Venus Rouge

Sharp Words and Sugar

"Hey! Hey, Kaoru! What is this? I've never seen grass this big!"

I looked up from the inventory report in my hands to where Leon was waving around a stalk of sugar cane that he apparently plucked from where it was ratooned* in the ground seeing as his enthusiastic waving motion sent clots of damp soil all over the place, into his hair, onto his clothes and even into Ronnie's teacup with a loud 'plopl!'.

Ronnie wrinkled her nose in distaste before Reggie replaced her cup with a clean one.

"You're tossing mud everywhere, you fool!" She snapped at him, "You don't have to wave it around like that! What are you two? Ah! Wait! Why are you messing up the farmers' work?!!"

Leon paused to glare at her. "You're noisy! I wasn't talking to you anyway. I was asking Kaoru."

I sighed as they started to bicker, absently brushing a few clots of soil from the papers on the table.

Spring was here again. Looking back at it, I couldn't believe that it was just a year ago that I took control of the fief. The changes weren't that pronounced but it was a far better than the state this place was in when we went on our first inspection. The most glaring difference being the roadways that already spanned half the fief.

Autumn had brought with it the first trickle of merchants to which the inhabitants of the fief piled their surplus crops. They were still deliriously happy that there was even a surplus to begin with. Usually they didn't even have enough to eat much less too much! Their granaries were creaking in protest. I even had several of the water wheels fitted with a mill house where the turning of the water wheel could be used to grind wheat instead of using just a millstone and man or livestock power. Villagers now had flour to cook and sell. It was satisfying to see quite a few bakeries up and running again, the smell of fresh bread wafting in the streets.

Those villages that forewent the changes were now jumping into it headlong. When given the means to plant the corn and potatoes they didn't even question my suggestion to dedicate part of their fields to them aside from a brief explanation. It's good that the level of trust has grown.

I was ten years old now with only three years before I would have to attend Magus Academy as is expected of noble children.

With Mercer's prompt help, the first refinery was on the verge of completion. I had all the necessary land for the sugar cane cleared and spread the news of work. I needed labourers to lay the ratoons. Work is work even if it is seasonal, so as soon as the news got around individuals were quick to jump on a chance to earn money. Even so we were still clearly short on manpower.

The gross majority of the inhabitants of the fief were farmers and had their own fields to attend to during planting and harvest season. Sugar cane planting was also a seasonal occupation, and there are points in the cycle with little need for labour at all, so it would be inefficient to contract a labour force solely for this all year round.

While I was facing this dilemma my sight turned towards my large next door neighbour: The Alexander fief.

First, a brief overview of the political situation of this world. As I've mentioned before, the three major countries of this world are Gestalt kingdom with Noctis kingdom to the west and Polaris kingdom to the north with a whole slew of smaller and subordinate countries to the east. Unlike Gestalt kingdom with its vast expanse of fertile land, Noctis kingdom couldn't produce much in the way of crops simply because of the soil quality and was strongest in fishing and livestock. Polaris was damn near an icy wasteland, mostly all snowy mountains and tundras. They produce even less crops than Noctis and are also primarily hunters and fishermen.