Ch.7The Gloomy Black-Haired, Busty Menhera Administrator (2)

# “Too bright…”

The administrator shielded his eyes from the sunlight with the back of his hand and whispered gloomily.

I went to the outskirts of the village with the administrator to survey the surroundings.

The first thing we needed to check was land suitable for cultivation.

The development of a village begins with food self-sufficiency, and for that, extensive farmland is essential.

Let’s see.

Near the village were only small vegetable gardens made with amateur hands.

Vegetables grown haphazardly on empty plots without any consistency—they were barely edible, let alone marketable.

After clearing away some crops with a shovel and digging into the soil, I found ordinary brown soil mixed with some gravel.

Red or black soil would be ideal, but if this land were that fertile, it wouldn’t be sitting unused.

This kind of soil lacks nutrients and is stiff, meaning that even after all the hard work of tilling, the harvest wouldn’t be abundant.

If this area is like this, the entire region must be similar.

But even with soil like this, farming would be better than nothing.

“Give up, Jack. This is land where only death grows…”

“Ah, let’s stop with such pessimistic talk.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… It’s because I’m an incompetent administrator…”

Ignoring his words, I looked down at the garden and pulled out a bottle of Healing Potion from my waist.

I opened the cap and poured all of it around the withering pumpkin leaves.

“Why are you wasting something so expensive on the ground…”

“Just watch.”

I crouched down and examined the moistened pumpkin leaves carefully.

After staring at them for a while, I stood up.

“Let’s go back, Administrator.”

“So it failed after all…”

“No. This is a strategic retreat to gain momentum. Let’s go back. We have a lot to do.”

As soon as I arrived at the shop, I started brewing potions.

To quickly adapt to my life after possession, I obtained regulations and research materials related to potions and studied them thoroughly, down to every letter.

The conclusion I reached was that the potential of potions is limitless.

The Potion Association treats them merely as strong tonics used to heal wounds quickly and boost vitality.

Additionally, under the strict Potion Management Act, making anything other than Healing Potions is strictly prohibited.

But according to my research, potions could be used for various purposes if the manufacturing method was slightly altered—that was my judgment.

Since I possess all sorts of bizarre item combination formulas, I can calculate what effects will result from combining certain ingredients in specific ratios.

I scraped the ingredient shelves in the basement and mixed various materials in different proportions.

I poured them into a pot, stir-fried, grilled, and boiled them.

By the time a potion emitting a faint orange light was completed, it was already midnight.

I filled a bottle with it and went outside.

Piercing through the darkness, I arrived at a vegetable garden and sprinkled the potion evenly.

If my calculations are correct, this will definitely succeed.

Although all previous administrators have failed and fled, now that I’ve possessed this body, I can certainly change things.

I just need to do my best with the given situation.

* * * * *

The result was a huge success.

The crops in the garden where I sprinkled the so-called “Fertilizer Potion” grew explosively after a few days.

The village was thrown into chaos when crops that would normally take months to harvest became plump and abundant.

Along with this, a strange rumor began to circulate.

‘At midnight, a person glowing with light sprinkled a sacred liquid on the garden, and the crops raised their heads and grew on their own.’

That’s not it.

It’s just the power of a potion made with knowledge from the original work and thorough calculation formulas.

Well, I suppose highly advanced science is indistinguishable from magic, so it’s a similar situation.

* * * * *

This way, the effectiveness of the Fertilizer Potion was clearly proven.

But I couldn’t be satisfied with just this.

Success in a tiny garden wouldn’t solve the village’s food shortage.

We needed to plow all the plains on the outskirts of the village and turn them into farmland.

Moreover, it was early spring, so we needed to start cultivation right away before it was too late.

I immediately went to find the administrator.

Upon arriving at the town hall, I showed the Fertilizer Potion to the administrator and explained that what happened in the garden was due to this potion.

“Really…?”

Since it had been days since he had taken a Healing Potion, the administrator had turned gray again and asked gloomily.

I forcibly pushed a Healing Potion into the administrator’s mouth, then looked around and brought a small potted plant.

“Watch carefully.”

I poured an entire bottle of Fertilizer Potion onto an air-purifying plant that was dying from lack of proper care.

The plant, soaked excessively with the potion, suddenly raised its head stiffly and grew slightly at a speed visible to the eye.

“It’s standing straight up… It looks big and firm… Are you perhaps a wizard…?”

“Not a wizard, but a potion shop owner. I slightly modified the potion formula. Of course, it’s a secret. Only you and I know about this.”

“A secret known only to the two of us…”

“So, what do you think? With this, we can surely grow crops even on the barren village land.”

However, the administrator still shook his head with a gloomy expression.

“The villagers won’t cooperate…”

“Excuse me?”

“How can we suddenly talk about farming to people who are only thinking about how to leave the village…? And by what means can we force labor on those people? I’m an incompetent administrator who has lost the trust of the residents… The only security force we have is just five people who can’t even afford matching armor… If I were to give farming tools to the villagers now and tell them to go outside and farm, there would be a riot, and I would be dragged to the square, stripped naked, and thoroughly humiliated…”

I sighed, holding my forehead.

“Administrator. If we succeed in this, the village will have a foundation to rise. Self-sufficiency in food is most important. We can’t buy it from anywhere since we don’t have money.”

“That’s true…”

Wait a minute.

Suddenly, an idea came to mind.

Thinking about it, there’s no need to appeal to the villagers in a difficult way.

“Forget about people, do you have farming tools?”

“Yes… The ones we lend to people who tend gardens.”

“What about seeds for planting? As far as I know, a legally determined amount is distributed at the beginning of each year.”

“We have those too…”

“Then have them ready. I’ll find people myself.”

“Huh…? From where…?”

After leaving the town hall, I headed straight to the slums.

“Sir Hostante!”

The former imperial knight Sir Hostante, who was supervising people whitewashing dirty walls, greeted me.

“Welcome, Jack.”

“Sir Hostante. I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor? I should grant any request from you. What is it?”

“Let’s farm together.”

“Farm?”

I explained everything to the puzzled Sir Hostante.

I plan to turn the land on the outskirts of the village into farmland for cultivation.

We need many people, and if the Potion Knights step up, it should be enough.

I promised to give priority to the knights’ share of the harvest.

“Hmm, I see…”

Sir Hostante stroked his chin.

“If we grow crops and become self-sufficient in food, the village can develop based on that. If all the slum people affiliated with the knights are mobilized, we’ll have more than enough manpower. Please help.”

After remaining silent, Sir Hostante shouted to his people.

“Work is suspended! We have a new mission! Everyone gather!”

People put down their tools and hurriedly gathered in front of Sir Hostante.

“Where do we go?”

“Thank you, Sir Hostante.”

“Considering the kindness I’ve received from you, this is nothing. Besides, it’s not free—we’ll get food in return.”

And so, the Potion Knights from the slums were fully mobilized and deployed to develop the outskirts of the village.

Mirella organized the kids to evenly sprinkle the Fertilizer Potion I had made overnight.

“This is hard…”

The administrator, wearing a large straw hat to avoid the sunlight, mumbled as he awkwardly plowed the land with five security guards.

* * * * *

But there was one problem.

Fieldwork requires a lot of energy and makes people hungry quickly.

So we need to provide snacks while they work, but our village doesn’t have enough food supplies.

It’s truly ironic that we don’t have food to feed those who are working to solve the food problem.

After pondering this issue, I came up with an ingenious idea.

I spent all night creating a new potion while flipping through books on potion manufacturing.

“Big brother! What are you doing?”

While I was stirring the pot diligently with a ladle, Mirella came to visit the shop.

“Hey, you came at the right time. Stir this for me.”

“Why should I?”

“My arm feels like it’s going to fall off. You’re strong, aren’t you?”

“Hehe. Move aside.”

Mirella pushed me away, took the ladle, and began stirring the potion vigorously.

“How can you be so weak? What use are you?”

“Well. Don’t worry, I won’t use it on you.”

When I joked, Mirella’s face immediately hardened.

“You won’t use it on me? Are you a prophet or something? How can you say that so confidently? You might end up using it on me, you know?”

“Haha, you’re right… Sorry.”

Mirella glared at me, then soon concentrated on stirring the ladle.

* * * * *

Stupid big brother.

He won’t use his strength on me?

He’ll probably have to use it sooner than he thinks.

Hehehe.