Are You Going to Break off the Engagement and Expel Me at the Same Time? ~I’m an Alchemist Who’s End

Chapter 12: Do we have four such seasons?

The study is on the second floor of the house.

From the entrance, go up the stairs, turn left and walk down the corridor.

“This is the study. I’m pretty proud of it.”

“Wow, it’s huge.”

“Yes, isn’t it? My father was a big reader, you know. He collected a lot of books.”

I listen to his boastful voice and look around the study.

It’s bigger than the other rooms, and the ceiling seems a little higher.

The sight of all the books lined up almost twenty steps high is a real feast for the eyes.

In the center of the room is a table and chairs where about four people can sit in a row.

“Sit down and wait. I’ll bring you what you need.”

“Let me help you.”

“No need. There are so many books that it will take me longer to show you where they are. And you need to know that it’s okay to return a favor.

“Ugh… Yes…”

I can’t get used to that.

I can’t get used to people praising me for doing normal things and telling me I can take a break.

I think I need to change my interpretation of what normal is.

After a few minutes of waiting, Thomas returned with three books.

He puts the books on the table.

They look very old and have no title on the cover.

I have read many books, because alchemy requires knowledge, but the three books in front of me were new to me.

“What is this book about?”

“It is a book about the history of this country. It has no cover because it is a kind of diary written by successive lords.”

That’s exactly what it is.

A book written by the lords of the land.

If it’s not in circulation, it’s no wonder I’ve never read it.

But it is old.

From the looks of it, it’s more than a few hundred years old.

“We don’t have enough time to read it in detail, so now I’m going to give you a brief summary of the most important parts.”

“Yes. But you don’t mind?  I thought Thomas had a job to do.”

“Hmm? Oh, the work I did earlier? That’s not a problem at all. I’m just moving up the work I was supposed to do the day after tomorrow. Today’s work was done before I left…. What’s that expression on your face?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Thomas has a job, too.

You’re not so different from me, are you?

I really wouldn’t have thought so.

“Well, never mind. Let’s talk about it.”

“Yes, please.”

Thomas coughs and clears his throat once.

“My territory has a long history. It was here before the kingdom was born.”

“Before it was born? So it used to be the territory of another country?”

“No, it wasn’t. It never belonged to anyone. It used to be just a small village. This diary tells us what happened then.”

I open the first book and flip through the pages.

There, handwritten, is a description of the time.

It was hard to read because many parts had weathered over the years.

There were parts I couldn’t read properly, so I skipped over them or added a vague idea.

At that time there were only a few inhabitants, less than a hundred.

It was surrounded by mountains, and there were no well-maintained roads as there are today.

People rarely came from outside and rarely went outside.

Therefore, they had to provide for everything they needed to live on their own land.

But besides remoteness, this area had another fatal problem.

“This is the Four Seasons. It still continues… The four seasons make it difficult to grow crops and for animals to migrate.”

“There were four seasons in the capital, but they were not the same four seasons when they were so bad.”

“… No, the four seasons themselves were the same at that time. Spring, summer, autumn, winter and winter come in regular cycles. But the cycle was unusually fast.”

“How early was it …”

Thomas flips through the pages of his book.

I lower my gaze and look at the turned page.

I am amazed at the numbers written on it.

Usually the four seasons change every three months or so.

“In the case of this area, it happened in cycles of one month. In short, the environment is changing three times faster than normal.”

“That fast… That’s possible.”

“Yes. I didn’t know that before I came here, and I didn’t believe it until I experienced it. But it’s true. The seasons go by three times as fast. You know by now how hard it is to live in an environment like this.”

“Yes…”

Having lived in the Capital for so long, I’ve never found the seasons to be anything special.

Spring is a given, followed by summer, which is warmer, fall, which is not so warm, and winter, which is much colder.

Then comes spring again.

The cycle is the same in this country.

It’s just three times faster.

“That’s easier said than done. In fact, the effects are great. For example, do you know the fruits and vegetables that are eaten in the Capital? Most of them don’t grow here. Even if you’re lucky, the quality is too inferior to be sold.

“That’s true. The environment is too different.”

“Yes. Didn’t we serve a lot of food the other day to welcome Amelia? All the ingredients we used came from out of town. The amount of food is normal for a noble in the Capital, but that’s our limit. And that’s only once a month. We can’t afford to be extravagant when our people are struggling.”

“Yes. I don’t want to be the only one who is full when others are starving.”

That’s the way it is.

Nobles and Lords have to endure a lot.

Things you can’t imagine in the Capital are commonplace in this new land.

I’m about to find that out.