Chapter 30: The Worth of Filth

The problem with change was that it could be positive for some, but negative for others.

The young administrator, Bearen, was surprisingly sharp when it came to reading people.

The serf, Piade, was known for his remarkable dexterity, even among those in the Count of Ophern’s direct-controlled villages.

Repairs for the few communal iron farming tools were usually handled by the Village Blacksmith run by the Count.

The real issue was that you couldn’t cultivate all the fields with just those few iron tools.

That’s why many people used wooden farming tools fashioned to imitate the iron ones. These wooden tools were maintained and repaired by serfs with skillful hands in the village. Piade was one of those serfs.

He wasn’t as good as a professional carpenter, but that didn’t matter. In fact, many thought he was better than most carpenters.

To a noble who wielded magic or aura, such skill wouldn’t seem impressive, but Piade didn’t care. In the village, he was among the most skilled craftsmen.

That’s why, in Piade’s case—

“Um, is this really all I need to make?”

“Yes. From what I’ve seen, you carve the best. Just make these in similar specifications.”

He was given work that perfectly matched his talents.

Using a log as thick as an arm, he was to carve it into the shape drawn by the Third Young Lord.

He needed to produce rods with a slight curve. For someone who could make wooden farming tools, it wasn’t difficult. In fact, it was quite easy.

“Since they’ll all be joined together later, it’s a big problem if the sizes don’t match. Do you think you can manage?”

“Yessir.”

“Of course. I could make a hundred a day if needed!”

Ha ha. That’s a bit of an exaggeration… Anyway, the person who makes the most will get a special reward from the Agriculture Officer.

“Oh!”

“If anything’s difficult, those technicians over there will handle it, so don’t worry.”

“Leave it to me! I’ll do it if it kills me!”

They had said they were looking for skilled workers, and it was all so they could have people shape the wood.

About thirty of the most skilled serfs, including Piade, were selected. All of them, like Piade, were tasked with repeatedly making long wooden rods.

The problem was with the rest of the people brought along. They didn’t have much skill with their hands.

No work was assigned to them. It was only natural since they were specifically gathering the skillful.

‘Should I not have come?’

For Stearth, who came from the same village as Piade, regret was all he could feel.

Had he really followed them all this way just to take a test? Hadn’t two days already passed?

He hadn’t done his usual work for two days, so it was probably piling up by now.

If something unexpected happened in the field he managed, he’d be held responsible.

‘Damn it…’

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, he was selected as well.

It wasn’t Bearen, but a knight moving together with Bearen who approached the disappointed serfs.

It was the knight called Benson, whose expression had been sour the whole time, as if he was displeased about something. He was a knight, and with that scowl, no one dared approach him.

As he approached, the murmuring crowd fell silent and stared at Sir Benson.

“Hmm… Quite a few of you left. Well, we do need a lot of hands for this job.”

What on earth was he talking about?

“The rest of you will work with me. It’s a bit tough… but you’ll be rewarded.”

Just how hard was this job, if even a knight called it tough?

“W-What kind of work is it?”

“Hoo…”

Benson let out a deep sigh. For a knight to call something ‘tough’, what could it be?

“…It’s carrying this.”

“Excuse me?”

When people hear something unexpected, sometimes it just doesn’t register. That’s exactly the look on the remaining serfs’ faces.

“What in the world are we supposed to do with this?”

“Kgh… Just shut up and get to work!”

The task assigned to them by Sir Benson was something they’d never have imagined.

***

A simple but innovative farming method.

Just by applying it, productivity would increase like never before—it was a sure thing.

‘Unless there’s a terrible drought or a flood, we won’t fail.’

I didn’t think I’d need help from the priests.

Compared to wheat, Pyreun had extremely low yields. Even so, I was put in charge of it, but I figured this time I could expect better results.

Pyreun with new farming methods. Wheat, still planted haphazardly. Of course, there would be a difference in productivity.

But I added one more thing to the mix.

“Is it time for the next step?”

“We should proceed just as it’s written in the document.”

“Fertilizer, huh…”

That’s right, fertilizer.

Even in times not considered modern, fertilizer was used in various ways. Only the name was different.

I planned to make full use of this.

However, Myuron was hesitant about it.

“This concept is still difficult for me to grasp, but…”

“If you were a mage—or an alchemist—you’d probably get it right away.”

Of course. The concept of ‘nutrients’ was hard for even Myuron to understand.

Even on Earth, understanding and producing ‘nutrients’ only came after civilization had advanced a great deal.

Still, Myuron followed my words thanks to his trust in me.

“If it’s hard, just think of it simply.”

“How so?”

“What happens when a person doesn’t eat well? And when they eat well?”

“They’d lose weight. If they ate well… they’d get fat, wouldn’t they? Ah, I see. That’s how it is.”

As expected, Myuron caught on quickly. With just a little explanation, he understood everything.

‘Honestly, there’s more depth to it… but that’s for later.’

For now, this level of understanding was enough to get things done.

“Fertilizer works the same way. Soil is enough, but fertilizer helps Pyreun ‘eat’ better. And when Pyreun eats well…”

“It gets fat. Meaning it grows more, right?”

“Exactly. Plus, it means we can harvest more.”

“I understand. And it looks like we’ve arrived at just the right moment.”

“Kuh… you know without me even saying it.”

Where we’d arrived was the place some said held the thick smell of home. In other words, in front of the manure shed, reeking of dung.

“Kuh, the smell… Well, nothing we can do.”

Dung. Especially human waste.

By using this, we could make fertilizer.

Where Kim Seonggeon came from, you could produce it directly with chemical reagents, but that was beyond me.

So I chose to make fertilizer using human waste.

As a raw material, it was garbage before being processed into fertilizer, but after being put to use, it became something entirely different.

In the Joseon Dynasty, there were even ownership disputes and fights over the management and distribution of human waste.

It’s dung, but depending on how you use it, it becomes more precious than gold.

‘Before someone comes along, it’s just a string of dung, but when someone comes and calls it fertilizer… Ah, what nonsense…’

Kuh. Still, there was no helping that it stank to high heaven.

“I-It’s quite a lot, Young Lord. We really struggled to gather all this. Really, truly…”

“You’ve done a great job. But, don’t come any closer.”

“Kgh… Understood.”

Sir Benson, the knight, had a tough time gathering all this dung.

Among the other knights, they almost came to blows after they called Benson the ‘Dung Knight.’

Later, after understanding the situation, I even cast the spell ‘Clean’ on Benson and the serfs gathering dung with him every day.

If I hadn’t used the little Mana left from Dig to cast Clean, they might have gone on strike right then and there.

‘Wouldn’t that be the world’s first strike…?’

Anyway, we’d gathered quite a lot of human waste with much hardship. The manure shed looked like it might burst at any moment.

‘I should cast Clean on the shed itself sometime later.’

For now, dung wasn’t considered precious, so we gathered as much as we could. But in the future, it would become extremely valuable.

‘It starts now.’

‘Normally, this would take a lot of time.’

Normally, making fertilizer from human waste took a considerable amount of time.

‘Because it needs to ferment.’

Fermentation was important, and during that process, parasites in the waste had to be killed.

This process took about three to four months. But that wouldn’t do. In three or four months, Pyreun would already be harvested before fertilizer could be made.

I needed to shorten the time using magic.

“With the power of Mana, I purify the poison that has seeped in… Cure Poison!”

Hwaaaaak!

Cure Poison. A lower-tier spell of 2nd Class. But when it came to removing minor toxins, there was no spell better.

Light shimmered as it permeated the dung filling the shed. The most important thing in making fertilizer from human waste was removing the toxins within.

As Mana was consumed, I could feel the poison in the dung gradually dissipating.

‘They call it dung poison for a reason.’

It’s no joke—dung poison has some serious potency. There are records that say, during wars, they used dung poison to push back enemies.

Even in making fertilizer, removing the toxins in human waste was crucial.

“It’s done.”

“…That was easier than I expected.”

“It’s thanks to magic. Even so, it used up a lot of Mana.”

Even with advanced science, removing only the toxins in such a way would be difficult. But with a single spell, it was solved—magic truly was a miracle.

If not for magic, it would have taken much longer to remove dung poison.

‘Later, maybe I’ll use more time-consuming methods or set up a magic circle, but…’

For now, as Agriculture Officer, I needed results. If I wanted to spread fertilizer before harvesting Pyreun, I had no choice but to do it myself.

All that was left was fermentation. The microorganisms created here would multiply through fermentation. When sprinkled on crops, this would help them grow—a simple principle of fertilizer.

‘It’s called compost, manure, and all sorts of things… but the fine details don’t matter.’

This, too, could be handled with a single method.

Originally, there was a curse spell—a spell that slowly rotted its target. Sometimes it was classified as black magic, but on the battlefield, it was often used to dispose of corpses.

Corrupt. Rot.

It was just a 1st Class spell, but its effectiveness was undeniable.

‘Whoever created 1st Class spells, I’ll never understand.’

How could anyone even come up with the concept of rot and make a spell from it?

Many lower-tier spells were like this, far more practical than their higher-tier counterparts.

According to the legends passed down among mages, it’s said that lower spells might have been delivered directly by the Mage God or the progenitor of magic, the Dragon.

Otherwise, it’s hard to explain why so many practical spells are among the lower tiers. If you dig into the concepts, many are even deeper than destructive spells.

Anyway, by using Corrupt, the months-long manure-making process could be drastically shortened.

“With rotten power, bring the corruption of decay upon my target—Corrupt!”