At noon one day, I visited the ranch I had previously brought Noufe to.
I had ridden there alone on horseback, but perhaps because I had sent word in advance via communications, the ranch's main gates swung open and a party of officers and soldiers emerged the moment my horse and I came into view along the highway.
As I drew closer, I could see that the unit was led by Rion.
I dismounted before the main gate, handed my horse's reins to a soldier who immediately ran up, and approached Rion.
"You're greeting me a bit too early."
"Forgive me! We only got the word a little while ago, or else I would've gotten myself into more presentable gear."
Rion made an apologetic face as he spoke.
True to his own words, his attire was filthy.
Stained all over with what looked like monster blood, his gear made him look as though he had been in the middle of battle until just moments ago.
"You look quite manly, don't you?"
"Aw, come on."
"Besides, compared to when we first met, this is splendid."
"Ahaha."
Rion scratched his head with a laugh.
It was an embarrassed laugh, or perhaps an apologetic grimace.
The first time I met Rion was when he came to pitch an investment opportunity to me.
His appearance back then was unkempt: shaggy hair, clothes caked with mud and grime, looking so much like a beggar at first glance that anyone might mistake him for one.
However, I saw through the fact that he was no beggar.
Ordinary beggars lived in extremely unhygienic environments and suffered from various illnesses, the most immediately obvious being skin diseases.
Rion had thoroughly disguised the visible areas. He had skillfully fabricated scab-like marks on his face and exposed arms.
Beneath that shaggy hair, however—on his scalp—his skin was in remarkably good condition.
Normally, the scalp is the very place that would be filthy, swollen, or covered in rashes, but Rion's scalp back then was exceptionally clean.
Well, while one could easily disguise bare skin, there was little one could do beneath hair.
That was how I saw through Rion's disguise.
Having that first encounter brought up made Rion give an embarrassed chuckle.
After exchanging a round of casual greetings, Rion broached the main topic anew.
"So, what brings you here today? Got an assignment for me?"
"No, an inspection."
"An inspection?"
Rion looked slightly surprised.
"I've been sending in reports, though..."
"One can never be too careful."
I spoke with a straight face.
Rion mirrored my serious expression.
"It is no exaggeration to say that completely eradicating wild monsters within imperial borders was the late Emperor's greatest achievement. Until then, they roamed the wilderness as well."
"That's true."
"As someone who walks the battlefield, you understand well enough how much of a threat it posed to the people's safety when those things ran rampant, even if only occasionally."
"Yeah. Back in my hometown, well, people died practically every year."
"Completely exterminating and controlling them was the late Emperor's greatest achievement; suppressing them once more is my highest priority as well. I must confirm it with my own eyes."
"I see. Well then, right this way."
With that, Rion ushered me into the ranch.
Among my subordinates, he was a man with an exceptionally informal way of speaking.
He stood in stark contrast to his childhood friend, Cles, who had entered my service at the same time and possessed a stern, upright character.
"Come to think of it, is it true that some ministers are saying it's pitiful to subjugate the monsters, and that if we can manage them, we should just return them to the ranch?"
"Yes, I received petitions to that effect as well."
"What did you do with them?"
"I rejected them flat out."
I chuckled softly.
"If those weren't monsters, but... say, wild beasts like bears, I might have told them, 'I'll send them to your mansion, so take care of them yourself.'"
"Ahaha, well, glad to hear that."
"The only reason those ministers can afford to utter such lukewarm nonsense is because His Majesty brought them under total control. The younger ministers know nothing of the monsters' terror."
"Can't say anything back when you put it on the late Emperor's credit, can I?"
Rion laughed playfully.
Entering the ranch alongside Rion, I first looked around at our surroundings. Then, I felt the air with my skin.
"Hmm... You seem to have them completely suppressed."
"Ah, you can tell just from that?"
"Yes, by the... heaviness of the air, I suppose. Have you ever been to a livestock slaughterhouse?"
"Like at a market?"
Rion tilted his head and asked.
"No, a site where live cattle or sheep are slaughtered and butchered."
"Can't say I have. I've heard about draining blood and all, though."
"That is surprising, considering you have led troops."
I thought so honestly; given Rion's background, it genuinely surprised me.
"Ah... When I was in the frontier, I heard stories about nomads culling huge numbers of sheep to get through the winter, but I never actually saw it myself."
"I see."
Be that as it may, I nodded as if making sense of it.
"If you know the stories of culling sheep in mass quantities, this makes it easier to explain. Perhaps because they kill and butcher countless animals in a single day, the heat and heaviness that could be called the life of living creatures lingers in the air and refuses to dissipate. Even outdoors."
"Huh, is that different from a battlefield?"
"A little. On a battlefield, the fervor of men can sometimes overpower it."
"I see."
"Still, they are similar. That is how the air feels where monsters dwell. Right now, I sense none of it."
"That's amazing, Lord Noah. I don't know much about livestock, but as for this place, well, it's just as you say."
Rion puffed out his chest a little.
"We slaughtered every last monster that escaped and redid the seals. You could say this ranch is completely subdued now."
"Is that so... Heh."
I smiled.
Perhaps because it was a somewhat self-deprecating smile, Rion asked with a puzzled look.
"What's the matter?"
"No, I was just thinking that in a situation like this, Father would have known without ever having to come to the site in person."
"Don't you get reports too, Lord Noah?"
"Father's methods did not rely on regular channels. It was more like... intelligence, I suppose."
"Intelligence."
"Have you ever experienced it? You rush to report something to the late Emperor as quickly as possible, only to find he already knows everything. In some cases, he even knew things you didn't."
"Ah... Yeah, that brings back memories..."
Rion smiled wryly.
"I think it was some subjugation mission; when it was over and I went to report, he already knew, just like you said. Not only that, but he even had the detailed battle results I had told my men to compile on my way out."
"That is exactly what I mean."
"For real... That was truly incredible..."
Together, Rion and I reflected upon my late father's information network.
This intelligence network was one area where I fell far short of Father.
I felt that, eventually, I would need to do something about this as well.
☆
A clear, sunny day in the suburban paddy fields.
Together with Noufe, I was watching the rice harvesting from a slightly elevated vantage point.
In the golden fields laden with heavy crops, a large crowd of farmers was working diligently at the harvest.
"We managed to make it this far without a hitch."
"Yes. We had the earthquake, but fields can be fixed in a flash compared to cities."
"Indeed."
I nodded to Noufe.
Here in Enlil Province, there had been a major earthquake severe enough to collapse numerous buildings.
Since it had been an earthquake of that scale, the fields had naturally not escaped unscathed either.
To name a few obvious examples, the paddy fields meant to hold water had suffered breaches and leaks, and the flumes used to maintain water levels had been damaged.
Even so, just as Noufe said, repairing them had been overwhelmingly easier compared to the city and the buildings within it.
As proof, looking at the ongoing harvest, a scene that could only be described as a bumper crop unfolded before us, making it seem almost unbelievable that a massive earthquake had struck only recently.
"Everyone's expression is bright."
"It's the second harvest of the year, after all."
Noufe said. Noufe herself was included among "everyone," but she did not seem to perceive it that way.
"We're still clumsy at it, so it didn't quite double purely, but since we safely made it to a second harvest, everyone will be able to hold onto hope."
"It makes sense when you get a windfall comparable to your primary income."
"Yes."
Looking around at the scene, I asked Noufe.
"Any major problems so far?"
"Major?"
"Major."
Noufe asked back, and I nodded, repeating the same word.
"Nothing big. Though needing nearly twice as much fertilizer was big, if you want to call it that."
"I will handle that aspect. In fact, that was a baseline premise."
"Then we're fine," Noufe said.
I looked once more at the harvest and the paddy fields.
The second harvest of this year, and rice yields that were expected to nearly double moving forward.
Now that this was in sight, the vision that lay even further ahead became visible to me as well.
I had a feeling that I might be smiling too.
"U-Um, excuse me!!"
Suddenly, a voice called out from right beside us.
Noufe and I turned around.
A boy was standing there, wearing an expression as if desperately trying to appeal to us about something.
He looked to be around fifteen or sixteen.
He was slenderly built, but his eyes shone brightly.
"What is the matter? Has some problem arisen?"
"Y-You're the Lord Governor-General, right?"
"Yes."
"I just wanted to thank you, Lord Governor-General."
"Hm?"
I looked at the boy with a face that asked, For what?
"I'm a second son, you see. Our family has always been poor, and there are eight siblings, but we all worked hard and somehow managed to bring in a bride for just our oldest brother."
"Hm."
I gave a small nod.
It was a common tale among poor families like farmers, nothing particularly unusual.
To farming families, children were pure labor; some even went so far as to call children assets.
That was why farming households bore many children to increase their productivity.
Yet, despite the increased productivity, the sad reality was that it never yielded enough income to marry off all the children.
In most cases, just as this boy said, the entire family worked and saved together, managing only to welcome a bride for the eldest son, who would become the heir.
Marriage could not be done for free.
One had to pay a betrothal gift to the bride's family, her parents.
In some cases, a new home had to be built. And building a new home meant purchasing a whole new set of furniture and household goods.
Marriage was a remarkably expensive affair.
Incidentally, the people who built the house and made the furniture earned an income from it. The economic effect extended not just to the individuals, but to their surroundings as well.
It was no exaggeration to say that the bulk of the imperial economy depended on how well these commoners could marry and bear children.
Even with that in mind, it was a common story for a family of nearly ten people, like this boy's, to work hard just to get a wife for the eldest son, while the second son and below had to endure without.
"Did something happen with that bride?"
Did something happen to the sister-in-law whom the whole family had paid a large sum to welcome? As I let my imagination run wild with such thoughts, the boy gave an entirely different answer.
"No, that's not it! The thing is, I might be able to get a bride too!"
"Hm?...Ah."
"My folks said we might be able to manage it with this extra rice income. Even if it's just a widow, it might be possible."
"I see."
"So, um! I really wanted to thank the Lord Governor-General—thank you so very much!"
The boy bowed his head deeply and swiftly.
"That is the result of your family's hard work; there is no need to thank me."
"Still, thank you! No matter how hard we tried before, there was nothing we could do. But thanks to the Lord Governor-General... that's why, thank you!"
Saying so, the boy bobbed his head up and down repeatedly, just like a woodpecker.
I smiled softly.
This boy might just have a talent for praising people, I thought.
"Then work hard. Freshly cut rice won't fetch any money. If you don't see it through to the end, that bride will remain nothing more than pie in the sky."
"Ah, yes! I'll do my best!"
With that, the boy ran off.
He likely returned to his family and resumed harvesting the rice.
"Hm..."
"Marriage sounds tough, doesn't it?"
Noufe said, though her words lacked much real feeling.
It was probably because she was still young.
"Still, it's amazing."
"Hm?"
"If more people can get married, that means more babies will be born, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"I believe... almost any problem can be solved if you increase the population, the number of children being born, right?"
"If you simplify state governance to the absolute extreme, yes."
"Then it really is amazing."
Praised by Noufe, I fell into thought.
What he had just said was outside my initial calculations.
Yet, logically speaking, there was nothing strange about it at all; in fact, it was only natural.
Farming families were poor, so until now they could only afford one bride, but with the double-cropping of rice, a situation had emerged where they could hope for a second and beyond.
"...I must not let this opportunity slip by."
I muttered, piecing together my thoughts in my head, leaving Noufe looking on with a puzzled expression.