The first thing the devastated citizens of France started was food production. Among that, the main focus was on cultivating high-value crops. Their determination was to grow and sell these crops to rebuild France.
However, cultivating high-value crops was no easy feat. One little mistake could lead to herbs dying off, and the efficacy varied greatly depending on the environment. On top of that, with so many people dying, corpses littered the land, making it far from an ideal environment for proper cultivation, even if just for the sake of wishful thinking.
Fortunately, the older folks had survived since they weren’t dragged off to the battlefield, and they managed to somehow restore agriculture and avoid starvation… but merely not starving wasn’t enough for the brilliance of France’s former civilization, nor for the pride of the French people.
The citizens of France wanted it back. The glorious splendor, the prestige of being a world power restored!
The French citizens united once more. They began searching for ways to make France prosperous again.
The government rummaged through records tucked away in corners, while entrepreneurs sifted through museums and relics to find feasible methods. Civilians brought whatever remnants of vision they had, asking for these to be used for reconstruction.
Perhaps the heavens had listened to the earnest desires of the French? Luckily, they managed to stumble upon a few promising methods.
One of the most notable was the cultivation method for Mandrake. To be precise, it was the method for growing ‘premium Mandrake’ with value as a magical ingredient.
Originally, wild Mandrake would accidentally sprout beneath the gallows, growing by absorbing the blood and fluids that flowed from the executions. The Mandrake grown in such conditions had components not much different from regular Mandrake, but when used as a magical ingredient, it could yield effects unlike ordinary Mandrake.
For instance, it could be used to create the famous “Love Potion,” an aphrodisiac passed down among gypsies, or when using special Mandrake that resembled certain animals, it could be used to craft spells for taming those animals.
Moreover, this special Mandrake wasn’t solely for magical use.
Alchemists had tried to create homunculi using this premium Mandrake long ago, and those enraptured by medieval mysticism organized ritual of magic into a “Homunculus Creation Spell.” Of course, speaking of a ritual of magic could lead to them being accused of heresy, so they often referred to it as the “Homunculus Creation Formula” or “Elixir Material Synthesis Method.” It could be seen as mere blindness to the truth, but… it yielded actual results.
The mere fact that these alchemists weren’t burned at the stake merely confirms that their schemes bore fruit.
Thus, alchemists survived all the way to the modern day. During this process, mysticism began to fade away, and with the development of science, mysticism was merely treated as part of history. Instead of relying on uncertain magic, they based their studies on mysticism, discovering how to manipulate energy, and wizards used specific energy types through the magic schools to employ their special abilities.
They also commenced research into science and chemistry to seek the truth, which flourished beautifully in the modern age.
Modern science and the advancement of civilization cannot be thought of without the alchemists. They have had a tremendous impact and continue to do so even now.
This will also apply to the future. Even during World War III, their influence remained throughout the world.
Thus, when France discovered the cultivation method for premium Mandrake, they went wild with excitement and pushed forward.
If they could successfully cultivate premium Mandrake, it could save France—one that faced plunder merely as an agricultural nation. And they could establish connections with shamans requiring magic ingredients, as well as alchemists around the world!
If they achieved success, they could survive. They could find an exit from this long tunnel of despair and a rope to escape from this dreadful hell.
Thus, France began earnest research into the cultivation method. They chose several plazas to erect massive guillotines and brought in criminals who had been tossed into jails in dire conditions, only keeping them alive, and began executing them to use their blood for farming.
The materials were abundant. Criminals were plentiful, and they appeared in heaps when you glanced through the slums.
To put it bluntly, just one sweep through the slums turned up a multitude of criminals, so there was no lack of materials. After the war, morality and ethics had fallen, and as the country crumbled, people didn’t hesitate to commit all sorts of offenses to survive.
At first, they captured those who committed serious crimes and executed them. Then, they scaled down to those who committed lesser crimes and executed them.
Chop, chop, and chop again.
Any feelings of revulsion? None whatsoever.
Simply catching criminals and executing them meant money and connections. Moreover, those who were executed were, at least for the time being, criminals. Ordinary citizens watched as the criminals were captured and executed, cheering, “The government is doing its job,” “France’s public safety is excellent,” and “The government is striving to maintain public safety.”
Additionally, it served as entertainment. In a country fallen to ruin, the execution of death row inmates was a splendid show for the French citizens, providing a thrilling distraction to relieve their stress.
Thus, France became engulfed in madness, and within that madness, succeeded in cultivating premium Mandrake.
France sold the Mandrake they had cultivated to somehow finance their endeavors and successfully forged links with alchemists. Furthermore, they managed to secure investments and began experimenting with other records using the money they made and the investments received.
They succeeded in creating a honey with properties that slightly increased the stability of warriors’ fortunes when basing it off records from the looted items stored in the Louvre Museum from Africa.
They discovered an elixir capable of amplifying the thunder of certain fish from records they had pillaged.
They gleaned information about plants that could produce scents friendly to specific animals from records stolen from Quebec.
France continued to discover high-value crops through the remnants of their imperial past and gradually began to restore their infrastructure by cultivating and selling these crops. The citizens of France felt hopeful that if things continued smoothly, they could return to the way it once was, pouring their utmost effort into farming for the reconstruction.
And just when France was soaking in this hope, a jackpot hit.
From the ruins brought back from the Indochina region during the colonial era, an astonishing record was uncovered.
Yixian Qinglian!
Used as medicine, it could heal ailments and cancer formed in the organs, and as an elixir, it could enhance the internal strength of warriors centered around Yang energy.
This extraordinary herb thrived solely in clean water and bloomed merely in the deepest parts of the forest, making it extremely challenging to obtain.
The idea of a method to cultivate such a herb in bulk was exhilarating!
France thought they had found hope in this cultivation method to become a power again.
Of course, that hope would never come true.
“There’s a saying that if one rises by chance, they can also fall by chance.”
Unfortunately, this accidental discovery occurred not within the Republic of France, but within the royalist faction at war with it—the Kingdom of France. The king of the Kingdom displayed competence, pouring everything into this agriculture, leading to success.
With the funds gained from selling those elixirs, they bolstered their military power and swiftly pushed into the Republic of France. Surprisingly, this attempt… was successful.
They beheaded the president, and all the public officials met the same fate.
All the vacant positions of civil servants returned to the benefactors of the “Revolution,” and the king proclaimed that the Republic of France had transformed into the Kingdom of France, becoming the head and face of the nation.
And then, just 26 hours after ascending to the throne, he died.
The world’s worst assassin of World War III.
A warrior capable of slicing a person into pieces from hundreds of meters away.
The anarchist who claimed that all those who reign over others should die met his end under the blade of a psychopath.
Thus, the civil war ended in a whimper.
The Republic fell apart, and those who led it all perished.
The newly ascended Kingdom faced the same fate—with their king’s head severed and all leadership decimated.
What remained were only the citizens.
And so, the civil war came to an end, and France once again collapsed.
It was a tale reminiscent of black comedy.
