Agricultural Special Advisor

Twenty percent.

Rovi did a quick calculation.

The current yield was already at its limit.

To increase it by another twenty percent, he'd have to work the farmhands to death—or turn the seeds into gold.

"The soil isn't fertile enough," Rovi said. "And we're severely short on labor."

"That's your problem." Alicia's voice was icy. "I'm giving you one month. If you can't come up with a plan to increase the yield, this appointment letter will be your death warrant."

"I need authority," Rovi said. "Besides the Advisor title, I also need the authority to mobilize the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Defense Force."

"You've already handled the Adeptus Mechanicus. As for the Defense Force..."

Alicia took a necklace from around her neck.

A black ring hung from it.

She tossed the ring to Rovi.

"It's my personal token. You can use it only once. Save it for the most critical moment."

Rovi caught the ring.

It still held the gentle warmth of her body.

And, of course, a trace of her scent.

"Understood."

"Get out." Alicia waved a hand. "Don't disappoint me."

Rovi saluted and turned to leave.

As he reached the door, Alicia called out to him again.

"Rovi."

Rovi stopped.

"If you dare betray me..." Alicia's voice rang out behind him. "I'll cut you to pieces with my own hands. I mean that literally."

"I'll remember, my lady."

Rovi pushed open the door and left.

By the time he returned to Granary Seven, it was already the middle of the night.

Rovi didn't go back to the dormitory.

He went straight to the Repair Workshop.

The M36 Harvester had been fully repaired.

Several Tech-Priests stood around it, gazing at it as if it were their child.

When Rovi walked in, the lead Priest, a fellow named Alpha, immediately came over to greet him.

"Esteemed Advisor." Alpha sounded much more respectful than before.

Word traveled fast.

There was no way to hide the fact that Rovi had been picked up and brought back by the Governor's personal shuttle.

"How's the machine?" Rovi asked.

"Running perfectly. Its efficiency has increased by fifteen percent." Alpha pointed to a pile of scrap metal beside them. "We're following your plans to modify two more."

"Good." Rovi took a sketch from inside his coat and slapped it onto the table. "Now I want you to build something new."

Alpha leaned over and took a look.

The plans showed a strange device.

It looked a little like a mixer, with a complex system of pipes connected to its base.

"What is this?"

"A Deep Fermentation Tank," Rovi said.

"What are we fermenting?"

"Corpses."

Alpha's electronic eye flickered.

"Fermenting Corpse Starch again?"

"No. The parts that can't be turned into starch." Rovi pointed to the tank's central component on the plans.

"Bones, organs, and the corpses of mutated creatures. Right now, they're simply burned. It's a terrible waste."

"I want you to grind them up, add acid and special bacteria, and ferment them into a highly concentrated liquid fertilizer."

It was a technique for making "Bio-Liquid Fertilizer" that Rovi had read about in an agricultural magazine in his previous life.

In this world, it wouldn't be wrong to call such a technique "Heretical Alchemy."

"Would this... be in accordance with the doctrine?" Alpha asked hesitantly.

"This is to make the soil more fertile and grow more food to offer the Emperor," Rovi explained. "Would the Emperor reject such an offering?"

Alpha thought it over for a second.

"The logic is sound," he said. "We'll need materials."

"I can get the materials," Rovi said. "The morgues in the Lower Sector are full of unclaimed corpses, and there are mutated rats on the lowest levels of the Hive City. I want you to build ten tanks like this. They need to be finished in three days."

"Three days is cutting it close."

"I have the Governor's ring." Rovi raised the Black Ring and gave it a little wave.

"I can call in the Defense Force to help you transport materials. I can also requisition Servitors from other workshops."

At the sight of the ring, Alpha's attitude changed at once.

"Three days. No problem."

Over the next three days, Granary Seven became a construction site.

Rovi didn't waste a moment.

Armed with his appointment letter as Special Agricultural Advisor, he turned the entire Granary upside down.

He drove out all the Overseers who did nothing but chant prayers and replaced them with skilled workers who knew a thing or two about machinery.

He replanned the flow of the Irrigation Canal.

He also personally led a team into the sewers to catch mutated rats.

Kais, meanwhile, never showed his face.

He hid in his office like a frightened pig.

He knew Rovi was now a favorite of the Governor's and didn't dare make a move openly.

But he wasn't idle, either.

He was waiting.

Waiting for Rovi to make a mistake.

As soon as Rovi messed up, the Governor would kill him without Kais having to lift a finger.

The fourth day.

Ten enormous metal tanks stood in the open space behind the Granary.

Revolting green liquid churned inside them, and the stench was even worse than that of Corpse Starch.

Rovi stood in front of the tanks, holding a testing rod.

He dipped the rod into the liquid, stirred it, and pulled it out.

The rod had turned deep purple.

It had an extremely high nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content.

Success.

"Start spraying," Rovi ordered.

Dozens of modified water trucks rolled into the wheat fields.

The green liquid sprayed across the barren soil.

The wheat, which had been looking a little yellow, seemed to shiver when the liquid fertilizer touched it.

Of course, the effects wouldn't be immediate.

This was just the first step.

Rovi had a second step in mind.

He turned his gaze toward the distant lowest levels of the Hive City.

Millions of "useless people" lived there.

They had no jobs and no food. All they could do was scavenge through garbage and survive on rats.

In the eyes of the Imperium, they were a burden.

But in Rovi's eyes, they were labor.

"Alpha," Rovi called.

"Yes?"

"I want you to make a batch of simple tools." Rovi drew a design in the dirt. "Long-Handled Scythes, extended versions, and these backpack-style harvesting frames."

"For Servitors?"

"For people."

Rovi turned and headed toward the Defense Force barracks.

He was going to recruit an army.

An army that would fight for nothing but food.

The Defense Force barracks.

Its commander was a one-eyed man named Buck.

He was sitting on an ammunition crate, cleaning his gun.

When Rovi walked in, Buck didn't even look up.

"Special Agricultural Advisor?" Buck scoffed. "This is a military barracks, not a place for Scribes to throw their weight around."

Rovi slapped the Governor's ring down on the ammunition crate.

Buck's hand stopped.

His expression immediately turned grave.

"The Governor sent you?"

"I need to borrow some troops," Rovi said.

"How many?"

"Two companies. Bring your weapons. We're going to the Lower Sector."

"What for? Putting down a riot?"

"To recruit workers."

Buck froze, then burst out laughing.

"Recruit workers? You're bringing guns to recruit workers? Are you worried those scum won't agree to work?"

"I'm worried they'll fight over the chance." Rovi put the ring away.

"I want to recruit fifty thousand temporary farmhands, but I have no food to give them. All I have is this."

Rovi pointed behind him.

Several Servitors carried in a batch of barrels.

They were filled with green, diluted liquid fertilizer.

"What's this?" Buck frowned.

"This is hope," Rovi said. "Tell them that anyone who's willing to work will get two blocks of Corpse Starch a day. Those who do well will get this 'Nutrient Paste.'"