kscans

Chapter 206 - Volume 2 Promotional SS: Dreams Don't Come True, You Make Them True

"So this is ‘carbonara’."

"Indeed, Your Highness."

The chef bowed respectfully.

Having heard it was a dish popular in the city, Prince Marcello had obtained the recipe and had the royal chefs make it. The dish was exquisite. He had eaten similar pasta before, but a sprinkle of black pepper transformed it into something completely different. While impressed, Prince Marcello murmured in a tone tinged with exasperation.

"To think that that princess instructed this..."

She was, in every way, an unconventional person.

The prince was lost in thought, truly pondering. The matter of the Lord’s forest, this pasta, she had stirred up a huge whirlwind and then nonchalantly left for Frontier. Leaving a great deal of homework for those of us left behind.

It was only recently that the prince had realized it was homework. As an effect of the revived border forest, the granary of the border village had begun to expand, becoming wider and larger, as if transformed.

An vast field stretching as far as the eye could see.

To create such a magnificent farmland, the border village had put in a tremendous amount of effort. Although they had the help of the Lords, it was, in the end, a desolate wasteland. It would amount to nothing if people did not lend a hand. Their efforts bore fruit, and now the border village provides a large amount of agricultural products throughout Flowers. Perhaps, someday, self-sufficiency would be restored in Flowers as well.

Prince Marcello felt a shiver run down his spine.

What had the Princess of Frontier said at that time?

"Is there a forest in the royal capital?"

...There is not.

But to put it another way, if there was a forest, it would be possible to wait for the arrival of a Lord. Prince Marcello suddenly realized this. Now that the desolate borderlands were turning into a granary, he suddenly understood that it was by no means impossible.

And his face froze in shock.

"...Create a forest? Can it be done? No..."

It is not a matter of can or cannot. It must be done. If you seek something, you must strive to make it a reality. Just like the border village.

A dangerous light, filled with ambition, flashed in Prince Marcello's eyes.

And so began Prince Marcello's efforts to transform the woods north of the royal palace into a forest. He took command himself, repeatedly planting trees while covered in mud and dead leaves. The people around him, watching Prince Marcello spend most of his personal fortune on earthworks day in and day out, worried terribly that he might have lost his mind. Without a glance at his surroundings, he just kept expanding the forest.

A desperation that could be considered foolishly honest.

Sometimes he would stumble and crouch down in despair, other times he would rejoice at small successes. While walking a winding path that was not always smooth sailing, and as people who sympathized with his efforts appeared, Prince Marcello continued to strive.

After spending a not insignificant number of years, he let out a triumphant roar when he saw that the northern side of the royal palace had grown to a size that could be called a forest, which was a charming sight.

He devoured many documents, invited forestry experts from Frontier, and poured all his efforts into making the forest grow even larger.

No matter how large he made it, Prince Marcello was not satisfied. His devotion to the forest, crying for more, more, was verging on madness, and it inspired fear in those around him.

And so, despite being labeled an eccentric, Prince Marcello continued to plant trees with single minded determination. Due to these circumstances, he would later come to be called the "King of the Forest."

The Little One had been watching his efforts closely. And his long-cherished ambition would intersect with reality.

It would be more than ten years before Prince Marcello’s dearest wish came to fruition.

The current Prince Marcello does not know of the happy future where he soars through the sky with a Lord of the Forest.