10 – Become a lord (3)

After giving the village chiefs instructions on farming methods that would open the world, it had been a year since they stayed and managed the territory.

There have been many changes in the meantime.

At the command to plant turnips on the first wheat lands and soybeans on the barley lands, the serfs rebelled en masse.

At least, the village chiefs told me that I would bear all the damage myself if farming failed in this way, so I barely complied.

And before starting another bean and turnip farming, he ordered the soil piled up on the forest floor to be raked, spread on the field, and plowed.

In this way, you can get the same effect without making fertilizer separately.

However, people did not believe the words of the lord who restored the fortune until the bean stalks grew and the leaves of the turnips appeared.

No, rather, he hated farming, which used to work 8 hours a day, because he worked 12 hours a day because of me.

Seriously, I even heard this as I passed by.

‘At this point, I’d rather just start a rebellion! No, they make half the farming work more, ruining the field by planting beans and turnips in a field that should have been left undisturbed! Wouldn’t it be better to just slit the young master’s throat?’

Well, the guy who said that said that the village chief got in trouble for swearing at ‘the merciful Ciel who returned the stolen goods and grains’ without my help.

When I heard this, I was honestly shocked. Even though I swore that it would be a jackpot if it went well and if it didn’t work, I’d give you my money, but you couldn’t trust me like that.

However, after a few months, when it was time to harvest beans and turnips, the ‘lord who did strange things’ changed to ‘the lord who feeds us’.

Even though it’s not a delicious food like wheat, rye, or barley, it at least made it possible for these people to endure the barley pass that they were worried about in case of starvation.

So, in order to gain maximum support from the people of the territory, I declared to them that beans and turnips would not be taxed this year only.

As an aside, Ella, who had become friends with the villagers, also liked it when I gave this order.

And after a while they harvested barley, and then wheat a few months later.

As a result of growing crops in this way, it was possible to obtain about 7 times as much food.

70% of these were turnips, but I was genuinely happy that even turnips were able to be full.

Some kids saw me pass by and grabbed my hand and said,

“My lord, you are amazing! Thanks to the lord, I was able to eat three meals a day this year, and my mother loved it!”

“So I told the lord to eat while giving thanks every day!”

“I want to become a great person like you someday!”

Of course, seeing the kids approaching me without hesitation, the parents of the kids freaked out and ran to the kids and tried to apologize to them on their knees…

I just dried it and stroked the children’s hair quietly.

In this case, treating the children kindly rather than kicking them out would be helpful for future rule.

No, more than that, it’s because it’s nice to see people who were starving until half a year ago thanking me for being able to eat their fill thanks to me.

**

“Master, master~!! wake up.”

Ella shook my body.

Normally, I would open my eyes right here and say, ‘Okay, did you sleep well?’ After asking, he gets up.

Today, I felt like playing a prank on Ella.

“No, just 5 more minutes… Let’s sleep 5 more minutes..”

“master..”

“No.. Really just 5 more minutes.”

Then Ella pulled on my blanket and said with a pouty expression.

“No, master. You should get up early and eat some bread. I made bread and soup, so let’s eat together. Balt-sama is waiting for you too.”

“Oh yeah.”

I had no choice but to get up, change, and go to the dining room.

When we went to the restaurant, as always, Balt was waiting for food with a thoughtless expression on his face.

“Elaya, give me the bread. No meat…”

“Yes, Balt. Is the chicken okay?”

Upon hearing that, Balt put on a sullen expression for no reason and said,

“No, I’m also a noble in name, and the young master is the successor of His Excellency the Baron, so why should I care so much?”

“Because it’s the Bocchan’s order.”

To someone who doesn’t know, it looks like family members are grumbling about why they don’t serve better side dishes.

When I first came to this estate, when I asked Balt to eat with Ella, Ella was very uncomfortable with Balt.

Even though Balt looked like that, he was a knight, so he noticed even if he coughed while eating.

But after eating together for a month or two, we became close like we are now.

As I was about to sit down and start eating, Balt looked at me with a serious expression.

I said in a slightly dissatisfied voice that I was a little embarrassed that I complained about side dishes when I was already about to eat.

“Let’s eat some rice. I have nothing to do today, so let’s rest in peace.”

Balt said in a voice mixed with regret at those words.

“Yes, Bocchan. But when will pork or beef be…?”

“Not this year. never this year Because the taxes received from the serfs in the territory were used to buy horses, cows, pigs, and carts.”

“Isn’t that originally the responsibility of the serfs? If the young master said he would do that, I don’t think he would object.”

As I said, frankly, since I raised the crops like crazy (by a factor of 7) and made sure that the serfs didn’t starve to death, the serfs believed and obeyed everything I said.

I suddenly went crazy and said, ‘The sun will rise in the west today, so let’s go to the western mountain to watch the sunrise.’ Even so, the serfs in our village are all eager to follow.

So even if I ordered them to buy lots of livestock without asking their wishes, no one would object.

If the number of livestock increases right now, the cost of livestock will be a burden at first, but if you feed turnips and bean stalks, you can raise them enough, and if you raise them like that and sell them later, it will be money.

But now in my plan, I have to buy the livestock at full cost.

In order to use the farming tools I am going to make, I must buy livestock.

“So when do the cattle come? Balt.”

“I heard you were coming around this afternoon. The village serfs must have already built a barn or stable for the new livestock to be brought in.”

“yes? It’s going according to plan.”

Hearing that, Balt sighed and said.

“Even so, what is this? young master. I don’t know, but the young master eats only chicken every day, and if His Excellency Baron Creutel finds out, he’ll sigh.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I will tell my father well.”

**

“Brother, just a while ago, the herald delivered a letter from the baron to you and left.”

I received the letter from Balt and opened it.

[I’m glad you seem to be doing well in the Windheim estate. Thanks to that, the vassals who were worried about you not going to the academy said they were now relieved and praised me for having an insight.]

[I also heard that they made a law called the 4-rotation law to farm without leaving fallow fields. So, I want you to tell other vassals and nobles about this new farming method, so could you come up immediately?]

When I finished reading the letter, Balt and Ella asked.

“Master, what was written on it?”

“Bocchan, what kind of content…”

“Oh, my father asked me to share the farming methods I used when I was farming. After all, getting rid of serfs dying of starvation and increasing the harvest of agricultural products would help the territory’s prosperity. You want me to teach you right away.”

The horse said this casually, but telling this farming method to other nobles who are not vassals of our territory could be a big problem.

First of all, this farming method does not require much effort to follow, compared to the benefits of increased yield.

All I had to do was add the labor of fertilizing, increase the area to be farmed, and follow the order exactly as I instructed.

But the benefits you can get are enormous.

Instead of letting the land rest due to growing radishes and beans, if you continue farming and spend twice as much labor, you can reap a harvest that is 7 times higher than before, just like I did.

That’s why historians evaluated that this farming method was the ‘base of the industrial revolution’, and it was to the point of saying, ‘It is the only reason Britain was able to become a food exporter from a food poor country’.

Therefore, if this farming method spreads, the food production of the entire territory that introduced this technology will increase like crazy.

But the problem is, when the productivity of a wide area, including our territory as a whole, rises…

A war broke out to occupy a territory with high productivity, and our Baron Creutel could be ruined in an instant.

On the one hand, if the count who has lost his humanity, whom we serve as our lord, finds out that Baron Creutel is in this state, he will send some troops and take a lot of food…

Seeing me in trouble, Balt spoke to me.

“Me, Bocchan? Are you worried about something?”

I said while shaking my hand.

“No, there is no such thing as worry. It’s just that the livestock will be coming soon, so I’ll have to put the farming tools on them and teach them how to use them myself… I’m afraid I’ll be away for a while.”

“Is that so?”

“right. As you know, those farm tools were all made by me, so only I know how to use them or where to use them.”

Upon hearing that, Balt cleared his doubts and replied.

“Well, who knows how to use that other than the young master? Even that farming method. Even now, village chiefs sometimes come to see you, saying they don’t know what’s what, don’t they?”

“right.”

“So you have to write everything down. Master, what should I do? Some of the village serfs here can’t read, so if you write carefully, they’ll take care of themselves.”

Write for a moment? Are you writing to tell?

Suddenly, an idea passed through my mind.

If I put this idea to work, I will be able to achieve all the goals I want.

Balt, probably feeling frustrated when I didn’t answer, said while banging on the desk.

“Bocchan, Bocchan. So, you have to give instructions on how to use the farming tools to the village heads and how to distribute the livestock to the farmers. We can take care of all the horses and cows, but don’t you think you’ll give us pigs?”

“right. Balt. You’re right. By the way, do you know how to do administrative work?”

To those words, Balt replied with a serious expression.

“A brave knight only needs to know how to ride a horse and read letters.”

“Let’s just write down how to use and where to use it, and leave it to the village chiefs. I hope you won’t eat in front of me.”

I responded to the order to appear and headed for the baron’s castle.