Ch.84Jobs of the World.

No one knows how many people will flow into Amurtat from this human hunt.

It could be 100,000. It could be 200,000. It could even be 300,000.

Personally, I had hoped to secure at least 200,000 workers through this human hunt to create a city of one million, but since I can no longer live in this world with a gaming mindset, I was half resigned to whatever would come.

Mathematically speaking, the probability of getting more than 200,000 people was 50%. The probability of getting less was also 50%.

“But… Your Majesty. How do you plan to accommodate all those people? We have some housing capacity left, but not enough for hundreds of thousands of refugees… And although we have some surplus in food production, it’s still far from secure…”

“Don’t worry. I have it all figured out.”

Generally, the fewer people engaged in primary industries, the more efficient a society is.

This was an obvious statement. Primary industries refer to agriculture, forestry, fishing, and livestock farming, and what they all have in common is that they require “land.”

Of course, what industry doesn’t need land? But more precisely, the most critical drawback was that the only way to increase productivity was through expanding territory or ruling domain.

Planting two seeds of wheat instead of one doesn’t double the yield, and planting trees too densely only hinders their growth.

That’s why the lower the percentage of people working in primary industries, the higher a country’s population-supporting capacity.

Assuming a population of one million, having 100,000 people working in primary industries versus 500,000 means that you’re using 500,000 people to do what could be done with 100,000—a state of “inefficiency” that economists absolutely detest.

“But… sometimes inefficient allocation is necessary…”

I don’t expect much from refugees.

I would accept anyone who can write their own name as a citizen of the city, but conversely, I planned to expel those without even that level of education to villages outside the city walls to work in primary industries.

Contrary to the prejudice of city natives, agriculture, fishing, forestry, and livestock farming all require specialized knowledge, but there’s an inherent difference between knowledge gained through repetitive manual labor and knowledge acquired through decades of academic achievement.

If you had to choose between someone who had been milking cows for 20 years and someone who had been conducting academic research for 20 years, who would you pick as a librarian?

“Food prices in Amurtat have risen quite a bit now. It’s about time we established some discipline in the market.”

“I wasn’t aware that the expression ‘establishing discipline’ could be applied to markets…”

“Well… some things you only learn by trying. Besides, our Amurtat still lacks dairy products like milk and cheese. Those can only be obtained through large-scale ranching operations. Isn’t that right?”

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

“And when you add those who process these dairy products and transport them back to the city, those who manage and operate the factories, those who carry feed for the cows, those responsible for the animals’ health, and those who continuously check, manage, and maintain the condition of the barns—creating tens of thousands of jobs isn’t that difficult.”

Conveniently enough, this world has “adventurers,” the black hole of the job market.

An 80-year-old man on his deathbed might recklessly dive into a dungeon thinking he has nothing to lose, drink a rejuvenation potion to become vigorous again, and then take the dungeon’s treasures to live a life surrounded by beautiful women… This isn’t a joke but something that has actually happened and is probably still happening somewhere on the continent.

And if old people can do it, why not the young? Young people with overflowing vigor were desperate to become adventurers, which is why this world had few unemployed people despite having many low-income earners.

Of course, it’s truly pitiful that some have jobs yet still struggle to make ends meet… but we can’t exactly apply minimum wage laws to adventurers.

“By the way, did you know? There are surprisingly many women among adventurers.”

“Yes, I’m aware. I’ve met some of them myself.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

And one peculiar point is that women make up a significant proportion of adventurers.

When you think about it, it’s not really strange at all.

Being low-income doesn’t mean being poor in spirit.

Rather than clinging to unknown men or spreading their legs by force, many women preferred to trust their bodies that had survived thus far and plunge into uncertain adventures.

Of course, the pretty young female adventurers that many male adventurers admire were quite rare.

Adventure was naturally a harsh environment for maintaining one’s appearance, and while I said there were many “women,” I didn’t say there were many “young women.”

Needless to say, women’s physical strength is weaker than men’s, and women who understand this well don’t easily venture into adventures.

Most women who become adventurers are either widows who have already had children but lost their husbands, or strong-willed women who give off an impression of being “sturdy” even to men. Naturally, their average age hovers between the late twenties and early thirties.

Considering that the average age of male adventurers is between the mid-to-late teens and early twenties, that’s quite an age gap.

“Whether they’ve drunk potions or undergone some magical procedure, I don’t know, but there are cases of women in their fifties lying about their age and dating 17-year-old boys.”

“Haha… that’s not something to laugh about.”

Setting aside adventurers, what uneducated people who can’t even write their own names can do is ultimately just manual labor.

“Ah, speaking of which, how is the lignite mine on the eastern coast operating these days?”

“The number of compressors has increased. The workforce has also grown, and they’re now supplying sufficient coal for Amurtat’s needs.”

“Hmm… that means we could export if production increases further.”

“I suppose so. I’ve already compiled a list of countries that need coal.”

“Excellent. When I teach you one thing, you understand ten, don’t you?”

While there is a significant difference between skilled and novice miners, simply put, a miner’s job is just to go down with a pickaxe and smash all the black things they see. That’s all there is to it.

Of course, we can’t send them in without any training, so there’s some initial effort required, but the fact that they can earn money just by exerting their muscles should be a blessing for refugees.

Besides, if they’re refugees, they probably won’t dare complain even if treated somewhat roughly.

“Well, we’ll need more manpower for increased production anyway. There’s still plenty of time until the human hunt ends, so let’s expand the residential areas during that time. Having refugees sprawled out on the streets causes many problems.”

“Good. Let’s aim to expand housing for 500,000 people.”

“Yes.”

This will complete housing for one million people. The area within the city walls will be completely filled.

Of Amurtat’s 800,000 population, 200,000 live in villages outside the walls, 100,000 in Pale Harbor, and the remaining 500,000 inside the city walls. Expanding housing for another 500,000 people to reach the predetermined limit of one million was significant to me.

Having over a million people in one’s domain was a position that could make any ruler quite proud.

Amurtat could still grow further.

Soon, towns and villages would be established in the Western Forest, and Pale Harbor could still accommodate more people.

And while the inside of Amurtat’s city walls was already full, the walls themselves could be expanded.

Some users went to the extreme of covering their entire territory with walls like in some manga about giants, preventing anyone from entering. If I wanted to, I could surround this entire 5,000 square kilometers with walls.

Of course, that was beyond inefficiency and into the realm of absurdity, so I had no actual intention of doing it, but as the population continued to gravitate toward Amurtat, the capital, the expansion of urban areas would inevitably have to take place.

And until that time comes, I needed to survive to ensure Amurtat’s survival.

Even if it meant betraying former comrades and standing against an army of one million from a nation of ten million crying for vengeance.