Farming Should Be Left to the Experts
The two of them—no, three of them—decided that the construction site, currently in the midst of a chaotic overhaul, was hardly the place for a serious conversation, so they relocated to the Lord's office.
Jamie, feeling the sharp tension in the air, didn't even dare to breathe loudly; he simply sat at his desk, pretending to be hard at work.
“Did you dig into my background?”
Kalisa growled, her voice still raspy.
“You must think I have the luxury of time for such things.”
“……”
But no matter how much she growled, there was no reason to be intimidated when he had already secured several of her weaknesses.
‘And it’s the truth, anyway.’
He was so short-staffed that he was genuinely considering raiding a neighboring territory just to get things done. Where would he find the time to investigate a single merchant?
“...Then how did you arrive at that conclusion?”
“Isn't the Guild Leader already proving that my delusions are correct? Do you need more evidence than this?”
“……!”
“Whatever the case, I have no desire to pry into your secrets. However, we could find a way for both of us to win.”
You achieve your personal goals, and I solve the North’s chronic problems immediately.
“How about it?”
“I need more explanation.”
He’d felt it before, but she was a woman who made decisions quickly. In that regard, she certainly had more guts than most men.
He was certain that if she spent a few more years in the field, she wouldn't be so quick to reveal her hand in a psychological battle like she had today.
“If your goal is money, negotiations will be difficult, but if your goal is something else, is there any reason to keep the merchant guild?”
“Hmm...”
Kalisa swallowed her groan. Their future relationship would depend on her answer. If her goal was simply to accumulate wealth,
‘Being tied to the North wouldn't be of much help, so I couldn't keep her.’
But if it was something else—like power or a foundation—there was room to make a deal.
“What do you want?”
He pressed her once more. Kalisa’s lips twitched. She was likely having an internal battle over whether to speak or stay silent.
In that case, he should make the decision easier for her.
‘If I keep one petitioner here, the whole administration grinds to a halt.’
So, Aiden decided to show some kindness to help her make up her mind.
“Are you worried about whether you can trust me?”
“Of course. I don’t yet know what kind of person the Administrative Officer is.”
“Wouldn’t this make it easier for you?”
Click.
Aiden smiled and pulled something out of his drawer.
“……!”
It was a map. Specifically, the very map of the unregistered villages he had seized from Kalisa.
“Ah, I’m showing you this just in case you get the wrong idea.”
Aiden added, watching Kalisa’s stunned face.
“This is a threat.”
Who told you to trade with unregistered people, anyway?
Document Number: No-A/05-033-NorthernPersonnel
Effective Date: Immediate
Appointment Details:
Affiliation: Northern Lord’s Castle Administrative Welfare Office
Position: Deputy of the Commercial Development Department
Appointee: Kalisa Loheim
The above personnel appointment is hereby ordered.
“Kalisa Loheim, you say...”
“Isn’t that the merchant? The one with the red hair!”
“The merchant who brought in a pile of monster byproducts recently?”
The rumor spread like wildfire, reaching not only the lower-level officials of the Lord’s castle but also the laborers and villagers.
“What is this all of a sudden?”
“Since it’s the Administrative Officer’s doing, it can’t be all bad, right?”
“It’s just so sudden, that’s all.”
“But look, that appointment, what was it called?”
“Commercial Development Department!”
“Right, Commercial Development Department! Doesn’t that sound like a perfect fit for a merchant?”
“I suppose so.”
The lower-level officials busied themselves with gossip, wondering how the organizational structure would change following this sudden appointment. Although it had come out of nowhere, the general sentiment was positive. It was quite encouraging that the North, which hadn't seen a single change in hundreds of years, was finally beginning to undergo internal shifts.
Thud, thud.
“Eek!”
“Oh, r-right! I had something to finish by today, I almost forgot!”
“M-me too! Let’s go together!”
But the pleasant commotion was short-lived. As heavy footsteps approached from behind, the lower-level officials scattered as if they had planned it.
“Phew...”
Jamie was heading to work where the officials had just fled, sighing as if the earth itself might collapse.
‘So, the leadership meeting is now a three-person system.’
Kalisa’s position was Deputy of the Commercial Development Department. Technically, Jamie’s status as the Chief Administrative Officer’s adjutant was higher, but the very fact that their intimate two-person leadership meetings were becoming a three-person affair was a source of pressure for him.
‘A rival...!’
And Kalisa was someone with far more experience than him, no less.
‘Plus, all the workers from her merchant guild have been absorbed into the Commercial Development Department...’
From now on, the department would be Kalisa’s stage.
‘I can’t lose like this!’
Flames of determination ignited in Jamie’s eyes. Northerners did not fear competition. They didn't resort to petty tricks, either.
‘I just need to prove that I am the more reliable adjutant.’
This was the spirit of a Northerner.
“Whooooo!”
“‘Whooooo,’ my foot. If you’ve arrived at work, get up here quickly! We have a mountain of work to do!”
Startled by the nagging of Aiden, who was looking down from the second-floor window, Jamie scrambled up to the office.
“Good morning!”
“Try to be on time.”
Jamie, who had actually arrived earlier than his start time, felt aggrieved. However, his boss, who seemed possessed by a ghost that would kill him if he didn't work (which was essentially the truth), looked like he hadn't even gone home the night before, so Jamie couldn't find the words to retort.
“What is this?”
Instead of making excuses, Jamie showed interest in the documents Aiden was struggling with.
“Is this... a calendar?”
“Yes. But no matter how many books I flip through, I’m not making much progress.”
It was different in form from the calendars he had hung up at the flea market and later distributed to every village.
“It’s unique.”
“The flow is more important than the exact date.”
The horizontal axis was marked with months, and the vertical axis listed the names of agricultural products that were familiar even to Jamie.
“It’s a crop cultivation calendar. The sowing season is almost here.”
“A crop cultivation calendar?”
Unlike the South, where sowing begins as early as the end of winter, farming in the North starts much later. But that didn't mean they had plenty of time, so Aiden was feeling the pressure.
“Haven’t you noticed that the crops grown in each village are slightly different?”
“That’s because...”
“If that’s just because their yields or consumption needs are different, it wouldn't matter. But if it’s because they don’t properly know how to cultivate different crops, that’s a problem.”
“Ah. But we can’t go around teaching them farming methods one by one, can we?”
“That’s why we’re making this to distribute quickly.”
It was a calendar inspired by the cultivation guides produced by the Rural Development Administration back in South Korea.
‘I’m finally putting to use the stuff I kept because people asking about weekend farms and vegetable gardens wouldn't stop pestering me.’
At the city hall where he used to work, they ran a program in the spring to distribute seedlings to interested citizens. Since the quantity was small, there were no professional farmers involved—most were just people tending to weekend farms or growing crops as a hobby. Naturally, they were amateurs who didn't know when to plant, when to fertilize, or when to harvest. And since the public officials distributing the seedlings didn't know much more than they did, they had hurriedly printed out and distributed cultivation calendars from the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science.
‘Even just that was incredibly helpful.’
It was a calendar that people in the 21st century—where you could get all kinds of information with a single internet search—loved for its convenience. For the North, where no technology or information was being exchanged, this was nothing short of a revolution.
‘What is an agricultural revolution, if not this?’
But there was one problem.
“...Have you ever farmed before?”
“I’ve only studied to become an official since I was young.”
He was an adjutant with a talent for stating unbelievable things with complete sincerity. Honestly, he was no help at all.
“No choice. Let’s go.”
“Where? I just got to work!”
“Consider it a business trip.”
“Excuse me?”
“The two of us putting our heads together won't get this finished. We need to find an expert.”
“Where would we find a botanist in the North? As far as I know, there aren't any...”
“Botanist, my foot. Just follow me.”
Aiden grabbed his coat and headed out. Jamie, still looking confused, hurriedly gathered a handful of paper and documents for note-taking and followed him.
***
Clack, clack, clack.
Thud, thud.
The place Aiden and Jamie visited was the farmland outside the Lord’s castle. The temperature hadn't risen enough to sow seeds just yet, but the farmers were already drenched in sweat, breaking the frozen ground with pickaxes and pulling out weeds and tree roots with shovels.
“Let’s see, let’s see.”
Aiden carefully observed the faces of the farmers there, and then—
“Ah, there he is. Elder! Elder!”
He chose his target without hesitation and hurried over.
“...Who are you?”
“You haven't greeted the Northern Administrative Officer yet—!”
“Quiet, you.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Oh my, Administrative Officer!”
The old man, who had been out in the field with his grown son moving rocks around, recognized Aiden and hurriedly bent his hunched back as far as he could.
“Let’s skip the tedious greetings. Haha.”
“You’ll get covered in dirt, what should we do!”
The old man was flustered and kept bowing as he shook hands with Aiden, who had reached out for a friendly handshake.
“Actually, I need some help.”
“A high-ranking person like you asking for help from an ignorant farmer like me!”
“If you help us, Elder, the children of the North will have much less to worry about regarding hunger. Will you help us?”
“No, what could a person like me possibly do...”
The old man blinked his wrinkled eyes, looking completely bewildered. The nearby farmers who had gathered around were the same.
“Farming should be left to the experts, shouldn't it?”
Even King Sejong the Great, right?
When he created the Nongsa Jikseol (Straight Talk on Farming), he didn't look for scholars at the Hall of Worthies; he sought out elderly farmers to collect their techniques.
If the Great King did it, that was the answer.