The Strongest Man’s Fake Wife Wants to Live Chapter 32

Even if her father, Duke Rydell, found out about this, there would be nothing he could do.

If he made a fuss about recovering that money and the tax office caught even the slightest scent of it, he would be fined dozens of times the amount simply for having attempted tax evasion.

So he would probably torment only the broker who had mediated the sales, but Pesha had generously added a substantial amount to the broker’s commission as compensation.

Even if the broker complained for the time being, the moment the money was deposited, they would stand firm against Duke Rydell’s harassment and protect Pesha.

Once she had secured a decent amount of funds, she placed bulk orders for the things she had already set her sights on.

‘It should be about time.’

Just as she was checking outside the window while estimating the date, she spotted a line of carts entering the castle grounds.

“They’re here!”

There were dozens of carts. It was an enormous procession.

When Pesha went down to the first floor, the merchants who had brought the carts were arguing with Jane Penrose.

“I’m telling you, we never bought anything like this!”

“No, look at the order form. It says Namoi Castle right there! Do you have any idea how much trouble we went through to haul all this here? And now you’re telling us to take it back? The payment has already been settled!”

“What? The payment has already been settled?”

Just then, Pesha pushed Jane aside and stepped in front of the merchants.

“Welcome. I’m the one who ordered these things.”

“M-My lady?”

While the startled Jane stared blankly at her, Pesha put her hands on her waist.

“What are you doing? Why haven’t you called the soldiers to move everything?”

“What is all this…?”

“What do you think? Trees.”

“Trees…?”

Pesha gave a bright smile at the dazed Jane.

“They’re trees, yes, but they’re trees that are going to save Swapro.”

 

***

 

The amount of trees unloaded from the procession of carts looked like it could easily cover the entire mountain behind the castle.

Owen, who had heard the news from Jane only afterward, looked troubled as he stared at the piles of trees stacked across the ground.

Meanwhile, Pesha, who had brought him here, wore a triumphant expression.

“I need your help to plant these trees.”

“…How can I help?”

“Please gather every soldier who can be recruited in Swapro. Excluding the troops needed to defend against monsters, I’d like as many men as possible to be spared.”

Owen furrowed his brow and hesitated.

He seemed to be thinking carefully about what to say. After wavering several times, he finally opened his mouth.

“Wife. Swapro is not an environment where trees can be planted. I thought you knew that.”

“I know. Even if we put in all the effort to plant them, these trees probably won’t survive even a year.”

“Then why…”

“Because we only need that one year.”

Seeing the confidence in Pesha’s eyes, Owen gradually realized that she was not joking or playing around. She was serious.

“Can you see the size of those trees?”

At her words, Owen looked over the trees.

Their branches were thin and they were short for ordinary saplings.

“These are called shrubs. They’re smaller than ordinary trees, and their roots don’t grow very deep into the ground. So even if we plant them in contaminated soil, they won’t die immediately.”

The monster aura that had accumulated in Swapro over such a long period had contaminated the soil deep underground over the generations.

That was why they could not dig very deeply when constructing waterways or ditches in Swapro.

Pesha had focused on the fact that the relatively shallow soil was less contaminated.

In other words, shrubs that rooted themselves in shallow soil should be able to survive for quite some time.

Even if that was only one year, they could still block rain and snow and play a sufficient role in helping the land circulate.

“There must be a reason you’re planting shrubs.”

“That’s right. During that one year while the shrubs serve as a roof, I’m going to plant purification plants that will cleanse this land.”

At that, Owen’s expression became subtle.

Pesha knew why.

“You want to say it won’t work, right? Compared to purification magic, the effect of purification through plants is no more than a speck of dust.”

“We’ve tried purifying the land with purification plants several times before. But all we managed to confirm was that this land was so difficult that even purification plants struggled to take root.”

Pesha did not like the bitterness in Owen’s voice.

After all, he had already experienced failure several times. It was only natural that he would be exhausted by it.

But this time was different.

“You failed because I wasn’t here until now.”

Pesha puffed out her chest and raised her chin arrogantly.

“But I have no intention of letting myself fail.”

Owen stared down at Pesha for a moment before beckoning Jane, who had been anxiously listening to their conversation.

“Yes! Did you call for me?”

“Jane.”

“Should we return them? We should tell them to take all of this back, right?”

“Call Rebecca. Tell her to follow my wife’s orders.”

“What?”

Jane whipped his head around and looked at the piles of trees.

There were so many that his mind went blank.

Planting this absurd number of trees was already ridiculous enough, and now he was going to assign Rebecca to it?

‘That can’t be…’

Rebecca Bates.

Owen Namoi’s military adjutant.

She was not merely someone with a high-ranking position.

She held actual command over the soldiers and was responsible for the practical execution of major operations, including wars and monster extermination missions.

And now, that person was going to… plant trees?

And not only that, Owen had given the order as casually as if he were assigning someone to an insignificant chore.

“R-Rebecca? Lord, you’re joking, aren’t you?”

Jane looked at Owen as though he could not believe what he had heard, but his lord was already walking away without the slightest interest in Jane’s shock.

A lord’s orders were absolute.

The fact that permission had been granted meant that from this moment on, the task of planting these trees had been elevated to an ‘official duty.’

Therefore, from this moment onward, no one could openly object.

“…I guess it’s really happening.”

Just as Jane muttered helplessly to himself, Pesha, standing beside him, deliberately gave an order to a servant.

“Bring Sir Rebecca Bates here right now.”

“Yes!”

Unlike Jane, who was still unable to accept the situation, Rebecca got along surprisingly well with Pesha.

Guided by the servant, she appeared in a neat uniform, her confident, sharply disciplined stride standing out.

Judging by how the passing soldiers instinctively straightened up whenever she walked by, it was clear that she had a firm grip on the troops.

“So, you want these trees planted throughout the entire territory at appropriate intervals?”

Rebecca glanced once at the map as though she had roughly grasped the situation, then asked calmly.

“That shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“You’ll be okay with it?”

Pesha asked with sparkling eyes.

“I’m more worried about the soldiers’ resistance…”

The soldiers of Swapro took great pride in belonging to Owen Namoi’s army.

If they were told that the elite troops of the hero who had driven monsters and enemy soldiers out of the Empire were going to plant trees, there was little chance they would react positively.

“I can more or less imagine how the boys will react.”

Rebecca chuckled as though it were nothing.

“But don’t worry. Those guys are experts when it comes to digging and shoveling after spending all their time fighting monsters. They might even find this easier than combat.”

Her tone carried both an unconcerned ease and the cold practicality of a soldier.

That was what was peculiar about Rebecca as a person. Even when she could anticipate unexpected situations, she accepted them without resistance.

And so began the soldiers’ planting work, though it did not go smoothly from the very beginning.

As they began moving toward the locations Pesha had marked on the map, grumbling erupted from all over.

“Is this really right…?”

“I enlisted to fight monsters, not to plant trees…”

“What happened to us? Aren’t we combat troops?”

Complaints mixed with muttering continued without end.

The resistance was especially strong among the soldiers stationed at the farthest border, where monsters appeared frequently.

But all of those complaints were dismissed with just a few words from Rebecca.

“Fucking hell, you sure are talkative today. Tired from working? Want me to pull those useless, heavy heads of yours clean off?”

“……”

“If you’ve got enough energy to flap those mouths, plant one more blade of grass. Hm? Where do you think you’re glaring with those triangular eyes? You wanna die?”

Rebecca approached the soldier who had complained the loudest and kicked him squarely in the butt.

The soldier stumbled and pitched forward, prompting quiet laughter from those around him, and the tense atmosphere eased slightly.

“From the moment the lord gave his permission, my lady’s orders are the lord’s orders. Even if the lord himself ordered you to plant trees, would you still act like this?”