Chapter 72 - Episode 71: The Banquet ④
Promising to sign contracts with each noble and receive payment by tomorrow, and to send several Crossbows to each territory as soon as he returned to the Arqvist territory... having finally been liberated from the nobles' barrage of questions, Noein spoke.
"Everyone, in truth, the Crossbow is not the only gift I have brought today. There is one more thing I would like to introduce."
Since this had been arranged in advance, just as with the matter of the Crossbow, neither Marquis Bechtolsheim nor Arnold were surprised.
However, the nobles gathered around Noein grew excited, wondering what they would be shown next.
"Allow me to show you. This is a modest thing compared to the Crossbow... but it is a dish using a rare crop cultivated in my territory."
As Noein gave a signal, Rosetta entered the room carrying a large tray.
On the tray was a dish of thinly sliced potatoes, fried in oil and sprinkled with salt.
To showcase this as a gift, Rosetta, the most skilled cook among the maids, had accompanied him on this journey and handled the preparation.
"This is a crop known widely in the Southern Continent as the potato, fried in oil. Depending on the cooking method, the potato is a crop that can serve as a staple food, but this way of eating it is well-suited as an accompaniment to wine."
The reaction of the nobles upon seeing the potatoes was smaller than it had been for the Crossbow.
However, having already accepted Noein as a member of their faction, they tasted the rare dish he offered and showed favorable reactions, saying, "Ho, an interesting texture," and "It certainly goes well with alcohol."
"The taste and rarity are certainly points, but the potato has other advantages. In a certain country, it is called the 'crop that saves the nation,' and it possesses great advantages in terms of food supply."
Noein explained the merits of the potato to the nobles.
It could be grown and increased more easily than wheat, the harvest volume relative to the farmland area was high, the processing effort before eating was low, it lasted a long time, and its nutritional value was high. He explained this information while comparing it to wheat using concrete numbers.
For the territorial nobles who struggled daily with the stability of food supplies, this was an extremely convenient story.
While potatoes are a useful crop, it is difficult to popularize something previously unknown to society. This is even more so if it is something one puts in one's mouth.
Therefore, Noein utilized this opportunity, having gained a positive impression from the nobles via the Crossbow, to attempt to make the existence of the potato recognized by them all at once.
"If we cultivate this separately from wheat, it could serve as a preparation against famine..."
"Would it not be just right as a crop to feed the poor?"
Having heard the advantages of the potato from Noein, the nobles began to mutter among themselves about ways to utilize it.
Amidst this, the person who pushed through the nobles to approach Noein was an unexpected individual.
"...Lord Arqvist, can I purchase these so-called potatoes immediately? Also, if a detailed cultivation method has been established, I would very much like to hear it."
"I would be delighted to sell them to you, Your Excellency Marcel. Since I have researched the cultivation method to some extent, I believe I can teach you an efficient way to grow them."
"I see... I am grateful. I wish to discuss the specifics with you later."
While the surrounding nobles were surprised that Count Marcel, who had been looking at Noein with apparent dislike, spoke words such as "I am grateful," albeit somewhat bluntly, Count Marcel returned to the side of Marquis Bechtolsheim and the others.
"It was surprising that you took the bait, Edmund. Did you like the taste of that dish that much?"
"You joke. Your Excellency must have also noticed its value upon hearing the characteristics of the potato... as military supplies, those have tremendous value."
Count Marcel replied with a displeased face to the teasing tone of Marquis Bechtolsheim. It was a form of fully acknowledging the utility of the potatoes Noein brought, however reluctantly.
"Indeed, if we have that crop, the food situation will be stable to a degree incomparable to the present... if that spreads, the Northwestern faction will eventually make a leap forward both militarily and economically."
"Exactly. With those potatoes, we can reduce the agricultural population and increase the number of professional soldiers per capita. It seems plain at first glance, but that is a gift that rivals the Crossbow."
When Count Shuvalov joined the conversation and stated his thoughts, Count Marcel nodded in agreement.
Food stability is directly linked to social stability, and a stable society becomes the foundation for strong military power. Because he understood this, Count Marcel had bitten on the potatoes even if it meant ignoring his personal feelings toward Noein.
On the other hand, Noein also thought that Count Marcel had likely asked the previous question after thinking that far.
It seems he's not just a stubborn old man...
Catching a glimpse of the flexible thinking of Count Marcel, who at first glance seemed like a typical conservative, Noein significantly revised his evaluation of him upward in his mind.
Seeing Count Marcel's reaction, the other nobles also seemed to think that these potatoes held a greater value than they had imagined, and they surrounded Noein again to enter negotiations.
Without hesitation, Noein exchanged promises to deliver the potatoes and their cultivation manual along with the Crossbows.
If he stabilized food production in the Northwest, and by extension the entire kingdom, public order would improve, society would develop, and that would eventually lead to the peace of the Arqvist territory.
Noein's reform plan, which considered that far, thus took its first step.
.....
After the banquet ended and returned to the inn, Noein was drinking lightly with Arnold, who had also returned to the inn, as a sort of debriefing session.
"I thought that with you, there would be no failure even in your first social setting... but far from just getting through it safely, you've easily captured the hearts of the nobles of the Northwestern faction."
Arnold spoke while sighing, as if he had already abandoned the act of being surprised itself.
Despite holding the lowest rank of nobility, that of a Baronet, Noein had acquired a firm standing within a large noble faction in a single banquet.
From Arnold's perspective, his own hardships—having worked steadily to gain a certain level of evaluation as the head of a noble house—seemed foolish. It was a story that made him want to say, "It's unfair that you are evaluated so easily."
"The two gifts worked better than expected... but since I received a high evaluation, wouldn't the evaluation of Your Excellency Koenitz, who introduced me, also have risen greatly? Isn't it a result where both parties profited?"
"That is certainly true... but if you start boasting that the fact you happened to become my neighbor is your own achievement, I'm finished."
Since Arnold also had pride as a lord, he could not be brazen enough to brag about "my acquaintance is an amazing guy" as if it were his own merit.
"By the way, tomorrow you'll meet with the nobles of the Northwestern faction again to exchange sales contracts for the Crossbows and potatoes, right? Even though you visited the foremost great city in the Northwest, it's tough that it's all work."
"Yes, thinking about how many signatures I'll have to make in one day makes me a bit depressed already... but this is for the development of the Northwest."
"Hmph, how devoted."
Arnold replied with irony to Noein's words.
There was no doubt that Noein wished for the development of the kingdom's Northwest and the strengthening of the faction, but it was not out of a sense of duty or mission, but for the extremely self-centered reason that "the Arqvist territory profits more that way."
Arnold felt relief in his heart that the territory Noein was granted was indeed in the kingdom's Northwest.