After leaving Blackhammer Castle, Rod and Lawrence headed south along the Frost Trail.

Along the way are mostly dilapidated villages and wilderness areas, and they bypass the forests and take as many roads as possible. to avoid encountering enemies like the Beastmen again. Like the Empire, Kislev is a vast country, but most of the area is covered by wasteland and forests, and with the exception of a few large cities where the population is relatively concentrated, the population of the rest of the region is very scattered, and it is usually a long walk before villages exist.

On the third day, Rod and Lawrence found the first village with living people, and in the distance, a dozen low wooden houses were scattered among the freshly melted slush fields, wisps of white smoke wafting from the improvised chimneys. When I got closer, I realized that the people here were suffering from illness.

"My two sons, the eldest son was killed by a wild beast a few years ago when he went hunting in the forest with an old hunter, and the younger son, who was bitten by a rat last winter, didn't pay attention to it at the time, and it wasn't until last month that he started to show symptoms of rat fever. A third of the people in the village were infected. ”

Rod and Lawrence went to a farmer's house and listened to the old farmer Kislev tell the story of his home. This is probably the situation of the average farmer in Kislev. Kislev was not a wealthy country, located at the northeastern tip of the empire, where the land was barren and the climate was cold, and the crops were basically harvested once a year. This makes it unlikely that the whole country will pass through the agricultural rich. And nomadic and hunting, the forest is too dangerous. Other resources are not very abundant either. Rhodes knew that the wrinkled old farmer in front of him represented the life of a generation of people at the bottom of Kislev.

As he spoke, he smeared the child's wound with homemade ointment. According to him, this is the only ointment that can deal with rat fever. The boy lay quietly in his father's arms with a high fever, and the area where he had been bitten by the rat had begun to fester.

"It's unfortunate that your son will be fine. ”

Rod whispered.

"I hope so. ”

The old farmer said.

"By the way, where are you going? Look at you dressed like knights?"

He then asked.

"Kislev, Kislev City. Yes, we are knights, knights of the North......"

Rod replied mockingly.

"Kislev...... That's where the queen lives, where are you going, and it's a long way from Kislev. Legend has it that this is where the Ice Queen lives, and it's a city made of ice, but I've never been there. ”

The farmer said.

"Perhaps, it should be a great city. All cities rebuilt from the ruins are great. Where are we going to do something. ”

Rhodes returned.

"Oh, sorry...... I shouldn't have asked. Knight-sama. ”

The old farmer spoke again.

"It's okay......"

"You are a competent father. You did everything you could. ”

Rod said comfortingly.

"But it still couldn't save my son. His injuries were severe. ”

The farmer replied. His face grew even more sorrowful, and a frown crawled all over his forehead.

"Ointment?"

"The ointment is not enough, we make it ourselves, it is made from a mixture of goat's milk and ice pepper juice, I can get some goat's milk, but the ice pepper is too expensive, and I can't afford to buy a handful of ice pepper in a year's income. Most of the ingredients in these ointments are dried goat's milk, and the ingredients of ice pepper are very few, which is not enough. Let's apply it first, I hope it works. Do you say yes? ”

As he spoke, the farmer squeezed a little more and applied it to his son's arm, and he even applied the ointment directly with his hands, without fear of infection. But if you think about it, his eldest son died, his wife died early, and now, his only youngest son is also dying. If the youngest son in his arms dies again, he has no hope, it is better to die.

"Ice pepper?"

Rod took the ointment, looked at it carefully, and asked about the ointment by the way. He had heard of the Kislev Ice Pepper, but he had never known what it was for, and today it seemed to be a medicinal herb, and it seemed to be an extremely precious medicinal herb.

"Yes, Ice Pepper, it's a treasure, only in the north has ......"

"Then why is it so expensive?"

Rod asked.

"Because it's hard to grow...... Ice pepper is different from other crops, it is an extremely cold crop, the colder the weather, the better it grows, and if it only needs to be cold, then its cultivation cost is not high, the key is that in its harvest season, it needs extremely cold climate temperature to really mature, and this extreme low temperature is not possible in the natural environment, that requires the ice magic of the frost witch to make it mature. ”

Rhodes looked at the ointment while listening to the old farmer talk about the properties of the local specialty crop. In an instant, a bold idea rushed into Rod's head. Cold, Snow, Frost Witch...... With information about Kislev Ice Pepper coming to mind, all of these difficult growing environments are just right for your own territory. Blackhammer Fort is located in the northernmost part of Kislev, not to mention the cold climate, and the snow is even more perennial, and the soil is covered with frost and snow for half of the year. And the Frost Witch, isn't Caroline ready-made? Such a high-value crop can't be grown anywhere else, but in her own territory, all the conditions for planting are met! The only one who needs trouble is Caroline, but it shouldn't be difficult.

"My lord, would you like some hot water?"

The old farmer's words brought Rod's thoughts back to the present. He was still squeezing the ointment, which had dried to powder and was spilling little by little from the boy's wounds.

"Can you tell me where I can get the seeds of the ice pepper?"

Rod asked excitedly.

"Do you mean the seeds of the ice pepper? ”

The old farmer asked again, and seemed to not understand what Rod wanted that kind of kid to do.

"Yes, the seeds of the ice pepper. ”

"Ice pepper seeds are sold in many markets, but aren't you going to the capital city of Kislev? The price is not expensive, the key is the difficulty of planting. Alas, there are so many things that the Frost Witch can do, and we poor people all hope for a Frost Witch in our family, but they often can't return home when they grow up. Alas......"

The old farmer muttered to himself.

"I see, thank you, friend. ”

Rod said excitedly. Then he handed a golden crown to the old man.

"Buy your son some real chilled peppers. ”

Rhodes said. You can see the old man's surprised expression, the knight is originally a relationship between the upper and lower classes of the peasants, and they are already very happy that the knight does not disturb their lives, and now, the knight in front of him actually rewarded him with a gold coin. For him, this is almost a whole year's income, and the old farmer is too excited to speak. He tried to grab Rod's hand, but he was afraid that his hand would be dirty, so he stretched it out and retracted it halfway.

"Thank you, my lord, and thank ......"

He burst into tears.