When the first rest day of summer arrived, it rained overnight in the Sorin, and the haze continued until the next day.

Towering Thorin trees stand proudly on this revived land, the canopy of fortress-like trees stretches out to cover a third of Thorin Castle in the distance and a large plain outside the castle, the giant trees have blocked the rain all night, but a few streams formed after the rain have flowed from the area beyond the cover of the giant trees, along the low-lying area between various scientific research, storage, and industrial facilities, meandering to the new Druid Research Institute in the base area of the trunk. Here they converge into a small pond, which eventually flows into the pores formed by the roots of nearby trees that lead deep into the earth, becoming part of the underground river.

Connected street lamps stand on both sides of the road, and a large number of high-powered lighting fixtures hang from the base of the canopy of the giant tree, which dispel the large area of "night" caused by this behemoth plant. Margarita had come to the canopy-shaded area from the sunny plains outside, and she saw soldiers guarding the streetlights and many people peering out from the paths between the houses.

Ignoring them, Margarita passed through the sentry and past the guards who saluted her, to the root of the giant tree, where a large number of tangled vines and wooden structures that had branched out of the trunk had cleverly "grown" into a hut, and the vines attached to the roof squirmed in the air like veins, and two tall, green-eyed treemen stood in front of the hut, almost taller than the spire of the house, holding in their heavy, powerful palms what they called "Gorgon" The squad's orbital cannon was covered with heavy bark and wooden nodules, and the torso covered with heavy bark and wooden nodules was fastened with long steel nails to power the cannon.

- Named after the Gorgon, the Empire's most important river of life, the small railgun is a variant of the Persuasor Railgun, which is typically used on light mobile vehicles, but with a slight modification it can be used to arm large minions with great strength.

The treants didn't react much to Margarita's presence, they just took a small step to the side, and there was a sound of wood rubbing against leaves, and Margarita crossed their thick legs and feet, and the door to the cabin in front of her opened before she could get closer.

A wriggling clump of vines "walked" out of it, and Bertila appeared in front of Margarita.

"How's Minister Norris?" The young female knight immediately stepped forward and asked.

"I was in a coma for a while, and now I'm just coming to my senses, but it won't be long," Bertila said calmly, "...... Just today, Miss Margarita. ”

There was a layer of dark clouds between Margarina's eyebrows, and her voice subconsciously lowered: "Is there really no way?" ”

"We've moved him here - I've done everything I can to keep him alive with the power of the Thorin Tree, but aging itself is the hardest law of nature to defy - not to mention that Norris's situation is more than just aging," Bertila said slowly, "his body has been on the path of overdraft for the past few decades - this is the norm for the poor, but he is too overdrawn to the point where magic and miracles are irreversible. In fact, it's a miracle that he's survived to this day — he should have died last winter. ”

Margarita was silent for a moment and took a light breath: "I want to go in and have a look." ”

Bertila looked at the female knight in front of her, and a trace of helplessness finally appeared on her face, which was difficult to make an expression due to the dehumanization mutation: "We'd better avoid all visits now, but...... At this point, these measures are meaningless. And if it's you, Norris should be willing to meet you. ”

Margarita followed behind the former Patriarch of the Dead and stepped into the "Huts of Life" that had been created by miracle spells.

The hut was lit by some kind of luminous plant, and a soft collapse of wooden structure and vines and blades of grass was placed in the center of the hut, and Margarita saw Norris, where the old man was lying with a blanket covering his body, and several thin vines sprang out of the blanket and extended all the way to the ceiling.

Margarita came to Norris and leaned down slightly: "Minister Norris, it's me." ”

Norris saw the woman in front of him clearly, and a smile slowly appeared on his wrinkled face: "Miss Margarita...... Thank you for your care these days. ”

"Please don't say that, you are the most important person in the whole reconstruction area," Margarita said immediately, "without you, this land would not have come back to life so quickly......"

"Everybody here is important," Norris's voice was soft, but every word was still clear, "Miss Margarita, I'm sorry, there are some jobs I may not be able to finish. ”

"No, you still ......," Margarita immediately said subconsciously, but she looked at Norris's calm face and swallowed back the rest of the words.

In the depths of the deep wrinkles and depleted flesh, the life force had begun to flow out of the old man's body.

Norris just smiled, his eyes rolling, lifting slightly, sweeping over the few furnishings in the hut—some specimens, some seeds, some manuscripts, and a crystal clear glass tube, a wheat plant still green standing silently in a container, soaked in a near-transparent alchemical solvent.

"Actually, I have no regrets...... "the old man said in a low voice, "no major incident, this year's harvest is guaranteed, and we have avoided a terrible famine...... The manuscript of agriculture given by His Majesty has also been written, but unfortunately I do not have the energy to put the finishing touches on it, but my apprentices and assistants have grown up, and they are reliable...... The government department has always been prepared, and even if I leave, someone will take over immediately......"

"Don't talk too much at once," Bertila's slightly stiff voice suddenly came from the side, "it will further strain your strength. ”

"It's all about now, so let me say a few more words," Norris said with a very slow shake of his head and some relief, "I know my situation...... I knew many years ago, I would probably die sooner, I had read books, I had seen the world with the priests in the city, I knew what would happen to a man who had exhausted all his strength in the fields......"

Margarita looked at the old man in front of her and slowly reached out to hold the other man's hand.

She knew that the old man's last sobriety was coming to an end.

She heard a low, slightly indistinct voice coming into her ears—

“…… Our family used to owe a lot of money, a lot and a lot of ...... Probably the equivalent of a knight's sword, or a small jewel on a missionary's glove, Miss Margarita, it was a lot, and it would take several carts of wheat to pay it back.

"The money allowed me to read, but at the time, literacy didn't come in handy – my father and mother died very early to pay off the bills, and I ...... Most of his life has been working in the fields or doing hard labor for others. So I knew how my body came to be like this, and I was ready for it early on.

"But there were many people like me at that time, serfs, and freemen—poor freemen, who did not know, only that the commoners would die very young, and that the nobles would live a century...... The missionaries said that it was determined by God, and that it was because the poor were lowly that they had a natural defect in their longevity, and that the aristocracy could live for a century, which was evidence of noble blood...... Most believe this claim.

"I was literate, I had read books, I knew what it was all about, but it didn't work at the time, and the only thing I learned from literacy was that I knew exactly what was going to happen in the future, but I could only keep my head down and dig potatoes and plant perilla vegetables in the fields – because if we didn't, our whole family would starve to death.

"Miss Margarita, you can't imagine that kind of life—I know you're a good knight, but there are some things you really can't imagine."

Margarita subconsciously held the old man's hand, her lips twitched a few times, but finally she could only nod slightly: "Yes, Minister Norris, I ...... I'm so sorry. ”

"No, don't be sorry," Norris's eyelids drooped a little more than before, "because it's not your fault, and the most glad thing is that those days are over, Miss Margarita, those days are over."

"Commoners don't have to do the hard labor they did with my parents in exchange for subsistence food, no one will take two-thirds or more of our grain from our barns to pay our taxes, we have the right to eat the fish we catch at any time, we have the right to eat white bread and sugar on ordinary days, we don't have to bow to the nobles on the roadside, we don't have to kiss the shoes and footprints of the missionaries...... Miss Margarita, thank you to our Majesty, and to the many others who are willing to follow Your Majesty as you are, and that those days are over.

"I just want to say, don't let those days come back.

"Miss Bertila, I know you've always had doubts about what we're doing, and I know you don't understand some of my 'paranoia', but I want to say ...... At any time, no matter what kind of situation we are facing, it is most important to keep more people fed and more people alive.

"I took people from the agricultural department to do a large-scale count, we calculated the population and the land, we calculated the consumption of food and the production of various staple foods now...... Consumption and production after population growth are also estimated. We have some figures, right in the hands of my assistants, please give them to Your Majesty...... Be sure to give it to him. Hunger is the most terrible thing in the world, and no one should be starved to death...... No matter what happens, whether it is industry or commerce, there are some arable land that must not be moved, and we must not rashly change the staple food ......

"Also, there is too little food to grow in the north, and although the plains of the Whitsunday are fertile, there will definitely be a big increase in our population, because almost all babies will survive now - we need land to the south to feed these people, especially in the Dark Mountains, where there is still a lot to cultivate......"

He coughed suddenly, a violent cough interrupted what he wanted to say, Bertila raised his hand almost instantly, and a powerful healing power, which was already excessive even for ordinary people, was released on Norris, and Margarita immediately leaned into the old man's ear: "Your Majesty is already on the way, he will be there soon, you can ......"

Before she could finish her sentence, Norris interrupted with a shake of his head.

The latter's eyelids, which had been lowered, lifted again, and after a few seconds of silence and recollection, a smile mixed with abruptness and relief suddenly appeared on his face.

"Ah, perhaps...... He didn't lie to me......" Norris's eyes lit up briefly, and he said with almost joy, "He didn't lie to me......"

"Minister Norris," Margarita asked, taking the old man's hand and leaning down, "who are you talking about?" Who didn't lie to you? ”

"Missionary...... The missionary ......"

Norris muttered under his breath, he felt his heavy body finally lighten a little, and in the dim light and shadow, he saw his parents standing beside him, dressed in the shabby clothes of his memory, standing barefoot on the ground, with a humble and dull smile on their faces, as a man in the robes of the priest of the Goddess of Harvest was standing in front of them.

Other children and their parents stood nearby, and the elders of the village stood behind the priest.

Everyone's faces were blurred.

The priest's face was also blurred, but Norris could hear his voice - the priest reached out and rubbed it twice on the top of Norris's head, who was still a child, and he seemed to smile a little, and said casually:

"Blessed is the child with the land, and he bears the blessings of the goddess of the harvest."