Vol 3.5 Chapter 11: Marina’s Tale — Sophie’s Request

Marina

"So, what is it you wish to ask me?"

It was the day after Marina utilized the Dream Orb. As promised, she would do Sophie a favor in exchange for the usage of the extremely valuable orb. They were now having their discussion inside Marina’s greenhouse, which did not just include plants she grew as part of her experiments, but also a small study that she could use.

“Hmm, where to start?” The hobbit sighed, folding her arms. She was short enough that her legs were dangling off the tall chair Marina had, but she didn’t seem to mind. “You see, I have opened my own shop down south at Trine. Currently, it’s just a shop for magical trinkets and the like, but I am planning on expanding my merchandise, which is where you come in.”

Marina raised her eyebrows.

“I want you—” The hobbit dramatically pointed her index finger at her face with a grin. “—to become the supplier for my yet-to-be-opened magic herbs shop!”

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re this amazing Earth mage now, right? And you’re the granddaughter of an Earl! You can tell those farmers out there what to plant! So tell them to plant all sorts of magic herbs and I will buy them all! With the fair, market price, of course!”

Marina paused, crossing her legs under the table. Certainly, it was a proposition she could get behind. Magic herbs and plants were more expensive than ordinary crops. She remembered how back in the Magocracy, Vera's territory was the main producer of magic herbs. And it had cold weather, just like here.

"I shall have to discuss it with Grandfather first," was her reply.

"Excellent!" The hobbit reached forward with her hand, which Marina readily accepted. "I'm looking forward to our future cooperation, Countess Marina," she added with a mischievous grin.

Marina still couldn’t get used to that title. Not that she had any plans on doing so in the first place.

"Can't you get a different supplier though? Somewhere closer?"

"I would, but the gnomes charged exorbitant prices for their herbs." The hobbit shrugged. "And they were pretty much the only guys who grew them. Amereria has no magic herb farms whatsoever. In fact, that's why I want to open a magic herb company. I want to sell them at a much more affordable price than those haughty gnomes." She huffed. "They're really useful, you know. For medicine, potion-making, and even perfumes. It's a lucrative market I would love to be part in."

Gnomes… Marina thought to herself. Vera's race...

"I'll try to convince Grandfather," the earth mage declared. "But I make no promises."

"Yay!" Sophie clasped her hands. "Thank you so much, Marina!" She shook them vigorously.

Oh Sophie… Marina smiled a little as she looked at her old friend. She has grown to be a scheming merchant that looks like an innocent girl.

Well, it's better this way. You have to be a schemer to be a good merchant.

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Marina promptly held a meeting with her grandfather and Reinhard about the matter. As she had expected, her grandfather promptly gave his approval. After all, there was no downside to the offer. It would enrich the region as a whole. But to implement the plan, there were a few problems Marina had to think about first.

“First, there’s the problem of ordering the farmers to switch the type of plants they had to grow in the first place,” Reinhard explained. “Even if you could persuade them, you would still need to educate them in the methods.”

“I could write an instruction book on the matter,” Marina responded. “And I would be willing to instruct them as well. My plan requires more people—more farmers, than the ones we currently had. I would suggest some sort of a subsidy to the citizenry, so more of them would be willing to become farmers instead of leaving this place.” Her grandfather did not forbid his citizens to move and become the citizens of other nobles in the kingdom, so many just decided to move to more prosperous regions. “Hmm, how about giving them free land? After, say, 10 years of work, the land we told them to work would belong to them, and not to Grandfather anymore.”

“What?!” Reinhard fired back with befuddlement. “That means you’re making them to be nobles, are you not? Only nobles can have land in this kingdom. And you’d have to have permission from the king for that!”

“Oh?” Marina paused. “You have no merchants or organizations owning their own land in these kingdoms?”

“Of course not!”

“Calm down, Reinhard,” the Earl chastised his heir, who had become too overexcited for his own good. “Marina here has seen the world more than we do. I suppose out there, merchants can freely own land?”

“Well... “ Her voice trailed off. Now that she thought about it, she didn’t really know how land-owning works in other kingdoms. She only knew that in the Magocracy, you could own land as long as you were wealthy enough to afford one. Owing to the hands off style of governing that the Council did, you were free to do whatever you want with your land, with few exceptions.

“That’s how it was in the Magocracy,” she explained. “But I suppose that wouldn’t work here.”

Marina bit her lip and shifted in her seat. She had to think up something else.

“How about this? A reduction in taxes for 10 years, compared to normal crops. That should be fine, right?”

“Hmph, that means reducing the income of the Earldom,” Reinhard argued. “I’m not sure we can afford it, with how thin our budget is already.”

“Incorrect.” Marina replied. “Like I said, my plan is aimed more at non-farmers becoming farmers—to stop young adults my age from leaving this Earldom. It would be even better if we could instead attract youths from other regions. The tax we already earned from the existing farmers would only decrease a little. Not to mention that exporting magic herbs is far more profitable than exporting ordinary crops, owing to the difficulty of planting them.”

“...Fine.” Reinhard sighed, surrendering to Marina’s argument. “But, there’s still the problem of funding the necessary funds to start the whole thing in the first place. We would not only need the seeds, but also the housing and the tools necessary for the new farmers.”

“For the seeds and housing, I could provide them both with my magic. As for the tools, since some of them required iron, I would not be able to just grow them with my magic. I suppose we would’ve to ask for assistance from the other regions. Or rather, a loan, as I imagine they wouldn’t be that charitable.” Marina glanced towards her grandfather.

“You are correct, my dear.” The older gentlemen smiled. “Since when you’re this much of an expert in noble politics?”

“It was all thanks to Elise. She had taught me much in Reinhard’s duties.”

The redhead maid had indeed been making her visits to Marina’s abode, as her request. Marina thought it would be prudent to at least know a little on how Reinhard’s style of governance was done, so she would not make a misstep in her interactions with the farmers.

“Elise, hmm? I really should give her a raise.”

It was then decided that to obtain the necessary funds for Marina’s project, the Earl would send letters to other, more mercantile-oriented nobles of the kingdom. Like Marina said, it would be a loan, not a charity. He would even take his chance with the king, though he warned that he wouldn’t expect any help from him. The king never gave any loans to his nobles. He was always a firm believer in giving all the freedoms to his nobles in running their territories, which meant they wouldn’t get any hand-outs from him either.

When the meeting ended, two men had gained a renewed admiration towards Marina. 

The first was, of course, the Earl himself, Lord Philip Archimond. He thought Marina would never bother in learning, as he put it, “noble politics”. It was indeed true for when she first came here. But it seemed she had come around at last, just like Reinhard.

And speaking of Reinhard, he too had seen Marina in yet another new light. At first, he just thought of her as this amazing (though a little scary) mage. But now, she had proven that she could very well replace him as this region's administration. As the Earl's true heir, she might do just that, he smiled wryly. Emma was right after all.

His first wife had suggested a scheme to sabotage Marina's efforts in revitalizing the region, which he naturally rejected. She then told him to woo her instead, to make her his third wife so he could keep his current position. He refused that as well. He knew neither Emma and Rina really wanted another woman to share a bed with him, especially the former, but they were ready to sacrifice themselves for his sake. And besides, she's way out of his league. Just from how she carried herself, he knew she had no interest in him in the slightest.

As for whether he himself had interest in her…

Woooshh…

Ah, it happens again…

They were walking down a long corridor with open windows. As such, wind would periodically blow from the outside, delivering pleasant scents coming from the gardens.

But, for this moment, it delivered a pleasant sight instead.

Black again, as usual…

He couldn’t help himself. As the wind blew Marina’s dress upwards, giving a view of her panty-clad behind, his eyes locked themselves at the sight instead of looking away like a gentleman should.

This wasn’t the first time it had happened. Thanks to the length of her dress, which only reached halfway down her thighs, he had given a chance to peek at her underwear multiple times, either by wind like now or by a simple unfortunate angle at which he was looking at her. And every time, his loins would stir, making an inappropriate stretch of his pants that he had to hide.

Marina continued to walk, not even using her hands to pull her dress down. She was too busy with her thoughts to even notice that the wind had made her give a view to the adopted lord.

He calmed himself, chastising his perverse mind, telling him that he already had two wives, and he shouldn’t be lusting over the Earl’s granddaughter like this.

Yes, if he were to be asked as just a man, he would be happy to have her in his bed. Not only was she pretty, she was intelligent as well, something he desired in his woman. Emma awakened him to that desire. She taught him many things when he first married her, and from that, he gained admiration for any intelligent woman out there. 

But, he knew his place. He wasn’t going to force Marina to be with him, even if it meant losing his position as the Earl’s heir. He knew that in the future, she would lead this region into greatness, and if she were to marry someone, it would most likely be the crown prince himself, which would be a great boon to the Archimond house.

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Erika

This should go here… that should go there… and then this goes… here.

*click*

*whrrrrrrlll*

“It’s working! It’s moving!”

The youngest of the Greenwood siblings, Erika Greenwood, was in her room, being busy with her new toy. It was a mechanical doll that could walk on her own. However, it was designed for her owner to repair it periodically, by redrawing the disconnected runes on it. It was an educational toy made by the gnomes, designed to teach young gnomes about runecraft. She obtained the toy from Sophie, who had brought it from all the way down south.

And it was the most fun she ever had in her entire life.

She watched with a big grin on her face as the doll walked back and forth on her table. It was a female gnome doll wearing a shepherd's attire. She couldn't speak but it was clear she was looking around for her sheep.

Oh, that's right! Miss Sophie says I can get the sheep dolls once I can make her working!

Jumping off her chair, she made her way to the guest wing immediately, and to the hobbit's room. She prayed she wasn't too late and the merchant hadn't left yet.

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"Oh, it's you, Erika! What's the matter?" She was greeted by her smiling visage.

"I made the doll move, Miss!" Erika beamed.

A shocked expression flashed on the hobbit's face. "R-really? I gave it to you just an hour ago, didn't I? You already figured it out? She's walking normally, without any hiccuping or stumbling around?

"Yeah! It wasn't that hard! Thanks to the book you gave me, I knew exactly what to do!"

Sophie was speechless. An ordinary gnome child would need a week to solve their first rune doll. And yet she did it in an hour?

"G-good job, Erika!" She patted her head (even though their height was about the same). "I'll give you the sheep dolls next!"

It should take her a month to figure out each sheep. Since there are four sheep in total, it should take her four months. Each sheep has a different, more difficult runic circuit to it.

If she's really some runecraft genius, then she should solve them much, much faster.

--------

The hobbit's suspicion was correct.

The next week, Erika came back to her, wanting a new doll to play with.

She had solved them in just seven days.

"It was really, really difficult, but it was really fun too. Can I have more please?" Erika gave her the puppy-eyed look.

After giving the young girl another rune doll, and telling her to return to her room, she lifted her skirts with both hands and ran as fast as her little legs would carry her towards the greenhouse, where Marina should be at this time of the day.

She has to know about this!

------

When she arrived, Marina was standing on one of the branches of her largest tree. She seemed to be busy examining the nearby leaves, using a magnifying glass to aid her sight.

"Mari—ah!"

Sophie covered her mouth with her hand as she blushed. Her panties! I can see them! She quickly looked away. As another lady, it would be improper for her to peek at another lady's undergarments.

"M-Marina! Come down! I want to speak to you!" She yelled, still looking away.

Hearing her voice, Marina looked down. “Sophie?” She jumped down, instantaneously halting her fall with a pair of vines once her feet touched the ground (not caring that her skirt flew upwards in the process).  “Is something the matter?’ She asked with a concerned look.

“I-I want to speak to you about Erika!”

“Erika?” Marina raised her eyebrows, before a frown formed on her lips. “Don’t tell me that Roland is teasing her again!”

“No no no, it’s not about him! It’s about your sister! She’s… she might just be a runecraft genius!” She then explained what happened with the dolls and how she solved them much faster than she should. “You never taught her runecraft before, right?”

“No.” Marina shook her head. “I thought it would be too difficult for her. And I’m not good at it either. If she learned it, then she did it just from the Runecraft Introductory book you gave her.”

“Then she really is a genius!” Sophie beamed. “Listen, Marina! You have to teach her runecraft at once! It’s better to start early than later for someone as talented as her! And then—and then once she’s older, you can send her to the gnomes to learn the art straight from the masters!”

Marina’s eyes narrowed. “You know our family has a bad experience with gnomes, right?”

“Oh, don’t be like that! Not all gnomes are like Vera! In fact, I heard Vera herself was kicked out from her gnome tribe when she was still young! I don’t know the details but that means even her own kind doesn’t approve of her attitude!”

Vera was disavowed by her own kind? Marina’s interest perked up. "You don't know the reason for her banishment?"

"Like I said, I don't know the details." The hobbit sighed, crossing her arms with a distressed look. "It's just a rumor I've heard from down south."

Marina fell silent. She walked away for a little bit, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

"Marina? What's the matter?" The hobbit asked, looking concerned.

The earth mage turned to face her. "When you return back south, I want you to investigate the gnomes. About Vera and everything else. And I want you to give Erika all the runecraft books you could find. In exchange, I shall guarantee that you will have your magic herb supplier in a couple of years."

"...Deal! But make it two! Two years until I can start my magic herb company!" The hobbit grinned, raising her fingers to form a two.

Marina smiled. Two years. That should be doable.

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Responses to the Earl’s proposal for supplies came swiftly, but not in a way that he expected. The king actually took interest in the matter, and so, arranged an invitation for a table round discussion, followed by a party, all the way in the capital. It would involve the other nobles in the kingdom, anyone who was interested in the Earl’s proposal. The response letter didn’t say whether he would actually be attending or not, however. And there was something else that was peculiar about it. Marina was spoken by name, and the king would like to have a meeting with her.

When the Earl brought this matter to the earth mage, Marina didn’t have to be told by him that she had to come. In fact, she knew this whole thing was mostly about the other nobles learning about her. No doubt the stories about her arrival, and her being a powerful Earth mage, had spread all across the kingdom. Not to mention that the Earl had sent a letter to the king, informing him of the return of his estranged granddaughter  (which Marina agreed with). The Earl wasn’t a fool. He knew the king would be offended if he tried to hide her from him.

“Reinhard. You will stay here and manage things in our absence.” The Earl instructed the man. Naturally, he would come along. He was the Earl after all—the one with the actual title.

“Of course, Milord.” Reinhard placed his hand on his chest and bowed. A proper noble’s bow. Just one of the many etiquettes Marina had to brush up before her debut in the capital a month later.

“As for you, Marina…”

“I know what I have to do, Grandfather,” she replied with a determined look. “I’ll try training myself in the etiquette as much as I could before our departure. The seeds for the magic herbs are already ready. I no longer need to research them, so I have time I could use for other endeavors.” She placed her hand on her chest and bowed as well. Might as well start early, she thought to herself.

The truth was, she didn’t really want to learn such things. What use was there to learn etiquettes when you can learn magic instead? Etiquettes are only there to kowtow to kings and nobles. With magic, you could rule over kings and nobles.

But, for the sake of her grandfather and his realm, she would do it. She would play the act of Countess Marina Archimond. It would just be for a short trip. She should be able to manage that much.

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A/N:

Hope you guys don’t mind I give Marina’s fanservice scenes to guys other than Hugo. ‘Cause I certainly don’t. And as always, I write what I want.

Also, I now have eight advance chapters on my Patreon, if anyone's interested.