Chapter 396

Request to Cultivate Cotton and Flax
Once the settlement site for the Kiblinki Saltas was decided, we returned to Baron Oxit’s mansion for the night.
Even if the distance wasn’t much when using a magic vehicle, it still took quite a bit of time by carriage.
By the time we arrived back at the mansion, the sun had already set.
Any further discussions were postponed until the next day, and we all disbanded for the evening.

The following day began with drafting the contract to transfer the land to be developed by the Kiblinki Saltas.
The land the Kiblinki Saltas cultivated would remain part of the barony, but the agreement stated that they would be its guardians.
In exchange for not requiring assistance unless a particularly major threat arose, they would receive a tax reduction.
The agreement also included details about offsetting the cost of lending the Kiblinki Saltas against the price of the land.
Alizée was really good at handling this sort of thing, so I was incredibly thankful for her help.

“It is complete. Baron Oxit, Lady Lily, please review it.”

“… Everything looks good to me. If I can have the land cultivated at this price, it’s quite the bargain.”

“I have no issues either. How about the Kiblinki Saltas?”

(No problem. However, we also have our limits when it comes to the size of the land we can develop. We won’t bother working land that isn’t left fallow.)

“That’s perfectly fine. Just the amount you can cultivate yourselves is enough.”

(In that case, I’ve no objections. Baron Oxit, are you also agreeable?)

“Yes, I have no problem. However, there is something I would like you to cultivate besides food.”

Something besides food?
What could it be?
Is it something the Kiblinki Saltas could actually grow?

“In fact, I’d like you to grow cotton and flax.”

“Cotton and flax… You mean to produce cotton and linen?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, Moira has taken an interest in fashion and has been studying it quite a bit. However, in my domain, we have no textile production areas, so acquiring fabric is not easy. That’s why I thought, with this opportunity, we could establish a cultivation site.”

Hmm, cotton and flax, huh? I’d like some too.
If we could reduce procurement costs, we could make a much wider variety of clothes.
But I wonder if the Kiblinki Saltas know how to grow cotton or flax?
They seem to know everything about vegetables, but do they even know about non-edible plants?

(Cotton and flax, you say? We don’t know how to grow those.)

“Oh, so even the Kiblinki Saltas have limits to their knowledge.”

(We’re familiar with edible vegetables to a certain extent. If we know the climate they grow in, we can make educated guesses based on similar crops. But something with entirely different characteristics like that…)

Even the Kiblinki Saltas were at a loss this time.
I was just thinking this idea might have to be scrapped… when help came from an unexpected source—Marquis Vardmoi.

“Kiblinki Saltas, if you were taught how to grow them, could you do it?”

(If it’s part of the job, we’ll grow them. But really, we don’t know a single thing about them.)

“I will introduce you to cultivators of cotton and flax. I want them to move to Baron Oxit’s domain and work with you to grow raw materials for fabric production. Is that possible?”

(It is. Do you really want fabric that badly?)

“To be frank, yes. Vardmoi is thriving thanks to Lily’s spider silk, but there is still more demand for inexpensive cotton and linen. In fact, I’ve also been in talks with His Majesty about establishing production bases for textile manufacturing. I’d like to designate Baron Oxit’s domain as one of those bases.”

(Understood. We really don’t know anything about this, so bring those cultivators as soon as you can. We can’t even begin preparing the soil.)

“Of course. I’ll make the arrangements as soon as I return to Vardmoi.”

And just like that, Baron Oxit’s domain was chosen as a cultivation base for textile materials.
Even if they had to figure things out as they went, the Kiblinki Saltas would probably manage within a few years, so there shouldn’t be any problems.
Of course, just producing raw materials isn’t enough to make fabric, but apparently Marquis Vardmoi is also handling that part.
Well, as long as I lend a hand when asked, that should be enough.
It’s probably something that’ll move along just fine among the higher-ups anyway.

What do you think about this chapter?