Myuron and I sat facing each other.
‘How curious.’
The moment I saw him, what he handed me was a stack of documents. Benson, who had come with him, also looked surprised when he saw the pile of papers for the first time.
“Did you do all of this yourself, Young Lord?”
“I did.”
“In just one day?”
“Is there a problem?”
The paper was thick only because of its poor quality. This was still better than the hellish reports I had to write back in the days of Kim Seonggeon.
“Huh…”
“M-May I read them?”
“Of course!”
Myuron rustled through the documents and picked them up.
“My word…”
Wrinkles deepened on Myuron’s face. He seemed to have the habit of frowning unconsciously whenever he was surprised.
“Hoo… Oh… Hmm…”
Flip, flip.
The more pages he turned, the greater his astonishment grew.
“How… Hmm… This… Hmm. Yes, this makes sense. Or maybe it’d take even more effort. No, on the whole, maybe not.”
Myuron was more competent than I’d expected.
‘No wonder my father assigned him to me.’
Usually, when a person encounters a new concept, their first instinct is resistance. When one’s knowledge, common sense, or notions are challenged, it’s more natural to feel discomfort than to accept it. Some are even frightened by what’s unfamiliar.
But Myuron was different.
He read what I handed him and, from the beginning, tried to accept it. It was clear that he strove to understand, and in fact, he quickly grasped some parts.
“Huh…”
In a flash, he had flipped through the entire pile.
Myuron looked at me with a serious expression and asked, “Did you really do all this yourself, Young Lord?”
“Who else would I have made do it?”
“Heh… Heheheh…”
It was a laugh devoid of thought. The kind of thing Myuron, who knew his manners, would never normally do.
‘He’s completely out of it.’
It took a while before the dazed Myuron finally came to his senses.
“…Impressive. I never would have thought of such an approach. And… It’s not even so complicated that it can’t be applied immediately.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. It’s not like making many changes at once is always great. Often, a small change like this leads to much bigger results.”
“I see…”
“Indeed it does. My word…”
‘If he knew I hadn’t even written out everything about the experiments I planned to conduct, what kind of face would he make?’
‘I haven’t even begun to use Mana yet.’
If he found out I’d only borrowed a fraction of the methods from the Central Plains, especially those from the Republic of Korea where Kim Seonggeon was from? I wonder how long it would take Myuron to recover his senses then. Who knows.
Even though I had only revealed a tiny fraction.
“How did you come up with such ideas?”
“I just thought there were a few more things that could be done.”
“You must report to the Lord immediately… No, since you’re the Steward of Agriculture now, you need not do so. You can put this into practice right away!”
“I was planning to do that anyway.”
“I’ll prepare everything at once!”
The cautiousness and anxiety had long vanished from Myuron’s face.
Benson, standing beside him, also began leafing through the documents and soon wore the same expression. Proof of his competence.
Both retainers my father had assigned me were now fully motivated.
“Then I’ll leave the preparations to you.”
“Just leave it to us!”
Thanks to them, things got much easier for me.
Preparations were completed by both Myuron and Benson.
Since their preparations were fairly extensive, word even reached my father’s ears. Though my father rarely interfered once he’d assigned a task, he was half skeptical.
“I hear the beginning has been good.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Father.”
“Heh, no. We’re a family of knights, so our house has always been slow at this sort of thing. Let’s see how you do for once.”
“Yes!”
“Good. And your face is looking brighter too.”
“Thank you.”
“If only your health would improve as well… Anyway, do your best. Let me know if you need any support.”
“Yes. I’ll show you what I can do.”
He gave me his encouragement.
My current state, with the Gui-Sik Grand Technique continually manifesting.
He was worried that my health didn’t seem to be improving further, but his concern wasn’t as deep as before. Perhaps because even when I was using the Gui-Sik Grand Technique, my outward appearance was now better than before.
This too was just a temporary fix.
‘I really need to come up with an excuse for my improving health soon.’
Even if I concealed it with the Gui-Sik Grand Technique, the more my body improved, the harder it would be to hide with the technique alone.
Since I couldn’t talk about inner power yet, I needed to find a good excuse quickly.
“Young Lord, everything is ready.”
“You should be able to last a whole month out there if need be.”
“Good. Then let’s head out at once.”
But before that, I had to move for the sake of the fields.
Even though the retainers handled all the preparations, the actual implementation fell to me.
If we wanted quick results, not just them but I myself had to take action.
‘Because I need magic.’
Manpower was fine, but magic was even more effective than manpower.
“We’ve arrived. It’s over there.”
“They’ve already gathered.”
“I gave them advance notice.”
The Field of Pirn. The serfs and commoners under the Earl’s Territory were staring at me with fearful eyes.
“Hoo.”
There were some familiar faces as well. I spotted several big, burly men.
“Those are the new serfs. Criminals rounded up by the patrol.”
“I see.”
Even without Myuron’s explanation, I already knew their identities. There’s no way I’d forget those I’d caught myself.
“I heard they’re working pretty hard. Well, with the Noble Slave Seal on them, they have no choice.”
“That’s good to hear. Hm… Is there any other way to make better use of them?”
“For now, this is the best we can do. There’s nowhere else that needs more hands.”
“Is that so…”
If I used them in other ways, there seemed to be plenty of uses for them.
But I kept that thought to myself for now. Such decisions were for my father, the Lord, to make, not me. I could voice my opinions, but that was all.
‘I’ll save that for another opportunity later.’
While I was pondering, the distance between me and the serfs and commoners shortened.
“We greet the Young Lord!”
“We greet the Young Lord!”
“We greet the…”
As if rehearsed, they all chanted in chorus. It was a short, imperfect greeting by noble standards, but still—
‘Not bad…’
It didn’t feel bad at all. Though the hint of fear in their eyes bothered me, this kind of welcome was a first for me.
‘No wonder officers in the army can’t get enough of parades. Damn.’
Watching this, I could understand why the officers Kim Seonggeon had seen at military bases made the overworked soldiers line up and show such fuss.
Even though what was truly important lay elsewhere, there was definitely a reason to obsess over these parades. Maybe they just wanted to experience respect, however shallow.
‘Well, when else would they be respected? Tsk…’
I could see why.
“Let’s refrain from this sort of thing in the future. You all have your work to do, don’t you? Forcing such greetings does no good.”
Only those desperate for respect would enjoy such things. This isn’t the military, after all.
“Eh? Ah… Then we’ll do as you say!”
For a moment, Myuron’s gaze softened with goodwill.
As an administrator, he preferred my practical approach to pointless formalities.
If this were a game, I’d probably have gotten a ‘Loyalty has increased.’ message.
“I’ll tell you what you’re going to do next. After I turn over the soil, you’ll pile it up like this.”
Clatter.
Myuron unfurled a large scroll he had prepared. For those who couldn’t read, he’d brought pictures.
The illustration depicted a field in a style we all recognized.
‘The ridges are what matter.’
One of the modern farming methods, making raised ridges in the field for easier management. The picture showed endless ridges stretching across the field.
“Hmm…”
“That’s…”
The serfs murmured among themselves.
Unlike Myuron, they couldn’t immediately imagine what results the new method would bring. They hadn’t studied the reasons for making ridges as written in the documents, so it was understandable.
Moreover, if the Field of Pirn’s harvest failed, they might have to take responsibility.
Even though they were just following orders, if the crops failed, the serfs would be held responsible.
It was absurd. But—
‘It actually happens all the time.’
Because of the nobles’ pride, who can’t even do their own jobs properly.
They couldn’t let it be known that things went wrong because of a noble’s mistake, so the blame fell to the serfs, claiming it was because they didn’t carry out the instructions properly.
A ridiculous practice, but one that truly happened often. So it was more than understandable that they felt anxious.
Still, I was certain. Once the Field of Pirn’s harvests started to improve, their unease would turn to cheers.
“All right, let’s get started right away. It’ll take a while to turn all this over.”
“Yes. Please begin over there.”
“Good.”
With a confident expression, I walked to the section Myuron had designated.
‘So it begins here.’
The Field of Pirn spread out before me, covering several thousand pyeong at a glance.
Standing at the starting point, I felt that this was the true beginning of my role as Steward of Agriculture.
A grand start was best. Nothing calms unease more than a visible miracle.
Goooo. I drew up Mana. The flow of magical power swelled so greatly it could be felt by those around me.
Even though it was just a single Circle’s worth of Mana, the energy I called forth rivaled that of an average Third Circle Ma Beop Sa.
Now, the spell. Sometimes, a mage’s intent poured into a spell works even better than a set incantation.
“By the miracle of magic… let the earth blessed by the land be transformed… Dig!”
Slightly exaggerated, but with clear intent.
Flaaash! The spell shone brightly. If you reverse the Dig spell, you could flip and raise the earth itself.
‘If this gets any bigger, it becomes an Earthquake.’
First-Class Magic, the beginning of all spells, unleashed its brilliance.
It was like a great earthquake.
Krrrrrrrr—Boom!
The earth moved as if it were alive. The ground turned over and rose up, surface and depths reversing.
“Whoa…”
“Ohhh…”
“Wow.”
The serfs’ anxious faces transformed. Into astonishment. Then, their eyes were filled with awe as they looked at me. All traces of their former unease had vanished without a trace.
They had witnessed a miracle before their very eyes. This was only the beginning.
“Myuron. Shall we begin?”
“Ah…”
Myuron was among those astonished. As for Benson, the knight, his mind seemed tangled. He must be imagining how to deal with such magic in combat.
I gave the order, unconcerned.
“What are you doing? Get to it! And over there! Start moving from there! Sir Benson! Please lend a hand.”
“Ah, yes!”
Before I knew it, both had become loyal subordinates and got to work.