— Already in Ai's room, after lunch.

"Ugh..." Ai flops onto the bed.

The food is tasteless... Salt in this world is expensive, so everything lacks much flavor...

Ai thought as she rolled around in bed, when suddenly Envy interrupts.

"Boss, I still don't understand why you planted those beets. Don't those plants serve only to feed the livestock?" Envy serves her tea and hands it to Ai.

"Hm? My position in the house is precarious because the only heir is a woman and has little magical power. That's why my parents are considering making me disappear and having another child who can be the successor... But my mother is currently infertile, so all their plans are on hold. With that said, it's necessary to escape from the house."

"I knew that, however, there don't seem to be too many conflicts related to you, boss..."

"Even so, I must be prepared." Ai takes a sip of tea.

"Insipid. As I was saying... Before leaving the house, I'll leverage my father's reputation to get a good amount of income in order to reduce uncertainty when escaping... For that, I need the beets. You said you could increase the plant's growth speed, right?"

I certainly can, however, will you be able to obtain anything from these plants?"

"Of course. How long do you think it will take for them to grow if you keep supplying them with mana?"

"Mmm... I suppose about a month."

"Did you add the powder I gave you to the soil?"

"Yes! But what was that?"

"That was fertilizer."

"Fertilizer?"

"With that, the plants will grow three times faster."

"What!? But it was a mixture of rotten things, boss..."

Fertilizer. A solution for the infertile soil of this era. Adding waste to plants that would kill or sicken a human sounds illogical and is incoherent. That's why people of this time still haven't realized the beneficial effect it has. Here, the geko beets that in my world are called sugar beets, have a germination time of around 8 months. Almost 3 times longer than in my previous life, and this is due to the nutrient deficiencies in the soil.

"Furthermore, the magical artifact you asked me to add in the river last week is already in place. But, what is it for?"

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Eh? It was insurance."

"Insurance?"

— A few days later, in the mansion of Viscount Lancaster.

The viscount would be seated with a woman on each side. He was reflecting naked, holding a glass of wine.

Courtenay still resists me, that damn... If I can poison the river, people will start dying from lack of food and it will soon be considered a blight on the fief. With the public on my side, I can take the fief and let my daughter manage it. That way, I'll repay her for having to endure that baron as a husband all these years...

A knight knocks on the door.

"Come in."

"I've brought the report, my lord. There have been no changes in Courtenay's fief, despite the large doses of tinctures that have been sent through the river. We currently don't know what could be happening, but the water has even improved in quality." He said while reading the report.

"What!? What have they been up to, vermin?" That damn Kirei, he surely wants to play with me. But how?

Purifying all the water from the river takes too much work. Unless...

"That damned mage!" He throws the wine glass and then proceeds to calm himself.

"Ah... Anyway, send an exploration group to his fief and find out what happened... Take care of correcting it."

"Also, send a letter from me to Vivian and tell her to find out what he did."

"Yes, my lord... Then, I'll take my leave."

The knight leaves and closes the door.

That damned mage... This strategy had never failed in the territories I annexed in that direction... What's going on?

Magic or not, it's very strange...

— Returning to Ai's room, who was looking out the window.

Viscount Lancaster. A scoundrel who inherited the house from his father by killing the original heirs, his older brothers... He annexed territories thanks to his corruption and the tax rate he proposes is 50%. People are dying of hunger, it's even worse than here.

He always uses the same strategy to gain more power. He extorts small landowners like my father, sends people to create a public crisis or even a civil war, leads them to a crisis that seems insurmountable and then takes the territory, either through war or through an emergency sale of titles.

About two weeks ago, the water began to come out with greenish tones. I investigated this on my own and found that all the river water comes with the same color. I soon set up a small network that could cover the entire river and entrusted it to Envy.

Inside, the network had a large amount of coal and activated carbon mixed and resembled a wall, so transporting it could only have been possible with the strength of a beast. Activated carbon removes impurities running in the water, thanks to that, whatever the viscount is sending through the channel, won't pass.

The river water is used for livestock and plantations. If they suffer diseases or die, the fief will fall into poverty.

Ai heads to her house's water well, takes the bucket they use to collect water in the mansion.

"Ugh..." She sighs as she lifts a small bucket of water, which for a 3-year-old girl, is undoubtedly a commendable feat.

"Hah... Hah.. Hah..."

Ai sees the tone of the water and then tastes it.

"Mmm... It definitely worked, I don't see any tint anymore and the taste doesn't lag behind mineral water. Luckily we moved quickly before any problems or diseases in the fief could be diagnosed because of the water."

The territory is not in the best condition. People in the empire in general are stressed.

The aristocrats are taking a large percentage of taxes and it becomes almost unviable to start a business within the fief, which reduces commercial flow. This results in lower market competitiveness and greater monopoly for those who have corrupt agreements to reduce their taxes in exchange for discounts to the lords.

Not that I care, however, if it continues like this, this fief won't last the years I still plan to stay here. That's why I keep delaying the movements of everyone around me, as if extending the burning fuse of a cannon.