The White Stoat Princess - Chapter 43

As I was pondering how to avoid nagging, I quickly became distorted and thought like this.

‘Ah, why should I be scolded for telling the truth?’

Pouting my lips, I eventually buried my face in my palms, blushing.

Just like the maids, my mind was filled with thoughts of Hadel’s waist.

‘Ugh, I keep thinking of Hadel’s naked body. Think of something else. Something else.’

That’s what happens when you talk about things like waists for no reason.

I slapped my cheeks with my palms. Fortunately, because there were several serious problems at hand, my mind quickly became complicated with other thoughts.

‘If Prince Saedel is essentially in the position of ruling the kingdom, it might get a bit difficult. In the worst case, he could really threaten us with the budget.’

Money talks. I let out a deep sigh.

‘We need to create a way to make money in the North quickly.’

But recalling the carriage I had just examined, making money seemed even more distant. As I was furrowing my brow, the tailor who was organizing the fabric smiled and said,

“It’s nice to be in the castle, it’s so warm. Usually, I have to work with gloves on, but I don’t have to here, which is great.”

“Is the castle especially warm?”

I opened my eyes wide at those words.

‘I was running around shivering, thinking it was cold here too.’

I really thought I was going to freeze to death. But surprisingly, it’s even colder outside the castle.

“Of course. The magic stones that heat the air are so expensive that commoners can’t use them.”

“Then how do commoners heat their homes? Do they still use hinari coal?”

When I asked, recalling the heating tools I used in my previous life, the tailor asked back as if hearing such a word for the first time.

“What’s hinari coal?”

“You don’t know what hinari coal is?”

‘It was something used effectively during the war. Why don’t they know about it?’

I thought all commoners would be using it. When I asked what else they use, the tailor answered with a silent laugh.

“We just burn wood normally.”

I frowned at those words.

“But that takes a lot of time and labor to chop firewood. I know that one man in the household has to do almost nothing but that.”

“It can’t be helped. But the wood in the North doesn’t go out easily, so at least the firewood lasts longer.”

“Hmm.”

So they’re using raw wood that hasn’t been processed at all? And they’ve never heard of hinari coal?

‘I should talk to Hadel about this later.’

I felt like I had gotten a hint about ways to make money in the North.

I wanted to run and discuss it with Hadel right away. As I was fidgeting, the tailor said with a bright smile, right on cue:

“Alright, it’s done. Banquet dresses would take longer, but I’ll quickly finish and bring you the everyday clothes.”

“Thank you.”

Finally, freedom!

Excited, I was about to bow up and down when the tailor asked one last thing.

“Do you want any decorations on the coat? We can’t use very expensive peacock feathers, but weasel fur or…”

“Weasel! Absolutely not!”

Putting weasel fur as decoration on a weasel! After carelessly waving goodbye to the departing people, I quickly ran into Hadel’s room.

‘If Hadel hadn’t discovered me, I might have become a handful of weasel fur decorating the end of a coat.’

Well, Hadel did say he would raise me more to make a scarf. After shuddering, I opened Hadel’s door.

Hadel, sitting in the room, asked me.

“Did you get fitted for clothes well?”

“Yes.”

“I took the wheels off the cart. The letters have been exchanged successfully, so don’t worry.”

It was about that mail carriage from earlier. I nodded.

“Did you put people on those two?”

“Yes. If we watch, we’ll find out where and how they make contact. Who would have thought there’d be an observer among the letter exchangers…”

Hadel wore a serious expression. I shook my head.

“They might act without thinking they’re betraying you. Don’t read too much into it. They usually just reported on things like your health.”

“Right. That could be the case.”

Hadel wore a serious expression.

“But I’m more concerned about their obsession with you than their investigation of me.”

“Maybe they just had a woman they wanted to introduce to you, and they’re confused because a strange woman appeared?”

Even as I said it, it didn’t sound very convincing to my own ears.

‘If that were the reason, they wouldn’t have come empty-handed this time.’

In fact, didn’t others say that Saedel came in person this time because of Hadel’s marriage issue? But Saedel left without even mentioning marriage.

‘Let’s do what we can first!’

The hinari coal I thought of while talking to the tailor earlier. Let’s try making it!

Having decided, I smiled at Hadel and said,

“Let’s go out today, Hadel.”

“Why?”

“You need to get used to handling fire too. I’ll teach you.”

“You’re saying I can handle fire?”

“You defeated the monster last time with your ability, didn’t you?”

Look at this guy. I giggled and slapped Hadel’s shoulder.

“And I’ve found a good use for your ability.”

“Where?”

“We’ll use it to make hinari coal.”

“Hinari coal?”

Hadel also looked like he was hearing it for the first time. I smiled mischievously.

“Maybe hinari coal will become the North’s main export to other regions.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Hinari coal was invented during the war when firewood wouldn’t dry well, experimenting on how to dry it faster.

When someone with fire attribute burns firewood with mana fire, the firewood turns white. Surprisingly, hinari coal maintains its heat for over ten days longer than using other dry firewood. That means less firewood is needed.

When we first invented this on the battlefield, we were happy because we could bring more food with the manpower saved from supplying firewood to the battlefield. Then we shared the method so it could be used outside the battlefield too.

‘I thought it would have been commercialized by now, but I was surprised that no one was using it.’

Living in a place where warm water gushes out just by turning a faucet in the room, yet in civilian homes, they still have to use labor to chop firewood.

‘Magic tools have developed so much, why hasn’t hinari coal spread? Is it related to the contempt for the fire attribute?’

There’s no way Hadel is the only person with fire attribute in the country. I hoped that as hinari coal becomes known, people with fire attribute mana would also come to the North.

‘Then Hadel’s burden would be lessened too.’

Anyway, making hinari coal, which we did partly to practice Hadel’s mana handling, was a great success.

[This is the timeline separator]

Everyone who saw the hinari coal Hadel brought was amazed.

“I never knew wood turns white like this when you apply mana fire to it.”

“And it maintains fire for such a long time.”

“Now we won’t need to go out to chop firewood.”

I expected everyone to react like that. When we first made it, even Hadel held Marian’s hands in amazement.

He casually asked his subordinates, as if testing them:

“Will it help with getting through the winter?”

“Help is an understatement. This is a revolution. We won’t need to cut down so many trees anymore. It means we no longer have to risk encountering monsters by going into the forest.”

“I see.”

Since they even called it a revolution, there’s no way they would oppose what comes next. Hadel interlocked his fingers. This was where the main point began.

“Marian suggested we sell this to other territories.”

“The young lady did?”

The vassals were all surprised to hear that Marian had discovered hinari coal and suggested selling it.

And then a serious discussion about hinari coal followed.

“Other territories, though not as much as us, still suffer from winter, so they would love this. Since the main customers would be commoners, not nobles, we need to set the price carefully, but…”

Price is important. If it’s too cheap, people will buy a lot and stock up, selling well only initially, and if it’s too expensive, they’ll just go chop wood instead.

Not only the selling price, but how to promote this rare item called hinari coal was also an important issue. Various ideas were exchanged about this too.

“It might be good to distribute it for free to village heads. They need to try it once to believe it.”

“Once they try it, they’ll surely be desperate to buy this product from then on.”

“The North’s biggest flaw was that it had nothing to sell to other territories, so this is great. I hope it becomes our signature product this time.”

Everyone gave positive reviews. Hadel nodded, feeling proud as if he had discovered it himself.

The last question that came up in the meeting was this:

“So what should we name this product?”

The name was already decided. Hadel answered in a concise tone.

“Marian called it hinari coal.”

“That’s a cute name.”

The sound of the word ‘hinari’ was indeed cute. Despite its actual use as fuel.

Then the assistant said curiously,

“Hinari means ‘not fully dried firewood’ in ancient language… You’re quite knowledgeable to know ancient language.”

At those words, Hadel’s face hardened.

‘How does Marian know ancient language? She couldn’t have learned it if she was originally a weasel.’

Moreover, yesterday she cried and said she was originally a princess. Hadel tried to comfort her by asking if she was a weasel princess, but thinking deeply, it was quite a strange thing to say.

Although her true form is said to be a weasel, she knows letters, knows ancient language, understands the class system, and even says she was of high status.

‘Could she have lived for an unimaginably long time that I can’t fathom?’

This was all Hadel could guess about Marian’s identity.