The Efficiency of a Quiet Life

Overwhelming efficiency. I was clearly just minding my own business, farming on my farm. I intended to wait for Miroa to return and start the "work" as soon as the plumbing issue was resolved. But it seemed things had progressed faster than expected.

Pop! Pop-pop! Countless messages about rising favorability floated before my eyes.

I had even achieved a new milestone. It was the most basic of the tiered achievements granted whenever you build up favorability across the village. "Favorability. Favorability, huh..." I really hadn't done anything, yet I had become likable. I really like the party member function; it's so efficient. It allows for auto-hunting even while I'm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doing other tasks. The gifts the villagers will give me later are also expected to be quite useful. Some of those gifts are even essential for my future plans.

Well then, should I get back to my own work? While waiting for Miroa to return, I picked up my hoe again and went back to farming.

Crunch! Whether it was due to the game system's calibration, the soil was incredibly easy to dig with just a few swings of the hoe. A perfectly square, neat field appeared before my eyes, as if drawn with a ruler. "Unbelievable." I am immensely satisfied.

One piece of common sense shared by Koreans regarding healing farming games: in the early stages, you must earn money quickly and desperately. As someone who was a Korean in my past life, I share the same sentiment. "Because it all snowballs later."

Dare to relax and heal in a healing game? I wouldn't have been able to stand it even if it were an actual game, and this is reality. Especially now, there is no time to rest. I have to earn as much money as possible until the village spring festival on March 13th and dump all that capital in.

Immediately after returning from the hot springs early in the morning, I started the work I had planned. Thanks to clearing the weeds quickly on the first day, there was a spacious area in front of the mansion. If not for that, I wouldn't have even had a place to stand, let alone farm.

I picked up the hoe and tilled the land by hand. Crunch! It seems digging the land doesn't give EXP, but I can achieve milestones instead.

Quickly achieving these and sweeping up the rewards is also the core of the early-game build. Afterward, I took out the parsnip seeds from the warehouse and planted them. It was a quest reward I received on the first day, and I planted them with the feeling of using all 15 of them. Then, a status window appeared before my eyes, revealing a surprising fact.

Four days! That means it only takes four days for the crops to fully grow. It was something I had checked through the status window several times last night.

Even so, seeing it right in front of me is surprising. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠If it were original farming? "Doesn't it take at least four months no matter how fast it is?" It's common sense to sow seeds in spring and harvest in autumn. On the other hand, I can grow fresh vegetables rapidly every few days. It's like bringing the pacing of a healing game into actual farming. "Even with high-level magic, this would be difficult."

Even by fantasy standards where magic exists, this is a huge cheat code. Even if you forced it to happen, it would only be temporary. Crops growing rapidly without any cost is definitely amazing. It was one of the reasons I decided to come here as soon as I received the letter. The moment I saw it, I had a feeling: Ah, this is a healing game. Even if I guessed wrong, it's a peaceful rural village anyway. I could just take a break and clear my head for a while.

"I couldn't believe it, but it was true." Now that it's come to this, I intend to utilize the system as efficiently as possible. If I sweep up money through farming here, don't I not have to do magic research? I went to the academy and studied magic hard to build up my family's reputation, but earning a lot of money is better than that, right? Now, nothing can torment me. "I'm free now." My body might be tired, but my mind couldn't be fresher. I'll work like a dog with a big smile on my face.

And it was right about then. "Something's coming?" Something was approaching at an incredible speed, and looking closely, it was Miroa. Whoosh! A single leap that utilized all her speed. With that, she easily cleared the farm fence that even a bear couldn't get past. Miroa hovered in the air for a moment before finally landing as lightly as a butterfly. She was right by my side.

"Miroa Avis, mission completed and returned."

"Was it really necessary to sprint like that?"

She nodded. Why is she nodding as if it were obvious? Miroa straightened her clothes and asked, "Did anything happen, Master?"

Her voice was so calm, as if she wasn't even out of breath. "I'm the one who wants to ask if anything happened on your end, Miroa."

"I simply performed as you commanded, Master. I neither added nor subtracted anything."

For someone who sprinted with all her might, it was a lackluster report. "So, nothing special happened?"

"That is correct. However, the blocked water pipes have all been cleared, and water is flowing again. Everyone was overjoyed, knowing it was thanks to your magic, Master."

"That's a relief." Then, it's immediately the next step. I put down the hoe and dusted off my hands. The ones blocking the water pipes all this time were slimes. Since the surrounding area was overturned by a landslide, their numbers must have been high. Where did they all go?

"Do you still have stamina left?"

"I dare say I could even face a Yeti."

"Let's do a job together."

Today's farming work is done for now. Now, there's work to be done on the hunting side. When I told her about the slimes, Miroa nodded seriously and listened.

"Is it combat?"

"Well." It didn't seem like something that deserved such a grand title. "Should I call it cleaning up the remnants instead?"

"No problem."

A little later, at a spot on the mountain behind the village where oak groves are thick. It's where the thick, spherical water pipe leading from the water source down to the village is exposed above the soil. Until this morning, slimes were completely blocking this pipe.

Auto-hunting low-level monsters like slimes is simple, but their residue would have flowed back into the pipes and caused the same problem. They could contaminate the drinking water or block the downstream pipes again. Sometimes they even revive around a core that remains intact. "Just breaking them isn't enough to solve it."

So, one thing I added was magic to induce aggregation. I designed it so that all the slimes would gather at one point here. "Or rather, so I could herd them all into one place." That place is right around here.

Step. I lightly brushed away the dirt pushed by the landslide and found an old iron inspection port located in the middle of the pipe. Simply put, it's like an entrance made for a plumber to inspect the inside or perform internal work. The valve was tightly closed, but fortunately, it was in good condition. With some force, I was able to open the inspection port, and—

"Miroa. Get ready."

Whoosh—! The slime remnants were flushed out refreshingly. Slime mucus used for basic crafting. And the broken cores of slimes used in magic materials, spirit arts, and alchemy. I can't just let these precious things flow onto the ground.

Splatter! Miroa quickly placed a large bucket underneath with a swift motion. And one more thing to note is the continuously rising hunting EXP. The reason is—

Because I can gain EXP without killing them directly. As the word "occasionally" implies, the probability is low, but the volume pouring out was immense. Because all the slimes in the neighborhood that were having a gathering in the water pipe were flowing out as mush.

"Master."

Besides, some were still squirming as if they were alive. Miroa is right next to me, so there's no need to be tense. "Miroa. Destroy the living ones thoroughly."

Shing—. It was closer to a roundup hunt. The slimes that were dragged out by the water flow without knowing anything met their end one after another like sausages.

Even if slimes are weak, they are monsters nonetheless; should hunting be this easy? Come to think of it, I'm reminded of a famous game from my past life. An online RPG where you just hold down one key on the keyboard and jump, and the hunting happens automatically, and repeating that for hours was the entire gameplay. Did some people sell the in-game currency earned that way to buy rice?

Slash. Splatter! Miroa was repeating a similar motion. Standing tall in the same posture and simply swinging her sword easily kills the slimes and collects the rewards. Of course, the status window or system isn't visible to Miroa's eyes, but the byproducts piling up in the bucket are rewards nonetheless.

"Uuu... Master..."

Miroa's emotionless eyes began to turn blank. "Doing this makes my head feel numb... I think my... brain is melting."

After that, I continued auto-hunting to get the necessary materials.

A few days later. The academy in the center of the empire. Ailiya, who had locked herself in the lab again, was immersed in magic research for a long time. It's a bit different from saying it's a daily occurrence. She hasn't slept for days.

"Ail! You're really going to die!"

"It's okay. I'm from a Northern lineage, so I'm sturdy, I won't die from just two nights of no sleep."

"It's not two days, it's three."

"Three days means 3 days? Or 4 days..."

"You're crazy! You're crazy!!!"

Goggle, the spirit, tried to stop her from the side, but Ailiya couldn't stop. The mindset that you sleep when you're dead. More than that, analyzing the awesome magic in front of her was more urgent.

"A mage named Rii. He was a more amazing person than I thought. Magic that improves the efficiency of all magic. The title wasn't just grand."

Ailiya, soaked in sleepiness, poured out her words rapidly. "There are two things the thesis argues. That it can boost the efficiency of all magic at once."

"I-is that possible?"

"He says it's possible right now, immediately. It's actually implemented, so you'll know if you look."

I thought there would naturally be theoretical grounds and core ideas. But he has even finished implementing magic that can actually be used. As someone who has researched magic passionately in her own way, Ailiya could be sure the moment she saw the actual magic of Rii.

"This itself is already a revolution. Because it can literally improve the efficiency of all magic."

People in this world don't seem to know, but magic is incredibly useful. People just aren't using it properly. If more useful magic is created, and efficiency improvement is added to this? No. It's the same even if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠applied to the useful magic that already exists.

"The civilization of the empire would change."

Civilization itself would change completely. Cars that were pushed aside by carriages due to fuel efficiency issues could be made properly, heating could be done with magic, and farming could be done easily, perhaps solving the food problem. However, the thesis doesn't end here.

Goggle asked in a trembling voice. "What's the second?"

"The possibility that this magic can continuously improve even itself."

In other words, the singularity of the magic world. Excitement dripped into Ailiya's voice before she knew it. "If you improve the magic that improves, then it will improve better, right? You'll be able to churn out more and more efficient magic, right? This possibility is the core of the thesis."

"How could that be..."

Goggle was astonished by the explanation that defied common sense. Ailiya swayed for a moment, then looked up at the spirit on her head and asked, "So I'm asking, Goggle."

"Y-yes."

"Did you find out where the mage named Rii went?"

"That..."

"I think I gave you three days."

Goggle, who had been agonizing for a while, barely answered. "I was just coming to talk about that, but, I heard from the company that operates the carriages... The mage named Rii has already gone down to the countryside."

"If it's the countryside, is it the family's territory? Right?"

Maybe that's a relief. It's common enough for a mage to go down to their hometown to clear their head. But Goggle shook his head.

"No. Not the Solanium family territory, but to a place no one knows... He went to the deep mountains that take over 15 days by carriage..."

"What. Why there?"

"I don't know. I don't know, but maybe... maybe, I'm starting to have a really scary thought..."

Could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it be that the mage named Rii... was trying to go to a place no one knows and die?

"Ah."

Ailiya's pen dropped to the floor under the desk.