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Even as she was held back by the lonely look on her brother’s face, Ekaterina finally set off on her journey.

When Ekaterina boarded the carriage after being seen off by Aleksei, the door was closed, and with the sharp crack of the reins, the carriage began to move. Aleksei stood perfectly still, gazing at his sister, and Ekaterina kept waving her hand until he disappeared from view. No—she continued even after he was no longer visible.

But once the carriage passed through the castle gate, she finally stopped, lowered her hand to her lap,
then let out a deep sigh and sank back against the seat.

…Something just went “psshhh” and drained out of me. Probably my will to live.

Waaah!
Why did I agree so easily, you idiot me!
My siscon brother said he’d be lonely without me. Of course I, a brocon, would be lonely without him too!
That’s why every time Onii-sama tried to stop me, I would say “yes, gladly” and let myself be held back—isn’t that right, me?!
Waaah, I won’t be able to see him for days until I come back! He won’t be under the same roof anymore!

“Milady, are you feeling unwell?”

Hah! Right!

Hearing the deep voice, Ekaterina came back to herself. She hurriedly straightened her posture and smiled to the person beside her.

“My apologies for showing such an unsightly state, Sir Forli. I am quite well, so please do not worry.”

That was right—riding in the carriage with her was Forli, head of forestry and agriculture, who was both her brother’s close aide and her grandfather’s old friend.
She had thought she would be traveling together with Aaron, the head of the mines, but after Aleksei spoke with Aaron about something, Aaron said he had business at the old mine and departed ahead of them. He had looked rather dejected when he left, so perhaps some trouble had arisen at the mine.
In any case, Forli was well regarded by the mountain gods, and by virtue of his position as head of forestry and agriculture, he was also someone who ought to show reverence to the deities. It seemed that he always accompanied Aleksei when Aleksei went to worship at the Mountain Temple.

Get a grip, me! Pull yourself together!
Do you think you can stand in for Onii-sama’s work when you’re this pathetic, getting lonely just because you’re apart from him for a bit? You swore that by the time Onii-sama took charge of national politics, you’d be able to shoulder the administration of the duchy in his place and snap his overwork-death flag, didn’t you?!
This proxy visit to the mountain temple is that long-awaited chance to take on, even a little, Onii-sama’s work. How can you not be eager about it?

You were around thirty in your previous life, weren’t you? You even went on solo trips on a whim!
Plus, adding Ekaterina’s life to that, you’re not just thirty—
Ah… numbers start to hurt, so let’s not add them up.

Anyway, this is no time to be saying you’re lonely when you’re heading out with such a large party.

After all, the two carriages carrying Ekaterina and Forli were being guarded by six knights. She had heard that when Prince Mikhail went out, he was accompanied by only four guard knights.
In addition to that, three hunting dogs of Jurnova, led by the leader dog Regina, were following Ekaterina’s carriage.
Of course, Mina, her maid and guard—the combat maid—was also accompanying her.

…Isn’t this too many guards? Aaron had seemed to travel with just one ordinary attendant.
Onii-sama is such a worrywart. Well, he is a siscon, so it can’t be helped.
Also, maybe it would have been better to ask Aaron to ride with me. Wouldn’t it be tiring for Sir Forli to be together with a girl young enough to be his granddaughter for so long?
But Aaron is apparently unmarried, so perhaps it would have been inappropriate for a duke’s daughter to spend a long time alone with an unmarried man.

“I appreciate your accompanying me, Sir Forli.”

When Ekaterina said this, Forli broke into a smile on his deeply tanned face.

“I am simply delighted that you wish to learn about the territory, milady.”

Yes. Normally, Forli disliked traveling by carriage and preferred horseback or walking. The reason he was riding together with Ekaterina this time was that she had asked him to teach her about Jurnova Territory during the journey, since they would be traveling together anyway.
If there was anyone thoroughly knowledgeable about Jurnova’s forests and agriculture, it was Forli. There was no reason not to make use of time with such a living encyclopedia.

“To trouble a young lady with talk of agriculture is the height of boorishness, but—”
“No! It is the most important matter for the lives of Jurnova’s people. Please, teach me.”

Leaning forward eagerly, Ekaterina took out her notebook and glass pen.

.

Forli began by explaining the main products of Jurnova Territory once again.

First, timber, represented by black dragon cedar. Most buildings in the imperial capital were made of stone, but in fact large amounts of wood were used in their interiors. As building material, Jurnova’s black dragon cedar was said to be the most trusted.
Come to think of it, I had heard that around the same time as the famous great fire in Edo in my previous life, there was also a great fire in London that destroyed most of the city. I had wondered how stone buildings could burn, only to learn that they also used wood. It seemed the empire was similar in that regard.
Now that I thought about it, the main streets of the imperial capital were extremely wide. There were roadways wide enough for four carriages to pass comfortably (in other words, four lanes), with broad sidewalks on both sides. Perhaps that, too, was intended to prevent the spread of fire in case of disaster.

As for agricultural products, first livestock. Not only meat, but dairy products such as cheese and butter were also distributed to the imperial capital as goods.
In Jurnova, unusual sheep and cattle were often born, probably due to the influence of magical beasts’ blood. Sometimes their temperaments became violent and troublesome, but sometimes beneficial changes occurred as well: they would never fall ill, or their wool would faintly glow, or their milk would gain medicinal properties. Even aggressive individuals, when mixed into a herd, would stand up to magical beasts and protect their companions if attacked, so it was said to be good to have one such animal in a herd.
However, there was apparently a case where mixing such an individual into a herd of cows resulted in the entire herd becoming an impregnable fortress that repelled not only magical beasts but even bulls, leaving the rancher clutching his head in despair. What even.

Then there were fruit trees: apples most of all, peaches, and various kinds of berries. There were also fruits that had no equivalent in my previous world.
But the biggest money-maker was grapes. Wine production was also thriving. Forli rattled off which winery made what kind of wine, so he must have been quite the heavy drinker.
…I didn’t understand any of it. I was a lightweight in my previous life. Sorry.

As an unusual product, one they had been putting effort into in recent years was sugar beets.
Apparently, Jurnova Territory currently produced the largest amount of sugar in the empire.
Most of the sugar used in the empire was imported from southern countries. It was widely used, but far more expensive than in my previous life.
At the magic academy’s kitchen, I had been allowed to use sugar with the same casualness as in her previous life, but that was only possible because the environment was full of nobles and wealthy people. Come to think of it, Flora-chan, who was from a commoner background, had been very careful with sugar. Her repertoire of apple pies and other sweets came from recipes of a baroness who had taken her in after her mother died.
In Jursein Territory and the like, sugar made from sugarcane was produced, but not in large quantities.
In that situation, it was my grandfather and Forli who had encouraged the cultivation of sugar beets as a highly profitable crop, after it was discovered that beets, which could be grown in cold regions, could be used as a source of sugar.

Yes, even in Japan in my previous life, Hokkaido produced the most domestic sugar, using sugar beets as well. If you’d ask a Japanese person about the source of sugar, they’d probably imagine sugarcane from Okinawa and the like, but perhaps it was simply a difference in available farmland.
Although Jurnova Territory was mountainous and did not have a large amount of farmland, it had secured a reasonable area through four hundred years of land reclamation since the time of the founding Duke Sergei, and that farmland was being systematically allocated to crops that supported the lives of the people.

However, even though my brain had translated it as “sugar beet” for convenience—
What was with “it moves a little”?
“It resists when you try to pull it out”—is that a plant? Is it a mandrake?

In Jurnova’s forests, there were plant-type magical beasts that walked around, and the turnip-like thing that served as the source of sugar was apparently a subspecies or a juvenile of those…
No, more precisely, individuals that, for some reason, had been unable to grow from juvenile to adult, and such individuals appeared in a certain number. The forest people who lived in Jurnova’s woods had known of these beings since long ago and liked to eat them as sweet and tasty wild plants (if that’s what they should be called). Young Forli had been given some and introduced them to her grandfather, who had his subordinates research them, succeeded in cultivating them, and also discovered that they could be used as a source of sugar.
Incidentally, there was no need to collect seeds. If you cut off the part corresponding to the neck of a radish (it looked like a turnip), then chop up the area where the leaves sprouted and plant the pieces, they would grow again even if finely cut… What vitality. But then again, I had read an essay manga¹ in my previous life where potato peels thrown into a garden sprouted and grew into potatoes, so maybe it was something similar.
Overall, it was exactly the kind of “project something-or-other” topic I loved. A fantasy—or rather, otherworldly—version of “project something-or-other.”

But Forli’s story was very educational and interesting. Before she knew it, they had entered a small town and the carriage stopped at the inn where they were to have lunch, but until then she had been completely absorbed in the conversation.

“You truly are a studious and unusual young lady, milady,”

Forli said with a laugh, but perhaps he had seen through how lonely and uneasy she felt being separated from her brother, and deliberately told especially amusing stories.
Thank you for your consideration, as your friend’s grandchild.