyane was surprisingly strict about performance and reward systems.
If they sold Luxoria, they would definitely give me a share of the proceeds, right?
“And dis is weally impohtant infowmation too……”
“You have another interesting piece of information?”
I nodded.
By now, Grandfather Head of the Family looked positively delighted.
From suspicion to interest, from interest to amusement.
And now, to genuine pleasure.
I watched the change carefully and grinned.
“Spwing is coming soon. To the whole world.”
Therefore, Luxoria was valuable to the Imperial Family only right now.
Because it was the first place where spring had returned.
“Then we must hurry and sell Luxoria before spring is seen throughout the country.”
“Mm-hm!”
“The Imperial Family is going to have quite the stomachache after paying for it!”
Grandfather Head of the Family slapped the table and burst into hearty laughter.
The retainers laughed slyly along with him, and I gave a grin befitting someone who was destined to become the daughter-in-law of a villainous family.
Ah, but…
Why do I get along so well with villains…?
I felt a little troubled by that thought, but seeing everyone around me laughing so hard that they were even wiping away tears made me feel pretty good.
“If they knew whose idea this was, I wonder how the Emperor would react!”
“Hahaha! Just imagining it is enough to make me feel refreshed!”
“Every year, they take countless things from us under the pretext of taxes, donations, border defense funds, and whatnot.”
“Let’s just consider getting some of it back. Hahaha!”
Hmm.
It seemed that, more than the fact that we could recover an enormous amount of our investment, they were happier about sticking it to the Imperial Family—
Well, good is good.
And so, I was gradually adapting to this villainous family too.
Eventually, I tugged lightly on Grandfather Head of the Family’s sleeve.
I still wasn’t finished saying everything I had to say.
“Um, Head of the Family. Do we have seed and fewtilizer at Dwibbliane?”
“You mean we should sell the seeds, fertilizer, and seedlings Driblyane has been researching, since spring will soon come across the entire country?”
“Yes!”
“You want us to seize the market first. The entire country will soon be in need of fertilizer.”
It was nice that he understood me in one go.
As expected, you couldn’t underestimate the experience.
In the original story, Driblyane was an arms manufacturer.
Therefore, most of their manpower had been concentrated on research into guns, bombs, invisible surveillance golems, and so on.
But the current Duchess… She’s a spirit mage. And not just any spirit mage—she has contracted with an earth spirit.
And the Duchess had spent a long time researching ways to grow crops successfully indoors in order to save as many people as possible.
She had even presented the Imperial Family with methods for growing tasty, sturdy crops with minimal nutrients.
Thanks to that, the people of the Magic Empire suffered less from hunger than those of the Holy Empire.
And thanks to that research, the seeds Driblyane possesses are harder than those held by any other family.
If we planted them, they would be able to grow reasonably well even in harsh conditions, allowing us to obtain the first harvest.
That would mean more than just a harvest.
It would mean hope.
But how would everyone react to this information?
Even so, wouldn’t they be suspicious if I somehow connected this to the Duchess’s research? Wouldn’t they think it was impossible for me to know about it?
I flicked my round ears as I pondered.
In the end, I decided to throw the absent Kiraxus under the bus.
“You’re very capable. I won’t ask where you obtained this information or how you came up with the ways to make use of it.”
“Uh…… half of it was Kitty who told me.”
“Surely by ‘Kitty,’ you mean Kiraxus?”
“……Mm-hm.”
The name Kiraxus was simply too difficult to pronounce.
So I had searched for an alternative pronunciation…
And that alternative was Kitty.
Sorry.
“P-Puhahaha!”
“D-Did you just call the Young Master a kitty?”
“My stomach! Oh, my stomach! I’m dying!”
“Our little kitten Young Master! Hahahaha!”
……
At this rate, the retainers were going to start thinking I was a comedian.
I let out a deep sigh.
“Then, what does this baby want in exchange for providing all this information?”
“A… pwize?”
“That’s right. Driblyane has a greedy nature. If there is something it wants, it takes it. But at the same time, it can never simply take something without giving anything in return.”
Grandfather Head of the Family was explaining Driblyane to me.
This means he’s willing to accept me!
My heart suddenly began to race.
It was the anticipation of belonging somewhere.
Until now, I had wandered around alone, unable to belong anywhere.
Now I’ll have a place too… officially.
“The value of your achievements is something you determine for yourself. As you accumulate experiences like this, you will eventually be able to manage the affairs of the family.”
“Yes.”
“Now, I’ll ask you again. How much do you think this accomplishment is worth?”
I realized it.
There was no point in pretending to be weak, cute, or clueless here.
These people weren’t looking for a child like that.
Right now, I’m like a comet that suddenly fell from the sky, completely unexpected.
After all, there was only one thing Grandfather Head of the Family—and the retainers loyal to Driblyane—wanted.
Someone capable of filling the position of daughter-in-law.
In this world, it was a firmly held belief that one’s innate nature could never change.
So it didn’t matter if I was a little suspicious.
If I was useful enough, like the child of a dragon, these people would gladly throw away the cards they had already prepared and choose me instead.
“……”
I looked around at the faces waiting for my answer.
I could sense the faint scent of expectation.
And I decided I would gladly live up to it.
“Dwibbliane.”
“What?”
Grandfather Head of the Family raised an eyebrow and asked again, but I answered without even blinking.
“I want Dwibbliane. Because…… because…… it’s the best thing there is!”
My pronunciation was much clearer than before, showing just how carefully I was speaking.
Then, before the atmosphere could become strange, I added a little cuteness.
“An’ I want ‘I’m pwetty,’ too.”
But after sticking out my belly and saying everything I wanted to say, I became a little confused.
“But where do I get ‘I’m pwetty’?”
For a human, it would obviously be the head.
But I was a beastkin, and right now I was in the form of a marten, so I was confused.
Normally, when you praise a puppy, don’t you tickle its belly…?
Or was that not right…?
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