Ch.27While the Monarch Sleeps

“Congratulations on your return, Your Majesty.”

“Advisor… did anything happen while I was away?”

“I’ve prepared a thick report for Your Majesty. Perhaps you’d like to read it.”

The cool breeze flowing through the window indirectly announced that it was the harvest season.

I accepted the thick parchment the advisor handed me and unfolded it with a rustle, feeling as though I might lose my mind at the feast of densely written letters before me.

However, my body, having just risen, stubbornly refused rest, and my eyes, overruling my superego’s objections, began to read through the report’s contents in order.

“The population… has exceeded 100,000?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Encouraging news, indeed.”

Considering that Amurtat was about to celebrate its fifth anniversary, the population had swelled to 100,000 in just five years.

“It seems the merchant guilds have done their job properly. I should give them additional rewards.”

Without the help of thirty merchant guilds, the population wouldn’t have grown this quickly.

The fact that things impossible in the game were happening so naturally here reminded me that this world was another reality.

“By the way, Your Majesty. Has the protection range truly expanded?”

“Yes. I can feel it. It’s like… a part of my body being stretched out? Not a particularly pleasant feeling, but I’ll get used to it eventually.”

“Then we can proceed with the eastern development as planned.”

The development of the eastern coast for coal mining was an issue that needed to progress quickly.

Not just for coal, but now that coastal safety was secured, fishing could be conducted safely.

If seafood and seaweed were added to Amurtat’s table, which had only meat and grain, even the poor commoners could get sufficient nutrients.

As a bonus, we could sell to inland city-states for a tidy profit.

“According to the report, it seems quite a few people have already flowed in?”

“If the people like the coast, who am I to stop them? I’m not Your Majesty, after all.”

With those words, the advisor bowed respectfully and withdrew.

“Well then… shall I read this report?”

And so, lying back in bed with Michaela in my arms, I began to carefully read through the report.

The first line contained a brief report on Amurtat’s current situation.

*

Swish! Swish!

Clack! Clack!

“Come on, everyone! Put in a bit more effort! We’ll finish the framework before lunch! Today I’ve specially prepared chicken!”

“Supervisor! One chicken per person?!”

“Of course! So hurry up and raise that framework! The chicken broth is boiling as we speak!”

With the four-field crop rotation system now implemented, Amurtat’s food situation had greatly improved.

In truth, having just entered the first year, food wasn’t exactly abundant, but with wheat, turnips, rye grass, and clover being harvested without fallow periods, Amurtat’s administration—screaming with joy at the harvest amounts—had drastically adjusted reserves, releasing massive quantities of food into the market.

And naturally, this abundance of food triggered population growth. Farmers who lived off the land were enticed by the ability to farm every year without fallow periods and began migrating to Amurtat.

Day laborers also moved their entire families to Amurtat, where a construction boom was occurring due to the rapidly growing population. It was no exaggeration to say that Amurtat was sucking in manpower like a black hole in this northern region where population movement was virtually nonexistent.

Moreover, with the appropriate expansion of Amurtat’s territory to the eastern coast, activities like coal mining and fishing port construction meant the construction boom hadn’t subsided but rather expanded. Even from Fahrenheit, which had already reached its growth limit, large numbers of workers began migrating to Amurtat.

And, naturally, these workers were pleased with Amurtat’s environment.

Hard labor was nothing new, so it wasn’t particularly a demerit, and even daily laborers who always struggled with poverty could easily afford three meals a day with their daily wages in Amurtat, and support their families by working for a week.

In short, life was livable.

The 70% tax was still heavy, but 70% of 10 and 70% of 100 are clearly different, aren’t they?

The larger the pie grows, the larger the crumbs that fall below.

“Pour! Drink!”

Gulp! Gulp!

“Ahhh! This is the life!”

“It goes down so smooth! Hostess! Two more portions of pork here!”

“Coming right up!”

Thanks to this, over 100 taverns had already been established in Amurtat, consuming thousands of tons of meat daily, making the city government’s finances even healthier.

What made Amurtat particularly attractive was none other than my existence.

Some might ask what’s so appealing about having a ruler, but in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Though I might regard human lives as flies, I had at least a minimal sense of governance. Under my rule, Amurtat’s administration ran smoothly, and without troublemakers, it was a good place for powerless commoners to live.

The monarchs of this world were such exalted figures that not only was deposition impossible, but even offering honest counsel was difficult. For their own amusement or interest, they frequently bankrupted their cities.

For example, being fond of jousting tournaments and holding them year-round, plunging the city into debt, or becoming so obsessed with women that half the city’s females became prostitutes—such shocking events weren’t uncommon in this world.

The religions of this world, having solved the problem of evil, had much weaker constraints on secular matters compared to Catholicism or Protestantism. Thus, religious authorities were either powerless or joined in the exploitation, and those who resisted were executed under the monarch’s orders.

And naturally, the city’s interests passed to gangs or merchant guilds, who, to satisfy their desires, exploited the people like skilled torturers, continuously filling their own bellies—an endless hell.

That was the average life in this world.

Of course, Amurtat also treated people harshly, but dying at work and being beaten to death in one’s own home were somewhat different in nature.

If you died from a supervisor’s whip at work, at least you knew why you died, but having no one to help when thugs broke into your home and killed your family bred despair and intense hatred.

Though the explanation was lengthy, in short, Amurtat was a commoner’s paradise where a sane monarch, powerful public authority, solid finances, and numerous jobs converged.

And naturally, since people tend to remember the bad more vividly than the good, it was easy to supplement the increasingly anxious defense forces.

Those who knew how cruelly corruption and dead public authority could squeeze people took up swords and shields to protect Amurtat with gritted teeth, and with just a bit of hostility instilled in them, creating fanatical soldiers wasn’t difficult.

“In the distance, there are those who envy our prosperity.

Those with evil intentions who want to drag Amurtat down into a pit of corruption, decadence, irresponsibility, and exploitation, just like their own dens.

While His Majesty protects us from indescribable horrors, we will protect Amurtat by thoroughly eliminating visible threats.

Remember why you had to leave your homeland!

Do you want Amurtat to become exactly like the place you came from!?”

“””No, we don’t!”””

“Then what must we do?!”

“””We must fight!”””

“That’s right! To protect, we must fight!

The armor and weapons, medicines and food provided to you aren’t for playing soldier, but offerings sacrificed for the 1 that is cut off for the sake of the 99!

Swing your swords with hatred! Thrust forward your shields with anger!

Now that Amurtat’s justice is spreading, it’s not just monsters and beasts that harm our citizens!”

The method of stirring up the most intense emotions of hatred and anger was simple but extremely effective.

It was literally a new world (not a religion) across mountains and waters.

If corruption were to seep in here, where else on this continent could commoners rest their heads in peace?

And so, tens of thousands of new recruits devoted themselves to training with all their might.

So that someday, they might return to their homelands not as fugitives, but as conquerors.