Chapter 40

Episode 40

#40. The Faith of the North (5)

“Still, this fantasy world is a scam. Fertilizer can be THIS effective?”

The northern magic fertilizer… or rather, Mary’s Holy Blessing showed its effects within just a week.

Everything from crop growth speed to development exceeded imagination.

‘Potatoes were definitely the game-changer. With this fertilizer, we could probably grow potatoes in most parts of the north.’

Especially against the cold, which was one of the biggest problems in the north, Mary’s blessing really shone. Potatoes stood out particularly; areas where they couldn’t grow due to the cold before could now support cultivation.

Of course, yield and growth speed were lower compared to other regions, but being able to grow at all was a completely different matter.

“Everyone! Dig here!”

“Load these sacks onto the carts!”

“Ladies, go over there and mix the blessings with the witches!”

Loud cries of hard labor filled the air nearby.

The High City greenhouse farm.

Hundreds of carefully selected (?!) local residents and adventurers were working up a sweat, tilling the black soil.

Once tilled, the black soil was processed into part of the fertilizer at the mixing station set up next to the greenhouse farm.

All the witches of High City were dedicated to this task, and even bureaucrats, adventurers, and housewives looking for extra income rolled up their sleeves and joined in.

We paid them a bundle of Mary’s Blessing per day as wages, which only increased the number of people willing to work since it had become impossible to buy with money alone due to its spreading fame.

Sweat and shouting always make for an exciting work scene.

That’s why I loitered around here under the guise of supervising, despite having nothing else to do. It reminded me of the smell of business back on Earth, soothing my homesickness.

And no one thought it strange that I, the developer of this fertilizer, was here.

‘In the end, this obelisk won’t be dismantled after all.’

While aimlessly wandering around the greenhouse farm, I suddenly spotted a white obelisk standing there and stopped in front of it.

‘These similar black obelisks found in 26 places contained symbols from the Empire’s Mage Tower. So, this was also the Empire’s doing. As expected.’

Seeing this obelisk brought information about the mastermind behind this incident to mind.

‘A significant number of northern nobles cooperated with the Empire. Their treason was because they disliked High City’s excessive interference in domain taxes and tolls. Idiots. Thanks to that policy, this land can at least survive.’

This event orchestrated by the Empire through the betrayal of the nobles ended up being an opportunity for Frosthaven to expose traitors.

Frosthaven stripped the souls of the lords of territories marked by black obelisks like a mad dog.

‘With this filtering speed, we might soon be rid of industrial spies.’

In other words, it wouldn’t be long before we could officially establish factories and a Magitech Academy in the north.

My heart raced while I also remembered the original timeline.

The Great Famine of the North that wiped out a third of the northern population.

‘So, was the Great Famine of the North also the Empire’s doing? If that’s true… they’re such trash.’

Although I hesitated to assume, deep down, I was already 70% sure the Empire was behind the Great Famine.

What those who occupied the greenhouse farms in the original timeline did with the obelisks left by the witches was clearly proven by the famine itself.

To weaken the rebellious northerners who remembered Lenslet and hated the Empire, nothing would have been more effective than hunger.

“Mr. Manager, are you here?”

I was lost in thought in front of the obelisk when Mary’s voice suddenly came from beside me.

She appeared without me noticing, her face glowing with joy.

“Mary, did you feel like coming to work today?”

“Yes! I’m always grateful for your consideration.”

“Ah… you’re very welcome.”

Mary, our employee who practiced the rare flexible work hours system better than anyone on Earth, had reached the point where we barely batted an eye when she suddenly disappeared or reappeared.

Effectively, I, the manager, was being mentored and gaslighted by my own subordinate.

‘Treating employees like masters…’

Actually, she truly is a master. A blue-blooded illegitimate child of the Duke’s family and a future Grand Witch with a bright future.

“Without you, Mr. Manager, the north might have really fallen.”

“What do you mean ‘suddenly’?”

“Suddenly? There’s nothing sudden about Arad Salt, detectors, or Mary’s Blessings.”

“My ‘suddenly’ meant something else… Anyway, thanks for the compliment. Just good luck, I guess.”

Still, seeing Mary’s bright smile made me inexplicably happy.

“But, Mr. Manager.”

“Hmm?”

“If we keep digging up so much black soil, won’t we eventually run out?”

“Aah, don’t worry about that.”

Her concern made me smirk.

“This black soil spreads deep into the ground here.”

“But eventually, it will run out.”

“Do you see those old greenhouse farm obelisks? Why would I leave them there after everything’s settled?”

Pointing at the obelisks in the greenhouse farm, I continued.

“I’ve slightly modified the runes and spell arrays on the obelisks. Instead of removing the warming effect, they’ll now draw mana and magic power solely from the absolute frozen lands beyond the Main Wall.”

This place is no longer the greenhouse farm we knew.

We redirected the magic power used to raise temperatures into the black soil and coded the spirits to bring both mana and magic power.

“If we run out of black soil, just fill it with dirt from any land. Within five years, it’ll transform into the same black soil.”

Essentially, it’s a semi-permanent resource treasure trove.

“…”

Upon roughly understanding what I said, Mary’s face lit up again.

“Then! In the future, Lenslet won’t have food worries anymore? We won’t need to import food while worrying about the Empire’s gaze.”

She rejoiced as if Lenslet’s bright future was her own personal achievement.

Judging by her strong attachment to her family, she must have been loved despite being an illegitimate child.

‘Well, Ariana isn’t the type to play the villainous noble girl. Besides, she’s the first second-born in the Lenslet Dukedom.’

They likely only hid Mary’s existence to protect the Duke’s honor and maintain his title.

‘The first second-born should be acknowledged even as an illegitimate child, though hiding her so thoroughly seems unnecessary…’

Still… There must be some high-level reasons I’m unaware of.

Shrugging off these random thoughts, I answered Mary’s question.

“Food worries… Well… They’ll decrease for now.”

I responded noncommittally to her expectations that food shortages would disappear.

“For now?”

My cryptic answer made Mary tilt her head.

“Yeah, with abundant food, the population will increase further.”

“Oh… That’s right.”

Her eyes grew serious upon hearing my words.

“By the way, I heard that the Lenslet Order’s most important doctrine emphasizes large families. One of the few doctrines you strongly enforced, right?”

Recalling something, she asked about the Lenslet doctrines.

“That’s correct. Handwashing, bathing, reading and writing, and large families are extremely important.”

I readily mentioned the doctrines I had strongly enforced.

“But does it really need to be included in the doctrine? People are already having many children…”

In Lenslet, population is a double-edged sword. Too few is problematic, but too many is also an issue.

There wasn’t enough food or jobs to sustain such a large population.

No wonder Northern people joked that their largest export before Arad Salt was humans.

Even now, plenty of northerners worked as mercenaries or laborers in the Empire.

Of course, now we can cultivate barren lands, but that won’t last forever.

“Lenslet needs to grow into a proud kingdom independent of the Empire. For that, the population must increase significantly. Including it in the doctrine isn’t enough.”

“I agree with increasing the population, but the speed is concerning.”

Having grown up in the north, Mary expressed strong concerns.

“Really? Let me tell you, eventually, even the kids born now will be insufficient, and we’ll have to accept outsiders.”

Coming from Earth, I know well how to support and manage an increasing population.

Soon, the magitech revolution will begin. Tremendous labor-intensive manufacturing awaits us.

Besides, this is a world where child labor isn’t illegal. It’s common for children to start farming as soon as they can walk.

“Do you know the current total population of the north? I mean the entire northern region under High City’s influence.”

“The entire north has about a million people.”

A million. A lot or not?

‘No. Quite a lot.’

Correction. Considering the harsh northern environment, a million people across the entire north is actually quite a large number.

“By the way, the population of High City, the northern dukedom of Lenslet, is slightly under 50,000. This includes the troops guarding the Main Wall.”

Mary added further explanation.

Even the northernmost, coldest, and most dangerous northern dukedom had a decent population.

Certainly small for a duchy, but given the harsh conditions of the northern dukedom, maintaining even this number felt miraculous.

It also explained why High City placed such importance on the greenhouse farms—they needed to feed 50,000 people in extreme conditions.

‘Is it corruption or tigers?’

The north has harsh winters and fierce monsters, but low taxes.

The continent’s lowest rate of corrupt officials.

Above all, the Empire uniformly views northerners as barbarians. Plus, due to laws like the “20 Northerners Prohibition Act,” they couldn’t freely gather.

These factors made this harsh land attractive for settlement.

“How many children do northern women usually have in their lifetime?”

Reorganizing my scattered thoughts, I asked Mary again.

“About six on average. Considering maternal deaths during childbirth, the actual number is likely higher.”

“Let’s say the average fertility rate is 6.0…”

“Fertility rate?”

“It’s nothing.”

An incredibly fantastical number. Back in my homeland, where non-reproduction leads to extinction, this feels like something out of a fantasy.

“The problem is, most of them die, right?”

“Yes. Thirty percent die before they’re even named, and even those who get names mostly perish from starvation, cold, attacks, or disease. Very few commoners live past adulthood to old age.”

Mary continued.

“Even this survival rate is possible because northern blood mixes with druid resilience.”

“Yeah…”

‘Hmm… If the salvation of the north doesn’t end with complete independence from the Empire…’

Before I could wonder why an illegitimate child like Mary knew such high-level domain management information, I got lost in thought.

‘The salvation of the north. It might turn into a much longer-term project than expected.’

I felt like my journey back to Earth might take much longer than anticipated.