Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 164 - 1: One Year

Chapter 164: Chapter 1: One Year

Roman suddenly realized that he had been in Sige Town for over a year and several days.

Back when he arrived on this land, they had less than two thousand people, impoverished and on the brink of starvation, leading a backward and miserable life.

Of course, their current life was no better.

He enforced forced labor, and anyone who dared resist would be put to death.

Their days were never idle.

But assured food and clothing was certain.

For the peasants, food and clothing security was the most important guarantee, all else was secondary.

But these four words were as difficult to achieve as ascending to heaven.

Food and clothing security meant a stable life.

After a wave of marriages and winter’s rest and recuperation, Sige Town gained over two hundred pregnant women.

By the end of spring, that number was estimated to rise by another four or five hundred.

Fortunately, those pregnant women were only one or two months into their pregnancies and could still perform some physical labor. In the coming months, Roman would need to gradually reduce their workload to avoid accidents.

More importantly, the population had multiplied by five.

This meant that this year he could mobilize more people to till more land, breed more livestock, and train more professional soldiers.

Under Roman’s rule, compared to the outdated production methods of the past, their productivity had the potential to increase tenfold or even more!

...

This winter hunt lasted five days.

In the meantime, the Earl of Kant sent an Angel Envoy to probe the situation in Sige Town.

But he was turned away.

There was nothing to be said now, as a deadly feud between the two was certain.

Since they were enemies, there was no need to waste words.

Either they would attack, or Roman would.

When the ice and snow began to melt in large scale,

Early spring brought a haul of over a hundred thousand pounds of game to Sige Town.

They killed all the wild boars, deer herds, hibernating bears they could find, and the catch of smaller game was overflowing.

The fishing crew also netted a good catch of fish.

Roman returned triumphant with his soldiers, and Seth came to meet them.

The game had been preliminarily processed, but to store them for the long term, they needed to be taken to the large kitchen.

This meat, along with soybeans. A healthy, balanced diet was enough to last them until this summer.

Food supply issues for this year and beyond would no longer be a problem.

Seth said to Roman, "Master, I’ve recruited six hundred new soldiers."

Six hundred new soldiers were somewhat few.

These soldiers primarily came from those conscripted soldiers that Roman had captured; they had a natural advantage and were easier to train.

Roman’s army currently numbered around twelve hundred.

This was just the initial recruitment. A second round was to follow.

This year, Roman planned to extract two thousand professional soldiers from this population of ten thousand.

On average, four people had to support the provisions, housing, and daily training of one professional soldier.

Even for Sige Town, with its growing breeding operations and changed cultivation models, this was akin to a challenge from hell.

Not to mention that there were also about a thousand children who could not engage in production, and they would be doing well just to take care of themselves.

So, this was only a planned task.

The future of Sige Town would still see labor supplements, either through capturing people or buying slaves, but one way or another, this labor gap had to be filled.

Two thousand professional soldiers must be trained!

This meant that this year in Sige Town, everyone was still unable to idle around.

At this point in time, Roman was about to conduct the fifth Angel Envoy recruitment.

The population of Sige Town had skyrocketed this time.

After a brief period of assimilation, there should have been some foundation for acculturation.

The Nobles of Kant Territory could not offer clothing and food security, let alone free housing.

Even if Roman disregarded their will and took them by force, the superiority of one’s condition over the other was undoubtedly clear.

So, Roman prepared to increase the number of recruitment draws to one hundred and fifty.

But before that, he needed to have a good talk with Gwivelle.

...

She was fresh and pure, with eyes like a scared deer, not daring to lift her head, only twiddling with the hem of her clothes with her fingers.

She had done something wrong.

Before, she had made many mistakes, but they were all forgiven.

But this time she was unsure.

She had nearly murdered her friend; when she woke from a panic-ridden dream that day, seeing Sanna lying beside her, she held her, crying and laughing, yet at the bottom of her heart, she thought she had fallen into another dream.

"Gwivelle."

She heard him call this name, which she still remembered, and how it had scared her at the same time last year.

"Come here."

Gwivelle took a step, as anxious as when she first arrived at the manor, feeling the palm of a hand land on top of her head, gently caressing it.

"You’ve grown up, Gwivelle."

Grandpa Galin had said so as well, always pinching her arms and legs.

Her body had gone from being lean and frail to being full and robust.

But she wasn’t as tall as Sanna, who stood just over one meter forty, while Sanna was close to one meter fifty, although their ages were not much different—fortunately, Jimmy wasn’t taller than her yet.

His fingers lightly brushed her cheek, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his palm then rested on the back of her head, leaning in to kiss her forehead and eyes, making her want to chuckle irresistibly.

He asked, "What are you frightened of?"

Gwivelle’s uneasiness dissipated, she looked directly into his eyes and said softly but firmly, "I am not scared."

Roman let out a soft sigh, "No, you are scared."

A touch of confusion surfaced in the pure eyes of Gwivelle, unable to understand what Roman meant.

"You have not responded to my summoning even once," Roman spoke softly.

He was sure something had gone wrong.

Gwivelle had become a chamberlain similar to Aaron and Green, very closely related to him.

Theoretically, it would have been reasonable for Roman to single out the Witch of Calamity.

But it ended up being like finding a needle in the ocean.

Either the Witch’s recruitment difficulty was very high, or she was not in the recruitment pool at all.

He had many theories, feeling bother and anxiety, until he heard that Sanna had had an accident.

He realized that Gwivelle’s hidden power was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

"No, every time you called me, I remember it distinctly," Gwivelle replied discontentedly, swearing she had never ignored them.

"Then why are you hiding your power?"

Gwivelle paused for a moment, and then fell silent. She hung her little head, her brows and eyes clearly filled with despair and sadness, like an ugly scar forcibly hidden was now exposed to the air, to the gaze of others.

"I don’t want to hurt others," she said in agony.

Roman’s eye twitched with frustration.

All because of this?

He had faced the Nightmare Witch head-on for her sake, drew over a hundred times and almost gave up hope, even thinking of getting a pet instead.

He had made all sorts of guesses, but had completely overlooked Gwivelle’s psychological issues.

And it all came down to this damn line of "not wanting to hurt others"?

He now felt like giving Gwivelle a couple of punches and then kicking her to the ground, if only to ignite her power.

Irritation!

But he was helpless.

In the end, she was still a child.

She didn’t realize the importance of her role as a Witch.

Shasta had come all the way to Sige Town for her, turning the situation in the Northern Land tense in the blink of an eye.

For such a person, who he said was there only for the so-called sisterly affection, Roman could not believe.

Where was such an idealist?

Daring to cross swords with Nobles for a stranger of the same kind?

Reality told Roman that there was nothing that more money couldn’t solve.

There definitely was some value in Gwivelle that she needed.