Chapter 29

Late autumn in Northern Rodinia. Though the snow had not yet fallen, the temperature plummeted day by day.

Farmers were busy in the fields, harvesting the last of the grain for winter storage.

Usually, this was also the season when the nobility "harvested" the farmers. The peasants had to bring their grain to the Lord's granary first. Everyone poured their harvest into the Lord's bins. Only after the Lord's granary was full could they keep the leftovers.

Don't even think about cheating. Knights watched the entire process. If you poured too slowly, a knight would "help" you dump the entire sack in.

Often, farmers had to surrender seventy or eighty percent of their harvest just to fill the Lord's quota. Then they had to set aside another ten percent for next year's seeds. What was left for their bellies was barely more than ten percent.

If the harvest was poor and pouring everything in still didn't fill the Lord's granary? The deficit was added to next year's debt.

As for how a farmer who surrendered all his grain was supposed to survive the winter? Sorry, the Lord did not concern himself with such trivialities.

Therefore, every winter, farmers usually lay in bed, moving as little as possible to conserve energy. They would huddle together for warmth, surviving on sheer endurance.

Burn wood for heat? Sorry, there was no wood for you.

Everything on the land belonged to the Lord. The fish in the river, the beasts in the forest, the timber, even the grass—all were the Lord's property! Without permission, taking anything was theft, punishable by heavy fines (ten times the value of the stolen goods). If you couldn't pay, you became a slave. Under such laws, no one dared to gather firewood.

Want to keep warm? Sure. Go buy firewood from the Lord's logging team! In winter, a kilogram of wood cost two to three Small Silver Coins. Sometimes, the price spiked to four.

Only merchants could afford such prices. Farmers didn't even dare to dream of it.

But in Ironwood Territory, the scene was entirely different.

Farmers harvested their grain with smiles on their faces. They lined up happily at the village outskirts, where clerks weighed and packaged their produce.

Everyone only had to hand over twenty percent of their harvest. The rest was theirs to keep. Furthermore, the Lord provided free use of Mana Mills to grind their wheat into flour.

"Is taking only twenty percent enough to support your workers, soldiers, and officials?" Clyris asked Charlo as she watched farmers cheerfully carrying sacks of flour home.

"Of course!" Charlo answered without hesitation.

"With the mages casting Growth Spells, wheat can be harvested twice a year without significantly depleting soil fertility," Charlo explained. "After Minister Mars' experiments, we found that casting a Growth Spell once a month, combined with our new chemical fertilizers, not only guarantees two harvests a year but also increases the yield per acre."

"In the past, the seed-to-yield ratio for farmers was between 1:20 and 1:30. Now, it has exceeded 1:50! On this basis, taking twenty percent of two harvests is equivalent to taking eighty percent of a single harvest in the old days!"

"But under the old system of one harvest a year, taking eighty percent meant people starved to death or sold themselves into slavery. Here, no one starves in winter! And no one has to huddle in bed to save energy!"

"Our logging teams now fell dozens of tons of timber a day. Half is exported, and the rest is sold domestically. The price for locals is only three Fen per kilogram—about half a Small Silver Coin."

"Is that so...? Using magic to help crops grow..." Clyris sighed in admiration. "Only you would do this. Growth Spells were originally developed to cultivate magical herbs for potions. You use them directly for food."

"Potions are important, but food is life!" Charlo smiled disdainfully. "Those nobles cling to the supernatural, firmly separating themselves from the common folk. But in this world, ordinary people are still the vast majority! Supernaturals and commoners must coexist."

"Coexist..." She looked at him, pondering the word. In the future... what will become of us?

But after a moment, she shook her head internally. Humans would never accept demons, just as demons would never accept humans.

"Come on, let's go see our Greenhouse Farms!"

Charlo’s invitation interrupted her thoughts.

"Alright. Let's go."

Clyris nodded and followed.

The new agricultural zone was established in the northeast of Ironwood. Massive, white hemispherical domes rose from the earth like giant mushrooms.

Passing through the airlock doors beneath the dome, they entered a different world.

It was warm inside. Rows upon rows of crops were planted with mathematical precision. Although late autumn had stripped the color from the world outside, here, everything was lush and green, bursting with life.

"Thanks to your Thermostatic Arrays, we were able to build these greenhouses. Farmers can now plant in winter. This will increase Ironwood's total grain output by at least one-third!"

Charlo introduced the facility to Clyris. "These greenhouses provide the optimal temperature for growth. The Water Condensation Arrays above release a gentle rain every three days, ensuring the crops have water without needing to divert external sources."

"Combined with intercropping methods and Growth Spells, the same area of land yields far more food!"

"Amazing... How do you come up with all these ideas?" Clyris praised him, looking up at the bright dome where Illumination Spells mimicked sunlight.

"Haha... I can only say I am standing on the shoulders of giants! There are actually many more methods, but this is as far as my memory goes!" Charlo scratched his head, embarrassed.

In his past life, he was just a college student majoring in Computer Science with a head full of nothing. Facing agricultural science, he could only provide general directions; the specifics were beyond him.

"Shoulders of... giants?" She tilted her head, looking at him with confusion.

"Just a figure of speech. Don't worry about it!" Charlo waved his hand, clearly unwilling to explain the reference further.

"Alright..." Since he didn't want to say, she wouldn't ask. "But you use mana stones for everything now. Won't you run out? Do you really have enough money to buy them all?"

Clyris looked at him with concern. "If there's a shortage, you don't need to worry about my injuries. I can recover slowly on my own."

Charlo had been providing her with several kilograms of mana stones daily to accelerate her healing.

"Haha! Relax! We have plenty of mana stones!" Charlo laughed heartily. "As the most important energy source for Ironwood, how could I let it run short? In fact, if I wasn't worried about attracting the greed of major nobles, I would have started selling mana stones for profit long ago!"

"Hmm? Is there a mana stone mine here?" Clyris was startled.

"No. Look at this place. Where would a mana stone mine form here?" Charlo shook his head, smiling mysteriously.

"Then where do you get so many?" She was baffled. Mana stones were either mined from natural deposits or condensed artificially.

Artificial condensation was time-consuming, labor-intensive, and had a low yield. It required at least a Sixth-Rank Mage! And even if a Sixth-Ranker worked all day, they might produce one or two kilograms. For Ironwood's industrial consumption, that was a drop in the bucket!

And natural mines required areas with massive mana convergence to form. Charlo just said there were none here. So where did they come from?

"Heh heh... Come with me tomorrow, and you'll find out!" Charlo smirked triumphantly but refused to say more.