Chapter Text
"Take this bag of dandelion seeds, spread them from the southeast, the part of the ground where the furrows have been dug, from the left hand. I'm counting on you, Javier!!"
"I'm a Knight, not a worker, my responsibility is-"
Javier Asrahan hadn't finished speaking when the young master Lloyd Frontera whom he had always served - in fact the soul residing inside Lloyd was now Kim Suho, a stranger from another world (from the Republic of Korea? Javier remembered his young master saying so) waved his hand, nodded a few times perfunctorily, then followed along to shut him up.
"Yes yes, my noble and handsome Knight Javier~ Your duty here is to follow and protect me, to serve the Count of Arcos Frontera faithfully, obviously, spreading seeds on that land will bring great economic potential to our territory in the future, which also means that you have contributed to the prosperity and peaceful life of the Frontera family, my~Sir~Knight~"
That also means that Javier's spreading of seeds and digging the land is fulfilling his duty as a Knight as he always wanted (Javier didn't say that).
Javier sighed, his two eyebrows furrowed at one point. With an unwilling expression, the young man who had just turned twenty-two could only obediently take the bag of seeds, roll up his sleeves, and start spreading the seeds.
Lloyd lay on the couch, holding a coconut and taking refreshing sips under the shade of the umbrella, watching his knight guard work with all his heart, as usual rubbing his hands and laughing with a mean expression (so mean that it exceeded the moral limit, Lloyd's commercial smile could even cause a war between Empires?), explaining. "That's right, from that side. Bell and Ppoddong will dig and build the beds later, I'll tell you in advance, Javier, the area of this flower planting area is about 1~3 hectares, that is 1,000 to 3,000 square meters. We have two days to spread the seeds, do your best, Javier!"
Javier, who had now taken off his coat and undershirt and was naked, leaving only his trousers and a towel around his head, his skin covered in sweat and tan and his face unhappy from being exploited for his labor, turned his head, approached his master and questioned him.
"Why am I the only one doing this?"
"My dear knight whom I trust!" - Lloyd waved his arm holding the half-drunk coconut, his jaws widening in an inexplicable way, showing a damn capitalist smile, and he began to flatter - "Hiring workers is very expensive, and I have almost mobilized all the manpower for other projects. Sowing seeds and making beds, only our territory's dearest, strongest, most honorable, and especially most trustworthy Javier can do it in just 2 days! One Javier is worth 50,000 gold coins. Of course, you won't be at a disadvantage, at the end of the month your salary will increase by five times!"
"So, let's work hard for the prosperous development of our territory, pleaseeeeeee ~!"
Faced with the young master's flattering and enticing appearance when he needed human labor for every business plan, Javier was the same as always, he just gritted his teeth helplessly and drank the coconut that was left on the table, ready to return to his working position.
"But I still can't figure it out."
"Hmm?"
Javier glanced at the unfinished space in the large plot of land in front of him that was waiting for him in the next few hours to sow seeds, and began to voice his doubts.
"Why would you dedicate such a large area to planting dandelions? If it was for decoration for the Count and his wife and the people of this estate to walk around and admire, I can completely understand. Even so, planting nearly three thousand square meters for dandelion viewing is almost unreasonable."
"Dandelion is a flower that blooms for a long time but fades quickly. Once it blooms, it will start to drop its flowers and fly everywhere. It is almost impossible to harvest fruit, nor can it harvest seeds for food or decoration. I really wonder, what do you plan to do after nearly three hectares of dandelion fields bloom?"
Thinking back and forth, Javier still couldn't figure out what the "strong economic potential" that Young Master Lloyd mentioned about this flower was.
"And that's why everyone here ignores it!"
Lloyd put his hands behind his head, enjoying the view that would be filled with snow-white dandelion flowers flying in the wind in the not too distant future.
"Of course, with dandelions, if we plant them for the purpose of harvesting the flowers, the land area we need to spend is not even 300 square meters. Similarly, even if we plant them for the seeds, at most we have to sacrifice about half a hectare for planting. Dandelions are easy to grow and have extremely good vitality even in harsh environments, imagine a scene where a dandelion field stretches for nearly three thousand square meters. Jaiver, what do you think about it?"
Jaiver was silent, he didn't wonder and imagined what Young Master Lloyd described.
"Um, a lot of flowers?"
"And beautiful."
"Um, it's beautiful."
"And romantic because the dandelions will fly in the wind when the wind blows?"
"Um."
But what does that have to do with the issue of commercial development?
Jaiver was silent after agreeing with his master. Not letting Javier down, Lloyd raised his hand to illustrate, and their eyes met, sparkling as his mind was filled with the smell of money.
"Do you know that when people hold weddings or propose to each other, no matter where, they always decorate with flowers? And here...."
Lloyd pointed strongly at the vast expanse of empty land before him, before the evening light reflected on his face that was relaxing all the muscles when thinking about the huge amount of money he earned, Lloyd continued to explain.
"A field of dandelions, beautiful and fading quickly. Weddings, men who want a beautiful and private place to propose to the woman of their lives, a place to keep memories for taking pictures - ah - of course only nobles can afford magic stone image storage devices, walks, aesthetics, all those elements, that will be the sparkling gold coins flowing into the big honey pot of our Frontera territory!!!"
Javier understood the business idea that young master Lloyd was talking about, but the curiosity that was always constantly learning hidden in his innate genius intelligence still did not stop him from wondering.
"But they only bloom for a certain period of time. And when the wind blows them away, the dandelions will all wither, and it will take a long time before they bloom again. If the guests come and see a field of withered flowers, won't they be very angry, and then bring bad reputation to the whole estate?"
And Lloyd just waited for the opportunity, he opened his jaw wide, making his face look really ugly with a smile like a reincarnated Devil, laughing loudly.
"That's it, the second factor that makes this Estate more valuable than ever!"
"Everything in the world, only when it cannot last forever and is also fleeting, no matter what form it exists in, will make people crave and desire to possess it more than ever."
"The beautiful and romantic Dandelion Field only lasts from 3 days to two weeks. Those who want to let their women confess their love on the pure and soft white flower field, but what will the damn newlyweds who want to preserve their wedding moment in the most impressive way do, when everyone wants to rush to get a share before the pile of flowers wither and are blown away by the wind? "
They will have to pay the highest price possible, and it might even be a war.
Guessing Javier's thoughts, Lloyd clasped his hands and concluded his presentation about the opportunity to develop tourism in the Territory with a refreshing laugh (with an expression... as usual, unspeakably ugly).
" And that's all we need, haha."
After finishing his speech, Lloyd's throat was dry, he drank the remaining coconut water in the fruit, put on his cloak, and with his other hand quickly grabbed the shovel as if it had been his constant companion throughout the journey, then waved his hand to instruct the green-haired knight.
"It's almost evening, I'm going to survey the remaining constructions, try to reach the KPI by today to finish two hectares of land, our Javier~!!"
The figure of the chestnut-haired noble gradually faded away, leaving Javier alone in the sunset with a bored mood.
" KPI .... what else? Tch."
Although he wasn't very willing, Javier still took the bag of seeds and started planting diligently.