Chapter 415: Fertile Ground

We needed at least double the number of pikemen. So after conferring, Oscar and Walter organized a single company of 150 men. The company, made up of 100 pikemen and 50 gunners, began its first training.

At first they floundered, but gradually they started working in sync.

"I still have my doubts about how effective it’ll be in real combat, but one company alone can’t hold a front line. To take the field, we’d need at least ten companies."

That meant maintaining at least 500 gunners alone. Walter was right; the limits of a single company on the battlefield were all too clear. But under the current standing army system, that was out of the question.

The system needed to be reorganized so that levies could be mobilized as gunners too. August was the best man for the job, but he was in Hissen building defenses against Basel’s provocations, so it would have to wait.

For now, the important thing was to run one company and build up know-how. The day might come when we could field ten companies drawn purely from the standing army. When it did, wouldn’t that mean the end of the age of knights?

The administrator was there to greet me when I returned to my office.

"My lord, those who left for Breisburg are returning."

"Good news. I suppose they have hope now that Rosenheim has a lord again."

After the Baron Constance line was cut off, all development in Rosenheim ground to a halt and the territory slowly began to decline. Many free men left to seek hope in Breisburg.

But it didn’t take long for that hope to turn to despair. Breisburg’s population was saturated, so finding a decent job was next to impossible.

As a result, most of them sank into poverty. Some succeeded, but only a few. Then, when I, called the hero of Beren, took up residence as lord, they found new hope.

From abolishing the marriage tax to my massive investment in Vintenheim, I’d proved I wasn’t a lord who was stingy about developing his lands. And I welcomed them back like prodigal sons.

"How many households want to move back?"

"Twenty single men and five families."

"Fewer than fifty people, but it wouldn’t be bad to offer benefits so we can absorb everyone from Rosenheim who went up to the capital. Are there houses ready for them to live in?"

"Most of the houses on the outskirts are empty. What about giving those to the returnees?"

Rosenheim’s population was concentrated lopsidedly around the center and the farmland, so most houses in the outlying areas stood empty, and clearing away the collapsed rubble had been quite the chore.

I decided to give those houses to the returnees.

"Exempt them from taxes for three years, and I’ll cover the cost of house repairs too."

"What? Th-that’s far too generous a benefit."

"That’s how we get more people coming back once word spreads, isn’t it? Hire the returnees for the land reclamation and reservoir construction I put you in charge of, and make good use of them. They’ll be glad to have work in the dead of winter."

Since the gunners would run only one company for the time being, no more recruits were being taken. So the remaining manpower could be put into the farmland development project I’d assigned to the administrator.

All the projects Baron Constance had pushed with such enthusiasm while he was alive had been left suspended, and I was taking them over and carrying them forward. Land reclamation and reservoir construction were among them.

Rosenheim’s signature industries, perfume and wine, ran fine on their own without my interference, so I turned my attention to the other, underdeveloped areas. Construction of a quarry and a logging site was in full swing.

Vintenheim would require enormous amounts of materials, so to save on construction costs and create jobs, we needed to source them within Rosenheim itself. That’s why I hurried preparations for the quarry and the logging site.

In particular, I had the loggers concentrate on the trees in the areas slated for land reclamation. I permitted some logging in other forested areas too, but made it law that for every tree felled, three saplings must be planted.

Violators would face heavy punishment, the same as for poaching. Naturally, the loggers grumbled, but once I said I’d cover the full cost of the saplings, their complaints vanished.

"And there’s been a sudden increase in pregnant women."

Just as in Feuzen, the number of pregnant women in Rosenheim had shot up.

I’d expected that once the passives took effect after my full relocation to Rosenheim, pregnancies would increase. No reports had come in yet, but the other villages had surely seen an increase too.

I could almost hear children’s laughter already. Nothing is as joyful as new life coming into the world. Naturally, I expanded the pregnancy support policy from Feuzen to all of Rosenheim.

It was only natural that pregnant women, blessed with their merciful lord’s support, came to be treasured, but there were side effects too. Hans caught a group who’d forced their daughter into pregnancy in order to split the support money with the man involved.

Hans had noticed something off in the eyes of the pregnant woman who came with her family to collect the money, so he sent guards to investigate. That was how the whole story came out.

"They still show no remorse and insist the two were going to marry, but testimony from those around them confirmed that’s a flat-out lie. Please pass judgment, my lord."

"I warned time and again that anything like this would be severely punished, and yet the morons went and did something moronic anyway. The only pitiful one is the daughter. Carry out the law."

In the end, they were executed by public firing squad. The poor pregnant woman would be sent to the meeting hall Hilda oversaw, where she’d be cared for. No matter how good a policy is, vermin always come crawling out.

To prevent such tragic incidents, I had to work even harder on refining the system. I publicized the crimes of the group caught targeting the pregnancy support money throughout Rosenheim as a warning.

Between the bustling Carnival preparations ahead of Lent and watching the noisy gunner training, I spent my days faithfully carrying out my duties as lord. More and more returnees came back after hearing rumors of the benefits.

Public order deteriorated temporarily, but thanks to Hans, now an expert in keeping the peace, no major trouble broke out in Rosenheim. I invested modestly in passives with the points I’d accumulated.

In preparation for this year’s farming, I raised Soil Fertility from 20% to 30%. I thought that had taken care of my farming worries, but according to a report from Feuzen, the number of pregnant livestock had risen slightly.

Finding that strange, I asked the system.

The unhelpful system gave a proper explanation for once.

[The Soil Fertility passive improves the nutrition of the land, and for animals and humans who consume crops containing these nutrients, it affects their health, lifespan, and reproduction]

Aha, so it wasn’t just the population growth passive; the soil fertility passive was affecting humans and livestock too. That explained the sudden jump in the population of the aurochs I’d designated as a protected species.

If livestock bred easily and multiplied, my people would accumulate that much more wealth, and I’d collect that much more in taxes, so it was good for both sides.

But while it was welcome in terms of immediate gains, when I thought about the future, I couldn’t help but worry. The land’s carrying capacity is always limited.

Right now the population was small, so there was no problem running population growth policies, but the moment we exceeded that capacity, all hell would break loose. The Black Death could arrive, or famine could strike.

Solving this serious problem was my task as well. I realized it was important to study the related passives and strike a balance. Blindly investing in a passive just because it seemed good could end in disaster.

At lunch, Hilda tilted her head.

"Sabine, this seems different from what we usually eat, doesn’t it?"

"My lady, you’ll have to ask the master about that."

Hilda’s and Sabine’s gazes bored into me.

Having heard it was good for health, naturally I’d barged into the kitchen and ordered every meal to be built around Rosenheim ingredients. For Sabine, who ran the kitchen, it must have been a bolt from the blue.

They normally used Rosenheim ingredients, but most of the premium ingredients were imported from Breisburg, so the difference in quality was significant. As a result, the food was far plainer than the meals Hilda liked.

"It uses ingredients that are very good for pregnant women."

"Do such ordinary ingredients really have that kind of benefit?"

"Everything grown in Rosenheim will protect our health."

Hilda was left speechless by my conviction, but since she’d heard it was good for pregnant women, she ate heartily without complaint. I was watching contentedly when I heard Sabine sigh.

From a medieval perspective, they’d never understand how much a modern person values health, but since the system had confirmed it, this was the only way if I wanted to live a long, healthy life.

Of course, the ingredients we had now hadn’t been affected by the soil fertility yet, so eating them did nothing, but this year’s harvest would be, so I was starting early. Call it advance preparation.

Because I wanted to grow old together with Hilda.

As we chatted away even over such plain meals, the last week of January arrived. Wenzenberg, who had gone back to Strasbourg to settle his family affairs, returned with the printer Gens in tow.