The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Preparations for the Harvest Festival and Rumors of Werewolves

The newly completed square in Enkar Village was spacious enough.

In the center of the square stood a circular flowerbed made of bricks, but there hadn’t been enough time to plant flowers this year.

At the very center of the flowerbed was an empty pedestal. Someday, a symbolic statue of the village might be placed there to enhance its appearance.

… As we gradually prepare what’s needed, Enkar Village will naturally develop its own unique character.

“Lady Melfina! We gathered straw!”

“We brought the sticks too!”

Turning at the voices of the children, Melfina smiled.

Today was the day for initial preparations for the harvest festival. The adults were busy with farm work, so the children and some of the women who had free time offered to help.

They decided to make use of the central pedestal by covering it with straw and arranging the year’s harvest.

This year’s standout crop was, unsurprisingly, corn.

In addition, they displayed pumpkins, carrots, leeks, bundles of wheat with the ears still attached, baskets of apples and pears, as well as walnuts, acorns, and wild grapes that the children had gathered from the forest.

Pinecones were mixed in for a whimsical touch.

With the abundance of pumpkins, the scene looked more like a Halloween festival from her previous life than a harvest festival.

In this world, pumpkins came in a variety of colors and shapes, ranging from brilliant orange to yellow, white, and green.

Some were flat, others elongated, but overall they were larger and heavier than those she had seen in her previous life. Melfina found it quite a struggle to carry even one whole pumpkin.

The children made scarecrows by crossing sticks and tying straw to them. They made one scarecrow with long hair made of straw and the other with a hat fashioned from a rolled-up cloth. It was a simple design.

In this world, hats symbolized a profession and represented the male deity, while long hair symbolized blessings and represented the female deity.

This was more for the sake of festive decoration than religious beliefs.

For the food-related stalls, a fee was charged for setting up, allowing those who wanted to participate to do so. Near the square, several stalls, either handmade or built by the village carpenters, were already lined up, showcasing quite a decent quality.

Most of the stalls offered flatbread sandwiches and vegetable dishes, so as the host, Melfina decided to prepare soup and ale to avoid interfering with their businesses.

After all, there was an abundance of pumpkins.

Melfina had suggested planting pumpkins to reduce the cultivation of potatoes, but the amount harvested was more than expected, with pumpkins piled high in the front yard of the manor.

Pumpkins could be stored for a few months to ripen, so there was no rush to eat them immediately. However, the quantity was too large for the manor to consume alone.

When Melfina asked Alexis if he would buy some pumpkins while selling corn, he gladly bought most of them, saying that food was always welcome. Since it was something she had grown herself, Melfina felt she should enjoy it too.

She decided to make pumpkin and onion soup with chicken, as well as a bean and pumpkin milk soup.

Although most people in the Enkar region were not struggling financially this year, not everyone had plenty. She thought it would be good to have food available that anyone could freely enjoy.

To provide seating, many of the wooden boxes used for the corn harvest were turned over to serve as benches.

“It would have been nice to have a music band, but that’s not possible this year.”

“Let’s all sing and dance together.”

Melfina laughed and nodded at Marie, who was weaving straw beside her.

Though it was a festival, it was their first attempt and not a large-scale event. They couldn’t waste candles, and given the dry season, they didn’t want to light many fires.

Since the world wasn’t as safe to walk around at night as in her previous life, the festival was planned to start before noon and end by evening.

The harvested crops displayed on the stage were to be distributed among the villagers who would be performing.

“Do the villages or settlements have any entertainment planned?”

“Well, we’re all going to sing together.”

Rena, who was weaving a straw flower decoration beside her, said with some excitement.

“That sounds lovely. What songs will you be singing?”

“‘Autumn Melody’, ‘The Forest Band’, and ‘The Corn Song!'”

“The Corn Song?”

While “Autumn Melody” and “The Forest Band” were well-known nursery rhymes throughout the Kingdom of Francesca, both celebrating the autumn harvest and fitting perfectly with the festival, “The Corn Song” was a title Melfina had never heard before.

“We made it together. We wanted you to hear it, Lady Mel”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear it!”

As Rena laughed with a soft “hee-hee”, the village women continued their handiwork, chatting merrily. Melfina’s ears caught a fragment of their conversation.

“Yes, they say you see it more often around autumn.”

“That’s scary… We should remind the children to be careful.”

“What have you been seeing?”

Melfina asked, joining the conversation. The women initially looked surprised but then nodded in understanding.

“Melfina-sama, you came here in the spring, so you wouldn’t know. It’s a monster. People see it more frequently this time of year.”

“A monster? Do you mean the Pluina from the north? I thought that appeared closer to the sea.”

“No, it’s not something as famous as that. It’s a monster that lives deep in the Moltre Forest.”

“Oh… I remember hearing that monsters in Moltre Forest prevent a road from being built to the neighboring country.”

The women nodded solemnly.

In this world, instead of wars, monsters appear as enemies of humans.

To the south, there is the fire monster, Plamia.

To the east, the water monster, Acqua.

To the west, the wind monster, Fratus.

And to the north, the ice monster, Pluina.

These are the four most famous monsters in the kingdom, known even by children. Each of these monsters has their own minions and appears in specific regions at regular intervals. Although they can cause significant damage if left unchecked, the damage and their appearance cycles are somewhat predictable. In a sense, they are akin to natural disasters like typhoons, heavy rains, or blizzards from the previous world.

In the game, the Saint Maria has routes that involve fighting one of these monsters depending on the chosen love interest.

Pluina, for example, appears in the plains near the sea in the north, so it rarely affects the Enkar region.

Even if a monster is defeated, a completely new one will appear the following year. Therefore, it is customary to dispatch the knights’ order to reduce their power and mitigate the damage when the time comes.

In the north, the Duke of Oldrand’s family handles this subjugation every year.

Dealing with Plamia falls under Melfina’s family, the Crawford household. Compared to the other regions’ monsters, Plamia is relatively easier to manage. Since its appearance location is fixed, flooding the area with water mages in the summer can prevent its emergence altogether.

If not properly managed, it could lead to massive fires. However, knowing this, the Crawford family and the surrounding nobles ensure that measures are well in place. As far as Melfina recalls, there has never been significant damage.

Nevertheless, flooding part of the territory, while effective, is still damaging and incurs considerable expenses for the mages’ services. Fortunately, the southern region governed by the Crawford family is a major granary area, so financial struggles are rare.

The fertile land and abundant sunshine produce a rich harvest of grains, making most areas of the territory suitable for both agriculture and livestock farming.

Due to these conditions, the knights’ order in the south is not very strong, and the Crawford family’s position becomes somewhat weak during tense times with neighboring countries.

While the likelihood of a full-scale war is almost non-existent, having military strength as a deterrent in negotiations is still invaluable.

“What kind of monsters are in the Moltre Forest?”

The women exchanged hesitant looks, and eventually one of them timidly spoke up.

“…Werewolves.”

“Werewolves… People who turn into wolves?”

In the imagery of the previous world, werewolves transformed into wolves under the full moon, but in this world, werewolves seem to be man-eating wolves that infiltrate human settlements.

According to the women’s explanation, if one encounters a stranger in the forest, there’s a possibility they could be a werewolf in disguise. In such cases, they pretend not to notice and inform them that tonight is a feast at their home, a day when many people gather.

The stranger would then offer to escort them to the village.

Werewolves have a tendency to hunt more efficiently by blending into human crowds, so instead of devouring a lone wanderer in the forest, they choose places where many people gather.

Once they reach the village, the guide would loudly declare, “We have guests! Let’s treat them to a feast!” This serves as a signal that someone suspicious, possibly a werewolf, has appeared. Upon hearing these words, neighboring residents would gather with alcohol, ply the suspected werewolf with drinks, and flatter them.

Once the werewolf is drunk and asleep, they would be bound, pricked with a silver needle, and if they exhibit burns, it would be considered proof of their identity as a werewolf, warranting their eradication.

Since silver is relatively unlikely to cause allergies, and even if there were allergic reactions, they would rarely manifest dramatically, there is little room for doubt if all conditions are met.

…However, if they were just a kind person with a silver allergy, it would be unfortunate…

Furthermore, it’s said that when constructing roads through the forest, werewolves would infiltrate the laborers and engineers and devour humans one after another.

The neighboring Luxen Kingdom beyond the forest faces similar circumstances, repeatedly failing to construct trade routes and currently relying on maritime routes for trade.

“…Werewolves disguising themselves as humans to prey on people, it sounds like something out of a fantasy.”

It feels like I’m truly in the world of a maiden game after a long time.

“Werewolves especially like the flesh of children, so when we were kids, we were always firmly warned before entering the forest. If we encountered a stranger in the woods, we were instructed to always say, ‘Tonight, there’s a feast at my house. Everyone in the village will gather.'”

“I see. Have you actually encountered one?”

Asking this, the women chuckled.

“Not at all. We were just cautioned to be careful, as they might come out in autumn.”

“In other seasons, they live deep in the forest where children wouldn’t venture, so I don’t think hunters or road builders would ever encounter them either.”

Her words were reassuring.

Melfina learned that monsters were akin to natural disasters.

The idea of such creatures leisurely appearing in the village felt like a nightmare.