Leading the way was an old man, highly respected among the commoners of Porcupine Territory. The lord was responsible for resolving all issues within the territory, such as who had their black bread stolen or who was bitten by a dog—all trivial matters. But organizing and arranging things still required people, and a respected elder was a good helper.
"Good day, My Lord. I am Wheels, your faithful… servant," the old man said with a bow. He was old, but his body was sturdy. A lifetime of stooping while he worked had left his back severely hunched.
Those words were likely taught to him by "Rabbit" Simon. He had delivered them haltingly.
The Baron, mounted on his horse, looked down at the old farmer kneeling on the ground. He nodded slightly. "Good day, Mr. Wheels. Could you please take me to the homes of the four fallen warriors? I wish to visit their families."
"Your kindness will surely be blessed by the Matron."
The Matron, one of the Four Gods, has the form of a woman. She is the goddess of love, and her maternal image also makes her the goddess of mercy and kindness.
"The Four Gods watch over every believer," Leech replied.
'If believing in the gods was useful, he wouldn't mind giving it a try. But if it was useless… well, to each their own. Still, there was no harm in paying lip service.'
Leaving the stone-paved road of the castle, the path ahead abruptly turned into a muddy dirt track.
Every night, the sea breeze would silently drift ashore, leaving behind a mist at dawn that drenched the ground.
The people of Porcupine Territory believed this was the work of sea sirens. Getting caught in the mist could kill you—and indeed, catching a cold could be fatal.
Below the castle lay the wheat fields of Porcupine Territory. The scrawny stalks bore a few shriveled grains; it was more like wild grass than wheat.
Half the fields were sparsely planted with wheat, while the other half was overgrown with untended wild grass. The castle's horses, sheep, and chickens all fed on the grass here.
'Leech wasn't an expert in agriculture, but he knew this must be a fallow system. The farmers planted on half the land and left the other half to rest and recover its fertility. It was now almost harvest season, but one glance at this year's yield… was all it took to see there was next to nothing. He feared many in his domain would starve when winter came.'
Piles of manure were heaped by the roadside, yet strictly separated from the fields. The stench was overwhelming.
Swarms of flies, a constant no matter the world, crawled all over the piles. They were still struggling on even as autumn arrived, their BUZZING an irritating, nauseating drone.
'In his memory, the previous Baron Leech had never involved himself in matters outside the castle. As a nobleman, he had no need to care about agriculture; nobles only needed to know how to collect taxes. Besides, the previous Baron Leech had been shy around strangers.'
"Have you considered using fertilizer before?" Leech asked, turning his head to the old farmer walking beside him.
That open-air manure pit looked like it held several years' worth of feces. It was right on the main road, but everyone seemed used to it.
Even if one of Leopold's Golden Mules were to run past, its golden hooves would surely get a bit sticky.
"Fertilizer?" Wheels was puzzled. "What do you mean, My Lord?"
"Making the manure into fertilizer and spreading it on the fields to enrich the soil."
'For example, fermenting the manure. The simplest way is to mix it with water. He had a rough idea of his territory's crops. After the autumn harvest, they should plant oats for next year's harvest. Fertilizer would make for a much more bountiful harvest.'
"This! By the Four Gods! You must be joking!" Wheels' reaction was much stronger than Leech had expected. His wrinkled old face flushed red, and he gaped as he tried to defend himself. "We would never do such a thing, rest assured, My Lord!"
"Why? Don't you know that manure can enrich the soil and make the wheat grow faster?" Leech asked.
'Anyone who took a piss on the dirt would quickly discover that urine makes plants grow faster.'
"My Lord, wheat is the crystal of the earth, a gift from the gods! We cannot defile this gift with filth! That would be blasphemy!" Wheels said excitedly. "You must know nothing of agriculture! We work from dawn to dusk, picking pests from the fields, pulling weeds, and catching rats! We do everything we can, but the fields just don't… don't grow things very well."
'That's because you don't use fertilizer,' Baron Leech thought to himself.
It wasn't just the lack of fertilizer. He noticed that people had already started weeding the fallow land to plant oats. They were turning the earth with hoes, loosening the soil over and over, but there wasn't much iron on the hoes. Some people were even digging with pieces of wood or their bare hands.
The furrows they dug were shallow.
'Repetitive labor, very low productivity,' Leech thought.
"My Lord, perhaps I know of this fertilizer you speak of," said the manservant, Pitchfork. "I once heard Mr. Barrel say that the church has a magical substance. You just sprinkle it on the fields, and the land is enriched, the plants grow like crazy, and they bear more fruit than you can eat…"
"Magic, a miracle," Leech nodded, not at all surprised.
'Perhaps it was precisely the existence of magic that stopped the farmers from trying to use fertilizer. There was a more "correct" path laid out for them, so they would only reflect that they weren't pious enough, that the gods had not bestowed their blessings.'
'Magic and miracles were local specialties of this world. Maybe they were better for farming than fertilizer. But for the impoverished Porcupine Territory, the readily available manure was far more cost-effective.'
Along the way, farmers who saw the young lord on his tall horse stopped their work. Barefoot children running in the fields, their faces smeared with mud, were sternly reprimanded by their parents and stood obediently by the roadside. One child looked up at the gorgeously dressed man on the horse, mesmerized by the great steed, but his parents quickly pushed his head down. With his head held down, the child strained to look up, but the highest he could see were the deerskin boots resting in the stirrups.
That was the noble lord, their master. When they grew up, they would take up swords to serve him in times of war, and in the busy farming season, they would return to the fields with scythes to plant and harvest.
Watched by the crowd, Leech followed Wheels on horseback to the home of the first deceased farmer.
He had a young wife. Although the skin beneath her eyes was covered in freckles and endless toil had roughened her skin, she could be considered a pretty woman.
Knowing the lord was coming, the woman had been waiting early outside her small house, by the door of which were several piles of dried dung.
The horse stopped.
"Good day, My Lord~" the woman immediately said with a bow.
Leech glanced down at the roadside and decided against dismounting. The public sanitation was even worse than he had imagined. No wonder the previous Leech rarely left the castle.
He was the lord, so it was only natural for him to remain mounted. No one present was displeased; in fact, they were all envious that the woman had earned a personal visit from him.
"Bird Shit was a brave warrior. He sacrificed himself for me," Leech said, leaning forward. "Are you facing any difficulties? As his family, perhaps I can help you."
'If it weren't for the bodies of those four farmers, he never would have been able to take care of Jamie, nor would he be touring his territory on horseback right now. Seeing this helpless, destitute woman, he was willing to help. He would consider it payback for Bird Shit's mangled corpse, and it would also be a demonstration of the lord's benevolence.'
"Yes, My Lord," the woman said, nervously wringing the fabric of her linen skirt until it wrinkled. "This winter will be hard to get through. There isn't enough food, and… I no longer have a husband."
Leech nodded gently, waiting for the woman to state her request. Grain, seeds, Silver Moons—he could give her any of them.
But the woman said, "I want to marry Old Gap-Tooth with one ear."