“It is more urban than I expected for such a remote city; oh, I hope you won’t be offended by the way I put it.”

“I didn’t expect you to be so demure after all this time. You can be more at ease with me, okay?”

“Hmmm, I wonder about that too, but it makes me feel more fortable, thank you very much.”

Mary answered in a serious manner. However, Sid started laughing again.

Eventually, Sid took her to a store where she could buy some winter clothes at a more affordable price and then to a bookstore. Mary, a former noblewoman herself, could read; despite constantly mocking Clarisse for being a bookworm, she too was one herself. However, unlike Clarisse, she was not interested in learning or academic materials and only read popular romance and historical novels. 

Sid was surprised that Mary could read but opted not to say anything, instead silently watching her while she chose a book.

Today, she enjoyed shopping as much as she wanted. She had almost no place to spend her salary as a maid in the Farenheit family, and then came her considerably higher-than-market salary in the Margrave’s mansion, which both kept accumulating until now. Although Sid offered to pay, she declined politely as he had no obligation to.

“So what does the town thrive on since it is in the middle of nowhere? Is there some sort of industry or something? The location is pretty inconvenient, being so far from the rest of the kingdom.”

Mary asked a question that occurred to her, and Sid looked at her as though she was asking a surprising question.

“Well, basically, there’s a lot of trade; it’s the most thriving sector here; there’s been plenty of exchanges between us and the neighboring countries, you know, with treaties and all.”

“Oh, I suppose so. Hmm, I think agriculture isn’t that active in this area, right? We passed through rocky areas a few times on the way here. Are there any minerals that can be extracted, perhaps?”

“When it es to agriculture, it’s undeniable that we need as much produce as we can get our hands on. Now that the relationship with neighboring countries has settled down a little, I think Jean will be able to work on improving it, although the weather is not suitable for agriculture, to begin with.”

In remote areas, it seems that the four seasons are not so well defined, with a short spring, followed by a long summer and fall, and then a harsh winter; if anything, it is more like a three-season cycle. 

Right now, it is between late fall and early winter, and in some parts of the area, temperatures are expected to drop severely, and snow will keep people in their houses for days at a time. Mary also learned from other servants in the mansion that people in remote areas worked hard to stockpile for the winter months in advance, to be able to make it until spring.

“There are some minerals, but… nothing too valuable, I suppose. Basically, it’s a poor area.”

 As a result, when Jean was appointed as a margrave, the other nobles weren’t exactly overjoyed. Thus, he was rewarded and honored by the king, and if they considered the wealth and position he had built up alone, it showed that it was a fruitful land, but the process of getting there was harsh and horrendous. 

If it were someone other than Jean, they would have given up and thrown it away long ago.

‘Besides, Jean didn’t care so much whether he had wealth or not…well, I guess now it’s a bit different since he wants to be able to use it for Clarisse.’