Chapter 94

The seasons changed.

After the harsh winter that had lingered for so long finally lifted, a brief spring rushed through, and before long, the scorching summer was about to arrive.

During this time, for Sōma, who had introduced the Norfolk farming method and various other reforms, each day was a continuous trial and error. As someone who was not an expert and only had a rudimentary knowledge, it was like groping in complete darkness, a period of great hardship.

However, the feared re-invasion by the Holmea Kingdom never materialized, and there were no major failures in the development or technological innovations. Reaching this point was nothing short of fortunate. Sōma himself acknowledged this, even saying that he might have used up his luck in life.

Of course, it wasn't as if nothing happened at all.

The friction between the residents of Zoan and the town, the conflicts between humans and former slaves, and even among the different races following Sōma, due to differences in customs and traditions, led to numerous small disputes.

However, thanks to the strong support from representatives of various races, such as Garam, Zugg, Dvārin, Jahāngir, and Eladia, none of these issues escalated into major problems.

Thanks to this, if asked what troubled him the most, Sōma would have mentioned Shemul's minor rebellion, who referred to him as "the Lord Below the Navel."

"Hey, Shemul. Have you lost weight?"

This happened on a day when the sounds of spring were just beginning to be heard. Shemul, who was originally lean and well-toned, seemed to have become even slimmer recently, and Sōma casually asked.

Shemul, clearly irritated, replied curtly.

"Just shedding my winter coat."

It seemed that Zoan also had a change from winter to summer fur.

The conversation ended there, but for a while afterward, Shemul's attitude was cold. Sōma's meals, which were mostly prepared by Shemul, had less food or fewer dishes.

When Sōma timidly asked about this, Shemul replied with a harsh tone.

"If you eat too much, you'll get fat."

It was clearly a retaliatory move.

Later, when Sōma complained about this, he was scolded by Kraga Bnuka Shishur, Zugg's niece, who happened to hear it.

"Lord Shemul, who is 'the Lord Below the Navel' to Sōma, was grooming himself meticulously every morning to avoid disgracing Sōma..."

Sōma could only shrink back.

"Pointing out a change in fur to a woman is like stepping on a mountain cat's tail."

Zugg, grinning, explained this to Sōma. It seems that asking a Zoan woman about her fur change is a serious offense.

After Zugg left, Sōma deeply reflected on how much Shemul had cared for him, seeing the large clump of fur that had fallen out.

From then on, Sōma tried to please Shemul by saying "delicious" at every meal and "thank you" for every favor, but Shemul, becoming even more irritable, told him to stop.

Completely at a loss, Sōma turned to Garam for advice.

After hearing the story, Garam put his hand on his forehead as if he had a headache, sighed deeply, and said to Sōma.

"Just say, 'I rely on you.' That's all you need."

Sōma, half-doubting whether such simple words would work, was surprised when Shemul's mood improved immediately upon hearing them.

In any case, since Sōma was troubled by such trivial matters, it could be said that the city of Bornis was largely peaceful.

"If only this peace could continue forever..."

Sōma himself detests fighting. He ended up fighting the Holmea Kingdom due to circumstances, but if the other side doesn't provoke further, he has no intention of attacking.

If possible, he sincerely hopes that this peace will continue indefinitely.

However, unbeknownst to Sōma, a new spark was secretly smoldering beneath the surface of this peace.

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"I can't take it anymore!"

In the experimental village where the Norfolk farming method was being introduced, this voice was raised. At night, after the farming work was done, the villagers gathered in the village chief's house, and the man with the most fiery temperament in the village, a strong-faced man, was making exaggerated gestures and movements as he complained.

"A guy who's never even touched the soil is telling us how to farm just because he's the lord. I can't take it anymore! — Right, everyone?!"

This was met with a chorus of agreement from the villagers.

In many manga and light novels, the introduction of the Norfolk farming method easily yields great results and is welcomed with cheers by the farmers. However, in actual agriculture, no matter how groundbreaking the reform, it takes at least a year to see results. It's not something that can be achieved overnight.

Sōma, believing that the Norfolk farming method would greatly advance agriculture in this world, introduced it. However, until the farmers could feel the results, it was nothing more than a heretical method that negated the farming techniques their ancestors had built over a long period. It was natural for them to feel intense anger towards Sōma, who was forcing this method on them.

However, the farmers' dissatisfaction did not stop there.

"Dig up the fields, mix strange things into the soil, cut the grass and stuff it into strange towers, collect the cows' manure and mix it with the grass. — We're already struggling with moving to new land, and now we don't even have time to rest!"

Sōma introduced various techniques and farming methods to enrich the farmers' lives. However, this also meant imposing new labor on them that they had never experienced before. This unfamiliar labor further fueled their dissatisfaction.

"Besides, that lord is telling us to reduce the wheat production! This is ridiculous! We don't know how many people will starve to death this winter!"

Previously, they could grow crops on all the farmland, but with the Norfolk farming method, the farmland had to be divided into four parts, each growing different crops, inevitably reducing the area available for grain production. The farmers feared that this reduction in their staple food would lead to famine during the winter.

"But if we defy the lord, what will happen to us..."

A villager's muttered words changed the atmosphere of the room to a heavy one.

Despite their various grievances and the fear of famine, the farmers followed Sōma's reforms because he was their ruler with the power of life and death.

Of course, Sōma had no intention of being such a ruler. On the contrary, he had visited the development villages many times, asking if there were any complaints and encouraging the farmers to come to him if they had any problems, striving for harmony.

However, the image of Sōma, who had conquered the city with the Zoan, who were the farmers' archenemies, and who had intimidated the officials by threatening to behead anyone who defied him, was not easily erased.

Defying the new lord meant being killed.

This is why the farmers, even if they were forced to adopt heretical farming methods, even if they were subjected to harsh labor, and even if half the village starved to death, endured without complaint.

However, a story that shattered their endurance came to light.

"Can you still endure this? I heard that they're going to make us eat the collected cow manure!"

The men turned red with humiliation and anger, and the women and children screamed.

No matter how cruel a lord or how wicked an official, none had ever done such a thing. It was truly the act of a demon who did not consider the farmers to be human.

The farmers, who had endured so much, finally reached their limit.

However, it was a misunderstanding.

What Sōma was trying to introduce was fertilizer.

With the Norfolk farming method, which did not involve setting aside fallow land or rotating crops to restore soil fertility, the lost soil nutrients had to be replenished from external sources in the form of fertilizer.

The fertilizer Sōma intended to use was compost made from the large amount of manure produced by the cows, which were raised to pay rent to the Zoan.

Of course, Sōma was aware that compost was unknown to the farmers in this world.

He had gathered the village chiefs in advance and explained how beneficial compost was for growing crops, trying to gain their acceptance.

However, Sōma had not anticipated that the farmers could not understand the concept of fertilizer as a nutrient to promote plant growth.

The farmers already knew from experience that repeated cultivation on the same land gradually depleted the soil, resulting in poor crop yields.

However, they thought of the land as a living being that became fatigued and lost its strength from growing plants, never considering that it was due to the depletion of essential nutrients for plant growth.

Of course, some people had noticed that plants grew larger around animal droppings on the ground. This should have led to the idea of using animal manure as fertilizer, but in the Seldias continent, this idea was hindered for a certain reason.

The man, his face red with anger, raised his voice even louder.

"Are you kidding? That makes us Gnobandians!"

The idea of using fertilizer was hindered by the legend of Gnobanda, which had been passed down throughout the Seldias continent since ancient times.

Gnobanda was a man who, in the mythological era, incurred the wrath of all seven gods, was transformed into an ugly monster, and was cast into a swamp of excrement at the bottom of the earth. He is said to still be searching for excrement at the bottom of the earth, begging the gods for mercy.

In the Seldias continent, calling someone a Gnobanda is the greatest insult shared by all seven races, such a widely known legend.

In ancient times, with low hygiene standards, the legend of Gnobanda is said to have spread to prevent the spread of diseases from excrement. This legend strengthened the aversion to excrement among the people of the continent, closing the path to using animal excrement as fertilizer.

When Sōma tried to introduce compost, his companions expressed concerns about using cow manure.

However, no matter how much he tried to understand their concerns, Sōma was, after all, a foreigner. There was a deep gap between knowledge taught by others and the common sense cultivated by the people of this world from birth.

Sōma was young and lacked life experience, making it difficult for him to grasp this.

Additionally, his companions were mostly non-human races and soldiers unfamiliar with agriculture, and they could not strongly oppose Sōma's insistence on the necessity of fertilizer for the Norfolk farming method.

Thus, the gap between Sōma and the settlers widened over time, eventually becoming a significant rift.

The farmers' dissatisfaction and anger had reached their limit.

It was the village chief who calmed them down, preventing them from immediately rising up with their farming tools.

"Wait, everyone! Don't panic!"

"But, Chief, we can't take it anymore!"

Most of the villagers agreed with this, but the chief raised his voice to them.

"Listen! Think carefully. If we rebel, failure is not an option. We men might die, but if we fail, the women and children will be killed too! Is that acceptable?!"

This silenced many of the villagers.

However, the young ones, who could not accept being forced to endure, spoke up.

"Are you saying we should endure this, Chief?"

The chief shook his head vigorously.

"No. I, too, have reached my limit. But starting a rebellion without any planning will only lead to our deaths."

"But what are you going to do, Chief?"

The chief answered confidently.

"We won't do it alone. If we do it, we need to gather allies."

"Allies?"

The chief nodded.

"Yes! Not only from other villages, but the most important thing is to get the soldiers on our side!"

"But the Holmea soldiers lost and fled far away, didn't they?"

Confused, the villagers listened as the chief revealed his secret with a meaningful smile.

"Think carefully! There are plenty of soldiers nearby!"

The villagers thought for a moment, and one of them exclaimed.

"That's right! The soldiers who are prisoners!"

"Exactly! They are prisoners now, but they are still soldiers. They know more about fighting than we do! We need to get the soldiers to join us!"

The villagers were energized by this proposal.

"If the soldiers join us, we will win!"

"We can't follow the new lord anymore!"

"Right, right! Rebellion! We must start a rebellion!"

Thus, a secret plan for rebellion began to spread among the settlers of the Solbiant Plain.

Young men were sent to nearby development villages under various pretexts to communicate with each other. They collected swords and spears from the battlefield and hid them in the houses of the development villages, preparing for the rebellion.

This plan, which Sōma had not yet fully won