Exiled Young Girl's Territory Development Record: The Result of the Villainous Young Lady Who Was Exiled Before the Scenario Began and Did Whatever She Wanted for the People. - Chapter 44: The Banished Girl Gets a Surprise

By mid-December, Scarletford had become a winter wonderland, covered in a blanket of snow. Although it arrived a little earlier than usual, once this much snow accumulates, it won’t melt until spring.

As a result, Scarletford was completely cut off from the outside world, and the villagers would spend their time working on handicrafts inside their homes until spring arrived.

However, instead of having Simon and Anna do handwork, I paid them to serve as teachers for the village children, teaching them reading, writing, and arithmetic.

You see, jobs in the village that only require simple manual labor are becoming scarce.

The “Skeleton Industrial Revolution”, particularly the goblin skeletons, is absolutely astounding.

Agriculture, construction, blacksmithing, food processing, spinning—once taught, they can do practically anything involving simple tasks. And it seems that skeletons even share knowledge among themselves. Somehow, tasks I taught only one skeleton to do were being carried out by others.

It’s amazing, isn’t it?

That said, of course, goblin skeletons can’t handle all types of work.

They still haven’t overcome their lack of dexterity. For example, they’re not good at delicate tasks like embroidering intricate patterns onto fabric, nor are they proficient at construction work that requires millimeter-level precision.

I suppose it’s because skeletons can’t do anything their original goblin bodies couldn’t do.

Which means… if we turn humans into skeletons…

Oh no, what am I thinking? If I go down that road, I’ll end up like **Olivia**, the villainess from *Magical Otome*!

No, no! That’s not okay!

Anyway, I had the goblin skeletons build something in our yard. Now that it’s finally snowed enough, I thought I’d test it out today.

“G-119, G-120, bring in the snow.”

*Clatter, clatter.*

The two skeletons filled cloth sacks with snow from the backyard and carried them into a small shed we had built there.

After a while, the skeletons emerged from the shed carrying the now-empty sacks and went back to refill them with more snow. They continued this process until the snow in the yard had significantly dwindled.

This worked as a sort of snow removal too. Not bad.

What am I doing, you ask?

Well, I had them bring in the snow, but not for storage—it’s for refrigeration.

That’s right, I made a natural fridge using snow.

You see, there’s no electricity in this world, so there are no refrigerators. But without one, it’s hard to preserve food, right? So, I had a deep hole dug in the ground to make a cellar. During the winter, I’ll store snow in there to use as a refrigerator.

I wasn’t sure how deep to dig it, so I just had them dig it pretty deep. If there’s still snow left by next autumn, I’ll build similar ones all over the village. That way, we can properly store meat and other perishables.

Once the snow had all been brought in, I returned to the house, and Marie rushed over to me in a panic.

“My Lady!”

“Huh? What’s the matter, Marie?”

“Where have you been? Come quickly! It’s already starting!”

“W-What?”

What’s going on? I don’t remember hearing about anything.

Marie grabbed my hand and led me outside through the front entrance. There, gathered in front of the house, was the entire village. To my surprise, there was even a whole roast pig being prepared!

“Huh? What’s going on? Is there some sort of celebration?”

“Of course! Everyone, on three!”

“**One, two, three!** Happy birthday, My Lady!”

“W-What!?”

Completely caught off guard, I froze in place.

Wait, is today… the 19th?

“Mi Lady, why are you making that face? It’s your birthday today, is it not? Don’t tell me you forgot!”

“I-I guess I did, haha. I’ve been so busy I completely forgot. Besides, in the past, Marie always celebrated with me at night.”

“You are a precious figure to the people of Scarletford. Naturally, we all want to celebrate with you.”

“That’s right. Marie told us about your birthday, so we all worked together to prepare this.”

“Wil…”

I felt so happy. It was like a dream come true to have so many people celebrate my birthday.

“Thank you, everyone! Let’s continue working together to make this village even better!”

“Yes!”

And so, I celebrated my birthday with everyone in the village.

Meanwhile, in a dingy tavern on the outskirts of Bitterley, men living day-to-day were drinking ale and having a heated conversation.

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“About Southberry.”

“Yeah, I heard. The Marquis of Southberry apparently killed his tiny daughter and abandoned her in the cursed forest, right?”

One of the men motioned with his hands, indicating someone no taller than the seat of his chair.

“Yeah, that’s the story. But there’s more to it.”

“More?”

“Yeah. Turns out, that daughter he supposedly killed is still alive.”

“No way. So, he didn’t abandon her after all?”

“No, she’s alive and living in the cursed forest.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. A kid that small can’t survive in the cursed forest. Either the goblins would eat her, or a wild boar would trample her.”

“Well, get this: apparently, she’s some sort of magical prodigy.”

“Really? I wouldn’t know much about magic, but can kids really use magic at that age?”

“Usually no, which is why she’s a genius.”

“Fascinating. Maybe she’s out there killing monsters for food.”

“Hah, now that would be a story. A noble girl surviving by eating monsters and eventually becoming one herself for revenge…”

“Come on, that’s straight out of a third-rate bard’s horror story.”

“No good?”

“Terrible.”

“I thought it was a great idea, though.”

The two men laughed heartily, clinking their mugs together.

“But is it really true? If she’s alive, that’s a huge scoop.”

“Absolutely. Want to know who I heard it from?”

“Who?”

“You know Mortimer’s Café in the central square?”

“Yeah, that high-end place frequented by Lady Muriel, right?”

“Exactly. I heard it from someone who overheard the waitresses gossiping. Apparently, Lady Muriel herself talked about meeting the abandoned girl. That’s where the whole magical prodigy story comes from.”

“No way! That means it’s true!”

“See? I told you.”

“But if that girl’s really so amazing, why would they abandon her in the cursed forest? Isn’t she his real daughter? In our country, daughters can inherit too, can’t they? Heck, our last monarch was a queen.”

“Who knows? Maybe her father was afraid of her talent or something. You know how it is with nobles—there’s always some struggle over heirs. At the end of the day, sons are usually the preferred choice.”

“Ah, I guess that makes sense. But I always thought fathers were supposed to be doting on their daughters…”

“Well, we’ll never understand the minds of the nobility.”

“True enough.”

With that, the men tipped back their mugs once more.