Paper Hates Blanks

We inspected Ajole village for three more days. Most of that time was not spent observing their farming practices, but rather planning the food distribution scheme, and above all preparing the village to carry it out by itself. In order to allocate the rations inside the food storage so that they would last until the next big harvest, there needed to be a local person in command. Since we were bound to return to the city, we could not take on that position. Usually, that responsibility would have fallen to Ajole’s village chief, but since he was lying ill in bed, it became Lady Suiren’s job. Ajole faced a serious shortage of human resources, so there was no one else we could rely on. In that sense, I felt sincere regret that Lady Suiren had fainted from all the intense studying.

“I wonder if Suiren’s fine.” Glen, who had crammed together with Lady Suiren, voiced his concerns on our way back to the city.

I had roped him in for a mix of reasons. First, it had helped ease Lady Suiren’s tension. Moreover, it is said that learning together with friends is more effective. And secondly, I had hoped that it would also improve Glen’s skills. By way of cramming together, the two had become quite close. Difficult situations tend to bring people together.

After returning to the city, we went to greet Lord Itsuki to inform him of the expedition’s success. As compensation, everyone received some time off work. Well, everyone except Lady Maika and I—we had to summarize the expedition party’s accomplishments and exchange opinions to compile a report on our actions moving forward.

“I’m exhausted.”

“Yes, it was very tiring.”

“I want to rest.”

“Agreed, that would be nice.”

While having a conversation that was unusually mature for people in their early teens, we entered the promotion office.

“Oh, welcome back.”

Lady Renge had stayed behind by herself. Her admirable smile made it clear that she had been waiting for us.

“I am glad you safely accomplished your difficult task,” she said.

“Renge,” Lady Maika called to the eagerly working maid with a serious look, speaking as her supervisor, “you get a raise.”

“Huh? What? Wh-Why? I didn’t do anything.”

I knew where Lady Maika was coming from. I had no objections. Man or woman, anyone’s heart would have melted when faced with her warm consideration towards someone who had just returned from a tiring journey.

After admiring the confused Lady Renge for a short while, I started talking about the expedition while holding the tea that one of the servants had poured us.

“Thus, there is no longer any need to worry about Adele village. Thanks to Chief Marco’s excellent guidance, they are mostly able to deal with the situation by themselves. As one would expect from your father. It was a learning experience.”

“Y-You flatter me too much...”

Lady Renge was a quiet and bashful person who became easily flustered when praised.

After I had finished telling her about the situation in Adele village, Lady Renge timidly asked, “What... What about A-Ajole village?”

“I am afraid I have bad news. Do you want to hear it?”

Lady Renge’s voice had been filled with determination, but I wanted to make sure she was ready to hear it. We had concluded that it was probably best to abandon the village, so she was not going to find much relief in my words.

Guessing the severity of the situation from my tone, Lady Renge frowned. “Two years ago we learned that Ajole village was in a rough spot.”

“Two years ago... I’ve heard that Chief Marco went to visit the village then,” Lady Maika said.

“Yes, I went with him.” Lady Renge expressed her regret with a bittersweet smile. “My father didn’t want to continue my grandfather’s policy and tried to reestablish trade between our villages. At the same time, he worked towards rebuilding Ajole village.”

“That does not sound like an easy task. If you want to establish relationships with people suffering from hunger and poverty, you first have to fulfill their basic needs before you can engage in any dialogue.”

Throughout the history of life on Earth, people had fought over resources without refining the art of trade. It was a way to interact with others without coming to a mutual understanding. Personally, though, I preferred a more cultured exchange.

“My father talked many times over with Uncle Louis and tried different approaches, such as sharing Adele’s food and renting out tools.”

Louis was the name of Ajole’s village chief, whom the majority of the expedition party had not seen. Hearing Lady Renge call him “uncle” rather than referring to his job title highlighted Chief Marco’s efforts. He must have been taking great pains to treat them as his own next of kin in order to maintain their exchange.

“However, none of these approaches really worked. On top of that, two years ago Adele village suffered great damages from a wild animal attack and could no longer continue supporting Ajole.”

“There is not much you could have done. Charity is only possible as long as the giver is wealthy enough. Besides, even if Adele wanted to show goodwill and kindness towards Ajole, they had no obligation to go above and beyond.”

There was no need for Adele’s villagers to suffer over this. On the contrary, they should pat themselves on the back for doing so much even though they were not obliged to do so.

Nevertheless, that did not lift the mood of the kind Lady Renge. She closed her eyes and shook her head as if to reject my words. “I was friends with Uncle Louis’s—the village chief’s daughter. My father always took me along to Ajole, and we would play together while our parents were talking.”

“Are you referring to Suiren?”

As I remembered the skinny young girl, Lady Renge momentarily gave a big smile. “Yes, I’m talking about Suiren. I’m glad to hear she’s okay.”

“Yes. She was eager to cooperate.”

“Thank you for letting me know. I was worried—I hadn’t heard from her since then.”

In this world, it was only natural to assume that someone had died if you had not heard from them in two years. Life and death were only separated by a thin wall here.

Lady Renge gave a melancholic smile as she repeatedly muttered “Thank the gods.” Then, she said, “I cannot forget her final reply when my father and I tried to persuade her to come to Adele village with us. She said, ‘I can’t abandon the village and the villagers. I’m not like you people.’” In reality, she may have used much harsher words. Lady Renge’s shaking voice indicated that she was on the verge of tears. “That wasn’t my intention—nor my father’s. We just wanted them to recover their strength until it was possible to return to Ajole village. We planned on taking on as many villagers as possible in Adele and requested for the rest to be taken to the city.”

I completely understood that had not been their intention. Both Chief Marco and Lady Renge were far too kind for this world. You may even say they were easy marks. There was really no other way to describe someone willing to support another village that had suffered from bad harvests for twenty years, even after one’s own village had suffered from a disaster.

I assured the worried Lady Renge—who was explaining her motives in rapid succession—that I understood. “Yes, I know you did not want to abandon the village or the villagers.”

“But to think that at this rate people will die in large numbers... Ajole village might really disappear for good,” she said.

“You are right.”

Lady Renge’s kindness spoke for itself. From my point of view, it was in fact the people of Ajole who had abandoned the kindness of Chief Marco and Lady Renge. The latter pair had made every effort to support them by sharing Adele’s commodities. Once Ajole realized that they were no longer going to receive any supplies from Adele, they abandoned their efforts to work together. It was not much different from avoiding paying off your debts.

“You ended up fighting with Suiren precisely because you could not abandon them. The same goes for your father.”

If they had intended to abandon Ajole, they would have just given them some appropriate words of encouragement and left them to their own devices. There was no need to increase the lodgers in their village and further reduce their already diminished food reserves. In an attempt to seek comfort, the people of Ajole must have pitied themselves as a village abandoned by Adele. They were unaware that they were the perpetrator pretending to be the victim. They were a thug swinging the club of the weak.

On the other side of the equation, Lady Renge—who had helped them out in various ways—still felt obliged towards them. It was absurd that she was brought to tears by the violence of that club simply because she found herself in the stronger position as a result of her serious efforts and all her knowledge.

“Okay, bring it on!”

What exactly? I questioned my own statement. As expected, Lady Renge and Lady Maika’s puzzled faces made me uncomfortable.

In an attempt to satisfy their curiosity, I proceeded to answer without much thinking about it. “I do not think it is right that Ajole assumes they were abandoned, even though Adele showed such goodwill and kindness towards them.”

Hey, don’t act before you think, Ash. Didn’t you just learn that on the expedition? That you will run into unsuspected dangers if you don’t think before acting.

“If those people refuse to abandon their village at all costs, how about we take them by their word?”

My childhood friend immediately perceived the irrationality of my statement. “Oh... Ash’s getting all fired up. And it looks like he’s at his most unhinged.”

That’s right, Maika. And if you noticed, please stop me.

However, my next words came out before Lady Maika even had a chance to open her mouth. “We will draft a plan for Ajole’s restructuring at the Territory Reform Promotion Office. Naturally, the implementation will be unimaginably difficult.”

So much so that it would be better to just abandon the village. It was pure kindness that prevented me from saying that the plan would be impossible to implement. Anyone saying they could rebuild Ajole village must have been completely out of their mind. And I was that person.

“Therefore, this plan will require an almost cruel amount of effort. It will be worse than hell. I will wholeheartedly devote my body and soul to this plan.”

Both of the girls recoiled when they saw my expression. It was unusual to see even Lady Maika being put off by me. Meanwhile, Lady Renge’s face had become pale. How strange. Judging from the tension of my muscles, I was smiling.

“They said they were not going to abandon their village, so let us test their resolution.”

Maika’s Perspective

This is bad. Ash’s getting way too excited. I’ve got to stop him!

At this rate, Ash was going to crash head-on into all kinds of people, just like my mom had predicted. But how was I going to stop him? Eliminate the cause? But the cause was Ajole’s poverty, and solving that issue wasn’t possible anytime soon. Although if anyone could solve it, it was Ash himself...

Shifting his attention to something else? But what would have been intense enough to catch Ash’s eyes at the moment? There didn’t seem to be anything like that in this whole wide world. This is hard... Let me think. Oh, how about gathering advice on restraining Ash from my uncle, Yae, Rihn, and my mom?

If possible, I wanted to help Ajole village too. Even though Suiren had complained a lot, her will was strong enough to withstand Ash’s grueling training. Remembering Renge’s sad face when she talked about Suiren, I felt my chest tighten, but that was no reason for Ash to—

My legs, which had been moving towards my uncle’s office, suddenly came to a halt. The wheels in my head were turning as I pondered the thought that “there was no reason for Ash to suffer for a village like that.” Suffering? Ash? From something like that? Don’t be stupid! I got angry at my own thoughts. Well, it was true that, if we failed, Ash was going to suffer. Since he was always so kind, I was sure that he was going to be distressed if someone died in a village he had set his eyes on.

But what about it? Did I really think that he was going to lose it? My Ash—my crush—wasn’t a weak person. He wasn’t a spoiled child like me, who didn’t want to see anything sad or painful. On the contrary, when he saw something tragic, he made it a challenge to turn that thing into something fun and bright, and that was why I liked him.

I remembered that, when I was a child, I used to hate the setting sun and the evening that followed it. I hated the dark of the night because it was so cold and damp, chilling my body to its core. I was scared of the eerie darkness, void of any light, because it concealed shapeless monsters. Even now, I didn’t like the night, but I was no longer as frightened as I used to be back then. The sunset now brought back the memory of Ash taking me by my hand and accompanying me back to my house. The cold of the night now reminded me of the warmth of Ash’s hand. And the eerie darkness reflected his smile as he gently pulled my hand. Therefore, I no longer had any reason to be afraid of the night.

Like a fire in the hearth that softens a cold winter night. Like a light that guides me to the safety of my home on a scary night.

As expected from Ash, my ideal man. But I was still weak. Proof of that was the fact that I was now afraid of a different night approaching in front of my eyes—a night called Ajole village. The scenery we had observed during our expedition had been painful. Empty houses, ruined fields, people who shut themselves inside their homes... It was a gloomy village that reminded me of the ghost towns that appeared in fairy tales.

Amidst all this lived Suiren, whose expression indicated from time to time that there was still some fight left in her. It seemed like she had not yet given up. If she had, she wouldn’t have been able to keep up with Ash’s lessons. Although there must have been something left worth seeing in Ajole, all the firewood and wax that were supposed to keep the lights burning were just waiting to be swallowed by the darkness. An exceptionally cold and ominous night tried to envelop Ajole village. And then, what was going to happen to the village? And to Suiren? And to Renge, who worried about Suiren with teary eyes?

I didn’t want to know. Just thinking about it made my chest hurt. It felt like my heart was strangled, and I had difficulty breathing. Before I realized it, the cold night air I hated so much was also trying to engulf me. I hadn’t been able to run away—that’s right, I had tried to run away. And I had even come up with the cowardly excuse that I just didn’t want Ash, my crush, to suffer. I had convinced myself to look away from a tragedy that was hard to avert. Afraid of the night, I had sought cover inside my room, wrapped up inside my bedsheets, like an immature child. Of course, that was not good enough to escape it. No matter where you were, even if you were flying in the sky, the night would always find you. It engulfed the whole world in a cold darkness, at the heart of which creepy monsters crawled around.

There was no way out. No escape route. So, what could I do? I could light a fire, just like Ash had done. Like the fire that he had given me. I had answered my own question. I knew what to do. I had known all along. I had already learned this lesson! On that dreamlike evening in our village, when my ideal man had grabbed my hand—ever since that day, I had carried that fire within me.

It was hot. Before giving up without doing anything, I decided to struggle. The cold night air ceased—it was bright again. Rather than lamenting that nothing could be done, I should discuss whether something could be done. The darkness was dispelled. Now that my view had been cleared, I could see the back of the red-haired boy. Having seen the starving and suffering villagers, as well as the faces of those who worried about them, he was already running towards them. He was running forward to light the hearth of anyone freezing, to drive away the scary night with the help of his fire—the flame that had been tirelessly burning bright.

Like a fire in the hearth that softens a cold winter night. Like a light that guides me to the safety of my home on a scary night.

My ideal lover was holding up the flame as I had imagined it. Why on earth had I been standing still even though I had already witnessed it with my own eyes? Had I not come this far by wanting to be with him and trying to reach his back? I needed to properly rekindle my love and support him with all my strength, or else I had no right to proudly proclaim to be in love.

“All right. Let’s do this, Ash!” Alone in the corridor, I put my hand on my chest and swore to the warmth inside of me. “I won’t run away anymore.”

If Ash was going to tackle a painful and difficult problem, I was going to tag along. And if he was going to fail or run into an obstacle and suffer, I was going to be there with him too. As long as I was with Ash, he was going to fill me with bright and happy emotions, but that didn’t mean that I was going to run away from anything sad or painful. I was going to face and conquer it.

This was no doubt going to be a grand and sublime, noble and gorgeous, loud yet quiet, and—more than anything—exciting battle with our lives on the line.

“From here on out, I’ll also put my life on the line!”

My words echoed, expressing my hunch that I had finally caught up with the back of the red-haired boy.

●　●　●

Reviving a village that was on the brink of annihilation was no easy feat. It was no task that you should rush towards on the spur of the moment, following a temporary emotion. Luckily, I had been raised into a person capable of saying sorry, so I was very much capable of withdrawing my statement if I reached the conclusion that I was wrong after carefully reconsidering the matter.

After I had declared to “bring it on,” I had soundly slept, woke up refreshed the next day, washed my face, eaten breakfast, and gone to work at the Territory Reform Promotion Office in a good mood. It was more than enough time to reexamine my rash decision. In the first place, yesterday I had been exhausted from the expedition, so no wonder I had not been thinking clearly. Refreshed, I declared the result of my deliberation to Lady Maika and Lady Renge when I met them again at our workplace.

“Well then, let us draw up the Ajole restructuring plan. I am counting on your help.”

Bring on everything you’ve got. As a result of carefully rethinking the matter, I had just gotten more motivated. Putting aside yesterday’s emotional reaction, the disappearance of a whole village was indeed a great loss. Ajole may only have been one small farming village, but a lot of resources had gone into its development. Moreover, if you included the ones that Adele had desperately shared to support them, it was a massive amount of investment. They were resources that I desperately needed myself—to think that they would go to waste was just unbearable.

I realized this was a dangerous line of thinking. I was like a gambler who became engrossed in the game, attempting to make up for the money they had already lost. But isn’t it natural to want to regain your losses? Besides, Ajole village was the perfect spot to carry out a certain plan without interference.

“The restructuring plan will make use of Ajole village as a testing ground for the agricultural development plan.”

Ajole was lacking food and their fields were in a state of extreme neglect. Surely they were not going to refuse our help just because I was going to use them as a testing ground to collect experiment data on agricultural produce grown with animal-manure compost, which was publicly perceived as a taboo. Or rather, I was not going to let them refuse. If they refused to accept my proposal, I was going to force them to emigrate on the count’s authority. And if they opposed the forced emigration, I was going to make them work at our laboratory as a punishment for committing treason by going against the count’s orders. Either way, their road led to animal-manure compost.

The villagers themselves would maybe have lots of complaints, but if they starved to death and a plague occurred as a result, the neighboring villages would be the ones affected, especially Adele. Of course, there was also the possibility that the remaining villagers would turn into looters before the majority of them starved to death. Either way, Adele was at risk. In other words, my proposal was surely better than death or being cornered to a point where you resorted to killing and stealing.

For a start, those villagers lacked awareness of their own life’s precious value. Once they realized that, I was sure they were capable of producing four or five people’s worth of food per person. Anyone who benefited from their work and did not engage in farming themselves could repay their debt by learning new technologies and seeking out new knowledge to create a better tomorrow for civilization.

Farmers were the foundations of civilization. And the sturdier those foundations, the more advanced civilization became. Having them cling to their fields even though they could not even fill their own stomachs was a waste of such an important foundation.

No matter how much I tried to justify myself, before I realized it, my emotions lay bare, exposing me to potential harm from all sides. I felt like there was probably a more efficient way to go about this. However, once I had realized that I could use this opportunity as an excuse to experiment with animal-manure compost, I knew I had to embark on this path.

A rural village that had been slowly tumbling towards its demise had finally reached its limits, but just before it collapsed, it had come across a kindhearted person who wished to save them. That kindhearted person had realized that the farmers were not up to the task, so they held back their tears with a smile.

Anyone who came across a situation like that would have wanted to help them. A kind person should smile out of happiness. And once that thought had crossed my mind, I had become motivated. After all, I preferred a story with a happy ending to harsh reality, even if it was a lie.

“Let me be clear.” In order to stay true to myself, I had no choice but to walk this path. Therefore, I decided to employ all means necessary so that there were going to be no regrets. “I will make sure that the recovery of Ajole village is a success.”

In the process, people may break down crying because they were just not cut out for it. All to save one village. As the saying goes “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Surely my resolve to help the villagers was a good enough intention. Everyone, get ready to charge towards hell.

After deciding to bestow the honor of spearheading the charge on hell upon Glen, I summoned him at once to explain the situation.

“All in all, Ajole will become a ghost town at this rate. Or to put it more bluntly, there is a high chance that it will get annihilated.”

“I-I see. I don’t want to believe it, but I saw with my own eyes how bad the situation is for Suiren and her fellow villagers... And if you’re saying it, it must be true.” Glen wiped the sweat off his pale face and gave me an imploring gaze. “So...I guess you’re going to do something about it?”

“Yes, I intend to. What made you think so?” How did he know?

“I just hoped that you would try and do something for them.” He had wished for me to do something. Seeing that I was going to fulfill that wish, his face regained its color before my eyes. “And you’re not disappointing me!”

“As I said, I intend to. However, it will be extremely difficult, so we need to be resolute.”

He probably should have kept that pale expression for now. The plan had not been drawn up yet, let alone been approved. Regardless, Glen was beaming.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. After all, you’re the Phoenix who’s done nothing but blow everyone away with your actions.”

It felt like he was treating me the same way Lady Maika did. For some reason, I had gained his full trust. I just wished he would stop calling me by that embarrassing nickname. Anyway, the whole thing did not make much sense, but it was better than not being trusted at all. Much more convenient, at least.

“I need your help. The promotion office will draw up the plan and explain it to the administration, but someone will also have to explain things to the villagers of Ajole.”

“Yeah, you can’t just suddenly surprise them with a proposal like that—that would catch Suiren and the others off guard.”

“However, Lady Maika and I will be extremely busy.”

Glen understood what I was getting at. “And that’s why you called me—a soldier who knows the way to Ajole and can easily talk to Suiren and the others.”

Exactly. He was perfect as a messenger to Ajole village. He was capable of traveling alone or with a small party and interacting with the villagers. Moreover, we were talking about a dangerous journey into the remote parts of the region, with the possibility of running into bandits and wild beasts—maybe even demons if you had enough bad luck. As such, the task could not be entrusted to a regular citizen. In this world, messages were usually relayed by the military’s patrol squads. They acted as mailmen who, in exchange for some rewards, delivered messages while carrying out their original missions. In this case, however, it would have taken too much time to wait for their next regular patrol. I wanted to get on with this project as soon as possible.

Peddlers also relayed messages, but most of them tended to stick close to patrol squads. As for the ones who traveled on their own, you still had to take into consideration their stock replenishments and trade dealings, which made them just as inconvenient as the patrol squads. By the way, my good friend Mr. Quid was one of those peddlers who did not rely on the military, because he himself had gone through military training. It appeared that he was quite skilled with the spear. In any case, when it came to a job that needed to be done quickly and involved important negotiations relating to government policies, it was difficult to find a reliable person among those who played postman on the side.

“This correspondence will not be over after just one or two exchanges. You will have to go back and forth between the city and Ajole many times over. Meaning that it will be dangerous and require a lot of stamina. What do you say, Glen?”

“That way we can save Suiren and the other villagers, right?” Glen did not even flinch in the slightest upon hearing my somewhat intimidating statement. “Just leave it to me. I may not be as smart as you or Maika, but in terms of physical strength I can put up a good fight. I’ll have a go.”

“Thank you.” Still, let me warn you inside my mind: that was quite a rash answer!

Glen looked happy on the outside, but relaying messages to Ajole village was quite the exhausting work, one which I definitely would not have wanted to do myself. As the person who spearheaded our charge, he was also destined to be the first to go through hell. Regardless, I had been confident that Glen was going to accept. Especially after he had repeatedly mentioned Lady Suiren!

I did not know any details, but it was clear that he was enjoying his youth. Love often blossomed before you realized it. There was a big difference between wanting to help Lady Suiren and wanting to help Ajole. However, the target was the same, or rather, they were bundled together. In the end, his intentions did not really matter—as long as they lined up with my plan, everything was all right.

“Well, Glen, I will entrust you with relaying the message to Ajole then.”

“Yeah, I’ll take care of it. I won’t fail you. But...can you tell me what exactly I should tell them? I can count on you in that regard, right?”

“Of course.” I’ll craft a message that the residents of Ajole just can’t object to.

More precisely, I planned on keeping the use of animal-manure compost a secret for now. I was going to stick to harmless language and drag them into the project by offering an investigation into the cause of their fields’ desolate state and rehabilitation experiments. Then, once there was no going back, I was going to make my move and use the compost for the experiment.

That was not a fraud or a lie—I was in no way trying to deceive them. How could someone like me, who tried to save their village out of the goodness of my heart, possibly have resorted to a treacherous technique like that? It merely seemed like deception because the truth was only going to be explained in small amounts at a time. And it was only natural for the most important part to be postponed, since you had to carefully consider when to bring it up.

After successfully securing the vanguard for our hell invasion operation, I did not have any time to rest as I devoted myself to devising a strategy to coax my next target. The vanguard was a carrier pigeon—I mean, someone carrying out the very important role of messenger. Up next was our sponsor. At any rate, our plan was hopelessly underfunded. If it was not possible to get any money, material resources would be fine too. Actually, resources were more than good enough. After all, money was just a means to obtain said resources, so it would save me quite a bit of trouble. Therefore, resources it was. And by resources I meant food.

Ajole’s fields were so ruined that they needed to be recultivated to recover. Naturally, that would halt the production of all crops, so the village needed all the food it could get to survive that period. It was truly inconvenient, but unfortunately, humans could not live without food. If only humans had evolved a bit more conveniently... Keep at it, Mr. Evolution. I know you can knock down that law of conservation of energy.

As I cheered on the everlasting evolution, I explained the situation to Lord Itsuki before asking for a favor. “Therefore, I want to carry out a large-scale experiment for the agricultural development plan. What kind of budget can I expect?”

“Wait, wait, wait! You’re going too fast,” Lord Itsuki stopped my hasty explanation.

Damn, I wasn’t able to sweep him up with my momentum. As one would expect from the acting count—he knew when to pause and calmly consider things.

While I was irritated on the inside, I put on a smile on the outside and bowed my head. “Please forgive me. I got caught up in the heat of the moment.”

“Hm... But you managed to cool down again in an instant?”

You’re just imagining things.

Lord Itsuki made his servants prepare tea and invited me to sit down in the chair reserved for his guests. As he was taking a break with some tea, the acting count held the expedition party’s report in his hand.

“I was surprised when I heard that you had already finished your report only two days after coming back, but I’m even more shocked to see that you have already come up with the next plan.”

“We did our best.”

“That’s just even more baffling.”

By the way, as a result of our efforts, both Lady Maika and Lady Renge were out of action. Before raiding the count’s office, I had washed my face and noticed in my reflection on the water’s surface that I too had pronounced dark circles under my eyes from exhaustion. As I said, we did our best.

“Ajole is facing the most serious difficulties—their current fields are not able to sustain the village.”

Lord Itsuki glimpsed at me after reading the report’s summary. “Are you sure it’s fine to carry out a farming experiment in a place like that?”

I could not blame him for worrying. It was not a very promising situation. Still, I had prepared an answer for this.

“It will be fine even if it does not succeed.”

“Oh?”

To put it bluntly, Ajole was a dying village only waiting for its demise. If by some chance the farming experiment ended in a big failure, it would just speed up its inevitable demise by a little bit. On the other hand, if it succeeded the village would be spared and recover. For the territory, it was a profit if it succeeded and nothing was lost if it failed. And either way, we would be able to obtain valuable test data.

“There may be no huge benefits to conducting the experiment in Ajole, but there are fewer disadvantages compared to other places.”

“I see. As always, you’re great at emphasizing the positives.” Impressed, Lord Itsuki stroked his chin before he continued talking about the plan’s implementation. “In regard to the compost trials, our problem was that the people opposed to work with it or sample the food produced as a result. However, it will be hard to refuse for a village that’s as cornered as theirs.” That was part of the plan. A drowning man will clutch at a straw. “There was also hesitation because a failure would lead to a reduced harvest yield, but if the yield is insufficient to begin with, that would be less of a concern.” This took into consideration their crisis management, which sought to reduce inevitable harm as much as possible. “Hm... It does look like Ajole village is the ideal spot if we ever want to conduct experiments on animal-manure compost.”

“Does that mean you will consider a budget?”

“I’ll consider it.” Lord Itsuki took out another document from his desk. “But I don’t have much leeway. This year I need to finance another new trial... Wait, this is another one of your proposals.”

He was referring to the packaged meals proposal. That made it sound like I was a money pit. Please feed me more money.

“Do we possess anything that you could turn into money?”

“If there was, I wouldn’t be worrying so much.”

After letting out a strained laugh, Lord Itsuki let go of the documents and sipped his tea. I agreed with him as I also drank my tea.

“If the spirit lamp had been a success, we could have expected some money from Quid,” I said.

“Ah, that. I talked to him and he said it would be good as a curiosity gift. We’ll produce spirit lamps in small quantities and use them as gifts when visiting other places.”

“For social relationships?”

“Yeah. If I send one to my father in the royal capital, I’m sure he’ll make good use of it. Curiosities like that liven the mood. And it also shows our territory’s strength.”

“That makes sense. It touts our technological prowess and developmental skills.”

I had only thought of the spirit lamps as domestic and commercial goods, but they also exerted silent diplomatic pressure. There are many different ways to look at things in this world.

As I was impressed, Lord Itsuki continued talking with a happy look on his face. “Your model plane left quite the impact on the capital. The whole city trembled in an uproar. Thanks to you, our family, which had been looked down upon as a bunch of provincial hicks, can now be proud. Lately, my father’s been in a good mood too.” At that point, Lord Itsuki suddenly stopped, as if he had suddenly remembered something. “Come to think of it, I hadn’t told you this. When I told my father about establishing the Territory Reform Promotion Office, he seemed excited and gave his blessing as the count.”

“That is the first time I have heard this. All this time I thought it was solely due to your recommendation.”

“Of course, I also recommended you, but the smooth approval was most likely due to my father—I mean, because His Excellency took a liking to you.”

“I am honored. I have to be even more grateful towards everyone who made this possible.” But why didn’t you tell me this earlier? If I had known that one of the big shots has taken a liking to me, I could’ve been much bolder!

I took this opportunity to learn some more about Lord Itsuki’s father, His Excellency the count of Sacula. Similar to Lord Itsuki, he was very well-versed in military affairs. Currently, he had put his son, the next count, in charge of the Sacula region so he could accumulate some experience, while he himself permanently stayed in the royal capital as a diplomat. Furthermore, Lord Arthur was supposed to be his child with his second wife, born after he had moved to the capital. However, that relationship immediately fell apart if you thought about the timeline and ages involved, but no one seemed to dig into the matter. Apparently, sons and daughters whose ages did not make sense with their parent’s timeline were quite common among the nobility in the royal capital. I bet an infidelity detective agency would make a killing in this world. Especially if you included sharp tools and funeral services as a complimentary service.

In any case, Lord Itsuki’s information regarding the royal capital was very interesting. For example, our count’s standing in the kingdom. He said his father was treated as a provincial hick, but the position of count was fairly high-ranking, leaving him with a high family status. He even seemed to carry some royal blood, albeit a distant lineage. Nonetheless, it appeared that all the urban aristocrats who owned land in the vicinity of the royal capital had a jealousy-fueled cynical attitude towards the count. Conversely, the count was popular among other nobles from rural areas, who were also treated as provincial hicks. In other words, he needlessly stood out and became even more of a target for the urban nobility.

“It appears that His Excellency the count has many things to worry about.”

“Yeah, the further you live away from the king, the worse you’ll be treated in the capital. At the same time, the royal capital can only enjoy its peace because frontier territories like ours have become their walls.”

“Arthur always criticized the royal capital for being too conservative.”

In her letter, Lord Arthur had written that she missed the liveliness of our territory. The capital did indeed still seem quite conservative.

“By the way, do the people in the royal capital also like novelties like the spirit lamp? It does not seem like they would appreciate those kinds of things,” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s not popular with the urban nobility—they are too strict. They claim it’s not sophisticated enough and the light’s too shallow. Still, remember that there are also nobles from rural areas like ours in the capital. Maybe it’s some form of backlash towards the urban nobility, but many of them are drawn towards novelties.”

This must have been the adventurer or settler ethos that Lord Arthur had referenced. Or maybe they just wanted to know the ways of the world, since they had gone through great pains to engage in social life in the capital. Unlike the capital, where the products of culture automatically showed up, many rural areas only had access to limited information unless they spoke up. For nobles from those areas, it was much more agreeable to talk to people in the same circumstances than people who ridiculed them for their birthplace, which was out of their control. Moreover, maybe they could even find a solution to their problems by talking to comrades who went through similar hardships. Just like the urban nobility stuck to their own, it was only natural that the rural ones did so too.

“Lately, the Sacula region has been the source of new fads among those rural nobles. His Excellency grumbled in a letter that he has been quite in demand ever since the model plane was revealed to the public.”

It appeared that I had caused my higher-ups some unnecessary extra work.

As I voiced my concern regarding my favorability, Lord Itsuki just laughed it off. “But he’s also been pestering me about news from the Territory Reform Promotion Office, so it’s not all that bad.”

In other words, I had permission to go all out?

“So, are negotiations with those novelty collectors going well?” I asked.

“Yeah, His Excellency seems to be quite eager himself.”

In that case, there was a way to make some money.

“Do you remember when we ordered seaweed from a territory next to the sea? Would it be possible to negotiate with them?” I inquired.

“Oh yes, I remember that. It should be possible. Why?”

“Good, good. And there was also a territory near the mountains famous for its hot springs, right?”

“Indeed. You know your geography.”

Baths were considered a luxury in this world, so I had thought of spending some relaxing time at a hot spring someday. Maybe I could spend a whole month taking baths and just enjoying myself at a hot spring after our trip to hell. Needless to say, I would invite everyone who accompanied me to hell. As I imagined my reward, I became even more motivated. One more reason to do my best.

“Lord Itsuki, would you consider giving up one of our technologies to another territory?”

“A technology?” At that moment, Lord Itsuki’s face became clouded. It appeared to be a delicate subject that soured the mood even among two people as friendly as we were. “It’s true that we’ve developed our technologies thanks to you. Nonetheless, I don’t want to give them up so lightly.”

“I understand your concerns. However, depending on the technology, it might go for a higher price if we sell it now.”

Before long, there were bound to be imitations of the model plane too. After all, copying was easier than creating. Of course, it was unfortunate to lose an advantageous monopoly under such terms. Accordingly, the best method to share it was to generously teach your neighbor in exchange for a technical fee and their goodwill once you had made enough profits from the monopoly. Although the timing would be difficult to pull off.

“But I digress. I was thinking about a technology that currently is not of much use to us. It would probably actually help to sell it to other territories. And we do not have a monopoly on it either.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have heard that wealthy merchants around the royal capital also have access to the same technology.”

At this point, Lord Itsuki realized what I was talking about. “Ah, you mean soap. Now that you mention it, we used that seaweed for soap-making.”

“Exactly. I ordered the seaweed because it was necessary to make solid soap.”

I had informed him that we were successful in making the soap, but unfortunately, mass production was not possible at this stage.

Lord Itsuki grinned while stroking his chin. Apparently, he did not see any problem with letting go of our soap technology. “You’re right. It won’t cause us any trouble if soap circulates more widely. It will probably actually benefit us, since it will be easier to sell.”

The liquid soap that we were currently developing at the laboratory was almost ready for private consumption. However, the wealthy merchants constituted an obstacle when it came to delivering goods to the capital. According to rumors, they were annoyingly vicious and colluded with those in power to smash anyone who interfered with their business. Not just financially, but also physically. It was not unusual for well-equipped bandits to suddenly make an appearance. Naturally, even I had to be careful when it came to matters which potentially endangered the territory’s public order.

As a result, the soap with the phoenix mark had only circulated in friendly territories in the direct neighborhood. Mr. Quid always lamented that it was a waste of profits to only sell it in such a small area. While I did not lament it myself, I had vowed to one day throw those evil and tyrannical merchants into the valley of sorrow. And now, during my conversation with Lord Itsuki, I had come up with an idea. What if the soap started circulating more widely in other territories too?

The wealthy merchants in the capital would no longer glare at Sacula alone. And no matter how influential they or their backers were, they could not win if they turned all the surrounding territories against them. I imagined soap was going to become popular all over the places where the merchants’ influence did not extend. Eventually, their soap monopoly would collapse, and with it their overall influence would weaken.

As a result, Sacula could act freely and start increasing its production and sales of soap. The appearance of a new commodity would lead to an expansion of the market, which in turn would stimulate the economy. Once circulation increased, soap would gradually become more affordable. With an expanded customer base and increased soap diffusion, sanitary conditions would also improve. And better sanitary conditions positively influenced the population’s health. And healthy citizens could provide the manpower necessary for an enlarged economy. Apart from the wealthy merchants lying on their backs with their legs outstretched, no one would lose in that vision of the future.

Lord Itsuki and I looked at each other with a grin on our faces. It was a slightly wicked grin.

“Just thinking about it makes me smile, but I suspect there will also be something in it for us if we share our soap manufacturing process, right?”

“You suspect correctly. I think we could expect a lot of gratitude from our neighbors.”

“Sounds good. Very good. I’ll need to broach the subject carefully, but I think it’s worth the trouble.”

Since Lord Itsuki seemed to be completely on board now, I got closer to him. “Well then, Lord Itsuki.”

“Leave it to me.”

What a promising answer! I felt so accomplished that the fatigue from my all-nighters was blown away.

“I will immediately send a letter to my fa—to His Excellency the count. We should target territories with a big enough wallet that are suited for soap production, right?”

“Indeed. If they can get a hold of seaweed, it will be possible for them to make solid soap, which is also easier to carry around for merchants. And I am sure that the soap would be popular with the hot springs’ customers.”

“And of course, you thought of this from the beginning! As expected from you! I’m lucky to have such an intelligent subordinate.”

“Not as lucky as I am to have such a reasonable superior.”

In our excitement, we started to work out the details of the project to distribute the soap manufacturing technology. We mainly racked our brains trying to figure out our desired and minimum requirements to present to His Excellency the count for further negotiations. After we had finished and came back to our senses, the morning sun had risen. In the wake of my third all-nighter in a row, the sun looked as if it had risen straight from hell. However, it looked like I had somehow managed to procure the funds necessary for my project.

First, I had recruited the messenger, then the sponsor, and now it was time to obtain the backbone of the operation—modern machinery. I planned on creating it at the Territory Reform Promotion Office’s laboratory.

As I dropped by our laboratory’s very own development room, Lady Reina, the head manager, and Hermes, the head engineer, as well as all the artisan prisoners, who were in charge of the various technologies, were waiting for me.

The table in the development room was covered in delicious-looking food. Serving doubly as a dining hall, the room had a serious yet stylish atmosphere. Although, in reality, it was just a matter of lacking space and making the best out of the situation. However, considering that the laboratory had its start with a single shack, this was quite the upgrade. No one had yet touched the steaming food, so they must have been waiting for me.

“Sorry to keep everyone waiting. Let us discuss while eating.” Don’t want to let this feast go to waste.

I sat down and took a bite. As expected, it was delicious. It tasted even better following a nap after my third all-nighter in a row. Come to think of it, my body here in this world was pretty sturdy—I did not lose any appetite even after an all-nighter. It was perfect for a cruel environment like this. However, while I was eating to my heart’s content, no one else seemed to have much of an appetite.

“Is something wrong? I think today’s food is exquisite as usual,” I said.

Lady Reina replied to my question with a serious glare. “Chief Maika told us that you got started on a big task. Is that why you called us?”

“Yes. This time around it will be a slightly bigger task.”

It was our first large-scale experiment, so it also entailed a sudden jump to nightmare difficulty levels. I was not going to say that it would be hard though, because I did not want to lower their morale. I vowed to be a good superior who took his subordinate’s morale into consideration. Nevertheless, my considerate statement brought about a ripple of tension, as if someone had thrown a stone into the water. What’s wrong?

“I-I see. Not unexpected. Is everyone ready?”

Ready for what? Apart from me, everyone looked like they had been told to defend the castle to the death. How could they have suspected me? I had not mentioned a single word about a do-or-die, all-out charge on hell yet!

In an attempt to stifle the shaking and calm the mood, I slowly proclaimed, “There is no need to be so nervous. I will ask you to do work, but if you do your part as usual, everything will be fine.”

Unfortunately, my best lie was not good enough to deceive a single person.

Lady Reina, who had readily seen through me, slammed the table and stood up. “No way that’s true!”

Wh-What makes you say that?

“It’s not normal under any circumstances for you to stay up all night to discuss matters! Especially after you’ve just come back from an expedition! Everyone’s already realized that this will be a difficult job!”

Hermes also folded his arms and took over from Lady Reina with a distressed look on his face. “You even admitted that it’s a big task. And you’ve never said that about anything before.”

I said a slightly bigger task. The “slightly” was very important here, so it should not be overlooked.

However, he ignored that and continued, “We already considered all the tasks up until now too big for us. If you’re now saying that this is a big one, then I don’t want to imagine what that means for us...” Hermes suddenly started shaking. Shaking with excitement, I imagined. Surely. Probably. Most likely. Without a doubt.

In other words, it seemed like everyone was filled with motivation for the upcoming task. Surely. Probably. Most likely. Without a doubt. Even if my confidence was misplaced, I had no intention of confirming it, so I was never going to find out. Thus, you could say that the laboratory staff’s motivation was present and absent at the same time. Let’s call it Schrödinger’s motivation.

In general, motivation was a meager thing. So, if you could say that they were half motivated, that was essentially the same as them being motivated. In other words, they were motivated.

Having come to that conclusion, I stood up and politely bowed. “I would like to express my gratitude and respect for everyone’s resolution. I am proud to be surrounded by such wonderful comrades.”

It felt like everyone looked at me as if they were surprised by the turn the discussion had taken. Must be my imagination.

“As long as I have you, I am confident I can lead this slightly bigger task to success whatever problems may arise,” I proclaimed. A slightly bigger task. Just slightly bigger. “Well then, it looks like you are all eager to know what it is, so let me briefly explain the task.”

Lady Reina and Hermes tried saying something, but I managed to keep them in check with a smile. First, listen to what I’ve got to say. Then you can ask questions later—if there is any time left.

“I want you to improve our agricultural machinery and equipment. Especially the kind of cultivators that are drawn by cattle and horses.”

Currently, there was an extreme labor shortage in Ajole village. Cultivating those ruined fields with human strength alone was not feasible. Therefore, we needed plows that could be drawn by cattle and horses. Even Noscula had been provided farming horses and machinery when developing the village. Ajole’s rebuilding was essentially the same as setting up a new village, so I wanted them to have the same support. However, the cultivators here were inefficient and primitive tools that broke easily. There was a lot of room for improvement. Since I had not delved too much into that subject myself, I was going to delegate it to our staff at the laboratory.

“Improving our farming equipment... I guess we have to start by looking for references.” Correct answer from the gloomy-looking Lady Reina. “I am going to ask Mother Yae to help out too. Arthur is already cooperating.”

Before she left, I had given Lord Arthur a list of information that I wanted. Her first letter from the capital had been accompanied by a collection of books on farming. Lord Arthur was not just thoughtful but also rich. In my reply, I had expressed my gratitude, excitement, and deep appreciation, and let her know how much I loved her.

“I only skimmed through the books, so I am not sure about the details, but the ones that seemed useful are at the temple library,” I said.

“Knowing that there are books is already helpful, but I wish we had more people who could help...”

It was understandable that Lady Reina had a worried look on her face. The majority of the laboratory’s staff were prisoners. While many of them may have learned how to read, they were forbidden from entering the temple. Even the citizens praised them for not looking like former criminals at all, but officially, they were still prisoners. Research unfortunately required a lot of human resources, which they could not provide.

I nodded to reassure Lady Reina. “I will lend you some hands. Anyways, we need to quickly identify what requires improvement, so that we can get started on trials. Otherwise, we will not make it in time for this project.”

Lady Reina put a hand on her forehead. She did not seem reassured at all by my helpful proposal. “You’re in quite the hurry, aren’t you?”

Seeing her troubled face, Hermes apologetically stated his opinion. “Reina, we should get the research done swiftly. We don’t want the work that comes afterwards to pile up...”

“I know that it will be worse if the latter half of the project gets backed up. I’ll try to cut down the time spent on research as much as possible.”

“Thanks. I’ll help where I can.”

It felt like anything I said right now was just going to make them more anxious. This was the heavy weight of those who gave out orders. While there were good reasons for it, I still made my subordinates go through great trials. It was difficult for a competent superior to also be loved.

On the occasion of such heavy responsibility, I remembered the academy’s teachings and firmly provided them with the final piece of information necessary to complete the order. “For the time being, I will give you one month to finish your task.”

After I had proclaimed the deadline, everyone stared at me as if they were looking at despair itself. As the person who was paving their way to hell with good intentions, I deplored their treatment of me as the embodiment of a disaster, but only on the inside.

At any rate, I had successfully recruited the backbone of the operation, although its participation was not yet guaranteed. For now, it had entered the preparation phase, but it was not sure whether the backbone was going to be ready in time for battle. Still, since our laboratory’s staff was extremely capable, I was certain that they were going to finish in time. Hermes’ new favorite toy, the lathe, was going to come in handy. Isn’t it great, Hermes? You can work with the lathe to your heart’s content!

Now then, it was finally time to recruit the second-in-command. I had already traversed a long, dangerous path, but there was still a long march ahead. Those good intentions were a greedy lot to require even more sacrifices when already countless enemy bodies were scheduled to fall over from dedication.

“Power” was going to be our second-in-command. If you wanted to recultivate the ruined fields, you always needed force. No matter how efficient the farming tools, they were only rubbish if nothing made them move. In other words, “power” in this case referred to motive power.

The only two types of motive power that could be used for the cultivators at this stage were human and animal power, which both relied on muscle strength. I yearned for the convenience of electric, steam, and thermal power. Three more years and I could have provided a steam engine. Without any chemical engineering, we were left with the choice of either human or animal strength, of which the latter was obviously preferable. The gap between pulling power generated by quadruple walking and bipedal walking was overwhelming. Only a human chosen by the gods themselves would have been able to keep up with the animals. There were two possible candidates then: cattle or horses. Which one was the better choice? Cattle excelled as farming companions. Horses were better at pulling heavy objects. All things considered, this time around horses were probably the better choice. They would possibly allow us to save some money.

Our plan required us to carry a large amount of food into Ajole, which in turn required a carriage. And carriages were obviously drawn by horses. Since carriage horses were used to pulling heavy weights, they were a good match to work with cultivators. So, if we temporarily rented these horses to also cultivate the fields on top of transporting food supplies, it would turn out much cheaper than buying our own cattle or horses. Still, they were carriage horses first and foremost, which meant that they could not stay in the village too long. As such, the cultivation would take place over a very short period whenever they brought in the food supplies. I was not pleased that we would have to split up the process rather than do it all in one go, but it was cheaper this way. “Cheap” was indeed a very important word. At the very least just as important as “money.”

While I had come up with the perfect idea that would lead to a happy ending applauded by everyone, the real question was if anyone would be willing to rent out their horses to us.

“What do you think, Quid?”

“If that is all you need, leave it to me.”

With a friendly smile, Mr. Quid agreed on the spot to a proposal that many people would have met with disapproval. Nothing beat having an old friend like him. Mr. Quid offered me tea while we talked in his splendid office.

“I’ll charge you an appropriate fee and I’ll include a clause for compensation in the case that one of the horses gets seriously injured or dies, but I’ll make sure to give you a nice discount.”

Before I could even say anything, he had already haggled over the price by himself. Surprisingly, this part of my journey to hell was played in easy mode.

“I am happy to hear that, but you do not have to overdo yourself.”

Presently, Mr. Quid and his company had gained much trust not just with me, but with the whole territory. It would be everyone’s loss if he drove himself into ruin by lowering the price too much. I felt like I had carried that same worry towards him ever since we had known each other.

“Thank you for your concern. But don’t worry—I’ll make sure not to end up in the red.”

“In that case, I will gladly accept your gracious offer, but...”

Was he really going to be okay? As I worried by myself, Mr. Quid reassured me with a smile. “I’ll be fine. Lately I’ve been doing steady business with the count’s family, who also introduced me to upper-class customers from neighboring territories. Even if I ended up making a loss due to damage to my horses, I’d be able to cover the expenses with my profits so far.”

“I had heard about your business dealings, but it appears that they have been going even better than I expected.”

“Thanks to our fellowship. I can offer articles that no one else carries, so I won’t make a deficit that easily.”

Mr. Quid’s sales of our laboratory’s new products were going smoothly. What a reliable and trustworthy business partner.

“But unfortunately, my company is still considered a newcomer due to its rapid growth. Lately, I’ve been receiving some warnings from more seasoned merchants,” he added.

“Understandable, since you have been getting more and bigger customers.”

Some guys were trying to hammer down the stick that stuck out. Regardless, Mr. Quid was very calm in his worries.

“Just as I was thinking about the warning from my elders, you arrived with your proposal, which seemed like the perfect opportunity.”

“Because it relates to the territory’s administration?”

It would allow him to publicly associate his company with the count’s family, which would then act as a deterrent, since no one wanted to complain to someone who was close to those in power.

Mr. Quid calmly nodded. “Yes. And from what you told me, it seems like we would be helping people. Now that my company has grown a bit, I also need to start thinking about giving back some of my profits to society.”

“Oh?”

It appeared that Mr. Quid was even ready to make some losses in order to be recognized by the public as a benevolent merchant. If he had ties to the ruler and a good public reputation, not even a long-established merchant would be able to coerce him. And if anyone tried, they would most likely lose the fight. Mr. Quid was already thinking like the owner of a large corporation. I was proud seeing how far he had come.

“Therefore, I would love to accept your proposal,” he concluded.

“I also welcome your help. Looks like our interests line up this time.”

We shook hands with a grin on our faces. I already looked forward to working together for many years to come.

“Please let me know how many carriages and how long you will need them once you know. If mine aren’t enough, I’ll arrange something with another company.”

“I appreciate your help. I will let you know the details.”

He was already vying to create debts in his own favor. I could already see him become Sacula’s top merchant ten years from now. Mr. Quid’s shrewdness was a great asset.

At any rate, I had arranged the board so that we could get things rolling as soon as possible. And who was the general in charge of our assault? The general had been sitting comfortably in his seat from the very beginning. While he did not need any convincing, I could not exert any influence on him either. His name was “luck.” Some also called him “fortune,” “fate,” or “destiny,” but either way, there was not much I could do. This general was so influential that he could overturn the whole outcome. He was capable of making a mess entirely on his own. All we mortals could do was to prepare everything else in a way that minimized the general’s influence on the fight. “Man proposes; God disposes,” so to speak. For the rest, maybe we could go pray at the temple if we had some free time. My prayers were going out to Goddess Yuika.

Renge’s Perspective

I remembered her pushing away the hand that I had stretched out. When I’d looked at her crying face, I’d realized that my words had hurt her. “Let’s live together”—that’s what I had told her. I had reached out my hand and asked my childhood friend to leave the village where she had been born to start over in a wealthier place.

“Are you telling me to abandon my village?”

But she pushed away my hand.

“That’s not what I mean, Suiren! Your fields have reached their limits and Adele can no longer support you. Ajole won’t be able to hold out at this rate!”

“But I can’t just abandon this place! I was born here! It’s special to me!”

After that, I’d no longer known what to say. I had angered her. Hurt her. I had made my childhood friend hate me. I’d been scared. I had hated it. I’d no longer been able to speak. I hadn’t wanted to make her any angrier, to hurt her more. I hadn’t wanted her to hate me even more. I hated myself for being such a weak coward. Even though I’d realized that at this rate Suiren might have died, I’d averted my eyes because I didn’t want her to hurt my feelings. I knew that was wrong. Even back then I’d realized it was wrong. But I hadn’t had the courage to get hurt any further, so I’d just abandoned my childhood friend.

Compared to me, Ash was a strong and brave person. When faced with the reality of Ajole village’s condition, he had raised his voice to save them in spite of the fact that there was not much time left. And his voice had echoed all the way to the acting count and the government. If Ash failed, it was undoubtedly going to stain his name and hurt his good reputation with Lord Itsuki. And failure was much more likely than success. Judging from his words, Ash must have known this himself. If I were in his place... My chest hurt just thinking about it. My fingertips became cold. Maybe I was wrong, but I felt like it would have been impossible for me.

“Is Ash...not scared?” I spontaneously asked Lady Maika as I was summarizing Ash’s proposal on an official form.

She was my and Ash’s superior, but even I could tell how much she cared for Ash, and she always seemed to know what her childhood friend was thinking.

“Of course I think he is scared.”

“R-Really?”

Her reply took me by surprise, as I had fully expected her to say that Ash was afraid of nothing.

“Ash is using up so much money and human resources, but he still doesn’t know whether it will succeed. Even someone like him would worry. It must be frightening. No wonder he crammed to put this plan together even though he was tired,” Lady Maika explained her childhood friend’s motives.

I see. That does make sense. He was able to go the extra mile precisely because he was afraid of failure. I also tended to get work done quickly whenever I didn’t feel at ease. I knew how that felt. But I wondered if he was really scared.

“But...how could he come up with...something like this?”

I grabbed the provisional budget plan from Lord Itsuki. It talked about raising money by enlisting help from His Excellency the count in the capital and roping in other territories. In other words, it was not the sort of budget put in place for a project that was doomed to fail.

“Can he pull this off? It’s scary, isn’t it? Thinking that it might fail and what will happen if it does... Yet he wants to put in motion a huge plan like this?”

“Yes, it’s Ash after all.” Lady Maika’s faint smile showed a hint of consideration. Almost like a mother, or a soldier who moved forward despite an injury. “As someone who comes from a farming village, you must be aware of the many children that died in our generation, right?”

I only managed to nod at her sudden question. The death of children—it was as inevitable as rain in this life.

“Do you remember any of their names?”

“What? Um... I think the ones that died when I turned ten...”

Hearing her inquiry, I started feeling guilty. I was shocked that I barely remembered any of their faces, even though I must have been close to at least some of them. No one was saying the names of the children who had died. As a result, they quickly faded away from everyone’s memories. When their ashes were scattered at the cemetery, they briefly danced in the air before tumbling down on the ground, where they merged into one large pile of nameless casualties.

“Yeah, I can’t remember most of them either. But Ash is different. He remembers all of them. The ones who were our age, the ones younger than us, the infants who had just been born, and even those who didn’t have a name yet.”

I caught my breath at this unexpected information. Why? That was my first thought. Why did he remember something with so little meaning that brought so much pain?

“Ash often prayed at our village’s cemetery. Even after we left and came to the city, he continued going to the cemetery to pray. I wonder why. Why does he keep doing it?” Lady Maika shook her head in resignation. She didn’t know why because it was too scary and painful to ask. “But one thing I do know. Ash took those children’s deaths much more to heart than I, who so readily forgot their names. To him, the death of a single person is not just a common occurrence but a major incident. That’s why.” Lady Maika’s words were powerful. “That’s why he’s scared. He’s frightened that the village will collapse and people will die. To him, it’s a major incident. Much scarier than his own failure.”

So that was the reason why. It made sense. I felt like I understood it now. And I sympathized.

“Ash is a very kind person.”

He praised me for being kind, but I could not compare to him, who remembered every single person who died. He was much kinder than I could ever be. Also, he was brave and strong. For someone as kind as him, a failure resulting in the villagers’ deaths would have been much more painful than it could ever be for me. Yet he pressed forward with such a big proposal. If I was a weak coward, he was a strong hero.

“I wish I...”

I wondered if I could ever possess just a fraction, a tiny fraction, of his strength.

●　●　●

Early summer had passed, and it was the height of summer now. Unfortunately, it was a little too late to plant crops for fall harvest, but our plan had finally been approved. At once, I summoned Mr. Quid’s horses and their convoy, the patrol squad, to give them heaps of farming equipment and food supplies, which they could carry to Ajole.

After arriving at the village, the residents warmly welcomed us like ghosts from the Buddhist inferno of starvation. I exorcised them with a pile of tomatoes, which were in the process of regaining their status as edible food in Sacula, and opened a path to the fields. Here I come!

My only business here was in the fields. Oh yes! If we did not plant the seeds quickly, we were not going to be able to harvest them at all! Ajole’s fields were as wild and ruined as ever, but they had been divided by wooden poles stuck in the ground. I had previously ordered Glen to properly mark the boundaries of the different plots. He had reported back to me that Suiren had complained with tears in her eyes that she did not know how to demarcate them. Could Ajole really still be considered a farm village? While I had a natural impulse to solve mysteries, I decided to put this one on the shelf and assign the borrowed carriage horses to veteran soldiers from Sir George’s unit.

For the longest time, Sir George’s tough guys had managed Sacula’s equipment by themselves. That had also included carriages and carriage horses. In other words, they were very skilled at handling horses who pulled cargo. Without delay, I asked them to change the carriage horses’ equipment to the work harness for the plow, the new cultivator developed by our laboratory. If you did not do it right, the horse was prone to rage out of discomfort, but the veterans managed to keep them calm and smoothly change the equipment.

Impressed by their performance, I took a bow in front of the horse on whose head Glen and I were supposed to fix the plow. “I look forward to working with you. If you do not feel comfortable at any point, please let me know by making a sound without moving.”

“You’re so polite even towards a horse.”

Glen let out a laugh, but it did not seem like he was making fun of me. Apparently, he did not think that it was futile to talk to the horse, but rather that I could have been less formal.

“I mean, I cannot pull anything this heavy to cultivate the field.”

“Neither can I...”

“Is it not appropriate then to show respect to those who can do what you cannot?”

“You’re right, but for some reason it feels strange when you’re actually doing it.”

Probably because I’m talking to a horse.

By the way, this plow was going to serve the function of a hoe that turned over the soil. By disposing of the remaining crops and weeds and pushing air into the soil, it prepared the plots for planting new crops. Ajole’s fields were plagued with weeds, so their disposal was a welcomed side effect.

“All right, is everyone ready? Did you remember your safety check?”

Everyone gave an affirmative answer as they stood in a horizontal line in front of me.

“Then let us get started without haste, so that we will not overwork the horses. Neither we nor the horses are used to this kind of work. And remember it is only an experiment, so if there is any trouble, do not fret or panic. Just report it and we can deal with it.”

Once again everyone agreed. They all seemed motivated.

“Then, let us start!”

On my cue, Glen gently pulled the reins, which signaled the horse to start moving. The horse appeared slightly confused by the new equipment, but stepped forward one step at a time. Left and right of us, the other horses followed our example as they were urged by the veteran soldiers pulling their reins. So far, so good. Feeling satisfied, I walked behind the horse and kept my hand on the plow’s handle to adjust its digging depth and direction. Our work had only just started, but all the plows seemed to be effortlessly digging up the soil. The horses also walked nimbly, which indicated that the weight was not too heavy.

This was the result of our laboratory’s great work. A conventional plow would not have worked this efficiently. After we had finished a prototype at the laboratory, we had requested several citizens who owned land in the city’s periphery to perform test runs. Among them was an elder gentleman who had used a conventional plow before. He endorsed and praised our new model for being sturdy and easy to handle. That particular gentleman had wistfully looked at our improved plow, saying that given his age it would have made it much easier for him to cultivate more land if he had one of those. I hoped to one day make society affluent enough that anyone as motivated as he could get a hand on good equipment.

During our test runs, we had worked slowly in order not to exhaust the horses, but even so, the difference to manual cultivating was beyond comparison, and no accidents had happened. Although one plow had dropped out due to a part coming loose from vibrations, it had been quickly fixed back into action by retightening that part. The surprised faces of Ajole’s residents would have been a great compliment to the laboratory’s development team. However, since I had ordered them to develop an even more convenient tool for cultivating, they were still in the middle of development hell.

Once the soil was turned over, we blended the animal-manure compost and the weeds into the soil to nourish the fields. For the time being, the goal was to show the villagers how it was done, so that they could eventually perform the task themselves. It was agricultural coaching. Still, I did not tell them what type of fertilizer it was that we mixed into the soil.

Lady Suiren suddenly asked a question about the compost, which she had never seen. “Say, Ash... What is that?”

“This is a new fertilizer developed by the Territory Reform Promotion Office’s laboratory. Unfortunately, the details are classified information. If it leaked to another territory, all our effort would have gone to waste. So please be understanding.”

The term “classified information” was extremely convenient for anyone in power. I felt terribly sorry, but since I acted purely out of good intentions rather than evil ones, everything was fine. Even if there were any problems, they were trivial. In other words, there were no problems at all.

“More importantly, please make sure to remember how to fertilize.”

Since this manure was rich in nutrients, the crops would stop growing if you applied it incorrectly. Moreover, caution was advised due to water-soluble components like nitrogen. Headed by Lady Suiren, the villagers were observing me as I explained these important points while mixing the fertilizer with the soil. All villagers present looked like they sort of understood but not really. It appeared like they all considered it to be someone else’s problem.

No wonder this village had declined this far! They just observed the things in front of them without any self-awareness that it concerned them. Even when their fellow villagers fell over from hunger, and when they received support from the neighboring Adele village, they remained mere spectators who considered themselves incapable of doing anything because of their weakness. That belief that they were helpless bystanders persisted so long as no one questioned it. So far, all the people who had dealt with Ajole had been far too kind, to say the least.

However, I was not going to be so kind. In the end, I was the person who paved the road to hell with good intentions. I’ll teach them that good intentions don’t always equal kindness. Hell was a place to judge whether someone’s belief was real or not. I smiled from ear to ear as I thought about my hellish scheme spun out of my good intentions and started explaining our schedule to Lady Suiren and all the others.

Apart from learning how to use the plow and the new fertilizer, I intended to teach them everything—from telling apart useful insects from harmful ones and how to get rid of the latter, to weed removal and the placement of companion plants, to crop illnesses and how to deal with them. The program included everything from the conventional farming methods that Ajole village had lost over the past twenty years to the newest techniques developed at our laboratory.

All this precious knowledge was a result of my many failures. Once someone taught you how to do it, it was easy, but if you had to work it out yourself, it was incredibly difficult. We had overcome those difficulties through small-scale experiments conducted first at the military academy dormitory’s garden, then the land surrounding the prisoner huts, and eventually the fields surrounding the city. Of course, this also included getting our hands dirty doing the actual farm work, laying the groundwork with our collaborators, easing any concerns through careful explanations, investigating our failures, analyzing our successes, and writing it all up in an easily comprehensible report. It was a crystal formed of many people, countless hardships, and much sweat and tears. Although the memories of me kneading the animal dung took up a considerable space in my mind!

“As such, you will learn what is without a doubt the newest and most advanced farming techniques in the entire region. Only a handful of people know of these and even fewer can use them—that is how valuable they are.”

The villagers of Ajole were about to become very valuable human resources. It was a sudden change of reputation and standing from poor peasants to the territory’s leading group of farmers.

“Depending on your performance, you may be able to not only secure your own food, but also save all the starving people in the territory.” Great news! You’ll be able to help people!

Lady Suiren came forward to ask a question while trembling (probably out of excitement). “U-Um... Is something that amazing not wasted on...people like us?”

“Not at all. I even received approval from the acting count Lord Itsuki and His Excellency the count himself for this project. They both are already anticipating the results of your great efforts!”

Overnight, the people who had worried about starving to death had become irreplaceable personnel working officially for the count. What a fortunate turn of events! It appeared that Lady Suiren was also overcome with emotion at this honor, as her eyes welled up with tears. She almost looked like a bullied puppy, but that must have just been my imagination.

“I will carefully teach you as many times as needed, so do not hesitate to ask if you encounter a problem. Any doubts or questions are greatly welcomed! After all, we do not want to disappoint His Excellency.”

Enjoy your heavy responsibilities among the strong now that you’ve been elevated from your position among the weak! It was no big deal once you got used to it. However, if you did not get used to it, you might end up with a pain in the neck.

Suiren’s Perspective

My stomach hurts. I feel like I can’t breathe and I’m dizzy. Ash was scary after all. Instead of shredding the fields, all this new farming equipment that he had pushed onto us ended up shredding our spirits. And those surely aren’t going to grow any food, no matter how much you plow them! I looked like I was about to cry when I gazed at Ash, but his reply was garnished with a big grin.

“Well, you will never know until you try. How about you just give it a go? I will take care of preparing the food while you try it. How does that sound?”

To me that sounded like “If you want food, just do it.” So scary. Ash’s smile was intimidating. It may be hard to believe, but he scared me more than the toughest-looking soldier from the patrol squad. Losing to my fear, I did as I was told and took command of the plow. How on earth am I supposed to do this? I’ve never done anything like this before...

I was so anxious that I felt like running away, but I was too scared to even do that, especially given the warning we had received that this was a project officially recognized by the count. I-If I ran from a big project like that, there was no telling what could happen. At the very least, I would no longer be able to stay within the boundaries of the Sacula territory... And then, it would truly be the end. So I had no choice but to do this.

“A-All right everyone! L-Let’s do this!”

For the time being, I was just going to do what Ash had told me and use the borrowed horse to drag the plow along the field. Taking command meant that I had to go into the field too, right? Ash had also done it, so surely this wasn’t wrong. Like this? Really? Am I doing it right? This was the first time that I had interacted with a horse in my life, so I didn’t know how to properly handle it. Looking to my left and right, my eyes met with one of the villagers, who also seemed unsure of themselves. Thank goodness, I wasn’t the only one who felt uncomfortable. We both seemed relieved. Although it was still too soon to be at ease.

“You are doing great. Just keep going like this. Slowly. Stay calm.”

Ash was cheering us on from outside the fields. L-Looks like everything’s going fine? Thank goodness. Once you try, this isn’t actually too hard. Maybe I can do—Wait, wait! Mr. Horse, don’t go so fast! C-Calm down! Stop, go slower! Slower! Sto—whoaaa?!

“Calm down, Suiren!”

I heard Glen’s voice ring inside my ears just when I had closed my eyes in fear of the horse, who had shaken its body while breathing heavily. Glen’s large body came running over to me and tightly grasped the horse’s reins from atop of my hands.

“Don’t worry. Just relax. You don’t have to pull so hard.”

“But I’m not pulling!”

“You’re pulling pretty strongly right now. Yeah, like that. Relax a bit more.”

Relax more? Like this? But wasn’t I going to fall over if I relaxed more as he said? When I did as Glen had told me, I ended up leaning in his arms. I didn’t really know what had happened, but the horse had calmed down. As expected from Glen!

As I felt relieved, Ash said to us from the side, “I am glad you are not hurt, but... Glen, Suiren. I will say this as your supervisor, but could you please take this seriously?”

“I’m not playing around...”

“Repeat that if you can after looking at your position right now.”

Glen looked down upon me. I also looked at him and myself. Glen was embracing me with his big arms. It was a bit like in the stories where the knight holds the princess in his arms.

“I do not intend to be vulgar, but it is currently the middle of the day and you are working, so could you please wait until tonight to continue your little game?”

“I-I’m sorry! I’ll move right away!”

As I hurriedly tried to move away from Glen, I startled the horse, causing yet another uproar.

There was still farm work left even after Ash and his troops had returned to the city.

“H-Hey, are these weeds? Or the so-called companion plants?” I asked one of the villagers while I looked at the green sprout growing on the field. However, they seemed perplexed; they didn’t know themselves. “We were told to pull out all the ones that we didn’t plant ourselves, but I didn’t expect it to be so difficult to tell them apart...”

As I dropped my shoulders in disappointment, one of the villagers looked over my shoulder. “Those are weeds. They are shaped differently from the ones in the sample pictures that Ash showed us.”

“Oh? A-Are you sure?”

“Yeah, they have different leaves than the samples. Um... If I remember correctly, the ones growing over there are the companion ones or whatever they are called.”

Different sprouts were growing in the spot they had singled out.

“Now that you mention it, I somehow remember those...”

Or were they different ones? I wasn’t sure at all... I tried asking other people, but most of them didn’t remember. Still, everyone who did remember seemed to think they were weeds.

“S-So, I will pull out these ones then, right? Everyone, please pay attention. Those ones over there you shouldn’t pull out, but these ones here you should. Make sure to remember, okay? Don’t get it wrong... I’m not really confident myself.”

As I murmured the last sentence, more than half of the people broke out into awkward laughter. Yeah, they didn’t really have much confidence either. Let’s make sure to check up on each other, okay?

“Um... For now, we will have to keep pulling weeds like this and get rid of any insects on the wheat. That’s a lot of work.”

Insects were everywhere. No matter how often you drove them away, they kept coming back.

“Say, Suiren, is there any point in doing this?”

I had no idea how to reply to the young villager’s question.

“I’m not the right person to answer that.”

Honestly, I also thought that all this was meaningless, but according to Glen, Ash had gone through great efforts to come up with this method. He had taught himself what we were now going through great efforts to learn from him. He hadn’t resigned himself saying that “nothing could be done,” even though he hadn’t been born into any special circumstances like Maika.

“I don’t know whether there’s a point to all this, but let’s just try it for now.” At the very least, Ash hadn’t given up and found meaning for himself. “Besides, do you want to disobey Ash, who is here on orders from the count?”

Everyone turned away their faces in response to my question. Ash’s scary, isn’t he? With a big smile, he had proclaimed that “Those who work hard in the fields are entitled to eat lots of food.” At first, I hadn’t really understood, but what he meant was essentially that “Whoever doesn’t work properly doesn’t get any food.” I had noticed once he talked in detail about eradicating theft and the punishments reserved for thieves. His words were that “If you take more than allowed without permission, this will be how we deal with you.” Thank you for the very polite warning, Ash...

The villagers and I exchanged glances and nodded in agreement. We had to obtain our food through our own efforts.

The food distribution was just as exhausting as the field work. I had been told to inspect our food storage whenever Glen came to visit. Personally, I thought there was no need to diligently inspect it as long as we stuck to the plan, but those were Ash’s orders, and I could have never gone against his orders! So, out of fear, I did as I was told and...

“Wait. This doesn’t add up.”

Glen arrived while I was busy recounting for the second and third time, thinking I must’ve made a mistake.

“Suiren, how’s it going?”

“Terribly busy as usual!”

Things were going terribly busy every day since Ash’s visit, so this had been my go-to reply. I was happy to hear Glen encourage me by saying that I seemed to be doing all right.

“The thing is, I just counted the food supplies from the storage, and they don’t add up...”

“Huh? Which ones? Let me count too.”

“Thanks. I’ve counted them several times, but it’s always the same... Maybe I’m overlooking something?”

Together with Glen I counted once again, but as expected, they didn’t add up. There were fewer food supplies than there should have been in the storage.

“Did I mess up the distribution?!”

Ash was going to get mad at me for messing up his plan! I turned pale imagining his reaction.

“Calm down, Suiren. Maybe someone had a reason for taking more than allotted.”

“But I don’t remember anyone like that...”

“Come on, let’s ask the villagers if they know something.”

Glen proceeded to take me to the field to talk to the villagers. As we appeared in the fields, I felt several stinging looks in our direction. Recently, those who received less food had been staring at me all the time, so I immediately knew who they were. But what was the point of glaring at me? I was just following Ash’s order to adjust the shares according to everyone’s field work accomplishments... While I protested on the inside, I still ended up flinching at their harsh looks. My stomach hurt.

As I held my stomach, Glen raised his eyebrow. “Don’t you think the atmosphere’s a bit uncomfortable?”

“Yeah, a bit... Because of Ash’s orders, the food distribution hasn’t been equal.”

“Still, everyone has been receiving their fixed amount, right? From what I heard, those who worked hard just received a little more as a reward.”

I agreed with Glen, but those people weren’t satisfied. Regardless, now wasn’t the time for that. I needed to find out why the food reserves didn’t add up.

“Everyone, please listen! Did someone take food out of the storage outside of food-distribution hours?”

Hearing my question, all the villagers looked in the same direction, where a group of villagers averted their eyes.

“It looks like something happened.”

The group of people who had averted their eyes were the same ones who had been glaring at me just earlier. There were quite a few—or I should say a lot of—problems with that group.

One of them spoke up. “We had permission.”

What? Who had given them permission? I hadn’t. Or rather, I’d been busy distributing the amount indicated by Ash, so I couldn’t have possibly responded to any exceptions or special demands from the villagers.

“The village chief gave us permission. We just took what he allowed us. Surely that’s not a problem.”

“My father? You can’t do that. I’ve been left in charge of the food storage, so it’s all up to me. Moreover, it’s Ash’s plan, so my father doesn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Who cares about that guy’s plan?! If the chief says it’s okay, then it’s okay!”

“L-Like I said, my father doesn’t know about Ash’s plan, so he can’t give you—”

“I don’t trust that little devil! We’re the only ones that get less food! He’s just using us as scapegoats because there’s not enough to go around!”

They’re slandering Ash?! How terrible! He may have been younger than me, but he was so distinguished that he had been appointed to his position by the count of Sacula! According to Glen, Ash was talking directly to the acting count and they even regularly had dinner together! I couldn’t believe how trusted he was!

While my face had turned completely pale, next to me Glen’s face was glowing red. This was the first time that I had seen him angry. “Did you just call Ash a devil?” he said.

No wonder he was angry. Glen always looked so happy when talking about Ash. He always boasted about his former classmate with a grin on his face. Glen’s large body looked like it was going to explode at any moment after they had made fun of Ash, his pride and joy.

“Adjutant Ash is the only person left willing to help this village.”

Overpowered by Glen’s boiling anger, the villagers retreated. Glen may have been big in stature, but he wasn’t violent at all. He was the kindest man I had ever met. Still, it appeared that even he could get angry when it wasn’t about him, but about someone else for whom he cared.

It reminded me of my past. The first time my quiet and timid childhood friend had gotten angry wasn’t for her own sake either... I could almost see her small silhouette reflected on Glen’s tall back.

“B-But the chief’s word is law. We don’t take orders from an outsider.”

“The chief doesn’t have a right to those food supplies—Ash does. And he delegated that right to Suiren.”

Ash had provided us with the food as part of his job at the Territory Something Office. I knew who those food supplies belonged to, but the villagers didn’t seem to fully understand what Glen was saying.

Glen also appeared to realize the villagers’ confusion and he let out a sigh before looking at me. Even though he was angry, he was still kind. He didn’t resort to any insults, let alone violence.

“I will report this to my superior and make sure that no one will give out any unofficial orders, including the village chief. And regarding the food that is lacking now, I will try to get a replacement, but...”

“Thanks, Glen. We are counting on you.”

I imagined getting a replacement was going to be quite difficult... My gaze wandered towards our village’s fields. Day after day, I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into those fields alongside the villagers, but the wheat still wasn’t ready for harvest. Of course, it wasn’t going to be ready before fall, but it seemed unfair that there were no crops even after all this work. And the food supplies also originated from someone who had had to put up with that same unfairness. It wasn’t easy to obtain food—not at all.

●　●　●

The summer sun had grown weaker, and you could see the wind blow over the golden fields from atop the city walls. I was stuck to my desk processing documents while listening to Glen’s report. According to Glen, who had just returned from Ajole village, the ripening of their crops was behind the rest of the territory. They were still a long way away from harvest.

“So that’s the situation. A number of villagers have been complaining that the crops aren’t growing even though it’s fall.” My weary eyes looked up from the report that I was writing for Lord Itsuki. “Have you been measuring the crop sizes?”

“Yes, as you instructed.”

“Are they within the estimated range?”

“Yes, everything’s as it should be.”

“Then I do not see any problem.”

My gaze wandered back to the documents. Since the crops had been planted fairly late in the season, it was only natural that they were not growing as fast as others that had been planted at the optimal time. Harvest would have to wait until late fall or early winter. Unless there was going to be an unusual cold wave, this territory’s temperatures would not pose any problems to a late harvest. There was no need for any further measures—everything had been explained.

“But Ash, it’s quite a big problem.”

Hearing Glen’s troublesome statement, I stopped writing.

“Has there been an armed uprising?”

“N-No, of course not... Some of the villagers have been complaining and neglecting their work.”

The problem was not big at all. I would not even consider it a problem.

“It is only natural that some villagers react in such a way. That is why I gave instructions to increase the food supplies for those who work more and harder than others. Those who lack motivation do not lose out, but they also do not gain anything extra. Is that not working?”

“Suiren is doing her best to follow your instructions, but... She seems quite distressed from all their complaints and grievances.”

It was indeed not a fun job. She played a thankless role where she was hated even though she did not do anything wrong. Moreover, she was dealing with chronic complainers. But that was her current role, and she was the only one who could fulfill it at present.

“Besides, Suiren has to give instruction in the fields daily. Isn’t that a bit too much responsibility for her?” Glen asked.

“Yes, it is not an easy task. There is no doubt that it is a heavy responsibility.”

“So you agree? Can’t you help her?”

“I see. That is what you wanted to say, right?” Got it. “There is no need to help her. If that is all you have to report, you can go rest for a while now. I will not be able to do anything until Ajole is ready to harvest.”

Even if Ajole was not ready yet, other places were in the middle of harvesting season. All the farmers were busy and, as a result, so was everyone that worked with them. Personally, I was extremely busy. If the villagers were just discontent and grumbling, then I would have to leave that to Suiren.

“Hey, Ash.”

“Yes, is there something else?”

Glen wanted to continue our talk, but I did not look up from my documents. I had to finish these ones quickly and bring them to Lord Itsuki. Our future budget depended on them. Since Lady Maika and Lady Renge were also busy summarizing documents like these or going out to negotiate, we did not even have any time to leisurely drink tea while exchanging our opinions. At last the Territory Reform Promotion Office had also entered the first circle of hell.

Glen, who was one of my fellows here in hell, hit the desk and raised his voice. “Not something else! Are you saying you won’t help Suiren?”

Lady Maika and Lady Renge, who had been working on some documents, paused in surprise. What a heavy blow to break the concentration of two such talented people. It appeared that Glen was even more devoted to Lady Suiren than anticipated.

I sighed in resignation and gave a strained smile. “Were you not able to save her yourself, Glen?”

“M-Me?” Glen was taken by surprise. “Well, I’m asking you because I can’t do anything.”

“Yeah, it is important to recognize when you cannot do anything and seek help from others.” Or else you ended up stressing yourself to death. “But are you sure you could not have done anything for Suiren? When I taught her, I made sure to teach you too whenever possible.”

I had mainly deployed Glen for diplomatic relations and to ease Lady Suiren’s tension, but he also should have been perfectly capable of helping her if he wanted. And even if he did not have the knowledge to help her, he could have still taken on the complaints in her place or stared the opposing villagers down until they fell silent. At the very least, he was in a position where he could reduce the burden resting on Lady Suiren’s shoulders.

“You’re right... But I was also working as the messenger...”

“As far as I can tell from your report today, there was no urgent message. Could you not have come up with a reason to stay behind? Like you were not feeling well or one of the horses had collapsed?” I continued talking in a polite manner to Glen, whose voice had become quieter now. “What about asking for permission to go back now? I wonder what reason you could use to stay there. Have you thought about it?”

In response to my question, a mixture of anger and embarrassment showed on Glen’s face, as if someone had just poured a bucket of cold water over him. I must have struck a nerve. Glen seemed very depressed.

“You’re right. I could’ve done something before asking you. You taught me so much and yet I didn’t even think about doing any of it. I’m really sorry.” Glen really showed his good side by not sulking here.

“You seem honest, so apology accepted. Besides, you are probably the most frustrated with yourself.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep doing my best.”

“I am counting on it. I know I can expect great things from you.”

After expressing my high hopes for Glen’s future, I returned to the problem of Ajole village and more specifically of Lady Suiren.

“So you are worried because it looks like Suiren is having a hard time.”

“I want to calm down and consider what I can do. I mean, I want to help her too.”

Glen truly looked like a young man as he very sincerely nodded. Or rather I shall say a young man in love. How charming. Lady Maika and Lady Renge also looked at him with a warm gaze.

“That is very kind of you. However, Glen, would that really be helpful to Suiren?” I asked.

“Well, of course it will be helpful to her if I aid her.” Glen scratched his head as he gave a perfectly logical reply.

“Unfortunately, it is the harsh reality of the world that things do not always turn out as you expect.”

Within the system called reality, subset phenomena did not only have far too great a degree of freedom, but also countless random variables. Even if you took an action that seemed to be perfectly normal, it was quite likely that you would end up with an entirely unexpected result.

Given that premise, I presented the following topic of discussion to Glen. “When helping someone, how much should you assist them?”

Let’s consider the example of a child who has fallen over. The child had been casually walking when they fell over. It did not appear like the child had been hurt. They were crying, but most likely because of the shock rather than any actual pain. Now, as an adult, should you run towards the child and help them up?

“I think so, yeah. Even if the child isn’t hurt, they are still crying,” Glen answered.

“That is a natural reaction.”

There was even a proverb that said that “Even the worst villain would save a child at once.” Glen’s response was common sense.

“But would you help the child up every time they fell over? The scenario may not be realistic, but let us assume that there is a child who is always helped up by someone whenever they fall over.”

“That child must have been surrounded by a lot of kind people,” Glen murmured enviously.

Indeed, they must have lived in a world enwrapped in a silky cloud of kindness.

“A child surrounded by that much kindness would never experience having to get up by themselves,” I said.

“...Right.”

A sour look came over Glen’s face. He must have sensed something disquieting about my words. And he was right—I was going to tease him with my next hypothesis.

“Let us assume then that the child has grown up and falls over in a place where no one else is around. Now, will they be able to stand up on their own?”

Glen let out a moan after guessing what I was trying to say. At the same time, Lady Maika and Lady Renge, who had been observing us, raised their voices too.

Glen stood there, moaning towards the ceiling for a while, before he scratched his head and replied, “I realize you cannot say with certainty that they will stand up on their own just because they’ve grown up. At the very least, it will be much more difficult for them than for any other normal person who had to stand up on their own before.”

“Precisely. In this case, the aid they received robbed the child of their opportunity to grow up.”

Helping another person was in fact very difficult. This may have been an extreme parable, but stuff like this happened without anyone realizing it. For example, let us consider a fresh recruit not used to their work yet. One of their seniors may not be able to just watch him struggle, so they offer to do the work in their place. The recruit would probably be grateful, and the work would get done much faster, but next time around, the recruit would still be unfamiliar with that task. In the long run, it would be better to not help them. And if you still wanted to help, you would have to come up with a way of teaching them how to do the task.

But that was not all. What I really wanted to say was the following: “If the child just does not know how to get up, then it is not that big of a problem. They just need to train themselves going forward.”

“They would struggle, but you’re right.”

“The biggest problem is if the child assumes it is natural to always receive help.”

In that case, the person would not just struggle, but they would inconvenience their surroundings. You could say that they had gone through life without having to do anything by themselves. Since they never struggled to return the favors they received, they were insensitive to the struggles of others. And as soon as they found themselves in any trouble, they relied on others. Moreover, if no one helped them, they lost their temper, labeling the others heartless and cold-blooded for not helping them.

As I showed the unfinished document to Glen, he awkwardly nodded. “Sounds like me just earlier. You seem to be quite busy yourself.”

Indeed. Right now, I did not have much time—or rather, I had almost no free time at hand. However, thinking ahead, I considered it important to properly talk to Glen in this instance, so I had paused my paperwork.

“To a greater or lesser extent, everyone is like that. Even I rely quite a lot on everyone else here.”

In that regard, I really was not in any position to call others out. Once things had calmed down, I should make sure to properly show my gratitude towards everyone at the Territory Reform Promotion Office.

“In any case, those are the dangers of helping other people. Now circling back to Ajole... Those villagers really seem to take it for granted that others should help them.”

That was also the origin of my hell-charge plan. Lady Renge had told me about Lady Suiren’s deeds.

“Adele had provided a not-insubstantial amount of the food that helped Ajole stave off starvation. Without Adele’s help, their village would have already disappeared a long time ago.”

Adele had even gone further in their efforts and proposed to take in the villagers to look after them. A deadly knockout blow of good intentions that should have moved anyone to drown themselves in their own tears.

“Still, Suiren said that those kind people ‘abandoned Ajole village.’”

She would not have said anything like that if she had realized how precious each grain of wheat from Adele had been.

“Ajole village has been lucky so far. While they suffered from crop failure for the past twenty years, they still had Adele’s support. And after their support had come to an end, they were chosen as a trial site for farming experiments, which meant they received government assistance.”

It truly was a miracle. A miracle that had descended upon this world, where it was not rare for a whole territory to be destroyed, let alone a remote village. And it was not divine intervention, but rather the results of human effort.

“But do you think their luck will last forever?” I asked.

Glen shook his head.

Indeed. Anyone who expected their luck to continue was neither an idealist nor a dreamer, but delusional.

“This will be the last chance for the residents of Ajole to learn how to pull themselves up. At the very least, I do not intend to reach out to them a second time.”

If anything, I planned on delivering the final blow myself. Even if the people ended up calling me the villain or fearing me as the devil, I could not allow any further resources to be wasted. Those resources could have also helped prevent others from starving to death. If Ajole village was not capable of proving to me that it was worth investing in them, I was going to boil with rage.

“Therefore, I want you to help Suiren after careful consideration.”

Who do you want to save? And when do you consider them saved? Those were difficult questions. And there was not just a single answer.

Here was another word of wisdom for the stray sheep that I remembered from somewhere. “According to the saying, ‘Kindness is not the same as love.’ If you really care about someone, it can be an expression of love to be tough on them from time to time.”

“I think I somewhat get what you’re saying.” Glen nodded with a serious expression.

Still, it appeared that the two girls in the room were even more impressed than he was. They must have appreciated my talk about love.

Suiren’s Perspective

The late fall wind blew over Ajole’s fields. It tickled my heart each time I saw the golden grain sway in the wind. It was ripe—the wheat was ready to harvest. Ajole village’s wheat fields were painted in gold!

That alone made me so happy I wanted to break into song. After all, it was all ours. With a splendid wheat field like this, we would have more food this winter. I wanted to show it to Ash. I did no longer need to worry that he was going to get angry. His Excellency the count and the acting count should also be pleased with this outcome. Maybe we were even going to receive praise.

As I was waiting lost in my thoughts, Ash finally arrived.

“Sorry you had to wait this long, Ash! I assume you’ve come to inspect the fields!” I welcomed him.

“Yes, that is the plan, Suiren.”

Ash had a curious look on his face. Behind him, Glen also tilted his head to the side. Come to think of it, this may have been the first time that I welcomed Ash so cheerfully. But I couldn’t help it! Our ruined fields had become this beautiful!

“Let’s go and have a look right away then! I want you to see!”

“Sounds good. That way we can get started harvesting right away too.”

Ash looked slightly tired when he nodded. Since Glen looked the same, I imagined the trip from the city must have been exhausting. But once they had seen the fields, they would liven up again!

“Here we are! Take a look, Ash!” My voice naturally bounced.

Ash squinted and observed the wheat swaying with a rustling sound to the movements of the wind. He then murmured some words. “Hm. Better than expected.”

“Right! I’ve never seen a field like this! I’m floored!”

In an instant, all the struggles in the fields, the troubles with the food distribution, and the snide comments from some of the villagers were blown away. All thanks to Ash, who—Wait, those things only happened because of Ash’s plan in the first place. Either way, I graciously bowed my head.

“Thank you! This is all thanks to you!”

“You do not need to thank me. The farming techniques were all developed by our laboratory team, and I was only able to provide you with food in the meantime due to His Excellency the count’s approval of the budget. Everyone at the Promotion Office helped to put this plan into motion.” Ash was very calm and humble. “Now then, should we take a look at the problems with this harvest?”

My excitement was cut short. Problems? What problems were there? My eyes were wide open in surprise. Ash ignored me and the other villagers as he walked towards some wheat that had grown poorly.

“This looks like... Yes, the seed was not sown properly. If you do not plant it with enough space left for each plant to grow, they get in each other’s way and do not grow as desired. This is why you cannot cut corners when it comes to seed sowing.”

While we still stood there dumbfounded, Ash suddenly started explaining. This was no good. If we didn’t listen carefully to Ash’s explanations, we were the ones who would end up getting into trouble later.

As we rushed over to him out of habit, he acknowledged us with a nod before continuing to explain. “When planting seeds, spots like this cannot be avoided entirely. As long as you know that you need to pay attention, that is more than enough. And if you notice that they are crowded together once they start sprouting, you can take care of it by thinning out some crops. Please keep that in mind.”

Ash smiled while talking, but it didn’t feel like a smile to me.

“Then over here,” he continued. “This looks like some fertilizer-related trouble. These leaves have some compost burn from before they were even ripe. Most likely, too much compost was concentrated in this one spot.”

Wait, is he...? I exchange glances with the villagers around me.

“I already mentioned this when I taught you how to fertilize, but it is important to get the right balance with compost. It may be difficult, but you should aim to equally apply the proper quantity. If you are not sure, it is better to use less, since that will reduce the damage. Please feel free to ask me again next time if you still feel unsure in regard to fertilizing. Of course, you can also ask your fellow villagers.”

Yeah, no doubt. He was lecturing us on our mistakes. “This is bad.” “This too.” “Pull yourselves together.” He was lecturing us politely but thoroughly.

“U-Um, Ash... Did you by any chance know about these problems in advance...?”

I realized my voice was shaking. Not because I was nervous or scared. No, I was angry. I was unable to keep my emotions under control. I mean... I mean, if you knew about our mistakes why didn’t you tell us sooner? We could have increased our harvest even more and made it easier to get through winter!

“Yes, for the most part, I noticed the irregularities that were visible in advance.”

My jaw dropped. Even after listening to my unabashed anger, Ash still continued his explanations with a smile.

“Here too. This soil has been a little too hard even before planting the seeds. You have to break it a bit more or it is too hard to grow weeds.”

“B-Before planting the seeds? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Yes, if I had told you, you may have been able to increase your yield by a little.”

We needed that increased yield! I couldn’t believe that we didn’t get the best result even though we worked so, so hard. I refused to admit it. I didn’t want to accept it. But the well-fed people from the city didn’t seem to understand.

“Still, if I had told you, you would not have been able to see so clearly for yourself what happens when you make a mistake.”

Ash gently stroked a short wheat straw. Why? He seemed even more polite towards the wheat than me.

“You can afford some crop failure to teach you what happens when you fail. Since it is a farming experiment, His Excellency the count will continue to supply you with food.”

“That may be so, but... That doesn’t mean it’s enough!”

I felt the corners of my eyes lift upwards and my gaze turn as sharp as an arrow. The villagers surrounding me started pitching forward too. We had worked hard. So hard that we loathed anyone who made fun of us. It was frustrating.

“In other words, you cannot afford to waste a single grain of wheat right now,” he said.

“Of course! We can’t live without food, and we are desperate to survive!”

Ash’s elated smile was aggravating. He was making fun of me just because I was a hick.

“Then could you please just as desperately do the farm work next time?”

Ash had clenched his fists and released a flame of rage towards all of us who had been throwing punches. All this with a radiant smile on his face. His voice wasn’t rough either, but it was intense. You could almost feel the anger coming from his eyes staring at us. His eyes must have been hotter than the charcoal of any stove. No doubt the other villagers were feeling the same. Our punches were no match for his burning stare of death.

“Since you are desperate to survive, I assume you will be working with knowledge that the same mistakes might really lead to death.”

He was serious. He would burn us to death if we made the same mistakes again. That was what he meant. My whole body, which had been exploding with anger, now felt as if it was being burned down to the bone. I felt like I couldn’t breathe properly anymore. W-Wait. This... This was weird, right? Why were we made to feel like criminals? Why did Ash look like an executioner?

“Um... We just thought...you didn’t tell us...so...”

My voice was shaking. Not in anger, but in fear and nervousness. Or you may even say terror.

“Were you angry at yourselves because you did not manage to achieve a perfect wheat harvest?” Ash’s words clutched my heart. I couldn’t even shut my eyes and ignore it. “I did tell you that it could end up like this when I taught you how to sow the seeds and how to check the leaves’ condition. But I imagine this has been engraved in your memories as an example of a failure after carefully observing the situation and experiencing the pain of a reduced yield.”

He was telling us that it was our oversight. He declared that it wasn’t an unavoidable blunder and did not say that “Nothing could have been done.” That was Ash’s attitude. Words he could say precisely because he was Ash. His plain words were engulfed by a hellfire. This was the passion of someone who didn’t care about his birthplace or upbringing and had done everything he could to achieve his goals.

It was such a stark contrast to me, who had run away from my responsibilities with the excuse that “Nothing could be done.” My passion didn’t even come close to his. I would have never been able to conjure up this much anger or such an intent to kill. He was truly ready to stake his life for every action he took and every word he spoke.