Help from Ji?

Could a place as vast as Kazdel really not have a single person involved in commerce or industry?

That was actually very likely!

When Kal'tsit dug the Doctor out, Kazdel had barely a few High-speed Battleships.

What on earth had those siblings been doing for the several centuries after the war ended?

Could they have been constantly fending off foreign harassment? Could this have been Leithanian influence again?

That was probably it.

"I've discovered that what I lack most isn't resources, but people. What can these six hundred-plus people possibly accomplish?"

Lying in a soft chair, Huang Cao fell into helplessness for the first time.

As expected, he couldn't swallow a giant in one bite. No matter how much he thought about it, it wouldn't help.

If only he were Kazdel's Demon King. Then he could carry out whatever industrial plans he wanted without having to consider the population at all.

Why couldn't he have crossed over a little earlier? Perhaps he could even have competed for the position of Demon King...

Two months later, one evening.

Dear Miss Lamian,

I hope this letter finds you well.

It had been nearly two years since we last parted. I wonder how you've been lately, and whether you've been happy. I've had my envoy prepare some gifts for you this time. I hope you won't refuse them.

Sometimes I wondered what a person could accomplish after being born into this world.

Should one become a hero, or a blade of grass nearby that could be destroyed at will? Now, I had found the answer.

At first, I thought my Undead Spirit relative merely wanted me to become a lofty noble and collect money for him.

But it was only after I took this position that I realized just how great the responsibility on my shoulders was...

So, if you have the time, I'd like to place an order with you for some clothing using a sum of money. I remember that my sisters are all quite skilled with their hands. Don't worry—I'll pay enough for every garment and absolutely won't let their hard work go to waste.

"My writing feels pretty bad. I can't seem to write anything mushy."

Huang Cao carefully placed the completed letter into a gilt-edged envelope. After sealing it with wax, he immediately had someone send it to Banshee River Valley.

He truly couldn't find anyone else to ask for help. If things continued, the people in his territory would soon have no clothes left to wear.

As it turned out, farming damaged clothes far more easily than fighting. On the battlefield, death often came in an instant.

The remaining clothes could easily be picked up and sent back to the rear, where they could be patched up and worn again.

As the saying went, the strong never complained about their circumstances. But when circumstances were too terrible, they really were disgusting.

"Don't overthink it. Victoria's Steam Knights also took nearly a hundred years of development before they became useful on the battlefield. What you're doing now is already good enough."

Wearing pajamas, Warfarin brewed a cup of sickly sweet Lecoco and placed both hands on the boy's shoulders with a worried expression.

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Didn't you say a year ago that you became a noble for the sake of enjoying yourself? Why are you pushing yourself so hard now?"

Huang Cao said seriously, "I really did do it to slack off, but this is so frustrating, you know? It's like playing a game. You've clearly reached the level cap, but you can't advance any further because you're missing materials."

"You don't understand the feeling of getting stuck in a game..."

"A game?"

"Forget it. You wouldn't understand even if I explained it. Anyway, I feel awful right now. How can this world have a character-development game that gets stuck?"

"No, now isn't the right time to develop rapidly. We need to get these several hundred people married and settled as soon as possible. There isn't any pressure to raise children right now, either."

In fact, quite a few newborns had been born in Huang Cao's territory over the past year, but the proportion was extremely small.

"They were all mercenaries once. Their long lives of danger made them unwilling to trust anyone easily. Getting them to settle down with someone isn't going to be easy."

They had to trust him, whether they believed it or not!

Especially since their living conditions were so good now.

While inspecting his territory, Huang Cao discovered that many of the Sarkaz people were far more reserved than he had imagined. Some men and women had already developed feelings for each other, yet those feelings remained unspoken.

Combined with the information in the Originium Database, Huang Cao discovered that the Sarkaz people had a strange phenomenon.

During wartime, the birth rate of the Sarkaz people was astonishingly high. After the war ended, however, it dropped dramatically.

This was actually easy to understand. During wartime, no one knew whether they would survive until tomorrow. To relieve the pressure, many people chose to indulge themselves. With limited conditions on top of that, the chances of an accidental pregnancy were extremely high.

Pregnant Sarkaz people were often given special treatment and sent to safer places far behind the front lines.

As for the children's survival rate?

That had to do with the physical constitutions of the people of Terra.

As long as they weren't infected by Originium, losing an arm or a leg was a minor ailment for most of the races on this land.

Although life in the rear couldn't be called luxurious, there was no need to immediately go to the battlefield and risk their lives.

Besides, war required manpower, so many people chose to give birth to their children.

No one asked, and no one could have asked, whether those children wanted to be born into such a chaotic age.

That was also why Kazdel suddenly gained so many orphans "out of nowhere" after the war ended.

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Chapter 24: Help from Ji?

After the war in Kazdel ended, the pressure on people's survival from outside suddenly decreased. Many people began seriously choosing their other halves.

On top of that, since both men and women wanted to shake off their former mercenary lives as much as possible, their words and actions became much more reserved.

Combined with this race's extremely long lifespan, their courtships could easily last twenty years or more.

And because of the distrust caused by their mercenary careers, that period could become even longer.

"Pass down my order. We'll hold a matchmaking gathering one month from now. Anyone who gets married and has a child will receive a subsidy of five gold coins from me! This offer is limited to this year! Of course, the prerequisite is that you remain healthy and alive."

Huang Cao had originally planned to expand the castle further in the next few years and install all kinds of entertainment facilities while he was at it. Now, it seemed that proposal would have to be delayed for several decades.

A full five percent of Kazdel's territory was occupied by only these few hundred people.

There were simply far too few people. Even the Pharaoh's pyramid needed someone to build it!

As for why Huang Cao didn't recruit people from outside, it was because, up to this point, no one besides him had communicated with the outside world since the territory began developing.

If nothing unexpected happened, even Theresia might not know that the environment here had changed. The Demon King was probably still matching wits with the upper echelons of Leithania and other countries.

There was no radio yet, and Kazdel's Six Heroes each governed their own territories. Most people were merely willing to listen to the Demon King.

Who would have the time to care about this tiny territory of his? As long as he didn't make a fuss, it might take more than a century for anyone to discover him.

It wasn't as if there were no precedents for this in Huang Cao's previous life.

However, that was only because they had no time for it now. Once they saw how fertile the land was, even Theresia might develop some ulterior motives. He therefore had to hide himself as much as possible.

Theresia had been portrayed extremely well in the story. She was practically the embodiment of someone who cared about all living things. Although she might be somewhat selfish at heart, she was still the Demon King of this race.

Kind and merciful, but definitely no saint. In any case, he had to stay on guard.

He couldn't naively assume that all the other experts had been afflicted with intelligence reduction just because the Goddess had chosen him to be the protagonist.

One had to be careful to sail a ship for ten thousand years.

Before long, Huang Cao's order to reward population growth immediately took effect.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, many men and women broke through the barriers between them. Even if they weren't interested in each other, they could cleverly avoid awkwardness by using the lord's order as an excuse.

Sometimes, gold coins weren't the most important thing. What mattered was giving the other person an opportunity.

Moreover, Huang Cao encouraged both sides to be honest with each other and explain their romantic histories, so they wouldn't plant a bomb in their future relationships.

After all, everyone's lives and relationships had been quite complicated during the war.

Under such high-pressure circumstances, it was impossible to say who was right or wrong for trying to ease their fear and pressure surrounding death.

But imagine a family going out for a stroll one day, only for someone by the roadside to suddenly say, "Your husband seems to have shared a bed with me before."

That would be incredibly awkward. It might even affect the children's sense of identification with their parents and their territory.

Although this sounded absurd and could be called needless worrying, it was still better to reduce such stomach-churning situations whenever possible.

Since practically everyone in Kazdel had gone through similar experiences, all several hundred people calmly spoke about their pasts.

Besides, discussing these relatively unimportant private matters was much better than saying how many people they had once killed.

Huang Cao was extremely gratified by his people's openness.

It meant that they had truly begun to emerge from the shadows of the past and welcome a brighter future.

In less than three months, nearly two hundred people in Huang Cao's territory came to report good news to him, yet none of them took the gold coins.

"Honored Lord, thank you for giving us this opportunity, but we truly can't accept these gold coins."

Almost everyone who came to register their marriage said this, but Huang Cao insisted that a gentleman's word was his bond and forcibly gave each of them the five gold coins as a wedding gift.

Even after distributing them all, he had only handed out a thousand gold coins. Did they think he was poor or something?

If Theresia saw this, she might think he'd gone broke. Everyone got some—no one was getting away!

Thus, throughout the following six months, Huang Cao and Warfarin were constantly rushing between wedding venues.

The durable work clothes Huang Cao had originally ordered from Lamian were temporarily changed into tailored formalwear.

Happiness was permanent, while work was temporary.

Perhaps development really could be put on hold for a while. In any case, his territory couldn't achieve mechanical ascension overnight.

Although Huang Cao didn't feel that he was winning people over, these actions had undoubtedly strengthened his position and prestige within the territory.

The boy's approachable, easygoing nature and his tough bearing as a lord were deeply imprinted in the hearts of every one of his people.

This gentleness truly wasn't inferior to Her Excellency Theresia's.

"So, can you be our lord for the rest of your life?"

"We'll do anything!"

Putting aside the negative effects of pausing development, having children would at least strengthen the territory's cohesion.

Once everyone had something to care about, they would work harder for their homeland.

I had once been a passerby on this land. Now, I was its reformer.

To give their families a better life, the entire household became extremely motivated, and everyone worked with greater vigor.

Some time later, to welcome the new lives, the territory's educational work also had to be prepared.

"Warfarin, did you buy the printing press I asked for?"

"I did. It took quite a bit of effort to bring this thing in. It was imported from Yan Country. It can't run without Originium, but the machine itself only cost fifty gold coins. Transporting it here cost more than five hundred."

"If that gentleman named Ji hadn't helped, we might not have been able to transport this thing here."

Warfarin had wandered across this land for so long that she was bound to have met a few people she could speak with.

Through the connections of these people, Huang Cao successfully contacted Yan Country's most successful textile merchant and managed to acquire the printing press through those connections.

This thing was indispensable if he wanted to establish education. Otherwise, copying every book by hand would be far too slow.

As he'd said before, development couldn't be handled by treating each symptom as it appeared. It had to move toward something more advanced and more effective in the long term.

Slacking off would sooner or later bury the seeds of disaster.

Besides, there was also the saying that sharpening one's axe didn't delay chopping wood.

"I've compiled the materials already. Let's teach them to read and write first. Since Theresia doesn't have the energy to do it right now, I'll take care of it."

Huang Cao took a piece of low-concentration Originium from the drawer and dropped it inside. The machine immediately started running.

At incredible speed, it printed a primer for learning to read. Naturally, the writing on it was in the common language of the Kazdel region.

After all, this machine could originally be exported. Since it was an export product, it naturally had to be adapted to local conditions. The only problems were that customization was somewhat expensive and that one needed connections to get the opportunity.

Although he really wanted to make the joke about the whole world speaking Yan Country's language,

making his people learn an entirely new language in the midst of their busy lives would be far too difficult.